Apocalypse, A Love Story – A Presentation by myth scholar Maryam Sayyad, PhD
Join Maryam Sayyad as she unpacks the myth of the apocalypse, and the agony and ecstasy of transformative revelation. In most of the Western world, apocalypse evokes the Biblical Revelation to John,bringing to mind notions of doom and images of catastrophic endings. The preponderating aura of Revelation is one of carnage after all, and its preponderating god is a God of Wrath whose unceasing assault on the world John describes in gory detail. And yet, beneath the deafening trumpets and barely audible under their thunderous battlecry, we can hear him whispering a simple love story.
This presentation traces the romance in John’s Revelation back to the Old Testament and through Near Eastern traditions to arrive in the dark soil of an Earth-Mother mythos where mystical union replaces death, rapturous morbid ecstasy replaces agony, and doom becomes initiatory. The myth of the apocalypse portrays an initiation through death and loss when surrendering to the end is the only option. The old order has passed away (Revelation to John 21:1).
Bio:
Maryam Sayyad is a practitioner of the scholarly arts. With a PhD in Mythological Studies and Depth Psychology, a multimedia background, a philosophical mindset, and an evergreen urge to distill meaning from myths, she can be found researching, writing, speaking about mythology, or otherwise creating noetic events ranging from theater to academic conferences and the co-founding of Kosmos Institute of Mythology, Esotericism, and Archetypes (KIMEA).
She serves as Director of Art and Education for Cross Cultural Expressions (CCE) where her work involves bridging the wisdom of myth and folklore with psychology in the consulting room and beyond. She was myth consultant on two mytho-psychological films produced by CCE: Wake Up Sleeping Beauty (2020) and The Djinn in the Pen (2022). As event director for Namah Ensemble, she produces mythological theater with storytellers, artists, musicians, and dancers.
At Pacifica Graduate Institute, she was a Joseph Campbell Scholar from 2015-2020. And this year, she is honored to be a Contributing Scholar at PRS where she hosted the first Mythos of Iran Conference in 2023.
Ticket Price: Suggested donation $10 (in-person event only)
If you have any questions please email events@prs.org or phone 323-663-2167.
