White cottage with front porch and lush garden in a peaceful neighborhood.

Bright Morning Star

  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Established
  • Home-sharing
  • Urban

Founding year

  • 1979

What we do

Bright Morning Star is a small urban household, formed to support our members in their social justice and artistic pursuits. Located in Seattle, we enjoy many benefits of city living, including a wide range of friends and interests outside our home: Quaker meeting, music, environmental and social justice organizations, Native American cultural revival, and the Northwest Intentional Community Association, among others. We share chores, food, mostly vegetarian meals, and meet regularly, making decisions by consensus. Our workdays honor the continued well-being of our home, and our celebrations recognize the Light within each of us. Occasionally one of us spontaneously bursts into song. We began as part of the Life Center Community in Philadelphia in 1979. In 1985 our core group of two couples (gay and straight) combining incomes and co-parenting three children moved to Seattle. Although members have come and gone over the years, we are still committed to maintaining a pleasant, cooperative, multicultural and nurturing environment for personal growth and social activism. Our “Solar Plan” is now complete: Two sets of solar panels produce large portions of our hot water and electricity; it’s quite a thrill to see the electric meter running in reverse. We now have an electric vehicle, which is partially charged by our solar system.
Invited guests are welcome. Advance notice required.

Our Mission

Supportive family, ecological/sustainable living patterns, social justice

  • Purpose
  • Home-sharing
  • Community type
  • Coliving
  • Sustainability practices
  • Renewable energy systems
  • Activities
  • Property management
  • Networking

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 1979
  • Started planning
  • January 1, 1979
  • Started living together
  • 5 Total members
  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
5

How to join

When openings occur, we advertise on http://seattle.craigslist.org and or the NICA website: https://nwcommunities.org/listings/, as well as social media, primarily the Seattle Cooperative Housing Network group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SeattleCooperativeHousingNetwork . This link will take you to our membership form: https://forms.gle/FgEoZEXDamTuuriC8. We select the most promising responses and interview the people at meals. If things look good we schedule a second meeting within a few days, during which we check references. When a person is invited to join, they will move in for a 3-month trial period, and post a $500 deposit bond. At the end of the trial period, we hold a “clearness” meeting, where each person testifies as to the opportunities and challenges presented by the person’s membership. Then, if all are in agreement, the person is admitted to full membership.

Basic expectations or agreements for members

Write at least two weeks in advance, either by email or with a SASE. All visitors are approved by the group, so tell us something substantial about yourself, particularly your purpose in visiting. We are small in size and short on time and energy to share with visitors, but welcome those who may share our interests.

Primary decision-making authority

  • Small Leadership Group

A few people (not elected by the broader community) make the major decisions.

Decision-making process

  • Full Consensus

Everyone must agree before moving forward.

Governance structure

  • Collaborative/Horizontal

Power and responsibility are shared relatively equally among members.

Conflict resolution approach

Everyone living here who has undergone a formal “clearness” process is considered a full member. Decisions about the long-term structure of the house (roof, energy systems, etc.) are made by the property owners. All other decisions are made by the entire group of members.

Economic model

  • Independent Finances

Members maintain separate personal finances with minimal sharing.

Economic scenarios for this community

  • Members need to pay fees, dues, or similar to live there on a per month or per year basis
  • There is a labor obligation
  • Members typically need to have their own job or other personal source of income to cover their expenses while living in the community?

Additional economic information

Regular fees: $1236
Labor: Yes (3 hrs/week)
Members with pre-existing debt: allowed
Cost-sharing, Non-profit rent level, Debt has no effect on membership, Weekly chores, Bi-monthly work days. Deposit of $500, applied to last month’s rent share, cost-sharing; amount varies depending on number of sharers. Note that the monthly cost share amount listed above*includes food*.

Shared resources and amenities that are accessible to everyone in the community

Garden(s), Outbuilding(s), Outdoor Kitchen, Internet

Frequency of communal meals

  • 2-5 times per week

Significant food acquisition practices

  • Locally sourced

Dietary restriction

  • People can cook and eat what they want in their own residence

Community activities and engagement

  • Neighborhood, Community Housing, or Homeowner's Association
  • Organization, Resource, or Network

Substance use culture

  • Substance use occurs primarily at celebrations or ceremonies
  • Substance use is prohibited in the community
  • Religions
  • Quaker

Gender composition

  • Roughly balanced (no group over 60%)

Age demographics

  • Mixed adults (few or no children)

Property status

  • Privately owned

Property owner

  • By several individuals through an LLC or a Tenancy In Common agreement

Setting

  • Urban

Within city limits with access to urban amenities and infrastructure.

