WTF are my sources

Written By Amanda Caswell

It feels important to me to give thanks for my lineage of teachers. Any insight I am able to share is directly related to the people I have studied with and the ideas they have introduced me to. 

This list is incomplete and continually evolving, as the threads of knowledge I follow and feel animated by continue to shapeshift and change.

I have been a so-called “knowledge worker” for a long time, but my roots felt flimsy.

So much of the labour that underpins good thinking is undervalued and jeopardized by a world that is growing increasingly decontextualized. I believe that fact contributes a lot to our felt sense of scarcity — we are unrooted from where these ideas that shape us have come from.

That feels to me like a front for colonialism, to take what is from someone or somewhere and to not pay respect to where it came from. It is a practice that carries toxic myths of individualism and exceptionalism.

Knowledge is abundant. There is always room to grow. 

I am so grateful when people share the names of their teachers and the resources that have inspired them, so that I can trace resonant roots and move more deeply towards what calls to me.

I offer these names and pathways to you in that spirit of gratitude and generosity.

Methodologies

  • Brand strategy, naming strategy + verbal identity, practiced for more than a decade and a half at brand consultancies including Interbrand, Prophet, DesignStudio and many more

  • Integral Coaching, as taught by New Ventures West

  • Internal Family Systems + Parts Work

  • Somatic Experiencing

  • Tarot practice of 15 years

  • Emergence Astrology

Training + certifications

  • New Ventures West, Professional Certified Coach, 2022

  • The Embody Lab, Integrative Parts Work, 2022

  • Jane Clapp, Jungian Somatics, 2023

  • Centre for Mindfulness Studies, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), 2024

  • Wilfred Laurier University, Therapeutic Models of Mindfulness, 2026

  • Britten LaRue, Emergence Astrology (in progress)

Recommended books

  • Jessica Dore, Tarot for Change

  • Anodea Judith, Eastern Body, Western Mind

  • Gabor Maté, The Myth of Normal

  • Resma Menakem, My Grandmother’s Hands

  • Richard Schwartz, No Bad Parts

  • Oliver Burkeman, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals

  • Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run with the Wolves

  • Byron Brown, Soul Without Shame

  • Katherine May, Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times

  • Paul MiIlerd, The Pathless Path: Imagining a New Story for Work and Life

  • Cody Cook-Parrot, How to Not Always Be Working

  • Britten LaRue, Living Astrology

Key teachers + collaborators

  • Tom Zara – executive mentor

  • Steph Simms – brand design

  • Dzung Tran – brand design

  • Stephanie Pellett – photography + systems

  • Sarah Macdonald – writing + tarot sister

  • Kate Finlay – tarot sister

  • Mallory Russo – tarot sister

  • Vea Coronado – companion

  • Catherine Andrews – life coach

  • Jeanette Turnbull – acupuncture

  • Jim Caswell – father

  • Wendy Caswell – mother

May this list be ever growing. May there always be new teachers to be grateful for.

Whose teachings are you grateful for? How did they shape you?
Feel free to share below.

Amanda Caswell https://amandacaswell.com