Soul School: 9 months of discovering your gifts, your vision, and creating an offering for your community

Soul School follow the seasons, Fall, Winter, Spring and is designed to support you in:

• Identifying and embodying your unique and treasured gifts — Fall

• Clarifying and connecting deeply to your mission, vision and purpose for your life — Winter

• Partnering with the patterns of creation to bring your gifts and vision into an offering for your community — Spring

At Soul School, we do all this with 30 brave and beautiful souls risking their significance and not letting the cultural artisan in them die so as to bring about, as Charles Eisenstein puts it, “the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.”

Are you ready to deepen into the life you are here to live, grow your relationships with loving people, and be a force for love and beauty on this earth? Watch the video to learn more about Soul School.

“Now, is not the time for timidity. Now, is the time to be GIANTS!”

Malidome Somé

Each cycle has a focus in keeping with the season of the year.

Fall — Gifts, Griefs, Gratitude — The Autumn is the time of letting go, of transformation, of giving our gifts, of celebrating the harvest.

Winter — Mission, Vision, Purpose — The Winter is the time of stillness, of leadership, this is the time of the Elder. These energies are called on during these 13 weeks to help you articulate, embody and feel into your unique vision, purpose and mission for this time of your life.

Spring — Partnering with the Patterns of Creation — The Spring is the time to burst forth, overcome the fears of frosts, and launch out into the sun and rain and chilly nights and glory of growing and transforming.

Summer — Soul School takes a break. The summer is not the time for plans and goals and discipline. The summer is for abandon. For letting go and getting drunk on the sun and letting the mammal of your body move how it wants to, swim where it wants to, and dance whenever it wants to. We take a break from school in the summer.

Soul School has been a feast. I expected it to be insightful and that there would be a community of sojourners that would enhance the work I was doing individually.  I was wrong - Soul School offered much, much more.  The content exceeded expectations on all fronts.  The invitations for self-honoring and exploration were offered with a deep wisdom that rang true for 39 weeks straight.  Not one dud.  We're all journeying in one way or another, and Soul School acted like a base camp for many a traveler to enjoy a little rest, refuel, share adventure stories, connect about the topography, and gather provisions for wherever we were headed next. My heart, mind, body and soul were nourished, lovingly challenged, and enlivened by this work. 

Jenn Hooten

Soul School 24-25

Soul School has been a launching pad into feeling more myself. During the time we’ve been together, I have felt a freedom in engaging with the material in the way that is most authentic to me and experience deep receptivity and curiosity from the group. I will admit, I do not complete all the prompts, but when I see what is inspired or clarified within me from the ones I do complete, I can only imagine the catalytic sorcery of deeper participation.  The most impactful element of this program has been the coaching calls with Pete. Each one has helped me to feel into a sense of acceptance for where I am, where I’m not, and allow the seeds of deeply rooted desires to push through the surface of my landscape. I wholeheartedly recommend participation in Soul School for anyone wanting a little nudge towards their truest selves, with the support of a nurturing guide and ever evolving group.

Abigail Shapiro

Soul School 24-25

I came to Soul School to find my gifts. What I found was the gift of connection…a community of gifts. I learn about myself through the shared experiences of others. I see things in new ways as I learn what others have experienced. I am seen and appreciated for who I am. I feel like it’s a place where I get to shine without fear. We all shine in our own ways and it’s an amazing place to feed and be fed.

The writing prompts and rituals are great ways to open up the channels of our experience, but the real gold is in the community connections. I have SO much on my plate, but realized that Soul School is not one of the things coming off my plate. Something else can. This is soul food.

Amy Shamansky

24-25

Peter McLean grew up during the time of a great and powerful spell. The spell had him believing he was separate from nature, that he was sinful at birth, and that the path towards happiness and wholeness required a lot of accumulating, purchasing and consuming.

Of Earth and Soul is his war cry, his grief song, his moon-aimed howl, his belly busting laugh, his game of tag with the divine, his quiet sip of the sunrise.

Of Earth and Soul is his antidote, his charm of spell reversal. To come back under the enchantment of the earth, her power, wisdom, intelligence and all the beauty waiting to be brought forth in feeling the truth of a deep belonging in, and among, all that is wild and free.

Pete comes to this work wholeheartedly, honestly, and circuitously.

For many years, a farmer, a facilitator, a coach, a part-time carpenter, a full-time community member, a man, a being questing after his soul.

