Mythologies from around the world tell of spiritual seekers whose arduous journeys into the underworld bestow boons to bring back for the people. But the myths don’t tell us how contemporary people might undertake this journey. Animas Valley Institute, founded by Bill Plotkin, Ph.D., in 1980 in Durango, Colorado, offers a diverse set of experiential journeys into the mysteries of nature and psyche, including Soulcraft(TM) Intensives, contemporary vision fasts, and training programs in soul-initiation guiding and in nature-based human development facilitation.
In addition to these immersions, Bill and his colleagues have also developed many innovative maps, models, and methods for supporting people to grow whole in ways that have become rare in the contemporary world. These tools are described in Bill’s four books: Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche, Nature and the Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a Fragmented World; Wild Mind: A Field Guide to the Human Psyche, and The Journey of Soul Initiation: A Field Guide for Visionaries, Evolutionaries, and Revolutionaries.
