Howl in the Wilderness

This is an excerpt of a longer conversation. If you’d like to listen to the full episode and support the podcast, consider becoming part of the pack over at patreon.com/howlinthewildernessHowl in the Wilderness features deep and insightful conversations with renegade artists, philosophers, psychologists and spiritual teachers who are working on the edge of dominant culture to recover and revive soul in people and the planet.On this episode I speak with Author, Recovery Activist, and Researcher Piers Kaniuka about reimagining addiction, recovery, and community in the 21st century.Resistance Recovery: https://www.youtube.com/@RESISTANCERECOVERYIf you’d like to support the podcast, considering joining the pack over at patreon.com/howlinthewildernessThanks for listening.Tag: addiction | recovery | psychedelics | dislocation theory | Bruce Alexander | Carl Jung | James Hillman | Rudolf Steiner

This is an excerpt of a longer conversation. If you’d like to listen to the full episode and support the podcast, consider becoming part of the pack over at patreon.com/howlinthewildernessHowl in the Wilderness features deep and insightful conversations with renegade artists, philosophers, psychologists and spiritual teachers who are working on the edge of dominant culture to recover and revive soul in people and the planet.On this episode I speak with author and psychologist Rachel Harris about her new book Swimming in the Sacred, which features the stories of 12 female elders of the underground psychedelic therapy movement.https://www.swimminginthesacred.com/If you’d like to support the podcast, considering joining the pack over at patreon.com/howlinthewildernessThanks for listening.Tags: psychedelics | therapy | ayahuasca | women

This is an excerpt of a longer conversation. If you’d like to listen to the full episode and support the podcast, consider becoming part of the pack over at patreon.com/howlinthewildernessHowl in the Wilderness features deep and insightful conversations with renegade artists, philosophers, psychologists and spiritual teachers who are working on the edge of dominant culture to recover and revive soul in people and the planet.On this episode I speak with author and Senior Maverick at Wired magazine Kevin Kelly about his new book Excellent Advice for Living. In our conversation, we focus on his advice for entrepreneurs and freelancers.http://kk.orgIf you’d like to support the podcast, considering joining the pack over at patreon.com/howlinthewildernessThanks for listening.Tag: addiction | recovery | psychedelics | dislocation theory | Bruce Alexander | Carl Jung | James Hillman | Rudolf Steiner

Howl in the Wilderness (formerly Medicine Path with Brian James) features deep and insightful conversations with renegade artists, philosophers, psychologists and spiritual teachers who are working on the edge of dominant culture to recover and revive soul in people and the planet.On this episode I speak with David Solomon about his time with renegade philosopher and anti-guru UG Krishnamurti.Learn more about UG: https://www.ugkrishnamurti.netIf you’d like to support the podcast, considering joining the pack over at patreon.com/howlinthewildernessThanks for listening! Awwwoooo!More info at http://brianjames.ca

On this episode I welcome back Thomas Moore to talk about his new book The Eloquence of Silence.While modern culture tends to avoid emptiness as much as possible, in The Eloquence of Silence: Surprising Wisdom in Tales of Emptiness, New York Times bestselling author Thomas Moore makes a compelling case for an easier, lighter way of moving through life by embracing the peace, calm, and spaciousness that emptiness offers.The Eloquence of Silence offers a collection of traditional stories and ideas about emptiness that explore the value of silence, empty space, and letting go.The Eloquence of Silence is ultimately about simplifying our way of living and being in the world with transparency. Tom encourages readers to consider that the habit of constant multitasking, like listening to a podcast while taking a walk or constantly being distracted by our phones, often means missing the heart and soul of what is happening around us. And the daily recognition of quiet spaciousness is not a retreat from reality, but a rich and full opportunity to experience all that is most meaningful and real.Tom's Website: http://thomasmooresoul.com ➤ GO DEEPERBecome a member of the Medicine Path online community and school of soul studies: http://patreon.com/medicinepathMedicine Path YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/c/medicinepath1-on-1 Soul Recovery resources and coaching with Brian James: http://medicinepath.me➤ SUPPORT & APPRECIATIONSend a gift from our Amazon wish list: https://www.amazon.ca/hz/wishlist/ls/11HNWME8NHNM7 Make a one-time contribution via PayPal: http://PayPal.me/medicinepathyogaSound collage: "Invocation" by Brian James

