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The biggest global wound that I can see is that of separation to the natural world, as if we are not nature.  This is, for me, is the place to start, if this deeper soul work is to be more accessible.  There are many organisations offering this first port-of-call nature connection practices.  The one that I am most familiar with (I'm an 8 shields facilitator) and who also work specifically with culture repair as they call it, is the 8 Shields Institute.  It offers more basic level intro to nature and also community, which is part of where it's different to Animas.  Their way of working isn't so deep so isn't so off-putting for people but it can be a way in. I've witnessed this many times from working with folks within the 8S events and then seeing them curious about this other stuff I do.........

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The biggest global wound that I can see is that of separation to the natural world, as if we are not nature.  This is, for me, is the place to start, if this deeper soul work is to be more accessible.  There are many organisations offering this first port-of-call nature connection practices.  The one that I am most familiar with (I'm an 8 shields facilitator) and who also work specifically with culture repair as they call it, is the 8 Shields Institute.  It offers more basic level intro to nature and also community, which is part of where it's different to Animas.  Their way of working isn't so deep so isn't so off-putting for people but it can be a way in. I've witnessed this many times from working with folks within the 8S events and then seeing them curious about this other stuff I do.........

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something that came was the image of humans as being earths core wound...the walking wounded. 

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something that came was the image of humans as being earths core wound...the walking wounded. 

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there's appears to be a great risk when tending to the development of unique econiche in individuals to slip into exceptionalism...the way we speak  when we laud some and overlook others is an example of making someone exceptional, rather than honouring their uniqueness...famous people have been decided as exceptional by the dominant culture... not one word anyone has written is unique to that one person ...all has come from the collective consciousness of earth.

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there's appears to be a great risk when tending to the development of unique econiche in individuals to slip into exceptionalism...the way we speak  when we laud some and overlook others is an example of making someone exceptional, rather than honouring their uniqueness...famous people have been decided as exceptional by the dominant culture... not one word anyone has written is unique to that one person ...all has come from the collective consciousness of earth.

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when we make one person exceptional we are making all other contributors less/ in visible when the natural way is a web of connection where all are contributors.
i think about what i heard from the kalahari folk who tease the hunter who returns with the most impressive contribution and the children learn from them to humble themselves, to downplay when they " excel" in order to keep themselves belonging in the web of connection that truly is life.
i spose i notice in some of the languaging i n animas a shadowy impetus to be impressive and exceptional- like joanna macy or other folks of renown..and less emphasis on being  mycelial, being folks that are less visible in the world but equally as vital.
I allow myself to question and reflect my experiences without having suggestions for remedy :-)

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i want to add to the next column but can't work out how to do it ! 

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i want to add to the next column but can't work out how to do it ! 

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my reflection on the work we do and what's lacking/missing is hearth..i mean by this that quality of a physical place that is home for humans ...foxes have earths, badgers have setts, birds make nests  humans have hearths...a hearth is not just a fire place..it's a fire in a certain place with the kith and kin of other than humans from that place around it, and in which the spell of what it is to be physically and sacredly human  is spoken and enacted. it is the basecamp for the "expedition" of the programme/ intensive etc and where we see how wholy we embody what we are learning/becoming...on a mountain expedition ive heard it said that the basecamp needs more attention than the expedition because it is what keeps everyone alive....reducing the seperation between the mundane and the heightened experiences of intensives seems like a good move...i was co-guiding a visionquest last year and the guides and particiants kept the hearth fire going, collecting wood, chopping it cooking food and getting water hot ...i could feel that attending to those practical things was feeding my guiding, rooting me more deeply into the place we were held by so that i was even more a conduit for the wisdom of that place.
i  sense that when programmes happen, the place is often  still " used" as a backdrop for the unfolding human drama despite the language of "conversation" that we use ...because folks just rock up and the guides don't know the place, haven't spent time greeting and learning about the others that live there..haven't courted it, learnt it ways.
geneen mentioned in the recording that we are broken from the land...YES we really are and the sifting of a new indigeny which includes practical, physical embodied relation ( south facet) as well as a imaginal/felt/thought one is something id love to see coming out of this enquiry - including supporting those who are belonging in that embodied way, surrendered to the cycles and limits of earth as a physical being  that means we cant fly long haul to train/want to learn with our hearth  in our bioregions to be soul guides x

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Inviting participants, initiates or mentees to involve their community in their journey, whilst knowing that the deep soul work can only be done alone, especially if they're having a dive into soul canyon.  It's something about 'building or strengthening the ropes of connection' with our people as we make these journeys.  Something around including them, as if their place matters, as if we value them.  It also spreads the net wider so-to-speak, let's folks know that these kind of processes and ceremonies are happening.  I believe this is a simple yet powerful thing that has the potential for cultural healing within it.  As a quest guide I invite people to do this as part of their process.

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Inviting participants, initiates or mentees to involve their community in their journey, whilst knowing that the deep soul work can only be done alone, especially if they're having a dive into soul canyon.  It's something about 'building or strengthening the ropes of connection' with our people as we make these journeys.  Something around including them, as if their place matters, as if we value them.  It also spreads the net wider so-to-speak, let's folks know that these kind of processes and ceremonies are happening.  I believe this is a simple yet powerful thing that has the potential for cultural healing within it.  As a quest guide I invite people to do this as part of their process.

