Sometimes I wonder what would happen if women could stack the board rooms and the legislature and the C-suites… and start making binding decisions.

Not women who’ve had to battle their way to those lofty places and who carry tactics and twitches and guilt from breaking their way there, who’ve absorbed a message that there’s only room for one or two girls amongst the big boys, and so have been less than supportive to each other, to secure their own power.

I’m imagining people who’ve opted out of the power-over domination mindset, and who have a deep sense of their own empowerment, and an ease with empowering others, who know that in a power-with model, we’re all served when people operate from the seat of their own knowing and gifts…

(I’m honestly thinking of the women here, in our communities, who inspire me SO MUCH writing grants for the school, organizing story walks, tutoring kids, tending bees…. who are doing so much community-building, world-shaping work in their spare time… )

Could we just take the reins, grab the budgets and (*snap of the fingers*) sort everything out, pronto?!

I suspect that generations of wounding needs to be addressed and healed, for this to be possible. But I still think we can (and should) do it.

The All We Can Save Project is an inspiring collaboration between two women, Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Dr. Katharine Wilkinson, who co-authored and coordinated the anthology, All We Can Save, to instigate a feminist climate renaissance. (Because, they say, the climate movement has been… um… rendered ineffective by the participants being overly concerned with their own power and turf… and being overly middle aged, white and male. Sorry fellas. Not saying you don’t have anything of value to contribute. More to say, if you’ve risen to a position of power and influence in a supremacist model, then you’ve been hijacked by the values of that model, to some degree.. and that is your blind spot.)

Ooh, controversial waters I’m paddling in… and I don’t ever want to say things that will make people feel unwelcome, or reluctant to bring their gifts and energy to the table, because, lovelies, (that’s you, too, middle-aged white men) we need you. We need you all.

And, we need to understand that there are different models of understanding power. The one the world is currently operating under is brutal. I’m really keen on a complete re-invention, myself. Towards power-with. And I’m curious as to whether this offering, coming up in March and April, for five weeks, from the All We Can Save project, might be a useful gateway.

I’m personally really intrigued by the idea of “embodying feminine wisdom” – and reading through the course content, I realise, there is some learning and unlearning needed, to get to that place

This five-week course, led by Sherri Mitchell – Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset, focuses on the impacts of patriarchal colonization on the relationships that are formed between and among women, and the promise of healed relationships and lasting sisterhood possible when we shed the patriarchal mantle and begin seeing the world through a matrifocal lens. Open to people of all genders. The topics covered in the course include: Birth of the patriarchy Commodification of women’s bodies Destruction of feminine power Emergence of colonization Colonization of land Colonization of bodies Elevation of whiteness Dehumanization of the Non-white body White Feminism  The Responsibilities of privilege and power Embodying Feminine Wisdom The course is $125 for all five sessions. All proceeds from this course will go to the Land Peace Foundation, to support the building of a learning center at Wicuhkemtultine Kinship Community. There are 12 scholarship slots available—to apply, write to info@allwecansave.earth with a few sentences about your interest in the course. Priority to those who have signed up to lead, or been part of, an All We Can Save Circle.

Dates and Times

This course meets every Tuesday night, 6:30-8:30 pm ET from March 15th to April 12th.

1. Tuesday, March 15th 6:30-8:30pm ET
2. Tuesday, March 22nd 6:30-8:30pm ET
3. Tuesday, March 29th 6:30-8:30pm ET
4. Tuesday, April 5th 6:30-8:30pm ET
5. Tuesday, April 12th 6:30-8:30pm ET

About the Instructor

Sherri Mitchell – Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset, is a Native American attorney, activist, and teacher from the Penobscot Nation. She is the author of Sacred Instructions; Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change, and a contributor to numerous anthologies including All We Can Save: Truth, Courage and Solutions for the Climate Crisis and Portraits of Racial Justice- Americans Who Tell the Truth.

Sherri is the founding director of the Land Peace Foundation, an organization dedicated to the protection of Indigenous rights and the preservation of the Indigenous way of life. She is an alumna of the American Indian Ambassador Program, the Udall Native American Congressional Internship Program. She currently serves as a Trustee for the American Indian Institute, is an Advisory Council member for Nia Tero’s Indigenous Land Guardianship Program, and a member of the U.S. ACE Climate Change Coalition development team. Sherri is also the convener of the global healing ceremony “Healing the Wounds of Turtle Island,” which has united people from six continents in healing ceremonies for the last five years.