Animomentum Newsletter - July 2024

Craig Chalquist, PhD, PhD

Author

Craig Chalquist
July 01, 2024

Animomentum

Monthly Updates, Events, and Reflections

July already! The year is hurrying by, or at least mine is. It’s true that time seems to pass more quickly as one gets older. All the more reason to be as present as possible to the moment.

At the end of June, Linda Buzzell and I were invited to Harvard to participate in a seminar on ecoresilience. We also learned that an ecoresilience model we published some years back would be the center of the event. The title is “Exploring Eco-Resilience through Contemplative Practices” and will be hosted by the Harvard Radcliffe Institute. Linda won’t be able to attend, but at the end of September I’ll be in Cambridge, MA and hope to tour Boston while there.

I recently uploaded revised Kindle, paperback, and audio versions of my novel Soulmapper. No more KindleCreate for me. Too many formatting errors, and the clunky program won’t let me edit them. Also, I bit the bullet and paid an expert publicist who worked with a well-known fantasy author to give me lessons on how to promote my fiction. If you like the book, please tell people about it.

I’ve finished the first draft of my second novel, Heartlander, and am waiting for my brain to cool off enough that I can edit the text. Meanwhile, I made a start on Lamplighter, the third novel of the Lamplight Trilogy. All three novels focus on the possibility of a new mythology for our troubled time, a mythology that pushes past absolutist beliefs (an artifact of patriarchy) to tell new tales while updating some of the old ones. (That’s the thing about tradition: if we simply throw it away, it shows up later in distorted form. We have to outgrow its more limited aspects while carrying forward those that still serve.)

A subtheme in my novels is the problem of AI, which I see as a projection of the human unconscious, the shadow in particular. Today, AI is mostly theft mixed with algorithmic guesswork; what will it be tomorrow? Behold the ancient tale of the Golem reborn, with all the attendant dangers on full display.

Incidentally, for one of my philosophy doctoral class papers, I discussed a natal chart I drew up for the World Wide Web. I used the day the first site went up as the birth date (12/20/90, Geneva, noon because I couldn’t find out the exact time). House system Placidus. Sun in Sag in House 10 (showing up in the world), Moon in Pisces in 12 (hidden forces). Pluto in Scorpio in House 8, associated with death and other people’s money, among other things, stands opposite warlike Mars and squares expansive Jupiter. The paper was “World Wide Wakening: Is the Web Trying to Become Conscious?” I wrote,

Much more could be made of this chart. At a glance, it could indicate someone with the potential to be aggressively expansive and ambitious, intellectually quick, emotionally inhibited, materialistic, technological, oriented on work, possessed of a powerful and even sociopathic shadow, and headed for profound initiations through death-rebirth rites of passage. A goal for them would be finding ways to connect their Moon to other planetary possibilities while remaining relational (House 11) and progressive (Moon in Aquarius).

Speaking of myth and story, I presented "Mythopoetics of Enchantment: Fiction and Imagination for Lasting Change" to the International Society of Mythology, and I want to give them some love because they are new and vibrant and now hosting the Mythologium Conferences that use story, folklore, and myth to provide fresh perspectives on current events. These conferences were previously hosted by Fates & Graces Mythologica, another vibrant group. They use their Patreon account to offer events like a free discussion with Dr. Patrick Mahaffey about his new book Integrative Spirituality.

I also want to mention the Jungian podcast Blue Medicine Journal by Dr. Sandra del Castillo. It’s at the PodBean link above as well as at Spotify and other podcast venues. She brings together Jungian psychology, myth, poetry, leadership, storytelling, and other important topics. Her PhD research focused on the symbolism of the Day of the Dead as celebrated in Mesoamerica.

Next month:

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 the neglected power and presence of choice. On the 15th, the new podcast will be on archetypal possession. Email me if you have any ideas about a topic you'd like to hear covered in a podcast.

What I'm reading: Jung vs Borg by Glen Slater and Quantum Supremacy by Michio Kaku.

Upcoming Events

I thought I was presenting “Inquiry with Earth in Mind” at the Twenty-Second International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities, but I wasn’t able to register for it online. Someone I reached out to said they did the registration for me, but then they left. Their replacement said I needed to register, and I ran into the same problem. I gave up. I just don’t have time anymore for this kind of fumbling around.

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 is hot and fiery for you? Where is your own alchemical fire? Where is your good fortune, expansiveness, or nobility? (One etymology of “July” is Jupiter, a deity associated with such qualities.) Where do they need to be?