It is the little things, the smallest daily actions, that have me falling in love with the world over and over again. The light through the trees, in the forest, by the sea, coming through the plastic bags out to dry. These had been stock piling for awhile, a landfill refusal accumulating in a heap on the counter. Then, they hung as temporary prayer flags and dried in the sun and the wind with a simple and strange kind of crinkly beauty I don't usually acknowledge of Plastic. 

Today I am preparing to leave for a week-long trip to Buckeye Gathering in Northern California. I have never been to this particular gathering, or even to this part of the world. For three years I have worked in the kitchen at another skills gathering in the North Cascades, Saskatoon Circle, and have found a deep level of Belonging in these types of ephemeral communities, among them also The NW Permaculture Convergence, and Singing Alive. 

For one week, we are not only learning the 'hard skills' of making knives, tanning hides, weaving baskets, or felting wool, we also practice the 'soft skills' of sharing songs and stories, holding each other accountable, and supporting each other in the learning process. For me, working in kitchens is one of the greatest joys - preparing nourishing food for people who have been using their hands and their hearts all day to create things - sometimes people are making things for the first time since they were very little kids... alongside children, alongside elders. Often being on kitchen crew means half a day of singing the food into existence as we chop veggies, stoke fires, stir, and prepare the meal. It's a fun way to serve!

In the mild and wet Pacific NW winters, clothes lines through the house and out of the rain produce the same effect as the plastic bags on the porch. A temporary array of clothes-pinned colours that say, "We're a part of your life!" and when I lived in a house of seven people, each others' laundry became our ever-changing winter decoration. 

When I was on the road for five months in 2013, I found that when I would arrive somewhere, setting up my "home base" helped keep the continuity of my Life grounded enough to pay attention and really sink into the place I was visiting. Unpacking my clothes, setting up a small alter, my pens, my journal... settling in. I have come to love the way the texture and colour of my shirts look folded on top of each other because they're soft and faded and familiar to me. 

I know I will bring the feeling of these plastic prayer flags, laundry lines, and stacked shirts with me to Northern California. All of them filling in a deep level of peace that I am in the moments of song and sharing, excitement and learning, and quiet times listening or alone. It's why my little theme for myself when I travel is "Walking Roots", because even temporary things give us feelings that may stay with us. Grounded wherever we are, simply by paying attention.

Let's break that down: 

1. Placemaking
Making a place. A place is a physical location invested with value and meaning. People care about it and have memories associated with it. Making - creating, having directly designed and implemented aspects associated with the place (for example, building a bench or planting a garden). 

Placemaking distinctly implies that projects are created in the places where people live, by the people who live there. A history of Placemaking from The City Repair Project's perspective in Portland: here. 

2. Process
There is no 'end'. Once a project is completed, there is clean up, and at sunrise the next day it is already changing. The paint is wearing, the plants are growing, the wood is expanding and contracting. Placemaking implies some level of maintenance and thus a cyclical celebration of clean up, repair, revision, improvement, expansion, simplification, and adjustment. The projects evolve as members of the community come and go, the level of involvement waxes and wanes depending on the season, and over time the history of the Place rests in so many people's personal memories it takes on a life of its own, impacting each person interacting with it in a unique way.

3. Multi-layered 
Part of why I am passionate about this work is this very aspect of multi-layered... Actively since 2008, new dimensions of what "Placemaking" means unfold for me... It feels strange to separate them into categories given they are all different expressions of the same work, but while this is by no means representing all possibilities for understanding its application, we can begin to see the many ways this concept is at work. 

Transforming neighborhoods? Completing a project for an intentional community? Forming a rural tool-sharing network? Overall, these processes are fun and the results are usually quite beautiful. At its simplest, Placemaking is just about getting to know the people around you and trying something together.
 
Physical - 
Considering the ecological implications of most of our lives being played out so far from our homes and most of our resources coming from very far away, Placemaking brings our daily needs closer to home. Even a 1 day block party gathers neighbors together to not drive, not consume, but instead enjoy the simplicity of staying, and security in getting to know the people who live near. Physical projects create totems of these relationships formed, and bring us ever closer to "Walkable Neighborhoods". 

