Soul Studies is a new series of podcasts where I read excerpts from books that are currently inspiring me. In this episode I read from the first chapter of Rollo May’s 1975 book “The Courage to Create”. It struck me as a book that feels incredibly relevant to our cultural moment, particularly on the topics of despair, cultural divides and ideological fanaticism.

“People who claim to be absolutely convinced that their stand is the only right one are dangerous. Such conviction is the essence not only of dogmatism, but of its more destructive cousin, fanaticism. It blocks off the user from learning new truth, and it is a dead giveaway of unconscious doubt. The person then has to double his or her protests in order to quiet not only the opposition but his or her own unconscious doubts as well.”

Rollo May (1909-1994) taught at Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, and was Regents' Professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. An influential psychologist, he was the best-selling author of Love and Will, as well as the author of The Courage to Create, Man's Search for Himself, The Meaning of Anxiety, and Psychology and the Human Dilemma.

If you enjoyed this episode and want me to continue sharing work I find in the course of my Soul Studies, please let me know!

Email me: hello@brianjames.ca
Instagram: @revealingthesoul
Website: brianjames.ca

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This is an excerpt of a longer conversation. If you’d like to gain access to early release of full, ad-free episodes and support the podcast, consider becoming part of the pack over at patreon.com/howlinthewilderness. We are an independent production and rely on the support of listeners like you. Make a one-time contribution to http://paypal.me/brianjamessoul

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Brian James: http://brianjames.ca

IG: http://instagram.com/brianjames.soulwork

On this episode I welcome back archetypal astrologer and teacher of depth psychology, Safron Rossi to speak about her recent book on the Kore archetype.

Safron is Core Faculty in the Pacifica Graduate Institute Jungian and Archetypal Studies program, teaching courses on mythology, symbolism, archetypal cosmology & astrology, and scholarly praxis. For many years she was Curator of the Joseph Campbell, James Hillman, and Marija Gimbutas manuscript collections at Opus Archives. Her writing and scholarly studies focus on Greek mythology, archetypal psychology, archetypal astrology, and goddess traditions. Safron is the author of The Kore Goddess: A Mythology & Psychology (2021), co-editor of Jung on Astrology (2017), and editor of Joseph Campbell’s Goddesses: Mysteries of the Feminine Divine (2013).

Safron and I have a wonderful conversation that explores the archetypal significance of the Ancient Greek Kore figures, who are often depicted as young strong women. Safron describes the Kore as, “…the archetypal Virgin or Maiden, a youthful figure who is one-in-herself … associated with psychological integrity … to be grounded in one’s essential nature as an individual. As the figure most directly concerned with our connection to the interior rhythms of our being, contact with this archetype brings a sense of sovereignty and potency…it is the function of the Kore to safeguard us from losing ourselves to collective forces by turning us inward.”

As you might imagine, this feminine archetype is relevant to both men and women, particularly in times like these where collective forces are constantly trying to get us to pick a side and go to battle for one ideology or another, and spend all our energy feeding the social media machine. The Kore invites us to turn away from the screen and look inward to find what is true and good for each of us.

Safron's website: https://www.thearchetypaleye.com/

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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/howlinthewilderness

On this episode I speak with Jack Mason aka The Perfume Nationalist.

Jack describes The Perfume Nationalist podcast as a continuing radio soap opera in which art and culture, high and low, are discussed through the historical lens of fragrance.

In our conversation we talk about what Jack describes as the war on beauty and how wearing perfume can be an act of disobedience to the increasing sterility of public spaces and a liberating psychedelic aesthetic experience in and of itself. We also talk about our shared love of feminist cultural provocateur and 90s icon Camille Paglia, the therapeutic value of soap operas and trashy novels, and (thanks to Jack’s podcast) my newfound appreciation for the North American shopping mall as one of the last remaining temples to the goddess Aphrodite.

The Perfume Nationalist: https://www.patreon.com/perfumenationalist

Support the podcast by making a small monthly contribution. https://plus.acast.com/s/medicinepath.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is an excerpt of a longer conversation. If you’d like to gain access to early release of full, ad-free episodes and support the podcast, consider becoming part of the pack over at patreon.com/howlinthewilderness. We are an independent production and rely on the support of listeners like you. Make a one-time contribution to http://paypal.me/brianjamessoul

Subscribe on YouTube: http://youtube.com/@howlinthewilderness

Brian James: http://brianjames.ca

IG: http://instagram.com/brianjames.soulwork

On this episode I speak with Dr. Sharon Blackie.

Sharon is an award-winning author and psychologist with a background in mythology and folklore. Her highly acclaimed books, lectures and teaching programs are focused on reimagining women’s stories, and on the relevance of myth, fairy tales and folk traditions to the personal, cultural and environmental problems we face today.

In our conversation we talk about the value of finding your personal myth; working with fairy tales to deepen and expand your life story; the obsolescence of the hero’s journey and the call to imagine post-heroic stories for women and men; the importance of exposing children to undiluted, unDisneyfied stories in order to make them more resilient and empathetic; and the urgency of moving beyond mere self-care and personal development into caring for the soul of the world and working to keep the mythic imagination alive.

