Is it possible, in these times of social and environmental meltdown, to envision a positive future? Popular culture abounds with post-Apocalyptic disaster stories, but offers us few images of a positive outcome of the human story here on earth. Yet if we can’t even imagine a just, balanced, and flourishing future, how can we create it?
Starhawk is coming to Austin on tour of her new book, City of Refuge, the sequel to the Fifth Sacred Thing.
Starhawk’s work is an exception. In her now-classic novel, The Fifth Sacred Thing, and her new sequel, City of Refuge, she brings alive a culture where human creativity and diversity are cherished, where tyranny and eco-disasters threaten, but where people come together to create a society where the elements that sustain life–earth, air, fire and water—are sacred, where human needs are provided for and human diversity is truly valued.
Starhawk draws on decades of experience as an activist, as a leader in the earth-based spirituality movement, and as a practitioner and teacher of permaculture to explore how we change the direction our society is heading in. Permaculture offers an integrated design system and solutions that can help us mitigate the climate crisis and regenerate ecosystems on a large scale. Yet to do so, we must also challenge the intersections of racism, sexism, economic inequality, and violence that support exploitation and destruction. “Only justice can assure balance…only in balance can that fifth sacred thing we call spirit flourish in its full diversity.
WEEKEND SCHEDULE:
~*Spring Equinox Ritual*~
Friday, March 25, 7-9:30 PM
Location: Trinity Church of Austin, 4001 Speedway, Austin, TX 78751
Cost: Suggested Donation, $5-$50
We join together with Starhawk in a ritual for Ostara (Spring Equinox). As the wheel of the year turns, we relish the balance of light and dark, celebrate the growing springtime, and dance the spiral dance. Donations welcome. Family Friendly. Supported by Tejas Web.
REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED. WE ARE AT CAPACITY!
~*The Magic of Co-creation: Power, Process, and Conflict in Groups: A Social Permaculture Workshop*~
Saturday, March 26, 10 AM – 5 PM
Location: Radiance Dome, Austin, TX 78737
Cost: Sliding Scale, $75-150 with a $50 deposit to hold your spot
Lunch Included with Workshop Tuition
REGISTRATION: Submit your non-refundable $50 deposit below, by clicking the ‘Buy Now’ button, to register for this workshop. After submitting your deposit, make sure you finish your registration by filling out this form. Please bring your remaining tuition of $25-100 with you to the workshop. Tuition is set at sliding scale to make it accessible to a wider audience. Please pay the highest amount you can personally afford. Only cash or check is accepted. Make all checks payable to the Austin Permaculture Guild.
Once your PayPal deposit is submitted, you will receive a confirmation email in 24-48 hrs.
All over the world people are coming together to create change, organizing without top-down leadership or hierarchies, working 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. 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.
But we can do better. In her 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, positive power, and clear communication in our groups and ourselves.
In this workshop and ceremony, 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.
~*City of Refuge BOOK SIGNING with Starhawk*~
Sunday, March 27, 5-7 PM
Location: The VORTEX, 2307 Manor Rd, Austin, TX 78722
Cost: FREE
Copies of City of Refuge and the Empowerment Manual will be available for sale.
More About City of Refuge
Every city needs three things: a plaza, a hearth and a sacred tree…
City of Refuge begins just a few weeks after Califia has successfully defeated the invading Stewards’ forces from the Southlands. As the Califians replant their garden streets and rebuild their beautiful city, they struggle to integrate the soldiers who have defected to the north. When a warship is discovered off the coast, the Califians realize that their peaceable society will never be truly safe until the Southlands are also free.
Bird, the musician turned guerilla, deeply wounded from years of battles, prison and torture, has put his faith in a power different from the gun and the bomb. Yet he longs to go back and fight.
Madrone, the healer, has gained tremendous power from her initiation by the Melissas, the bee priestesses, yet how can even she heal a whole society? How do you build a new world when people are so deeply damaged by the old?
And River, the former soldier Ohnine, who defected to the North and turned the tide of the final battle, struggles to become a real person, not just a tool of the army breeders.
Bird’s grandmother, Maya, ancient storyteller, nears the end of her life. “Tell the story, sing the song,” she tells Bird.
And then Madrone has a dream…
Build a city of refuge in the heartland of the enemy…
Together, Madrone and Bird head to Angel City to establish an enclave that can inspire the Southlanders to rise up and liberate themselves. They are joined by reformed soldier River and bitter former sex-slave Smokee who lead an Army of Liberation down through the Central valley, while pirate Isis and her lover Sara bring a ragtag navy down the coast.
City of Refuge follows the struggles, the sacrifices, and the victories of the peaceful warriors from Califa as they endeavor to construct a haven in the parched and war-torn Southlands. Can magic, healing and love overcome the violence of a cruel and despotic regime?
In fall 2015, Starhawk ran a successful crowdfunding campaign to self-publish City of Refuge. The campaign raised $79,000 from 1,400 supporters.
~*Persephone*~
Sunday, March 27, 8 PM
Location: The VORTEX
Cost: $10-30, Buy Tickets HERE