The Soulcraft Intensive
An Animas Valley Institute event
January 17 - 21, 2024
A residential, face to face, fully catered intensive held at Acoora - Arts and Ecology Training Ground in the Norther Rivers region of NSW.
Price : $1,495 Early Bird (to be paid in full upfront at registration - early bird places expire December 17, 2023 )
Full Price: $1,650 - with a $500 minimum deposit to hold your place - paid in full by January 3, 2024.
Concession: $1,295 (valid concession card required - to be paid in full upfront at registration).
Note: If you are challenged financially, please contact us to discuss.
The Soulcraft Intensive is our popular five-day experiential plunge into the wild depths of Soulcraft; a synergistic set of nature-based practices designed to evoke the life-shifting experience of soul encounter. Your soul is your true self, those qualities that most deeply define and express who you are and the unique gift that you were born to bring to the world, a world so much in need of the socially transforming contributions of initiated, actively engaged adults.
To encounter the soul is to discover the mystical image you were born with, which reveals the path to your greatest personal fulfillment as well as the essence of your true service to society (the cross-cultural wisdom traditions say these are one and the same).
Soulcraft practices spring from nature-based cultures, modern depth psychology, the poetic tradition, and wilderness rites of passage—to comprise a truly contemporary Western path to soul discovery and soul initiation. For a full discussion, see Bill Plotkin’s book Soulcraft: Crossing Into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche.
The Soulcraft Intensive is highly experiential and—well—intense.
We alternate between practices utilised in group, practices explored in solitude in nature, and sharing and deepening those experiences.
What you discover through one practice is carried into and amplified by what you learn in the next. By the end of the intensive, you will understand yourself and your place in the world from a more soul-oriented perspective, be clearer about the gifts you were born to bring to the world, and have new skills to enrich your life and to defend the health of the more-than-human world.
Soulcraft practices include:
Soulcentric Dreamwork
Deep Imagery Work with Animal Guides
Talking Across the Species Boundaries
The Way of Council
Soul Tasks in Nature
Self-Designed Ceremony
Shadow Work
Soul Poetry
Sacred Wound Work
Synchronicities: Working with Nature’s Signs and Omens
Befriending the Dark
Ecstatic Trance Drumming and Dancing and many others!
Venue:
Arcoora Arts and Ecology Training Ground - Located 2 hours inland from the Gold Coast in the Norther Rivers region of Australia, high in the misty mountains of the southern hemisphere’s largest volcanic structure (the Wollumbin volcano). Arcoora operates out of the former Vadjradhara Gonpa Buddhist Retreat Centre, a 20 minute drive north of Kyogle, northern NSW.
Guides:
Doug Van Houten: Doug draws on the wisdom of the natural world, depth-psychology, eco-psychology, dreams, somatic knowing, poetry, and many pan-cultural, soul furthering practices that include: The Way of Council, vision fasting, shadow work, symbolic artwork, trance dancing and conversations with the more than human world. Doug’s true calling in life is to support others as they uncover their own unique gifts and in so doing, transform their lives in service to what Thomas Berry called ”The Great Work” of our times. Doug is also an ardent beekeeper, a visual artist, a wily wanderer, a dream tracker, an emergent ceremonialist, a heart-centered activist, and a yogi and a dancer interested in new forms of somatic practice.
Jules Howatt: Jules was pulled towards wildness at a young age and continues to explore the wilderness of psyche, the deep imagination as well as relationship with the more than human. They are dedicated to helping others explore their own authentic nature so as to further cultivate a deeper relationship to Soul and discovery of the unique genius that they alone carry. Jules is an ACMG/IFMGA Mountain Guide, photographer and general all-around mischief maker.
Food and Accommodation:
The program is fully catered, providing stunning vegetarian food. We will pass on any dietary restrictions advised by you at registration. If you have not already let us know of any dietary restrictions that apply to you, please forward to us as soon as possible.
The venue is Acoora in the Norther Rivers region of NSW. Located 2 hours inland from the Gold Coast, high in the misty mountains of the southern hemisphere’s largest volcanic structure (the Wollumbin volcano). Arcoora operates out of the former Vadjradhara Gonpa Buddhist Retreat Centre, a 20min drive north of Kyogle, NSW. There is dormitory accommodation in shared bunk rooms or camping if preferred.