Empowering Collaborative Groups

September 30th to November 4th

Now more than ever, we need the power of collaboration to bring lasting change.

Join Starhawk to learn how to design supportive, nurturing relationships, with a vision for evolving group dynamics.

WHO IS THIS TRAINING FOR? 

THIS COURSE IS FOR YOU IF YOU BELONG TO:

  • A group or organization seeking to make change
  • A nonprofit or NGO that seeks to work collaboratively
  • A spiritual circle, ritual group, or faith community
  • A community group, Transition Town, collective, or worker-run cooperative
  • An intentional community or household–or hope to start one
  • A collaborative arts, theater, or music group, or band
  • A family or a community of friends who want to improve communications and ways of handling conflict

SOCIAL PERMACULTURE

Collaborating in Chaotic Times 

Insights from both permaculture and magic will help us learn to be more effective and joyful as

we work together to regenerate our world.

Watch “Collaborating in Chaotic Times“

We will need to do the hard, long-term work of making systemic change. Online or in-person, the work of change and transformation must be done with other people–those annoying beings who do not always agree with us, and want their own way!

Collaborative groups may be healing, nurturing, and inspirational—or they may founder on the rocks of conflict and poor communication. But when we understand their patterns and challenges, we can design structures that favor supportive, nurturing relationships.

In this six-week online course, Starhawk guides us through her book, The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups. It’s the book she wrote that draws on her decades of experience—often wonderful, sometimes painful—in activist groups, spiritual groups, permaculture groups, collective households and more.

Read Starhawk’s “The Empowerment Manual“ while you wait for the course to start.

Course Content

If you have any questions, we are always here to help: support@earthactivisttraining.org

COURSE SCHEDULE: 

  • Class 1 – Vision, Values, Mission
  • Class 2 – Power and Responsibility
  • Class 3 – Communication and Trust
  • Class 4 – Inclusion/Exclusion, Norms and Rules
  • Class 5 – Conflict in Groups
  • Class 6 – Leadership and Eldership

TOPICS INCLUDE:

Permaculture principles for social permaculture:

  • Designing structures to support beneficial relationships
  • Valuing diversity and edge
  • Stacking functions
  • Designing the physical to support the social
  • Working with diversity– race, gender, class, sexual orientation, etc.
  • Group vision: picture of the world, mission, goals and governance
  • Norms and Rules
  • Effective group structure
  • Power: Power over, power from within, earned and unearned social power
  • Communication:  Text and subtext, nonviolent communication, ladder of inference
  • Effective feedback
  • Conflict—embracing, mediating and resolving group conflict
  • Dealing with difficult people (starting with ourselves!)

    MEET YOUR TEACHER

    Starhawk, Lead Instructor

    Starhawk (she/her) is the co-founder and executive director of Earth Activist Training. One of the foremost voices in Earth-based spirituality, Starhawk is an author, activist, and permaculture teacher and designer. Her 12 books include such beloved reads as The Spiral Dance, The Earth Path, and The Fifth Sacred Thing. Starhawk drew from 30 years of living collectively to write The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups, which is the basis for this course. 

    Starhawk has been recognized by the Permaculture Institute of North America (PINA) as a leading figure in permaculture and has been awarded dual diplomas for excellence in education and permaculture site design.

    Best known as an articulate voice in the revival of Earth-based spirituality and Goddess religion, Starhawk is the co-founder of the Reclaiming movement, an activist branch of the modern Pagan religion. In partnership with Donna Read, Starhawk is the co-founder of Belili Productions film company, whose most well-known project was a trio of popular films on the Goddess religion.

    Starhawk’s work in progressive activism has spanned generations and geographies. As a global justice and peace activist, Starhawk co-founded RANT: Root Activists’ Network of Trainers, and has taught non-violent direct action across North and South America, Europe, and the Middle East. She has been on the front lines of anti-nuclear actions at Diablo Canyon, Livermore Weapons Lab, Vandenberg Air Force Base, and the Nevada Test Site. She has been a witness for peace in conflict zones across the world, including Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Palestine and Israel.