Community type

  • Coliving

    Shared living spaces with private bedrooms/bathrooms and communal
    kitchens, dining, and social areas.

Sustainability approach

  • Renewable energy systems

Self-produced energy

  • Over 66%

Energy sources used

  • Photovoltaic Solar

Self-produced food

  • Up to 33%

Local, organic, or fair trade food

  • 33 - 66%

Food systems

  • Community garden
  • Land area size
    0.1 acres

Guest Book

Written reviews are available for plus members. Click here to upgrade.

Our Members

Illustration of a person with glasses and a beard representing community values.

Jonathan Betz-Zall

Logo of the Foundation for Intentional Community with interconnected circles.
302 NW 81st St
Washington, United States
Bright Morning Star
  • Climate adaptation
  • 1 more

Location

  • Washington, United States

Bright Morning Star

Needs and Offers

Connecting people and communities through an intentional online marketplace

  • Promoted
  • Events
6 days ago

Healing Love Healing Money: Trust As The Foundation For A New Culture

Money, love and power are among the hardest things any community works with, and many of us carry the same fears into both: not having enough, losing what we have, and the sense that if someone else gets money or love, we won’t. Healing Love, Healing Money: Trust as the Foundation for a New Culture is taught by two intentional communities. Karen McAllister and Duncan Cryle are from Clear Sky Meditation and Retreat Center, a Buddhist-lineage community in the BC Rockies. Monika Alleweldt and Benjamin von Mendelssohn from Tamera Healing Biotope, a community of about 160 people in southern Portugal that has spent decades studying love, trust and relationship. Clear Sky has spent years working on its relationship with money, and our two communities found surprising parallels in the fears beneath both. Over four sessions we explore the roots of fear around money and belonging, love, possession and power, trust as infrastructure (community as a container for healing), and ethical livelihood. We use short meditations, body-based practices, reflection and small-group conversation. You do not need to be in a romantic relationship or live in community. When: October 27, Nov 3, 10, 17. All four sessions: 12–2pm Vancouver, 1–3pm Alberta, 7–9pm UK and Portugal, 8–10pm Central Europe. Note: US and some Canadian provinces change clocks on November 1, so the US west coast is 12–2pm on October 27, then 11am–1pm for the remaining sessions, and Eastern is 3–5pm on October 27, then 2–4pm for the rest. Cost: sliding scale Details and registration: https://www.clearskycenter.org/event/healing-love-healing-money-online/  
October 27, 2026 13:00 – November 17, 2026 15:00
  • Promoted
Offer
  • Promoted
Need
  • Promoted
Offer
  • Real Estate For Sale
4 weeks ago

Beautiful 3+ Bed, 2.5 Bath Townhome in Established West Emerald CoHousing, Seattle

A rare home is available at West Emerald Cohousing, an established all-ages intentional community in West Seattle. For those considering a move to the Pacific Northwest—or hoping to join a mature community rather than one still in the forming stages—West Emerald offers decades of community life, beautiful gardens, shared resources and a peaceful setting within the city in a convenient location since 1999. This unit has a unique floor plan that is ideal for co-buying, co-living, or for one household. The home itself offers a flexible 3+ bedroom, 2.5 bath layout: Garden-level room with a separate exterior entrance and half bath—ideal for a home office, studio, guest space or client-facing business Main-level bedroom and full bath, laundry, making one-level living possible Open great room with large windows overlooking gardens filled with birdsong Well-designed kitchen with generous storage and pantry Two additional light-filled spacious bedrooms and a full bath upstairs Thoughtfully maintained and updated Located at the end of a common pathway for added privacy and garden views, Just feet from parking, which is out of view West Emerald community amenities include: Common House with gathering and activity spaces Community meals and events Mature gardens and shared outdoor spaces Workshop/maker spaces and bike barn Exercise room EV charging opportunity Excellent Metro access to Downtown Seattle just minutes away Nestled into a dell, it’s Seattle’s best-kept secret South Seattle College and lifelong learning, NW Wine Academy, the Seattle Chinese Garden are nearby, with easy access to Alki Beach, Lincoln Park, magnet schools, ferries, and the shops and restaurants of the West Seattle Junction. 6000 17th Ave SW, Seattle, WA Is a wonderful opportunity to have your own comfortable, private home while becoming part of a vibrant and well-established Seattle all-ages cohousing community. For more information contact the friendly Realtor at 206-579-9066, or at ki**********@**********te.com who will be happy to meet you there or do a facetime tour.
  • Promoted
Offer
  • Communities with Openings
4 months ago

Do you feel called to help co-create a small, newly forming eco-spiritual community?

