Ancient Wisdom for the Modern Soul
ElderWilde is a Jungian Spiritual Direction practice centered on spiritual formation through Depth Psychology and Contemplative Spirituality
Spiritual Direction, as practiced here, understands the inner life through the lens of Depth Psychology, which recognizes that much of human meaning, desire, and conflict arises from a place beneath conscious awareness. Rather than focus on symptom relief or behavioral correction, this approach attends to the symbolic life of the psyche—dreams, patterns, desires, resistances, and recurring tensions—as expressions of a deeper movement of the Soul towards wholeness. Here, truth can emerge organically, instead of being imposed externally.
At the same time, this work is rooted in Contemplative Spirituality, which emphasizes presence, restraint, silence, and faithful attention over emotional intensity or quick and temporary resolution. Contemplative practice provides the inner posture necessary for depth work: the capacity to remain with tension, ambiguity, and desire without fleeing into compensatory action or collapsing into evasion and repression. This requires conscious relationship with the Sacred.
Together, Depth Psychology and Contemplative Spirituality, form a unified approach in which the inner life is neither managed or bypassed, but patiently listen to, slowly trusted, and gradually integrated—so that Spiritual Formation unfolds as incarnated experience and lived coherence rather than adopted religious belief and performative adherence.
It is also important to say that spiritual direction (even in the Jungian tradition) is a contemplative formation practice and—while complimentary—is not a substitute for psychotherapy, crisis intervention, or medical care. Participants are expected to have sufficient psychological stability to engage consciously with inner reflective work and take appropriate responsibility for their inner life and external actions.
Situations involving active addiction, psychosis, acute trauma, or immediate risk may require referral to appropriate clinical or pastoral support before this work can begin. All engagement is voluntary, time-limited, and governed by clear ethical boundaries— including consent, confidentiality, and appropriate relational distance. Initial conversations are used to discern fit and ensure the work supports integration rather than overwhelm
"Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes."
— C.G. Jung
"O man, think of the sun so high in the sky and consider its splendor; but your soul has received the splendor of the eternal God."
— Saint Nicholas of Flue
"When you haven't found inner meaning, you will always substitute outer performance... the degree of outer performance can mirror the lack of inner alignment." — Fr. Richard Rohr
"The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you."
— Jesus, the Christ
"You need not go to heaven to see God... settle yourself in solitude and you will come upon God in yourself"
— Saint Teresa of Avila
"I searched for God and found only myself. I searched for myself and found only God."
— Jalal ad-Din Rumi
"The Self is the ordering and unifying center of the total psyche... the inner empirical deity and is identical with the imago Dei .”
— Edward Edinger
Areas of Practice
Confession and Reconciliation
Confession, as understood at ElderWilde, is not a demand for disclosure nor a moral accounting imposed from outside, but a voluntary act of truth-telling that restores relationship with self, others, and God. What remains unspoken often exerts unconscious influence, distorting perception and behavior; confession names the movement by which hidden or split-off aspects of experience are brought into awareness within a safe and non-judgmental container. Reconciliation is not the erasure of consequence or the forced restoration of harmony, but the gradual repair of trust and integrity where it is possible, and the acceptance of limits where it is not. This work proceeds with humility, discernment, and respect for personal boundaries, allowing truth to serve healing rather than shame.
Sexuality as Sacrament
Sexuality is approached at ElderWilde not as a problem to be solved or an impulse to be indulged, but as a dimension of human life capable of bearing meaning, discipline, and reverence. Sexual desire carries symbolic weight: it reveals longing for union, vitality, creativity, and incarnation. When sexuality is repressed, moralized, or split from consciousness, it often becomes distorted or compulsive; when it is approached reflectively and within clear ethical boundaries, it can become a site of integration rather than fragmentation. Treating sexuality as sacramental does not mean eroticizing spirituality, but recognizing that the body participates in the spiritual life and that desire itself can be brought into awareness, confession, discernment, and maturation. This work is kink-aware and undertaken with psychological boundaries, spiritual discernment, respect for personal history, and an unwavering commitment to consent, safety, and integrity.
Deconstruction and Reconstruction
Deconstruction is understood at ElderWilde not as an end in itself, but as a necessary phase in the maturation of faith and meaning. When inherited beliefs, images of God, or moral frameworks no longer hold, the psyche often experiences confusion, grief, or disorientation; attempting to bypass this rupture can lead to cynicism or unconscious regression. Deconstruction names the loosening of forms that once served but can no longer carry the weight of lived experience. Reconstruction is not a return to certainty, nor the construction of a new ideology, but the slow emergence of a more differentiated, symbolically grounded, and embodied faith. This work is undertaken patiently, with respect for personal experience and tradition, while allowing meaning to be rebuilt from lived encounter rather than imposed belief.
Rupture and Reintegration
Rupture refers to moments when life breaks open what was previously stable—through loss, betrayal, illness, moral failure, vocational collapse, or profound disorientation. These experiences often overwhelm existing psychological and spiritual structures, leaving individuals feeling fragmented or unrecognizable to themselves. Rupture is not sought out or romanticized, but neither is it dismissed as meaningless; it signals that old patterns of identity or adaptation can no longer hold. Reintegration is the gradual process by which meaning, coherence, and trust are restored—not by erasing what was lost, but by allowing a new configuration of self and life to emerge. This work proceeds slowly, with attention to the body, memory, relationship, and symbol, supporting the individual in becoming whole again without forcing premature resolution.