Simplicity Circles "If you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted in pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days. ~ Annie Dillard, "Seeing," Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, 1974"

* Reducing Clutter - Determine what you really need and dispose of the rest. Got a buffet filled with papers that haven't been looked at in how long? How about that junk draw? Do you really wear all the clothes in that closet?

* Reducing Consumption - Buying things creates a market for making things that use up vital natural resources and creates waste problems. Do you really need that extra TV? Are you buying food that spoils before it gets eaten? Are you buying gifts rather than creating your own? Is that cell phone really necessary? Why buy new when existing (used) items are available and will serve the same purpose?

* Discovering your Passion - Search your soul for the the things you really enjoy doing and make them a integral part of your life.

* Careers - Take your passions and make them support you. Do you like your current job - then why are you doing it? What would you really like to be doing - why aren't you doing it?

* Spirituality - Examination of your spirit path (or lack thereof) and start working on making your spirituality a daily presence in your life.

* Earth Consciousness - The earth is under massive assualt from our consumption and it needs to be toned down significantly before She is totally ravaged and there is nothing left. Are you recycling? Are you a part of a Green Power program? Are you a spokesperson for those who cannot speak for themselves? Are you buying local and organic food products? Just how "Green" are you? How can you become a darker shade of Green?

“A Simplicity Circle helps one sort through the mental, spiritual, and physical clutter that is their lives, in search of the true nature of their hopes, dreams, and goals. It enables us to find that quiet place from which to recover a path we've wandered from along the way. It helps us sort out the trivial from the truly important in all aspects of our life and enables us to eliminate the unnecessary from our life without feeling guilty about it. It encourages us to see from a broader perspective what it is we really want to do, what's really important to us, and then a Simplicity Circle is our support system as we begin that journey. It's there for us as we reach deeper into this process as our comfort level grows. But most important, it can evolve into a new and lasting circle of friends.”

~ Kay Witter

Eating Locally by the Seasons Click here to enter into our online "Eating Locally By The Seasons" Cookbook recipes

Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream A collobrative effort brought the Pachamama Alliance's"Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream" symposium to the Bellingham area in October 2007 and was very well attended by the local community. At least ten people from the Bellingham area signed up, attended and completed the ATD facilitator training.The "Dream of the North," or, the Dream of the Modern World, is our culture of consumption and acquisition, where our latest purchases devastate the land and exploit the less-privileged, where our waste poisons the rivers and skies, where injustice, warfare and terror are systematized by corporations, sanctioned by our elected officials and then taken by us to be normal. The Pachamama Alliance's response to the request from the Achuar is the Awakening the Dreamer Initiative, which aims to wake people up from the destructive dream in which we are currently devouring the planet, and to inspire us then to step consciously into a new dream, the pursuit of an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just human presence on this Earth. Designed with the collaboration of some of the finest scientific, indigenous and activist minds in the world, the Symposium explores the current state of our planet from a new perspective, and connects participants with a powerful global movement to reclaim our future. It is an exploration of four questions: ▪ Where Are We? – an examination of the state of environmental, social and personal well-being ▪ How did We Get Here? – tracing the root causes that lead to our current imbalance ▪ What’s Possible for the Future? – discovering new ways of relating with each other, with the Earth and looking at the emerging Movement for change ▪ Where Do We Go from Here? – considering the stand we want to be in the world and our personal and collective impact If you are ready to be disturbed, inspired and moved to action, and to be introduced to a thriving community of committed cohorts, then join us in exploring the most critical concerns of our times, and discover new opportunities to make a real difference in accelerating the emergence of an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, and socially just human presence on this planet!

Cakes for the Queen of Heaven Volume One, IN ANCIENT TIMES, introduces participants to ancient Goddesses, weaving their stories together with major concerns of women today. The five-session adult religious education curriculum includes an introductory section featuring author Shirley's Ranck's "Statement of Feminist Thealogy," Elinor Artman's "Brief Herstory of Cakes," and Nancy Vedder-Shults, "Baking Cakes for the Queen of Heaven." The themes of the Session Plans are: The Sacred Female, In the Name of the Mother and the Daughter, Womanpower, The First Turning-From Goddess to God, and Reclaiming Women's Heritage of Peace." The resource section includes supplementary essays by a number of important authors, a listing of highly recommended materials, and the sheet music of songs by Carole Eagleheart and Ann Forfreedom for use with the curriculum. The curriculum also includes a CD-ROM with five Visual Programs to accompany the sessions, plus resource material for easy distribution to participants. Volume Two, ON THE THRESHOLD, the six-session continuation of the course, has been purchased and waitng delivery. In Part 2 of this new Cakes for the Queen of Heaven program we will continue our journey into the past to reclaim the stories of powerful women to be found in ancient Judaism and in early Christianity. We will also look at the global silencing and brutalization of women that accompanied the rise of patriarchal religion and society. Finally we will celebrate the exciting new world-view and thealogy that has emerged in our time, and explore the personal and social changes that may be suggested by that new world-view and thealogy. We will continue the complex process of telling a new story.

Rise Up and Call Her Name: A Woman-honoring Journey into Global Earth-based Spiritualities "Rise Up" is a multicultural experiential curriculum that provides participants with a unique view of international religious imagery and worldviews, including journeys through Ancient Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, African American, Southeast Asia, China and Japan, Pacific Islands, Mesoamerica and North America. The course is made up of thirteen 2-1/2 hr segments that include a variety of activities such as singing, dancing, rituals, simple art projects, sharing of information and feelings, storytelling, and more. Thanks to Elizabeth Fisher and company for putting together the curriculum, it's been an enlightening journey and highly recommended for both men and women.