Soul initiation is an essential spiritual adventure that most of the world has forgotten — or not yet discovered. Here, visionary ecopsychologist Bill Plotkin maps this journey, one that has not been previously illuminated in the contemporary Western world and yet is vital for the future of our species and our planet. Based on the experiences of thousands of people, this book provides phase-by-phase guidance for the descent to soul — the dissolution of current identity; the encounter with the mythopoetic mysteries of soul; and the metamorphosis of the ego into a cocreator of life-enhancing culture. Plotkin illustrates each phase of this riveting and sometimes hazardous odyssey with fascinating stories from many people, including those he has guided. Throughout he weaves an in-depth exploration of Carl Jung’s Red Book — and an innovative framework for understanding it. “Once in a blue moon, a book appears that is so synchronistically aligned with the zeitgeist that it integrates the sacred with nature, and our individual life paths with our collective evolution. Informed by a lifetime of engaged experience, deep listening, and pattern seeking, and graced by beautiful language and storytelling, this book offers a map for those yearning to find their soul’s purpose. Now, when we’re called to act on behalf of what we love and to contribute our unique gifts to the maturation of our endangered species, Bill Plotkin offers lucid and grounded guidance, wisdom, and an illuminated pathway. I am in awe of this book. A rare and precious gift.” — Nina Simons , cofounder of Bioneers “The people who gave me bones, flesh, and story — the Yoruba people of West Africa — knew how to see in dark times. In times of crisis, they encoded an ancient ritual in the ordinary act of greeting an elder with prostration. That ritual tells a story of descent, of generous libations, of lingering memory, and of creative moves in the wake of destruction and utter ruin. I am pleasantly shocked Bill Plotkin knows a version of this meta-story. This book glows at the interstitial matrixes between despair and cultural renewal; it is a trace of departures we must yet make into forbidden depths where — quite ironically — we might see ourselves as if for the first time. Read it.” — Bayo Akomolafe, PhD , author of These Wilds Beyond Our Fences: Letters to My Daughter on Humanity’s Search for Home “With this important book, Bill Plotkin continues his crucial work of teaching us how to live properly, and how to live properly on the living planet. Anyone who reads this book will forever be grateful to Plotkin for the gentle, informed, yet powerful guidance he provides.” — Derrick Jensen , author of A Language Older Than Words and The Myth of Human Supremacy “For four decades Bill Plotkin has been coaxing the human psyche out of its self-enclosed cages, liberating the terrestrial imagination, inviting and empowering the human soul to remember its ancestral alliance with elk herds and dark woodlands, with rivers overflowing their banks and the improvisational riffs of garrulous ravens. His methods have steadily widened into a capacious toolkit for personal and cultural metamorphosis, laid out in these luminous pages strewn with poetry, mythology, and dreams. A remarkable guidebook.” — David Abram , author of Becoming Animal and The Spell of the Sensuous “ The Journey of Soul Initiation provides a detailed map of the journey toward real human maturity. Beginning with the reconnection of our soul with the web of life, Bill Plotkin guides us through the magical and visionary encounters that belong to our reengagement with the more-than-human world. Full of stories and lived examples, here is a rich tapestry of the personal exploration needed if we are to realize our soul’s purpose and make a true contribution to the greater Earth community — if we are to learn to love and care for our common home.” — Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, PhD , editor Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth “Bill Plotkin — and his teachings — are in a category all their own! He is a priest of the soul, a therapist of the heart, a stimulator of the mind, and a companion of the body. And then he works them all together! Plotkin is a theologian of no particular religion, but he creates a solid foundation for a truly natural religion — that still honors growth and transcendence. You must know this is a most rare and much-needed synthesis!” — Fr. Richard Rohr , Center for Action and Contemplation, Albuquerque, New Mexico “Humans and other-than-humans alike ought to be grateful for Bill Plotkin’s life’s work of putting the wilderness, and with it the sacredness of the Earth, forward as our destiny in this perilous time of ecocide, matricide, and species narcissism. In The Journey of Soul Initiation , Plotkin, now as an elder, continues his important vocation to nurture and guide a spiritually famished society to greener pastures.” — Matthew Fox ,