under the auspices of summer
2021
2021 program complete
however, for all those interested in this course, we have adapted it into a self-paced learning journey! you can learn more about that program here, or read below to learn more about the original program.
this summer Weaving Earth follows the sun’s transits through Gemini to Libra as we “take root among the stars” (Octavia Butler, Parable of the Sower). guided by the elements hosted through this cosmic arc (air, water, fire, earth, air), we weave the wisdom of the skyfolk together through ecological, somatic, artistic, and liberatory oracular praxis.
under the auspices of summer is an online-offline experiential program rooted in cohort-based study and ecological practice, seeking to close the distance between us through earth intimacy.
“under the auspice(s) of…” is a phrase often used to describe benevolent guidance, perhaps a prophetic sign…though it’s earliest meaning traces back to augurs who observed birds’ flight and language to prophesy (often to some king somewhere tryna look for some omen for some war… boringgggg….this ain’t that!)
here, we’re not interested in utilizing bird language nor prophecy in service to the state! this summer we come to gather, reimagine and queer the auspicious — literally meaning “bird-seer” — deepening connections and relationships with the more-than-human world so that we might show up well for them, and with more care, tenderness, insight and commitment to our human kinfolk. we come to be intimate with the birds, the soil, the water, the fire, and one another so that we might strengthen our prophetic muscle for curiosity.
among the constellations those of us at Weaving Earth call home, we’re witnessing a revival and craving for mysticism1 and oracular arts2 so we can offer more livingness (Katherine McKittrick), to move in the elsewhen and elsewhere, beyond dystopia, and with a renewed orientation toward justice. through pattern awareness and practices that nurture the regeneration of our intuition, we seek to instigate a community of practice centered in enchantment, “attention liberation” (adrienne maree brown), and eco-social repair.
APPLICATIONS are closed
to get notified of future programming be sure to join our mailing list at the bottom of the page!
Program arc and timing
the program is situated from the end of Gemini szn to the beginning of Libra szn with 8 large group sessions and 6 small group sessions.
each month we will gather 4 times — twice as a large group and twice in small cohorts — to drop into earth intimacy, divination and mystic practices related to the element of that season (e.g. for Cancer szn, the element is water). practice weeks will be informed by our bi-weekly large group convenings, which are rooted in radical astrology, ritual storytelling, critical inquiry, creative practice and encounters with guest facilitators who are working at intersections of eco-social liberation related to the element of that season. participants will all join a small practice group, which could be via random selection, or you have the option of applying to this program with a pod of 3-5 people to serve as your practice group. we strongly encourage applicants to apply with a pod in heartmind – more below on potential guiding tracks for applicants.
the gatherings will be between June 17th, 2021 – September 23d, 2021 with weekly Thursday convenings that follow the rhythm:
Program information + Detail
Who is this program for?
this is first and foremost for weirdos (as in the origins of the word wyrd…you know, those who have the agency to guide destiny, notice synchronicities, and perform miracles!). this is for those who seek to be idle, blessed and relieved this summer in the wake of a year and a half of grief. for those who seek ritual to interrupt rhythms of time decided for us by capitalism, patriarchy and white supremacy. for those who long to aestivate – to pass the summer with glee.
for those who remember summer as that time you got to take some time off and play. for those who never got to go summer camp but wished you could. for those who want to heal from summer bible camp but still believe in being enchanted by the divine. for folks who want to witness the sun stand still and the night grow short and the days grow longer together. for those who want to know their tears and the watershed that provides them.
for those who trust in the stars and want to come to know them closer. for those who care about stories and believe they can change shit. for those who believe “loitering is delightful” (Ross Gay) and gratitude a reliable keel. for those who want to craft medicine and give it to those they love. for those who want to laugh, clown and fortify silliness as necessary. for folks who want to get lost together and be found by the wisdom of birdsong. for those unenamored with wtf is going on in this world; who want to reconnect with the mysticism of dreams and the earth — not to spiritually bypass but to show up informed to your bioregion with a prophetic lineage guiding you.
