Join us for a light community potluck, conversation, and reflection. If you’d like, bring finger food to share.

Join us for a light community potluck, conversation, and reflection. If you’d like, bring finger food to share.

Gather to honor Spring Equinox and the change of the seasons with a half-day retreat.

Somatic movement, reflection, conversation, and connecting with nature and seasonal cycles.

For the rainy winter season we will be gathering in the homes of community members rather than outdoors. Join us for a light community potluck, conversation, and reflection. If you’d like, bring finger food to share.

For the rainy winter season we will be gathering in the homes of community members rather than outdoors. Join us for a light community potluck, conversation, and reflection. If you’d like, bring finger food to share.

For the rainy winter season we will be gathering in the homes of community members rather than outdoors. Join us for a light community potluck, conversation, and reflection. If you’d like, bring finger food to share.

For the rainy winter season we will be gathering in the homes of community members rather than outdoors. Join us for a light community potluck, conversation, and reflection. If you’d like, bring finger food to share.

Join the community in a poignant and powerful moment: transition of leadership to a new generation. Beth Amsbary (she/her), our founding Convener will bless and release the community. We will bless and release her. Then we will formally welcome Kiran Frank (they/them), our new Convener. And share sacred snacks.

Welcome the season of darkness and release in this virtual event! We'll reflect on the earth's position during Winter Solstice, then stretch our imaginations and intentions to release into the gifts of this longest night.

The ONLINE event will take place over ZOOM, with a link sent as you RSVP.

Join us for a informal community potluck in a little-known corner of the Arboretum. We provide coffee. You bring snacks, whatever you’d like to sit on, and yourself!

Let’s gather to celebrate the end of the harvest season. Drawing on Buddhist practices for cultivating our good qualities and overcoming difficult habits, and on Gathering Ground’s theme this year of Compost and Cultivate, we will reflect on the year behind us. What seeds have we been planting, and what have we been harvesting?

We'll explore ourselves and the people in our lives as heroes. We'll name archetypes and mythology in the journeys we see around us. And we'll do it all through a lens of queerness, in a space that welcomes those who are queer, those who are not, and those who are still figuring it out. Writers of all levels welcome.

We'll explore ourselves and the people in our lives as heroes. We'll name archetypes and mythology in the journeys we see around us. And we'll do it all through a lens of queerness, in a space that welcomes those who are queer, those who are not, and those who are still figuring it out. Writers of all levels welcome.

We'll explore ourselves and the people in our lives as heroes. We'll name archetypes and mythology in the journeys we see around us. And we'll do it all through a lens of queerness, in a space that welcomes those who are queer, those who are not, and those who are still figuring it out. Writers of all levels welcome.

We'll explore ourselves and the people in our lives as heroes. We'll name archetypes and mythology in the journeys we see around us. And we'll do it all through a lens of queerness, in a space that welcomes those who are queer, those who are not, and those who are still figuring it out. Writers of all levels welcome.

Join us for an informal community walk and chat. This month, our Big Tree Gathering is a Big Water Gathering - we will be walking around Greenlake, appreciating the intersection of trees, water, and city. We will gather on the dock in front of the Greenlake Boathouse and Coffee Shop.

Join us for an informal community potluck and chat. The community provides beverages, napkins, & plates. If you’d like, bring finger food to share and something to sit on. This month, we are meeting at Volunteer Park. Our meeting space will be by a large Sequoia directly east of the Seattle Asian Art Museum, between the museum and 15th Ave E.

Join us for a informal community potluck in a little-known corner of the Arboretum. We provide coffee. You bring snacks, whatever you’d like to sit on, and yourself!

A joyful approach to awe. Connection in a small group. Join a small group to saunter through a lovely urban space, noticing things vast and tiny.

A joyful approach to awe. Connection in a small group. Join a small group to saunter through a lovely urban space, noticing things vast and tiny.

Your honesty and perspective is needed. Each year Gathering Ground invites its community to reflect together. Is our work complete? Are we called to continue? And if the group says yes, what are the most important values to carry into the coming year? Your input is even more important with the transition of our founding Convener, Beth, who will step out of that role in January 2024. Please join into this important moment of our community life. You may weigh in by joining the Zoom meeting or by sending thoughts in advance.

To receive the Zoom link, please email GatherinGround.Seattle@gmail.com or call 206-880-3641 . Not available at that time? Please send your thoughts to the questions above by email or phone message.

Join us for a informal community potluck in a little-known corner of the Arboretum. We provide coffee. You bring snacks, whatever you’d like to sit on, and yourself!

