Casting the Spiral – a 3-day full spiral online workshop

August 23 & 24 & 25
11am-3pm Cairo/8am-12pm UTC/4-8pm Beijing/6-10pm Sydney

facilitated by Sara El-Sayeh

Also referred to as the decolonized spiral, the expanded spiral has a few more steps to go through than the original spiral that has been proposed by root teacher Joanna Macy. This workshop is held in honor of Joanna Macy, her memory and her legacy. 

The steps of the expanded spiral are: 

1. Gratitude 
2. Self Awareness/Social Location
3. Systems of Oppression
4. Honoring our Pain for the World 
5. Seeing with New and Ancient Eyes
6. Liberation 
7. Going forth 

Spread over 3 days, our schedule will be as follows:

Day 1:

Gratitude 

Self Awareness/Social Location

Day 2:

Systems of Oppression

Honoring Our Pain for the World

Seeing with New/Ancient Eyes

Day 3:

Liberation

Going forth

Please know that the presence of children and pets is welcomed. We welcome the wholeness of life.

How to Prepare/What to Expect:

From Sara:

By virtue of my background and the nature of the workshop, the following themes might come up (or rather, will): post-capitalism, post-growth, decolonization and collapse. I’m very passionate about surviving capitalism and making it through collapse and I believe the work that reconnects is the perfect place to start – the work also offers tools to equip us through these times.

We’ll be using tools developed by root teacher Joanna Macy as well as tools that have been developed and/or adapted by Work that Reconnects facilitators including myself. 

I’m a mother of two young children, aged 8 and 2, and hence, I value and cherish breaks. Four hours could sometimes fly by and at other times might seem too long. Please know that this is a place where you can ask for what you need. 

I would definitely prefer if you have your camera on, but if the need to be off camera arises, it is also welcomed. 

Among the teachers (and books) that have inspired me are David Fleming and the book Surviving the Future, Joanna Macy, Kurt Vonnegut’s short play 2BOR02B and Starhawk’s The Fifth Sacred Thing

Facilitation Notes: 

You might need to gather some art supplies, if available, for our second day.

Given my training in Offers and Needs Markets facilitation, I’ll be weaving it in for our last session. 

More about the facilitator:

Sara is an Egyptian writer, (single) mother and facilitator roaming the fault lines of Cairo. Post-revolution and mid-collapse, her work explores what it means to belong, and at times completely refusing to, in a place that demands that she becomes convenient.  

She maps the geographies of single motherhood: the labyrinth of repair and care as resistance. Her work helps (her) navigate the freeze of capitalism while slowly weaving communities of care to nourish us through times of collapse.