Saturday, June 7 · 10am - 3pm PDT
Bear Valley Picnic Area
Tickets: $20-$75
What is the Council of All Beings?
“The Council of All Beings is a communal ritual in which participants step aside from their human identity and speak on behalf of another life-form. A simple structure for spontaneous expression, it aims to heighten awareness of our interdependence in the living body of Earth, and to strengthen our commitment to defend it. The ritual serves to help us acknowledge and give voice to the suffering of our world. It also serves, in equal measure, to help us experience the beauty and power of our interconnectedness with all life.” — Joanna Macy
This is a practice of empathy and connection that supports the shift from an egocentric to an ecocentric perspective. It invites us to widen our perception and center the voices of the more-than-human world.
During the Council, participants shed their human identity and invite the presence of a more-than-human being—an animal, plant, element, or landscape—to speak through them. Through simple prompts, they honor and give voice to that being’s experience, wisdom, grief, and message. As each one speaks, the others listen. This shared space becomes a deep act of remembering—of our interconnection, of the beauty and pain in the world, and of our role in its healing.
It is with great respect and joy that we will be holding this Council in Point Reyes, California.
Irene Rodriguez is a singer, facilitator, and eco-artist devoted to weaving connection between the human and more-than-human worlds. Rooted in practices like the Work That Reconnects, eco-therapy, somatics, and expressive arts, her work invites integration within ourselves, with each other, and with the environment through creativity, presence, and practices of interbeing. She aims to create spaces where deep listening, imagination, and reverence become pathways to belonging, wellness, and planet care.
John White has been an East Bay public school teacher for 30+ years. He is a dreamer by nature and has been a fan of the Council of All Beings framework and of Joanna Macy’s embodiment of Active Hope since reading “Thinking Like a Mountain” in the early 90’s. Together with Irene he has committed to manifesting Councils for adults annually whenever they are both in the Bay Area.
