art for promotional graphics by Lisa Houck ©2023 // www.lisahouck.com //
the ATTUNE program seeks to regenerate the wisdom of intuition alongside the development of tangible skills for living in and responding to the climate emergency.
through immersive study centered in bird language1, “auspicious attention”2, ritual craft, tracking, wildtending, somatics, radical astrology and eco-social co-liberation, we will attune our bodies with the earth’s rhythms and languages in remembrance, prayer and action as responsible members of earth’s ecosystems. this course is an invitation to attune our awareness beyond and beneath the malaise of late-stage capitalism through practices that draw us into a deeper relationship with the inner and outer earth body (and the consciousness that unites them).
concerned by the prevalence and disturbance of the “attention economy”3, which capitalizes on the sacred technology of our awareness, we believe “liberating our attention”4 transforms our capacity to be present to the social and ecological needs and changes of our times. we trust that when we have access to pattern recognition and our ancestral lifeways5, we are able to collaborate with planet and spirit to instigate miraculous care in our respective bioregions for our human and more-than-human relatives.
guided by the reclamation of the lineage of auspices (whose etymology is bird-seer), we are interested in strengthening the prophetic muscles of curiosity: what happens to our neural pathways, our molecules, our ways of relating, our organizing, our carework, the places we live, when we offer our attention to the patterns of the earth and attune to what is emerging? what happens to our social and ecological systems with that renewed attention to the earth’s languages? how are we shaped as we reclaim our attention as our own, and then offer it to the interconnected aliveness of the planet?
through a devotional practice of giving up our attention as an offering to the birds, the water, stars, soil, our bodies, and their attendant rhythms, we are invited to ecologize our awareness, cultivate “wild fluency”6 and root our methodologies for liberation in our deepening relationship with the earth.
ATTUNE will convene an intimate cohort of participants for 3 in-person sessions: two hosted at The School for Inclement Weather in Kashia Pomo territory in Northern California and one in a California desert ecosystem (specific location TBA), along with online and home-based practice in between sessions to root the learnings in body and place.
applicationS for the 2023-24 program are closed
to receive updates about 2024-25 program dates/applications
sign up for our newsletter via the form at the bottom of the page
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROGRAM DATES + DETAILS
// pre-program orientation call \\
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4TH, 5-7:30PM PT
this initial call is our first chance to begin in practice together, to prepare for the program year ahead, and to meet course facilitators and other participants in the cohort.
// SESSION one \\
How does radical hospitality for a multi-species habitat nurture our capacity to care for one another and support resilience through our changing climate?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Interspecies Hospitality: Bird Language, Wild Tending, and the Earth Body
OCTOBER 15TH - 22ND, 2023
@ The School for Inclement Weather / Kashia Pomo Territory - Northwest Sonoma County, California
Participants will begin with the reverent posture of gesturing toward the heavens. Guided by the lineage of the auspices as prophetic practice, participants will receive and practice immersive bird-language scholarship, earth intimacy experiences and pattern awareness alongside regenerative forestry and prescribed fire skills* to support The School for Inclement Weather’s firebreak and the health of interspecies habitat. We will engage in embodiment practices to weave together the inner and outer Earth.
*please note that we will be practicing prescribed fire at this gathering which will potentially introduce large amounts of smoke. All participants will receive cultural and safety protocols to protect themselves. N95 masks will be provided and refuge from the smoke can be provided indoors during the day for anyone for whom smoke would be a contraindication to their health.
* offline/online practice and study in-between sessions *
// between sessions ONE AND TWO: \\
Online Gathering 1: NOV 14th, 2023 5:00-7:00pm PT
Online Gathering 2: JAN 16th, 2024 5:00-7:00pm PT
Weekly journal entries:
participants will be supported in their home-learning process with take-home practices and weekly journal entries.
Optional Weekly Check-ins:
In addition to the two full-group gatherings above, a rotating cast of staff members will be offering optional, weekly online sessions. These 45 min calls are an opportunity for participants to connect with staff, and with each other, to share stories from our home studies, get support from staff members, and learn from each other’s experiences.