for those who want to wander, want to bring myth into the waking, want to study with people who believe in god and say yes to prayer and ceremony. for those who wanna enjoy the heck out of life and be led by the brilliance of awe. for those who wanna ground their liberation work between and among the earth; between and among the stars ~
Potential guiding tracks for applicants
there are so many reasons/guiding lights for applying to this program for the summer! and in that vein, we want to offer some methods to imagine how you might utilize this container in service to your path before you apply as a way to support your discernment process. we would love to feel why you are craving this container so we might shape its design more deeply toward the participants. of course there are a million reasons folks will want to apply but we’re also hoping to identify patterns so participants can be in more focused study with one another in their bi-weekly small group gatherings.
perhaps you’re applying to conjure – maybe you’re working on a creative project (a book, a dissertation, an album, a film, some paintings, a business etc.) and are seeking an ecological, mystic container and pace to support you to realize and ground that work ~
perhaps you wanna ground your work in eco-social liberation – maybe you been organizing for your kinfolk in your city or town but wanna strengthen your attention muscles to the earth so that you might re-weave with the land as source. or perhaps your work been in the land and you long to deepen a liberatory relationship to how you are connecting to the earth ~
perhaps you’re applying cuz you tryna rest! – maybe this summer you’re just tryna chill! it has been a long year… you’re tired and seeking respite; you long to be enchanted again, to not have to do jack shit but be in awe and behold, to release, to receive, to be poured back into, to revive the well ~
perhaps you’re applying because you wanna study with your people – maybe you have been longing to study with your colleague, your best friends, your pod, your parents, your chosen fam, your partner/s. maybe you miss the people you love and want to cultivate a rhythm to be in a shared practice together where you can be close through offering your shared attention, and perhaps you all want to apply together (!) ~
if one of these tracks is drawing you in, there is a section on the application to let us know which one that is. choosing a track is optional — everyone will be put into a small group whether they select a track or not.
On the ecological role of longing
our friend, WE alumni, and one of Weaving Earth’s board members Justine Epstein has a beautiful essay in Loam Magazine called “Longing as Compass” where she speaks to the ecological role of longing; the erotics of yearning; what it is to crave belonging and to be met, to be known, to be received, to be felt, to be witnessed; and how the earth’s health is predicated on our longing.
in the spirit of Justine’s scholarship, WE is holding what it is to name our longing as a radical act. under the auspices of summer is a practice in us calling out our longing, naming our desire, sharing the vulnerability that this is the summer study and practice we too long to receive and be conjured by.
and in that transparency is the truth that we can’t deliver on this offering alone as Weaving Earth. we seek to create a container that can behold the longing between us while humbly knowing it can’t all be fulfilled here. we will be courting our longing, not quelling it. we hope those who apply will feel a similar tug in them, will come with an understanding of the gift of longing itself, and will join with us to draw down this offering’s prayer so we might realize it together!
Detailed Calendar
*all gathering dates are thursdays. hover your mouse over underlined fields for specific details about those gatherings
GEMINI SZN
“preparation”
this first gathering will be focused on orientation, context setting, agreement making, and beginning some of the perennial practices that will be with us throughout the program’s arc
PRE PROGRAM MEETING
full cohort gathering
june 17th 11:00 am – 1:30 pm PST
CANCER SZN
“crossing the threshold”
WEEK 1
full cohort gathering
june 24th 11:00 am – 1:30 pm PST
WEEK 2
small group bioregional practice
july 1st 11:00 am – 12:20 pm PST
WEEK 3
full cohort gathering
july 8th 11:00 am – 1:30 pm PST
WEEK 4
small group bioregional practice
july 15th 11:00 am – 12:20 pm PST
LEO SZN
“nigredo”
WEEK 5
full cohort gathering
july 22nd 11:00 am – 1:30 pm PST
WEEK 6
small group bioregional practice
july 29th 11:00 am – 12:20 pm PST
REST WEEK
WEEK 7
full cohort gathering
august 12th 11:00 am – 1:30 pm PST
WEEK 8
small group bioregional practice
august 19th 11:00 am – 12:20 pm PST
VIRGO SZN
“going awkward”
WEEK 9
large group gathering
august 26th 11:00 am – 1:30 pm PST
WEEK 10
small cohort bioregional practice
september 2nd 11:00 am – 12:20 pm PST
WEEK 11
full cohort gathering
september 9th 11:00 am – 1:30 pm PST
WEEK 12
small group bioregional practice
september 16th 11:00 am – 12:20 pm PST
LIBRA SZN
“incorporation”
Note that this meeting is extended by 30 minutes and is 3 hours in total
POST PROGRAM MEETING
full cohort gathering
september 23rd 11:00 am – 2:00 pm PST**
Frequently Asked Question
How does the “bioregional practice” work if I am living in more than one place during the course?
