Francis Weller | Grief Rituals and Soul Hygiene

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Aug 12, 2025

In a captivating discussion, Francis Weller, a psychotherapist and soul activist, explores the transformative power of grief. He emphasizes the importance of communal healing spaces, arguing that embracing sorrow can lead to renewed vitality and inspiration. Francis delves into the 'long dark' as a phase for growth and highlights the need for collective rituals in processing grief. Listeners learn how facing past pains fosters deeper connections and resilience, reminding us that community support plays a vital role in navigating emotional struggles.

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INSIGHT

Collective Containment Heals Grief

Grief needs both containment and release, which is hard alone because one cannot hold and release simultaneously.
Collective holding allows grief to move forward and restores individual vitality and soul hygiene.

ADVICE

Practice Grief Rituals Regularly

Build repeatable grief rituals and return to them to stay connected to your vitality.
Treat ritual practice as soul hygiene that empties the communal cup and keeps the community sane.

INSIGHT

From Village To Heroic Mindset

Modern culture shifted from a village mind to a heroic mind that prizes invulnerability and solo success.
The heroic model lacks practices for descent, vulnerability, and the soul qualities grief requires.

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What if opening yourself to grief could actually help you feel more alive?

This week, Thomas sits down with psychotherapist, writer, and soul activist Francis Weller for a powerful conversation about befriending grief, embracing healing rituals in collective spaces, and the power of the past to transform the future.

It’s so common for people in pain to turn away from it, to avoid their grief and sorrow, or to think that they can muscle through in isolation. But in the deep wisdom that Francis shares here, the opposite is true. Our personal grief, as well as the trauma inherited from our ancestors, yearns for a social container where it can be safely and openly witnessed, processed, and integrated.

The beauty in this is what comes from this relationship to grief, and that’s access to a vast wellspring of inspiration, intuition, and renewed vitality. Francis and Thomas dive deep into how we can open ourselves to these processes and how they can transmute collective sorrow into profound societal transformation.

The second half of Thomas and Francis' conversation will air next week.

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✨ Francis Weller, MFT, is a psychotherapist, author, and soul activist. He is a master of synthesizing diverse streams of thought from psychology, anthropology, mythology, alchemy, Indigenous cultures, and poetic traditions. His books, including The Wild Edge of Sorrow, have introduced the healing work of ritual to thousands of people. Francis founded and directs WisdomBridge, an organization that offers educational programs that seek to integrate the wisdom from Indigenous cultures with the insights and knowledge gathered from Western poetic, psychological, and spiritual traditions. For more than forty years, Francis has worked as a psychotherapist and developed a style he calls soul-centered psychotherapy.

Connect with Francis here:

👉 www.francisweller.net

Order Francis' book, In the Absence of the Ordinary, here:

👉 https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/784313/in-the-absence-of-the-ordinary-by-francis-weller

Order Francis' book, The Wild Edge of Sorrow, here:

👉 https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/250673/the-wild-edge-of-sorrow-by-francis-weller

Thomas Hübl, PhD, is a renowned teacher, author, and international facilitator who works within the complexity of systems and cultural change, integrating the core insights of the great wisdom traditions and mysticism with the discoveries of science. Since the early 2000s, he has led large-scale events and courses on the healing of collective trauma.

In addition to Attuned, he is the author of Healing Collective Trauma: A Process for Integrating Our Intergenerational and Cultural Wounds. He has served as an advisor and guest faculty for universities and organizations, as a coach for CEOs and organizational leaders, and is currently a visiting scholar at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University.

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