// SESSION two \\
How has the lineage of fugitivity been guided by pattern awareness? How do we listen to the ways Harriet Tubman would sometimes shape her mouth and throat like owl to guide her kin toward freedom? What of her attention to her dreams and the stars?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Fugitive Awareness: Bird Language, Tracking, & Myth
FEBRUARY 25th - MARCH 5th, 2024
@ CALIFORNIA DESERT ECOSYSTEM (SPECIFIC LOCATION TBA)
In this longest of the three sessions, we will travel to the austere, mysterious and magical world of the desert. Immersed in the dynamic influence of sun, wind, stars and sands, we will deepen our inquiry into the interplay between our outer and inner earthscapes through expanding pattern recognition — to the stars above us, and the ground beneath us, through the art and practice of tracking, continued bird-language scholarship, and story.
// between sessions two AND THREE: \\
Online Gathering 3: april 9th, 2024 5:00-7:00pm PT
Online Gathering 4: may 14th, 2024 5:00-7:00pm PT
participants will be supported in their home-learning process with take-home practices and weekly journal entries.
Optional Weekly Check-ins:
In addition to the two full-group gatherings above, a rotating cast of staff members will be offering optional, weekly online sessions. These 45 min calls are an opportunity for participants to connect with staff, and with each other, to share stories from our home studies, get support from staff members, and learn from each other’s experiences.
// SESSION three \\
In transforming and deepening our way of being, perceiving, and observing, how do we express, mark and honor the renewal and protection of our attunement?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~@ The School for Inclement Weather / Kashia Pomo Territory - Northwest Sonoma County, California
As the journey of the program comes to a close, we will spend this final session honoring the transitions we have undergone – be they subtle or momentous. Through ritual storytelling, performance and craft, we will deepen in our attunement practices, celebrate this particular arc of our personal and collective journeys, and prepare ourselves for the mystery ahead. We will invoke an emergent celebration of our interdependence with all of life!
// POST-program INCORPORATION call\\
TUESDAY, JUNE 18TH, 5-7:30PM PT
this final call has a focus on incorporation, helping each of us to bring the course more fully into our bodies and our lives at home, and to continue to celebrate and learn from our time together.
applicationS for the 2023-24 program are closed
to receive updates about 2024-25 program dates/applications
sign up for our newsletter via the form at the bottom of the page
CORE FACILITATORS AND CURRICULA DESIGN TEAM
brontë velez
(they/elle) brontë is a throughline facilitator and curricula designer for attune. brontë’s work and rest is guided by the cosmology and promise of sabbath for black people and the land. as a black-latine transdisciplinary artist, trickster, educator, jíbare and wakeworker, their eco-social art praxis lives at the intersections of black feminist placemaking, abolitionist theologies, environmental regeneration, death doulaship, and the levity of absurdity.
the prayer of their life is to support safe and hilarious passage through climate collapse. they care for the crossroads of attending to black health/imagination, commemorative justice (Free Egunfemi) and hospicing the shit that hurts black folks and the earth through serving as creative director for Lead to Life ritual arts collective (leadtolife.org) and adults program director/educator for ancestral arts skills and nature-connection school Weaving Earth (weavingearth.org).
they are currently co-conjuring a film with esperanza spalding in collaboration with the San Francisco Symphony and practicing pastoral care (in an ecological and ministerial sense) as a co-steward of a land refuge in Kashia Pomo territory in northern California. mostly, brontë is up to the sweet tender rhythm of quotidian black queer-lifemaking, ever-committed to humor & liberation, ever-marked by grief at the distance made between us and all of life.
Will Scott
(he/him) Will is a throughline facilitator and curricula designer for attune. He is a member of the Teaching Team for WE adult programs, and one of Weaving Earth’s co-founders. His lineage comes primarily out of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Great Britain, Italy, Germany and France, and he currently lives as a white settler on Southern Pomo territory. His passion resides at the intersections of ecological health, human development, social justice, and community resilience.