And that soul, that insistent, persistent, resistant, wild-wailing-infant of a soul, has brought him into the forest. Into the marsh. Into the river. Into the cave. Into the sunrise and set. The new and full moons. Into circle. Calling in circles. Calling in gatherings. Calling in collective focus and intention. Calling in others who also hear the song of their soul and are risking listening. For what the soul asks, or demands, or commands of them.

Just like the monarch is made of the milkweed. Pete is made of all he has consumed. And if you know him, you know he feasts on relationships.

Pete is his mother and his father. Both of his sisters. The Maumee River. The Yellow Breeches. Pete is Eric Lind and Richard Anderson from Constitution Marsh Audubon Center and Sanctuary. Is Dan Kaplan and Karen Romanowski of Brookfield Farm. Is Darryl Slim. Is Therese Jornlin. Is Judy Hall. Is Neill Bovaird. Is Malidoma Some. Is Martin Shaw. Is Martin Prechtel. Is Robin Wall Kimmerer. Is Mary Oliver. Is Etheridge Knight. Pablo Neruda. Rainer Maria Rilke. Lawrence Quigly. Al Miller. And Pete is Kelly Outlaw McLean, Maryah Outlaw Pratt, Arthur Orion Pratt-Kietzman, and Fianna Outlaw Mclean, the family of his heart that he has longed for and prayed for many lifetimes. Pete is the Pend Orielle River. The nighthawks flying over peenting and booming. Is Venus and Jupiter low in the northeastern skies. The Alabama morning his Pa Pa called those turkeys in. The sun coyote. The basswood blossoms. The dogbane cordage. The northern watersnakes slithering up the falls. Is Altair. Alberio. Aquilla. Arcturus. Deneb. Vega. Rigel and Betelgeuse. Pete is all the episodes of The Simpsons. Is a head buried in an iPhone. Is the era of school and mass shootings. The time of selfie deaths. Is the poverty of a lost culture. Pete is made up of it all. All of it. And still more. And you, now, are made up of just a little bit of him, and all, of the all, of the all, of all of that.

Pete McLean’s formal training has followed three main paths: indigeneity, soul work, and shadow work.

His indigenous training has been through Therese Jornlin, Neill Bovaird, Darryl Slim, and Malidoma Somé and have taught him that nature is our first teacher, first mother, first place to go and is longing for our return.

His soul work training has come through Judy Hall and has taught him that our souls are powerful and our relationship to them can be cultivated through dreams, nature, and the liminal.

His shadow work training has come through his 15 years in participation and leadership within Men’s Work organizations like Mankind Project, Jericho Circle, and Young Men Awake.

And his most formative experiences are like yours, the ones born from a heart being asked to stretch to hold an impossibility of sadness, of patience, of grief, of joy, of vulnerability, of the tenderness, rage, love, awe and wonder.

Peter lives in Sandpoint Idaho with his wife and three children.

Live into the life you know you are here to live. And let the beauty pour forth. Fulfillment. Connection. Intimacy. Purpose. Aliveness. Freedom. Exhilaration.

The life you are aching for is ALSO aching for you. You and your life are seeking each other. The odds are STACKED in your favor. The more you passionately call in the life you are here to live, the more eager that life is to find you. You are closer than you might think.

Pete has a disarming way of listening to me, synthesizing my random thoughts and offering back to me questions.  Questions that help me see my life in new ways, look at the places where I am struggling from a different perspective.  Soul School has been no exception.  He has helped me remember that I am a soul - not just a body - uniquely designed for my role in this world. Interacting with my classmates, I have become more aware of the beautiful tapestry that is created when we begin to live into our innate gifts, knowing that my part is essential to the whole.  

B.G

24-25

Soul School is powerful, fun and transformative.  I have truly felt a shift in my way of thinking and being over these 39 weeks.  It is a focused journey of self-discovery with deliberate intention, meditations and thought-provoking prompts. Peter brings fun and joy into this powerful work. I have also made strong personal connections with others in Soul School and feel very fortunate to be a part of this community.

Drew Sigfridson – SIOR, Senior Partner

24-25

For years, Pete's facilitation has supported me in trusting the wild, often mystifying, and sometimes terrifying path of my authentic life. His presence is a deep well of trustworthy and generous attention in my world and in this community of humans who are on the journey of remembering our true nature as belonging to each other and to our Earth. With humor and wisdom, and a wide embrace, he helps guide us to the heart of that remembering.

Andrew

I wish everyone could experience what it’s like to be seen and heard by Pete McLean. When Pete beholds you, in all your confusion, complexity and weirdness, it is transformative. He takes you in—with his huge heart, big curiosity and tender attention—and your truer, deeper self shows up.

