The Journey of Soul Initiation: A Field Guide for Visionaries, Evolutionaries, and Revolutionaries

by Bill Plotkin PhD

Overview

Soul initiation is an essential spiritual adventure that most of the world has forgotten — or not yet discovered. Here, visionary ecopsychologist Bill Plotkin maps this journey, one that has not been previously illuminated in the contemporary Western world and yet is vital for the future of our species and our planet. Based on the experiences of thousands of people, this book provides phase-by-phase guidance for the descent to soul — the dissolution of current identity; the encounter with the mythopoetic mysteries of soul; and the metamorphosis of the ego into a cocreator of life-enhancing culture. Plotkin illustrates each phase of this riveting and sometimes hazardous odyssey with fascinating stories from many people, including those he has guided. Throughout he weaves an in-depth exploration of Carl Jung’s Red Book — and an innovative framework for understanding it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608687015
Publisher:	New World Library
Publication date:	01/12/2021
Pages:	464
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Bill Plotkin, PhD, is a wilderness guide, eco-depth psychologist, and agent of cultural regeneration. As founder of southwest Colorado’s Animas Valley Institute, he has, since 1980, guided thousands of women and men on the journey of soul initiation. His previous books are Soulcraft, Nature and the Human Soul, and Wild Mind.

www.animas.org

Table of Contents

Author's Note xv

Preface: Death's Apprentice: A Personal Introduction xvii

Introduction: The Descent to Soul: An Overview of the Terrain 1

Chapter 1 Phase One: Preparation for the Descent - Part 1: Attending to the Foundations of Human Development 29

Chapter 2 Phase One: Preparation for the Descent - Part 2 Wholing and Self-Healing 45

Chapter 3 Phase Two: Dissolution - Part 1: The Descent into Soul Canyon 67

Chapter 4 Phase Two: Dissolution - Part 2: A Bundle of Practices and Ceremonies for Descending 97

Chapter 5 Jung's Preparation and Dissolution 113

Chapter 6 Phase Three: Soul Encounter - Part 1: Numinous Awakenings in the Underworld 147

Chapter 7 Jung's Soul Encounters 179

Chapter 8 Phase Three: Soul Encounter - Part 2: Practices and Ceremonies for Discovering Your One True Life 187

Chapter 9 Phase Four: Metamorphosis - Part 1: Goals and Dangers 237

Chapter 10 Phase Four: Metamorphosis - Part 2 Practices and Ceremonies for Shape-Shifting 263

Chapter 11 Phase Five: Enactment Performing Your Vision for Your People to See 299

Coda: Awakening to the Dream of the Earth 339

Appendix 1 The Lost Journey 353

Appendix 2 The Descent to Soul Compared to Rites of Passage, the Hero's Journey, and Indigenous Practices 361

Appendix 3 Additional Dissolution Practices 367

Appendix 4 The Enactment Phase during the Cocoon versus the Wellspring 371

Glossary 375

Acknowledgments 387

Notes 391

Index 411

About the Author 429

About Animas Valley Institute 431

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Praise for Bill Plotkin’s previous works:

“Here, Bill Plotkin guides us into a landscape where we recognize the extraordinary gifts of our own true nature. Through his Nature-Based Map of the Human Psyche we can find not only our powers of leadership, joy, sensuality, and renewal, but also the dragons of self-deception whose energies we can liberate for the healing of our world.” — Joanna Macy, author of Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in without Going Crazy

“In Wild Mind, Bill Plotkin maps the relationship between the human psyche and the rest of nature — a task akin to painting a detailed portrait of a tree in a stiff wind. As in his other books, Plotkin writes with grace, eloquence, and humor. And through this brave effort to capture the wind, he makes an enormous contribution to our species.” — Richard Louv, author of The Nature Principle and Last Child in the Woods

“Bill Plotkin’s Wild Mind ushers in a new era of depth psychology. . . . Plotkin’s work shatters that limited conception, for he lives in the creative universe as articulated by quantum physics, indigenous traditions, and evolutionary cosmology. . . . Pass through a magical gateway into one’s unique role within the Great Work that Earth is calling us to.” — Brian Thomas Swimme, professor of evolutionary biology, California Institute of Integral Studies, and coauthor (with Thomas Berry) of The Universe Story

“Living as we do in both an external environment and an internal environment, Wild Mind is a summons to an evolved eco-consciousness. . . . Wild Mind provides a compelling agenda for the reintegration of these sundered worlds in service to wholeness.” — James Hollis, PhD, author of What Matters Most: Living a More Considered Life

“Wild Mind offers wise and loving medicine for our selves and our world at a time when reinventing how we live on Earth and with each other is more crucial than ever. . . . A delightful, encouraging, and inspiring read, Wild Mind is a tender adventure of reclaiming, healing, and celebrating.” — Nina Simons, co-CEO and cofounder, Bioneers

Praise for Bill Plotkin’s Nature and the Human Soul

“Plotkin brings forth a new model for the whole of human life and spirituality in our world. . . . An essential, weighty book for our perilous times.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“ Nature and the Human Soul offers a consolidated and invaluable template for internal and external development — not only personally, but collectively as well.” — Angeles Arrien, PhD, cultural anthropologist and author of The Four-Fold Way

“With Nature and the Human Soul, Bill Plotkin once again works miracles. This vital book provides a road map to help us remember how to be human — which means how to be a human being in relationship to the natural world, to our home. We owe Bill Plotkin a deep debt of gratitude for this important work.” — Derrick Jensen, author of A Language Older Than Words

Praise for Bill Plotkin’s Soulcraft

“As we enter a future where humans and the natural world are more intimate with each other, we will surely be powerfully influenced by this new guide into the mysteries of nature and psyche. In Soulcraft, Bill Plotkin gives us an authentic masterwork. In the substance of what he has written, in the clarity of his presentation, and in the historical urgency of the subject, he has guided us far into the new world that is opening up before us. We will not soon again receive a work of this significance.” — Thomas Berry, author of The Dream of the Earth and The Great Work, from the foreword to Soulcraft