By “bioregional” we mean that those weeks will be spent in practice in your home place, wherever that happens to be at that time. Practices will be designed to support those who are currently migratory, as well as those who are rooted in one place. So, moving around during the program is fine!
Will the program meet in person?
We will not meet as a full cohort in person, however for anyone signing up with a group, there is the option to meet in person in your small cohort during practice weeks.
Do I need to sign up with a group?
Signing up with a pre-existing group is optional, though encouraged. Anyone not signing up with a group will be placed into a small practice cohort for the course of the program.
Do you have payment plans or scholarships?
Yes! The payment plan makes it possible to pay monthly over the course of the program, and we have two access funds in place as well. Read more about this in the “Payment Details” section below.
What is the attendance policy?
We are asking for participants to miss no more than two days total, which includes the full group and small group gathering days. We understand that lives are full, scheduling can be such a challenge, and unexpected needs can and will arise. We honor and acknowledge that folks may have to miss a day or two, and, we are also calling everyone involved — participants and facilitators alike — into a co-holding of the container, knowing that a strong container and presence can allow for an experience that is deeper and more impactful for all. This is part of the devotional space we are conjuring. So with that in heartmind, we ask everyone to do what they can to be fully present for each session, to do their best within the realities of life, and to be in communication when needs arise!
When are applications due?
Due date for applications is June 11th, and we will begin accepting applicants during the week of May 31st. Turning in your application early is strongly recommended.
CORE TEACHING TEAM
tayla shanaye
(she/her) tayla shanaye holds a Masters in Psychological Studies with a concentration in Somatic Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies. Much of her research focuses on how racism, environmental destruction, and activism perpetuate embodied traumatization among marginalized communities.
tayla has forgone board licensure as a Marriage and Family Therapist and is pursuing her PhD in Women’s Spirituality, unearthing the expanded state of consciousness accessed through childbirth and revealing its role in Black maternal liberation.
Drawing on her experience as a mother, dancer, theatre performer, yoga asana instructor, folk herbalist, mystic, philosopher, social critic, educator, and activist, she works to facilitate self-awareness and meaningful engagement with the co-creation of reality. She lives in the occupied Anishinaabeg lands of the so-called Upper Peninsula of Michigan with her sun, partner, and elder 4-legged. She is committed to a loving relationship with the Living Earth, so that the land, waters, and seasons can do their good work of shaping her body and humbling her mind.
brontë velez
(they/them) brontë’s work and rest is guided by the call that “black wellness is the antithesis to state violence” (Mark Anthony Johnson). as a black-latinx transdisciplinary artist, designer, trickster, educator and wakeworker, their eco-social art praxis lives at the intersections of black feminist placemaking & abolitionist theologies, environmental regeneration and death doulaship.
brontë embodies this commitment of attending to black health/imagination, commemorative justice (Free Egunfemi) and hospicing systems of oppression through serving as creative director for Lead to Life design collective and ecological educator for ancestral arts skills and nature-connection school Weaving Earth. brontë is currently co-conjuring a mockumentary with esperanza spalding and the San Francisco Symphony. 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.
Lauren D. Hage
(she/her) Lauren comes from Ashkenazi Jewish (Russian), Sicilian, and Scottish ancestry. She is 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.
