explore · Empathy, Systems Thinking, Visioning · 90–240 min · 8-40 people · medium energy

Council of All Beings

Participants go outside and let themselves be 'chosen' by another life-form: a river, a heron, a fungus. They make a simple mask, then gather in a formal council where they speak as that being about what is happening to it, address the humans in the centre, and finally offer the humans the strengths they will need.

When to use Council of All Beings

Use when a group working on sustainability, land or climate needs to step out of its own interests and feel what its decisions mean for the living systems around it.

What it solves

Environmental strategy stays abstract; people argue about targets and never feel the stakes for the place they are standing in.

How to run Council of All Beings, step by step

  1. Open with a short invocation or framing of why the council is being held (10 min).
  2. Send people outdoors alone to wander and let a life-form choose them (15-20 min).
  3. Silent mask-making with card, markers and natural materials (30 min).
  4. Optional practice: move and speak as the being in small groups (10 min).
  5. Convene the council. Round one: beings say what is happening to them. Round two: a few people take off their masks and sit in the centre as humans, and the beings address them. Round three: beings offer their strengths to the humans (40-60 min).
  6. Close with thanks, take off the masks, and let people step back into their own identity (10 min).

Materials needed

  • Card or paper plates for masks
  • Markers, string, scissors
  • Natural materials gathered on site
  • A circle space outdoors or in a large room

Facilitator tips

  • Frame it clearly as a ritual and a practice of imagination, so sceptical people can join without feeling silly.
  • Agree boundaries for the solo time outdoors (area, return signal, buddy check) and offer a sheltered option for people with mobility limits.
  • Leave real time for the closing; people who have spoken as a dying species often need a moment before returning to normal talk.

Common pitfalls

  • The facilitator rushes the 'being chosen' part, so people pick a favourite animal instead of something they encountered.
  • Running it with a group that has no context or consent for ritual work, which makes it feel imposed.

Variations

  • One-hour version in foursomes without masks, each person speaking once as their being.

Running it online or hybrid

WTR facilitators run an online version with masks made at home; it loses the outdoor 'being chosen' walk, so extend the silent reflection instead.

What it produces

A set of statements and 'gifts' voiced on behalf of non-human beings, often kept as notes or photos of the masks, that the group can refer back to in later planning.

Origin

A communal ritual created by Joanna Macy and John Seed in the mid-1980s with rainforest activists, documented in Coming Back to Life (Macy and Molly Brown, 2014). — source

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