Kate

Pete calls us again and again to the wild places we’ve forgotten. He calls us from the edge of the forest to come home to ourselves, to come home to the earth, and when we finally do he’s ready—with a fire and a poem and a smile that floods the night. With flowers, with birdsongs, with scrambled eggs. With a handwritten letter from everyone who’s ever loved us.

C

Soul School is for you, if you:

• Know there is more to you, more to this life, more to your relationships, more to your contribution in this life than what you’re currently experiencing

• Are tired/frustrated/lonely/despairing/exhausted/grieving the feeling of not really having found your people, people who can see you, celebrate you, cherish you for the beauty you are, you have, and are here to bring out more fully into the world

• Are not completely sure what your mission or purpose is, how to discover it, or even think it might be too late in life to try

• Look to nature as teacher, as guide, as friend, as God even, as a source of universal love, beauty, and belonging

• Can feel the firehose of modern culture trying to douse and drench and extinguish the fire you have inside your chest, your body, your spirit, your soul and you are unwilling to let the fire die without a fight

• Are awakening to the reality that each of us has something remarkable to offer this world and it is essential that we do so

Live boldly and abundantly rooted and grounded in your gifts, your vision, and the confidence of an inspired plan to bring forth your dreams. And don’t do it alone. Do it in a cohort of other people risking their significance for something beautiful and inspiring that will serve the earth, communities, and generations to come.

Soul School Pricing

The 2025-2026 program is a $3,900 investment. If pricing plans are desired, reach out and propose a plan that would work for you and your financial picture. We have yet to turn away anyone based on finances. Supporting you in embodying your gifts is too important.

Soul School Money-Back Guarantee:

If you sign up for Soul School, attend all the calls, complete all the portals, engage in the 1:1’s, and follow the flow of the course and are not satisfied with the value you received, we will happily refund your money in full within 10 days of the completion of the program.

Dear Soul School Student,

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” — Anais Nin

You are a bold and brilliant flower. Your bud might not be able to handle much more waiting. There is a beautiful garden waiting for you to blossom in with many other buds pregnant with beauty and aliveness.

Now is the time. We were born into wild times and we have a bold and beautiful contribution to make. It is our gift to do so. It is our responsibility to do so. And we don’t have to do it alone. Or make it up. Or invent it. There are inspired resources and vibrant communities available to us.

Soul School provides the container, resources, community, encouragement, accountability, and individual focus to help coax your bud into gorgeous break.

Whether you sign up for Soul School or not, may the time you spend lingering in contemplation bring you evermore deeper into your own resolve, commitment, dedication to courting your true essence so you can make that one more available to all the world. For you have something that the world is aching for. That no one, not ever again, will be able to contribute. You are uniquely, essentially, vibrantly alive, and belong deeply and magically in the family of all things.

There is a place here for you. You have been invited.

With love and anticipation,
Peter McLean

Peter McLean truly is a gifted visionary and guide to help anyone willing to walk the journey of self discovery. He has created an amazing course in Soul School, that offers tools, rituals, prompts with insightful questions to help one to dive deep to find their true gifts and callings. I witnessed Peter’s ability to listen, reflect what he heard me share and then use his intuitive wisdom to help me see what I could not see as gifts of mine. He teaches from a place of wisdom and compassion for all of Nature and all those who have been his teachers. I am grateful to be a part of Soul School and the Soul School Community.

Judy Bullard

24-25

If only my words could share how profoundly Pete has impacted me through my journey in Soul School. I am in deep gratitude for the support I feel so held with in the container in which Pete has created with his beautiful offerings

I had been asking spirit for guidance in some form, and in my first encounter with Pete, there was no question in that I had found the support I had been waiting for. 

The way Pete shows up in his fullness, rawness, and authenticity gives whomever is in his presence permission to show up wherever they are. Pete’s passion and enthusiasm to fully embody life is contagious. His ability to invite people into their vulnerability, feeling safe. Seen. and heard, is such a beautiful gift. 

Pete has inspired me to explore deeper into myself, my being, my feelings  and emotions through profound journaling prompts, rituals, and the group of new friends that come together.  

He has such a beautiful gift in inviting one deeper into seeing and knowing themselves. 

 

Carla Farrar

24-25

Here are some resources to check out to feel a little more into Soul School.

Each season follows the wisdom of the time of year.

Fall — Gifts, Griefs, Gratitude — The Autumn is the time of letting go, of transformation, of giving our gifts, of celebrating the harvest.

