Frank Owen - Wayfarer, Poet, Innerwork Counsel | Contemplative Soulwork with Frank Owen, M.A.

Frank Owen, M.A.

Brief Biographical Sketch

I'm a descendant of artists, chaplains, cowboys, country doctors, educators, farmers, midwives, ministers, poets, sheriffs, soldiers, Scottish Highland clan chiefs and Lowland Scottish knights. My ancestry goes back predominantly to Scotland and northern England, with strong doses of Cornish, Irish, Scandinavian, and Welsh.

A lifetime devotee of Nature-connection, and a longtime practitioner of meditation, I'm a passionate explorer of different approaches to the Deep Self, the Ecological Self, the Numinous Self. I'm an active hillwalker, an apprentice of the seasonal cycles through gardening, and an award-winning poet.

I studied for a decade with Darion Gracen (1949-2007), a well-seasoned Wayfarer, teacher, counselor, hillwalker, horse woman, wilderness guide, spiritual syncretist, and mentor. Her unique approach to spirituality and holding space for other people's processes of illumination and individuation continues to shape my own work today.

My Orientation in This Work

I earned a Master of Arts in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology from Naropa University in the mid-90s with a focus in Jungian Psychology, Ecopsychology, and Gestalt Studies. Additionally, I pursued post-graduate studies in Jungian Dreambody work, spiritual direction, and spiritually-integrated psychotherapy (SIP), a year-long course of study developed by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE).

Though I have facilitated traditional mental health counseling in the past, over time I realized my real gift lies more in the domain of supporting people with gaining greater clarity about their path, exploring the numinous dimensions of the inner life, and navigating the shifts and changes surrounding pivotal themes of the spiritual journey. Some people call this "coaching"; my preference is "soul mentoring" or "co-walking," but the term I use for my work is contemplative soulwork.

In my work with others, I adhere to a transpersonal orientation (we are more than only body and mind, and we are more than the sum of our parts), and an interfaith ethic of hospitality (I support each person, whatever their spiritual or religious path, or if there is none).

Archetypally speaking, as a Wayfarer, I see my role as "the hermit at the foot of the mountain" -- one who has had (and continues to have) his own journey, but who now supports others along their way. In this work, I think of myself as a "lantern carrier," and I refer to others as "fellow travelers" rather than "patients" or "students." There are no doctors or spiritual gurus here. In this work, we are on a journey together on the same mountain path.

Extended Biography

My spiritual journey began, in earnest, on the threshold between childhood and adolescence. My path was initially spurred by a dream that ended up being a life-changing moment of Synchronicity in the outer world. That event initiated a deep search in me to understand consciousness and the numinosa anima naturae (divine soul of nature). At that time, my mother (a student of Jungian thought, and a chaplain-in-training) introduced me to the practice of dreamwork, the ideas of C.G. Jung, and the I Ching (the Chinese Tao-and-Nature-inspired classic Book of Changes).

Though I was originally raised in a contemplative Christian home, with two clergy parents, my process of seeking took me away from their faith tradition into many years of cross-cultural exploration of Nature-oriented spirituality (including indigenous traditions of the Americas, that of my own ancestors of the British Isles, and of the Far East).

In my middle teen years I began reading about Japanese Shinto, Taoism, and Zen, and felt a deep affinity with aspects of each of them. In time, partially through exposure to the practice of the martial art of Aikido, and the spiritual writings of its founder, Morihei Ueshiba, I would learn of Japanese traditions of spiritual syncretism that weave elements of these different ways into a unified path.

At some point in my explorations, I encountered a quote by the renowned Japanese poet Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) that would deeply influence the trajectory of my path. The quote read: "Seek not the paths of the ancients; seek that which the ancients sought." Basho also went on to say: "Return to Nature. Follow Nature." These sentiments have continued to be guiding tenets of my own path.

In my college and graduate school years, in addition to my primary focus in transpersonal psychology, I engaged in formal academic studies of Buddhism, Taoist philosophy, Ch'an/Zen, Neo-Confucianism, Shinto, and Japanese religions in general, with the scholar Thomas Kasulis, author of Shinto: The Way Home and Zen Action, Zen Person.

In the late 80s-early 90s I began participating in indigenous ceremonies in different parts of North America. I was deeply inspired by the integrated way in which some indigenous communities I had come to know live a ceremonial life inseparable from Nature. In time, however, I realized that my presence in their ceremonies -- while a deep gift -- was delaying an important part of my own journey; namely, to ascertain some kind of living link to the same sacred orientations within my own ancestral background.

While out West, I had an experience within the last indigenous ceremony I would attend. It initiated a whole other process of cultural and spiritual exploration to find a deeper link to my own ancestors, where in our ancestral homelands they lived, and what their original (primal) spirituality may have been. This led to multiple pilgrimages to Scotland, Ireland, and England, and a gradual, experiential attunement to the phenomenon of ancestral animistic perception. This, in turn, was augmented by a decade of study of a course developed by the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids, a mystery school headquartered in southern England but with members worldwide.

In time, I would meet my late teacher whose own spirituality was a long-simmered brew of various orientations and practices. Her path was a vivacious, creative, uniquely individual, expeditionary wilderness spirituality. She drew inspiration (and an adventurous spirit) from the hillwalking tradition of our Scottish heritage, an orientation to what Japanese Shinto calls Great Nature, a multidisciplinary approach to dreaming (including Jungian and shamanic), meditation practice (influenced by ideas from both Taoism and Zen), and from the verses of some of the ancient poets of the past -- East and West -- who offer helpful teachings and practice hints for walking a sacred path in the here and now.

My time with my late teacher opened me to a path she spoke broadly of as "Wayfaring." I came to realize that this path had been under my feet all along. It is a path of spirituality which expresses itself in different cultures, in different ways, and universally seems to weave together three common facets or traits: connecting with Nature (both the seen and unseen aspects), contemplative practice (which implies cultivating a mindful-heart), and creative expression. I continue to follow this way today, considering it not only a perennial, universal path but one in which my own ancestors participated.