Join a playful outdoor event celebrating the longest day of the year with this ancient practice to reflect and center. It’s our fourth annual Summer Solstice Labyrinth Walk! This family-friendly event features 6 labyrinths, along with stations for chalk art and crafting your own finger labyrinth to take home. The evening culminates in a simple circle dance at 8:40pm.

RSVP

Bring your questions and curiosities to coffee! Look for our reserved table with our Gathering Ground banner.

Join us for a informal community potluck in a little-known corner of the Arboretum. We provide coffee. You bring snacks, whatever you’d like to sit on, and yourself!

Bring your questions and curiosities to coffee! Look for our reserved table with our Gathering Ground banner.

Join us for a informal community potluck in a little-known corner of the Arboretum. The community provides beverages, napkins, & plates. If you’d like, bring finger food to share and something to sit on. We'll meet rain or shine, trusting in the branches of those big trees and our raingear.  On May 6, our region will see an especially low tide. We'll reflect on tidal pulls and discoveries as we chat informally, savor the outdoors, and enjoy Shelley's legendary Chex Mix! 

Bring your questions and curiosities to coffee! Beth Amsbary will hold Gathering Ground office hours at Distant Worlds Coffee Shop each month through June. No purchase required. Just come hang out!

Look for our reserved table with our Gathering Ground banner. There is one step up to the area where our table is reserved.

This workshop is designed to be a warm, welcoming and creative exploration of our personal and collective journeys. Using music, poetry, writing, and open hearted conversation Carrie invites us to honor our history (compost), and reflect on what kind of stories actually sustain us in our journeys (cultivate). Carrie welcomes anyone with or without previous experience in writing, songwriting or creative expression to exploring new ways of envisioning our own stories through a creative and compassionate lens.

Enrollment is limited to 25 people, with 5 places reserved for folk who identify as Queer creatives. Act soon if you’d like a spot: we expect this to sell out quickly! Workshop attendance is $10 - $60 with your RSVP at gatheringround.org.

Please bring:

• something to write with

• And your curiosity!

Your secure ZOOM link will be sent after you RSVP.

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Just in time for Spring Equinox, join into an evening of stories of transformation. Three master story spinners share their real-life tales of composting and cultivating. What happens inside a compost pile? What if life becomes a compost pile? What can be grown or cultivated out of that glorious rot? The newest edition of Gathering Ground's popular story nights features the world-class singer/songwriter Carrie Newcomer along with Queer fantasy author Elijah Merrill and creativity catalyst Shirin Subhani. Newcomer’s evocative songs, performed live for you, will hold the evening together. 

This ONLINE event will take place over ZOOM, with a link sent as you RSVP. It is offered on a contribute-as-you-can basis, with options to share $0 - $40 as you RSVP. We all pitch in to keep this shared space open. This story night launches Gathering Ground’s 2023 theme of Compost and Cultivate, selected from listening to the community during this time of coming apart and growing anew. 

Here are the evening’s story spinners:

Carrie Newcomer (she/her) is a Quaker activist and cultural worker whose songs fuel movements as well as meditations. Rolling Stone says: "Newcomer's material asks all the right questions and refuses to settle for easy answers." Newcomer also hosts a podcast with the master educator & author Parker Palmer on powerful responses to our fractured time.

Elijah Merrill (he/him) is a Seattle author who is fascinated by folklore from around the world, the history of United States immigrants and migrants, firsthand accounts of resistance to tyranny, and art that centers marginalized voices. His plays have been workshopped by Parley Productions, and produced by Somniterum Productions and the Bush School. Elijah has offered writing workshops on many topics through Gathering Ground, and queer folks frequently star in his fantasy novels.

Shirin Subhani (she/her): Connect-Create-Celebrate has been the thread running through Shirin's work-life experiences. Shirin co-founded the publishing group Flying Chickadee, where she edited an online zine, Courageous Creativity, along with books. For the past five years, Shirin has served as Program Manager for University Heights Community Center, where she builds collective synergy and community among people of diverse identities. Finally, she is the creative force behind Shirin’s Kitchen, cooking classes in homestyle Indian food!

Newcomer will also offer an online workshop as part of this Equinox weekend retreat on Sunday, March 26 from 2pm-4pm Pacific Time. Registration will open on Saturday, February 25 and is expected to sell out quickly. As part of our commitment to supporting Queer creatives, 5 workshop enrollments are reserved for folks with that identity.

We thank the Adult Education Endowment of University Congregational United Church of Christ, making it possible for all who wish to attend, by offering a sliding scale.

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