Since studying ecopsychology, social change, and wilderness experiences in college, Will has committed himself to a focus of healing the division between humans and the more-than-human world. This focus includes actively expanding his understanding of how the concept of wilderness itself reflects a human- and euro-centric frame of reference with roots in the colonization process. He has grown and learned over the years through deep relationships with a variety of teachers and organizations, each exploring how we can re-member and revitalize our relationships to self, others, and earth as a response to the crises we face. This journey led him to Prescott College where he pursued a master’s degree that explored the importance of, and possibilities for nature-based, relationally-focused education in these complex times.
tayla shanaye, m.a. & phd
(she/they) tayla is a biculturally Black living body engaged in somatic decolonial Black feminist scholarship, education and counseling. tayla has a master’s in somatic counseling psychology and a doctorate in women’s spirituality from the California Institute of Integral Studies. Currently, tayla provides somatically-oriented therapeutic containment for private clients, serves as a lead facilitator and co-director for Weaving Earth, facilitates organizational diversity, equity and access trainings, and teaches special topics in race, political somatic psychology, and liberation practice at the university level. they have authored several resources on somatics and personal-social transformation, including Nourishing the Nervous System (2024), Locate Your Liberate (2022), and Diverse Bodies, Diverse Practices (2018).
tayla lives in the Anishinabeg territory of so-called Marquette, MI with their two young children, spouse, and dogs. When not engaged in scholarship, tayla is busy baking bread, skiing, and resting.
Visit embodytherevolution.com for more information.
Lauren D. Hage
(she/her) Lauren is a co-facilitator for several of the in-person and online sessions, and is on the curriculum design team. Lauren the Executive Director and co-founder of the Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education, an educational nonprofit that encourages the study and practice of “Earth Intimacy”, “Co-Liberation”, “Embodiment” and “Prayerful Action” as key approaches for addressing the social and ecological crises of our times. She is a also certified facilitator of the somatics-based body of work called The Resilience Toolkit. Grounded in theory and a social justice context, The Resilience Toolkit promotes embodied self-awareness, nervous system and emotional regulation, and interpersonal connection.
Lauren comes from Ashkenazi Jewish (Odessa), Sicilian, and Scottish ancestry. As an educator, ecological designer, consultant and creative, Lauren is dedicated to supporting people to pursue their passions and shape their actions from a foundation rooted in interrelationship. Attention to magic and mystery is at the heart of her praxis. She is also deeply committed to honoring the cycles of menstruation as a prayer for healing.
Lauren has been working with youth, teens and adults for 20 years. She holds a degree in Earth Sciences and Geography, with a focus on the human-earth relationship and holds certifications in Ecological Agriculture, Regenerative Design & Nature Awareness, Advanced Permaculture Design, Embodied Social Justice, and Integrated Trauma Therapy. She is also a part of the Fierce Allies practice community. Her work and play is an expression of her prayer for eco-social co-liberation. (www.weavingearth.org).
David Hage
(he/him) Dave is a co-facilitator for several of the in-person and online sessions, and is on the curriculum design team. Dave is a co-founder of the Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education and a member of the core Teaching Team for adult, youth and teen programming at WE. He carries a deep love of landscape he grew up in —and still calls home — in Southern Pomo territory, and is passionate about serving others in creating/deepening their own relationship to place.
Dave is a Wilderness First Responder and has been guiding nature connection experiences for youth and adults since 2006. He brings his love of the natural world and his care for humanity into this work, with a particular fire for drawing out creative expression. He is grateful for the privilege to be in a process of co-liberation alongside participants and guides, and he remains a humble student to this collective effort.
CO-GUIDES
Jiordi Rosales
(he/they) Jiordi is a co-facilitator for Session I – interspecies hospitality. Jiordi (hebrew variation of the river jordan, meaning to descend or flow down) is traced by Jewish and Mexican lineages of the Northern Sonoran Desert and Eastern Europe. Fluent in nonsense and attentive to forms of learning that most permit joy, humor, mystery, and contradiction, Jiordi’s life work orbits crafting pedagogies for crumbling futures.
