My respect for the power of the collective unconscious began in childhood, shaped by the archetypal intensity of Pentecostal and Charismatic churches in the Gulf South during the 1950s and by long days immersed in nature along the creeks, bayous, and rivers flowing toward the Mississippi Delta. These early experiences of religion and the natural world quietly carved unconscious patterns within me, gradually redirecting my life away from corporate work and toward what Carl Jung called a greater wisdom, ultimately leading to a midlife transition into graduate study and ongoing training in depth psychology, archetypal pattern recognition, and religious studies.