• Mentored by the Movies •
Countless Friday nights, we made our midcentury pilgrimage to the "66" Park In Theatre —
a carload of pajama-clad kids tossed in the back of the Chevy station wagon for "Two Dollars A Car" night.
West Side Story, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and Breakfast at Tiffany's cast their indelible spell,
lulling me into many a Hollywood dreamscape of popcorn, romance, and sleep. I was hooked.
Sunday afternoons, we poured into half dollar double features at our neighborhood staple, the
Osage Theater. Scores of wildlings loosely deposited at the curb while liberated parents escaped for the day.
Cinderella, Old Yeller, The Man with the X-Ray Eyes, The Magnificent Seven. I treasured them all.
And then, lo and behold — vast wonderlands of old movies issued forth — like heavenly heralds —
from our tiny black and white Sylvania in 1959. Shirley Temple, Fred Astaire, Cary Grant and Bette Davis
fueled my longings, visions, and dreams.I was mesmerized. Comforted. Called.
A golden thread to something true had claimed me.
Nightwatch Theater was sacred Saturday night TV with the older brother. Spellbound by the classic
horror canon, we immersed our nightmare-curious psyches in a weekly holy trinity of masculine angst,
existential philosophy, and expressionist art. Amateur actors costumed as ghouls performed
gallows humor shtick at every commercial break. Our fervor was devotional.
Movies were my sanctified space, my imaginal refuge, my worldly mentor, my soul companion,
my medicine. Cinema is a constant point of reference. Now in my third act, I am astonished
to have found my way here. Teaching others to find beauty, magic, and meaning
in movies is where the fates had been coaxing me all along.
Terry
• Terry Ebinger, MS •
— Mentored by the Movies —
Serious fun for cinephiles!
A passionate, seasoned, warm, and creative film scholar and teacher, Terry's unique
approach to film studies, Cinema & Psyche, synthesizes film art and history, depth psychology,
cultural anthropology, mythic wisdom, and dream. Throughout over three decades of
private practice, she served as mentor, depth psychological educator, dream consultant,
spiritual director, multidisciplinary group leader, and professional supervisor.
Terry holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, which was awarded summa cum laude, with
duel majors in both Psychology and Media Studies from Webster University in St. Louis.
Her Master of Science degree from California State East Bay is in Clinical Counseling.
She practiced as a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist from 1987 to 2000.
Her teaching experience has focused on cross-disciplinary film studies, the language of myth
and symbol, group and individual dreamwork, cross-cultural wisdom, grief and loss, initiation,
midlife passage, the way of the elder, depth mentoring, and group psychology.
Terry has taught at San Francisco Jung Institute, Myth Salon, Mythica, College of Marin,
Santa Rosa Junior College, Sonoma State Lifelong Learning Institute, Oakmont Lifelong
Learning, The Dream Institute, The Esalen Institute, The Chaplaincy Institute,
and Wisdom University. During her early career as a licensed psychotherapist,
Terry developed and led many original groups and seminars related to personal growth,
family therapy, addiction recovery, dreamwork, and soul-centered inner work.