| Description: Like seeds planted in holy ground, when we open ourselves to the Sacred Other we thrive and grow into shapes and forms we never thought possible. The Sacred Other is what we might otherwise call soul, spirit, nature, the universe, the Tao, or the Mystery at the center of our existence.
This 5-day experiential program combines three of our most popular soulcraft topics: soul tasks, dialogues with nature, and self-designed ceremony. These three practices move us inexorably toward soul encounter (see below***) so we can more fully embrace the challenges and joys of mature adulthood, as well as its obligations ~ social, political, and spiritual. At Animas, we believe that what the world needs now, as much as anything, are initiated adults taking inspired and generative leadership roles in their communities.
This intensive is limited to 16 people and designed for those who wish to live more fully into their human potential, as well as for those who seek training in soul-and-nature-oriented skills that can be employed in guiding, teaching, counseling, and therapy.
WHAT WE WILL BE DOING
To be in reverent conversation with the ineffable opens us to a range of mysterious influences wider and deeper than our familiar human horizons. We endeavor to deeply open ourselves in conversation with the Sacred Other ~ soul, spirit, nature, the universe, the Tao, the gods and goddesses, or mystery and its archetypes. This intensive explores a variety of creative methods for engaging and cultivating those conversations ~ both luminous and dark.
•SOUL TASKS are custom-designed for you based on the themes and symbols of your dreams and most portentous waking-life experiences, offering you the opportunity to dive deep into the conversation that the world is radiantly open to having with you -- and to move that conversation ultimately into a dynamic and shimmering relationship with the Other.
•DIALOGUES WITH NATURE encompasses a variety of practices that support you in reclaiming your innate capacity to communicate with other-than-human beings. We will explore dialogue through speech, poetry, song, imagery, and movement, as well as widen our perception of listening.
•SELF-DESIGNED CEREMONY is perhaps the most effective way to speak to the Sacred Other in its native language of symbol, image, and embodiment. It is a potent way of anchoring everyday life in your experience of the sacred. We will assist you in designing individual ceremonies from life-transition themes, dreams, deep imagery journeys, archetypes and myths, soul task experiences, and the unfolding conversation you have in the wild.
The entire intensive will be conducted as a numinous conversation with the Other. We'll spend much of our time wandering by streams and in forest, opening ourselves to listening deeply to wild nature, and exploring ways to respond, as well as courting the hidden world accessed and revealed through ceremony and soul tasks.
*** Soulcraft is a synergistic set of nature-based practices designed to evoke the life-shifting experience of soul encounter. Your soul is your true self, those qualities that most deeply define and express who you are and the unique gift that you were born to bring to the world, a world so much in need of the socially transforming contributions of initiated, actively engaged adults. To encounter the soul is to discover the mystical image you were born with, which reveals the path to your greatest personal fulfillment as well as the essence of your true service to society (the cross-cultural wisdom traditions say these are one and the same). Soulcraft practices spring from modern depth psychology, the poetic tradition, nature-based cultures, and wilderness rites of passage -- to comprise a truly contemporary Western path to soul discovery and soul initiation.
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