Circling Back
An update from behind the scenes
We’re living through history, you realise. It’s happening faster than anyone can write it down. Mutiple threads. Multiple subplots. Multiple centers of action. It’s everything everywhere all at once. (Great movie, by the way.)
Circ Ular was always intended as the base camp for a bigger climb, a prototype/experiment to figure out how a low cost course and online men’s circle would fare on Substack.
As a learning experience for all involved, it worked. Here’s what I’ve taken away:
The “mythic” look and feel is perfect for archetypal work.
The brand leant weight to the shamanic descent of life crisis.
The low cost and low commitment (leave anytime/return anytime) made it harder to achieve critical mass and momentum.
There are differences between men’s circles and coaching programmes. Men need spaces to talk about stuff. At the same time, men need to feel that they’re going somewhere.
And to go where we all need to go — into the depths — we need commitment. We need something at stake. It’s human psychology / sales psychology, but low cost / low commitment entry points don’t align with that something at stake.
Producing Circ Ular and the bigger project was a big ask of one person (me) (especially with all this history going on).
Many men need face to face, and highly embodied work. Kinda like they do in the famous documentary The Work (2017). It’s hard to pack transformative punch into a 75min zoom call.
I am, by disposition, more into the transformative punch than the bunch of guys hanging out and talking about stuff model.
And I like working with women, and women are drawn to what I’m putting out. And, as a community-building coach said to me a while back, why rule out half the population?
And I wasn’t quite at the clearing I thought I was. I was still in the woods myself. With all this history going down, it’s a safe bet to say it’s woods and clearings all the way.
Let me know in the comments if you have anything add, subtract, divide or multiply!
So where does that lot get you and me?
It gets me to a place of even deeper alignment.
And that’s a place I’d like us all to be.
Especially and particularly with all this history going on.
Out of the depths — my depths — comes something more powerful, focussed and committed than Circ Ular or big brother The Manual.
I won’t kid around: the first part is a descent.
It goes where we have to go if we are going to incarnate all the way and take our places as sovereign men and women.
All the history going on? That’s the signal. Nothing less than full being is going to work, is going to last, is going to cut it.
This is proper shamanism, real alchemy.
And it’s not all love and light.
The second part is the ascent. Having claimed your crown, what are you going to do with it? What is it going to do for others, with all this history going down?
Both parts combine online learning — on your own and in real time together - and a real world ‘crowning’ retreat.
Forget low commitment. Forget leave anytime.
The quest for genuine sovereignty is genuinely not for everyone.
You need to be self-motivated. Nobody can pull you all the way.
You will have to stand in the fire — in the crucible.
You will have stand there until you crack.
If that sounds heavy, it is.
And isn’t. This is where creativity shines a light.
If you liked the creative of Circ Ular, wait til you see what’s next. It’s where alchemy meets art.
If this calls — even a faint itch around the crown chakra — hit the link below to be in the know when doors open this autumn.
Spaces will be limited. Time will be limited.
All this history going on? It’s time to be part of it.
→ Get involved
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