My new book, The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups is out in the bookstores now, as well as online, and I'm very excited to be able to share it with you all! Click on the link http://www.starhawk.org/writings/empowerment_manual.html to get a peek inside and to download the free supplementary chapter: The Five-Fold Path of Productive Meetings. I'm off on a whirlwind tour, doing workshops and trainings on the book and support for various Occupy movements--to see the whole schedule, scroll down below.

When I began writing The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups, I wanted to offer some of the benefit of my experience, including my many mistakes, to groups who were organizing without a top-down, hierarchical structure. I’ve been living and working in such groups for more than forty years, and I felt like the many dreadful meetings I’ve endured, the in-fights and the painful conflicts, as well as the glorious moments of collective creativity and spiritual ecstasy, should all count for something. I saw so many groups struggling with the same issues, whether they were spiritual circles, working groups, communities struggling to organize or activists planning a protest. And I had a few insights that I felt might be helpful.

I didn’t know that half the world would decide, right when the book is coming out, to go sit in the public square and organize leaderless Occupations governed by consensus-based General Assemblies. The Occupy movement springs from many of the same sources that inspired the book—the horizontally organized global justice movement of the last decades and its antecedents, the anti-nuclear and anti-intervention movements of the ‘seventies and ‘eighties. But now more people than ever before are suddenly immersed in the joys and challenges of organizing non-hierarchically.

Groups without formal hierarchy are potentially empowering on a mass scale. Unfortunately, we come into them from a lifetime of exposure to hierarchy, with its patterns internalized. We have few models and fewer guidebooks to help us learn how to do it a different way. There are thousands of books on how to be a manager or a CEO of a corporation, virtually none about how to walk the delicate line of stepping up to a leadership role in a leaderless group.

Collaborative groups are a different species from hierarchical groups, and understanding those differences can help us make them work more effectively. As kids, when we get in a fight Mom or Dad can step in and say, “You two, break it up!” In a top-down group, the boss or leader steps in for Dad. But when we remove that authority, there’s no one to say, “Okay, time out. Now apologize to each other, kiss and make up.” Conflicts can be harder to resolve, unless we realize that the group itself must find clear agreements on how to handle conflict and how to support one another in directly and creatively solving our disputes.

Communication is more complex in a collaborative group. In a hierarchy, there’s a chain of command. You know whom to report to, and who reports to you. But in a collective, ten of us might make a decision—forgetting that member number eleven is home sick with stomach flu. Maybe we also forget to inform Number Eleven of our decision—and then forget that we’ve forgotten. Number Eleven discovers we’ve set a key policy without her, and feels hurt and slighted. It’s clear to her that we’ve deliberately left her out of the loop, as we always do! Painful meetings and hours of mediation could all be avoided if we’d simply thought to ask, at the end of our meeting, “Who else needs to be informed of this and who is going to tell them?”

The Occupy movement faces some of the greatest challenges I’ve ever encountered around group dynamics and group process—it’s so huge,grew up so fast and so spontaneously and found itself smack in the middle of some of society’s worst unsolved problems. Former student body presidents are encamped in the midst of raving drunks, trying to come to consensus in large groups. It’s fascinating, often exasperating, and that’s why I’m spending as much time as I can offering trainings.

I also offer the book as a resource. I recommend it because it contains insights and a framework that can help groups function, whether they are unwieldy Occupations or tight circles of friends engaged in a project. I know this because it has helped me—although presumably I already knew what’s in it. But reading, researching and pulling the lessons together into a coherent form has helped me become a better group member and a more effective mediator.

If you’re working in any sort of collaborative group, you’ll find valuable insights in The Empowerment Manual. I say this not just to get you to buy the book—although of course I want you to buy it, that will help a very wonderful small, political publisher stay in business and will buy me some time to write a sequel to The Fifth Sacred Thing, my next project. But far more than that, I’m hoping you’ll read the book, work with it, use it, improve on it, and find your own groups working more effectively, and our common work to build a better world will thrive.

"To choose a positive future, we need the imagination, the commitment and passion that can never be commanded but can only be unleashed in groups of equals. Those groups need to work and function well. That's why I've written this book."

