A Stillpoint in This Great Turning
“When we open our eyes to what is happening, even when it breaks our hearts, we discover our true size; for our heart, when it breaks open, can hold the whole universe.” - Joanna Macy
Have you ever been close to a great seminal teacher’s wisdom and mourned their death, only to find them more alive than ever in you?
These days whenever I gaze upon an image of or listen to a recording of Joanna Macy’s voice, I feel a stillpoint in The Great Turning. I find myself weeping. I find myself compelled to share her vision and work ever more…as we stand in a world coming apart, holding a vision of ‘a coming together.’
The Great Turning & the Spiral of the Work That Reconnects
Joanna Macy’s Great Turning describes a profound shift from a society in which extraction, domination, and short-term gain are the dominant ethos — toward a life-sustaining world in which we live out ecological connection, justice, and interdependence.
Let us take an inhale at this moment and vision this Turning, this world we hold close to our hearts.
Yet we are in the moment Joanna calls The Great Unravelling. The old order is dying. We are in its death rattle. This transformation is both outer and inner, supported by what Joanna calls the Spiral of the Work That Reconnects, a four-part process that builds emotional resilience and collective capacity for change which includes:
Coming from Gratitude
Honoring Our Pain for the World
Seeing with New/Ancient Eyes
Going Forth
When we step into the pain of what’s happening with compassion for ourselves and each other, we source true humility, and our hearts break open, unarmored.
Can you touch this, and feel it? Can we feel it, together?
We translate these insights into action, stepping back into the world with clarity, courage, and a renewed sense of purpose to participate in the Great Turning.
Wisdom Alive
At our Gateway House 2025 Day of the Dead ceremony, Joanna Macy, as an ancestral visitor to our celebration, was embodied by Jill Olesker, storyteller and educator. Jill gave a teaching about the Work That Reconnects and the four aspects of the Spiral. Our participants then divided into four groups based on which aspect they felt called to. Each group embodied a performative expression of their aspect of the Spiral. Then we passed the energy of each aspect to the next group, becoming a Spiral dance embodying the Great Turning, feeling that movement in and among our bodies.
Our World Crucified
As human beings, we are encountering a world crucified and the miracle and mystery or resurrection in many forms. As an Epsicopal priest, I have endeavored with others to make sense of the mystery of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection.
Now with Joanna Macy’s death I experience a deepening of the truth and power of resurrection.
During the Day of the Dead ceremony, Jill felt Joanna’s spirit standing quite literally beside her. We all felt it. This too is an experience of resurrection.
With Joanna’s passing, her spirit became omnipresent, transcending an incarnate human form and exploded into universal being-ness. She has become a true ally, a connection to Source, reminding us again how much death is a portal of love!
We need this witness now more than ever. The world is still being crucified. Within humanity, there is capacity for both violence and love. Amid such brutal division, how do we live and love?
Imbolc
Even in the brutality of Winter, we know the green shoot reaches out. From starkness arises potential.
The Quickening, the uprising of the sap, the movement of life’s relentless energy to always rise again. We feel life moving underground. We sense the coming shift in the natural world. Imbolc is the cross-quarter day between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox. It is the moment in the Celtic Turn of the Wheel when we sense the latency of the next season, coming, but not yet here.
Alive Through Resurrection
I watched a video recently of thousands of people on the streets of Tehran during the blackout in Iran. Everybody had their cell phones on, so you could see this cascade of countless lights held aloft in utter darkness. It was an image of profound beauty, an image of life’s limitless capacity to stand for love, even in the face of death.
No one of us has been untouched by violence in our lineages. Our ancestors’ blood is filled with resilience and suffering. We are alive because they lived.
The question is, HOW to be alive?
We must come close to each other.
We must come close to The Source.
We must touch and taste the dirty snow as it disappears.
We must hold the bulb of dormancy in the warm flesh of our palms.
We must feel the uprising sap of the truth that love is stronger than death.
We are in gratitude.
We are not afraid of the pain of all that is happening.
We are seeing with new yet ancient eyes.
We are going forth and taking action...
We hold fast to the stillpoint in The Great Turning.
Joanna Macy speaking in 2015 about The Shambhala Warrior prophecy.
Originating in Tibetan Buddhism, the prophecy speaks of a time when the world faces grave danger due to humanity's destructive tendencies. It foretells the emergence of "Shambhala warriors" – ordinary individuals who, armed with compassion and insight, will work to dismantle the destructive forces from within. This kingdom is not a physical place, but rather a state of mind and heart found within these individuals. Thanks to McCadden/Honey Sweet Harmony for sharing. See more at joannamacyfilm.org.
We are profoundly grateful that Gateway House has received an extension on the offer from an anonymous donor to match all contributions up to $10,000.
To date during this matching campaign, we have raised 97.5% towards our goal!
We need just $250 to complete our match!!!
Imbolc Ceremony
Sunday, February 1st | 5 pm
Gateway House, 12 Fairview Ave, Rosendale
Gate of Trees
The Quickening with Amy Little
Imbolc Haiku
Procession to Mother Tree
Tu Bishvat with Lori Wynters
Brigid with Meryn Oakwood
Bella Ciao with Sarah Urech
Music with Marann Langlois, Elizabeth Cunningham, Lane Gardner
PERFORMANCES; 7pm-ish
Lisa Klotz
Music for an Uprising
$15 Donation | Potluck & Fire
Please RSVP to 845-417-5430 for parking info.
Gateway House Sanctuary Meeting
Wednesday, February 4th | 6:30 pm
Gateway House, 12 Fairview Ave, Rosendale
Looking for deep community in these times? Of all the offerings here at Gateway House, this is most critical now.
Gateway House Sanctuary Group is evolving into a deep and performative practice, meeting almost every 2 weeks. We gather around a fire. We share the various initiatives in which each of us are engaged.
Gateway House is committed to holding sanctuary within ourselves, our communities and our world.
For more info on our Sanctuary work, click HERE
Join us. RSVP to 845-417-5430
Inquire for Signal Group access
The way you look at things changes the things you look at.
Learn more about this work here.
Monthly In-Person Group
Saturday, February 14 | 3 – 6 PM | $50
Gateway House | 12 Fairview Ave | Rosendale
Space is limited; Advance registration is now required.
Please fill out this Registration Form below.
An Invitation to the Practice of Biodanza
As explorer of the many modalities and forms of spiritual growth and healing, Biodanza is the spiritual somatic form which I have practiced consistently over the recent years. Boidanza deeply nourishes me personally, and allows me to sustain and embody the depth of my own work at The Outer Edge and Gateway House. Biodanza cross pollinates with both Constellations and Ceremony. Join us!
Saturday, February 7, 2025 10am-6pm: FREE Day of Biodanza Vivencia and Potluck Picnic!
Wed Evenings, Jan 21, 28, 7:15pm
You can find detailed info and the event calendar at the New World Ritual & Dance, the Hudson Valley's Biodanza center.
Holding a still point in the turning of the wheel,
Kathleen C. Mandeville, M. Div.
Community Pastor, Consultant, Facilitator, Coach
Through The Outer Edge, Kathleen offers personal and organizational coaching, employing the modalities of Systemic Constellations, ritual, pastoral guidance. Her specialities include working with healers and creatives, as they achieve the true expression of their soul’s mission. Combining heart centered intuition with hard headed strategy...'Cuz, baby you're a firework.'
Contact me at The Outer Edge Coaching to schedule an initial 30 minute consultation.