As an educator, consultant, ecological designer, and creative, Lauren is dedicated to supporting people to pursue their passions and shape their actions from a foundation rooted in interrelationship. She is guided daily by spiderwebs, oaks, birds, music and family. Attention to magic and mystery is at the heart of her praxis. Lauren is also deeply committed to honoring the cycles of menstruation as a prayer for healing.
Lauren currently lives as a white settler on occupied Southern Pomo territory, a place whose original colonizers included Russian and Italian — two lineages which run through her body. She gives deep thanks and respect to the original peoples of this place, and carries the commitment to be in right relationship with the people, the land and the waters therein. And while this commitment isn’t enough to address the historic and present-day harm done on this continent — and globally by supremacy culture — she nevertheless believes it is her response-ability to walk humbly with this prayer while continuing to learn, change and do better along the way.
Support staff and guest facilitators
two of Weaving Earth’s co-founders, Will Scott and Dave Hage, will be in service to this program as administrators and support-facilitators throughout the program arc. additionally the program will be gifted by an amazing host of guest speakers and facilitators! full list coming soon…
Will Scott (he/him)
Will 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.
David Hage (he/him)
Dave is a co-founder of the Weaving Earth Center for Relational Education and a member of the core Teaching Team for adult 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.
Naike Swai (they/them)
Naike Swai is a healing arts practitioner, musician 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.
liz kennedy (she/they)
liz kennedy is an artist & environmental justice organizer based in Detroit (occupied Wawiyaataanong, Anishinaabe territory). She is Program Coordinator for the Detroit-based Allied Media Conference and is committed to creating spaces for artists and organizers to strategize, celebrate, and cross-pollinate across movements and mediums.
They also alchemize with Lead to Life, a trans-local collective of queer artists, healers & ecologists bridging racial and environmental justice through ceremony and art practice to provoke radical imagination toward justice. Her work is to queer systems of oppression through joy, ritual, abolition, black feminism, decolonization, and relationship with the more-than-human world.
Niria Alicia (she/they/we)
Niria Alicia is a Xicana Indigena human rights advocate, climate justice organizer, educator, storyteller and social impact strategist dedicated to protecting the sacredness of Mother Earth and the dignity of historically oppressed peoples.
She graduated Cum Laude from the University of Oregon with degrees in Environmental Studies, Latin American Studies, Nonprofit Administration and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. She was accepted as an outstanding masters candidate and awarded a scholarship to pursue her studies of Human Rights at Columbia University. In 2019 her climate justice and environmental education work earned her the national ‘Emerging Leader Award’ from GreenLatinos’ and the internationally recognized ‘EE 30 under 30’ award from the North American Association for Environmental Education and this year, the United Nations has named her the Young Champion of the Earth for North America giving her the highest honor the UN gives to young people under the age of 30.
Hadassah Greensky
Hadassah GreenSky is a Anishinaabe (Chippewa) multidisciplinary artist living in Detroit, Michigan. She is a tribal member of the Little Traverse Bay Band. She works in the traditional mediums of fabric, leather, copper, beads and paint. She is also a proficient illustrator and photographer. Her style is described as indigneous futurist, blending the styles of two worlds- the Native and the colonized experience. Her passion is culture revitalization in urban spaces where gentrification and other forms of colonization have replaced Native practices, lifeways and community.
Within these rooted ancestral ideologies, Hadassah studies the land and plants, the stories and language, and weaves this precious knowledge into every aspect of her artistic practice. She is the premier female Native jazz vocalist in the Detroit area, having attended The New School for Jazz in NYC and performed in top jazz clubs in and out of the NYC and Detroit metropolitan areas. She is a community organizer, traditional dancer and model, having modeled for a photo taken July 1st, 2020 at the base of the old Christopher Columbus statue in Detroit, Michigan. The photo was picked up by Vogue Magazine, featuring an interview with Hadassah and highlighting her art and her community work. She is currently making and selling her art, working on a new music project and, for the second year, launching Michigan’s First Indigenous Music Festival with her partner.