The book is out in bookstores now, and available online http://www.starhawk.org/writings/empowerment_manual.html,
New Society , http://www.newsociety.com/Books/E/The-Empowerment-Manual and of course, on Amazon and elsewhere. Check out the New Society blog about it http://www.newsociety.com/blog/2011/The-Empowerment-Manual-Required-Reading-for-Occupied-Times

Some of my older books have also become newly relevant with the rise of the Occupy movement, especially for anyone interested in its antecedents. In particular, Dreaming the Dark: Magic, Sex and Politics and Truth or Dare: Encounters with Power, Authority and Mystery look at the internal wounds we carry from millennia of war, hierarchy and patriarchy, and reflect some of the horizontal organizing in the antinuclear and anti-itntervention movements of the ‘seventies and ‘eighties. Webs of Power: Notes from the Global Uprising tracks the global justice movement from the Seattle blockade of the WTO in 1999 through September 11, and contains nuanced discussions of nonviolence, diversity, and spirit. Find them all http://www.starhawk.org/writings/writings.html

I doubt I'll have time to blog in the next few weeks, but I'm sure I'll have lots to ponder from my travels. Hope to see some of you on the road!

Dec. 1: "Imagining a Future We Want: Lessons from The Fifth Sacred Thing," Vancouver, Canada

Dec. 4: Book launch, The Empowerment Manual, A Guide for Collaborative Groups, Vancouver

Dec. 9-11: "The Magic of Co-creation: Building Power in Groups," New York City

(Starhawk will be offering something to Occupy Wall Street, not yet determined. Check back for details.)

Dec. 17: Empowerment Manual workshop and Winter Solstice, Los Angeles, Calif.

From Cairo to Wall Street, all over the world people are coming together to create change, organizing without top-down leadership or hierarchies. In thousands of voluntary groups everywhere, people work together to create everything from community gardens to media to new ways of living. Such circles can be enormously creative and empowering, but they can also be cumbersome and frustrating. Yet when they work well, they liberate our imagination and change the world.

In this workshop, we will use the tools of magic, meditation, trance, and ritual to explore issues of personal and social power. We'll look at ways to create nurturing and healing group structures, to deal with difficult people and embrace constructive conflict. We'll raise and focus group energy to celebrate our connectedness and nurture resilient communities that can be joyful and effective agents of change.

Also, Starhawk will sign copies of The Empowerment Manual and chat with folks informally.

Starhawk will be at the American Academy of Religion conference in San Francisco. Look for her at a panel discussion on Sunday, 9:30 to 11 a.m.

"The History of the Future," a panel discussion with Starhawk, Megan Prelinger, and Chris Carlsson.

Megan Prelinger's book Another Science Fiction takes a whimsical look at how the space race was promoted during its heyday 1957-62, offering a pointed look into a twisted type of corporate "utopian" thinking that informed a whole generation. Meanwhile, Starhawk's The Fifth Sacred Thing and Chris Carlsson's After the Deluge both present alternative utopian futures for San Francisco a century or more in the future. Join the conversation with these three authors as they ponder utopias and dystopias, imagination and revolution, and the power of social movements and propaganda to shape different futures.

What would it look like if we based our culture on respect for the elements that sustain life, if earth, air, fire and water were sacred? Imagine a culture where human creativity and diversity were cherished. Popular culture abounds with post-apocalyptic disaster stories, but offers us few images of a positive future here on earth. Yet if we can't even imagine a just, balanced and flourishing future, how can we create it? Two visions of the future clash in Starhawk's novel, The Fifth Sacred Thing, now in development as a feature film. What can it teach us about how we avoid disaster and mobilize our creativity and our courage to create the world we want to live in?

Join Starhawk for the official launch of her brand-new, twelfth book: The Empowerment Manual, A Guide for Collaborative Groups, published by B.C.'s own New Society Publishers. Starhawk will read excerpts, sign your copy, and chat informally.

Time: doors open 5:00 p.m. for food, drinks, and socializing with the author; reading starts 6:00

Monday, December 5 "Empowering Tools for Challenging Times," evening talk Presented in conjunction with Occupy Minnesota. Time: 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. Location: Mayday Books, 301 Cedar Ave S., Minneapolis For more information contact Sue Ann seasnun@gmail.com

Empowerment Training Day with Starhawk & OccupyMpls: Tuesday Dec 6, 2011. 8am-5pm.

This day will be focused on trainings and discussion about core issues facing OccupyMpls, to build a respectful and empowering collaborative group throughout the winter.