Through the guidance of the Kashia Pomo, the Fire Forward Fellowship and Biswell Forestry, Jiordi has been trained as a prescribed fire-practitioner and forest technician to support the equitable return of fire-knowledge and practice back to Kashia tribal territory. He is the Creative Director for Bayo Akomolafe’s We Will Dance With Mountains, Curator for The Emergence Network, Co-curator of programming for climate mutation at the School for Inclement Weather in Northern California, Wildland Firefighter, and holds an M.A. in Ecology & Spirituality from the University of Wales.
Currently living and attending to sanctuary at the headwaters of the Gualala River in Kashia territory, the interspecies gossip of life on the ranch guides Jiordi ever-awkwardly toward the otherwise.
Naike Swai
(they/them) Naike is a co-facilitator for session II – fugitive awareness. Naike is a queer and trans healing arts practitioner, sonic trance facilitator and astrologer of Tanzanian and German heritage. Their interest in studying the vibratory imprint of nature’s forces on our mind and body led them into the practice of classical acupuncture, sound healing and astrology.
Whereas acupuncture provides a somatic map of how our bodies digest the experiences of life, astrology lays out a wondrous fabric of the cosmic clock and how the planet’s resonant influences shape our individual and collective lives – each thread representing the planetary patterns that dress and move us. In their readings and workshops Naike weaves these strands together. A graduate from the Portland School of Astrology, their focus lies in decolonizing astrology and connecting to the transformative liberation inherent in our natal charts.
Pınar Sinopoulos-Lloyd
(they/them) Pinar is a co-facilitator for session II – fugitive awareness. Pinar is an Indigenous multi-species futurist, wildlife tracker, anti-disciplinary researcher/poet and awkward basketweaver. In 2015, Pınar and their spouse So founded Queer Nature, an anti-disciplinary “organism” stewarding earth-based queer community through Multi-Species Relations, Nature-Intimacy and Critical Natural History/Futuring. Enchanted by the liminal, Pınar is a mutation of landscapes being Quechua and Chinese from their mother’s side and Turkish on their father’s.
They are currently finishing their Masters of Science in Environmental Studies on the Indigenous science of wildlife tracking. Wildlife tracking is inextricable to Pınar’s Reindigenizing process — reclaiming Native lifeways, stewarding Ayllu (multi-species kinship ties) and restoring Ayni (entangled reciprocity) that continue to be systemically disrupted. #LifewaysBack Pınar’s lived experiences with transness, hybridity, neurodivergence, psychiatric abolition, Indigeneity and belonging guided their work in developing Queer Ecopsychology through a decolonial lens.
Awe, adoration and enchantment guide their research. Pınar is infatuated with the shrubsteppes and high deserts of both the Columbia and Colorado Plateaus and is absolutely smitten by Kangaroo Rats, Rubber Boas, Poorwills, Bitterroot, and Pygmy Short-Horned Lizards. They are honored to live alongside them on the eastern foothills of the North Cascades on mətxʷú lands.
Pınar is also a founding Council Member of Intersectional Environmentalist; founding ambassador of Native Womens Wilderness; and a founding member of both Diversify Outdoors coalition and the Outdoorist Oath.
@queerquechua + @queernature
Sophia (“So”) Sinopoulos-Lloyd
(they/them) So is a co-facilitator for session II – fugitive awareness. So is a white & genderqueer Greek-American who grew up in the northern hardwood forests of Alnobak territory also known as central Vermont. So works in different capacities as a professional wildlife tracker, environmental educator, and writer. Their work as a seasonal shepherd throughout college deeply informed their life path, and they continue to be inspired by the resilience and tenderness of native ungulates and their pivotal roles on landscapes worldwide.
