Hi Friend,

This weekend is Summer Solstice - a time when the light is strong, the shadows are sharp, and both fire and water are really important.

It is also, for me, the anniversary of my first ReMembering Course, which was attended by two (yes, only two) participants. It was preceded by the first wedding that I officiated, followed immediately by my first pilgrimage wherein I brought students, colleagues, friends and family to the Giant Sequoias - which I did annually for our first seven years. (which I plan to do again) That was also around the time that I had my first few spiritual direction clients, and was preparing to give my first talk (about Howard Thurman!) at a Mennonite gathering.

It was, in effect, the beginning of Sequoia Samanvaya. At that point, I had no website, no logo, and I had not yet filed my formal incorporation paperwork. That all happened in time.

That was nine years ago.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 50 percent of women-led small businesses fail after five years. Many say that 80-90 percent of coaches offering coaching services fail in their first three years. Similarly, 30-60% of church plants fail in their first 3-5 years, and that’s in churches with clear theologies and denominational support. It’s also often said that 90% of online courses for independent adult learners have a very low completion rate. Burn out for founders is also often high.

So - we seem to be doing something right.

Im working on an episode on how I started, which isn’t ready yet, but it’s getting there. Some stories take time to simmer.

Often, during this moment on the cycle, I find it helpful to look at what's going on in my life, right now. Not a reflection on the past as much as a ‘what am I being shown right now?’ As Parker Palmer says, "let your life speak." Which includes letting your life speak to you. So I'll do something I don't do very often in this newsletter - I'll share a list of the current things I'm up to, in what is an unusually busy season.

I'm in the midst of a heavy travel moment: five events/gatherings, mostly in person, in five different states in three weeks. In most of them, I'm leading some part of a larger gathering. It's a result of years of relationships/work/thought leadership, often done behind the scenes, in quiet conversations around fires, Zoom, and long walks.

This past Saturday, Krissy and I gave a workshop at the Center for Earth Ethics from Union Theological Seminary's Eco-Justice training program on Circular Time. That was particularly satisfying because the CEE had such a big influence on me when I was at the seminary, and so it was great to reconnect with them, and share work that I've developed since graduating from Union. And to connect with young people who are trying to figure out their own eco-spiritual journey.

The next day, I flew to Boise, Idaho, where a former ReMembering Course student picked me up and drove me to a gathering one of her friends put together called the Sun Valley Forum - a climate change gathering in Sun Valley, Idaho, that has been going on for several years. I was both supporting the leadership as an elder (a term that I am using in the Quaker way, which deserves its own explanation another time) to their ministry (again, I'm using this term in a Quaker way) as well as leading an evening gathering for the women speakers at the forum, with a light focus on intergenerational relationships. After a many, many conversations and listening to the land and the water, I held a circle that was also a ceremonial space. 45 women were invited. 15 rsvpd. 50 showed up. It was amazing. The next night, I gave the opening prayer at the first session of the Living Table, a dinner designed to highlight local food, local farmers, and the spirit of the land. That ended up being a spoken word offering that came out of conversations with land, water, and many of the people who were there.

On Wednesday, I flew from Idaho south, over the great Rocky Mountains, to Santa Fe, where Krissy and I were invited to attend the Social Venture Network's Revival gathering. In addition to spending some time with Indigenous entrepreneurs and funders and listening to many amazing stories (and sharing a few of our own), we co-hosted the closing circle, which including song (I made up a chant for the group), dialogue and movement.

Then- this weekend - a few days at Ojo Caliente, a sacred hot springs in New Mexico. I was first introduced to it by a Pueblo woman/teacher, who brought a group of us eco-spiritual folks to it as part of a larger learning journey to New Mexico that I did prior to starting Sequoia Samanvaya. It was in those hot springs that she told me that the phrase "eco-spiritual" is really just saying the same thing twice, because ecology is in spirit and spirit is in ecology. I chuckled in agreement. But I didn't have a better word, so I kept using it. I am still dis-satisfied with it.

Next week, I will go to California to check in on my mom (I expect I will continue to manage her care for quite some time) and spend some time with my beloved Sequoias. I'll co-host an online Strawberry Wisdom circle with Krissy that week (she will be back home in Hudson), and keep teaching our Origin Stories course, which is going super great.

And then I'll fly into Nashville, TN, meet up with Krissy, and make the trek 'to the mountain’ to participate in a local community-led gathering that is called "Honoring the Land" and is co-hosted by some of our collaborators. It started as an 'alternative 250' event, but they decided to change the title because they wanted to lean towards the positive… and create something that could last beyond this time. I'm super delighted with what they are doing - Tennessee has become one of the strongholds of a particularly narrow and harmful narrative about the United States that they are rejecting without actually rejecting their deep love of this country. Krissy will be doing some facilitating, and we will be sharing about some of the Indigenous roots of Democracy.

After which, we fly back to New York, and I will probably spend a fair amount of time in one of my favorite local lakes, ping some folks about going for horseback riding lessons, and spend some time in the hammock. And then I'll get back to other forms of work that are more focused on the phone (I usually take client calls for walks) and the computer rather than traveling.

On July fourth, Krissy and I will host a circle talking about the implications of Indigenous Roots of Democracy - what opens ip when we tell the story differently?

On July 7, I'll be in conversation with two remarkable people on Indigenous Roots of Democracy, hosted by Land Justice Futures.

I hope to get back to working on a booklet on Officiating Weddings and another one on Officiating Funerals. In the Fall, Krissy and I are co-teaching a course on "Preparing to Die", which we will do some preparation for this July, as well as preparing to start my next ReMembering Course. (July is a good time to do some prep work for the Fall!)

I'll take most of August for Inner/Outer Landscape Fellowship time, which is to say, I won't be teaching or taking on new clients and I'm not planning to do any events - more will come in the Fall. I will do more writing and more lake time and maybe even some ocean time and various forms of wallowing with Spirit.

So when I look at all of this, what do I see? What am I hearing?

- The blessings of being interwoven; of being deep in relationships with different people for many years. yes, I have colleagues and clients, but much of this is also about friendship and relationally.

- The importance in this work of returning to source, returning to truth, again and again. That includes literally getting to rivers and trees and hot springs and lakes - not just talking about them.

Of working within the cycles of time, not separate from them. That includes time for rest and time for being really busy.

- Going between online and offline work while traveling can be hard and disorienting - I slept through one of my normal client calls this past week, and a few other things fell through the cracks. There’s some practical things I can do to support this.

- The importance and value of creating sacred spaces within spaces that are designated for something else (such as impact investing). It's too easy for people to focus on one thing and neglect another.

- Getting to the big questions is amazingly difficult.

- The importance of intergenerational conversations .... right now.

- The importance of uplifting the sacred feminine

The importance of working on shifting cosmovisions.

My life is interwoven. I'm being carried by a much bigger force than I am: the spirit of my sister tree and her relatives, the Sequoias; the spirit of an ancient harmony that is between and was between and always will be between all beings: Samanvaya.

Interwoven, much can and does emerge.

Thank you, all of you, for being in the weave with me.

- Sara Jolena