The Heart of Activism: A Work That Reconnects Spiral for Activists and those holding the harms of the Great Unraveling

Event Overview

The Heart of Activism: A Work That Reconnects Spiral for Activists and those holding the harms of the Great Unraveling

In the days towards 重陽 (Chung Yeung), the Double Ninth, activists holding the harms of the Great Unraveling are invited to ascend the mountain for a circle by the spring behind the great ancient stones.

On the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, Cantonese families climb the hills to tend the graves of their ancestors. Chung Yeung, the Double Ninth, is a festival of remembrance and of climbing up to higher ground: we pause from calamity, and look further than we can from within the crises of our times. This festival marks the turning of the cycles, when yang reaches its fullness and begins its descent into autumn, a time of metal, and connecting to what stays after the chaos.

Those of us who work for change carry so much grief: of dreamed worlds no longer possible, campaigns lost, places we could not protect, the heat of complexity and relational friction: comrades we have buried or grown apart from, harm within our own movements, and the exhaustion and numbness that come from years of bearing witness. So often, our grief is turned into urgency before it can be felt, and at times that urgency replicates the very logics of oppression we are working to undo.

In this circle, we breathe before taking further action. You don’t have to turn your pain into a strategy. As Joanna Macy taught, our pain for the world is born of our love for it, and “the heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe.”

“My work is loving the world” – Mary Oliver

With the metaphor of ascension to the peaks, we will move together through a spiral of the Work That Reconnects: calling in our loving ancestors of blood, place, and movements. We’ll honour our grief, rage, fear, confusion, and emptiness in the Truth Mandala; and climb to higher ground to see our work within the long arc of those who came before us and future ones yet to come.

This circle is for anyone who identifies as an activist: in particular those engaged in holding actions in defence of life. This includes organizers, campaigners, land and water defenders, frontline workers, artists, and all who give their lives to the work of change. No experience with the Work That Reconnects is needed, and all cultures and traditions of honouring the dead are welcome.

You are invited to bring:

• Five objects for the Truth Mandala: a stone, a few dead leaves, a stick, a piece of fabric, and an empty bowl
• A candle, and if you wish, a photo or object for an ancestor you’d like to have with you.
• A journal and pen
• A quiet, private space where you can speak freely
• Optional: chrysanthemums, the flower of the Double Ninth, known for cooling excess yang, are welcome on your altar. A warm cup of chrysanthemum tea with honey is a beautiful companion.

We will spiral for two hours on Friday, October 16, 2026, 10 am–12 pm ET

7 am PT / 3 pm UK / 4 pm CET / 10 pm HKT

Online via Zoom. Limited to 20 participants. This gathering will not be recorded.

Registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/-pet_MPiSJqoH22S5VOZGA

Rooted in a post-capitalist dream: this is an offering by donation and other forms of exchange.

You can buy me a coffee, or consider making a donation to my first place of activism: Sierra Club Canada: https://www.sierraclub.ca/ways-to-support/donate/

I am a believer of for community, by community. Do you have experience tending and hosting digital spaces? Would you like to tag-team with me? Please reach out! jcheung@canadians.org

Hosted by Jessica Cheung 張家敏, facilitator in the Work That Reconnects, zen mindfulness practice, Lewis Deep Democracy facilitator, artist, water protector, and current Water & Climate Campaigner for the Council of Canadians.