CIRCLE OF TREES
A Multigenerational Tapestry of Faith Program
WORKSHOP 7: COUNCIL AMONG THE TREES, PART 2
BY JULIE SIMON, KATIE TWEEDIE COVEY, AND PAT KAHN; DEVELOPMENTAL EDITOR, JUDITH A. FREDIANI
© Copyright 2013 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 9/30/2014 12:39:05 AM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Come back with me into a story we all share, a story whose rhythm beats in us still. The story belongs to each of us and to all of us, like the beat of [a] drum, like the heartbeat of our living universe. — Joanna Macy, in Thinking Like a Mountain
This workshop completes the ritual begun in Workshop 6, an adaptation of the ritual A Council of All Beings, presented by Joanna Macy, John Seed, Pat Fleming, and Arne Naess in the 1988 book Thinking Like a Mountain: Toward a Council for All Beings (at www.joannamacy.net/books-dvds/118-thinking-like-a-mountain-towards-a-council-of-all-beings.html).
Note: Only do this Opening and Activity 1 if Workshops 6 was done at a previous meeting. If you are providing Workshops 6 and 7 as a single, longer workshop, add the time allotted for this Opening and Activity 1, Reconnecting, to Activity 3, Council Among the Trees.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: Reconnecting | 5 |
Activity 2: Creating the Gateway | 5 |
Activity 3: Council Among the Trees | 30 |
Activity 4: Grounding | 10 |
Faith in Action: Engaging in the Project | |
Closing | 5 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Find a place where you can be quiet with your thoughts. Close your eyes and breathe deeply for several minutes, perhaps repeating a word or phrase to separate yourself from the activities of the day. When you feel settled and relaxed, imagine and reconnect with your spirit of the being or part of nature from the last workshop. Reflect on the following:
What is happening to me as this spirit? What are my days like? What are my nights like? What is happening to my environment? What do I want? What do I have to say? What would I like to tell the humans? What wisdom do I have to share?
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
As participants arrive, direct returning participants to retrieve their name tags from the basket. Invite newcomers to choose and write their first name on a name tag.
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Gather participants in a circle around the chalice. Select someone to light the chalice. Lead the group in saying the chalice lighting words together:
We light this chalice for the air that is precious . . .
for all things share the same breath—
the beast, the tree, the person,
we all share the same breath.
Including All Participants
If any participants are hard of hearing, consider using a hand-held microphone to help with volume. If participants are sitting on the floor, make sure that there are also chairs for those who do not wish to or cannot sit on the floor.
ACTIVITY 1: RECONNECTING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite everyone to get their masks from the container they placed them in at the end of Workshop 6. Have participants sit or lie down in a comfortable position with their mask resting nearby. Ask them to close their eyes and breathe deeply and slowly, in and out, in and out.
After a moment, invite everyone to imagine and reconnect with the spirit of the being or part of nature that they envisioned in the last workshop. Ask them to feel as if they are turning into that tree, creature, or part of nature. Repeat the questions you asked them to think about last time, in these words or your own:
What is happening to me as this spirit? What are my days like? What are my nights like? What is happening to my environment? What do I want? What do I have to say? What would I like to tell the humans? What wisdom do I have to share?
Remind them to allow the answers to come to them from inside.
Give everyone a few minutes to contemplate the questions, then ask that they silently sit up while keeping their eyes closed. Invite them to open their eyes and stand quietly.
ACTIVITY 2: CREATING THE GATEWAY (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Explain that once the Council is formed, participants will speak in the first person of their being or nature spirit. Model how to do this by introducing yourself as your creature, for example:
I am Tree Bark and I protect the trees.
Encourage everyone to refer to humans as "they" or "the two-leggeds." Say, in these words or your own:
Please don't talk to the other creatures in the circle as if they were human—this is very confusing for them.
Create the gateway to the council by standing with your co-leader on either side of the entry to the Council area. Ask participants to put on their masks outside the entry in silence. Say, in these words or your own:
As we begin to drum, we invite you to walk one by one through the gateway to the Council Among the Trees. Welcome your creature or nature spirit into your body. Once you have passed through the gateway, begin to move and make the sounds of your being or nature spirit. Slowly form a circle with your fellow beings.
