One foot in the ruins.
One hand in the soil.
A living membership held by a gift economy —
where every member receives the same full sanctuary, and chooses what they give from honest self-inventory.
ON LIVING BETWEEN WORLDS
We are standing at the threshold
The logic of scarcity — that there is never enough, that worth must be earned through exhaustion — was never true. It was a story engrained and repeated so many times that it became like second nature. At A Human Sanctuary, we are living into the de-programming of this story. We are pouring and channeling creation as a direct salve to ourselves and others in a time where the over-culture's constraints and grip become tighter and tighter. We are embodying the alternate story; the way of nature and the way of the interconnected world. This is experimental, dynamic, playful even. This calls all participants to the front and center of our lives. We pour into and receive from the wellspring from which we are all endlessly fed and nourished. Not transactionally, but as a law of nature. We carry the knowing that we are living the values we hope our children, and all generations moving forward, can embody, and simultaneously the humility to know we are not the creators of this design.
We did not invent generosity. We inherited it. It is written into the mycelium, the watershed, the way a fig and a wasp have been completing each other for thirty-four million years. We are only learning to remember what we already are.
THE GIFT ECONOMY AS NATURAL LAW
THE GIFT ECONOMY AS NATURAL LAW
When one is held, the whole web strengthens
The gift moves — it does not stop
What is given is meant to keep moving. When you choose to give more than you must, you are not making a donation — you are becoming a current in a river that carries life to places you will never see.
Receivorship is also a gift
No tree stands alone. Even the most solitary cedar is threaded into a vast web through its roots. The web is strongest precisely because every thread leans on every other. Your need is not a burden. It is part of what makes the web real.
This is the older law — older than markets, older than money, older than the story that we are separate from one another at all.
THE GREEN BOTTLE METHOD — SLIDING SCALE
Choose from a place of honest seeing
All tiers receive the same full membership — The Acorn Circle, the Virtual Island, and self-led How to be Human Coursework. There is no lesser tier. Only you know where you stand. We trust you to choose with integrity.
Below each plan are gentle Self Inquiry Statements to help support you in deciding which tier may be appropriate. These personal finance experiences are provided as guides, not rules. If you do not find yourself included here and cannot afford any of these tiered options, please send us a note as we have donors and supporters who would like to give back and ensure inclusivity for all.
TENDING
55$Every monthI stress about meeting basic needs and don't always make them. I rent or have unstable housing. I have a car but am not always able to afford gas. I qualify for government assistance programs.- ~14/week investment
ANCHORING
111$Every monthI sometimes worry about my basic needs. I have little or no savings and some debt. I am employed part time or am unemployed. I have to actively save to have a vacation. Limited expendable income.- ~$28/week investment
FLOURISHING
222$Every monthI am able to meet all of my basic needs. I have some financial stress. I own my home or rent higher end property. I have some expendable income. I can take an annual vacation without financial fear.- ~$55/week investment
POURING FORWARD
333$Every monthI own a car and a home. I can always afford to buy new items. I have financial savings. I am employed or I don't need to work. I can afford to take time off and go on vacation regularly.- ~$84/week investment
Every membership is billed monthly. Living systems are always in motion, cancel your membership anytime. We only desire alignment in our offerings and are grateful to walk alongside you for whatever period of time feels right for you. This tool, the green bottle method, is adopted from The Sliding Scale: A Tool of Economic Justice by Alexis J. Cunningfolk and Embracing Equity.
WHAT MEMBERSHIP OPENS
Circle of belonging- AHS Membership
Membership holds you inside the three innermost rings. The wider two are open to all.
Retreats + immersives
member discount rates
Community workshops
member discount rates
The Virtual Island
community groups · online
The Acorn Circle
weekly · in-person
Self-led work
How To Be Human
WHAT MEMBERSHIP OPENS
DISCOUNTED RATES FOR MEMBERS & OPEN TO THE WIDER COMMUNITY
The person who pays the Tending rate and the person who pays Pouring Forward are in relationship — whether or not they ever meet.
The seeds are already in the ground
We are not waiting for the new world to arrive fully-formed. We are in a regenerative process with our hands in the soil now. These are small but mighty acts of showing up honestly, of choosing interdependence over isolation. Economic justice, at its heart, is an ecological practice. What flows through you, and what you make possible for another, moves through the community the way water moves through a watershed — feeding things downstream you will never see, completing circles you did not know you were part of.