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Praise for SOULCRAFT
“Radical, embodied, and mature, Soulcraft lays a map
for those seeking to launch beyond the psychic and social limitations
assumed in modern society. Please read this book. Please live it.” "The fundamental worldview of industrial society is that
Earth is like a gravel pit or a lumberyard — just a resource
for human use. We live disconnected from the evolving earth community,
but our deepest allurement is a rich, intimate participation in
nature and the ongoing adventure of the Universe. In this stunningly
original and inspiring guide book, Bill Plotkin shows us how to
reconnect with the sacred powers of life, of nature, of soul, and
the ways that each one of us can reinvent ourselves and discover
our unique way to flower forth." “Soulcraft is an inspiring and practical resource guide
in how to be more fully connected to outer wilderness as a mirror
and teacher of our own inner wilderness.” “Bill Plotkin has skillfully interwoven the tools and
insights of depth psychology with the mysteries and ecstasies of
wilderness rites. Soulcraft grounds soul psychology in the natural
world and creates a contemporary path of initiation into soulful
adulthood.” “Those who allow Bill Plotkin’s musings to pass
have allowed a diamond to fall from their pockets. Those who value
the mystical secrets, the magic and mysterious in nature and the
human soul better check their pockets, for there are priceless items
here, rarer far than diamonds. There are huge questions here, and
wisdom worthy of the 21st century. For in Soulcraft we find a new
language, a new therapy, and a burning passion to get to the very
heart of the universe. The answer to our difficulties? If not, a
very important part of the answer. Check your pockets!” “The oldest of our developmental metaphors is the ‘journey.’
Soulcraft is a challenging invitation to the journey — full
of wisdom, syncretic insights, and openings to greater consciousness.
As Nietzsche observed, before one takes the journey, one must first
find the lantern. Soulcraft is a lantern.” “I am grateful to Bill Plotkin for his deeply moving
exploration of what it means and how it feels to follow one's soul
path. If we are to survive, more and more of us must embark on this
journey. This excellent book provides a clear map to help people
to begin.” “Every now and then a book is birthed into the world
that is destined to irrevocably alter the spiritual face of modern
culture. Bill Plotkin's Soulcraft is just such a book. Charting
a course through the underworld pathways with the heart of a shaman,
mapping the powers of myth and psyche with all the soul and interpretive
skill of Jung or Campbell, Plotkin's guide to the journey of initiation
is to nature-based soulwork what Huxley's Doors of Perception was
to consciousness studies. This book is an immense treasure that
will provide wisdomseekers, psychologists, shamanic practitioners,
and seasoned wilderness guides alike with a fresh heart-opening
soul language, a new mythos for fathoming the depths of change,
as well as time-tested practical methods for navigating the landscape
of authentic transformation. In essence, Soulcraft is Plotkin's
"soul gift," a user's manual for the journey of the human
soul, as well as a guide to the futurescape of why we are all really
here. It is the book I wish I could have had at my fingertips when
I began to feel the ancient call for rites of passage in my early
youth. It is required reading for anyone guiding other people in
soulwork, or delving deep into their own. As philosopher Parker
Palmer has said, "The way to God is down." Plotkin shows
the way.” “A poetic and yet intellectually rigorous exploration
of the essential relationship between the human soul and wild nature,
Soulcraft guides the reader on a journey of descent, to return with
gifts for a hungry world.” “I believe that within the concepts, principles, and
practices embodied in Soulcraft rest the foundation of a possible
future that is worthy of humanity’s coming of age. . . . Soulcraft
is a culmination of a quest for understanding that goes back 6000
years and required both the events and the insights of our collective
journey and the personal vision and understanding of Bill Plotkin
(and others) to bear fruit. . . The conceptual framework expounded
by Soulcraft will permeate the collective consciousness of the future
in the same manner as Childhood and Society (Eik H. Erikson) shaped
the 1950s and the work of Abraham Maslow shaped the 1960s.”
“How can we begin our life’s deeper conversation
within the greater world of nature? Bill Plotkin shows us the path.” |
“Here
is an abundantly wise and carefully crafted survival guide for the
wild soul currently dozing (or dying) at the heart of your civilized
life. Plotkin has wandered again and again into the nourishing darkness,
and has returned with this earthly bundle of insights and images
— talismanic tools for awakening to the outrageous depths
both within us and all around us. He has bound them into a book
that is immensely practical, alive with ritual intelligence, thick
with useful tools from a host of courageous comrades.”