Animomentum Newsletter - August 2024

Craig Chalquist, PhD, PhD

Author

Craig Chalquist
August 01, 2024

Animomentum

Monthly Updates, Events, and Reflections

Happy August (“to increase”)!

Here in Southern California, July was one long heat wave. Sparrows built a shaded mud nest under the eaves of the house. I also had the honor of walking within a few feet of a Cooper’s Hawk I’ve often seen patrolling the skies above a path I walk in the morning when it’s cool. Dronebrellas haven’t been invented yet, but the imaginal characters in my fiction use them for summery times such as this.

In Tiktok, as the Republican National Convention screamed and chest-thumped along, I made a video comparing right-wing threats, gaslighting, and intimidation to those of men who batter women. This video reached 148,000 views as thousands of women (with some men) shared, reposted, and discussed it. I’ve made a series out of it; in some videos I discuss the parallels by using the Duluth Power and Control Wheel. I also mention other Wheels that came out of that initial research, including one to highlight racism. For viewers not in TikTok, I posted the first two videos in Instagram and a copy of the one that went viral in YouTube.

Depth psychologist Dr. Deborah Lukovich and I discussed all this in the context of what Jungians call “the wounded masculine.” The link above goes to a YouTube version of the discussion.

Linda Buzzell has coined an apt term for the reactionary dimension of the current political commotion: The Great Backlash, a counter-reaction to the Great Turning toward a sustainable, Earth-honoring world community. She and I (mostly she) wrote a brief piece on that. We are also writing a book (non-academic) on ecospirituality.

A while back, the two of us wrote up some principles of ecoresilience. Harvard is organizing a closed seminar on how mindfulness practices might fit into this framework. At the end of September I will visit Boston for the first time after attending the seminar.

As of this month I complete a one-year Certificate in Eco-Spirituality offered by the Seminary of the Wild Earth. Highly recommended! Some years back, I started wondering about the lack of ecospiritual ministry and leadership programs. There exist now. I also recommend Church of the Wild: How Nature Invites Us into the Sacred by my friend and colleague Rev. Victoria Loorz. She and her sister Valerie Serrels also recently published a companion Field Guide to Church of the Wild. Indispensable for anyone doing ecospiritual work and activities.

Today opens a free Finding Guidance summit sponsored by Jung Platform. Here is what they say about it: “We believe that this summit will help people connect to the guiding forces in the universe, and be more in touch with their own path. Something we believe this world needs at the moment as well.” I was one of the speakers to be interviewed for this.

I am grateful to Dr. Catherine Svela for interviewing me for her podcast Myth Matters. We had a lively conversation about how we live through our imaginings and stories about the human. How do these influence us? How do we become more fully who we are? How might fiction help?

Would you like to help me with a recent project? I’m taking a class on how to promote my fiction, my novels in particular, and my instructor has asked us to create a survey for potential readers to fill out in order to have a fuller sense of who our audiences might be. You can download the survey (it’s not long) here. Thanks for considering this.

At the end of this month, I will travel to Ireland to co-facilitate this:

Sacred Conversations in Ireland | Wild Spirituality

What might happen in your soul if you open yourself up to the song of the sea and the stones at the northern edge of Ireland?

www.wildspirituality.earth/event-details/sacred-conversations-in-ireland-1

My most recent podcast for The Lorecast, available for free at my website and through Apple Music, Spotify, and several other venues, is on following the example of the Phoenix and burning up our nest to achieve rebirth. The podcast on 8/15 deals with navigating organizations that punish wise leadership. Email me if you have any ideas about a topic you'd like to hear covered in a podcast.

What I'm reading: History for Tomorrow by Roman Krznaric and A Hundred Years’ War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi.

Upcoming Events

The C. G. Jung group in Eugene, OR has asked me to visit in the fall to present on psyche and place. Details soon. 

I'm dreaming up some leadership courses on voice, storytelling, and inspiration for the Teton Leadership Center. Details soon. 

