PRogRAmS & OFFeRINgS
PRogRAmS & OFFeRINgS
PRogRAmS & OFFeRINgS
Reclaim. Renew. Rewild.
SemINARY of The wIlD
Eco-Ministry Certificate Yearlong Program™
SPRING 2022 COHORT
Eco-Ministry Certificate
A yearlong immersion for all who are called by Earth and Spirit to step into their unique role in the Great Turning.
April 27, 2022-April 1, 2023
FALL 2022 COHORT
Eco-Ministry Certificate
A yearlong immersion for all who are called by Earth and Spirit to step into their unique role in the Great Turning.
Begins October 2022
The Eco-Ministry Certificate program is open to anyone. You do not need to be a pastor, a Christian, or a spiritual leader, and most participants are not. Many are being called into service to the Great Turning, as Thomas Berry, Joanna Macy, and many others have called this moment in history. The program is a container, a "wild seedbed" for those who sense that they are standing on a threshold, ready to embody more authentically the call unique to their own soul and gifts, particular to their own bio-region and human community at this urgently important time of transition.
For all, Seminary of the Wild is a safe (yet uncomfortable, as every threshold of change promises) container for the changes happening within you and the changes you're being called to bring into the world.
The Seminary of the Wild Eco-ministry Certificate Program is an experiential, nature-based, yearlong offering to help you remember your primary participation in sacred Earth. In the face of profound ecological and social challenges, a New Story is emerging. At the core of that Story is a weaving of an ancient path and a new way of relating to Earth, other species, each other, and the Divine. Thomas Berry calls this path "The Dream of the Earth." This deep and wild course is an animated and inter-connected conversation between all things.
This Eco-Ministry Certificate program offers nature-based tools, practices, teachings, experiences, and support for your inner transformation. You will journey with a band of wild pilgrims and guides as you move toward your wild calling during this period of turbulence leading us into profound transformation that Joanna Macy calls "The Great Turning.”
During four ten-week modules you will:
Discover
a deep sense of Belonging to a sacred world larger than humans, groaning for your full engagement
Reclaim
your own deep authenticity, your Wild Self waiting to be embodied in fearless leadership for a time such as this.
Encounter
the Wild Christ through numinous encounters in conversation with your Wild Self and Wild Earth.
Embody
your sacred and wild calling as a gift to your community and watershed in deeper service to the world.
Wild Earth
Participate in Sacred Relationship with Earth
-
This introductory unit begins the trajectory of the program, online resources, reading lists, and group work in cohorts.
-
We explore themes of incarnation, and embodiment, a wild communion that helps us deepen our love for Earth as our primary community of belonging.
-
Participants will be invited to experience their own wild and indigenous belonging to the whole of the natural world as the primary path to the collective imagination and action required to restore our planet.
-
Practices range from dreamwork, contemplative wanders, embodied Earth-based prayers, and ceremony.
Wild Self
Clarify a Sense of Your Wild Authenticity
-
We explore our own hidden wholeness, the “treasure hidden in the field” of the Self — astonishing capacities, many of which are latent, suppressed, or unconscious.
-
With parables as a portal, we offer practices of dreams, deep imagery, shadow work over ten weeks focused on cultivating the four facets of our wholeness, and Self-healing.
-
We also explore the domestication of our inner-wildness, the suppression of the feminine, and structures of patriarchy and racial inequity.
-
Close with Wild Ceremony of intention to live more fully and authentically into our communities as leaders.
Wild Christ
Reclaim the Wild Roots of the Christian Story
-
We explore the historical narrative of the Christian church in collusion with both empire and culture, supporting the domestication of our original wildness.
-
Non-western framework for understanding the Jesus of Scriptures, exploring Christian mystics through the lens of Celtic, indigenous spirituality, and animism.
-
Practices offered will help experience the archetypes of the Cosmic and Wild Christ as an invitation to undergo deep ecological metanoia.
-
Dreamwork, myth, imaginal journeys, wild liturgy, communion, and ceremony
Wild Call
Embody Your Authentic Identity as a Unique Gift to the World
-
We explore the summons of the Wild Christ in rewilding our “call” as leaders, and what it means to embody one’s authentic identity as a unique gift to the world.
-
We focus on practical steps for cultivation of wholeness and integrating practices from the year into your life and ministry
-
Mentoring and group work will help participants explore practices, projects, one-step actions, and ceremonies for bringing authentic, soul-infused work into our places of worship and communities.
Seminary of the Wild ™ is a unique, psycho-spiritual educational paradigm—the first of its kind— rooted in direct experience. We weave the nature-based practices of wholing and healing work adapted largely from Bill Plotkin and the Animas Valley Institute—practices that have formed us as guides and our approach to human development—within a “rewilded and always rewilding” Christian framework.
A closer look reveals wild roots threading underground beneath the dominant story of the Christian history of visionary mystics who have charted bold and innovative Earth-based spiritual paths. Reclaiming these wild roots of the Christian story is to affirm and encounter the numinous power once available to be reclaimed and embodied in our times.
