Nouveau Shamanic Cinema

We watched this on the same evening as The Lion King. Both animated movies are about a mystical experience that was catalysed by the death of a parent, and we enjoyed the contrast of very different expressions of similar themes.This Studio Ghibli animation felt much more yin in its depiction of the mystical, and we enjoyed discussing the themes of undefinability, moral ambiguity, and strangeness.“Humans have both the urge to create and destroy.”Hayao Miyazaki

We enjoy the imaginal richness that explodes out of this Disney classic and discuss how it depicts the weaving of the mystical and the physical in a timeless and beautiful way.

Life emulates movies emulates life emulating movies in this multi-layered reality-bending episode. We watch the film I Saw the TV Glow, in which two characters get deeply absorbed into a TV show, and it starts to spill over into their lives, leaving questions about what is real.For the episode, we also watched two TV episodes and wove together themes and resonances from them all, including disconnection, connection, and what feels most real to us.(TV episodes: Season 3, Episode 1 of The White Lotus and the Euphoria Special Episode, ‘Trouble Don’t Last Always’)

The 2024 version of Nosferatu transformed Joost when he went to see it last year at the cinema. We discuss this and how connecting to your darkest desires as a shadow work process can open up more ease and groundedness.

For the second episode of Imaginal Gaming, we played some of the game Animal Well and talked about living in an alive Universe and Awakening as a giant interactive puzzle game.If you haven’t played the game you can watch this short review video to get a flavour of it.If you want to learn more about Rosa’s approach to awakening (that resonates with Animal Well), you can find out more here.

In this double header we discuss the richness of connecting with sovereign energy and how this relates to time and non-self.We spend most of the time talking about the famous scenes from each of the movies. If you haven't seen the movies, or you haven't seen them for a while, it's worth watching these two scenes beforehand to get the context and the vibes.⁠Avengers: Endgame Portal Scene⁠⁠Interstellar Black Hole Scene

We watched Rosa's favourite film – the ever-magical, soul explosion Moulin Rouge! We discuss the power of love and sincerity, romantic love as an opening force and falling in love with the whole of experience through the imaginal realm.

Once again we are joined by guest David Lassiter, this time to discuss the short film that he wrote and directed – The Opportunist. You can watch it here: https://vimeo.com/74296226 We also discuss Tár and the common themes that both films portray, of psychopathy and predatory behaviour. I mention an imaginal meditation exercise from this retreat, by Ken Mcleod: https://unfetteredmind.org/the-warriors-solution-passivity-and-freedom-4/

We went to watch Francis Ford Coppola's latest film at the cinema, with guest David Lassiter, and reflected on the creation of the movie as an imaginal journey.

We host an episode of a new podcast that looks at the deeper resonances that are in video games. For this episode we discuss Shadow of the Erdtree and the way that it feels like a collective soul realm. Music by Sunlight Altar