Online Introduction to Soulcraft – May, 2023
May 19 - 21, 2023
With Brian Stafford, MD, MPH and Gene Dilworth, M.A.
There is a great longing in each one of us — a longing to uncover the secrets and mysteries of our individual lives, to find the unique gift we were born to bring to our communities, and to experience our full membership in the more-than-human world. This journey to soul is a descent into layers of the self much deeper than personality, a journey quite distinct from the transcendence aspired to in many eastern spiritual disciplines. In the contemporary Western world, we live as if the spiritual descent is no longer necessary or with no awareness that such a journey is meant for each one of us, not just for the heroes and heroines of mythology.
Soulcraft is a modern handbook for the journey of descent: what it is, why it is necessary, how to recognize the call to descend, the necessary prelude and preparation to the descent, what the process of descending looks and feels like, and a set of nature-based practices to initiate and quicken the descent and to maximize its soul-making benefits.
A border crossing into mystery, Soulcraft is rooted in depth psychology, wilderness experience, and the poetic tradition. It is not an imitation of indigenous ways, but a contemporary nature-based approach born from the landscapes of the American wilderness, the traditions of Western culture, and the cross-cultural heritage of all humanity. Filled with stories, poems, and guidelines, Soulcraft introduces over 40 practices that facilitate the descent to soul, including dreamwork, wilderness vision fasts, talking across the species boundaries, council, self-designed ceremony, nature-based shadow work, and the arts of romance, being lost, and storytelling.
Come join us for an online introduction to these practices. This program is great for individuals who have never done an Animas program.
Between our online sessions, you will be invited to engage in Soulcraft practices in the vicinity of the place you inhabit – either nearby wild lands, urban parks and open space, your own backyard, or a sunny balcony or patio – wherever you may encounter the natural world. Please note these wanders are the central experiential elements that will create richness, enchantment, transformation, consciousness shifting, and empowerment in your embodiment of the Soulcraft practices. Please be sure to allow for plenty of time in your schedule to tend to them. After your wanders, we will gather again to share and deepen our experiences on the land. You will leave the program with additional practices to continue personally delving into the wild depths of soul.
Friday, May 19th; 5pm – 7pm (PDT)
Saturday, May 20th; 2pm – 5pm (PDT)
Sunday, May 21st; 2pm – 5pm (PDT)
NOTE: sessions are not recorded – please plan to be present for all sessions – thank you.
Guides
Brian Stafford is a guide to the wilderness of nature, wildness, and soul. Called out of academic medicine to serve as a guide to the depths and to serve as an agent of cultural awakening and transformation, he guides with humor, playfulness, fierceness, compassion, discernment, and a deep remembering of the fullness of what each human life can, should, and was meant to be. A native of Colorado and the former holder of an endowed chair and professor of psychiatry and pediatrics, he is currently a guide, Board Member, and Training Director of the Wild Mind Training Program at Animas. He…
Learn more about Brian Stafford, MD, MPH
Gene Dilworth is dedicated to the project of rewilding the human spirit as an essential dimension of being fully human in these times. By nurturing meaningful relationships with the more-than-human world and facilitating deep inquiry into the mysterious depths of one’s true nature, he supports individuals to discover, re-member and live from the center of their soul-rooted sense of belonging to the world. Gene has been guiding groups and individuals in transformative nature-based experiences since 1986. He has taught ecopsychology and environmental studies at the university level, and has served as an academic administrator and other leadership roles in a…
Learn more about Gene Dilworth, M.A.