So founded Queer Nature with their spouse Pınar in 2015 where the two develop and/or organize nature-based programs and content for 2SLGBTQ+ people with a focus on nature intimacy, place-based skills, and transformative experience. They maintain a critical perspective on natural science that resists nature-culture and thought-feeling binaries that persist in western thought. With an academic background in religious and cultural studies as well as animal science, So is currently working on a Masters of Science in Anthrozoology. Areas of interest and work are comparative cognition, movement ecology, semiotics, and predator-prey relationships. They are certified at the Specialist level through Cybertracker and work to promote wildlife tracking and trailing as tools for conservation, community science, and local memory. So lives in North Central Washington. @cyberpunkecology @queernature
more facilitators to follow...
WHO IS THIS FOR?
this is for folks seeking to reclaim and rewild their attention. who seek to dedicate devoted time to cultivate wild fluency6. for those who seek to speak the language of the birds, water, stars, fire, soil and body. for folks who trust that their attention is a precious companion capable of prophecy, dreaming and muscular imagination when cared for. for folks who long to attune their relationship to time, their nervous system, and their soul’s liberatory efforts to the rhythm of bird song, the divination of tracks, and the wisdom of myth.
for those disenamored with wtf is going on in this world; who want to reconnect with the mysticism of this powerful planet — not to spiritually bypass what these times require of us but to show up informed to your bioregion with a prophetic lineage guiding you.
for those who believe gratitude is a reliable keel; who want to study with people who say yes to prayer, ceremony and protocol. for those who believe capacity for awe is an essential skill for disaster training. for those who wanna ground their care work between and among the earth; between and among the stars ~
COST
a prayer for balance and equity
we yearn to discontinue the horrors of capitalism. and we recognize that we remain entangled within that system (for now). so we aim to do what we can from within that paradox — recognizing that there is great opportunity and possibility that can emerge from engaging the tension between what is and what must be. our prayer is to make the exchange of resources for this program a part of the long arc of changing our way of being with money, resources, and wealth.
since its inception, the U.S. has been designed to privilege, prioritize and empower certain identities over others through the systems of white supremacy and racism, cis-heteropatriarchy, classism, ableism, and American exceptionalism (to name just a few). all identities that deviate from the “societal norms” created primarily by white, land-owning cis-het men, are targets of personal and structural discrimination, resulting in both individual pain and systemic inequity. therefore, the notion that wealth simply accrues to those who work hard is a cultural myth—a myth that upholds colonialism, white supremacy, cis-heterosexual male dominance and extractive capitalism.
we intend to interrupt ongoing systems of inequity and the resulting lack of access to programs and education for marginalized identities through providing access to this program through three entry points:
the Sliding Scale for ATTUNE is $6000 - $10,000 and is for those who can afford it, those who come from wealth privilege, those who can and want to give, or those who come from other systemically privileged identities.
we ask that you:
- consider the ways you have been granted unearned advantage by the systems we live within
- consider your income and access to wealth
- consider where inherited wealth may have come from
- consider what you’d like to invest your resources in
- consider that your offering can be a prayer -- a small enactment of your commitment to restoring balance and right relationship
- consider what would feel joyful to give
note: you are enthusiastically invited to exceed the high end of the scale! Anything you pay over $6000 will support the Lifeways Back Access and General Scholarship Funds, and will serve as a tax-deductible donation.
for more guidance on how to choose your position on the sliding scale, see FAQ "where should I put myself on the sliding scale?"
the Lifeways Back Access Fund is for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). we hold a prayer for the manifestation of the full expression of what reparations and land back can and will mean in this world. knowing that this full expression is not yet here, we highlight one aspect of that larger prayer: the return of Lifeways. we lean on the articulation of our kin and co-collaborator, Pınar Sinopoulos-Lloyd, who reminds us that many of the so-called ‘skills’ taught in the fields of nature connection and ancestral arts are,
“...not skills -- these are Lifeways -- indigenous, multi-species pedagogy for time immemorial. We have the right to access and reclaim our Lifeways.”
there is a difference between accessing the Lifeways Back Fund and general financial scholarship. the “sliding scale” for Lifeways Back begins at $0, and does not need to go any higher* — however, it includes the possibility of offering a gift of any size, should you so choose. anything you do choose to offer will go directly toward the Lifeways Back Access Fund to support other BIPOC participants in joining. this is not a scholarship fund, and we do not assume that individual BIPOC applicants do not have access to wealth — these funds are offered with a prayer for collective liberation.
