Celebrating five years, and preparing a chrysalis
Gemma, Iris, Jo & Lily: New Constellations co-creators
Five years ago, over spring equinox 2019, we gathered a group of thinkers, makers and doers at the cutting edge of their fields to explore how we might meet the historic moment of upheaval and uncertainty we are living through. We sent out this invitation, rooted in our research of the previous year, and were touched and surprised at how it resonated with people.
“We are living in an era of huge change and complexity which asks big questions about what will become of us. Our common narratives about the future are mostly dystopian and bleak …Many of us share an apprehension we are failing each other, future generations and our planet. We know radical change is needed, but it will not be enabled by the existing paradigms, which feel antiquated, dysfunctional and obsolete. We want to enable the transformation to something better”.
Inspired by that first gathering and much else, New Constellations was born.
In the five years since, we have created a body of work to help people imagine and shape futures in which humankind and the planet flourish together. We have done this through the development of a methodology for transformation that has become known as the journeys, through ongoing research in the form of 50+ audio encounters and by creating a platform through which we ‘connect, nourish and illuminate’1 people and ideas that can help hasten our progress towards the futures we long for. Most recently, we have created the Mycelium Fund to explore how to share and distribute resources in new ways.
We have had the great privilege of working with extraordinary people across the length and breadth of the UK and far beyond our shores. We have partnered with towns and cities rethinking their futures, with leaders able to affect significant change through the organisations they run, and with young people on behalf of future generations. We have explored and co-created new ways of working, made plenty of mistakes and learned a vast amount.
We are extremely proud of the beautiful, innovative and powerful body of work that has emerged through these collaborations and are deeply grateful to everyone who has contributed to them. We can say with confidence that it has been transformational for many people, just as we recognise that it is one small part of what is needed.
We now share a deep feeling that this particular body of work is ready to evolve further, and need space and time for sense-making and reflection to help this happen in a real way. Such space is not easy to create in phases of growth and action, which is why, together as co-creators, we have made the decision to cease active, outward-facing work as New Constellations for the time being. We have faced plenty of structural and strategic challenges running New Constellations, and know we share many of them with others, but doing this at this time is an active choice we are making, not something we are being forced to do in any way.
Over the coming weeks we will take the organisation into a phase we are calling chrysalis: a time of quiet metamorphosis, as yet unknowable.
Nature’s cycles and processes have always been a big inspiration for us. In the natural world, periods of shedding, hibernation and composting are critical for systems to remain in balance, while metamorphosis necessitates a period of quiet transformation in a pupa or chrysalis.
For a caterpillar to become a butterfly it first forms its chrysalis from a hardened layer of skin, then digests itself, releasing enzymes to dissolve all its tissues apart from certain highly organised groups of cells known as imaginal discs. These discs hold the code for all the features the adult butterfly will need. Once the caterpillar has disintegrated all its tissues except for the imaginal discs, those discs use the protein-rich soup all around them to fuel the cell division required to take new form as a resplendent adult butterfly.
In our chrysalis, we will each take time and space to digest New Constellations and to explore in different ways what future cycles of our work could comprise. As part of this Gemma will be doing some detailed sense-making of the last five years, delving into the story of transformation and possibility that has arisen from the journeys. Lily will be helping different partners practise all she has learnt about how to help birth beautiful and transformational ideas, organisations, processes, projects and systems. Iris is training in Transpersonal Psychology, further exploring the inner work needed for true outer transformation, and hopes to help glimmers of hope and possibility shine more brightly for many more people. Jo continues his beautiful independent audio production work, exploring new edges of investigative reporting.
We have loved working together and will each hold within us the imaginal discs of all we have learned from these first five years of New Constellations. In time, we will come back together to share what we’ve discovered and explore the best ways for our work to continue – and will share our plans for the future as and when they emerge.
For now we are ‘digesting the caterpillar’: reflecting on a very beautiful five years of collaboration, connections and constellations. We will be sharing more learnings and stories with you over the coming few weeks via this blog and our mailing list before we tuck into our chrysalis next month, and would love to hear from you if you have any questions or reflections for us. We would also love to hear what New Constellations has meant to you. You can leave us a short voice note here, or email hello@newconstellations.co if you prefer.
It remains to say that we are so, so grateful to every single person who has so generously supported, challenged and inspired us over the past five years. We look forward to sharing more over the coming weeks, do please get in touch if there is anything in particular you would like to ask us or hear about.
More soon.
Gemma, Iris, Jo & Lily
New Constellations
Margaret Wheatley and the Berkana Two Loop Model https://www.innovationunit.org/thoughts/the-berkana-institutes-two-loops/
Thank you for this beautiful reflection and explanation of your chrysalis. There is much learning for us all in the way you are approaching this next phase. With gratitude for the beauty and hope you have inspired with New Constellations and wishing you all the best for the journey of sense-making.