# Enter the World of Samara Our Identity and the Massive Transformational Purpose that sustains us through every cycle of the journey. The kind of terrain you're landing in and how to navigate. Some background, context and foundational concepts. # Who is Samara? **'An unfolding Lotus with Roots deep below the water'** [![6e33c9ebdda8b08984e238a0dbc3786a.jpg](https://guide.hypha.earth/uploads/images/gallery/2021-04/scaled-1680-/6e33c9ebdda8b08984e238a0dbc3786a.jpg)](https://guide.hypha.earth/uploads/images/gallery/2021-04/6e33c9ebdda8b08984e238a0dbc3786a.jpg) *"In this photograph the sky looks like a world in itself. This is a bit like Samara's emerging identity. Emerging from the soil. Through the Roots. Needing some time to grow and open into the world with each petal in just the right place. Amongst all the leaves, if you look closely, it's there, half unfurled."* ## **Samara, Emergent** *Samara’s essence, emergent.* *We yearn for the vast and endless sea Of the world our hearts know is possible,* *And so we build our Samara-ship,* *The ship in which we will sail into these uncharted waters, Leaving a wake so that those who wish to follow, may.* *Samara’s vision, emergent.* *The vision of a destination that will keep us on course through the inevitable storms,* *A vision of who we are, who we serve, and how we serve them,* *A vision to unite and guide our motley crew,* *Aligning us around our inspiration.* *Samara’s being, emergent.* *As within, so without, becoming and being the change we wish to see in the world,* *Yang and yin in co-creative harmony,* *Playing joyfully, exploring intrepidly, In the fertile void of uncertainty,* *Honouring our gifts, honouring our souls, honouring Gaia.* Stated simply, the new Decentralised Holonic Organisation, Samara, arose out of a perceived need to help SEEDS spread further - the outreach and engagement counterpart to Hypha's role as provider of technological tools for the Regenerative Renaissance. However, there seem to be deeper and more significant forces at work. Samara is far, far more than just a marketing department. There is a sense, maybe not universal but certainly widespread, within Samara-the-Organisation that there is a Samara-the-Being, or Samara-the-Archetype, that is inviting us to get to know her better. We are holding an open question and spirit of enquiry around her purpose for having called together this particular group of individuals, and a desire to find a powerful vision around which we can align and harmonise in order to amplify and maximise our impact. Although not yet articulated explicitly, Samara-the-Organisation has an implied collective understanding that our Reason For Gathering is connected with the new paradigm, the shift to recognising the interdependence of all things as a precursor to the Regenerative Renaissance. Our name, Samara, was inspired by the wings that enable seeds to fly further, and our purpose is definitely connected with helping Seeds the currency and SEEDS the movement to spread further afield. But it is more than that. Seeds the currency could be seen as a bridge between the old paradigm and the new. It could become a point attractor to which the pioneers of the new paradigm will feel drawn, so that they can find each other and combine forces. It could enable people to live in accordance with their life purpose, expressing their unique gifts in the way the world requires of us now. If Samara is to be a conduit into the new paradigm, it seems only appropriate that she should be manifested through a new paradigm process. The old paradigm operates on the Material plane, working with what can be seen and heard with our physical senses. The new paradigm operates both on the Energetic and the Material planes. It invites the participants to sense into the intelligence of the Field to first find the inspiration of what is needed by the world at this time, yearning to emerge through the collective, before then translating this into practical outcomes, processes and systemic change. In other words, the material is informed by the energetic alignment. Samara’s exploration of Purpose can help to create a replicable yet unique and pioneering process. A process that can be used by subsequent DHOs to arrive at their own clearly articulated Purpose. A purpose which evolves and assists effective implementation as they continue their Work. **Logbook of the journey so far:** The workshop facilitated by Sanjay Rajan on 22nd January 2021 guided participants through a thoughtfully-designed process. The group defined and then consolidated potential statements of Samara’s Purpose, and arrived at: Grow the abundant, regenerative potential of SEEDS There were many strong points to this process: - Mural was an effective way to capture thoughts in a collaborative and co-creative format - Clear roadmap so that participants could feel safe within the container of the process - Effective use of breakout rooms to enable discussion leading to results - Results fed back into the plenary room by breakout groups in such a way that participants could see the gradual build towards a single statement of Purpose - Inclusion on an equal footing of all Samarans who felt called to participate The workshop also inspired some ideas for future experimentation: - A truly effective Purpose would be repeated frequently in Samara meetings. It would have a lively application through all activities. It would be a constant felt presence. It would act as a central organising principle within Samara. - All participants need to fully love the final definition in a way that would give it this vital energy. - It would be worth experimenting with taking the time for integration leading to consent, or even consensus. - This integration was attempted in the January workshop, but it still felt like there were some “winners” and “losers” among the potential definitions. Some participants may have felt disappointed as their proposed definitions were set aside. - The process began with people identifying as individuals, writing their names on sticky notes and taking time to journal on their individual ikigai: - It would be worth experimenting with a process that, from the outset, encourages the participants to leave the egoic “I” at the door - To enter into the shared field with the other participants in order to co-create deeply from this shared space - As defined in our KR, the Purpose needs to be enacted “in a balanced way” - Interpreting this “balance” as relating to yin/yang, the Purpose Revelation Process also needs to harmonise yin and yang appropriately. - In order to keep the Purpose alive, evolving, and relevant, we need an ongoing process to periodically revisiting our Purpose e.g.: - On the solstices and equinoxes, - To reaffirm our commitment to the original Purpose - To acknowledge that it has evolved and should be redefined - There needs to be an ongoing custodian (or custodians) of the Purpose, who undertake to: - Organise the quarterly Purpose Revelation Sessions - Translate and integrate the Purpose into all aspects of Samara’s work - Keep the Purpose alive as the central organising principle **Purpose: The Next Iteration** There is a proposal currently on the table with enthusiastic support (as of 8th April 2021) which is pending approval. This proposal would bring in a highly aligned and experienced external facilitator to run a series of sessions. This aims to build on the learnings from the January workshop, and to explore an alternative approach that emphasises the complementary dynamics of yin intuition and yang practicality. The sessions specifically aim to support Samarans through a process that will: - Harmonise the “professional excellence” of the yang with the “essential brilliance” of the yin, with “essential” meaning co-sensing from Essence, and “brilliance” meaning the bright light of true co-creative inspiration - First birth Samara from the new paradigm of sensing into the future (enquiry, intuition, possibility), and then design and execute the supporting processes from the traditional paradigm (logic, process, deduction), recognising that the Universe holds more answers than we do, so we need to sense into the Field to reach for the highest insights *before* grounding them. - Take the yin-sensed Vision and ground it firmly into yang-sensed Practicality to create an executable plan with clearly defined roles - Embrace the new model of leadership, in which the Work is done “through me” rather than “by me” (“By letting go, it all gets done” -- Lao Tzu) The proposed facilitator is Emily Lane, as she is already known and trusted by many members of the Samara community, who were either present for the call with her on 4th March this year, or have since watched the recording ([https://vimeo.com/519513562](https://vimeo.com/519513562)). [The proposal is here](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a-gtxncHjU7GDUV0A2_RU70l4aOs9FyqOQ2U4aodlZs/edit?usp=sharing). **Timeline of Proposed process:** Preparation: Recording to Prepare Week 1: The Yin Journey Week 2: Yang Practicalities Week 3: Integration Ceremony/Ritual (currently planned to take place at the exact time of the May full moon/supermoon/lunar eclipse) Questions for Enquiry are also being asked at the same time as this proposal is being sought. Material for the purpose and the values and principles which will form around it have started to be recorded in this [Google Document](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CM84VsB1z6WGyybTZe5u_eqPO_83MPUg9k-vfIbS6sQ/edit). We anticipate a clear value proposition synthesising through the combination of these approaches, with the facilitated process using the material added by all participants to collect around a unified and emergent purpose. The collection and wholistic exploration process in the document above takes a comprehensive approach. It covers the following questions: - Who is Samara here to serve? - How will she serve them? - What is Samara’s community of practice? - Who are Samara’s allies? (Mission Circle) - How does Samara fit with/interact with/co-create with the other organisations in the SEEDS ecosystem? - What does the success of Samara look like? What is the vision? - What are the metrics that relate to the vision? How will Samara know if she