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Widening Circles Book Group
September 21, 2025 @ 10:00 am - 11:30 am PDT
Event Overview
Sept 14 – Nov 2 : 10-11:30am Pacific
8 Sundays : all sessions recorded
Widening Circles Book Group
An Engaged Dive into Joanna Macy’s Memoir to Honor Her Incredible Life
& Draw Inspiration for our Own Lives in this Planet-Time
facilitated by Lydia Violet Harutoonian and special guests
https://programs.schoolforthegreatturning.com/widening-circle-sep-2025
Honoring Joanna Macy (1929–2025):
A Life of Courage, Compassion, and Service
Exploring Widening Circles: A Memoir — and the Question: What Now?
“Trust the love that comes in you, that erupts in you, for life itself, for all beings. Trust that. Trust your impatience sometimes when you think there must be a better way of conceiving this. Trust that, and garb yourself in the patience of intense creativity. Listen to the wild thoughts that are there. Listen to the wild thoughts bringing us home.” – Joanna Macy
An Invitation to Reflect, Remember, and Live the LegacyIn July 2025, the world bid farewell (in this realm) to one of its most courageous and compassionate voices: Joanna Macy — scholar, teacher, activist, and guide.
This book group offers a space to gather in the wake of her passing — not just to mourn her death, but to reflect on how she lived, and to explore how we might take what we most admired in her and carry it forward within the dimensions of our own lives. Joanna had an incredible capacity for enduring commitment to humanity and the more-than-human world. There is something that wants to endure in each and every one of us, a vigilant beauty being forged in the decay of a society that dehumanizes self and other. Through this group we will forge that endurance into a force that carries us through an ever-changing landscape of global movement.
Together, we’ll read and discuss Widening Circles: A Memoir, Joanna’s deeply personal telling of her life — from Cold War activism to her embrace of Buddhism and systems thinking, to the creation of The Work That Reconnects. Through her stories, we see not only the evolution of a remarkable human being, but a mirror of the spiritual, ecological, and political crises we continue to face. Through her profound synthesis of systems thinking, Buddhist philosophy, deep ecology, and activist experience, Joanna created a body of work that doesn’t just educate — it transforms. Her teachings are not theories to be admired from afar, but living, breathing practices meant to be inhabited in community, especially in times of uncertainty.
This is not a study of ideas. It’s a chance to ask: What mattered most to Joanna? What matters most to me? How do I want to live, now?
Why Widening Circles?
Of all her writings, this memoir is perhaps Joanna’s most vulnerable and accessible. It reveals not just her teachings, but her process — how she wrestled with doubt, how she followed intuition, and how her commitments were shaped over time by loss, friendship, faith, and love for the Earth.
Each week, we’ll read a section of the book and use it as a springboard for group dialogue, reflection, and personal insight. Our aim is not to analyze Joanna’s life, but to listen closely to it — and in doing so, listen more honestly to our own.
What to Expect
8 Weekly Sessions: Facilitated group conversations, rooted in selected chapters from Widening Circles
Grounded Reflections: Prompts and discussion questions that invite meaningful, personal engagement
A Space for Grief and Gratitude: Holding Joanna’s passing with care, while celebrating the clarity and conviction she modeled
Integration Practices: Optional journaling, simple rituals from Joanna’s “Work That Reconnects,” and ways of bringing insight into action
Community: A supportive circle of others drawn to this work, walking their own path through climate grief, spiritual growth, and personal transformation.
About Your Facilitator
Lydia Violet Harutoonian is an Iranian-Armenian-American musician, educator, and facilitator devoted to cultural healing, ecological renewal, and the restoration of ancestral wisdom. For over 16 years, she has been a dedicated student and collaborator with Joanna Macy, facilitating The Work That Reconnects across many communities, weaving together systems thinking, deep ecology, and emotional resilience in the face of global crisis.
Lydia is the founder of the School for The Great Turning, a learning community where activism, creativity, and spiritual practice meet. With training in ecopsychology and trauma-informed facilitation, she offers grounded emotional support to individuals and communities navigating burnout, grief, and the psychological weight of living in ecological crisis.
As a folk-soul musician, Lydia also brings song and story into the heart of her teaching, believing that music is a vessel for both grief and joy, memory and emergence. She has collaborated with artists and thought leaders such as Leah Song of Rising Appalachia and Dr. Lyla June Johnston, offering immersive programs that explore the intersections of activism, ancestry, and belonging. Through her teaching and music, Lydia invites us into a renewed intimacy with the Earth, with each other, and with the sacred threads of our own lineages.
Group Details
Book: Widening Circles: A Memoir by Joanna Macy
Start Date: Sept 14th
Length: 8 weeks
Meeting Time: Sundays 10-11:30am Pacific
Location: [Zoom ]
Facilitator: Lydia Violet Harutoonian
***Important note about cost: As School for The Great Turning, we are committed to making our courses accessible regardless of financial circumstances, and this program turns no one away for lack of funds. We also ask that if you are able to sign up at cost, please do so, as this is essential to our continuation as an organization, and all funds go towards paying all our staff, teachers, and guest teachers a fair, livable wage. Thank you!