Mining the Gold: Masculine Archetypes

King, Warrior, Magician, Lover:

Mining the Gold of Your Inner Allies

Exploring Masculine Archetypes

(A Virtual Course for Women Only!)

(A copy of the book is required. Inexpensive copies are available at Amazon. See link below.)

November 10 - December 5, 2014

Course tuition: $89.00

I'm thrilled to be co-facilitating this virtual course with my dear friend and colleague, Dr. Richard Gibson, a spiritual director and executive/life coach in private practice in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan. You can read more about Richard below in his bio section, and find a link to his website. If you have questions about the course, please send an email to agelessgraceacademy@gmail.com, and we'll get back to you as soon as possible. We look forward to working with you!

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We've all heard about the brain research that tells us that we operate using only a small fraction of our brain power. What if the same was true on a spiritual and emotional level?

What if there were hidden resources just below the level of your everyday consciousness that could exponentially boost your effectiveness in your work, your relationships, your creative projects, your spiritual pursuits?

What if you discovered that you had an entourage of secret allies who have been waiting for an invitation from you so that they could shower you with wisdom, understanding, and a renewed sense of energy in your life?

This is exactly what can happen when you, as a woman, begin to honor, explore, and forge a relationship with your inner masculine archetypes. The depth psychologists have called this consortium of masculine energetic patterns the "animus" -- and it resides within your own feminine psyche.

For a woman, the resident male archetypes are often ignored or shunned. At best, the energy that they could contribute to the feminine psyche is very often a vastly under-utilized resource. And if we want to be whole, to live our lives as fully functioning women, then we need to get to know all of our inner characters, and invite them into the light of consciousness. This can result in a greater emotional and spiritual integration, that will add texture and richness to the quality of our everyday lives.

Because of personal experience and the cultural conditioning to which we're all susceptible, women are often hesitant to explore the inner masculine, and rightfully so, because of negative or painful experiences. But to ignore this rich resource, the birthright of all women, is to limit who we are in ways that not only keep us personally limited, but also limit our contributions to our families and those in our communities. To allow the inner masculine to languish in the dark corners of our psyches limits the full expression of our spiritual power. And when the archetypes remain below the level of consciousness, that is, when a woman does not interact with them in a conscious way, then they can seemingly erupt out of nowhere, causing her to be reactive, confused, and perhaps baffled by her own responses to other women and men in her life.

King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Mining the Gold of Your Inner Allies - a virtual course for women only, is your invitation to begin this process. During this self-paced course, you will have the opportunity to acquaint yourself with four of the primary masculine archetypes: King, Warrior, Magician, and Lover. You will begin to understand exactly how these archetypes manifest in their mature and generative forms, as well as in their immature and shadow forms, in your personal psyche, how you can recognize them, befriend them, and call on them as allies.

The course material is based on the ground-breaking book King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine by Jungian analyst Robert Moore and his colleague, Doug Gillette. A copy of the book is required, since the assignments are based on excerpts from the book. As mentioned above, inexpensive copies are available at Amazon.com. Click here: http://www.amazon.com/King-Warrior-Magician-Lover-Rediscovering/dp/0062506064/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414093044&sr=8-1&keywords=king+warrior+magician+lover

As a result of participating in this course, and a gentle openness to engaging in this work, you can expect to: 

• Understand the importance for you, as a woman, of establishing a conversation with the masculine archetypes (mature and shadow) residing in your psyche. You will begin to "own" a whole new kind of power that you can bring to bear on your daily life.  
• Deepen your self-awareness and understanding of how male archetypes have influenced your beliefs, choices and behaviors.  
• Increase your sense of personal power as you understand that the male archetypes are a "given" - part of your intrinsic psychic wiring, regardless of your particular life experiences with actual men. 
• Employ proven self-exploration tools and methods of self-reflection that will expand your sense of self-understanding, awareness of the choices available to you, and ultimately the freedom that belongs to you.

How does the virtual course work?

You will receive a retreat manual on the day the course begins. It will provide a schedule of reading and journaling exercises. There will also be suggestions for tasks that you can complete that will anchor what you are learning in your everyday life. You will receive an audio file of a guided meditation that you will experience at the end of the course. In addition to a copy of the book, you will need a journal and if you choose, a few art supplies if you wish to embellish your journaling experience.

You will do the readings and complete the assignments at your own pace. You do not need to attend any online meetings or teleconferences. Simply work on the material at your own pace, at times that best suit your schedule and energy levels.

Richard and I will be available by email to read your assignments if you wish to submit them, as well as to answer any questions you have, and to provide further guidance for your process. 

We look forward to having you join us for the transformative experience! Again, please email if you have any questions in advance of the course dates. 

About the retreat facilitators:

Dr. Richard Gibson is a Spiritual Director and an Executive/Life Coach.  He has taken course work in Spiritual Direction from Shalem Institute in Washington, D.C.  He began his practice in 2002. Visit http://richardspiritualdirector.com/ for more information.   He has been providing one-on-one confidential coaching to professionals and executives since 1997.  He is trained and certified by Coach University.   His doctorate is in adult education (Ed.D.) from the University of Maryland (2002). Visit www.linkedin.com/in/richardsgibson.  He loves it when his clients and directees seek to explore the profound connection between mind, body and spirit. 

Casaundra Bennett is the Director at The IRIS House: An Atelier for the Creative, in West Point, GA, and Director of the Ageless Grace Online Academy. Casaundra has held positions in college and university administration, publishing and editing, and healthcare for the last 25 years, at institutions such as UCLA, The University of Chicago, and St.Olaf College. Casaundra trained as a spiritual director, and has facilitated retreats for more than 30 years. In 1999, she was ordained as a Buddhist minister in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She develops and teaches courses in creative writing, memoir, therapeutic writing, art and spirituality and other personal development disciplines. Her novel, Dreaming of Elysium: An Archaeology of Longing, is forthcoming from Purple Iris Press. She lives in West Point, GA, with Athena, her beloved Australian Cattle Dog mix.