A Dream Saves a Life
When I was 14 years old I had a dream that saved my life. I had remembered my dreams before this time; however, this dream was a precognitive dream about a car accident that happened two weeks later. It was 1974 and the circumstances were once in a lifetime. My younger brother was in a horrible motorcycle accident and had been taken to the hospital over thirty miles away. A neighbor asked if I wanted a ride to the hospital. At that moment I said, “no thank you,” not really knowing why. Who would not want to see their brother? The dream subconsciously arrived though, holding my hand, holding me back. I did not get in the neighbor’s van that evening. Twenty minutes later, on a winding back-country dirt road, my kind neighbors were in a head-on collison. The man was dead and his wife was terribly injured along with the seven people in the other car. I would have been sitting right in the front of the van on the motor mount and would have gone face first through the windshield, just like I had in the dream. I would not have lived. At 14, I had no idea how my night dreams would continue to guide me. Dreams have been the regenerative thread of my life for decades now and I am eternally grateful to Soul for the images that bring value and meaning to this gift called life. A dream’s generative nature, and ability to create value in even the most troubling times, is golden. I am endlessly thankful for psyche’s images and the poetic thread they so graciously offer to all.
Kim C. Bennett, PhD
I have forever been interested in the human condition. Always. I went to undergraduate school at a very young age and graduated with a degree in Dairy Science from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in California. I worked with animals in the Central Valley, was an agricultural appraiser for a bank, and then moved to Montana in 1991 where I married and had two children, both on the neurodiverse spectrum. I continued my career in rural land appraisal and became a specialist in conservation easements for farm, ranch, and recreational lands in Montana and Wyoming. In the meantime, I continued my self-help journey and the deepening inquiry took me back to school at age 45. I attended Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpinteria, CA. Pacifica Graduate Institute facilitates a Soul-based curriculum. Working with Soul and Archetypal Psychology, a psychology of value, I realized I have been an appraiser my entire life. . .I find the value in things, life, images, and all that arrives. The value of the outer landscapes became more to me than simply the dollar value of the land, and I soon saw the inner human landscape mirrors the outer landscape and beyond. My personal journey has included decades of dream work, poetic work, and studies, both formal and less so, as well as working with hundreds of families that live on and steward the land in the western United States. This unique combination of holding space for psyche and nature has given me a perspective on Soul Work that remains natural while valuing the changing horizons of life. Soul Ways was born out of the confluence of the wisdom of psyche and nature. The beauty that soul brings to a life is immeasurable and priceless. May your journey with Soul bring you peace and solace.
Our Mission
A Curate is one who cares for the Souls of Others. The mission of Soul Ways is to Curate and provide psychoeducational material which supports Soul work for those on a path toward finding value and meaning in life.
Grandmother Rising
Soul Ways is inspired by Psyche and Nature. The idea to create Soul Ways came while I was on a pilgrimage on the isle of Crete. I was with a group of women at the Phaistos Temple. Phaistos is also home to the Temple of Rhea, Great Mother of the Gods. We were there exploring the footsteps of the goddess. While meditating under an ancient tree overlooking the disheveled temple to Rhea, I fell into a deep state of connection with her place. Standing quietly I suddenly saw a huge and swirling Rhea burst forth from the ground. She turned like a huge auger coming out of the earth with her bare breast open and head thrown back. Her long hair whirling while her blood red skirt whipped wildly, causing red dirt to fly in the air all around her. Staying with the image I suddenly saw all of humanity was hanging on the hem of her skirt; all colors, all races, all genders, everyone. She threw her arms out and said “Enough, we are all human, Enough!” I was weeping by this time but stayed with the image. I remained with her until I was called to join the group. Her image traveled with me for the rest of the journey. While meditating I would see her rise between the world’s countries in distress saying “Enough! we are all human, Enough!” She rose between places such as Israel and Palestine, in Sudan, in all the countries with internal and external strife. Finally, she rose from the top of the Earth and covered the world with her red skirt saying “Enough!” Her determination was clear. The image of Grandmother Rhea is the energy of Soul’s deep love. This type of love is what invigorates Soul Ways. It is an energy that honors all humans, animals, plants, landscapes, and creatures…all the World, the Universe, and the Multiverse, in such a way as to create, conserve, and make Soul for the future. The Grandmother is a manifestation of Soul, the Anima as Carl Jung would say, and she is clearly soul-making in action. While the Grandmother carries humanity on her hem, she carries nature’s Soul Ways in the vast breadth of her Being. She arrived here to offer her wisdom to us all.
(Upon returning home I collaborated with renowned Billings, MT artist, Kira Fercho, who produced the beautiful oil painting of the Grandmother you see throughout this site. Photos by Andrew Jefferis, Livingston, MT.)
