The Power of Community
The Power of Community is a zine by Sarah van Gelder, lifelong activist, writer, and founding editor of YES! Magazine, for anyone who wants to nurture belonging and shared power toward the beloved community envisioned by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. The zine addresses a country in trouble, recognizing that stocking up on food and […]
Disaster as a Springboard for Thriving Resilient Communities
This article, published in December 2013 by the Society of Organizational Learning’s Reflections Magazine, explores what happens when catastrophe fundamentally shifts the world we know. On March 11, 2011, the triple disasters of earthquake, tsunami, and radiation leak devastated northeastern Japan. In the aftermath, people from throughout the country began to gather not just to […]
Ashes to Resilience
Ashes to Resilience: A Guide to Wildfire Recovery is a resource developed by NewStories and Regenerating Paradise, drawing on their experiences to offer starting points for communities navigating wildfire recovery. Recognizing that what needs to happen is shaped by local culture and geography, the guide supports communities in their own journey of recovery and Re-Storying. […]
Two Loops
This excerpt from NewStories Founder Bob Stilger‘s book AfterNow: When We Cannot See the Future, Where Do We Begin? introduces the Berkana Two Loops model as a practical framework for understanding where we stand in times of profound systemic change. Stilger co-developed the Two Loops at a global gathering in Slovenia in 2002 and has […]
Spiritual Midwifery
Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin, originally published in 1976, introduced an entire generation of young women to the possibility of home birth and breastfeeding while breathing new life into the all-but-vanished field of midwifery. Now in its fourth edition, this classic book on home birth includes updated information on the safety of natural childbirth, […]
Psychology of the Future
Psychology of the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research by Stanislav Grof offers a comprehensive synthesis of four decades of research into non-ordinary states of consciousness. The book details the perinatal matrices—how the trauma of biological birth forms deep unconscious structures influencing psychological development, psychopathology, and emotional, physical, and spiritual crises—and transpersonal experiences where consciousness […]
Man’s Search for Meaning
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl is a psychiatrist’s memoir that has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Between 1942 and 1945, Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on […]
Awakening Earth
Duane Elgin presents a comprehensive vision of human evolution spanning from our origins as hunter-gatherers 35,000 years ago through seven distinct stages of development toward planetary civilization, arguing that we are approaching a critical pivot point where Earth’s biosphere is being wounded by humanity even as humanity enables Earth’s awakening as a conscious global organism. […]
Women Who Run with the Wolves
Jungian analyst and cantadora storyteller Clarissa Pinkola Estés reveals how women can restore their vitality by reconnecting with the Wild Woman archetype—a powerful, instinctual force filled with good instincts, passionate creativity, and ageless knowing that society’s attempts to “civilize” women into rigid roles have plundered and muffled. Through what she calls “psychic archeological digs” into […]