Usually this newsletter is quite eclectic but in this issue I’m going to focus on just one topic and give you a download of all the recent updates from the Microsolidarity project.

The beautiful gardens at Drongen Abbey, Belgium

Microsolidarity is a roadmap for building communities of belonging, partnership & purpose.

Back in May we had the Microsolidarity Network Gathering, an amazing group of community organisers from around the world. 35 people spent a week together in a 1400-year-old abbey in Belgium, learning some of the personal, interpersonal, and collective skills required for effective community organising.

It was so good! A sweet mix of relationship-building, discovering personal insights, and having fun together. Numerous new collaborations came out the other side.

If you’re curious to learn more about that event, I debriefed in great detail with Ashley Colby from the Doomer Optimism network (video | audio).

The beautiful sauna at the retreat centre in Denver

We’re having the next Microsolidarity Gathering October 26-29 in a lush retreat centre in Denver Colorado, USA. If you want to learn how to build small high-trust communities, and plug into a super inspiring global network, this is the place to be. At the time of writing there are just 9 spots remaining, so register soon to avoid disappointment.

Learn More & Register

If you can’t make it to Denver, you’re welcome to join us online: our Discord is a great place to chat with other curious creative community-oriented people. And if you want to dive in deeper, we have a monthly online meeting, open to anyone who is contributing at least €3/month to the common fund on Open Collective.

Twitter Is A Dating App for Making Friends

Since the pandemic I’ve observed a fascinating phenomenon: people are using Twitter to build meaningful relationships, using the digital space to find likeminded people, and then meeting up in local events. It’s true, you can avoid the annoying political arguments and just have a good time hanging out with fabulous people!

I first noticed this pattern back in March, with the inaugural “Jesscamp”, 40 people spending a weekend together in Portugal, followed by “Vibecamp”, a gathering of 400(!) people in Texas. Since those two initial events, there’s been an explosion of local gatherings all over the world.

By many accounts, these events are transformative. Read this moving story from user @nosilverv for example; it’s a beautiful illustration of the deep changes that happen when you find your community of belonging.

I’m interested in what it takes to organise a multi-day gathering of internet friends, so I’ve interviewed the hosts of 4 of the recent events. My intention is to harvest their lessons and share them back with the network so we can all learn from each other:

Silvia, Catalyzbon (video | audio)
Ananta, Catalyzberlin (audio)
Kai, Kaicamp (video | audio)
Brooke, Vibecamp (video | audio )

Most of these people have participated in Microsolidarity trainings, so it is super gratifying for me to see how they apply what they learned to their community organising work.

Upcoming Events

I know of two other Microsolidarity practitioners organising events in the next couple of months:

A Community for Embodied Imaginal Exploration is a retreat organised by my friend Magnus in Italy, Nov 5-12. It’s a week-long event exploring the “imaginal”: Subtle energy, IFS (parts work), Constellations, Shadow work, Psychomagic, Dream reentry and a Kanna Ceremony.
Primal Gathering is an environmentally, socially and psychologically regenerative gathering used to restore people, forests and ecosystems all over the world. This year, they’re planting 1000 trees in Lagos, Portugal, in between yoga classes & live concerts & permaculture workshops. Nov 17-20.

If you want to know more about the people behind Primal Gathering, check this interview I did recently with the founder, Nicole Bosky.

Ok that’s it for this issue! I hope you can make it to one of these events, join us in Denver, or at least come hang out with me & my friends on Twitter :)

Lots of love from Rich

What I'm paying attention to

#11 Microsolidarity Updates & Denver…