Who We Are
Soulcraft Australia & New Zealand (SANZ) was originally founded as Soulcraft Australia by a group of earth loving soul seekers who believed that Australia was calling out for the work of the Animas Valley Institute (AVI) to be brought to its shores.
For forty years, Bill Plotkin and his co-conspirators at AVI have been evolving a contemporary Western nature-based approach to the journey of soul initiation. An overture was made to Bill Plotkin and his brother and sister guides who sensed that our land and people were ripe for their work of reconnection, healing and cultural renaissance.
From 2016 – 2019, the Soulcraft Australia flame was carried by Robert Boyle PhD and Carin Eisen. Our inaugural Soulcraft programs were held in January 2017 on the outskirts of Sydney. Around thirty courageous souls from all over Australia gathered on our ancient country to learn and practice presence and listening, working with dreams, sitting in council, enacting sacred theatre and ceremony. Guides Brian Stafford MD, MPH and Rebecca Wildbear M.S., organisers, hosts, participants and the land were all touched and changed, taken further into relationship with the earth, themselves and each other.
In 2018 we ran six programs including an Autumn Animas Quest held in the wild Wollemi National Park in NSW. In November 2018 we were very lucky to have Bill Plotkin Ph.D. and Geneen Marie Haugen Ph.D. join us to guide several programs in NSW and Western Australia. See Testimonials for a taste of what participants experienced.
In late 2019 we delivered the Wild Mind Intensive and Soulcentric Dreamwork Intensive with guides Sage Magdalene and Doug Van Houten in the Brisbane Ranges, Victoria. And, in March 2020 we presented the Soulcraft Intensive and Council and Mirroring Intensive in Hawks Nest NSW with guides Doug Van Houten and Rebecca Wildbear.
In transitioning from Soulcraft Australia, we established SANZ as an incorporated Not for Profit association registered with NSW Fair Trading. The public office holders of SANZ are David Emery (President), Steve Freeman (Vice President), David Mallard FCPA (Treasurer) and Carin Eisen (Secretary).
Post pandemic, SANZ is well on the way to creating annual calendars of face to face AVI programs covering Australia and New Zealand – establishing the work of AVI in the Gondwanan roots, leaves and waters. We envisage, too, there being opportunities for those called to undertake formal training so as to nurture local guides who can further AVI’s valuable work on our soil. In the meantime, we will be offering multiple online programs in conjunction with AVI at accessible ANZ times.
Curious? Would you like to enter into deeper conversation with yourself and the natural world? Are you ready to explore a feast of earth based, soul centred practices to challenge and enrich? Are you called to follow your deepest most secret longing? Are you seeking new ways to respond to what the Earth is asking of us at this unique time?
Check out our Upcoming Programs and feel free to Contact Us with any questions you may have.
With wild blessings, the Soulcraft Australia & New Zealand team.
Photos from top by Josh Withers, Phil Botha, and Pat Whelen