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    Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche
    Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche
    Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche
    Audiobook14 hours

    Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche

    Written by Bill Plotkin, PhD

    Narrated by Rob Grgach

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Since 1980, depth psychologist Bill Plotkin has been guiding women and men into the wilderness-the redrock canyons and snow-crested mountains of the American West-but also into the wilds of the soul. He calls this work soulcraft.

    There's a great longing in all people 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 meant for each one of us, not just for the heroes and heroines of mythology.

    A modern handbook for the journey, Soulcraft is not an imitation of indigenous ways, but a contemporary nature-based approach born from wilderness experience, the traditions of Western culture, and the cross-cultural heritage of all humanity. Filled with stories, poems, and guidelines, Soulcraft introduces over forty 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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateApr 25, 2017
    ISBN9781541473539
    Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche

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    Reviews for Soulcraft

    4.5/5

    43 ratings3 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      One of the greatest and most impactful books I’ve ever read. Thank you!
    • 5/5
      The most important book I have read in my lifetime. A wonderful guide to my souls journey. I had no idea there were words for what I’ve been going through. Plotkin speaks for the soul.
    • 5/5
      I’m just returning from a five-day Soulcraft intensive led by Bill Plotkin of Animas Valley Institute. The event took place up in the Rocky Mountains of Northern New Mexico at a retreat center called Vallecitos Mountain Ranch - nestled in a valley at 8,800 feet.

      Background

      Soulcraft is the artistry and practice of courting and embodying our souls. By Bill’s definition, ego is the attribute in humans that allows us to interact with the world - it’s our personality, and our physical form. Soul is purpose. Yet few people ever embody soul nowadays. And it takes both ego and soul to be human.

      Soul is what makes us unique. Spirit is what is shared, universal. A balanced spiritual tradition involves both spirit [ascending] and soul [descending].

      Soul is most often encountered alone in nature.

      Bill is in his sixties, and has written three books about this work: “Soulcraft” [2003], “Nature and the Human Soul” [2008], and “Wild Mind” [2013]. I’ve read the first two.

      Location

      The Ranch was beautiful. It was surprisingly “flat” for my perceptions of the Rockies. I covered a lot of milage, and everything was within 1,000 feet of elevation of everything else [moving up from base camp to almost 10,000].

      Although the climate is relatively dry, it was wetter than what I’m used to in the Boulder, CO area. There was a surprising amount of green.

      Forest was aspens and ponderosa pines, with mountain cottonwoods by the water - sparse compared to Northeast standards. Higher up things shifted to spruce and fir.

      There was a river running through the valley, and it was full of brook trout. It was cool, but not freezing.

      There was one nearby “peak” big enough to get a name on the map. It was called Quartzite Peak, and I hiked it.

      Experience

      All together there were thirty-three of us, with Bill, three guides, a few apprentices, and the rest of us participants. The group was almost all people in their fifties and sixties. Some of us were in our twenties, thirties, and seventies.

      Most of my time was spent out in nature alone. As a large group in the lodge immediately after breakfast, lunch, and sometimes dinner, we were given tasks to work with alone in nature. We also met in smaller “clans” each day in order to discuss at length our experiences out in nature.

      Some people had some really big personal breakthroughs or “breakdowns” during the event - what we were going through. I didn’t experience any of these in very apparent ways, but did really appreciate the depth of the experience.

      There are four primary soulcraft practices that we worked with:
      Completing unfinished business from the first three stages [out of eight] of ecosoulcentric human maturation
      Wholing - becoming more balanced and present in the Four Facets of the Self
      Self-healing - of the subpersonalities
      Facilitation of soul encounters

      Terms

      The Four Facets of Self are:
      East - Innocent, Sage, Sacred Fool, Trickster
      South - Wild Indigenous One
      West - Muse, Inner Beloved, Anima/Animus, Guide to Soul
      North - Nurturing Generative Adult

      The Subpersonalities are:
      East - Escapists and Addicts
      South - Wounded Children (including Outcasts)
      West - The Shaw and Shadow Selves
      North - Loyal Soldiers: Lion Tamers, Inner Critics, Inner Flatterers
      If you’re interested in learning more about this specifics of all this terminology, read the book, go on a course with Animas, or get in touch and we can have a conversation.

      Conclusion

      My experience with Animas was awesome! Highly recommended for anyone looking for deeper ways to engage with themselves and the world.