It was 1999 when I had my 'awakening’ moment.

Whether it was reading about “peak oil”, biospheric collapse, or economic disparity, I felt with some certainty that the whole artifice of modern culture would come crashing down at some point in the near-term future.

I knew I had to get involved and try to redirect this collective apocalypse.

I gravitated towards film as my medium of choice because I recognized it was the fastest way to shift consciousness as quickly as possible. After completing my first documentary in 2010, I joined veteran filmmaker Velcrow Ripper on the final chapter of his zeitgeist tracking trilogy, which eventually became Occupy Love.

The film tracked the first year of the Occupy movement alongside insights from leading spiritual teachers and indigenous wisdom-keepers.

Along the way, I also connected with explorations at the edge of culture and travel to Burning Man numerous years in a row.

On my fourth Burn, I was struck by the idea to chronicle the “rise of the feminine”.  Perhaps like most flashes of insight, I didn’t understand it at the time, though it led me to explore the realms of mythology and archetypes. 

I read Women Who Run With Wolves (Clarissa Pinkola Estes) and Dancing In the Flames (Marion Woodman).  I interviewed female DJs and Producers to explore their stories through a mythological lens. 

Ultimately, this project became the film Amplify Her (2018), which included a graphic novel and animated series.  

Along the way I recognized that while I had spent so much time exploring the feminine, I understood so little about the masculine. 

In Spring 2015, my grandfather died. For most of my childhood, he was a mysterious figure, estranged from my family. It wasn’t until I was 25 and resolute to discover my own path in life, that I sought him out.  I discovered we shared much in common, both seekers of truth in our way. We forged an initial bond that remained somewhat until his death. 

I accepted the invitation by his son (my uncle) to journey to my grandfather’s apartment in a small town in the interior of British Columbia to tend to his things. 

When I arrived after a long day of travel, my uncle invited me into the modest dwelling - which was stacked with wall-to-wall books. All kinds on every subject: from philosophy, to metaphysics, new age, to alternative relationships. Along with his books were meticulous notes, along with typed journals of his explorations - a treatise of the way he understood the world as approached through the lens of the rational intellectual. 

And it was in the back room, amongst the stacks of materials, that I came across a copy of a book that I’d heard about, though had yet to read: Iron John by Robert Bly. 

The hard copy seemed relatively untouched - no dog-eared pages or notes in the margins. It was as if the book had been left as a gift.  Not one to dismiss the synchronistic, I received the book and remained the following few days to sort and organize his apartment - helping to make the necessary arrangements with my uncle. 

In the weeks that followed, I cracked open Iron John and what I discovered was a profound insight into my experience as a man. So much so that I felt both relieved, that one could offer a map of the my inner terrain - and incensed by the realization that perhaps I wasn’t as unique a snowflake as my ego wanted to believe. 

The following year in 2016, I completed the New Warrior Training Weekend through ManKind Project, and my official entrance into “Men’s Work” had begun. 

Since that time, I have continued to research, explore and participate in men’s circles and retreats, and sought to contribute to the conversation on the mythic masculine. 

Thanks for reading.

- IM