Thomas Elsner, JD, MA, is a certified Jungian analyst practicing in Santa Barbara, California, and a graduate of the Jung–Von Franz Center for Depth Psychology in Zurich. A core faculty member and highly respected lecturer at Pacifica Graduate Institute for many years where he taught courses on depth psychology and alchemy, Thomas has lectured and presented and led workshops on the theme of Jungian psychology and alchemy nationally and internationally. A recipient of the distinguished annual Fay Lecture series in analytical psychology, he is the author of a soon to be published book on Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s epic poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Mark Patrick Hederman, former abbot of Glenstal Abbey, has been a monk of Glenstal Abbey for over 45 years. Founding editor of The Crane Bag Journal of Irish Studies, he spent the first years of the new century wandering in search of the Holy Spirit, allowing inspiration and coincidence to lead him. Among his many publications are Walkabout: Life as Holy Spirit; Kissing the Dark: Connecting with the Unconscious; Underground Cathedrals; Dancing with Dinosaurs; The Opal and the Pearl, and his most recent book, Crimson and Gold: Life as a Limerick.  

John Hill, MA, earned a diploma in analytical psychology from the Jung Institute of Zurich, where he served for many years as training analyst. Additionally, he has earned degrees in philosophy from the University of Dublin and Catholic University in Washington, DC, has a private practice in Zurich, and is a training analyst at ISAP Zurich. Born and raised in Ireland and a graduate of the Glenstal Abbey School, he has published, among others works, “Celtic Myth”; “Dreams”; “Christian Mysticism”; and At Home in the World: Sounds and Symmetries of Belonging.

Anthony Keane, OSB, who joined the Abbey of Glenstal in 1965 to teach in the Abbey School, studied archaeology and the Irish language in Dublin, and theology in Rome. Following his studies, Father Keane embarked on pilgrimage for a year in India before returning home to tend the forest in Glenstal and serve as the monastery’s forester. Situated on several hundred acres, Glenstal’s forest contains some of the oldest and most magnificent trees in Ireland.

Nóirín Ní Riain, PhD, an acclaimed spiritual singer, has introduced the Dalai Lama at official occasions in Ireland and elsewhere. A theologian, musicologist, and recording artist who was awarded the first doctorate in theology from the University of Limerick, she has written several books, including Listen with the Ear of the Heart: An Autobiography and Theosony: Towards a Theology of Listening. Dr. Ní Riain was ordained as a minister in 2017 with One Spirit Interfaith Seminary in London.

Sylvia Brinton Perera, MA, Jungian analyst, practices, writes and teaches in New York and Vermont. On the faculty and former board member of the Jung Institute of New York, she lectures and leads workshops internationally. Ms. Perera’s many publications include Descent to the Goddess: A Way of Initiation for Women; The Scapegoat Complex: Toward a Mythology of Shadow and Guilt; Dreams, A Portal to the Source; Celtic Queen Maeve and Addiction: An Archetypal Perspective; and The Irish Bull God: Image of Multiform and Integral Masculinity.

Father Simon Sleeman, MA, earned a BA in psychology and philosophy at University College, Dublin, and MAs in theology and organizational development. Ordained in 1991, Father Simon was born in Berlin and educated at the Glenstal Abbey School. Headmaster of Glenstal’s Secondary School from 1991 to 1998 and for many years bursar of Glenstal Abbey, he notes that “providential encounters with psychotherapy, poetry, and alternative philosophies have helped me to forge another understanding of life.”

Monika Wikman, PhD, is a Jungian analyst, astrologer, cranial sacral practitioner and author of Pregnant Darkness: Alchemy and the Rebirth of Consciousness; editor and contributor to Living with Fire: The Visionary Alchemical Work of Nathan Schwartz Salant. A graduate of the Jung–Von Franz Center for Depth Psychology in Zürich, she taught for many years in the graduate department at California State University, Los Angeles, and was the principal investigator of dream research at UCSD Medical Center on “Dreams of the Dying.” She has worked both as an analyst and a cranial sacral therapist with the dying and is director of The Santa Fe Center for Alchemical Studies, with workshops, publications, and research underway. Her work focuses on psyche-body unity, and healing states of consciousness.