I'll be presenting a dance session at the Wild Roots Herbal Gathering in a few weeks. I'd love to see you there!
The second annual Wild Roots Herbal Gathering ~ July 2 - 4 ~ Produced for women, by women. A retreat weekend with outdoor classes about herbal plant medicines and their practical applications, the wisdom of plants, healing our bodies with natural remedies, and reconnecting with the earth in sustainable ways. Held at de Uelenspieghel in Uffelte. Workshops will be offered in English and Dutch. All levels of plant lovers are welcome. More information about registration, weekend schedule, teachers and details on the event page. Link to the event page:
Goddess Archetypes and a Woman's Soul Journey
“Lilith is particularly important because her story tells us of the essential role that the suppression of female sexuality plays in the transition between egalitarian and hierarchical culture. She cannot remain in the patriarchal order if she is to maintain her sexual freedom and equality, and the patriarchy must demonize her for her assertiveness. In spite of adversity and exile, Lilith remains independent and wild.” - Hallie Iglehart Austen in her book The Heart of the Goddess: Art, Myth and Meditations of the World’s Sacred Feminine. All images on www.heartgoddess.net
How might our lives and our sense of purpose in this realm be different if every day we passed through a doorway that was carved in the shape of a Yoni? If we were visually reminded, as part of our daily routine, of where we came from, how we arrived here, and that the preciousness of the source of life is embodied within us? Imagine engaging in community rituals in which dance, story and adornment were regular reminders of the sacredness of relationship, self-love, and earned wisdom; or what it would be like to give birth on a lion throne, on a platform over the place where your ancestors were buried.
Thousands of years ago Goddess-revering civilizations flourished all over our beautiful planet. This fact has been well-documented, studied and written about by historians, archeologists, and authors. Goddess images, principles and values have been and continue to be celebrated in art, ceremony, and women’s gatherings around the world. Why, however, do images and stories of ancient Goddesses seem to exist so far outside of modern-day mainstream consciousness? Is it possible that this exclusion is a root cause of ever-increasing global destruction, turmoil, dis-ease, and crisis?
According to archeological data, Goddesses and Priestesses were held in high esteem in ancient cultures whose ruins turned up little-to-no evidence of weaponry and war culture, but instead revealed evidence of reverence for nature, beautiful and sophisticated art, refined architectural design, and egalitarian social structures. Goddesses are associated with values that hold the source of life as sacred, and that honor Nature as the ultimate Mother. Revering the story of a Goddess was (and is) practiced in order to encourage life-giving human behaviors such as creativity, nurturance, sensuality, growth and transformation, healing, courage, earth stewardship, access to higher states of consciousness, and the earning of wisdom through experience. Some Goddesses symbolized and celebrated the natural cycles of life, while others powerfully invoked the act of birthing and the mystery and wonderment of the creative force.
Is it possible that a return to these stories and values could be the balm and guidance that we need to not only nurture and inform our own lives, but to restore a sense of priority and integrity in our decisions around business, commerce, politics, ecology, health care, and relationships?
A relationship with the Goddess is a practice of remembering and embodying our lineage, the source of life, the sacredness of all beings, and our innate capability and responsibility to nurture, protect, and engage in life with well-informed courage and conviction.
Join us in the Red Tent this month as we explore how invoking the stories and lessons of ancient Goddesses and their civilizations can fortify us to take action in alignment with principles of ecology, diversity, and shared lineage. Inspired by the wisdom of our ancestors, we will create a more vibrant and harmonious world with confidence and conviction.
References:
The Heart of the Goddess: Art, Myth and Meditations of the World’s Sacred Feminine, by Hallie Iglehart Austen. All images on www.heartgoddess.net
The Chalice and The Blade; Our History, Our future, by Riane Eisler
Uncoiling the Snake; Ancient Patterns in Contemporary Women’s Lives, edited by Vicki Noble
As a primer for our conversation in the Red Tent, you may enjoy viewing this interview with author Hallie Iglehart Austen regarding her book The Heart of the Goddess on Starr Goode’s series The Goddess in Art, a cable series that originally aired in the 1980’s: https://youtu.be/kpU3obqUrhw
Logistics:
Date: Friday, June 11, 2021
Time: 7-10 p.m., CET
Location: Eindhoven City Center
Cost: Free/donations accepted
RSVP/Register: Email Jennifer
What to Bring: A photo, special piece of jewelry, poem, or figurine that represents your relationship to the Goddess
Update, and another opportunity:
Our in-person gathering Friday evening was divine! As our extended community has grown significantly over the past year, and as this topic was an incredibly deep, divine, and potent one - I am offering a second gathering this week via zoom to accommodate our friends from afar, as well as anyone in the local community that wasn't able to join us on Friday.
Date: Thursday, June 17, 2021
Time: 7-9:30 p.m., CET
Location: Eindhoven City Center
Cost: Free/donations accepted
RSVP/Register: Email Jennifer
What to Bring: A photo, special piece of jewelry, poem, or figurine that represents your relationship to the Goddess
I look forward to gathering with you under the New Moon this week,
Jennifer
Birth Stories
This month of Mother’s Day, we will have a conversation in the Red Tent about our Birth Stories. Each of us has traveled this portal to arrive here. Many of us have birthed offspring; some of us have yet to; and we all experience the exhilaration and angst of birthing through our innate well of creative resource in myriad ways throughout our lifetime. We each possess within us the divine instinct and impetus to conceive and cultivate, tend, nest, nourish and nurture. Our experience of this process is wrought with great hope and joy, and often equal amounts pain and loss; even devastation.