is succeeding? How does Samara receive feedback in real time to know if she is heading in the right direction? How do we share this feedback data transparently? - What are the values that support the vision? How will these values be embedded in Samara’s culture? How do the roles/archetypes reflect these values? - What is the mission statement? This will provide the container, to let us know what opportunities we take, and which we pass on. - Does Samara have her own essence or is she an emergent property of the many participants? - If she has her own essence, how do we get the buy in/authority/validation/approval from all Samarans? - How does Samara’s essence manifest as a value system in all the aspects of our activities? - If we assume that Samara has called us together for a reason, how does each of us reveal what that individual reason is? In other words, how do we each find a role in relation to Samara? - Share your vision of Samara’s purpose - How does Samara serve your personal purpose and vice versa? - What’s your sense of Samara’s values and principles? - What are your personal values and principles? - How Samara does help to embrace your values and which values/principles does it help to embrace? - What’s your individual vision of Samara and its mission statements? - What could be your part of bringing this vision into the world? - How does it make you feel to be part of Samara? - What Samara is? What Samara represents to you? - What resources do we have? - What really matters for each Samaran and Samara being itself? - What’s your personal gifts/skills/offerings you would like to bring to Samara to reach its goals? - Imagine Samara in 10 years from now. What’s going on? What Samara is creating? What interactions inside and outside of Samara feels like? - What, if anything, do you feel could hold Samara back from reaching its full potential? - How does Samara ensure well being of itself, Samarans and ecosystems and organisations that it’s connected to? # The Fruit of Samara [![image-1618487841747.png](https://guide.hypha.earth/uploads/images/gallery/2021-04/scaled-1680-/image-1618487841747.png)](https://guide.hypha.earth/uploads/images/gallery/2021-04/image-1618487841747.png)A maple seed falls in a characteristic helical motion; the shape of a helix; spiral. ## Introduction When I (Trent) was younger, I always loved playing with samara seeds. I would collect them up – careful not to damage them, and drop them from the highest place I could find. Noticing as they topple for just a moment then, with an almost eerie certainty, "floop!" right into rhythm copter-ing gently on down... landing softly on the grass as I swiftly released the breath I'd been grasping onto. Phew! Relief. Softness. Stillness. Safety. Certainty. ## [![24681823.jpeg](https://guide.hypha.earth/uploads/images/gallery/2021-04/scaled-1680-/24681823.jpeg)](https://guide.hypha.earth/uploads/images/gallery/2021-04/24681823.jpeg) ## Observation It appears the **"*initial transition*** ***from rest to a steady gyration"*** occurs in three steps: **\#First** a **tumble about** **the span-wise direction**, followed by a **tilt towards the vertical** **axis**, **\#Second** leading to the **gyration about the vertical** **axis** and an **opening of the cone angle** before **\#Third** finally **settling into a steady state descent towards Planet Earth**. There is Peace within that Patience. There is Joy & Excitement, anticipating each samara's transition to its own personal fall, it's own transitional drama into the ground. [![image-1618487925159.png](https://guide.hypha.earth/uploads/images/gallery/2021-04/scaled-1680-/image-1618487925159.png)](https://guide.hypha.earth/uploads/images/gallery/2021-04/image-1618487925159.png) The Drama, that's It. The Drama is that story being played out in "real-time", suspended within those critical moments of transition... trusting that yes even the most damaged/misshapen/puny/enormous/ugly seed's leading edge, does indeed, have the Life Source encoding necessary for what Life intends. ## Inquiry Q: **How does Samara settle into its steady-state spiral descent toward Germination?** A **crude analogy** of a wind turbine suggests that the **torque due to aerodynamic force** would **initiate the gyration** of the seed. "*A surprise came when we cut off much of the wing of a maple seed and found that the seed still gyrated about the vertical axis. This immediately suggests that the cause of the gyration has little to do with the steady-state aerodynamic torque.*" "***In fact, a seed with only a sliver of leading edge can still gyrate.***" (However, if the **aerodynamic force is completely absent,** a seed **would fall from rest like a rock** in a vacuum.) ## Conclusion The 3 essential ingredients that lead to helical motion. **\#First** is the **"asymmetric mass distribution" of the seed,** with the **centre of mass "far away from the centroid" of the seed.** **\#Second** is the **"aerodynamic damping that initiates a tilt" of the seed** which **eventually "evolves into a helical motion due to the rigid-body dynamics."