Nature-based soul-guide, Rev. Matt Syrdal, is re-wilding what it means to be human.  His work weaves in myth and ceremony in nature as a way for people to enter into conversation with the storied world in which they are a part.  Matt says, “there is a constellation of relationships with the more-than-human world in which our sense of self-hood, community, and myth emerges from a deep conversation that is always happening around us. This 'window of the imagination,' is the way of co-participating and co-creating through our imaginal sense in a conversation with another that can’t speak (nature).” 

Nature is both the context and that which holds the wisdom to reveal one’s soul, which Matt explains is a realm of itself.  Matt says the soul realm has nothing to do with primary relationships or vocation, is not culturally constructed, is completely beneath language, and is the place of connection with one’s own deeper mythos.

Matt is studying with Bill Plotkin in The Soulcraft Apprenticeship and Initiation Program (SAIP) at the Animas Valley Institute, a program designed for those called by Mystery to learn, co-develop, and implement an authentic, contemporary, Western, nature-based path to soul initiation.  This path is marked by a descent into the underworld.

This journey of descent is far from common in our Western, ascent-orientated culture.  In this conversation Matt talks about why this work is vital to developing initiated adults in our patho-adolescent society, and helps develop elders and ultimately healthy communities. All this requires soul-centric development and an eco-centric consciousness.

The Journey of Descent with Nature-Based Soul Guide Rev. Matt Syrdal

Dr. Randy Woodley is a Keetoowah Cherokee teacher, songwriter, poet, activist, former pastor, missiologist and historian. He is a lover of plants and lives with his wife, Edith, co-sustaining the Elohah farm in the Willemette Valley in Newberg, Oregon where they utilize and teach principles of Permaculture, Biomimicry and Traditional Indigenous Knowledge (TIK). 

Eloheh Farm seeks to be a model of regenerative agricultural and animal husbandry systems that support human needs while improving the earth and all creation inhabiting the web of life. We desire to live in harmony with the land.

"Eloheh" is a Cherokee Indian word representing "harmony, balance, well-being and abundance.

Those are just a few of the attributes of the Indigenous Worldview, which Randy says is a necessary worldview for getting where we want to go in this time of ecological disaster.

Emerging Future Podcast

Emerging Future Podcast

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