Have you taken the time to visit our Society's Web Page at cgjungsarasota.org? If so, you've probably been impressed by the work of one of our very talented members --Mary Riemenschneider, who designed the website. Although she has kept her "day job" as a medical technologist for Doctors Hospital, Mary has also created a side business in web site design and administration, operating under the persona of The Web Lizard. She says she believes her new avocation lets her use non-linear thinking because all the components are interconnected, making it feel like a more feminine approach to computer science. Mary, who has been involved in writing and performing poetry in the Sarasota area, also creates voodoo pins out of beads and feathers (call to order yours now!), and delights in painting and decorating her living space. She believes that creative expression should not be judged according to its marketability or by any external standards, but should be viewed as an individual experience of personal growth. It is Jung's recognition of such expression as integral to the process of individuation which attracts her to the ideas of the great psychologist.

Mary was originally drawn to Jung through her interest in mythology and the works of Joseph Campbell, an interest that developed from her travels in Asia and the Pacific in 1990 which brought her into contact with the folklore and myths of that region. She became involved in the beginnings of the Sarasota Jung Society, attending Nancy Anderson's Introduction to Jung class in 1993, and attending and leading book/study and film discussion groups through 1995-96. She continues to be involved in the successful growth of the Society, most recently by adding her expertise in the design and administration of the website.

Mary says that, as she has learned more about mythology and Jung over the past 10 years, she has come to realize that her strong connection to his ideas stems back to her childhood years when she was impacted by the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson, as well as the Greek myths. The myth of Persephone carried a particularly powerful connection for her as a child and the myth of Inanna's descent into the underworld also resonates. She is fascinated by the unknowable in the underworld and the redemptive quality in the Goddess' divesting herself of all her material trappings as she descends. Mary also feels a connection with Anderson's Little Mermaid, because of the price she has to pay to pursue her longings. However, Mary admits to identifying more with the witch who provides answers in these tales than with the princess who needs rescuing!

Mary has lived and worked in Sarasota for 16 years, is single and has no children. She continues to enjoy traveling to explore her connection to the outer world, and creative expression to explore the inner.

 ~ Kathy Mays