** **\#Third** is the **"aerodynamic force in the steady state**" that **"balances the weight of the seed and the centrifugal force**." It appears it is "*the **subtle coupling** between **the initial aerodynamic torque & the rigid-body dynamics***" that distinguishes this case from all the other autorotational mechanisms. It appears it is **"***the **subtle coupling** between the **initial aerodynamic torque** & the **rigid-body dynamics*****"** that distinguishes this case from all the other auto-rotational mechanisms. We now listen as Samara discovers her steady-state descent towards Planet Earth... Study source: [https://dragonfly.tam.cornell.edu/publications/2012\_nonlinearity\_kapil.pdf](https://dragonfly.tam.cornell.edu/publications/2012_nonlinearity_kapil.pdf) # The Origins of Samara The first official cohort of the SEEDS Ambassador Academy was just getting warmed up when it became clear, towards the end of 2020, that a new DHO within the SEEDS ecosystem was germinating within some ripe soil. Drawn to the potential of SEEDS and seeing the possibility for more full time roles, several Ambassadors and Drigo began exploring joining Hypha and the draft plans for Ambassador compensation. Looking into the future, we wondered if Hypha would be the right place for us, and then hundreds, and then thousands of Ambassadors to join. In the spirit of decentralization, and with the desire to create a home for Ambassadors and leaders of the regenerative renaissance, the idea emerged to create a new organization that would complement Hypha, bridging the tools and technology to towns, cities, and organizations around the world. Having studied the sustainability movement and witnessed the rise and fall of many spirited attempts to unify regenerators globally, Drigo felt very strongly the need for this new organization to be built to last. The strong sense he got at the time was that this organization would have a feminine, gentle, inclusive energy that could truly serve as a home for diverse leaders across different cultures, industries, and ages. On the 14th December 2020 Rieki and Drigo were chatting on the Discord SEEDS server about a possible new DHO, and it went something like this... > Rieki: "*Yes, definitely see the (X) DHO (I'm loving Embassy DHO right now) be run, designed, launched and guided by the Ambassadors and other Seedizens that have shown up and wanting to find their place to play. I think Hypha could be very hands off - giving a bit of guidance and support (only if requested) but otherwise letting it take on a life of its own... I see the work you're doing as essential to helping co-create the roadmap for this new DHO... Whereas Hypha is a very explicit roadmap for product launches (Hypha is for building tools) this Embassy is for growing the movement and would have a much different roadmap - this would be a potent tool for unearthing and co-creating that roadmap."* > > *Then we can merge any of the movement building activities Hypha has been doing into this new DHO and leave Hypha focused on the products and this new DHO on movement building (steering, growing, nurturing the Renaissance) - I see this new DHO being much larger in membership and direct impact than Hypha...* > > *Just thinking out loud."* > > Drigo: *"Thank you for sharing your thoughts @rieki and @SanjayRajan I would also really love to hear from folks in the MBC and from some of the original / core team of Hypha. Maybe the best way to do this is to get on a call? Since all of the incoming Ambassadors are relatively new, many of us are not familiar with the concept of the DHO, the long term vision for Hypha, and how SEEDS was envisioned by the core team to work / self govern in the future. It would be great to build this DHO with the next 1 yr, 3 yrs, 5 yrs in mind. What is Hypha's role going to be over that time frame? If we were to create the internal DHO for SEEDS, how might that evolve over the coming years? What organizations do we need to run / steward / host / build our movement over the coming 1 yr, 3 yrs, 5 yrs? I believe as we explore these questions, we might get insight on how to build this new DHO.* > >
*It feels clearer to me after further thought and reading your comments above that this new DHO should simply be the new SEEDS DHO. And that Ambassadors can / should play a role within this new DHO, and that everyone else is invited too! (ok, maybe citizens only?) Within the DHO we can have the ambassador circle, the movement building circle, and other circles with roles as we see fit. I can also envision Rieki and other core members of Hypha being within that DHO.*
> *Again, I think for those of us interested in setting this up, and for all incoming Ambassadors, the natural start is to get on a call with some of the 'core team' to have a debrief and to share ideas about the future so we can build this new DHO with all the info and input we need *
*P.S. on the name of the new DHO, I do like the idea of the Embassy (being the office of the Ambassadors), but I'm also thinking that Embassy and Ambassador are kind of old paradigm concepts / words? Maybe Emissary? And a new paradigm equivalent to Embassy?"*
And thus began the search for a name.