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the village hearth, people of different skin colours, ethnicities and backgrounds gathering there

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the village hearth, people of different skin colours, ethnicities and backgrounds gathering there

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How could the work of Animas be more relational?

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How could the work of Animas be more relational?

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I also want to write mu musing under the next column and I also can't find a way.......?

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I also want to write mu musing under the next column and I also can't find a way.......?

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More community minded, more hearth, more relational - within and also outside of the programs.  Some of the most powerful healing happens whilst in relationship with others, at the village hearth perhaps.  Sometimes (though hot always) the being alone in nature keeps us safe.......

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how can animas turn to support families specifically ( as most folks have children before they are initiated adults and yet there is very little spoken of balancing the rigours of soul initiation with raising a family. 

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how can animas turn to support families specifically ( as most folks have children before they are initiated adults and yet there is very little spoken of balancing the rigours of soul initiation with raising a family. 

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I find it an interesting tension that what seems to be true is that each particular thing/being is its own self, with agency, desire, particular allurements and place that is home for them, AND what is also true is that every particular thing/being is also the collective. I witness this in the patterns of Earth. I imagine this tension of what sometimes feels like irreconcilable opposites is part of our design and finding a way to be in conversation and expression in both of those realities can bring forth creativity, sensitivity, diverse inclusivity.

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"On the morning of our conversation l saunter on the land speaking out the 3 questions in conversation with the land, surprisingly finding myself at Doon Hill. I don't know much about Doon Hill. Whilst not very far from where l live l've never been here, as l find out, to this originally Neolithic Settlement followed by 7th Century Settlement. As l  walk up the hill above Dunbar on a surprisingly warm day for February's end l hear the song of Skylarks (an exaltation) as if both earth and sky are singing in all fields.  Recently born lambs are playing in one field to my left. They are unusual in that there are 5 'varieties' and colours all playing together including some l'd never seen before, black sock legs, white arrow head black, great black spotted wooly one, all black, and all white springing lambs hanging out together.
Further on l climb over gates and fences since the site itself is closed due to covid. I read various possible histories of this place, where 'nothing' is left except marking. The one story that sparks me is a story of the hall where the community and animals lived. The thatched hall (first of this kind), is burned deliberately by the people of the enclosure. The hall would have been seen burning from a wide radius, like a beacon. As l lay on the grass there where the neolithic ancestors will have wandered 6,000 years ago...an image of a settlement of humans reaching as far as it could go; a ceremony and celebration of what had been and an offering itself to the Gods...like a 'burning your house down' on the descent to soul...and a..ohhhh that's what they did then, how humans 'grew' in relations with Earth and developing human community. I am in awe.
As l lie there with my eyes closed, l see a thousand sparks like living fireflies dancing in the dark."
I wonder about a fire ceremony to mark a kind of Animas leaving the cocoon hearth...l'm intrigued to see the flaming colouring of the canyon image here. Deep gratitude for this conversation.

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A reminder of a small piece of broken china l saw/saw me on the land whilst sauntering with the questions. The pattern looks like a pair of blue eyes looking out from Earth; Earth eyes. The Earth is looking at me/us/our conversation.

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Tends the soul of the greater 'more-than-human' world

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Tends the soul of the greater 'more-than-human' world

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Importantly, Animas does tend the soul of the greater collective as in 'more-than-human'. A bridge to be made further to the specifically human collective; widen conversations...maybe even a step pre Wild Mind to 'dip toe in' and explore/be welcomed/hearth connection/collective. We have an amazing amount to offer current greater collective in relation with current dayworld identity/formation AND a place to step outside/inside and disidentify; to creative a different and deeper place for something else to happen altogether (ie cocoon/Mystery/Soul) which cannot be 'planned'; a place for a different conversation altogether.

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A free on-line International Summit daily over a week (or other).  Conversations with different Animas Guides/Friends of Animas speaking to each of the Animas focuses ie Wild Mind, Eros, Dream, Deep Imagination, Council and Mirroring, Shadow, Quest. Conversations include direct relation to what's happening in the world today ie JOSI, bipoc, gender, economy, climate, extinctions, religion/spirituality, education, inter-relationships. 1/1.5 hours daily ending with invitation on the land.
Open, welcoming, plain language (which can still be poetic;), hearth building, making connections/connecting dots for folks veering towards the edge.

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I heard the longing for a 'hearth'/community. It seems to me that Animas Commons was created/is a way of inviting community space. Yet is seems not to being used in such a way. How might we use/participate in Animas Commons more and vibrantly as a community. I go to Council when l can, they are so beautiful...they seem now to focus/invite new people, which is great too..but where is the current Animas Community as a Community? There were number of guides, SAIPiens, WM folks participating earlier. How can new folks arriving see the vibrancy of who is here from around Earth?

