NEXT STEPS COURSE:
BETWIXT AND BETWEEN
THE CRACKS BETWEEN THE WORLDS
Dates: 2023 – March 4, 11, 18, 25, April 1, 15
Saturday, 4 pm start (UK time), 3.5 – 4 hours each
- Recognise human separation as a distortion of modern-day life
- Learn to live with one foot in this world and one in the other – the veil between the worlds is thinner than we think!
- Explore the mysterious power of the Borderlands and their inhabitants and learn about the significance of moving between the Realms and its transformative power
- The importance of rites of passage – to become an Adult is to become an interconnected being, a part of Nature
- Learn focusing technique – betwixt and between places in psychotherapy as a way deeper
- This course will shock you out of the belief that shamanic work is something separate from your everyday life and help you integrate your shamanic practice as an inseparable part of your life.
NEXT-STEPS COURSE:
BETWIXT AND BETWEEN
THE CRACKS BETWEEN THE WORLDS
Dates: 2023 – March 4, 11, 18, 25, April 1, 15
Saturday, 4 pm start (UK time), 3.5 – 4 hours each
- Learn how to overcome the unhealthy separation and isolation that is characteristic of modern-day human life.
- Learn to live with one foot in this world and one in the other – the veil between the worlds is thinner than we think!
- Explore the mysterious power of the Borderlands and their inhabitants, and learn about the significance of moving between the Worlds and the transformative power of doing so.
- Learn about the importance of rites of passage – to become an Adult is to become an interconnected being, a part of Nature.
- Learn the powerful “Focusing” technique – how to explore the betwixt and between places in psychotherapy as a way to go deeper into the shamanic work.
WHY NEXT-STEPS COURSES?
After completing the college’s First-Step course, these courses are the next step for those who wish to explore therapeutic shamanism and animism further. The courses focus on exploring the shamanic Lower-World practices in detail, developing a deep connection with Lower-World Guides (including Human, Animal Plant and Stone ones) and finding our own true and authentic Lower-World Soul – the person we are truly meant to be. In doing so, as well as being potentially profoundly healing and life-changing, the courses also help people develop a shamanic practice that is both deeply rooted and grounded.
You can take Next-Steps courses in any order.
IN THIS COURSE:
Video: HUMAN SEPARATION AS A DISORDER OF MODERN WAY LIFE
Video: SELF-AWARENESS EXPERIMENT
HUMANS ARE THE MOST SEPARATED THING ON THE PLANET
In modern times, we are hugely more disconnected than our hunter-gatherer ancestors, who literally lived in nature and experienced themselves as being part of nature. Whilst we are, arguably, the most self-aware species on the planet, from an animist perspective we are also the most boxed-in species – the most isolated and disconnected. Other things are sentient in a much more collective way than us, and much less obsessed with self.
In this culture, many people have the mistaken notion that a healthy adult is an independent being, someone who can stand on their own two feet. In animistic cultures, Adult is someone who really gets interdependence – who understands how much they are part of the community, a twig on a branch of a bigger-than-human tree. For a twig to declare independence would be nonsensical and suicidal. And yet, that is what we’re doing. We have not only declared our independence from the ecological community of which we are a part, we’ve waged war on it (leading to the Anthropocene extinction).
Video: OUR WAY BACK TO INTERCONNECTEDNESS
betwixt and between places are A WAY OUT OF SEPARATION into interconnectedness
Shamanic cultures lived with one foot in this world and the one in the other – they understood that worlds run in parallel. When we visit the shamanic worlds, we experience this deep interconnectedness and that everything is alive and sentient and can be communicated with, so when we come back that awareness stays with us and influences the way we experience this reality.
The veils between the worlds really are thinner than you imagine, you just need to learn to step between them at will. The separation of this physical reality and the shamanic realms is just a symptom of modern-day life. It’s not how animists experienced the world.
Video: RITES OF PASSAGE – THE WAY TO ADULTHOOD
RITES OF PASSAGE AS BETWIXT AND BETWEEN PLACE
Most modern-day human “adults” are children in adult bodies. All indigenous cultures understood that kids are born with a strong sense of individuality. They also understood that becoming a healthy adult means transcending that childhood self-centeredness. Plus, they understood that the process is not automatic – there needs to be a deliberately managed transition – a rite of passage – to shock us out of childhood and help us grow up. And hunter-gatherers knew the importance of that rite of passage, and how to manage it, as a betwixt and between place.
The problem is modern people have largely lost the knowledge of this rite of passage into adulthood, at least in any meaningful way. As a consequence, we live in a world where most “grown-up” people are effectively still children, or functioning adolescents at best. On this course, we will explore the transition to adulthood from an animist and shamanic perspective.
Video: BETWIXT AND BETWEEN PLACES ENABLE YOU TO GO DEEPER, WHERE THE REAL CHANGE CAN HAPPEN
Video: FOCUSING TECHNIQUE
FOCUSING TECHNIQUE – NOTICING BETWIXT AND BETWEEN PLACES IN PSYCHOTHERAPY
Any psychotherapy that works at depth is not about just about techniques, practices, knowledge or information Rather, it is a relational thing, because most of the time what takes people into therapy are human relational wounds.
Initially, people come to therapy with content and stories (“he did this, and then I said that” sort of stuff). Whilst important, if we just stick with the surface content though, the underlying issues will remain unacknowledged and unresolved. One way to go deeper is to notice the gaps or inconsistencies between what is being said and how it’s being said. This gap, this betwixt-and-between place, can act like a mini Axis Mundi – leading us deeper and towards lasting change and insights.
On the course, we will learn one way of doing this – a technique known as Focusing. It was originally developed by a therapist called Eugene Gendlin, however it can be of great use to everyone, not just to psychotherapists. It is simple and easy to learn, and yet truly profound. We will explore how to incorporate it into our lives and shamanic practices.
Video: PLACES WE WILL EXPLORE IN SHAMANIC JOURNEYING
shamanic journeying to betwixt and between places
On the course, explore the mysterious power of the Borderlands and their inhabitants, and the significance of moving between the Worlds and how this can transform us in turn. This includes: an exploration of the Shoreline and its healing, and the significance of moving between Land and Sea; understanding the descent into Fire and the Under-World; moving from being Earth-bound to being free in the Air and the Sky; and more. We will also explore the shamanic healing medicine and teaching of some of the Animals that live in these betwixt-and-between places, including Birds and Insects, and the creatures of the Shorelines.
More about BETWIXT AND BETWEEN:
also available as podcast
HOW DOES THE COURSE WORK?
LIVE ONLINE TRAINING
- Zoom Online Sessions With Founder of Therapeutic Shamanism, Paul Francis.
- Live Shamanic Journeying in Every Class.
- Study in the Comfort of Your Own Home.
SUPPORT BETWEEN SESSIONS
- Detailed Course Notes.
- Video Recording of Every Class.
- Submit Your Questions for the Next Session and Discuss with Peers.
- Learn at Your Own Pace.
YOUR SHAMANIC TRIBE
- Meet Like Minded People.
- Connect Between Sessions in Online Groups.
- Deepen the Connection in Break-Out Rooms During Sessions.
Flexible study. You can either attend the sessions live, or do the course at your own pace and time by watching the recordings of the online sessions (recordings are made of all the theory presentations, journey instructions, and Q&A discussions, and are available for a further 6 months after the last online session).
JOIN US!
To attend the shamanic worlds course, you need to have completed one of the college’s online First Steps courses.
The shamanic worlds course consists of 6 Saturday, 4 pm meetings. Each meeting is between 3½ to 4 hours long.
Dates: 2023 – March 4, 11, 18, 25, April 1, 15