What’s Going on Here?
Hi friends,
If you’re reading this message, it’s because you’ve signed up for my newsletter in some fashion.
Perhaps through a meditation group, a recovery event, The Pittsburgh Jung Group, or someplace else online. I’m using this newsletter to consolidate our work together and serve as a central hub for what comes next for us.
I’m calling this hub Spiral Heart. I’ll post events, updates about blogs, podcasts, and other projects as they emerge.
In today’s post, I’ll start by listing some events, describing a new podcast project I’m involved with, and end by unpacking what’s animating this project.
Upcoming Events
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Working Group
We’re doing a 10 part series on DBT and building meaningful social connections. The ten modules are as follows.
1. DBT Communication Styles
2. Skills of Assertiveness, Part 1
3. Skills of Assertiveness Part 2
4. Assertiveness Scripts and Interpersonal Rights
5. Listening and Validation
6. Barriers to Interpersonal Effectiveness
7. Trust in Relationships
8. Interpersonal Boundaries
9. Modulating Intensity
10. Resistance and Conflict
Wednesday Nights at 6:30 PM
Details Here: https://briannuckols.notion.site/Wednesday-DBT-Skills-5aa05cfa65c545d2992ad12032f3c5d1
Saturday Smart Recovery Group
To support individuals who have chosen to abstain, are considering abstinence, or practicing harm reduction from any addictive behaviors (substances or activities) by teaching how to change self-defeating thinking, emotions, and actions; and to work towards long-term satisfactions and quality of life.
Saturday morning at 10 AM
Details here: https://briannuckols.notion.site/Copy-of-Saturday-Smart-Meeting-015c03788de54a738ac7dc7460dba152
New Podcast Series
The Nativity of the Theotokos
I’m working through a year-long archetypal analysis of the 13 great feasts of the Orthodox Christian Liturgical Calendar.
In this episode, I’m chatting with Seraphim Winslow about the Nativity of the Theotokos. This feast is a celebration of the birth of the Blessed Mother of God, Mary.
We talk about numerous topics that are relevant to the spiritual journey.
Overcoming the psychology of instant gratification
Aligning with deep spiral archetypes
How Mary the Theotokos is a guide to attain heightened states of spiritual purity
Letting go of attachment to outcome.
Seraphim offers up an overwhelming and delicious banquet of wisdom, so I created a glossary that you can access via google docs.
Some highlights include:
Epektasis
Karma Yoga
Rosa Mystica
Involution
Omega Point
The Eschaton
Eternal Return of the Same
Check out the podcast on YouTube!
Why Does Spiral Heart Exist?
I want to tell you a story to explain the origin story of this project.
Ten years ago, an intense nightmare changed my life. During the dream, a repressed piece of my personal history burst into consciousness. This experience informed me of a root trauma that was wreaking havoc on my mental health. Three weeks of imaginative dream work later, I felt better than years of diligent work with behavioral therapy.
Due to this experience, the personal importance of dreams is evident to me. Later experiences with altered states of consciousness, the expressive arts, and ecstatic mystical techniques further reinforced the belief that engaging phenomenological experiences can profoundly impact the healing journey.
However, I’ve been shy about this in my public life, both creatively and professionally.
I feel scared about writing publicly about my experience. For one, I worry about getting committed or fired for having heterodox beliefs that undermine the master narratives of my profession. Additionally, I fear that I’ll slip into indulgent egotism.
Ultimately, a desire to overcome these fears is why I’m writing this post. I want to become more brave and truthful about my perspectives on healing, psychology, philosophy, and spirituality.
Also, on a more broad level, I want to find a balance between the first-person phenomenological perspective and repeating patterns we can observe collectively from a third-person perspective.
On a cultural level, in both religious tradition and empirical science, the first-person perspective is too often discounted for fear of falling into delusion, mystification, or superstition.
Said more simply, I want to create more space for ambiguity and surprise in life. I believe everything from encounters with spirits to new epiphanies are discounted so we can keep a tidy illusion of certainty about our world or the domain we’re studying.
This question about perspective will animate future posts. For now, I’ll leave us with a poem. Until next time!
Good Night September
Inching closer each step. Lightly.
Treading.
Leaves, trees, silence.
Am I sad? Is this peace?
100,000 leaves singing.
I ask them,
are endings the end?
Are you my prophet?
Will I die?
Will I change?
Congrats on launching your substack! Having a running glossary is a brilliant idea.