*note: It is our prayer that all who apply for the Lifeways Back Fund and are accepted into the program will receive it, and we are a small non-profit working within the bounds of financial realities. As applications come in we will assess our capacities and be in transparent conversation with applicants as we continue to generate support funds in real time as needed. This means that we cannot guarantee that the Lifeways Back Fund will be available to all who apply for it and are accepted to the program, but we are dedicated as a team to rigorous outreach through our community, and through the sliding scale model to support our efforts for practicing equity.
We are actively fundraising for the Lifeways Back Fund and if you, or someone you know might be interested in supporting, you can donate to the Lifeways Back Fund here with note/comment: ATTUNE. All proceeds will go directly towards supporting BIPOC participants accepted into the program to attend WE programming without charge.
the General Scholarship Fund is for those from other marginalized groups, for those in need, for those seeking respite from the pressures of supremacy culture. If financial assistance would be supportive for you in joining this program, check the corresponding box in the tuition section of the application. We cannot guarantee that scholarships will be available to all who apply for them and are accepted to the program, but we are dedicated as a team to rigorous outreach, our community, and the sliding scale model to support our efforts for practicing equity. Once we have a sense of the need we will do our best to accommodate the requests we receive.
if you need financial support not articulated in these three options, please contact us.
please note- we are actively fundraising for our Lifeways Back and General Scholarship Funds! If you or anyone you know would like to support, thank you! you can donate by clicking here and selecting your choice from the drop down menu, or you can reach out to info@weavingearth.org for other donation options.
FAQ
if the wound is separation, then relationship is the remedy.
at Weaving Earth we believe that through the simple and profound act of engaging in activities that highlight our interrelationship, we nourish our own source with the wisdom of the whole. cultivating interrelationship can summon creativity, experience and aligned action to meet the challenges of today in support of the maturation of tomorrow. we call our approach “relational education” — a nature-based, experiential learning model that deepens relationships in support of socio-ecological systems that enhance life, love, and justice, within and between. Our curriculum weaves together earth intimacy, eco-social co-liberation, embodiment, and prayerful action.
the pedagogy strives to instill the following:
human beings…
- are relational by nature
- are inherently interconnected with each other and all other life on the planet
- can be beneficial participants within biological ecosystems
- are capable of cooperation, compassion, generosity, and love
- contain vision, creativity, and talents to offer
- can learn how histories of violence and domination have impacted them
- can make and receive reparations for historical and present-day harm
- can develop and sustain relationships that enable us to transcend past divisions of power and privilege
weaving earth joins a chorus of voices rising throughout time who know and imagine that humanity is capable of much more than destruction and division. many people and communities already embody this and have for a long time. responding to the complexity of our times requires ways of being, feeling, perceiving and thinking that transform the dominant narratives that have enabled “western”, white supremacist, cis-heteropatriarchal society to bring so many and so much to the tipping point.
ultimately, for conditions on this planet to change, we have to believe that change is possible. relational education nourishes that belief and equips participants with tools to turn their visions of freedom, equity, justice and ecological health into action.
to read our full article on the what, why and how of relational education, click here.
To read more about weaving earth’s core curriculum – earth intimacy, eco-social co liberation, embodiment, and prayerful action — click here
we welcome anyone who is drawn to this program to apply, regardless of your background or experience in the content. that said, we will be preferencing applicants who are devoted to work/practices that align with ATTUNE, and would be enriched and supported by your time in the program.
additionally, as this course will not be an introduction to practices and ideologies in social justice and co-liberation, we expect a skillful level of capacity and experience in this area. see application for further details.
we hope and expect that all enrolled participants will be present at all in-person and online sessions. If an unexpected conflict should arise, we ask that participants be in communication with facilitators to collaboratively put a plan together based on the specific circumstances.
