Sunday Seasonal Seed Circle: Collective Healing Through the Seasons
Over the years, I’ve witnessed the power of community in transforming and healing—especially through Circle gatherings. These spaces, where there is no ‘expert’ but a web of collective wisdom, have been some of the most healing environments I’ve found for myself. In these circles, we share our stories, meditate, create altars, make art, and sometimes just sit in silence together. These are spaces where we breathe together, laugh together, and process the waves of life, seeing where they’ve come from and where they might lead.
I’d like to extend this practice further with a Sunday Seasonal Seed Circle—a gathering aimed at supporting potential Circle facilitators in identifying seasonal correspondences, emotions, virtues, and the relationships between our bodies and the natural world. These circles will offer a spiritual and communal space for navigating our personal and collective healing through the lens of Traditional Chinese Medicine’s Five Phases, ecological cycles, and deep reflection.
In the same way that Camille Barton advocates for decolonizing grief and honoring the cyclical nature of healing, and Tricia Hersey emphasizes rest as a form of resistance, these circles will guide us through the cycles of life and emotion—helping us reclaim the support systems necessary to process grief, fear, anger, and more.
Each season, we will focus on a particular emotion and its corresponding virtue, as outlined in Traditional Chinese Medicine, so that facilitators can bring these ideas to their circles for the coming season:
Throughout the Year (Earth): The Earth phase is the axis for the entire cycle and is often considered to be the last month of every season. In our first meeting, we will being a process of how to root and begin your Circle in the world.
Spring (Wood): Anger (怒, nù) and the virtue of benevolence (仁, rén). In a Winter meeting, we’ll discuss the spring and how to explore our anger and frustration, transforming them into compassion and action for change.
Summer (Fire): In a Spring meeting, we’ll discuss the summer and how to explore our desire and pleasure (喜, xǐ) with the virtue of ritual or mindfulness (礼, lǐ). How can we work with our desires and joy in a balanced way through mindful engagement with ourselves and our communities?
Autumn (Metal): Grief (哀, āi) and the virtue of justice, righteousness, and moral integrity (义, yì or 義). In a Summer meeting, we will bring some curiosity around healthy processing of grief and it’s relationship to justice.
Winter (Water): Fear (恐, kǒng) and the virtue of wisdom (智, zhì). In an Autumn meeting, we will explore fear and uncertainty together, perhaps starting to tap into how wisdom can temper and dispel fear.
Throughout the Year (Earth): We will continually explore the Earth phase and it’s associated emotion of thought, worry or rumination (思, sī) with the virtue of integrity and trust (信, xìn). How do we work with the mind-spirit to continuously return to grounding practices that help us build trust in ourselves, each other, and the world?
These circles will be opportunities for facilitators and participants to engage deeply with their communities and create spaces for others to come together in reflection and healing. The goal is to build community understanding around how we process emotions and honor the natural cycles of life, supported by the virtues of the Five Phases.
I believe that, as Vanessa Machado de Oliveira explains in Hospicing Modernity, we must grieve and process our emotions to make way for change. And as Tricia Hersey from the Nap Ministry reminds us, this journey requires rest, resistance, and self-care.
If you feel called to be part of this work, our first gathering will take place on January 12 from 6-8:30pm. I will announce/confirm the full calendar of gatherings soon (April 6, July 20, and October 5 are likely). These will be outdoor fire circles, with a maximum of 9 participants. We will also maintain ongoing communication through an online group for check-ins and support from other participants throughout the year.
Interested? Send me an email as soon as possible and let me know so that I can save you a spot.
Pricing Options:
Standard Cost: $75 per session
Sliding Scale: $50 - $100 per session (based on your resources)
The standard cost for each session is $75. However, I recognize that financial situations vary, so I’m offering a sliding scale to make this accessible to everyone. Some participants may choose to pay slightly less ($50), while others may contribute a little more ($100), based on their available resources. The goal is to create a balanced and supportive community, where everyone can participate in a way that feels sustainable for them.
If you’re able to commit to all four sessions upfront, the full-year cost is $300, which includes ongoing support via Slack throughout the year.