I've been speaking with the international United Human Foundation about a series of talks focusing on shifting collective narratives away from scarcity, conflict, and hyper-individualism and toward Earth-honoring dreamings of where we want to go together and how we want to live. More soon. 

Ongoing Offerings

Free stuff first:

My book consists of 30 stories ("archetales") of speculative fiction and a number of fables, all of which trace the path of humanity's long adventure toward consciousness and maturity from early origins in prehistory up to Terrania, the Earth-honoring, ground-up world culture of inclusion, belonging, and delight awaiting us in the future.

The tales address the question: What might it look like, after all the chaos and conflict, if humanity finally gets it right? An annotated version is also available.

A man in his forties wakes in a park in San Diego with no memory of his name, his past, or how he got there. He finds a cowboy hat, black boots, an e-bike, and a gold medallion that talks. Who is he? Where did he come from?

Ride north, the medallion tells him. Visit the old missions one by one. At each, carry out a mysterious ritual. When you reach Sonoma, your memories will be restored, including those of a mysterious past. You will know who took them and why. Refuse, and I will stop your heart.

As he journeys, encountering a persistent assassin, meeting reanimated gods in his dreams, resisting being cast as a hero, and building new relationships across overheating California, he bears the potent biochemistries needed for collective survival. But his strongest medicine is hope.

My debut novel, set in the Assembling Terrania Cycle. 

I created the following courses available at Jung Platform:

  • Journey into the World of Soul - This is a course on Jung's Black Books, which are his journals spanning 19 years of his life. An indispensable guided tour for understanding the man behind the work. 

  • Codependence: How to Identify and Heal - Several videos drawing on my clinical experience of helping people understand and work with the chronic need to turn relationships into attempts at emotional rescue. 

  • Your Personal Myth and Archetype - What is your deeper story, the mythic plot and basic pattern behind the details of your biography? What are you here to respond to? 

  • Narcissism - Everyone talks about it, but few understand it. Why does it seem so prevalent? Where does it come from? What are its covert forms? How can we protect ourselves from being victimized by it?

I earn an ambassador’s fee when you purchase them. You can also view my instructor page at JP here.

These were fun to make. I packed a lot into each. Topics include

  • Introduction to Loreology - The craft of creating personal, social, and cultural change by examining our guiding stories and melting them down into new tales, practices, and possibilities. 

  • Deep Teaching and Mentoring - This came from graduate students asking: How do we translate what we learn about consciousness, dreams, myth, the esoteric, etc. into terms other people can grasp? 

  • Equalwise: The Art of Emotional Self-Defense - "The world is full of bullies," said Krishnamurti. Learn to recognize and avoid giving your power to them. Stop being taken off guard and learn the art of guarding your wellbeing. 

  • Soft Skills for the Workplace: Being In Demand - According to Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, and other sources of business news, hiring managers like me are very interested in relational workplace skills. Learn more about these skills and how to cultivate and demonstrate them.

  • When the World Shows Up In Our Dreams: Decoding the Call - Not everything in our dreams is about us. Some of it reflects events around us showing up as symbols. Why do they? How do we work with such powerful beckonings? 

  • Concentrate Your Life! A Course for the Super-Busy - This comes from two decades of teaching, administrating, publishing, and other time-intensive endeavors requiring excellent organizational skills. Take back your time. 

These you’ll want to have a computer to download them onto. The prices vary.

When I finish teaching an online course, I often package it up, zip up all the audio lectures, rewrite the syllabus into a course outline, and make it available at my website. 

Topics include: Healing and Nature, Archetypal Family Systems, Ecopsychology, Intro to Terrapsychology, Applied Hermeticism, Visibility for Introverts, Jung and Creativity, Depth Psychology, Alchemy and Vocation, Jung’s Red Book, Applied Mythology, Deep Storytelling, Writing with Soul, and others.

Thoughts for the Month:

What in your life is increasing, or what needs to? What is growing and rising to prepare for the fall harvest? Where do you shine your brightest?