We will journey away from the domesticating and indoctrinating forces of Western society into a deep rediscovery and enchantment of Earth, Self, Christ, and our Call. Seminary of the Wild brings out of the 'storeroom' of the perennial wisdom tradition 'treasures new as well as old', drawing on the wisdom of ancient streams of Christian mysticism and Celtic spirituality as well as contemporary pan-cultural practices integrated from the Animas Valley Institute.
Nature-based spiritual practices, such as contemplative wanders, sacred council, facilitated group work, ceremony, dreamwork, imaginal journeys, embodied movement, writing, and eco-theological reflection and discussion will help us return to our original wholeness, our wildness, and our authentic service.
Richard Rohr reflects on Seminary of the Wild:
Core Elements of the Program
GROUNDED IN EXPERIENCE The yearlong is designed around at-home intensives with on-the-land invitations that immerse participants in the wild Earth in a way that cultivates deep conversation between the more-than-human community and the Wild Self. The big book of creation offers its revelatory voice and vision, permeating our magnificently diverse and astonishing world. We find our wholeness and purpose in direct conversation with nature and the soul. Wild Seminarians learn to ‘listen to" and "speak to" the land, and to be ‘mirrored’ by Earth. These practices assist the cultivation of our greater wholeness and the discovery of our deeper calling. You could say our nature-based practices help us expand our sense of Self to include the more-than-human world that sustains us, what Deep Ecology founder Arne Naess calls the Ecological Self.
GUIDED SUPPORT & MENTORING Each participant receives ten one-on-one mentoring sessions from experienced nature-based human development guides from various backgrounds in spiritual direction, coaching, and Wild Mind training (Animas Valley Institute). The guides are joined by eco-spirituality authors, theologians, and cultural artists through the monthly Wild Luminaries guest speakers. These individuals offer insights and invitations to deepen our journey toward sacred Earth connection, wholeness and Self-healing, and a numinous encounter with the mystery of God, and practical embodiment of your unique calling.
AUTHENTIC LEARNING COMMUNITY During the four ten-week modules, you will meet weekly with companions who have similar questions and curiosities, allowing you to engage in a community of deeply talented humans who share your calling, develop friendships, and find allies for this work. Creative collaboration arises in the context of intimacy built in a group that shares the year together.
The full program includes 4 nature based guided immersion weekends, weekly zoom sessions, 10 mentoring sessions, online Wild Luminary Webinars, and curriculum.
A 10% deposit reserves your place in the cohort. Full-pay or monthly payment options are available for the remaining balance. Balance due or monthly payments begin one month before the program begins.
Because this program is a serious yearlong commitment, we like to schedule a one-to-one call with anyone who is feeling drawn to join us. We would love to hear your story and can answer any questions about the program.
What Is Included?
Quarterly nature-based weekend guided immersions into our own wildish place.
Online Webinars with renowned Wild Luminaries from interdisciplinary fields.
Weekly Zoom-video conference sessions and Councils facilitated by Seminary of the Wild Guides and other participants.
A focused Eco-Ministry curriculum and online portal to access reading list, poetry, and invitations to reflect deeper and engage the place where you find yourself.
Ten Personal Mentoring Sessions with A Seminary of the Wild Guide
ZOOM Weekend Intensives
Each quarterly module, Wild Earth, Wild Self, Wild Christ and Wild call begins with a two-day weekend intensive. We will meet on Zoom: Friday and Saturday 8:30am-10:30am and 3pm-5pm (pacific time). In between those two Zoom gatherings, participants wander in their own wildish places near them with invitations for encounters with the land, their own soul, and the greater mystery.
WEEKLY ZOOM GATHERINGS
You will attend meetings every week during each of the four ten-week modules: Wild Earth, Wild Self, Wild Christ, and Wild Call. These meetings will alternate between meetings with your entire cohort and smaller group councils.
WILD LUMINARIES SERIES
Master teachings from Wild Luminaries in the field of eco-spirituality. Authors, thinkers, activists, theologians, guides, therapists join us monthly for a Zoom webinar. All webinars during the duration of the yearlong are included as part of the curriculum. Past Wild Luminary guests have included Mirabai Starr, Joanna Macy, Matthew Fox, Richard Rohr, John Philip Newell, Michael Mead, Brian McLaren, Bill Plotkin and more. See current list of upcoming Wild Luminary Webinars.
ECO-MINISTRY CURRICULUM
Our curriculum includes: a focused eco-ministry reading list for discussion and reflection, videos and workshops, setting aside time weekly to spend in nature, invitations on how to engage your own wildish place, ceremony prompts, journal prompts, and reflections.
ONE-TO-ONE MENTORING
You will receive ten monthly one-on-one mentoring sessions with one of the guides. The guides are experienced and skilled nature-based human development guides with backgrounds in coaching and spiritual direction. These sessions help deepen your experiences, offer opportunities to share dreams, and receive mirroring and personal invitations for further exploration.
The full program includes 4 nature based guided immersion weekends, weekly zoom sessions, 10 mentoring sessions, online Wild Luminary Webinars, and curriculum.
A 10% deposit reserves your place in the cohort. Full-pay or monthly payment options are available for the remaining balance. Balance due or monthly payments begin one month before the program begins.
Because this program is a serious yearlong commitment, we like to schedule a one-to-one call with anyone who is feeling drawn to join us. We would love to hear your story and can answer any questions about the program.