Seduced by Earth:
Deep Imagination, SoulcraftTM,
and the Dreaming of Nature

Bill Plotkin & Geneen Marie Haugen

What if Earth is trying to seduce us for her own purposes? What if Earth is dreaming through us, through our own deepest imaginings and allurements? What if the wild child that became the "human potential movement" was seeded by Esalen's sea cliffs, ocean tides, hot springs, whales, and great trees as much as by the daring, creative humans drawn to this land? What if the wild blossom of your own most soul-rooted life could be pollinated by the exuberant land? As Rilke writes, "Earth, isn't this what you want from us?"

Some places on Earth seem to summon our deepest emotion, expanded imagination, and greatest sense of possibility — both for our individual lives and for the community of all species. By entering the landscape, we enter its imagination, its atmosphere, its story. We are each an expression of the dreaming of Earth. 

At Esalen, we'll explore what its wild sea, forest, and canyons, curious gardens and creatures (human and other) evoke in us, how they animate our day- and night-dreams. Practices we'll use include soul-oriented dreamwork, deep imagery journeys, council, poetry, trance drumming and dancing. And we’ll encourage solo wanderings on the land while engaging in soulcraft tasks designed to feed the mystery at the core of our lives. We will live the question: If Earth is romancing us for her own purposes — very much the way the nectar lust of bees serves the desires of flowers — what wild child, what honey, will we create from this joining?  

Recommended reading: Bill Plotkin’s Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche and Nature and the Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a Fragmented World

REGISTRATION: go to Esalen Website