UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUmmmmm. ( )

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. ( )