Empowerment Training Day for OccupyMPLS

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Tuesday, Dec 6th, OccupyMpls sponsored Empowerment Training Day at Walker Church in S. Mpls. It was a day to focus on skill sharing. training, and discussion around the core issues facing OccupyMpls. It was designed to build a respectful and empowering culture within the movement.

Afternoon round table discussions

I participated for a few hours in both the morning and the afternoon. The event had a full schedule from 8am – 5pm.  I arrived about 10am to a room of about 60 people. Starhawk was going over the principals of meeting facilitation and consensus process.  Many present had some experience with these subjects before, and so the depth of the discussion during the presentation was directed at the particular problems facilitating a ‘general assembly’ presented to occupy organizers.

About 10.25 am the meeting was interrupted by an announcement the Plaza security had ‘raided’ the camp earlier that morning as about 8.30am and had taken all unattended items from the Plaza. Several county commissioners phone numbers, who were reported to be meeting Tuesday, distributed and calls were made in rotation as the workshop training continued.

The importance of incorporating core values into the consensus, and general assembly processes was emphasized, as well as the need to select the best decision-making process for each issue the group faced. Consensus Process is not needed for many movement decisions, just the major ones where core values are being defined.

I returned after lunch when open group meetings, now about fifty with many new people, were in progress. Five topics were under discussion at smaller round tables :

  1. Direct Action Strategy
  2. Visioning
  3. General Assemblies
  4. Guideline for “New Norms”
  5. Diversity within the Movement

Each group kept notes on its discussion with the aim of discovering insights, and gleaning items for later general assembly proposal and consideration. Every fifteen minutes or so, the groups paused and people rotated among them as they felt called. I participated in the visioning, direct action, and diversity groups. At the end of the session, spokespersons from each group summarized the discussion and outlined items that deserved further work to integrate the ideas within OccupyMPLS.  A contact person and email  was established for each work group and a sign-up for messaging within each group was posted.

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Community Notes; December 5-11

Keys of Paradise is launching a huge selection of some of the most beautiful cauldrons you’ve ever seen with an open house celebration. Stop by this Saturday between 11am & 5pm to check out their newly organized shop at 713 Minnehaha Ave E, Saint Paul. There will be food and door prizes.

Donald Engstrom-Reese released a list of upcoming events you can check out here.  Donald is wonderful, remarkable, beautiful, an honor to be near, intelligent, insightful and truly an amazing resource for this community. If you have a chance to join him in any of these events, chances are that the experience will leave you being a little bit better person than you were before.

Sacred Paths Center just released a new issue of their newsletter. One of the exciting announcements is that the SPC will provide free ritual space for groups offering public rituals. http://www.sacredpathscenter.org/spc-content/press/sacred_paths_journal/2011/12.pdf

Next Saturday, the Eye of the Boar coven will be holding a free energy-healing clinic at the Eye of Horus. The coven has a bunch of reiki masters and practitioners of other healing modalities, and they like to get together and practice. This is their way of having fun. So if you feel like you need some reiki, show up at the Eye of Horus after 7pm. It’s free.

Starhawk announced that she’ll be in town December 5&6 to do trainings for Occupy Minnesota. She’ll be at mayday Books December 5th at 5pm. You can read about it here and here.

There’s a new website for nature spirituality in the Twin Cities. http://www.naturalspiritual.org/

We are in the season of bell ringers with red buckets. Before dropping in your change, you might want to research the Salvation Army and consider if this is an organization you wish to support. Their values do not seem to match those of most Pagans.

Starhawk Visit Schedule : Mon-Tues Dec 5-6th

Monday, December 5, 2011 at 5  PM
Mayday Books, 301 Cedar Ave. (downstairs), West Bank, Minneapolis
”  Empowering Tools for Challenging Times  ”

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. She is well-known as a global justice activist and organizer, whose award-winning work and writings-translated into many languages-have inspired many to action.  She has lived and worked collectively for thirty years. 

Starhawk will sign copies of The Empowerment Manual and chat with folks informally.

Join us for a potluck.  Bring some food to share.  

Sponsored by OccupyMN; Women Against Military Madness (WAMM); & MN-WEB (Women’s Earth Brigade)

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Tuesday Dec. 6th:

Empowerment Training Day with Starhawk 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.  The day will include an 8-9 a.m. Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser with a presentation from Starhawk. The rest of the day will consist of Facilitation Training, Teach Ins on various topics, and Open Space for discussing core issues facing OccupyMN. All at Walker Church, 3104 16th Ave. So, in south Minneapolis.  Sponsored by OccupyMN/Minneapolis. New website:  OccupyMinnesota.org.

If you would like to host a breakfast table and for questions Contact Malia at kochikaralove@gmail.com .

  • 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.
  • 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?
  • 12-1pm: Lunch
  • 1-2pm and 2-3pm: Teach-ins:  On various topics, including “Anti-Oppression Awareness”; “Economics Unmasked”; “Art and Community Activism”; and more.  (TBA)
  • 3-5pm: Open Space: Discussion on various core issues facing OccupyMpls, including:
  1. 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?
  2. Visioning: What is our goal?  Do we have different goals? Are there Affinity-groups?
  3. 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?
  4. 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?
  • Dinner (location TBA)
  • 7-9pm: General Assembly (location TBA) The “GA” is the governing body of the various Occupy movements.

Sponsored by OccupyMN/Minneapolis.

Keys of Paradise hosts relaunch celebration

St Paul based Keys of Paradise, an online metaphysical retailer which also has a local retail shop, is hosting a ‘relaunch’ party on December 10.  The young business has been expanding their offerings and redesigning their website.  The relaunch party is a way to celebrate that expansion with their customers.

Their new website will now include a wholesale section and will offer the ability to schedule appointments online with their herbalist, healers or readers. In a press release, Keys of Paradise says a loyalty program and an affiliate program are in the works, as well as social media campaigns with special deals on their products.

Keys of Paradise Relaunch Party
December 10, 2011 – 11 AM to 5 PM
713 Minnehaha Ave, Ste. 111 in St. Paul, MN
(East St. Paul’s former Hamm Brewery)
For more information on the relaunch party, click here

The party includes prizes and food, plus they’ll be showcasing the new line of cast-iron products including cauldrons of all sizes.