As I tend hundreds of seedlings for the Magical Farm nursery…replanting rhizomes, stirring biodynamic preparations, making my living compost, I notice how plant rhythm steadies the day. Weeding, watering, planting: each gesture is a small prayer, a promise that care and reciprocity are the real foundations of community.
Alongside this, I’m navigating the maze of council planning. The demands, endless forms, fees that run into the thousands, compliance without care, reveal a system that separates rather than connects. Ratepayers fund these bureaucracies, yet the very people building homes, gardens, and farms find little guidance at the point of need. It’s a design that outsources stress back onto households and small farms.
What if we turned the model on its head? What if planning became a service rooted in care? Imagine planners who walk alongside residents: site visits, practical advice written straight into a plan, co-design rather than nit-picking from afar. That is convivial governance: trust and reciprocity instead of suspicion and separation; service in place of control.
This Super New Moon in late Virgo invites a different rhythm of learning, one that moves like a living process. I want to acknowledge the Astro Priestess Roundtable, Cayelin Castell, Jaime Goldstein, and Mar Guerrero, for supporting me to listen for this season’s question. At the heart of our time is the call to be peacemakers, in our hearts, our homes, and our institutions. For me, that means bringing Michaelic courage: naming what harms without hardening the heart, meeting the system as it is while standing for what it can become.
So here are the seeds I’m planting:
From policing to partnering. Replace desk-bound critiques with on-site guidance and co-authored notes that become part of an application.
From opacity to clarity. Publish simple, visual checklists for common rural projects (nurseries, sheds, composting, no-dig beds).
From delay to rhythm. Introduce predictable timeframes and modest fees for small, regenerative works; scale support with community benefit.
From extraction to reciprocity. Measure success by soil health, safety, and community capacity, not just processed forms.
May this eclipse season help us remember that governance, like gardening, is sacred service. May we design systems that grow trust, reciprocity, and care. And may our collective roots find fresh ground.
With love,
🌿 Dr. Demeter (Emily Samuels-Ballantyne)
P.S. If this speaks to you, tell me one small policy “seed” you’d plant in your own street or council. Let’s practice, integrate, and share, so the learning reproduces and the garden grows. It’s so important to cultivate a new imagination and culture in this space.