Old structures are crumbling. New ways of living are calling. We are answering that call. Wild Grace is an eco-spiritual community located in the Sierra foothills 30 minutes from Grass Valley, California. We recently completed new homes for those who feel called to our vision. Currently there are four of us living on this sacred 80 acres of land although we are a hub for an expanded neighborhood community. Many join us weekly for potlucks, expressive dance, Qi Gong, monthly musical gatherings, and seasonal celebrations in our temple, as well as tending to our orchard. We are excited to welcome others to join us on the land who are dedicating their lives to spiritual growth and ready to live in a more focused and intimate heart-centered lifestyle. Might that be you or someone you know? The fundamentals are simple. Spirit. We listen personally and collectively together most mornings, usually starting with a musical offering, a prayer, or a short reading, followed by about 40 minutes of what we call “sacred silence.” Heart Circles. About once a week we gather to share and listen. We are informed by authentic and compassionate communication practices. Nature. The land itself—an 80-acre oasis of field and forest perched above the wild and scenic South Yuba River—calls for our stewardship in the gardens, orchard, greenhouses, and general care. In turn, nature feeds us abundantly, both literally and spiritually. Interbeing. We join with others to share inspiration and connection as we host monthly gatherings of song, story and prayer that draws from the larger community in addition to other events we share with our closer neighbors. As we attend to these fundamentals, Grace flows to and through us—often in “Wild” or unexpected ways. Grace catalyzes through us, but is not something we possess. Because we all are connected, we feel that Grace actively transforms n
Offer
  • Professional Services
4 weeks ago

Community Planning, Facilitation & Coaching for Intentional Communities

Through Radicle Collective, I support intentional communities and the people within them as they navigate the practical and relational work of building life together. My work can include visioning and community planning, facilitated conversations and retreats, decision-making and governance design, conflict transformation, establishing group agreements, culture-building, and individual or group coaching. I work with communities at many stages – whether it’s a few people exploring whether to live together, a fledgling community developing its foundations, or an established community in transition or conflict. I draw from training in psychology, coaching, urban and regional planning, facilitation, Nonviolent Communication, permaculture, and related practices to approach community as a living system – one shaped by individual needs, relationships, shared structures, place, and the connections between them. Rather than bringing a single model for how community should work, I help groups understand what is happening across those different layers, surface what matters, work honestly with difference, and create structures and practices that support connection, agency, belonging, and the values that brought them together in the first place. I’m based in Berlin and available to work online or in person, depending on location and scope. I offer sliding-scale pricing and am open to creative forms of exchange where appropriate. If your community is forming, stuck, changing, or simply wants some skilled outside support for an important conversation, I’d be glad to explore what might be useful. You can learn more about my work and get in touch at radiclecollective.com.
Need
  • Communities with Openings
4 weeks ago

Looking for Founding Members to Join us

We are looking for someone who lives in Oregon or would like to live in Oregon who wants to help us clean up our new far, property and start building some off grid housing, compost toilets, fireplaces for cooking and building the farm out. We have about 10 acres and several barns, power on site for small wall tents for campers, solar panels we can setup and sooo soo much more to do.  Ideally this person would be around our age, late 20’s -early 30’s, family friendly as we have a daughter and family out sometimes. We are not looking for “anarchist” who see the glass half full and wants to ‘burn down the system’ as we farm and sell to the public, we rely on the system to pay our bills… that is really the only caveat. No hard drugs and no hard political opinions as we prefer to focus on our back-to-the-land culture, not the problem we cannot control outside the farm.  You tired of the noise and want some solitude? To get your hands dirty and build a farm from the ground up with a bunch of like minded people. All I want to do is feed people and have fun while we do it. I don’t want to try and fix the world, just rebuild the one directly around us into an oasis that we can enjoy each and everyday while keeping our moral compass pointing north. Some things to know – We do smoke pot. We like electronic and bass music sometimes and organize festivals and renegades, we still like to have fun, but when on farm, you would never know. We are super easy to be around and just want some friends who can enjoy this farm opportunity and make the most of it with us.  Kids are OK! Pets on a per person basis. Rent is negotiable ($100-300/month) with work trade being mandatory at 4 hours per week. Anything beyond that goes towards rent. Please reach out if interested or have any questions.    Kindest Regards, DJ & Reagan 

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