Online Introduction to The Soulcentric Developmental Wheel – December, 2023

Anchored in traditional four-directions wisdom, contemporary depth and archetypal psychologies, and twenty-five years of nature-based soul guiding, the Soulcentric Developmental Wheel (SDW) is a new ecopsychology of human development and cultural transformation. It’s a blueprint showing how richly we can grow and mature when soul and nature are embraced as our wisest and most trustworthy guides. It includes an integrated set of developmental guidelines that can help every human mature into an adulthood of visionary leadership — precisely what we need in this century if we are to create a just, compassionate, and sustainable world.

A life-span model of development from infancy through authentic elderhood, the SDW presents eight distinct stages of life and shows how these stages are almost always independent of chronological age, biological development, cognitive ability, or social role. Rather, the movement from one stage to the next comes about through progress with psychological and spiritual tasks that are specific to each stage. The SDW presents an achievable vision of a contemporary way of life that holds soul-discovery and genuine contribution to the more-than-human community as its most central features and goals.

During this introductory online intensive, we will employ descriptions conversation, guided and deep imagery, poetry. There will be invitations for asynchronous experiential Soulcraft practices on the land as well as journaling exercises that you will do at your own locale before the first session and between our online sessions. You should plan for an additional four hours of practice between sessions to complete the invitations. 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 your nature and your soul.

• We will provide an overview of the 8 Stages of Soulcentric Human Development and explore the first 4 Stages.
• You’ll discover how to employ the Wheel to clarify your own next steps of soul-infused development and learn a set of principles and practices by which you can align yourself with the lifelong journey of growing whole.

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.

We will gather on Zoom on the following days:

December 8,  11 am – 2pm PST

December 9,  11 am – 2pm PST

December 10, 11 am – 2pm PST 

NOTE: sessions are not recorded – please plan to be present for all sessions – thank you.