A Gnostic myth of Sophia’s hand in fashioning this world and an ancient Greek tale of erotic consciousness newly born introduce this exploration of our essential oneness with Nature. Personal insights from a lifelong passion for birds, haunting experiences in tropical climes, of spirits of place and synchronicities afield will lead to South America’s “Mother Nature,” Pacha Mama, as celebrated in the shamanic folk art of the Toaquiza family of Ecuador’s Tigua Valley and the dazzling art of the Peruvian visionary, Pablo Amaringo.

Bradley A. TePaske, Ph.D. is a Zurich-trained Jungian analyst, religious historian and accomplished visual artist. He has written two books on sexuality and religion, Rape Ritual: A Psychological Study (1984) and Sexuality and the Religious Imagination (2008) and contributed to The Allure of Gnosticism and The Sacred Heritage: The Influence of Shamanism on Analytical Psychology. A member of the C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles and Archetypal Examination Chair of the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts, he lives and works in Pacific Palisades, California with his analyst wife, Arlene Landau, and is the father of two distinguished adult sons. He is a serious amateur ornithologist, paleontologist and environmental activist.