Richie Reseda (he/him)
Freed from prison in 2018, Richie Reseda is an abolitionist-feminist producer and organizer. He founded Question Culture, the social-impact record label who coexecutive produced the Defund The Sheriff Album in 2020 featuring Vic Mensa, Lauren Juaregui and more; Success Stories, a transformational feminist program for incarcerated men chronicled in the CNN documentary “The Feminist on Cell Block Y;”
Richie also cofounded Initiate Justice, which organizes people directly impacted by incarceration to change laws to end it. He works closely with Black Lives Matter, Inspire Justice and more, to transform narratives and upend systems of oppression.
Dr. Koko Zauditu-Selassie (she/her)
Dr. Kokahvah Zauditu-Selassie, “Mama Koko” holds the Master of Science degree in Reading,
the MFA degree in Creative Writing and the Doctorate of Arts degree in the Interdisciplinary
Humanities. Recently retired as Professor of English at Coppin State University in the
Humanities Department, she was a 2009-2010 Fulbright Scholar at the University of Cocody,
Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, a National Endowment for the Humanities fellow, a National Council for
Black Studies fellow at the University of Ghana, Legon, a Fulbright-Hays fellow in Cairo, Egypt,
a New York University Scholar-in-Residence, a Mellon fellow at the Gorée Institute in Dakar,
Senegal, and a Fulbright-Hays Scholar in the Republic of South Africa.
She is an accomplished author with a literary imagination peopled by sex workers, women adept
in making poison, root women, stargazers, astral travelers, shape-shifters, abandoned children,
maroons, and lonely widows in search of sexual satisfaction. She writes the words that her
ancestors whisper bringing those otherworldly interactions alive. She is a priest of Obàtálá in the
Lukumi Yoruba tradition and a descendant of a matrilineal group of Hoodoo believers from New
Orleans, Louisiana.
Jeanette Acosta (she/her)
Jeanette is an indigenous Permaculture specialist and a certified permaculture teacher and designer who specializes in maritime culture, herbalism, ethnobotany and biodynamics. Her experience dealing with indigenous peoples, international business people, world diplomats, heads of states, renowned artists/celebrities, and politicians gives her a very unique perspective on various cultures and customs.
more to come…
Payment details
a prayer for balance & 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 a number of pathways: sliding scale, payment plans, a Lifeways Back access fund, and a General Scholarship fund.
Tuition for this program is offered on a sliding scale of $500 — $1000: for those who can afford it, or who come from wealth privilege, or who can and want to give, or 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!
After this consideration, and upon acceptance into the program, we ask you to choose the price point that feels right for you, anywhere between $500-$1000
note: you are enthusiastically invited to exceed the high end of the scale! paying on the higher end of the sliding scale, or beyond it, supports participants to join this program via the Lifeways Back Access and General Scholarship Funds.
Lifeways Back Access Fund: 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 country, and in the world. knowing that this full expression is not yet here, we highlight one aspect of that larger prayer: the return of lifeways.
“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.”
~Pınar Sinopoulos-Lloyd
this quote from our dear kin and co-collaborators, and co-founder of Queer Nature, Pinar Sinopoulos-Lloyd serves to remind us that there is a difference between accessing lifeways and financial scholarship. 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. 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.
General Scholarship Fund: 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. once we have a sense of the overall need we will do our best to accommodate everyone’s request.
Accessibility Needs: there is also a space in the application to name any accessibility support that would make it possible for you to join (ie translation, closed-captions, etc.). again, once all needs are known we will do our best to accommodate!
please designate which pathway you are choosing in the application. and, please contact us if you have any questions, or need support in ways not articulated in the pathways above.
APPLICATIONS ARE DUE JUNE 11TH
FOOTNOTES
- Eco-Mysticism for Apocalyptic Times
by So Sinopoulos-Lloyd with Pinar Sinopoulos-Lloyd, Originally published in Loam Magazine (July 2020) ^back - Deeply inspired by the work of Lead to Life. Click here to watch a trailer for their ritual film, “between starshine and clay” (May 2021) ^back