Mitchell L. Walker
Mitchell Lynn Walker (born 1951) is an American gay activist and Jungian psychologist who has written many influential articles and books on gay-centered psychology.[1][2][3]
Biography
Walker enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles where he saw a therapist who tried to persuade him to not be gay.[1] Although Walker rejected the therapist he did get "an invaluable introduction to inner work, to the techniques of dream analysis, and to other tools of psychological investigation."[1] Walker transferred to the Berkeley campus and majored in psychology.[1] He became more outspoken on gay issues and became one of the first to join the Berkeley Free Clinic's Gay Men Collective.[1] After graduation he worked on a master's-level in psychology at San Francisco's Lone Mountain College focussing on same-sex love from Jung's "archetypal perspective" using the basis that archetypes are "primal indwelling sources after which behavior is patterned and images are perceived."[1] In 1974 Walker had a realization that same-sex love was archetypal, not "a mere accident or adaption," answering the question if one was born gay or does gayness come from social experience.[1] His revelation led to his master's thesis "discussing the then unheard-of topic of gay depth psychology."[1]
Walker was the first openly gay writer to be published in the formal Jungian literature, for his paper, "The Double: An Archetypal Configuration," appeared in Spring in 1976.[4][5] followed by "Jung and Homophobia," published in Spring in 1991. He is also the author of Men Loving Men: A Gay Sex Guide & Consciousness Book (Gay Sunshine Press, 1977/1994) - which was involved in an obscenity-importing case in England[6] - and Visionary Love: A Spirit Book of Gay Mythology and Transmutational Faerie (Treeroots Press, 1980).[1]
In 1979, Walker co-created with activists Harry Hay, John Burnside, and Don Kilhefner the first gay-centered spiritual movement, the Radical Faeries,[7][8][9] a loosely affiliated, worldwide network and counter-cultural movement seeking to reject hetero-imitation and redefine queer identity through spirituality.[10]
In 1987 Walker received a Ph.D. in psychology with the dissertation, A Uranian Conjunction: The Individual Model of C. G. Jung as Applied to Gay Men.[1] He has continued lecturing, teaching and running a private practice in Los Angeles.[1]
Selected works
- The Uranian Soul: A Gay-Centered Jungian sychology Of Male Homosexual Personhood For a New Era of Gay Liberation Politics With Universal Implicational Import
- "Gay-Centered Inner Work." White Crane: A Journal Exploring Gay Men's Spirituality, 48, Spring 2001.
- "Disclosing Shadow to Self: The Next Stage of Gay Liberation." White Crane: A Journal Exploring Gay Men's Spirituality, 41, Summer 1999.
- The Revolutionary Psychology of Gay-Centeredness in Men: Three Short Essays.
- "The Archetype of Gay-Centeredness." White Crane: A Journal Exploring Gay Men's Spirituality, 37, Summer 1998.
- "Coming out inside: An interview with Mitch Walker." In M. Thompson (ed.), Gay Soul: Finding the Heart of Gay Spirit and Nature.
- Men Loving Men: A Gay Sex Guide and Consciousness Book
- "Jung and Homophobia." Spring 51, A Journal of Archetype and Culture, 1991.
- "Gay Soul Making: Coming Out Inside." In M. Thompson (ed.), Gay Spirit: Myth and Meaning.
- "Visionary Love: The Magickal Gay Spirit-Power." In M. Thompson (ed.), Gay Spirit: Myth and Meaning.
- Visionary Love: A Spirit Book of Gay Mythology and Transmutational Faerie
- "The Double: An Archetypal Configuration." Spring 1976: An Annual of Archetypal Psychology and Jungian Thought
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Thompson, Mark (1995). Gay Soul: Finding the Heart of Gay Spirit and Nature with Sixteen Writers, Healers, Teachers, and Visionaries. HarperOne. pp. 248–250. ISBN 0-06-251041-X.
- ↑ Curzon, David (July 26, 1987). "Gay Spirit: Myth and Meaning by Mark Thompson". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ↑ Isherwood, Charles (July 11, 1994). "Confessions of a Playgirl Centerfold". The Advocate. pp. 44–51. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ↑ "The Double: An Archetypal Configuration." Spring 1976: An Annual of Archetypal Psychology and Jungian Thought
- ↑ Matthew Wilhelm Kapell, Stephen McVeigh (2011). The Films of James Cameron: Critical Essays. McFarland. ISBN 9780786462797. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ↑ Salisbury, Stephen (November 7, 1986). "Gay Bookstore Battles British Law". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ↑ Timmons, Stuart (1990), The Trouble with Harry Hay: Founder of the Modern Gay Movement, Alyson Publications, p. 261 ISBN 1-55583-175-3
- ↑ Ghys, Clement (July 19, 2011). "Conte de gays (Gay Fairy)". Liberation. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ↑ Najafi, Yusef (January 24, 2008). "Sink or Swim: Faerie founder to guide locals to midlife awakening". Metro Weekly. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
- ↑ Monteagudo, Jesse (April 19, 2011). "Tales of the Radical Faeries". South Florida Gay News. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
External links
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