About this episode

The episode discusses the balance between the Greek gods Hermes and Hestia in the context of modern technological life and communication.

Become a member of the HITW Patreon community: http://patreon.com/howlinthewilderness Howling about Greek gods Hermes and Hestia and the remedy for what James Hillman called “Hermetic Intoxication” with depth psychologist, writer and teacher Elizabeth Eowyn Nelson Elizabeth Éowyn Nelson, faculty at Pacifica Graduate Institute since 2003, has been a professional writer and editor for four decades. Dr. Nelson’s books include Psyche’s Knife (Chiron, 2012), The Art of Inquiry (Spring, 2005 & 2017), coauthored with Joseph Coppin, and The Art of Jungian Couple Therapy, coauthored with Anthony Delmedico (Routledge, 2025). “Any archetypal understanding of contemporary life must honor two gods, Hestia and Hermes, who are a very unlikely pair—though are paired in the western classical tradition. In our love affair with mobile digital life, we have been in a Hermetic frenzy, individually and culturally, for decades. I do not see it ending because we are fully invested in instantaneous communication—sending messages to each other at the speed of light. This is Hermes, the Greek god of communication and commerce (in the broad) sense who also is a trickster and thief. To counterbalance…

People in this episode

Host: Brian James

Guest: Elizabeth Éowyn Nelson

Topics covered

• Greek mythology
• technology
• psychology
• communication
• cultural critique
• archetypes

Keywords

• Hermes
• Hestia
• technology
• communication
• psychology
• archetypes
• cultural critique

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Pacifica Graduate Institute

Books & works: Psyche’s Knife, The Art of Inquiry, The Art of Jungian Couple Therapy

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