What IS the Integral Warrior/Shamanic Priest Process?

We have the ability and tools we need to improve our lives, the lives of our loved ones, and the planet. The big question is, “Do we have the will?”

The Integral Warrior is a six weekend men’s process that takes place over several months time. The process combines Jungian and emerging archetypes, cutting edge Integral and developmental systems theory, ancient Shamanic wisdom traditions of altered-state consciousness like Shamanic Breathwork and Journeying, meditation, guided imagery, Shamanic death and rebirth, and ritual and deeply thought-out initiations.

This combination of new and old, available to humanity for the first time in its fullness, creates a new paradigm of learning and healing that creates new awareness of who we are, why we do what we do, and where we’re headed. The process helps men move toward new structures of consciousness. By building a stronger existing foundation, we create the platform that allows the New Masculine to begin emerging in just a few months, a process that generally takes years to unfold, if it is to happen at all.

We have what we need to be the models for this emerging consciousness. As the sayings go, “If not now, when…if not you, who,” and “we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”

Here’s a brief overview of the six segments:

Integral Warrior Weekend Segments

Introductory Weekend: Weekend One is a special introductory weekend designed to allow men to experience the Priest archetype within and the Shamanic Priest Process before committing to the entire journey. It consists of introductions to the major Jungian archetypes, King, Warrior, Magician, Lover. What is the Divine Masculine and why is it so important? Introduction to Integral Theory (the most comprehensive map of human consciousness yet) and the Spiral Dynamics developmental model. Learn about how the masculine grows, and why. A guided Shamanic Journey into our psyches. A beginning exploration into the King archetype, what is initiation and why are they so critical, and an overview of the remaining process and weekends.

At the end of the introductory weekend, men will have an opportunity to decide whether or not they want to experience the full process consisting of an additional six weekends.

Weekend Two: The first of the Four Initiations, The Warrior Archetype, and Initiation and emergence of the Spiritual Warrior; Finding your purpose, integrity, authenticity, standing firm for what you believe is right. Deeper into Integral Theory, Lines, States and Stages, and Spiral Dynamics. Guided imagery on Warrior past lives and the shadow of the warrior. Discovering your deepest purpose and your mission. Nine steps to becoming the Spiritual Warrior. Claiming the Spiritual Warrior archetype through ritual and Initiation.

Weekend Three: The Lover Archetype, finding your Inner Beloved, balancing masculine and feminine energies. Learning how to embody the Lover. Developing empathy and compassion through Open Heart practices. The Shadow of the Lover. Still deeper into Integral Theory. Big Mind, Big Heart: Shifting awareness of your inner landscape, experiential awareness of non-dual realization. Claiming the Lover archetype through ritual and the Second Initiation.

Weekend Four: The Magician archetype, and why the Shamanic Priest is the fullest expression of the Magician. Balancing the seen and unseen dimensions, Priesting to the world. Accepting the Mantle of Spiritual Leadership, Creating and holding sacred space. The Magician’s relationship to the King and the Lover. Discovering what you need and what’s needed on the planet at this time. Claiming the Magician archetype through ritual and the Third Initiation.

Weekend Five: Using Shamanic Breathwork, Sacred Art, and Initiation, travel between the seen and unseen to clear the blockages that prevent your King from emerging in his fullest manifestation, balancing and integrating the other archetypes so that each is fully accessible as is needed. Death of the Old King ritual, and the Fourth Initiation of the New King. Shamanic Breathwork Process is a powerful healing process using the breath to create an altered state of consciousness that inspires individuals to remember and reconnect with their own inner healer.

Weekend Six: Preparation for a self-proclaiming ceremony for the Emergence of the Shamanic Priest and Integral Warrior. Emergence Ceremony of the Integral Warrior/Shamanic Priest witnessed by friends and family.

In addition, each of the weekends is rich with our own personal stories, life experiences and histories of our relationships with the archetypes of the King Warrior, Lover, and Magician.

The Integral Warrior: On it's way to Cincinnati?

Anyaa has recently begun facilitating the Shamanic Priestess Process in Cincinnati to a large group of women, and we've just contacted them about the possibility of bringing the Integral Warrior-the masculine mirror to the Shamanic Priestess Process-there as well. We have been pleasantly surprised at the number of responses.

So I thought I would take some time to give an overview of what the Integral Warrior process is all about, and over a series of these articles, explore what men can expect from the program, and how the process will enhance and enrich their lives. I also want to let men everywhere know what I need to be able to bring the process to wherever they might live.

This committed program comes through the lineage of my friend and teacher, Brad Collins, the founder of the Shamanic Priest Process and one of the founders of Venus Rising Institute of Shamanic Healing Arts, which is headquartered at Isis Cove in Western North Carolina, the intentional community Anyaa and I live in. We have a workshop space in our home called Half Moon Temple.

Into this process I learned from Brad I have added cutting edge integral and developmental systems theory and other elements and processes I've picked up over the years from being associated with Integral communities.

The process begins with a stand-alone Introductory weekend, full days on Saturday and Sunday, that gives an overview of the entire process, as well as an introduction to the masculine archetypes with an emphasis on the KING archetype, an introduction to Integral Theory (the most comprehensive map of human consciousness yet) and the Spiral Dynamics developmental model. We'll also learn about how the masculine grows through three distinct stages, take a guided Shamanic Journey, and spend some time processing that journey.

The introductory weekend gives men a taste of what to expect from the remaining six weekends. At the end of the introductory weekend, men will have an opportunity to decide whether or not they want to experience the full process, which is spread out over several months so that everyone has an opportunity to integrate the realization of each weekend, and to make it as affordable as possible. The process is intended for men who are already on the leading edge of consciousness and not for everyone, even though it's accessible to anyone who wants to do the work. It's a party with an open invitation for anyone to attend.

Here are a few links, most from this blog, that will give you a bigger picture of my approach and what the Priest Process is all about.

My website
The Integral Warrior
The Shadow of the Spiritual Warrior
New Archetypes for the Masculine
Numen, Old Men
What is the new Masculine?

In order to bring The Integral Warrior to a city or town, it's necessary have to first have a date and a local coordinator, someone who can help with the local marketing and pretty much knows the lay of the local land. Sometimes that coordinator also provides a venue to hold the process, and a place for me to stay, often the coordinator's home. Generally, this man attends the full weekend series at no cost in exchange for being the local coordinator. If the coordinator doesn't have the room for 10-12 men to gather , it may be necessary to rent a venue, generally from a local spiritual community or the like.

Once we have a coordinator and a location in which to hold the series, we need men to attend, so the availability of local mailing lists of like-minded people is a huge plus. Depending on the circumstances and the quality of a mailing list, the person who has the mailing list can also attend in exchange for that list.

If you do any traveling, you know how expensive and demanding it can be. In order to make the Integral Warrior possible, we would need a minimum of 8 paying men, preferably 10-12, and some scholarships may be available if there are enough men. If you've ever put together a workshop you'll understand that these are very demanding to facilitate and a lot of work goes into putting the series together before anyone ever meets.

In my next article, I'll spell out exactly what we'll be doing each the seven weekends, including the Introductory Weekend, and layout approximate costs and expectations, and in a separate article, I'll address why some men should absolutely be doing this work.