    As a teacher of magical activism and permaculture education, Starhawk’s life work takes her across the globe. She currently lives part-time in San Francisco in a collective house with her partner and friends, and part-time in a little hut in the woods in Cazadero, California, where she practices permaculture in her extensive gardens and writes.

     

     

    WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

    COURSE INFORMATION

    • Location: Virtual
    • Dates: Sept. 30th-Nov. 4th
    • Timing: 6pm-8pm PST
    • Helpful Tool: Time Zone Converter
    • Taught by Starhawk
    • Each week has 2 hours of live instruction with supporting resources and documentation.
    • All live sessions are recorded and closed-captioned.
    • Access to resources, documentation and recorded class content in our virtual classroom.

    Payment

    We are dedicated to making our courses as accessible as possible by offering:

    • Sliding-scale tuition: $350-$400
    • Payment plans: $88 at registration with 3 monthly payments of $88
    • Alumni tuition: $100 to retake this course
    • Diversity scholarships available: See below.
    • Group Discounts: See below.
    • All amounts are in US dollars.
    • See below for details.

    SCHOLARSHIPS & DISCOUNTS

    • Group discounts and Diversity Scholarships available? Yes! Keep reading below.

    DEAF & HARD OF HEARING STUDENTS

    • Closed-captions will be included in live classes, recordings, and supplementary materials, where possible.

    YOUR LEARNING JOURNEY

    • All are welcome. There are no prerequisites to this course.
    • This course is a required course for the Regenerative Land Management diploma.

    QUESTIONS? 

    We are here for you. Reach us at: support@earthactivisttraining.org

    FUNDING YOUR EDUCATION

    Payment options

    Sliding Scale Tuition

    • Standard Tuition: $350
    • Abundant Tuition: $400
    • Every Abundant Tuition helps support a Diversity Scholarship.

    Alumni Price

    • Alumni Tuition $100
    • For those who want a refresher; you need to have taken this course with us before.

     

    *all amounts in US dolars

    PAYMENT PLAN

    • Payment of $88 when you register.
    • Three monthly installments of $88 ($352 total).
    • Our Student Support Team will assist you in setting this up.

    GROUP DISCOUNTS 

    • Groups of 2-5 people – Discount of $70 off each ($280 for each person)
    • Organizations of 6+ people – Contact support@eat-activist.org for special group rates.
    • You must indicate who is in your group at registration.

      Diversity Scholarships

      DIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIPS

      • Earth Activist Training is committed to increasing the diversity of global permaculture and regenerative land movements.
      • We recognize the history of this land called the United States and Canada, and seek to do what we can to rectify the deep injustices and systems of inequity that formed and continue to shape society today.
      • Diversity Scholarships are available for Indigenous Peoples and People of Color working in environmental or social justice.
      • These scholarships are  50% off standard tuition ($175) and pay-what-you-can above this. Any amount will be accepted and appreciated.
      • To apply, select “Diversity Scholarship” in the payment section on the registration form below.
      • Earth Activist Training’s Diversity Scholarship fund is supported by donations. Visit our Diversity Fund page if you wish to support our scholarship program.

      If you have any questions, we are always here to help: support@earthactivisttraining.org

      What Comes Next?

      Are you ready for the next step of your learning journey?

      Learn the tools of effective group process and skillful facilitation. The Five Fold Path: The Craft of Skillful Facilitation is class for  anyone who spent times in meetings.

      “Meetings: love them, hate them, but the work of the world cannot get done without them. The time, thought, effort, and training we invest on making our meetings positive and productive will be well-rewarded by greater connection, satisfaction and productivity throughout our organizations.”
      -Starhawk

      Click here to learn more or register.

      Other classes with Starhawk 2025

      OUR NETWORK

      A core component of this course – and every Earth Activist Training course – is our private forum: Earth Activist Training Online network. This platform is where you will find course resources, your homework, and a network to connect with classmates and other Earth Activist students.

      Recordings of each class will be available to you as a resource. You will have access to the course for a year after the course ends should you want to deepen your understanding of the material.

      Have a question?

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      Check out the full schedule to find out when our programs and events are taking place.

      View our schedule

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