5 Week Online Class taught online via zoom

Mondays, November 4 - December 1, 2024
8pm – 9:30pm ET (NYC Time)
$100 Paid Patreon Members / $125 General Admission

Please note: All classes will be recorded for those who cannot attend live

Summon the Great God Pan in his many manifestations over the millennia in this interactive workshop designed to deepen our connection with this ancient nature deity. Revered, repressed, and resurrected, Pan reflects our changing relationship with the natural world and our own bestial natures. When we are more connected to nature, he appears as a celebration of earthiness, sensuality, and instinct. He is recognized as a necessary part of life, including both the beauty and the horror, and is respected—even worshipped—as a god. When we become disconnected from nature, we misperceive him as evil, frightening, perverse, or as a temptation to be resisted. Explore all of these pathways to Pan (and more) over the course of five weeks packed with lectures, conversation, readings, activities, and share outs. 

Each session will begin by summoning Pan through reflection and conversation around key artworks from antiquity to the present day. Resident mythologist Liz Andres will then guide participants through richly illustrated lectures delving into different facets of this great god. Participants will have the opportunity to explore their personal relationship with Pan during class conversations and via specific prompts and activities designed to deepen engagement. Additional readings and resources will be provided, and all participants will be invited to share an optional creative project at the end of the course.

Week One: Ancient God

• Origins of Pan and his divinity

• Worshipping Pan

• Death of Pan

Week Two: Horned God

• Archetype of the horned god

• Wild men, wild women

• Pan and the Devil

 Week Three: Fertility God

• Carnality

• Aphrodite and Dionysos

• Paganism and folk horror

 Week Four: Nature God

• Resurrection

• The deep dark woods

•  Environmentalism, feminism, satanism

Week Five: Reflections & Presentations

Liz Andres is a museum professional and scholar based in Los Angeles. She holds degrees in Art History, Classical Archaeology, and Museum Studies from U.C. Berkeley and the University of Leicester and specializes in museum education and exhibitions. Her current research focuses on hybrid and liminal creatures in ancient Greek art and mythology, museum taxidermy, and representations of death and nature in western art. Follow her on Instagram.

IMAGES

1. Satyr & Nymph Worshipping Pan, John Allen St. John, early 20th century

2. Pan chasing a shepherd, Greek, 470 BCE (MFA Boston)

3. Dorothy Brett, The Man Who Died, 1963