Social - 
In the United States and other 'developed' nations, cultural isolation is of serious concern for the mental health of the general population, and the ability for local governances to be effective by actually having an opportunity to talk to one another. When people thoughtfully interact with their government, and government acts on a local level, appropriate decisions can be made for the total health of the community. 

Asset maps and neighborhood networks build resilient communities that learn how to work with each other for daily needs as well as effectively respond and prepare for emergencies. 

Emotional - 
When we go to places where we have good memories, we have good feelings, and good feelings reduce our stress, regulate our heartbeat, and balance our emotions. 

As human beings, we like to put our stamp on the environment, and when we do it in a way that is harmonious with nature, it makes us feel relaxed, and the project better suits the surroundings. In the end, it is less 'work', and more time for enjoying the process. 

Spiritual - 
Spiritual revival of the land is taking place. Placemaking projects say, "Hey! We're paying attention to this land, we're doing things that we love, and we're trying to heal this place." It invites the Spirit of the Place back if it has ever left, and it strengthens the spirit present and gives it expression through the community action. One could also think of it as the 'good feeling' people get when they come there. 

Personal - 
We create a personal "place" in our Hearts by asking ourselves what part of this work really calls to us? Are we the artist, the organizer, the bookkeeper, the builder, the work party cookie baker, the behind-the-scenes support, the historian, the charismatic spokesperson, or the kid's clubhouse extraordinaire? There are many roles that have a chance to be honored in collaborative projects and it is an opportunity worth embellishing. 

Global - 
World Peace starts at home. 

"Typically other people’s problems seem simpler, uncomplicated and easier to solve than those of one’s own society... in simple terms, the lack of knowledge of other cultures makes them easier to help." ~ Rafia Zakaria

When we do Placemaking Projects, we are transforming our immediate community for the benefit of all, developing a hyper-local culture we can be proud to come from. Many Placemaking projects are accomplished with a group of people who six months previously did not even know each others' names. We put aside our judgements and fears in order to work together from a basis of what we have in common, and the values that we share. The ability for us to practice this small level of compassion and collaboration radiates out in many realms - the simplest being our direct relationships - where we know our actions are making a difference because we can see, sense, and feel them changing in a positive way. 




When we learn to meet our direct needs in the places where we live, we come from a Generative Place of genuine peace and creative action. I'm sure if you were to consider the essence of Placemaking for yourself, you would find you are already doing it in your own life in some way. Savor the reality of living in a world that is functional, beautiful, and healthy, which you can amplify in your own way at any time. In the singing words of Frances Michaelson, "The world is as beautiful now as it every will be, there is nothing more to wait for."

"Mind stuff. Sky stuff. The universe we observe and measure. The universe we dream. It is all the same. Wherever we look, we see mind. Whatever we imagine, we see cosmos. We are the dreamers, and what we are dreaming is the universe." ~ Steven Forrest

Astrology is a fundamental way I understand the community organizing process on a cosmic level. How are we to create places that are meaningful to us without drawing on our own innate beauty? How are we to learn to embrace the rhythms of highly variant energies, especially with the state of the World at current, if we assume things exist in a stagnant and unchanging universe?  

We are in dire need of coming together to Remember we live within a strong network of interconnection, to come into conscious balance with our planet, and ourselves. I have seen first hand that community can only function efficiently when individuals within the community are empowered, supported, and encouraged to do what makes them come alive. There's great news found within this because the need to come together and enjoy life again is a directive completely worth devoting our energy to! It also requires us to honor the feelings of grief, anger, fear, and shame that may come through us when approaching these growing edges; we can Heal these wounds by committing to them, understanding them, and letting them pass though us. 

North American popular culture does not prioritize understanding what makes us happy or how to grieve, what our natural skills are, and how we may work well with other people and under what circumstances. That's where Astrology has come in for me, because while there is much written history and popular press about violence and problems, simultaneously there has existed a vast universe of diverse energies - unending alternative stories - to pay attention into. Even the Madrona tree behind me through the open door on the porch has been growing peacefully before this house was here, and it has something to teach me if I am attentive to it. In essence, this is Deep Democracy - when all voices are heard and valued, not just the loud ones, not just the majority. 

The design practice of Permaculture teaches us to "use and value diversity", and astrology invites us to consider the divine within us, to value our word, and to consider others' in the same spirit. 

