#27: Henry Fowkes — Validation, Co-Regulation and Midwifing the Magic in Groups

In this episode, my first back for this year, Ash and I dive further into the waters we began wading into in our previous episode. Exploring the intersection of queer ways of being, masculinity, and the mythopoetic orientation, we build on this inquiry based on reflections for our last 5 months of circling with men across many generations.

What does the mythopoetic orientation afford us as we look to restore, and restory ourselves-in-the-world?

How do we relate to 'masculinity,' 'femininity' and all things between (and beyond) through this lens?

Can we move beyond simply 'who we love,' towards orientations of 'how we love,' maybe as the great myths were pointing us toward?

We explore the nuances of archetype, identity, and morality as we dance between the self and soul, crafting ourselves into a more enriched and generous expression of wholeness.

--
Show notes and links here
Connect with Al on Instagram
Connect with Al on Facebook
Music by Rhone

Support the show (https://aljeffery.com/podcast/)

Sean is a man, a voice, and a guide I've been tracking for some time, for his work in the eco-psychotherapy and psychedelic-assisted therapy space. Within the frame of rewilding, or de-domesticating the mind, remembering and reclaiming what Martin Shaw calls the 'wild twin,' the selves it can be easy to exile in our culture, we explore how both ecological re-connective practice and psychedelic-assisted therapies support us on this path of deliberately and pre-emptively meeting the wild.

As the founder and director of the Wild Mind Institute and therapist trainer in 2 of Australia's psychedelic research trials, Sean and I dive into some of the nuances of bridging transformative process with everyday life, specifically psychedelic integration practices in 'bedding down new knowings.'

It was an honour to share in this rich exchange with Sean, and we trust there are some fruits that fall from our conversation to support you in your journey of wholing, healing and remembering.

--
Show-notes and links here
Connect with Al on Instagram
Connect with Al on Facebook
Music by Rhone

In this episode, I read my most recent essay on “Eros, the Evolution of Life and Mind, and Moving from Psychology Toward Soul-Making.” This paper explores Eros (in it’s mythological and evolutionary sense) as a guiding organisational principle of life and invites us to tend to our connection to Eros as a partner in our renewal and re-engendering of relationship. 

Drawing on evolutionary biology, integral theory, attachment theory, theories of mind, developmental moral imagination, and more, I attempt to show how an Eros-(re)infused way of seeing and being might afford us great energy and direction in this time of fragmentation. 

Dive in, come to understand, and feel Eros in a renewed way. Let it animate your life and leadership. 

You can also download the paper here.

--
Show-notes and links here
Connect with Al on Instagram
Connect with Al on Facebook
Music by Rhone

In today’s episode, I had the honour of connecting in with dear brother Eamon Armstrong, exploring ways of being that allow for greater degrees of integration, and soul to live through us. In a world that prizes some expressions, criticises and condemns others, it’s no wonder we become partial even to ourselves. Through an exploration of queer ways of being, masculinity, and transformative culture, we touch the nerve of broadening senses of ‘self,’ to open to more inclusive and honouring epistemologies. Diving into temperament, attachment, identity, and character we explore what it means to shape identity and a ‘peaceful not-knowing’ from the inside, rather than from outside forces. 

We share a playful energy together, and always have, and so you’ll enjoy this one full of all of its wit, wonder, and banter.

--
Show-notes and links here
Connect with Al on Instagram
Connect with Al on Facebook
Music by Rhone

If we are to restore, or re-story, our world within larger narratives that acknowledge and honour the whole, how can we be with the natural world in a learning and listening capacity? 

Dr. Geoff Berry coined the term ‘ecomythic’ to speak directly to this. 

In our conversation, we explore the ways story and deep nature connection can support us in finding ourselves in larger mythologies, they can support us in living through myths that are more inclusive. We explore the meaning of myth, how myth has come to mean misconception, as well as come of the deep nature connection practices you might tend to in order to widen the mythologies you inhabit.

--
Show-notes and links here
Connect with Al on Instagram
Connect with Al on Facebook
Music by Rhone

In our world of bits and bobs, parts and objects, them and us, what is it that binds us, reminding us of our inter-weaving, and our nature as relational, systemic, and intertwined beings? How can we tell a different Story of Me, of Us and of Now, that acknowledges the in-between, the rich space between us? 