The priority Application Period closed August 14th, we are reviewing submissions now, and will respond no later than 8-23-2023. applications will remain open and be accepted on a rolling basis until the program is full. Use the link below to complete your application online. Any questions you have about applying, or about the program in general, can be directed to will@weavingearth.org.
during the at-home learning aspect of the course, we expect it to require no more than 3-5 hours of your time per week. giving more than this is optional and up to the participant’s availability/capacity.
simple daily practice will be a significant part of the home-learning, and will include devoted time to explore your inner and outer world including bird sits, devotional time listening to and observing your body, mind, spirit, etc. and reflecting about your observations.
regarding financial accessibility, we have several pathways of support available. this is outlined in the “cost” section above.
regarding physical accessibility, we continually strive to make our programs as accessible as possible to as many different needs as possible. we also want to make sure that applicants know that the locations hosting us are rustic in nature and that we will be camping during the 3 in-person gatherings. bathrooms and showers will be available for the first and third sessions. we will set up a “toilet” for backcountry camping for the second session, and will offer orientation to backcountry hygiene for any who need that.
some of the terrain is steep and we will be traversing dirt roads. most will be vehicle accessible, so walking everywhere at all times isn't required, but we want to do our best to paint a picture of the terrain/accommodations so you can make an informed decision. please list any specific needs (camping gear, warm layers, carpools/transportation, translation, etc) or questions you have in the application section about accessibility and we will do our best to accommodate.
during the online calls, closed captions/transcriptions and recordings are provided by default.
Choosing a place on the sliding scale is up to your personal discernment, but is also entangled in systemic realities under racialized capitalism which we encourage folks to take into account. Here are some things to consider in your process.
Consider contributing MORE on the scale if you:
- have the ability to comfortably meet all of your basic needs
- belong to a sponsoring organization or are employed full-time
- have investments, retirement accounts, or inherited money
travel recreationally - have access to family money and resources in times of need
- work part-time by choice
- own the home you live in
- have a relatively high degree of earning power due to level of education (or gender and racial privilege, class background, etc.)
Consider contributing LESS on the scale if you.
- have difficulty covering basic expenses
- are supporting children or have other dependents
- have significant debt
- have medical expenses not covered by insurance
- are an elder with limited financial support
- have unstable housing and/or limited access to reliable
- transportation
- have not taken a vacation or time off due to the financial burden
If you select an amount at the higher end of the scale, you will make possible future offerings and support the good work of the speakers, facilitators, and organizers who are generously contributing their gifts to this event.
(This is borrowed from Ecoversities and is based on the ‘Green Bottle’ sliding scale model by Alexis J. Cunningfolk | www.wortsandcunning.com)
no! upon acceptance we will be connecting folks who have a ride with those who need a ride, so if you don’t have a car we will do our best to help find someone coming from your area who does.
Unfortunately, we cannot support travel at this time, though we will help connect you with others in the cohort for carpooling.
within the bounds of safety, when it rains or storms we practice a healthy balance of being out in it and making ourselves comfortable around a fire. personal discernment around the stretching of one’s comfort zone is encouraged, so should you not be up for being out in the rain, or for being stretched in some other way, taking a break is always available.
a full packing list is provided with your registration packet, but a basic list would include layered clothing you don’t mind getting dirty, rain jacket and pants, headlamp, small backpack, tent, sleeping bag and pad. in addition, there may be an opportunity to be with fire and controlled burns in a safe and mindful way by folks trained and certified in prescribed fire and ancestral cultural burning. opting into this activity would require some specialized gear, such as leather boots with sewn-in or vibram soles and leather gloves.
after seeing the full list, should you need any support in securing any of these items, let us know and we’ll work together to get you what you need.
sessions one and three at the school for inclement weather are fully catered with 3 meals/day plus snacks, and caterers are able to meet most dietary needs.*
*depending on location of session two, we may need to adjust the meal plan and will keep participants informed. food will still be included but the preparation may be collaborative as a part of the curricula — more details to follow.
while the course content will vary from day to day, you can expect that most days will be spent almost entirely outside in one of our beautiful locations, and evenings will be spent around a fire. the course will lean heavily on experiential learning opportunities in direct contact with the natural world. there will be a balance between time in the large group, time in small groups, and time alone. we do our best to also include plenty of downtime for outbreaths, naps, wanders, etc.