How did things get so f*cked up? Like a true elder, Stephen hears my troubled plea and hangs with me as we traverse great swathes of time and geography, tracking the catholic project to convert the world to Christianity that began with Paul the Apostle, through to Columbus opening the door for colonization of the so-called New World by the Puritans, up to the modern era of residential schools, globalization, AI and the revival of Christian conservatism.It's not an easy ride. Over the course of our conversation the range of emotions and responses is as broad as the story of How We Got Here. Grief, sorrow, bewilderment, joy and praise all make an appearance.By the end, I'm mentally and emotionally spent and confess, "I can't take any more!" Stephen laughs and says, "I'm not sure I can take any more either." As Stephen says repeatedly, there are no answers, no way to fix things. But perhaps by wondering How We Got Here, we start to get a glimpse of How Things Could Be Otherwise and along the way, uncover a few hints on how to proceed like an ancestor worthy of being claimed.  ➤ GO DEEPERBecome a member of the Medicine Path online community and school of soul studies: http://patreon.com/medicinepathMedicine Path YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/c/medicinepath1-on-1 Soul Recovery resources and coaching with Brian James: http://medicinepath.me➤ SUPPORT & APPRECIATIONSend a gift from our Amazon wish list: https://www.amazon.ca/hz/wishlist/ls/11HNWME8NHNM7 Make a one-time contribution via PayPal: http://PayPal.me/medicinepathyogaSound collage: "Invocation" by Brian James➤ GUEST BIO Culture activist, worker, author Stephen Jenkinson teaches internationally and is the creator and principal instructor of the Orphan Wisdom School, co-founded the school with his wife Nathalie Roy in 2010, convening semi-annually in Deacon, Ontario, and in northern Europe.Website: http://orphanwisdom.com 

Note: This is a rebroadcast of episode 70, recorded April 21 2021 with improved audio levels. This conversation was too good to let bad audio potentially get in the way of you enjoying it.Martin Shaw is widely regarded as one of the most exciting teachers of the mythic imagination. He is the author of the award winning A Branch From The Lightning Tree, Scatterlings: Getting Claimed in the Age of Amnesia (2016), Courting the Wild Twin (2020), and the upcoming Smokehole: Looking to the Wild in the Time of the Spyglass (2021). He is director of the Westcountry School of Myth in the UK, and devised and led the Oral Tradition course at Stanford University.In our conversation we touch on many topics close to my heart: storytelling, mythology, honouring our teachers and mentors, cultivating a sense of belonging and serving the spirit of the land in the place we claim as home. The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.Don’t go back to sleep.You must ask for what you really want.Don’t go back to sleep.People are going back and forth across the doorsillwhere the two worlds touch.The door is round and open.Don’t go back to sleep.— Rumi, translated by Coleman BarksMartin's websites:https://drmartinshaw.comhttps://schoolofmyth.comNames invoked:Robert Bly, Michael Meade, James Hillman, Martín Prechtel, Malidoma Somé, Federico García Lorca, Arshile Gorky, Willem De Kooning, Rumi+++GO DEEPERBecome a member of the Medicine Path online community and school of soul studies: http://patreon.com/medicinepathMedicine Path YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/c/medicinepath1-on-1 Soul Recovery resources and coaching with Brian James: http://medicinepath.me+++SUPPORT & APPRECIATIONSend a gift from our Amazon wish list: https://www.amazon.ca/hz/wishlist/ls/11HNWME8NHNM7 Make a one-time contribution via PayPal: http://PayPal.me/medicinepathyogaSound collage: "Invocation" by Brian James

