[Scpg] STARHAWK New Book! The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups updated Fall Schedule!

Thu Dec 1 06:22:55 PST 2011

My new book, T/he Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups 
<http://www.starhawk.org/writings/empowerment_manual.html>/ 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, 
<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!

*
*

*Starhawk's Updated Fall/Winter Schedule*

At a Glance

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

Dec. 3-4:* "The Magic of Co-creation: Building Power in Groups,"* Vancouver

Dec. 4 Training for Occupy Vancouver

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

Dec. 5 “*Empowering Tools for Challenging Times,” Minneapolis*

Dec. 6 Training day for Occupy Minnesota

Dec. 7:* "Empowering Tools for Challenging Times,"* Boston

Dec. 8. Training day for Occupy Boston

Dec. 8:* "The Magic of Co-creation: Building Power in Groups,"* Boston

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.

Dec. 18: * Winter Solstice,* Sebastopol, Calif.

Jan. 7-21:* Earth Activist Training*, Cazadero, Calif.

Once More, with Details

*
Friday, November 18*

*"The Magic of Co-creation: Building Power in Groups,"* talk and booksigning

        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 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 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.

        Presented by Wishing Well Productions and Harmony Events.

Time: 7:30-10:00 p.m.

Location: Subud Center, 234 Hutchins Ave.,* Sebastopol*

Cost: $15 presale tickets at 
http://www.wishwellprod.ticketbud.com/starhawk, or $20 at the door

For more information: http://www.wishingwellmultimedia.com 
<http://www.wishingwellmultimedia.com/>

*Sunday, November 20*

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.

Location: Moscone Center

For more information: http://www.aarweb.org <http://www.aarweb.org/>

*Wednesday, November 30*

*"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.

        Look for booksigning afterward. Part of the series "Shaping San 
Francisco."

Location: CounterPULSE, 1310 Mission at 9th,* San Francisco*

Time: 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Cost: free

For more information: call 415-608-9035

* *

*Thursday, December 1*

*"Imagining a Future We Want: Lessons from/ The Fifth Sacred Thing"/*

        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?

        Presented by Sounds & Furies.

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Location: Unity Church Reception Hall,* Vancouver*, Canada

Cost: $15 - $25 CND sliding scale

For more information: email Pat at <soundsfuries at shaw.ca 
<mailto:soundsfuries at shaw.ca>>

* *

*Saturday & Sunday, December 3-4*

*"The Magic of Co-creation: Building Power in Groups,"* weekend workshop

See description, above.

        Presented by Sounds & Furies.

Saturday: 9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Sunday: 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Location: WISE Hall,* Vancouver*, Canada

Cost: $80 - $200 CND, sliding scale

For more information: email Pat at <soundsfuries at shaw.ca 
<mailto:soundsfuries at shaw.ca>>

Sunday, December 4

Training for Occupy Vancouver, 2-4 pm. For more information, contact

* *

*Sunday, December 4*

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.

        "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."

        Presented by Sounds & Furies.

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

Location: Rhizome Cafe,* Vancouver*, Canada

Cost: free, purchase own refreshments

For more information: email Pat at <soundsfuries at shaw.ca 
<mailto:soundsfuries at shaw.ca>>

*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 at gmail.com <mailto:seasnun at gmail.com>

*Tuesday, December 6*

*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.*

*7am*: Prep for Breakfast-Fundraiser.  Table hosts arrive and help set up.

*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)*

*12-1pm: *Lunch

*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?

Bring your own Topic, announce & host it!

*Dinner* (location TBA)**

*7-9pm: General Assembly* (location TBA)

*Questions: Contact Malia at kochikaralove at gmail.com 
<mailto:kochikaralove at gmail.com>*

*Wednesday, December 7*

*"Empowering Tools for Challenging Times*" evening talk

 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 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.

        Presented by HeARTbeat Collective.

Location: The First Church UU, Hall 6 Elliot St., Jamaica Plain,* Boston*

Time: 7:00 - 10:30 p.m.

Cost: $15-$20 sliding scale

For more information and to register online: 
http://www.heARTbeatCollective.org/Starhawk

*Thursday December 8*

*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.

Sign up:

Email: bostonactiontrainings at riseup.net 
<mailto:bostonactiontrainings at riseup.net>

Phone: (617) 971-8753

Locations of trainings will be confirmed when you sign up!

*Thursday, December 8*

*"The Magic of Co-creation: Building Power in Groups"* evening workshop

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.

Location: The HeARTbeat Collective, 35 Wyman St., Jamaica Plain,* Boston*

Time: 7:00 - 10:30 p.m.

Cost: $25-$100 sliding scale

For more information and to register online: 
http://www.heARTbeatCollective.org/Starhawk

*Friday - Sunday, December 9-11*

*"The Magic of Co-creation: Building Power in Groups,"* weekend workshop

see description, above

        Presented by NYC Evolver.

Friday (single event or as part of weekend)

Location: The Meta Center, 214 W 29th St # 16,* New York City*

Time: 7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Cost: $20/pre purchase or $25 at the door

Saturday & Sunday

Location : The Commons Brooklyn, 388 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn

Time: 10:00 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Cost: $225, includes Friday evening event

For more information: contact <CamiArrow at gmail.com 
<mailto:CamiArrow at gmail.com>> 808-281-5605

*Saturday, December 17*

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.

Location: Fais Do Do Ballroom, 5257 W. Adams Blvd.,* Los Angeles*

Times: workshop: 12:00-3:00, ritual 4:00-6:00

For more information: http://www.reclaimingla.org 
<http://www.reclaimingla.org/>

*Sunday, December 18*

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.

Time: 7:00 p.m.

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

For more information: http://www.northbayreclaiming.com 
<http://www.northbayreclaiming.com/>

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

* **January 7-21, 2012*

*Earth Activist Training*

        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.

Taught by Starhawk and Erik Ohlsen.

Location: Black Mountain Preserve,* Cazadero*, California

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

For more information: http://www.earthactivisttraining.org/jan12.html

Contact EAT at: <earthactivisttraining at gmail.com 
<mailto:earthactivisttraining at gmail.com>> or phone 1-800-381-7941

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