A few minutes later, Roz chimed in with a truly terrible idea (HartigNet), which thankfully everybody ignored:
>
Roz: "*Following this emergent discussion with interest, and would love to be on the initiating call. @drigo and @rieki, I'm fine with Embassy, as being the place where Ambassadors reside. Another suggestion, looking to nature for inspiration, and following on from the Hypha theme, could be HartigNet: according to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartig\_net), the Hartig net is a network of inward growing hyphae, that extends into the root, penetrating between the epidermis and cortex of ectomycorrhizal plants. This network is a site of nutrient exchange between the fungus and the host plant. Seems appropriate!"*
But a few more minutes and a few more Google searches later....
[![Screenshot 2021-04-10.jpg](https://guide.hypha.earth/uploads/images/gallery/2021-04/scaled-1680-/screenshot-2021-04-10.jpg)](https://guide.hypha.earth/uploads/images/gallery/2021-04/screenshot-2021-04-10.jpg)
... which thankfully received a much more enthusiastic response. Drigo and Roz duly hopped on a call, and Drigo invited Irina too. The trio seemed to click, and this being called Samara started to emerge. And then all these other beautiful souls started showing up, and it seemed that Samara was acquiring a life all of her own. Video: Roz's reflections on the new DHO of Samara, recorded one week after the discovery/naming of Samara, on 21st December 2020. [Watch the video reflection here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke3u8be3_I4)
# The Spaces of Samara [![image-1618094063660.jpg](https://guide.hypha.earth/uploads/images/gallery/2021-04/scaled-1680-/image-1618094063660.jpg)](https://guide.hypha.earth/uploads/images/gallery/2021-04/image-1618094063660.jpg) [Listen to the soundtrack here](https://soundcloud.com/thobey-campion-213983793/the-monroe-institute-spindrift-3) Samara is a space that is deeply playful and exploratory, radically open, and spiritually rewarding. We value our relationships and build everything we do on the foundations of trust and reciprocity. We put humans at the center of our decisions (we are a Decentralized Human Organization) and grow through evolutionary change (we are a Decentralized Holonic Organism). “This is about Samara becoming alive.” - Justin Joseph, Samara-Startup-Shaman [Watch the video clip here](https://www.loom.com/embed/82a08a8e7c904f67a287fa34b7eaadf3) The Shamans and Elders are the real magicians of this world, peering into complexity and seeing simplicity, instead of being simple-minded and creating complication!! May we carry the wisdom of this prophetic reading and **manifest** the service to seeds that we are here for! # Synchronicities of Samara According to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity), 'synchronicity is a concept first introduced by Carl Jung "to describe circumstances that appear meaningfully related yet lack a causal connection." Jung held that to ascribe meaning to certain acausal coincidences can be a healthy, even necessary, function of the human mind - principally, by way of bringing important material of the unconscious mind to attention. This further developed into the view that there is a philosophical objectivity or suprasubjectivity to the meaningfulness of such coincidences, as related to the collective unconscious.' Given our working hypothesis that Samara may be an archetypal being that exists in the collective unconscious, and yearns to emerge through the early Samarans, it seems worth paying attention to the synchronicities and serendipities occurring around the time of her coming into our conscious awareness. ## Hilma Af Klint Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) was a Swedish painter and mystic whose paintings resonate in a strange way with Samara. Her work predates the first purely abstract compositions by Kandinsky, Klee or Mondrian (!) and we came across Hilma Af Klint after the first call with conscious coach, [Emily Lane](https://www.emilylane.tv/), who uses the image known as Group X, No. 1, Altarpiece (1915) in her work to represent the yin (the circle) and yang (the triangle), and has a print hanging on the wall behind her during video calls. Below are some highlights of Hilma af Klint's work - be sure to view the introductory video in the presentation. [See the slides here](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vTxfdYVUok_bwi-hGROM9JLTdaQiwwDtvDbHtadkKQKjMEModHOZm7gmpK1oio_B5sX7E2oQykKW6OO/embed?