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Tag Archives: storytelling
“I Have No Mouth . . .”
I was a breech birth. Since then, I’ve done everything in life bass ackwards. A recent and relevant example of this is my education as a writer. Instead of first learning the craft of writing, and then studying up on … Continue reading
The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker: the templates for personal growth
The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories by Christopher Booker My rating: 4 of 5 stars This massive, in-depth work presents a unified theory of the art of storytelling based on Jungian psychology. As I recall, this was another … Continue reading
Posted in book reviews
Tagged Christopher Booker, Jung, literary theory, literature, plot, storytelling
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The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes & Heroines by Tami D. Cowden, Caro LaFever, & Sue Viders: “people power” for writers
The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes and Heroines: Sixteen Master Archetypes by Tami D. Cowden My rating: 4 of 5 stars This apparently self-published handbook of character archetypes adds a powerful tool to the writer’s kit. As I recall, this … Continue reading
how astrology works, part 5: holding the mirror up to nature
In my last post I discussed the 4 levels of meaning in a story, as established (so I believe) by the grammarians of the ancient library of Alexandria. If you’re curious about how all this relates to astrology, stick with … Continue reading
Posted in thoughts
Tagged Aristotle, astrology, levels of meaning, Paul J. Zak, storytelling, the Poetics
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how astrology works, part 4: of women and wasps
As I mentioned in my last post, my reflections on why astrology appears to work eventually came to be illuminated by my researches into the art of storytelling. I got as far as describing briefly the ancient approach to the … Continue reading
how astrology works, part 3: don’t do your own thing
In my last post I said that it was my study of the art of storytelling that eventually brought me to an understanding of why astrology works. Science might be able to show that astrology works—this is what Carl Jung attempted … Continue reading
Posted in thoughts
Tagged astrology, Dante, Gauquelin, Joseph Campbell, Jung, literary criticism, Mortimer J. Adler, storytelling, the Great Books
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how astrology works, part 2
In a recent post I talked about my quest to understand why astrology appears to work. A big step in that direction was my discovery of Carl Jung’s concept of synchronicity, which he called “an acausal connecting principle” that functions … Continue reading
Posted in thoughts
Tagged astrology, Brian Giles, Jung, Lajos Egri, storytelling, synchronicity, The Age of Pisces
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The Wizard of Oz: birth of a Girl Adventurer
How many times have you seen The Wizard of Oz? I’m going to guess that I’ve seen it a dozen times. Kimmie, my wife, reckons that she’s seen it at least 20 times. I haven’t the slightest doubt that there are … Continue reading
what makes a movie good?
Before I start talking about individual films, I wanted to say more about my recently concluded History of Cinema Festival. In my last post I raised the question, What do I think makes a movie good? I’m going to try to … Continue reading