In this episode, occult scholar Ronnie Pontiac shares some great stories about his late mentor Manly P. Hall and some of the forgotten founders of America, many of whom were not, as we're led to believe, puritan Christians, but rather were an eclectic mix of neo-Platonists, alchemists and esotericists.Ronnie Pontiac worked as Manly P. Hall’s research assistant and designated substitute lecturer for seven years. As well as being a writer and occult researcher, he is a musician and has produced award-winning documentaries including films on the Cuban revolutionary hip-hop group Los Aldeano and the Seattle grunge band The Gits, whose singer Mia Zapata was tragically raped and murdered in 1993. Ronnie lives in Los Angeles with his wife and frequent collaborator Tamra Spivey.His recent book American Metaphysical Religion is an exploration of American occult and spiritual history, from Colonial-Era Alchemists to 20th-Century teachers. Most Americans believe the United States was founded by pious Christians. However, as Ronnie Pontiac reveals, from the beginning, America was a vibrant blend of beliefs from all four corners of the world.+++GO DEEPERBecome a member of the Medicine Path online community and school of soul studies: http://patreon.com/medicinepathMedicine Path YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/c/medicinepath1-on-1 Soul Recovery resources and coaching with Brian James: http://medicinepath.me+++SUPPORT & APPRECIATIONSend a gift from our Amazon wish list: https://www.amazon.ca/hz/wishlist/ls/11HNWME8NHNM7 Make a one-time contribution via PayPal: http://PayPal.me/medicinepathyogaSound collage: "Invocation" by Brian James

On this episode I speak with Adam Aronovich, who I met six years ago when I arrived at an ayahuasca retreat centre in the Peruvian Amazon to teach yoga for a few months. Adam lived and worked there for four years, facilitating retreats and performing research on healing outcomes among the Western participants.Since that time, we’ve been keeping an eye on each others work and have found ourselves arriving at similar viewpoints about the problems and limitations of what he calls healing culture. The catalyst for this conversation are the two recent articles I’ve published outlining my critique of what I’ve termed Traumadelic Culture, which is in my view, the result of the assimilation and capture of psychedelic culture by therapies that are obsessively focused on childhood trauma and perpetuate a victim narrative that disempowers and depoliticizes individuals. In my critique, I draw the work of post-Jungian psychologist James Hillman, as well as my study of yoga and other indigenous healing systems.As a doctoral candidate in Anthropology and Communications focusing on Medical Anthropology and Cultural Psychiatry, as well as years of on-the-ground experience, Adam brings an acute awareness of the cultural and political impacts that spiritual tourism and the exportation of Western ideals and prejudices have on indigenous healing systems and local cultures.And through his popular Instagram account @HealingFromHealing which is full of darkly funny and acerbic critiques of healing culture, he lends a bit of much-needed catharsis and levity to the conversation.➤ LINKSAdam's website: http://healingfromhealing.comThe Rise of Traumadelic Culture & The Capture of Psychedelics: https://medicinepath.me/journal/traumadelic-cultureBeyond Trauma: Re-Visioning Trauma Therapy: https://medicinepath.me/journal/beyondtrauma➤ RELATED EPISODESMPP78 Jeremy Narby https://tinyurl.com/mpp78-JeremyNarbyMPP44 Carlos Suarez-Alvarez https://tinyurl.com/mpp44-carlossuarezalvarezMPP09 Jeronimo Mazarrasa https://tinyurl.com/mpp09-jeronimomazarrasa➤ GO DEEPERBecome a member of the Medicine Path online community and school of soul studies: http://patreon.com/medicinepathMedicine Path YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/c/medicinepath1-on-1 Soul Recovery resources and coaching with Brian James: http://medicinepath.me➤ SUPPORT & APPRECIATIONSend a gift from our Amazon wish list: https://www.amazon.ca/hz/wishlist/ls/11HNWME8NHNM7 Make a one-time contribution via PayPal: http://PayPal.me/medicinepathyogaSound collage: "Invocation" by Brian James