The Circle Way Videos: Legacy Project, Components of the Circle Way and Application Stories

Last May I was part of a gathering on Whidbey Island – the First Fire Gathering – who came together for two purposes:

1. To explore the shift of the Circle Way from primarily being carried by its founders and pioneers (Ann Linnea and Christina Baldwin) to it’s next generation of practice and scope.
2. To participate in the Circle Carriers Legacy Project, launching a next generation of digital and downloadable tools to support the embedding of the Circle Way into our work and sharing the legacy of Christina and Ann’s work with circle.

Here is how the Calling the Circle Foundation describes the Legacy Project:

The Calling the Circle Foundation (CtCF) seeks to record the stories of those visionaries who were inspired to bring the knowledge and use of circle into the modern world as well as medicine carriers who have upheld circle through the teachings of their lineages. This is a diverse and aging group. CtCF wishes to preserve these first generation voices, to hear the stories of how the circle came to be their life calling, and to explore the social arenas in which they have redeposited this ancient wisdom at a time of huge cultural shift.

We believe this is an historic moment. The return of circle has the potential to instill a new culture that combines the best of human experience and allows us to create a sustainable relationship with each other and with the earth. The movement is actually growing quickly and diversifying. Stories of people of all ages who have embraced circle and who are carrying circle forward in the culture are included in this Legacy Project.

The Circle Way videos created from that gathering have been completed and released and they are wonderful. I invite you to take some time to enjoy them.

The first video, The Circle Way Legacy, is the story of Ann Linnea and Christina Baldwin’s twenty plus year pioneering journey bringing circle back into modern application.

The second suite of videos are on the Components of the Circle Way. These are a helpful introduction and orientation to the Circle Way process:

• Part 1 describes Invitation, Host, Centre, Start Point, Agreements, and Check-in.
• Part 2 describes Intention, the Three Principles and Three Practices.
• Part 3 describes the Three Forms of Council, Talking Piece, Guardian, Scribe and Check-out.

The other video currently available is a Celebration of the Circle Way, to see where the Circle Way is being used in a variety of settings in North America for diverse purposes. A second celebration video is in production that showcases Circle Way stories from Europe and Australia.

I returned again last week to Whidbey Island for the Second Fire Gathering and am excited to share our process, discoveries and budding work. Stay tuned!