Sharon's website: https://sharonblackie.net/

Sharon's Substack: https://sharonblackie.substack.com/

References:

Sharon’s previous appearance on the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/posts/mpp101-hagitude-77331131

My interview with Allen Chinen (Beyond the Hero) https://shows.acast.com/medicinepath/episodes/mpp107

God Father Death (Grimm Bros.) https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm042.html

Sharon Blackie, Hagitude

James Hillman, The Soul’s Code

Bruno Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales

Support the podcast by making a small monthly contribution. https://plus.acast.com/s/medicinepath.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you’d like to gain access to early release of full, ad-free episodes and support the podcast, consider becoming part of the pack over at patreon.com/howlinthewilderness. We are an independent production and rely on the support of listeners like you. Make a one-time contribution to http://paypal.me/brianjamessoul

On this episode I speak with writer, ecophilosopher and activist Derrick Jensen.

True to our Sagittarian natures, we have a wide-ranging conversation that covers a lot of ground, including personal stories of childhood trauma, healing, activism and the journey toward realizing your gifts and offering them to the world.

Before we began recording I told Derrick that I was feeling a little blue that morning, and thought it had something to do with the total solar eclipse that had just occurred. By the end of our conversation I felt the heavy mood lift a little, which speaks to the therapeutic effect of sharing your troubles out loud with someone else who is also troubled.

So, although our conversation delves into some heavy and painful topics, I hope that by the end of it you feel a little less alone with your own troubles. That’s one of the key intentions behind this podcast, and one of the main reasons I continue to do it: so that us lone wolves howling in the wilderness of modernity can find the others who are similarly afflicted, and perhaps find some comfort and community.

Derrick's website: https://derrickjensen.org

Topics: ecology, psychology, trauma, recovery, healing, purpose

Support the podcast by making a small monthly contribution. https://plus.acast.com/s/medicinepath.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This was an excerpt of a 2-hour 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/howlinthewilderness. Support this independent podcast by making a one-time donation to http://paypal.me/brianjamessoul

On this episode I speak with psychologist, writer and activist Bruce Levine.

Dr. Levine writes and speaks widely on how society, culture, politics and psychology intersect. His most recent book is A Profession Without Reason: The Crisis of Contemporary Psychiatry―Untangled and Solved by Spinoza, Freethinking, and Radical Enlightenment (2022).

A practicing clinical psychologist often at odds with the mainstream of his profession, he is a regular contributor to CounterPunch, Salon and Mad in America. His articles and interviews have been published in the New York Times, Skeptic, Adbusters, The Ecologist, High Times, and numerous other magazines.

Dr. Levine is on the editorial advisory board of the journal Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, and he is on the medical and scientific advisory board of the National Center for Youth Law. He is also an editorial advisor for the Icarus Project/Freedom Center Harm Reduction Guide to Coming off Psychiatric Drugs. A longtime activist in the mental health treatment reform movement, he is a member of the International Society for Ethical Psychology & Psychiatry and MindFreedom. Dr. Levine has presented talks and workshops to diverse organizations throughout North America.

Bruce's website: https://brucelevine.net/

Support the podcast by making a small monthly contribution. https://plus.acast.com/s/medicinepath.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is an excerpt of a 2 hour conversation. If you’d like to gain access to early release of full, ad-free episodes and support the podcast, consider becoming part of the pack over at patreon.com/howlinthewilderness. We are an independent production and rely on the support of listeners like you. Make a one-time contribution to http://paypal.me/brianjamessoul

On this episode I speak with artist and scholar Mary Antonia Wood about her book The Archetypal Artist: Reimagining Creativity and the Call to Create.

Mary has been a visual artist for over thirty years, working in a variety of media. Her work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions and has been collected by both public institutions and individuals. She is chair of the Depth Psychology and Creativity program at Pacifica Graduate Institute and the owner of Talisman Creative Mentoring, a practice that supports artists and creators of all types.

This was a lovely conversation where we go deep into all aspects of what it means to be a creative being, the influence that Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung and James Hillman have had on her work, and the parallels between the shamanic archetype and the artist — some of my favourite topics.

Mary's website: http://www.talismanmentoring.com

Topics: creativity, art, shamanic archetype, carl jung, james hillman

Support the podcast by making a small monthly contribution. https://plus.acast.com/s/medicinepath.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is an excerpt of a 2 hour conversation. If you’d like to gain access to early release of full, ad-free episodes and support the podcast, consider becoming part of the pack over at patreon.com/howlinthewilderness. We are an independent production and rely on the support of listeners like you. Make a one-time contribution to http://paypal.me/brianjamessoul

On this episode I speak with cultural historian and archetypal astrologer Richard Tarnas about his book Cosmos & Psyche, his journey from Harvard to Esalen in the 1970s, and how his psychedelic research with Stanislav Grof and encounter with James Hillman were integral to the development of what he calls archetypal cosmology.

I really enjoyed this conversation, and it was an honour to have such deep and personal conversation with someone who’s depth of experience, scholarship and concern for humanity is truly humbling.

Richard's website: https://cosmosandpsyche.com

Archetypal Cosmology journal: http://www.archai.org

The Planets article: http://www.archai.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Tarnas-%E2%80%93-The-Planets-%E2%80%93-Archai-Issue-1.pdf

Support the podcast by making a small monthly contribution. https://plus.acast.com/s/medicinepath.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.