We enter sacred space as Joanna Macy, a beloved teacher, Buddhist scholar, eco-philosopher and founder of the Work that Reconnects, is in her final days on this Earth. She is resting in her Berkeley home, surrounded by family and the prayers of thousands worldwide, traversing the threshold between worlds. She surrenders into death just as she lived her life: with wonder, awe and a fierce love for life as her steadfast guides. As she hovers in the liminal, she often opens her arms wide, or dances her arms through space and whispers “Wow.” 

That word—Wow—has echoed through Joanna’s life and work, and through the hearts of all who have been touched by her teachings. Through many decades of activism, spiritual practice, and deep inquiry, Joanna helped us fall madly in love with the living Earth, again and again.

Her legacy of The Work That Reconnects offers a transformative spiral journey through gratitude, honoring our pain for the world, seeing with new eyes, and going forth. It is a map back to our aliveness and interconnectedness with all life. It is also a set of tools and practices to help us stay present in a time of profound unraveling, and to act with courage, clarity, compassion and a fierce love.

Pachamama Alliance owes a deep debt to Joanna’s legacy. Her teachings are woven into our vision, our community, and our programs. Like our Indigenous partners in the Amazon, she reminds us that the Earth is alive, sacred, and communicating all the time—and that listening is a revolutionary act that can support us in our evolution as a human species. In the face of ecological devastation and cultural fragmentation, Joanna calls us into active hope.

"Active Hope," she wrote, "is waking up to the beauty of life on whose behalf we can act. We belong to this world."

Her presence has animated the Pachamama Alliance's global network: informing our symposiums, guiding our Earth Listening Circles, and offering language for what so many of us feel but could not yet name. She taught us that our pain for the world is not a weakness but a portal into and an expression of our love and deep belonging.

In her words: "The heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe."

In the spiral of her life, Joanna has served as scholar, environmental activist, mother, grandmother, elder and mystic. From translating Rilke to studying with Tibetan monks, from organizing protests to teaching living systems theory, she invited us into a deeper, more participatory reality. A reality where, as she said, "We are our world knowing itself."  

She offered a powerful framework of three stories shaping our world: Business as Usual, which upholds systems of exploitation and extraction; The Great Unraveling, which names the collapse and crises we are witnessing; and The Great Turning—a bold transition toward a life-sustaining society.

Joanna reminds us that we each have a vital role to play in the Great Turning: whether through acts of resistance that defend life, the creation of new systems rooted in justice and care, or the deep inner work of shifting our worldview—from one of separation and dominance to one grounded in interconnection, sacred reciprocity, and love for all life.

Now, as she prepares to leave this world, Joanna continues to weave us together in our grief and gratitude for her life and legacy. And in her dying, she reminds us how to live with reverence, courage, and awe.

We invite you to join the global prayer for Joanna in her transition at 12:30 p.m. PT each day this month. Not in any one place, but everywhere, wherever you are. To honor her is to keep listening and loving our world. To see with new and ancient eyes. To remember that we ARE the Great Turning. As she said: "Walk boldly through your life with an open, broken heart."

We deeply bow and thank you, Joanna, for all the ways you have awakened our hearts and illuminated the path. 

“I live my life in widening circles

that reach out across the world.

I may not complete this last one

but I give myself to it.

I circle around God, around the primordial tower.

I’ve been circling for thousands of years

and I still don’t know: am I a falcon,

a storm, or a great song?”