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000) Joachim Stroh happened to see the exhibition at the Guggenheim in New York City at that time and stood (for several minutes) in front of the very same painting that Emily Lane had used to explain the Being and Doing energies of Samara. According to [this website](https://www.kingandmcgaw.com/prints/hilma-af-klint/group-x-no-1-altarpiece-1915-471091?gclid=Cj0KCQjwpdqDBhCSARIsAEUJ0hNGjXSNX1ZbMY1oOusXdcqFJ-NO2bNcV71ioiy5sYkRf8ddB_1pVk8aArE3EALw_wcB#471091::border:50_frame:880603_glass:770007_media:1_mount:108644_mount-width:50_size:496,618), "The three Altarpiece works were the final series in the 'Paintings of the Temple' collection and are possibly inspired by Theosophy’s version of evolutionary theory, in which evolution occurs in two directions, elevating from the physical to the spiritual and descending from the divine to the material world." [![image-1618261148753.jpg](https://guide.hypha.earth/uploads/images/gallery/2021-04/scaled-1680-/image-1618261148753.jpg)](https://guide.hypha.earth/uploads/images/gallery/2021-04/image-1618261148753.jpg) ## **Gabriele Seewald** In late March 2021, we were trying to purchase the domain name samara.earth, but were surprised and disappointed to find that it had already been taken. Rieki did some quick sleuthing and found that it had been acquired by a Gabriele Seewald of Taiwan in January 2021. I (Roz) offered to contact her via LinkedIn. To cut a long story short, Gabriele turned out to be passionate about the Samara name, which had come to her via a friend who had been practising Yoga of Samara, allegedly arising in the Samara Valley of Russia. (I have not been able to verify the existence of the yoga practice, but there is indeed a Samara Valley, the site of an ancient culture \[1\]). Gabi, a deeply spiritual woman, has a strong sense that Samara is an emerging being, connected with Mother Nature or Gaia, who is going to manifest in various forms across the world at this time. She was not at all surprised to hear from me, and to find that our Samara, like her Samara (a health centre in her native Austria) is rooted in the idea of a regenerative civilisation. Our conversations with Gabi are still continuing as of April 2021, and future collaboration seems likely, as we continue to explore what this Samara-being longs to become.
[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samara\_culture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samara_culture)
## The Super Flower Moon
The original proposal to bring in the conscious leadership mentor, Emily Lane, failed due to Samara's then lack of a proper governance process for bringing a proposal. When Roz and Emily set out to pencil in dates for the revised proposal, once our governance process had been put in place, they sketched out a series of workshops to take place on Wednesdays during May 2021.
By beautiful synchronicity, it just so happened that the third and final workshop, the Integration Ceremony and Ritual, falls at the exact time that the moon will be at its closest to the Earth in 2021, a supermoon known as the Super Flower Moon. There is also a lunar eclipse at the same time, which will be visible around much of the Pacific Rim [2].
[2] https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/lunar/2021-may-26
# The Roots, Trunk and Branches of Samara The image that became our first placeholder logo was never intended to be a logo at all. It was just a Powerpoint doodle that Roz did one day after a Presencing Case Clinic with some non-Samarans, in which one of the clinic participants had channeled and drawn a similar image in response to Roz's question about the future of Samara: a tree with deep roots and a heart, representing love, at the point where branches and roots meet. Roz added in the yin/yang element, to emphasise the need for yin/yang harmonisation in the world at large, and for incorporating this harmony into all aspects of Samara's work. [![Screenshot 2021-01-18.jpg](https://guide.hypha.earth/uploads/images/gallery/2021-04/scaled-1680-/screenshot-2021-01-18.jpg)](https://guide.hypha.earth/uploads/images/gallery/2021-04/screenshot-2021-01-18.jpg) This image of the tree then inspired the two initiating circles of Samara - the Roots Circle, to focus on foundational issues such as governance, remuneration, funding, etc., and the Branches Circle, to focus on outreach and engagement. Irina was the first to hold the space for the Roots, and Drigo for the Branches. A little later, in recognition of the need for Roots and Branches to maintain a strong connection, The Trunk Call was initiated. It's a slightly obscure joke: in the first half of the 20th century, trunk calls were long-distance calls made within the same country, and used to have to be booked in advance. \[1\] The symbolism and the biomimetic parallels are important. The ability of a tree to grow tall, strong, and solid depends on the firmness and integrity of its root system. According to Merlin Sheldrake's book, [Entangled Life](https://www.merlinsheldrake.com/entangled-life), the roots are in many ways the "brains" of the tree that govern the exchange of nutrients with the tree's neighbours and its environment. The role of Samara's Roots is to ensure the nourishment of the organism, bringing in the resources that allow Samara to thrive. The deeper and stronger the roots, the further the branches can reach. Likewise, the