Introduction to Wild Mind

Introduction to Wild Mind – Online Masterclass

Join us online over three days as we explore Wild Mind practices as developed by depth psychologist and wilderness guide Bill Plotkin and The Animas Valley Institute.

With Kate Joyner and Nate Bacon in partnership with the Animas Valley Institute

Our wild minds possess astonishing resources, untapped potentials and depths that we might not even know exist until we discover how to access them, cultivate their powers, and eventually integrate them into our everyday lives.

Based on Bill Plotkin’s book, Wild Mind: A Field Guide to the Human Psyche, this Masterclass is an experiential exploration of our human psyches as unique expressions of the universal forces and patterns of nature. In this intensive, we’ll access these depths and potentials — which we call the four facets of the Self, or the four dimensions of our innate human wholeness — and also the four sets of fragmented or wounded subpersonalities that form during childhood.

Rather than attempt to eliminate our subpersonalities (which is not possible) or to beat them into submission, we’ll cultivate the four facets of the Self and uncover the gifts of our subpersonalities. Our goal is to fully embody our multifaceted wild minds, commit ourselves to the largest, soul-infused story we’re capable of living, and serve the greater Earth community.

What to Expect

We’ll explore the landscape of the psyche through a variety of practices, including creative expression, self-designed ceremony, solo exercises while wandering on the land, group work, movement, voice dialogue, journaling, and deep imagery work.

Discover:

how to recognise and consciously cultivate the four facets of the Self — your innate human wholeness
how to identify the subpersonalities that supported you in childhood and adolescence to adapt to the challenges of family and social life, but ultimately became barriers to your full and authentic humanity
practices and guidelines for cultivating relationships between the Self and your subpersonalities, enabling you to heal your subpersonalities, discover their gifts, and foster Self-actualization
how each facet of the Self provides essential resources for the underworld journey (the descent to soul), its radical transformation of personal identity, and for living as a visionary artisan of cultural evolution.

No experience or understanding of psychology required – just an interest in how as humans we are connected to wild nature, and an intention to go deeper into the psyche, for ourselves and in service to humanity and to the wider world.

This course includes online Zoom sessions plus invitations to spend time on the land in between sessions.

Key information:

DATES:
19 – 21 Nov 2021

TIMES: London GMT
Friday 7-9pm
Sat and Sun 4-7pm

LOCATION:
Online via Zoom

FEE:
£130 – low income
£165 – regular fee
£200 – help someone else to attend fee

This course includes online Zoom sessions plus invitations to spend time on the land in between sessions.

Wilderness Guides

Kate Joyner

Kate serves as a guide to the mysteries of Eros, as the primordial force of creation held within each of our tender and fierce Souls. She is devoted to creating alchemical journey’s that catalyse the unfurling of the tender and powerful essence of each soul to come forth in service of re-imagining a culture rooted in true love and mythical wildness. A nature based underworld guide, poetic revolutionary and experimental actress, she has spent many years in surrender and devotion to the ways of Mystery which has led her to immerse in different teachings and be shaped by an array of cultures all over the world. Kate believes that our creative life force energy, once fully embodied, is the revolutionary force that will change the world. She lives on and is fully in love with the land that is Dartmoor National Park, Devon, UK.

Nate Bacon

Nate Bacon lives with his family on the east flank of the North Cascades, where he delights in his great fortune of being able to raise his children on the banks of a cold mountain river. A cultural ecologist, wilderness guide, and writer, his work concerns the intertwined nature of perception, language, worldview, and identity. He is dedicated to undermining the psycho-cultural structures of our modern ways of being while remembering our inherent belonging in the world and relationship with all of life. His current writing project explores the mythopoetic relationship between evolution, human consciousness, and the ecological crises of our current moment. Nate is an avid fermenter, kitchen gardener, naturalist, wildlife tracker, and traditional bow hunter with a Master’s degree in Philosophy and Religion. He serves in many roles at Animas, including as guide, trainer, and board member.