With great satisfaction, the International Ecopsychology Society is supporting the In Her Words project, thanks to the immense respect, admiration and gratitude, which we cherish for the person and the work of Joanna Macy. Important seeds are those that Joanna has planted in our hearts. At this moment, when the transition to an ecocentric perspective finds new threats, derived from the consequences of our environmental irresponsibility and the swan song of the mentality that sponsors it, such seeds are even more important. Deep gratitude for your sowing, Joanna. Good course to all.
Marco Aurélio Bilibio – IES President
Joanna MacyPh.D is the quintessential environmental teacher and mentor because of her lifelong commitment to environmental activism as an author, scholar of Buddhism, a systems thinker and deep ecologist. Her spiral of environmental hope and inspiration has travelled around the world nurturing a profound reconnection with nature, others, and our deepest authentic self.
She has lived through so many events that have shaken humanity in her 91 years of life including the Wall Street crash in 1929 contributing to the Great Depression, the completion of the Empire State Building in 1931, the start of World War II in 1939, attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, baby boom in 1946, Birth of Israel in 1948, building of the Berlin wall in 1961 and its fall in 1989, assassination of JFK in 1963, landing on the moon in 1969, the rise of the personal computer in 1977, cloning of Dolly the sheep in 1996, America’s first African-American president in 2009, catastrophic oil spill in the gulf of Mexico in 2010, the discovery of the so called “God Particle” in 2012, the triple hurricane of Harvey, Irma and Maria that struck in 2017, and then of course COVID-19, a virus that continues to shake up humanity’s interpretation of our existence around the entire world in 2020.
Since the 1970’s Joanna’s work has encouraged individuals globally to find unity and courage and to act, even in the face of worsening social and ecological conditions. Her work follows a spiral sequence flowing through four stages starting with gratitude, then, honoring our pain for the world, seeing with fresh eyes, and finally, going forth.
Her course called ‘In Her Words’ starting on 9th of January 2021 comes at a profound time in the history of humanity as we are facing an overwhelming social, cultural, and an ecological crisis and are forced to relook our lives in the context of hope, Gaia, living systems, courage, loss, spirit, and choice-making. The world is experiencing ‘the big unraveling’ and Joanna’s work is well poised to compassionately guide us towards the creation of a life-sustaining society in which our deeper interconnected lives is now clearer than ever. In this moment humanity is experiencing chaos theory at its finest where we can see how unpredictable complex systems are and how a small incident can have a big impact on the future – this is often explained by what is called ‘the butterfly effect’.
The course is curated by Music As Medicine’s founder Lydia Violet, who will offer musical accompaniment in each of the 6, two-hour, live webinar sessions.
In Partnership with Naropa University, The Joanna Macy Center, The International Ecopsychology Society – IES, and Science and Nonduality.
For more information or registration for the course, please visit https://music-as-medicine-project.teachable.com/p/in-her-words-w-joanna-macy
I had the joy and privilege of personally meeting Joanna Macy at a seminar organized by the Center for Ecoliteracy by Fritjof Capra and Zenobia Barlow in California in 2007.
Her work and writings have been – and still are – a precious and inspiring reference in the realization and growth of the Italian School of Ecopsychology. I am immensely grateful to Joanna for what she has done and she is still doing for the spread of a broader and more loving vision of our being earthlings and for her messages of active hope, so necessary in the present times.
Marcella Danon – IES Co-founder