8-9am: Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser. 30 minutes eat & chat. 30 minute presentation, with a short slideshow about OccupyMpls & Occupy around the world, a story or two from Starhawk, and a few testimonies from people involved with OccupyMpls. Attendees will be asked to contribute what they can to help cover the cost of Starhawk's plane-fare, and to OccupyMpls's general fund. All are invited! Please RSVP.

9:30-12pm: Facilitation Training: (All interested in becoming a facilitator for General Assemblies invited!) What is the Art of Facilitation? How do we improve our skills? What are some current issues with General Assemblies and how can they be addressed?

Also 9:30 - 12pm: (Possible Discussion on Non-Violent Direct Action Strategy)

1-2pm and 2-3pm: Teach-ins: On various topics, including "Mainstream/Margin -- Anti-Oppression Awareness"; "Economics Unmasked"; "Art and Community Activism"; "Cross-Cultural Conversations"; and more.

3-5pm: Open Space Discussion: Addressing various core issues facing OccupyMpls, including:

What is the relationship of General Assemblies to Direct Actions? / How are we using Direct Actions as a movement? / Is there a framework for input or feedback pre- & post- actions?

Visioning: What is our goal? Do we have different goals? Are there Affinity-groups?

Structure of General Assemblies: What is Consensus & how does it work? What is modified consensus & when is that a better option? What are blocks & how do address inappropriate use of blocking?

Guidelines & Shaping of "New Norms"... how to build a culture at OccupyMpls that is empowering and respectful? How do we address conflicts, violence and intimidation?

In her latest book, The Empowerment Manual, A Guide for Collaborative Groups, Starhawk draws on four decades of experience in circles and collectives to show us how to foster connection, clear communication and positive power in ourselves and our groups. Join us for this evening introduction to the basics of group empowerment, with a booksigning of The Empowerment Manual and and live music by Incus.

10 AM-4pm Nonviolent direct action training as part of a series of trainings offered by New England Trainers Network, Alliance of Community Trainers and the Health Justice Working Group of Occupy Boston. The aim is to build the skill sets and confidence of community groups and activists in doing NVDA.

It happens over and over again-a group of people come together, fired up with passion to create change. They begin with huge inspiration and enthusiasm-and a year later, it's all foundered in the mire of conflict. We could have changed the world ten times over-if we didn't have to do it together with other people, those irritating, self-righteous, controlling, fluff-brained clueless idiots who are our friends and allies.

We can do better. In her latest book, The Empowerment Manual, A Guide for Collaborative Groups, Starhawk draws on four decades of experience in circles and collectives to show us how to foster connection, clear communication and positive power in ourselves and our groups. In this in-depth evening workshop, we will use the tools of magic and ritual to explore issues of personal and social power. We'll look at ways to create nurturing and healing group structures, deal with difficult people, and embrace constructive conflict. We'll raise and focus group energy to celebrate our connectedness and nurture resilient communities that can be joyful and effective agents of change.

Presented by HeARTbeat Collective. Please note, space is limited to 40 people, register early.

Starhawk will be in Los Angeles, presenting a workshop for her new book, The Empowerment Manual. Following will be a Winter Solstice ritual, presented with Reclaiming LA.

Starhawk and friends hold the 24th Annual Winter Solstice celebration. Join us on this dark night of midwinter, to sing and dance back our connection to the Earth and Sun. Ritual indoors and warm. Presented by North Bay Reclaiming.

Location: Sebastopol Community Center, 390 Morris St. Wheelchair accessible.

Cost: $15 -75, sliding scale. Funds support Earth Activist Training and North Bay Reclaiming

(Trainings or other offerings for Occupy Wall Street are under discussion, check back for more information.)

A two-week permaculture design certificate course with a focus on organizing and activism, and a grounding in earth based spirituality. Learn how to heal soil and cleanse water, how to design human systems that mimic natural systems, using a minimum of energy and resources and creating real abundance and social justice. Explore the strategies and organizing tools we need to make our visions real, and the daily practice, magic and rituals that can sustain our spirits. Participatory, hands-on teaching with lots of ritual, games, projects, songs, and laughs along with an intensive curriculum in ecological design.

Cost: $1600- $1900 sliding scale, includes food and lodging. Some worktrade available-apply early!