I practice the art of creative and responsible scholarship. With a PhD in Mythological Studies, an arts background, a philosophical mindset, and an evergreen urge to distill meaning from myths, I can be found researching, writing, and speaking about mythology, or otherwise creating noetic events.
JULY 9, 2026 | PACIFICA GRADUATE INSTITUTE EXTENSION | CERTIFICATE IN APPLIED MYTHOLOGY | SUMMER 2026 | MODULE
Across cultures, myths remember encounters with beneficent beings of light. These angelophanies suggest a recurring mythic motif: a luminous presence that inhabits a realm between the material and the immaterial, appearing at moments when the visible world opens up to reveal another, invisible order. Among the luminous daemons of this intermediate realm is the personal angel, one who responds to our longing, invocation, or command--and grants our dearest wishes.
MAY 7, 2026 | PARVIZ SAYYAD FOUNDATION | FINE ARTS THEATRE | PROGRAM DIRECTOR
Set aboard a bus stalled at the U.S.-Canada border at the outset of the Iran Hostage Crisis, Checkpoint (1987) unfolds at a pivotal moment in Iranian diasporic history—a tense portrait of exile, anxiety, and ideological division. Written and directed by Parviz Sayyad, the 4lm reveals the striking plurality of perspectives within the Iranian diaspora and the challenge of sustaining dialogue across ideological and generational divides-conflicts that continue to echo within the Iranian community today.
Panel discussion and Q & A in Farsi following the screening, focusing on the mental and emotional weight of displacement and unresolved historical wounds within the Iranian-American community guests: PARVIZ SAYYAD, MARY APICK, HOUSHANG TOUZIE, DR. AZITA SAYAN, MFT.
https://parvizsayyadfoundation.org/checkpoint-screening-may-7/
APRIL 26, 2026 | PACIFICA GRADUATE INSTITUTE | MYTHOLOGICAL STUDIES WITH EMPHASIS IN DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY | MYTH AND THE OTHERWORLD | PROF: DR. EVANS LANSING-SMITH | SPRING 2026/SUMMER 2025 | LECTURE
The subject of this lecture is the jinn in “Aladdin and His Enchanted Lamp." My aim is to develop the symbolic literacy needed to understand this figure and the narrative paraphernalia with which it constellates. This necessarily involves considering other varieties of jinn that appear in many stories within the Thousand and One Nights, as well as the broader mythical vocabulary of the cultures in which the jinn was forged.
https://www.pacifica.edu/degree-program/mythological-studies/courses/
MARCH 12, 2026 | 7 PM | PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCH SOCIETY | 7TH HOUSE SERIES | INTRODUCTION
7th House is very proud to present the restoration of a landmark of Iranian New Cinema and a work of enduring formal and historical significance: Marva Nabili’s THE SEALED SOIL (Khake Sar Beh Mohr, 1977), the earliest surviving feature directed by an Iranian woman.
FEBRUARY 26, 2026 | 7 PM | PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCH SOCIETY | 7TH HOUSE SERIES | PANEL DISCUSSION AND Q AND A
7th House is proud to welcome film writer Quatoyiah Murry for the launch of her new curatorial project ENLIGHTED ARTISTS, featuring a special screening of a woefully underseen and eerily disquieting modern gem of occult cinema — Liam Gavin’s A DARK SONG (2016).
DECEMBER 11, 2025 | 7 PM | PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCH SOCIETY | 7TH HOUSE SERIES | INTRODUCTION
7th House is proud to present the restoration of a breathtaking Iranian gothic masterpiece — Mohammad Reza Aslani’s CHESS OF THE WIND (1976)! Screened publicly just once before it was banned and then lost for decades, this rediscovered jewel of Iranian cinema reemerges to take its place as one of the most singular and astonishing works of the country’s pre-revolution New Wave.
AUGUST 31, 2025 | GODDESS-MAKERS IN THE AGE OF AUTOCRATS | CONFERENCE | PACIFICA GRADUATE INSTITUTE | SANTA BARBARA, CA | PRESENTATION
Making what may be her most subversive—if not apocalyptic—gesture, the Mother Goddess of the Kogi of Colombia was to decide whether to flood the world. The Kogi were to pronounce her decision on the Summer Solstice of 2024. The solstice came; the Kogi remained silent.
MAY 31, 2025 | PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCH SOCIETY | 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM | CURATOR, PRODUCER, HOST, PRESENTER
This conference brings together academic and independent scholars, storytellers and artists to illuminate the mythic figure of Mehr—one of the most exalted forces in the Iranian tradition. Known as “Mithra” in Avestan and “Mehr” in Pahlavi and Persian, this ancient divinity was once revered as the god of love and light, guardian of oaths, protector of truth, and champion of the righteous.
