The Work of Soul Quest Canada

We find ourselves at a hinge point of human history; all living systems on Earth are in decline and the rate of decline is accelerating.  Against this grim backdrop, many have called for what Joanna Macy refers to as the Great Turning, a conscious shift in the relationship of humans to the rest of the Earth Community.  To achieve this, we must dramatically increase the number of people, particularly adults, who have undergone soul initiation – who have looked beneath their personality and connected with their unique (soul) gifts that they might bring to the work of the Great Turning.

The Soul Discovery Process

Soul Quest Canada aims to create the conditions in which an exploration of deeper life purpose and meaning can take place – a soul discovery process leading to one’s unique purpose or identity; increased awareness of personal qualities, abilities and gifts.  The soul discovery process requires participants to:

  • Leave the confines of the life and identity they have known (and expressed to the world);
  • Metaphorically descend to their underworld or the layers beneath consciousness;
  • Pay attention to and work with images, symbols and other signs they might find there;
  • Integrate Soulcraft practices;
  • Return with a renewed and clearer sense of who they really are and what their unique gift in the world might be

 

 

Among other things, we have found that this work necessitates a profound shift in awareness and attitude with respect to relationship.  The soul journey is a journey of relationship, fostered by conversation to create deepening intimacy…a decision and commitment to open ego to engage in conversation with soul, what Jung describes as an integration of the unconscious into consciousness.  No longer limited to mainstream culture’s idea of “relationship with another”, this work broadens and deepens the notion of relationship to include:

  • Intimacy with one’s Self – the first and most important piece of knowledge; how well do we know ourselves and in all of our facets; the good and bad, dark and light natures?
  • Intimacy with another – how do we relate to another human, engage in conversation from a place of wholeness and soul?
  • Intimacy with Other – how do we engage with dream figures, objects in our environments, beings in the imaginary realm…how do we interact with and involve them in our lives?
  • Intimacy with the Earth Community – how do we grow our recognition and appreciation for the more than human realm in which we are but one of many beings living in divine networks of interconnection?
  • Intimacy with the Spirit Realm – Can we open our consciousness (and unconscious selves) to the spirit world, the place where magical elementals and other spirits live? Can we open ourselves to the possibility of wisdom older and greater than ourselves? How are we connected to all things?

Earth Alchemy

The process and work we call “earth alchemy” flows naturally from the work on intimacy. When one truly opens to the wild, to the earth, one is opening to soul and the opportunity for soul encounter.  This opening is a powerful form of vulnerability and intimacy, and it creates the possibility of a magical, alchemical process that changes the conversation between our bodies and the earth.  It also helps us sink beneath the surface of our daily lives and enter the stream of “deep time” where we can come into a deeper knowing of our inner self.  This is essential for the unweaving and weaving that lies at the heart of everything we do at Soul Quest Canada.

Our programs are designed to guide you to deepen in the various types of relationships - in a way that you can ultimately engage in the largest conversation one might have. Soul Quest Canada creates space in which “conversations that matter” can take place. “Conversation” in this sense can be defined as an engagement with all things around us and all that we encounter within and without. Not simply a verbal exchange, but also a physical and nonverbal interaction - even an imaginative process.  These processes are supported by the integration of Soulcraft™ practices.

SoulCraft™ Practices

Our conversations can be supported by a series of Soulcraft™ practices - skills that support ego’s conversation with soul, and can evoke the revelation of our soul identities. Soulcraft is rooted in depth psychology, ecopsychology, nature-based peoples, and wilderness rites.

Soulcraft practices include and are not limited to:

  • Dreamwork
  • Shadow Work
  • Soul Tasks in Nature
  • Soul Poetry
  • Deep Imagery Work
  • Self-Designed Ceremony
  • Sacred Wound Work

For more information on Soulcraft, read Bill Plotkin’s book, Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche.

My work is grounded in a heartfelt desire to create the conditions in which soul initiation can take place – and with it, personal development and transformation.  My work is rooted in nature and culture, and in an abiding respect for wild lands and the changes that can happen to the human psyche and soul there.

 — Jessica Rosin

 

Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.

Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into
the conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.

 — David Whyte