Scholarship & Research
My work explores the intersections of ancestral memory, intergenerational trauma, ecological consciousness, and transformative healing through interdisciplinary scholarship, autoethnography, and embodied inquiry.
Current Research
Ancestral Healing, Intergenerational Trauma, and Transformative Inquiry
My doctoral research in East–West Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies explores ancestral healing and the transmission of intergenerational trauma through autoethnographic and interdisciplinary inquiry. Drawing on depth psychology, history, embodied experience, and pilgrimage, this work investigates the relationships between personal and collective memory, place, and the possibilities for transformation.
Culture and Spirit in the Valleys of the Po River Tributaries
This ongoing research explores the cultural, ecological, and spiritual landscapes of northern Italy, attending to the relationships among waterways, sacred sites, historical memory, and the communities that have inhabited these valleys across centuries. It draws on fieldwork, historical inquiry, and lived encounters with place.
Publications & Presentations
Publications
Boyle, M. (2026). I Who Am: Women's Letter Writing in Medieval and Renaissance Italy. In The Art of Knowing, proceedings of the LABRC Women Who Create Conference. LABRC Press.
Boyle, M. (2026). Holy Water: An Autoethnography of Learning From Water on a Transformative Path. ReVision: A Journal of Consciousness and Transformation, Bridging Worlds.
Boyle, M. (2024). Grotta del Rio Secco. Preistoria in Italia. Published in Italian.
Conference Presentations
2026
Psychosis, Relationality, and Reconnection in a Time of Poly-crisis. ISPS-US Annual Conference, New York City. Co-presented with Katie Mottram.
The Body as Final Pilgrimage: Functional Thaw, Voice, and Feminine Creative Power. Women Who Create: The Feminine & The Arts, London Arts-Based Research Centre (LABRC), University of Cambridge, UK, March 28–30, 2026. Session: The Female Body as Creative Site.
2025
Culture and Spirit in the Valleys of the Po River Tributaries. 7th Annual Religion and Ecology Summit, Sacred Waters of the World: Reverence, Renewal, Responsibility, California Institute of Integral Studies.
Mathildis Lucens, Adelaide and the Dragon, and the Shining Ones: Lightbodies and the Ancestral Path of Alchemy. LABRC Alchemy Conference, St. Anne's College, University of Oxford, UK.
Spirit in Stone. Association for the Study of Women and Mythology Conference, Tucson, Arizona.
Alchemical Ancestral Pilgrimage. Jungian Society for Scholarly Studies, Mexico City.
2024
I Who Am: Women's Letter Writing in Medieval and Renaissance Italy. London Arts-Based Research Centre (LABRC), Women Who Create Conference, University of Cambridge, UK.
2023
A Brief Autoethnography of San Francisco Bay Area Paganism. Guest presentation, University of Torino, Italy.
Ancestral Alchemy. LABRC Alchemy Conference, University of Oxford, UK.
Frasassi: Primal Source in a Site of Continuous Ritual and Pilgrimage Since the Neolithic. Association for the Study of Women and Mythology Conference, Syracuse, New York.
Post-Jungian Methodologies in Ancestral Inquiry. Jungian Society for Scholarly Studies Conference, Asheville, North Carolina.
2022
On Sacred Ground. ISPS 22nd International Congress, Perugia, Italy.
2021
Terrapsychological Inquiry and Ethnoautobiography of Ancestral Healing on the Italian Peninsula. CIIS Decolonizing Research Conference.
2019
Spiritual Emergence at CIIS. Redefining Crazy Conference.
2018
Restoring Sacred Relationship: Visions of Post-Patriarchal Food Systems. Women Rising Conference.
2017
Autochthonic Philosophy: Toward a New Terrestrial Indigeneity. Future of Philosophical Practice Conference, University of North Carolina Asheville.
Spiritual Emergence as Activation of Soul Purpose. Mental Health Association of San Francisco.