The circle is the oldest meeting format there is and still the best. Everyone can see everyone. There is no head of the table. A talking piece, a stone or a stick, goes round; whoever holds it speaks, everyone else listens. You can pass. Nothing said in the circle is repeated outside it without permission.
On the land the circle happens twice a day: a short one in the morning, mostly practical, where the day is laid out and work is shared; and a longer one at dusk, where people say one true thing about their day. It is also how decisions that touch everyone are taken, out loud and with time to disagree. Nothing important on the land is decided in a room with the door closed.
The circle sounds simple and is hard. Not interrupting is hard. Not fixing is harder. After a few days it becomes the thing people miss most when they leave.
Related words
- Holding spaceStaying fully present with a person or a group while something difficult or large happens, without fixing, steering or leaving.
- RitualA small act repeated until it carries meaning on its own: the bell at dawn, hands washed before the shared meal, one true thing at the evening circle.
- Sacred spaceA place protected, by agreement and by care, long enough for the unperformed version of you to show up.
Join the circle