With your co-leader, begin to drum as participants pass through the gateway and form the Council circle.
ACTIVITY 3: COUNCIL AMONG THE TREES (30 MINUTES)
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
As participants are gathered in the circle, remind them that each being or nature spirit will introduce themselves to the Council Among the Trees—saying who they are, what their life is like, and how they spend their time. After each spirit speaks, all the spirits will respond by saying:
We hear you, [name of spirit].
Conduct the ritual.
When all beings have introduced themselves, say, in these words or your own:
Our Council Among the Trees is now formed.
Ask the beings or nature spirits to each speak again, this time telling the Council what is happening to them, what people have done to them, and what they would like to say to people. Again, after each being or spirit speaks, the Council responds by saying:
We hear you, [name of spirit].
When all have spoken, ask each to speak once more, sharing whatever wisdom, knowledge, or gifts they have to offer and what they might teach people who are willing to listen. Have the Council respond after each spirit speaks by saying:
We thank you, [name of spirit].
ACTIVITY 4: GROUNDING (10 MINUTES)
Description of Activity
Invite all of the beings and nature spirits to walk back through the gateway, put on their "human masks" (by taking off their spirit masks), and return to the circle holding their spirit masks. After all are seated, invite each person, one at a time, to turn their spirit masks to face themselves and make a small promise to change one aspect of their life that hurts their being or spirit.
When everyone has made their promise, say, in these words or your own:
These promises made shall not be broken. We give thanks to the spirits who have come together today to share their feelings, dreams, hopes, and wisdom.
CLOSING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Gather the group in a circle around the chalice. If needed, relight the chalice.
Distribute Taking It Home. Explain that Taking It Home includes a summary of what they did in the workshop, resources for further exploration, and fun "homework." Tell participants that their homework is to attend to the promise they have made to the beings or spirits who spoke to us during our Council Among the Trees.
Invite participants to reflect for a moment on today's workshop. Ask each participant to share one word that describes how they feel. Go around the circle with this "one-word checkout."
Invite participants to join hands and say the closing words together:
Let us go out in joy, and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before us shall burst into song,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Extinguish the chalice together. As they go, ask participants to leave their name tags in the basket you've provided for this purpose.
FAITH IN ACTION: ENGAGING IN THE PROJECT
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
By this workshop, the group will have identified a project and planned the elements needed to complete the project. In this activity, the group implements their project.
Including All Participants
Throughout the project, be sure to make room for contributions from people of all ages and ability levels.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Meet with your co-leader after the workshop to reflect on the following:
Look ahead to the next workshop to assign leadership responsibilities.
TAKING IT HOME
Come back with me into a story we all share, a story whose rhythm beats in us still. The story belongs to each of us and to all of us, like the beat of [a] drum, like the heartbeat of our living universe. — Joanna Macy, in Thinking Like a Mountain
IN TODAY'S WORKSHOP... we completed the Council Among the Trees ritual, expressing our gratitude for trees, acknowledging our sadness about what is happening to them, and ending by feeling empowered to take action.
HOMEWORK: Reflect on the promise you shared in the Council Among the Trees to change an aspect of your life that hurts the beings or spirits embodied in the Council. See if you can remember what other beings or spirits said in the Council. Do the others' words give you more ideas for ways you, as a "two-legged," can cause less harm?
MAKE TIME FOR TREES: There are several ways to take today's workshop home, for example:
EXTEND THE TOPIC: Explore some of the many wonderful books about trees found in Workshop 1, Handout 2, Selected Bibliography.
FIND OUT MORE
A comprehensive manual to help you facilitate a weekend-length Council of All Beings without previous experience can be found on the Rainforest Info (at www.rainforestinfo.org.au/deep-eco/cabcont.htm) website.
Two good UU environmental resources are the UU Ministry for Earth (at uuministryforearth.org/) and the UUA Green Sanctuary Program (at www.uua.org/environment/sanctuary/index.shtml).