Last week, I released Part One (you can listen here).

This series grew from a seed - a conversation with Emmanuel H. Brown. Emmanuel has been navigating his own journey, seeking out the places where manhood and masculinity might be expanded to hold the lived experience of trans men.

As someone rooted in the mythopoetic lineage, I recognize that these voices have often been missing from our circles. This series is an invitation to a broader framework - one that is mutually supportive for the soul of every man.

In our first episode, The Seed and the Soil, we explored the trans man as a trickster figure - one who troubles the binary architecture many of us have been raised with. We looked at the history of gender as social control and the tension between biological certainty and the expansive human spirit.

We asked how we might hold space for genuine curiosity and reckon with real violence against trans folk without losing our humanity to the polarized scripts of our time.

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If the first conversation was about the why of this series, this one is about the who.

In this episode, Stories of Transition, we move from the intellect to the heart. By sharing their personal stories of transition - the specific griefs, private triumphs, and quiet moments of reckoning - Lev, Emmanuel, Kanoa, and Aliko disarm the listener with a rare and honest vulnerability.

We touch the visceral edges of their paths: mapping the territory where their unique stories cross and diverge, showing that they are all bound by the longing for place in the Book of Life.

Overall, the intention is simple: to widen our capacity to remain human to one another. It’s about dissolving the outdated programs of society to find the infinity of the breath underneath.

You’re welcome to leave your respectful & nuanced thoughts in the comments below.

To brood is to wander through a grovewhere one sheep straysand a hundred wolves follow.

Why did I make brooding my vocationwhen AWE was an option?

Thought spinner, mull the wine of wonder.

- RUMI

Three years ago, my colleague Deus and I joined forces to craft an experiment.

We invited 12 men out to the forest.

He brought his years of training in breathwork, transformational art, and psychedelic facilitation.

I wove my love of archetypes, fairy tales, and the lineage of mythopoetics.

The result: a cauldron of mystery that we named AWE - Awakening the Wild Erotic.

Since that time, we’ve ran the 3 day weekend over 7 times, supporting over 90 men through the journey. Deus and I still have a difficult time describing what happens during these ritual gatherings.

What feels most true: it is the rite of passage that most men never received as we entered into our erotic birthright.

It is the beginning of coming into right relationship with sexual energy, responsibility, and self leadership.

Plus, it’s a lot of fun.

Here’s what some of the men have said:

"I really got to know men in this time—more so in three days than in the 49 years I've been alive. And through that, I got to know so much more of me. I feel more open to vitality, to passion, to pleasure and joy... to the juice of life... the nectar of the Gods."

"I arrived at the retreat seeking to heal shame carried in my body... What I discovered was an inner fire. Beyond healing, I left the weekend ablaze with energy and purpose, ready to fully embody my life as a father, a son, a husband, a brother, and a friend."

"Upon returning home from AWE, my wife said to me: ‘The pilot light of our love was going out. You came back with the flame to relight us.’ If feeling what it means to be alive, to love and be loved, to breathe in the air of erotic life-force resonates within, you owe it to yourself to work with these men."

The terrain of sex, eros, and intimacy is edgy territory.

Especially these days, when the shadow of men is running rampant, as we’re confronted with the Epstein files, endless wars and abuses of power.

On the personal front, there’s the continual seduction of numbing out with substances, pornography and now AI “girlfriends” that promise pseudo intimacy without any real-world risk or rejection, or reward of being truly seen.

In the face of all that, over and over, I’m astounded by the men who choose to attend AWE. These are men who want to access a deeper vitality in their being, who wish to connect with the current of life, and show up as more grounded, integrated and passionate lovers.

UPCOMING WEEKEND - APRIL 24-26

Once again, we return to Black Creek on Vancouver Island.

This is likely to be the only AWE we are offering in the region this year.

If you feel the pull - or if you know a man who needs this kind of medicine - you can find the application and full details below.

We have 4 spots left.

Begin the Descent - Apply for the April 24-26 AWE Immersion

P.S. For those of you who can’t make it to the island, the next cohort of our 12-week online journey, The Deep Masculine, begins in mid-May.

Today is International Transgender Day of Visibility and right moment to kick off this new series on The Mythic Masculine.

It didn’t grow out of a plan; it grew out of a message from a trans man named Emmanuel H. Brown.

Emmanuel was looking to join an in-person gathering of mine—a ritual space he discovered was not open to trans men. It was an intentional choice made with my collaborator Deus Fortier, rooted in cultivating a container for men whose maps of masculinity have always (at least on the surface) lined up to how they were culturally assigned at birth.

But I’d left a note in the invitation for anyone to reach out if they wanted to talk about it. Emmanuel reached out. He invited me into a circle with several other trans men to hear about their lives and their perspectives on men’s work and masculinity.

This series is the result of that invitation.

You can find the full participant bios series page here.

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In Part One we look at the collective cultural moment. We look at how trans folk represent a ‘trickster’ figure, troubling the psychic architecture of the binary many of us were raised with. We talk about the urge to ‘monster’ the other, but we also look at the history of how gender has been used as a tool of social control.

We explore the tension: How do we hold space for genuine confusion and curiosity without defaulting to a label of ‘transphobia’ if someone doesn’t immediately adopt the progressive position? How do we reckon with the real violence trans folk experience while creating more acceptance and room for their perspectives?

And how do we navigate the certainty of ‘biological essentialism’ and the expansive possibilities of gender that are an invitation for us all?

Now, it’s worth saying up front: there is a lot of volatility around this subject. Emotions run high and it can feel like there’s a lot at stake.

Wherever you currently find yourself, whatever you might already believe, this is an invitation into a beginner’s mind.

My intention with this series isn’t about preaching indoctrination.

It’s about seeing how the tapestry of masculinity might be troubled, re-woven, and made more beautiful for us all.

You’re welcome to leave your respectful & nuanced thoughts in the comments below. Any aggressive, dismissive or mean-spirited posts will be deleted.

Let’s see if we can craft an approach filled with mutual respect and wonder.