Winter — Mission, Vision, Purpose — The Winter is the time of stillness, of leadership, this is the time of the Elder. These energies are called on during these 13 weeks to help you articulate, embody and feel into your unique vision, purpose and mission for this time of your life.

Spring — Partnering with the Patterns of Creation — The Spring is the time to burst forth, overcome the fears of frosts, and launch out into the sun and rain and chilly nights and glory of growing and transforming.

Summer — Soul School takes a break. The summer is not the time for plans and goals and discipline. The summer is for abandon. For letting go and getting drunk on the sun and letting the mammal of your body move how it wants to, swim where it wants to, and dance whenever it wants to. We take a break from school in the summer.

Fall Curriculum - Gifts, Griefs and Gratitude

Week 1 — Welcome, introductions, group agreements, expectation setting, sharing shadow, sharing gold, hopes and dreams.

Week 2 — The Wheel of the Year: Autumn and The Meadow, the Stem, the Flower, the Hawk — a teaching and a story

Week 3 — Stalking Our Gold — learn how to identify your gifts, from the present, the past, and the imagined future

Week 4 — What our People See in Us — leaning on the village to round out the image we hold of ourselves

Week 5 — Plumbing the depths of our grief and terror — learning how to access our grief to find the gold within

Week 6 — Approaching the Ancestors — you are not alone and you are not to do this life alone

Week 7 — Ritual/Ceremony/Festival — Samhain — a week in ritual and ceremony and festival

Week 8 — Telling the tales — after any great hunt, great festival, great ceremony the stories must be told

Week 9 — Open House — who in our lives is ripe for the blossoming? Who is ready to pop with gift and beauty?

Week 10 — Refining Our Gold — distilling our 3 most Treasured Gifts

Week 11 — Safeguarding Our Gold — What saps us, drains us? Activities, relationships, environments. And how to keep our gold safe.

Week 12 — Blessings — receiving the recognition of our peers and teachers

Week 13 — The Journey to Come — tools, resources, rememberings for the journey ahead

Winter Curriculum — Mission, Vision and Purpose

Week 1 — Welcome, introductions, group agreements, expectation setting, sharing shadow, sharing gold, hopes and dreams.

Week 2 — The Wheel of the Year — Winter: the time of the Elder, of Vision, of Purpose, of Direction

Week 3 — Let the Little One Lead — allowing our wise innocence to point the way

Week 4 — Becoming the Bread You Were Not Fed — a guide to changing ancestral patterns

Week 5 — Ritual/Ceremony/Festival — Imbolc — inviting the earth to dream through us

Week 6 — The Emerging Vision — what is being revealed?  What can you make out in the predawn black turning to dark purple?  Or is it vibrant and alive, animated and moving? 

Week 7 — Open House — who in our lives is eager for direction, for purpose, for vision? Invite them and let them experience their own wisdom, clarity and deep knowing.

Week 8 — Clarifying the Vision — distilling the mission and purpose into its essence

Week 9 — Protecting the Fire — a week of identifying through intellect and intuition how to best support your vision and its clarity

Week 10 — Blessings — receiving the recognition of our peers and teachers

Week 11 — The Journey to Come — tools, resources, rememberings for the journey ahead

Spring Cycle Curriculum — Partnering with the Patterns of Creation

Week 1 — Welcome, introductions, group agreements, expectation setting, sharing shadow, sharing gold, hopes and dreams.

Week 2 — The Wheel of the Year — Spring — aligning with the patterns of creation

Week 3 — Plants, Animals, Landscapes as Guides — journey into the soul of the earth and where it meets with the soul of your offering

Week 4 — The Pattern as its revealed — identifying and claiming the pattern you see emerging

Week 5 — Synchronicities as signposts — finding the conspiring signs confirming your path

Week 6 — Approaching Belenus — gods, goddesses, allies, ancestors all. Invite them into your fruition

Week 7 — Ritual/Ceremony/Festival — Beltane — eros, passion and finding balance through masculinity, femineity

Week 8 — Telling the Tales — after any great hunt, great festival, great ceremony the stories must be told

Week 9 — Open House — who in our lives is eager to grow and expand into their fullness?

Week 10 — The Pattern in its Elegance — Sharing your pattern in its simplest form

Week 11 — Protecting the Pattern — identifying the supports required to ensure delightful growth

Week 12 — Blessings — receiving the recognition of our peers and teachers

Week 13 — The Journey to Come — tools, resources, rememberings for the journey ahead