ATTUNE is a drug and alcohol free space and we ask all participants to respect that during program hours. while we will be cultivating states of expanded consciousness, this is done through practices that connect us to our senses and the natural world, and without the use of substances.
we love having kids around at our events, and will do our best to work with parents on a case-by-case, shared-cost basis to find child care services during in-person sessions for those who need it. please note this need in the accessibility section of the application
unfortunately, we cannot have dogs join us at the program sites. we know that dogs are a part of the family, and potentially join as support animals, but we have a livestock guardian dog on site for our 1st and 3rd gatherings so guest dogs are not possible. we thank you for your understanding!
full refunds will be given 30 days before the start of the program. after that time we will retain a 20% deposit. once the program starts, no refunds will be given. *we understand that life happens and will reassess this policy on a case-by-case basis
click the button below that says apply now and follow the steps to apply by august 14th! let us know if you have any trouble by reaching out to dave@weavingearth.org. once we receive your application we will respond no later than august 23rd with next steps.
APPLICATION
the priority Application period for this program is closed and submissions are under review. acceptances will be sent out during the week of 8-21-2023. applications will remain open and be accepted on a rolling basis until the program is full. use the link below to complete your application online. Any questions you have about applying, or about the program in general, can be directed to dave@weavingearth.org.
also please take note that we’ll be doing “co-discernment calls” with those who we’re considering for the program starting the week of aug 14th. this means that should both you and the WE facilitators feel that the program might be a good fit, you’ll be invited to join a 1-hour small-group zoom with staff and other participants to meet each other and discuss the program on either aug 15th, 17th or 22nd from 5-6pm PT. if one of these times works for you, please mark it on your calendar now. if not please let us know asap so we can make alternative arrangements.
we look forward to reading your application!
FOOTNOTES
1 bird language: Through sound, silence, gesture, posture, and behavior, birds communicate about what they are observing in the ecosystem. They are telling the story in real time, and we can learn to understand what they are saying by learning their language, which embeds us deeper into the interrelated ecology we are a part of. Weaving Earth approaches bird language through a co-liberatory and somatic lens.
2 auspicious attention: this is a concept from Weaving Earth adult programs co-curator and educator brontë velez that explores the lineage of the “auspice” as a prophetic bird witness and the reclamation of bird language as a liberatory technology that cultivates prophetic awareness.You can read adrienne maree brown speak to their prayer, visions and practice on “attention liberation” here.
3 attention economy: this concept was first coined by psychologist, economist and political scientist Herbert A. Simon. the phrase came to our attention 😉 through Jenny Odell’s scholarship and book “How To Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy”
4 liberating our attention: you can read adrienne maree brown speaking to their prayer, visions and practice on “attention liberation” here.
5 When we speak to “ancestral lifeways,” we are referring to Miakoda Taylor and Pinar Sinopolous Lloyd’s praxis through their respective bodies of work (Fierce Allies & Queer Nature) to transform and decolonize the field of nature connection through accountability to the “rematriation of indigenous lifeways.” You can learn more about their work here and here.
6 “Wild fluency” is a term coined by Weaving Earth’s Executive Director Lauren Dalberth Hage that invites us into the practice of communication with the earth’s languages. Most, if not all, members of the ecosystem are attuned to this wild language. As fellow animals of the ecosystem, we can also reattune ourselves to the language and re-member ourselves as an interrelated and responsible part of that ecosystem. Wild fluency helps us to engage and occupy our senses and tune into our bodies’ somatic brilliance.”