My dear friend Asher Packman and I dive into the role of the mythopoetic in restoring the world, or re-storying the world. We explore the roots of the mythopoetic resurgence within the menswork movement and beyond, what it offers us in relation to integrating more of the whole into our self and cultural imagination, as well as ways to re-awaken the mythos in our own practices. How can we truly experience poetry, and the poetics, calling on our many faculties so as to not hear the voices of mythos through ears of logos? 

A rich storyteller, and weaver of worlds, Ash and I have been very excited to share this one with you and hope it may be a reminder and torch of possibility for what a mythopoetic ontology might afford us in our restoring of wholeness in ourselves, and in our world. 

--
Show-notes and links here
Connect with Al on Instagram
Connect with Al on Facebook
Music by Rhone

Building cultures and places that celebrate our uniqueness, and our potentials is the work of each of us, whether we regard ourselves as business leaders, proud parents, loving friends, or contributing citizens. We find ourselves within systems of oppression, and through existing in these cultures, inherit relational patterns that support these ways of being. It is part of our work in this world, to deconstruct inequalities and weave inclusion, to come to understand how we, ourselves are supporting the perpetuation of these systems.

In this episode, we have the honour to explore these questions with Mary, who lives and breathes this work of deconstructing oppressive leadership and spaces. We explore some of the missed corridors in our own attempt to deconstruct oppressive leadership styles, and compassionately identify the ways we all may be able to enact transformative justice with more commitment and integrity. 

If you are someone hoping to unravel, decolonise, de-domesticate, and open your mind and way of relating in the world, to contribute to a more inclusive and totalising culture, this one is packed with great stories, insights and practical considerations. 

On the journey we go! Thank you, for committing to the work of restoring spaces for wholeness. 

--
Show-notes and links here
Connect with Al on Instagram
Connect with Al on Facebook
Music by Rhone

Contemplating system and cultural change, and our role within it can be daunting, and quite honestly, disempowering. Engaged Buddhism though, might have something to remind us. 

In today’s episode, we connect with Brother Phap Hai, a Senior Student of venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, to explore how the practice of Engaged Buddhism might support us as stewards of change in our lives, and our communities. What is Engaged Buddhism? What does it look and feel like in practice? How can it support us in our own wholeness, and flourishing, and in our attempt to re-weave cultures of wholeness?

We explore the many ways we can be engaged, and how to reclaim the very orientation behind our engagement to return to living in relationship with life as it is, right here.

--
Show-notes and links here
Connect with Al on Instagram
Connect with Al on Facebook
Music by Rhone

In today’s episode, I connect with, and we get to explore with, someone I’ve admired and learned much from in the past years. Jenny’s articulation of regenerative culture and leadership, bringing together the worlds of philosophy, ecology, mythology, science, and soul-centricity has endowed my own sense of ‘regenerative practice’ with greater depth and meaning. 

We explore the roots of the mechanistic paradigm, the ways it serves, and the limitations we are living in the experience of, as well as (re)-emerging epistemologies and ways of knowing that support a regenerative way of being in the world. The imagination, humility, and the role of humiliation within our journey of maturing into stewards of the living systems we are a part of is also something we dive into with great depth, and passion. 

Here’s to moving beyond atomising ourselves and our ecologies, to restoring relationality, queering our minds and ways of perceiving self and world, and ultimately living in greater congruence with life and its invitations. 

--
Show-notes and links here
Connect with Al on Instagram
Connect with Al on Facebook
Music by Rhone

Everyone is a facilitator, whether consciously or unconsciously. In our relationships at all levels - professionally and personally - we are woven into, affected by, and affecting a web of relations. In this episode, I sit down with my dear brother, co-groover, and facilitator from Melbourne, Henry Fowkes. We explore the nuanced and little-spoken-of insights into facilitation and group-work. In this, we cover the terrain of embodied attunement, integrating authenticity and authority, the role of the body and its wisdom within facilitation. Henry is one full of cackles, stories packed with humility, and a genuine zest for discovery. 

Here we were, sitting in my bedroom, microphone listening in, sharing a brotherly, down-to-earth, and mutually curious conversation that we trust you’ll take something for your medicine bag from. 

--
Show-notes and links here
Connect with Al on Instagram
Connect with Al on Facebook
Music by Rhone