role of the branches is to bask in the sunlight, allowing the leaves to angle this way and that in order to maximise photosynthesis, generating chemical energy from light energy, thus also contributing to the health and nourishment of the organism. The branches live in the yang realm of the light, above ground, harmonising with the yin, dark, underground world of the roots. The action of each nourishes the other. Above all, trees that live as nature intended are not isolated organisms. Their lives are deeply interconnected, and literally interwoven, with the other trees in the forest, as well as with its other flora and fauna. Likewise, Samara does not exist in isolation. She finds her being in the context of our complex reality. As well as her identity in relation to Gaia, she also touches on all aspects of human living and being - the political, economic, social, technological, legal, and ecological dimensions of our existence. Samara is born out of Nature, and we constantly look to Nature for our inspiration as we explore uncover and discover more and more aspects of her being. \[1\] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trunk\_versus\_toll\_telephony # The Rhythms and Rituals (our Being and Doing) **Rhythms** Over the first few months of its existence, Samara created these Rhythms: **Wednesdays**: Roots call (governance, funding, compensation, etc) **Thursdays**: Trunk call (overlap and alignment of Roots and Branches **Fridays**: Branches call (regional pilots, outreach, engagement, etc) Plus various pod calls and ad hoc calls, often but not always between noon and 5pm UTC. We've been talking about alternating calls between Eastern-hemisphere-friendly times and Western-hemisphere-friendly times, and may well experiment with this in the future. **Regular call Rhythm:** - Each call starts with a minute of silence to settle into the space. - The beginning and end of the minute is marked with a sound from a singing bowl, sacred rattle, or similar. - This is followed by check-ins, so we acknowledge and own any tensions or joys that we are bringing into the collective field (and if these are not named, there is a good chance that our resident shaman, Justin, will pick them up and name them anyway - we appreciate you, Justin!). - A facilitator is then voted in unless a longer term regular facilitator was already chosen. This is done with awareness of the check-ins and opt-outs aired. The method is everyone typing a name and a countdown with simultaneous sending. - Participants are invited to raise agenda items using the chat. - There is a round of check-outs at the end of the call. **The organization faces the challenges of reconciling many interconnected variables:** \- Time zones (from New Zealand to California) \- Tolerance for keeping unusual hours \- Commitments to family, self-care, other projects, etc. \- The necessity of paid work outside of Samara pending remuneration within Samara \- Varying needs for forward planning ("let's have a meeting now!" / "I can fit you in a week on Tuesday") \- Varying needs for yang-time and yin-time ("I'm available for action whenever needed" / "I can be active for a while, but then need time to consolidate and/or do deep work") ** Emerging patterns and considerations for future Rhythms and Rituals:** Joachim has pointed out that Samara does most of its work within calls, while Hypha uses calls more to verify work done asynchronously in between calls. In the future, Samara may wish to shift more towards this pattern. We could explore whether it seems more effective and productive, and/or enables Samarans further to the east and to the west to catch up on some sleep (!). [![Wink sleep balance.png](https://guide.hypha.earth/uploads/images/gallery/2021-04/scaled-1680-/wink-sleep-balance.png)](https://guide.hypha.earth/uploads/images/gallery/2021-04/wink-sleep-balance.png) Like Seeds, Samara recognizes the moon as a cycle. The waxing moon stands for expansion/activity and calls for yang. The waning moon stands for reflection/consolidating and calls for Yin. Samara hopes to start using this moon cycle Rhythm in some ways, but to plan projects on a longer cycle. Our aim is to discover the rhythm that will best facilitate: - Our creative and project needs - Our emerging purpose We also want to discover which rhythms are best made regular and ongoing and which to apply after certain changes in the org. There are current proposals to use dynamically applied sensing sessions and metrics to determine some responses. These aim to check when the threat response is starting to increase in the group. This is not simply a case of changing the external of the group or individual to lessen the felt threat. It is also about having explicit agreed processes to create safety *and* learning and growth out of each opportunity for each member of an org. *Having clear pathways to respond, in the right way, at the right time:* these are models and evolutions we are sensing into.