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- Animomentum Newsletter March 24
Animomentum Newsletter March 24
Craig Chalquist
March 01, 2024
Animomentum
Monthly Updates, Events, and Reflections
Happy March! The month of the vernal equinox (3/19).
I’m getting past the feeling that I didn’t have enough winter. It didn’t get cold here in Fillmore, CA until mid-February, and then only down to the mid-30s. But we have gotten rain, which is good. In the evening, I sit on the porch puffing my pipe (tobacco) and shaking my head at the light coming earlier and earlier. But it’s for me to align with the seasons, not them with me.
On Valentine’s Day, I successfully defended my dissertation for my second PhD, this one in Philosophy and Religion with a concentration in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness. We had 2 + hours of lively conversation. I feel grateful to the three geniuses on my committee as well as for the friends and colleagues who were there. Once the dissertation goes through technical review I’ll post it at Chalquist.com.
Here is the Abstract:
RESTORYING OUR LORE:
FICTION, VISION, AND IMAGINATION AS
AN EARTH-HONORING WISDOM PATH
Belief in absolute truths is overrated. This study argues that inspiring tales imaginatively woven can serve as a playful and creative frame of orientation, inspiration, and action: a life path of meaning and magic not to believe, but to believe in. “Loreologizing” refers to how we can use compelling fiction (broadly defined) as lore for weaving stories, personal or collective, around an ideal, vision, or dream without recourse to massive systematizing, creedal absolutism, or hardened dogma. We can also update old storied elements, even myths and folktales, by loreologizing them to bring out their relevance for how we live and work and for what we aspire to in the quest for a more just and humane world.
Drawing on Hermeticism, Gnosticism, and the long tradition of imagination as gnosis, Worldread, a depth philosophy offering an Earth-honoring path of reenchantment in a time of global disruption and climate chaos, provides an example of loreologizing. Worldread can be used as an ecospiritual path as well. Its depth philosophy informs the Assembling Terrania Cycle, hopeful science fiction tales charting the Long Adventure by which human beings come of age as a species.
I am looking forward to a retreat in Donegal, Ireland, on August 25-29th, 2024. Ards Friary, traditionally a Capuchin monastery and retreat center, is becoming a contemplative ecology center. We will have the entire center reserved. Hope to see you there!
In late February I started my online class for Jung Platform on the Trickster. It focuses on how to deal with chaos and comedy at work, in relationships, at home, and in other areas of life. Also, Trickster in current events, folklore, and film. The sessions are being recorded.
I’ve invited a small group of testers into Enchantvale, an online network and platform for dreamers, visionaries, intuitives, and other creatives to gather and converse. The site isn’t open yet, but if you go to that link, you’ll see a screenshot of what’s inside the site. Only by imagining a better world together do we stand any chance of midwifing it into being.
A last reminder of books recently published:
My debut novel is out! A science fiction novel of individuation, struggle, and redemption set in the near future. Scroll down for more about Soulmapper. I also put together an FAQ for the novel and what's next in the series.
Also out: Terrapsychology: Further Inquiries into Self, Place, and Planet, the first volume of terrapsychology since Rebearths (2010) and edited by Garret Barnwell and me. It contains many deep and thoughtful contributions that look into how the things of the world show up inside us as ideas, moods, conflicts, and even dreams.
Lastly, the second edition of Terrapsychological Inquiry: Restorying Our Relationship to Nature, Place, and Planet (2023) just came out. It has a new last chapter on using terrapsychology as an ecospiritual path. The Mandarin edition will be published soon by Chinese Press & Apparel in Beijing.
My most recent podcast for The Lorecast, available for free at my website and through Apple Music, Spotify, and several other venues, is on how wrecking people’s traditionalist worldviews with criticism leaves them vulnerable to conspiracy theories and authoritarianism. Email me if you have any ideas about a topic you'd like to hear covered in a podcast.
What I'm reading: The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene and The Unfolding Self by Ralph Metzner.
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.
I will present "Inquiry with Earth in Mind" at the Twenty-second International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities, at Sapienza University of Rome. The conference is June 26-28, 2024, and I will be speaking about Terrapsychological Inquiry.
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 needs balancing or equalizing this month? Where should you direct your alchemical fire (passion, interest, eagerness, drive)? Where is the light coming back into your life? What are your dreams up to lately?
