June 1-2011 - June 1, 2012 (note change of date - - registration extended)
$50-75 a month (not including the cost of books and materials)
$500 if paid in full in advance or in two payments of $250
The world is alive and speaking to us. All we have to do is remember how to listen.
We are all born knowing this simple truth, and begin our lives in a world rich with meaning. But in our culture, the voices around us are quickly drowned out by electronic noise, and we are taught to ignore the bits of song we still hear on the wind or risk insanity. Eventually we reach a point where we no longer trust our own senses.
But for some of us the vibrant memory of the world we knew as children is stronger than the fear of madness.
The wildness of our souls can be recovered, just as a forest can grown from an abandoned field.
Through discussion, meditation and direct experience of the natural world, we will explore:
-- How our culture separates us from our wild selves and how we can reclaim them
-- Engaging nature through engaging our senses
-- The use of the heart as an organ of perception (drawing from the work of Stephen Buhner)
-- Developing and deepening relationships with the land where we live and its other inhabitants
-- Nourishing our wild selves
-- The healing power of the wild
-- Reclaiming space for wildness in our lives, our communities, our world
In the end though, our journey will take its own shape.
This course will be intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually rigorous. Please be ready to be challenged, opened, and transformed. A short interview will be required for admission.
To apply e-mail seandonahuepoet@gmail.com
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SYLLABUS -- SUBJECT TO CHANGE AS THE WILD WORKS THROUGH US
The syllabus is intentionally more bare bones in the later months, to allow us to flesh out the course together.
May-June
What is wildness?
What is civilization?
What do we fear in the wild? What wildness do we yearn for?
Uncovering our personal histories with the wild.
Text: My Name is Chellis and I am in Recovery from Western Civilization by Chellis Glendinning
June - July
Coming to our senses: taste, smell, sight, sound, and touch
Elements of life: earth, air, fire, and water in us and in the world
Text: The Earth Path by Starhawk
The Secret Teachings of Plants by Stephen Harrod Buhner (really more for the next month but it is dense!)
July-August
Centers of consciousness: Brain, Heart, and Gut
Heart-centered consciousness
Plants from a heart-centered perspective
People from a heart-centered perspective
Text: The Secret Teachings of Plants
August-September
Working with grief, loss, and alienation
Text: Becoming Animal by David Abram
September-October
Connecting with the history of the land
Text: A Language Older than Words by Derrick Jensen
October - November
Ancestral connections: How did your ancestors relate to the land?
November - December
The underworld journey
Stories of descent and return
Intimacy with death
December - January
Communities, human and wild
January - February
Ecologies of the body, mind, and spirit
February-March
Nourishing the body, mind, and spirit
March - April
Fertility and Ecstasy
Queering the Wild
April - May
Carrying wildness into the human world
Awakening the wild in others
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