For those of you who know me personally, I've probably collected some information from you at some point and pulled up a very strange looking chart that looks something like this: 

This is a a starchart for April 20, 2014 10:00pm in Port Townsend, WA. (Approximately as I'm writing this).

Learning Astrology is a bit like learning another language, so I won't go very far into the details of reading the chart in this post. You can notice there is a lot going on, even if you have no idea what you're looking at. Coloured symbols on the outside, black symbols in the inside, interior lines, exterior lines, the angels made between the symbols. Simply noticing these distinctions is enough to start. Maintaining curiosity will keep you entertained forever.

Imagine an inclusive world where the values of children and elders were taken into account equally, with equal curiosity, and equal power. With all people, no matter their gender, age, or orientation, and of people allowed to give voice to landscapes. An array of experiences, opinions, feelings, and work styles as complex as the starchart above. This has already begun. Projects implemented at a home scale, to transforming local and national government structures.

What is your personal place in it? 

We create places that are meaningful to us by drawing on our own innate beauty. Astrology is one way we can begin to learn how such beauty reflects itself in Us.

“When you drop on the planet and you take that first breath, that moment, the structure of the solar system is infused into you. Your spirit comes into the solar system… there’s billions of stars in the galaxy, and there’s billions of galaxies, why’d you come to this one little star? And when your spirit comes in here, it’s like a sponge wiping water off the cabinet, it soaks up the essence of it and squeezes it out it into your life! And at that moment, the pattern is injected into you.” ~ Kelley Lee Phipps

While Astrology...
1. ever continues to help me get to know myself
2. has been a compassion-building tool for me, to see how other people genuinely function and experience the world differently than me
3. has helped me speak to others about their life in a beneficial and healing way...

... I don't believe astrology to be an end all be all. Even if everything about astrology is completely misinterpreted, thousands of years of observations and wisdom are utterly folly, and us crazy astrologers were never tapping into anything True... the magic of this universe and the infinite level of unique dimensional pattern in each person is still incredible.  Even if there is no meaning in Life whatsoever, it is still beautiful, and beauty is worth replicating in the physical world. 

Last month I told a client before our astrology reading, "We are always responsible for our lives. Always. Life happens for us, and always to support us. Like a garden, there is no end point, another season will come, another plant will grow, and will we look at it as a weed or medicine? Astrology can give us a little bit of a weather forecast, but it is our own choice whether we embrace the rain. That is why people who know nothing about astrology (or any 'one' particular study) can lead extremely balanced and happy lives simply by adopting an understanding of the basic flow of Life from whatever metaphor they choose, based on what they notice through first hand experience. The flow of Life is an essentially neutral energy that runs through all things whose source is of Infinite Love. You co-created the design of your life for you highest and greatest good. You can feel that creative impulse whenever you are willing to commit to it completely. Then you're free. Free to do whatever you want, because what you want is good and pure, at its core."

A very simple example:
Earlier today I came inside from the garden, made lunch, and opened the window and the door to the porch. About when I finished eating, a couple of buzzy flies came around. I noticed them and immediately stopped my work on the computer to clean up. I didn't just "wish" the flies away, or get annoyed at their buzziness. I moved on my desire to be rid of them, and as soon as I started cleaning, they went back out the window and five minutes later I was back to work, feeling better about things being cleaned and not distracted by the noise. I co-created the experience with the flies, dishes, compost, water... by taking direct action in the moment to change the circumstance. 

We can choose to cultivate our spirits in the very same way, by getting to know our internal landscapes and paying attention to those little 'buzzy flies' of feelings that come up for us, taking responsibility for them, and doing what Healing work is necessary to - "do the dishes" - so to speak. The steps needed to fill the dish rack and the steps needed to do Placemaking projects are not so different. Then, the process of Placemaking becomes a direct reflection of our internal landscapes, enacted on the external landscape.  In the mind, the body, the spirit, there is no separation. As our Souls are growing, we are changing the physical world. We are Placemaking.

This week, the boat launches: a beautiful skin on frame Aleut Baidarka I began building last month. 

This week, Placecraft launches: a beautiful idea, a place for classes, collaborations, a blog.

Welcome, all of this incredible inspiration!!