Craig Chalquist, PhD, PhD

A Matter of Lore

Lore fascinates me. While growing up in chaos and occasional violence, I leaned on the lore of fiction - especially the speculative kind - to make sense of what was happening and who I wanted to be. I was also curious about the stories and rituals of the Protestantism I was raised in. The corporate world held its own kind of lore, a lore of procedures, customs, assumptions, and power relations, many unstated. When I consult with businesses, I familiarize myself with their lore, which includes their goals, guiding stories, and habits of mind.

As a psychotherapist working with individuals, families, and violent men, I was amazed by the power of the lore handed down to us from parents, grandparents, and prior generations: stories, fictions, skills, legends, bits of hearsay, even worldviews. In higher ed, first as a student and then as a teacher and senior administrator, I found lore again: philosophies covert and overt, rules for research, half-stated etiquette, strangely shaped and carved pillars supporting elaborate worldviews.

About twenty books ago, I started publishing my own kind of lore, a blend of imagination, depth psychology, Family Systems, philosophy, and mythology seasoned with ecopsychology and ecotherapy, then with terrapsychology, then with Gnostic and Hermetic studies. I distilled from these and other fields an alchemical solution of my own, where psyche, place, story, and philosophy meet, eager to be put into transformative practice. (If I can't do something with it, I'm seldom motivated to learn it.)

Along the way, I led the team that designed and launched the world's first ecotherapy certificate (John F. Kennedy University), picked up some permaculture and gardener training, launched an ecoresilience leadership certificate, got on the boards of journals and institutes, started World Soul Books, and did other things I hoped would honor Earth, our homeworld. My first PhD dissertation examined the largely disregarded power of place: where we live and work show up inside our feelings, moods, and even dreams.

Having held a number of leadership positions over the years, I'm very interested in where not only psychology, but wisdom comes in. For me, leadership should be a kind of Way of the Sage regardless of years lived. My model of the Enchanted Leader looks at how inspiration, vision, and care motivate people for change. I also distinguish between rulership, which is telling people what to do or else, and leadership, which encourages, empowers, and collaborates.

For my second PhD dissertation, I went back to my continuing fascination with speculative fiction and studied how its characters, images, and motifs have often made change in the real world, a world heavily dependent on the "keystone fictions" of our guiding lore. I consider myself a "loreologist" because whatever hat I wear, I always work with half-conscious or unconscious internal stories. I also think of this at times as "worldview therapy."

Although some of my training and background came out of the Human Potential Movement, including reflective techniques, somatics, and dream studies, my work pushes beyond the individualistic paradigm. In workshops, trainings, presentations, and my Assembling Terrania Cycle of near-future fiction, I ask: How can we use all this great stuff to change culture? To dream into being the kinds of humane, just, inclusive, and Earth-honoring community we so truly desire? How can we light our lamps?

Education

From my birth maternal grandmother (I'm adopted) I inherited a strong desire to be a lifelong learner.

Publishing

Nonfiction books, articles, papers, and book reviews listed at ORCID. My most recent nonfiction book is here.

List of presentations, workshops, and other in-person events. I'm one of those social introverts who enjoys those.

Presenting

“Craig is a refreshingly creative, synthesizing thinker who can handle any topic or problem and come up with solutions that connect and resolves tension. I find his advice is always clear, concise and inclusive of many perspectives.”

Jan Edl Stein, Graduate Educator and Director of Holos Institute

“Craig combines a lot of great qualities in a teacher. He is is intelligent, believes in what he does and cares deeply….He has a deep knowledge of his subject matter combined with equally deep humility that creates the best possible space for learning. His commitment to what he believes in was always inspiring to me.”

Patrick Goonan, Organizational Development and Executive Coaching

“Craig Chalquist is an extraordinary thinker and writer, helping us address the many issues of our time, whether your interests involve current events, depth psychology, mythology, storytelling, or our deep embeddedness in nature. His writing offers urgently needed new perspectives that point the way forward.”

Larry Saltzman, Permaculture designer and instructor

“Dr. Chalquist’s transformative ideas are nothing short of brilliant. His work and teachings are critical to meet the demands of a rapidly changing world. He has always had a profound impact on his students. I highly recommend his books and any opportunity to attend his workshops or classes.”

Rebecca Elliott MA, Executive Coach and Consultant

“This marvelous book focuses on finding one's own mythic story, and then living that myth with full awareness. Dr. Chalquist advocates living in the light of one's myth, and reworking traditional mythologies to tell fresh and vital versions of old stories... Many readers will never be the same again and will thank Dr. Chalquist for their newly inspired life stories.”

Psychologist Stanley Krippner's review of Storied Lives

"Craig Chalquist’s brilliant and creative leadership is just what’s needed right now when many of us find ourselves mired in the dysfunction of collapsing systems. He offers an inspiring, engaging and actionable vision of new possibilities as we let go of what’s no longer working and open ourselves to the light and energy offered by the deep wisdom of Psyche and Nature."

Linda Buzzell, Psychotherapist and Ecotherapist