A few steps into a strange new world, with Donald Trump about to re-take office in the U.S. and the planet on fire, we thought a conversation with the permaculture teacher and Earth-based spiritual leader Starhawk was in order. Starhawk is a writer and author, an activist and a leading voice for ecofeminism and Earth-based spirituality. Her futuristic utopian/dystopian novels, The Fifth Sacred Thing and City of Refuge were a magical-realist, but somber take on a future in which fascism has taken hold of the nation, and how people of the future resist. Starhawk is also currently engaged in writing a book on resilience and resistance, chapter by chapter, at her Substack.
Our conversation covered all sorts of topics. Some highlights include: seeing humans as complicated and nuanced; building a movement that is welcoming, inclusive and fosters personal and collective growth; how she came up with her ideas for the future world in The Fifth Sacred Thing series; tech bros in permaculture; how aging has changed her goals for activism; reaching across divides; alternative plans for the inauguration, online and and in Santa Rosa, CA.
Notes and Resources:
Starhawk is the author of 13 books on Earth-based spirituality and activism, including The Spiral Dance, The Earth Path, and The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups, on group dynamics and social permaculture, and her novels, The Fifth Sacred Thing and City of Refuge. Together with director Donna Read Cooper, Starhawk has worked on five major documentaries, including the Goddess Trilogy for the National Film Board of Canada and Permaculture: The Growing Edge. Currently, she is writing a book chapter by chapter on Substack: http://Starhawk.substack.com/, with an accompanying podcast available there and on Spotify, Apple, etc.
- Starhawk directs Earth Activist Training, http://earthactivisttraining.org, which teaches the tools of regenerative design with a grounding in spirit and a focus on social permaculture, organizing and activism. Earth Activist Training offers many courses online and in person.
- She leads a regular 9 AM Magical Activism meditation on Instagram on Friday mornings: Instagram starhawk_spiral.
- Her website is http://starhawk.org, and she is on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StarhawkAuthor/
