ABOUT CARL MARSAK

Educational Background

1978               Graduated from Santa Barbara High School.

1978 - 1981    Attended the University of California at San Diego and the University                             of California at Santa Barbara. 

                       B.A. in Liberal Studies. Graduated with Honors.

1987 - 1990    Attended the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.                             M.A. in Social and Cultural Anthropology, with a specialty in the                                     anthropology of religion and spiritual communities.

1999 - 2002    Attended New York University in Manhattan. 

                       M.A. in Religious Studies, with a specialty in feminist and postmodern                           philosophy of religion. Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Dept. of                                 Religious Studies.

 

Professional Background

1987               Introduced to the Enneagram in San Francisco, CA.

1993 - 1997    Self-typing. Read numerous Enneagram books and articles. Attended                           many workshops in California.

1998               Taught first Enneagram workshop in Dharamsala, India, to over forty                               people from at least twelve different countries.

1999               Taught Enneagram workshops in Reykjavik, Iceland for staff and faculty                           members of Namsflokkar Reykjavikur, an adult education college.

1999 - 2001    Continued Enneagram studies and practices. Began attending                                       International Enneagram Association Conferences.

2002 - 2004    Graduated from the Enneagram Professional Training Program (EPTP)                           of Helen Palmer and David Daniels, M.D.  in Menlo Park, CA.

                       Became a certified Enneagram Teacher in the Narrative Tradition.

2005 - 2009    Trained with Sandra Maitri in the Diamond Approach to the Enneagram.

2004 - Now    Taught Enneagram workshops, classes and presentations in numerous                            locations, including California, Oregon, Virginia, Pennsylvania, England                          and The Findhorn Foundation, Scotland.  Wrote several articles for The                         Enneagram Monthly and The Enneagram Journal.

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The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI)

Taught many Enneagram and other classes for the OLLI at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, OR between 2010 and 2023, both in-person and online.

Courses included:

• Introduction to the Enneagram

• Enneagram Type Panels

• Coping with Stress in Difficult Times: Using the Enneagram to Access Inner and Outer Resources

• The Enneagram and the Dramatic Life: Using Film to Understand Character Types

• Guiding the Nine Enneagram Types to Change

• The Enneagram of Aging

• The Enneagram: Revelations of Essence

• Enneagram Applications for the 21st Century

Other classes included:

• Mystics, Saints and Saints

• Spiritual Cinema Afternoons

• Core Shamanism: The Work of Angeles Arrien

• The Possible Elder: Conscious Aging and Spiritual Development in the Later Years of Life

• Growing Gold: Soul-making in the Second Half of Life

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Other Teaching Highlights

• Presented five times at the International Enneagram Association Conferences on the topics: “Spiritual Initiation and the Enneagram” (2004); "Theosophical Understandings of the Enneagram" (2007); The Coming of Wisdom with Time: Applying Enneagram Theory and Practice to the Emerging Field of Transpersonal Gerontology“ (2013);The Enneagram of Aging: A 9 Points Panel of Spiritual Elders” (2014); “Psychological Bypassing and the Repression of the Sublime: What Psychosynthesis Can Contribute to Enneagram Theory and Practice” (2021).Sharing the Enneagram with Mercy Hospital Hospice, Mt. Shasta, CA (2006).

• Taught the system to a large group of psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers at the University of Pennsylvania Counseling Center in Philadelphia, PA (2006).

• Offered many “Pay it Forward workshops” on the Enneagram to large and small groups at various venues, including Village Books in Mt. Shasta, CA, The Wisdom Café and Gallery in Nevada City, CA, the Ashland Public Library and the Board of the Ashland Independent Film Festival, in OR.

• Ran yearly Enneagram Inquiry Groups (2004-2015).

• Lead workshops for members and long-term guests at The Findhorn Community in Scotland (2004, 2006).

• Traveled to the Dent Meditation Centre in Cumbria, England, and teaching in a beautiful, historic church (2004).

• Spoke about the Enneagram to about 500 people at the 2006 Wesak Festival in Mt. Shasta, CA.

• Lead a weekend workshop at the Spiritual Enrichment Center (Church of Religious Science) in Redding, CA in February 2008.

• Was a guest speaker at the California Institute of Integral Studies in December 2007, in a graduate class on Transpersonal Psychotherapy.

• In 2011 and 2012 created and led two weekend workshops in
  Sebastopol, CA for the Giving Spirit Form healing community.
  Based on the principles of Native American spirituality, we
  integrated the Enneagram with shamanic journeywork, self-
  inquiry and Lakota Sioux spirituality.

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