my work and research

Anima Mundi School

I’m the founder of the Anima Mundi School where I work with a small collective of women worldwide from various fields that bring together depth-psychology, spiritual ecology, the mythic imagination, and the creative arts.
Our work at the Anima Mundi School is mainly focused on the importance of cultural diversity in depth-psychology, storytelling as an oral tradition and the work with myth and collective symbols in art. The work we do is rooted in the imaginal and based on images, poetry and the study of narrative changes and motifs in our yearly work with myths and fairytales. Our collective research is aimed at witnessing in what ways the feminine is rising to consciousness and understanding the interrelated spiral-consciousness that accompanies it. In this way, we hope to plant a few seeds of remembrance and oneness that belong to the feminine. Seeds that are much needed during this uniquely disturbing time in history where the very fabric of our planet and all Her inhabitants are threatened with existence.

Academic research: The Practice & Psychology of Alchemy

My career path lead be back to the University of Amsterdam where I first studied Public International Law more than a decade ago. I am currently doing a Research Masters in Religious Studies at the Center for History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents. My research interests include: Persian Mysticism, Alchemy and the Feminine principle in mythology and depth-psychology. My research weaves the intersection of Jungian psycho-spiritual alchemy and laboratory alchemy (Spagyrics) through both fieldwork and historical research. The research is focused on bridging the split between spirit and matter that we have inherited from a Cartesian understanding of the world and nature through testing and revisioning Jung’s theory on alchemy. My thesis inquires on the possibility to move Jung’s theory on alchemy beyond the Cartesian epistemology, into a more feminist and post-humanist approach that includes the internationality and entanglement of matter, spirit and psyche.

authors & influences

My current research and the work I offer weaves all of my learnings together but is primarily based on Jungian theories and practice. Great female teachers and pioneers for me are: Marie-Louise von Franz, Barbara Hannah, Anne Baring, Marion Woodman, Esther Harding and Sylvia Brinton Perera . Besides the immense body of work by Carl Jung himself, I am also influenced by the work of James Hillman and Jeffrey Raff. Rather than a rigidly academic approach, the way I work with my clients is also largely influenced by the esoteric teachings of Sufism and my ancestral heritage in Persia. From the work of Ibn ‘Arabi, Sohrawardi and Henry Corbin to contemporary teacher and author Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, as well as the very personal discoveries of a long forgotten and hidden wisdom of the feminine of ancient Persia. I’m currently writing my first book about my personal journey of uncovering this ancient Persian feminine heritage and its connections to the tradition of Sufism.

 Besides my regular teaching and storytelling at our events at the Anima Mundi School, I regularly give talks and classes on Jungian psychology, alchemy, the mythopoetic and feminine consciousness at both public and private events.