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To me, the common thread is coming back into communion with all of life - for Animas, with the more-than-human world, our wholeness, our soul, and for other cultural change movements - with our human community, especially those marginalized and oppressed, with a system of community/politics/regenerative culture that dismantles the story of separation and othering, and nurtures listening, reparations, equality, justice, and life-affirming ways.  Not-seperateness is the commonality.  I think it's vital for Animas to interweave with other cultural change movements, whether it's looking directly at issues of cultural appropriation, whiteness, economic inequalities in this organization, or how to skillfully collaborate with organizations focused on indigenous rights and environmental activism.

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The most obvious piece to me is doing more in community.  One shadow of the way the individual journey of soul initiation is taught is isolation and separateness, an over dependence on self-reliance.  This journey can't be done without support, and it can't be truly complete without letting our hearts break open to the suffering and need of the world.  I think Animas would be served well by an increased emphasis on support through community and involvement in community.  Some ideas - at the end of every intensive, having participants frame their practices/projects in terms of how to give & receive support from others, and how they can develop projects that serve or collaborate with human or more-than-human community; Animas partnering with organizations (indigenous rights, environmental, social justice) and mobilizing Animas community to be involved; more interactive Animas community gatherings like this one!! :)

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These aren't mutually exclusive -  we need to tend to the individual journey as well as to the collective soul. But it feels like this has been imbalanced, the collective has been an underdeveloped wing in Animas that's calling for growth and renewal.  Some direct ideas within Animas to tend to the greater collective - doing and teaching land acknowledgements at the beginning of every intensive/training/meeting; partnering with indigenous rights organizations to donate money and mobilize Animas community to action; partnering with environmental rights organizations; partnering with teachers/guides from other organizations who identify as POC or LGBTQ+ until the Animas organization can train guides who are; having POC and LGBTQ+ affinity groups in the online commons as a like minded, safer space for folks to meet with others who identify as such.

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I see other current cultural change movements as working to create a world that is easier to be whole in.

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Thinking about the anti-racist movement especially, there a focus on how our shadows can run the show, perpetuating systems that do not match our values.  So I see the racial justice movement as talking about human development on some level - given that our culture is not the Garden of stage 2, what is now required?

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I feel that Animas vastly underestimates how much the individual psyche is shaped by society and history. Soul-initiated adults would be more effective agents of change if we really attended to the psychic structures that are a reflection of social structures. For instance, I don't think subs are individual/familial primarily - they are the symptoms of unhealthy culture and if we don't make those larger connections, we miss their protests.

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I think we could tend to worldview more. In dissolution, our story of the world dissolved, but often we focus our work on identity, not on worldview shifting, which would included understanding how the current colonial worldview shows up in us.

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I think we need to turn to the social tasks of human development, which are also sorely missing in these times.

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Animas says nothing about power, but it is a fundamental feature of our society. It is my belief that cultural change movements must address it in some way. All projects are political. If we don't say anything about power, I believe we are implicitly declaring ourselves only for the privileged and if we are only for the privileged (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) we must acknowledge and tend to that -- the specific human development concerns that arise in people who get more in an unjust world.

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what if we assumed that JOSI was only for Western people and arose out of our historical context? Then we could humbly look at that context and accept that we have been limited in our understandings, and potentials, by that context.

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to me it is about HOW Animas is tending to the individual JOSI. To do individual work justice and to make it as culturally transformative as possible, we must see just how deeply the collective lives there.

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If we say we are creating cultural change I think it is important to acknowledge and really consider the perspectives of those who have suffered greatly under our culture, in addition to honoring our own insights. Knowing what I know about white supremacy and how it perpetuates unconsciously, if I were a POC and a white organization said nothing about that, but claimed to support human development toward cultural change, I'd be suspect. I'm not saying we need to justify ourselves, but I am saying we share this world with others and it is generative, if demanding, to seek out and truly consider their perspectives. Not so we can get cookies, but so we can be in open dialogue about our work so it is ever-evolving toward more peace and beauty and justice.

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While I concur with the feelings expressed here that while the individual JOSI is important so too is the cultural/societal journey, I also would caution against straying into the thinking that says "Animas is a good thing... Animas is my thing... therefore all good things that need doing must be done by Animas. Perhaps the Animas answe to the question "What is mine to do?" is simply enable/facilitate/support individual JOSIs - and trust that those who are guided will all return to their people with the needed gifts, leading in time to societal transformation. I would feel more confident in the latter approach if more Animas alumni did in fact return to their own people, rather than returning to Animas!  I feel like the point made above by someone else about encouraging more of the  humble-but-effective mycellium and less of the 'Soul-super-star' mindset might be an important factor here too.

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Love this insight. If our Soul journeys are so fierce, so white-hot that they burn down all our relationships are they, in fact authentic gifts from the Great Mystery who weaves the web of life? I remember Bill saying "There are 2 kinds of Soul work: one is mindfully raising children, and the other is everything else". I always liked that - as a father and a grandfather I know I have important work to do there as well as what others would perceive as my Soul work. In fact, I'd extend it to include mindfully being in relationship (where appropriate). Some of us are called to be solitarys, some relationships were always fatally flawed and JOSI just brings it to a head but some relationships with a partner are cut from the same cloth as our relationships with our children and grandchildren - cultivating, nurturing, tending and honouring these is also Soul work INMHO.