There are stories, lore, artifact and extensive bodies of work that have explored the history and anthropology of women’s roles in modern and ancient societies. Many apparently quite sophisticated ancient civilizations crafted images and statues of women and goddesses giving birth, nurturing children, and shamelessly and sensuously displaying scenes of pleasure, confidence, and love. Many academics and historians have suggested that this is evidence that women in ancient civilizations held high status, and were honored and revered as the embodiment and source of life for the community. Women, Priestesses, and Goddesses were also depicted in ancient art as protectors, and the embodiment of Mother Nature, an association that suggests profound respect, relationship with, and care for the source of all of life.
Birthing and all that goes with it is not a small or cavalier topic that we can “cover” in a few hours together. We would need many months to fully and properly appreciate and honor each woman’s experience of birthing, and perhaps many years and deep anthropological, sociological and psychological inquiry to begin to understand how and why culture and practices around birthing have changed so dramatically.
It is possible and in fact likely that some of us have suffered traumas in our birthing experiences. In the modern age of hospitals, social and economic inequities, clinical procedures, pharmaceuticals, and technological oversight of the birthing process, women look to doctors and other professionals to guide them through the process. A compelling question that lingers for me is how birthing and all that goes with it was transferred from the realm and authority of midwives and wise women, to the auspices of clinicians and, for a long time, male-dominated, professions of science and medicine.
In the spirit of inquiry, great care, and reverence for women’s holistic experiences, past and present, we will bring attention to our felt experiences, as well as our dreams, challenges, unspeakable joys, and even regrets. The significance and breadth of the birthing experience for women, children, families and societies cannot be underestimated. In this most tender, vulnerable and potently transformative – universal - portal for women and children, we will begin to investigate together how the process of giving birth imprints our psyches, our physiology and neurology, and our social and societal fabric.
We will hold each woman with tenderness and care, offer space and sincere attention to hear what wants to be shared and acknowledged, and share opportunities for healing where that may be necessary or desired.
Wherever you are in your journey as a woman, please join us for this most essential inquiry.
Logistics:
Date: Tuesday, May 11, 2021
Time: 7 - 10 p.m. CET
Location: Zoom/TBA
Cost: Free/donations only
RSVP/Register: Email Jennifer
What to Bring: A photo, trinket, poem, or other small item that represents the portal of birth for you
References and further reading:
The Heart of the Goddess; Art, Myth and Meditations of the World’s Sacred Feminine, By Hallie Iglehart Austen
The Chalice and the Blade; Our History, Our Future, By Riane Eisler
The Business of Being Born Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DgLf8hHMgo
The Goddess in Art TV series: The Triple Goddess: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqy4H8ABFiE
Birth and Death; Creation and Destruction: Emerging Renewed
Once again we meet the pivot of the dark moon. What in you, in your life, is dying? What is emerging new? What in the world as we know it is dying? What is emerging renewed? What is scaring you? What is inspiring you? What is naturally being shed like an old skin, and what is spiraling in you that will animate this next phase in your mission as a human?
Paying attention to cycles and seasons can anchor us into the reliability and inevitability of birth and death, creation and destruction. One cannot exist without the other. In a way, being part of this wildly alive and oscillating matrix of living and dying can be reassuring, even exciting; on the other hand, it can be – and often is – terrifying. And painful. Being alive inherently implores a ritual process of letting go, as in the bleeding phase of the menstrual cycle, a snake shedding its skin, a tree releasing its leaves to ground-covering compost in the fall, or the death of a beloved elder. Coming to terms with the impermanence of everything and everyone around us can be painful; coming to terms with the impermanence of who we are (or, perhaps more accurately, who we think we are) can also be disorienting. Yet such transitions are inevitable.
Thus, the reassuring cliché “this too shall pass.”
While dark moons offer us a cyclical encounter with the process of death, new moons and the springtime usher in divinely inspired opportunities for re-birth and growth. Yes, divinely inspired.
When spring is in the air, the forces of nature are more easily harnessed and available for our growing momentum; for the growth of our gardens, our psyches, our life’s work – our healing. For our part, the wisdom and discipline is to notice, to drop in; to be keen listeners and observers, to feel it and to go for it – whatever “it” means for you. Each of us a tiny cell in the intricate web of everything, there are gazillions of other cells counting on us to do our unique and creative thing – to keep our shine on and to connect with the shine in all the other little cells; to do our part, keep our temple clean and healthy, and hold hands with the others in solidarity.
This body that we inhabit, this vessel – this temple - is ours to steward, heal, and experience life – and death – with and through. This body, sovereign and whole in its own right, infused with the mystery as well as the capacity for logic and free will, is beckoning for our love and attention on this day of the dark moon.
Dark moons are for letting go – even if for just an hour – into quietude and deep listening. Springtime is an invitation to embody the creatrix – with our imaginations, our hands, our inner knowing.
Kali, Hindu Goddess of Destruction and Rebirth
By you this universe is born, by you this world is created.
By you it is protected, O Devi. By you it is consumed at the end.
You who are eternally the form of the whole world,
at the time of creation you are the form of the creative force,
at the time of preservation you are the form of the protective power,
and at the time of dissolution of the world you are the form of the destructive power.
-Devi-Mahatmaya
What in you is dying? Is there something in you, in your life, that needs to be destroyed, or cast out?
Relieved now of decaying tissue, the weight of past experiences and thought patterns, what in you is shining forth, renewed and refortified?
Embody courage. The world is ready.
References:
The Heart of the Goddess; Art, Myth and Meditations of the World’s Sacred Feminine, by Hallie Iglehart Austen
Kali Rising; Foundational Principles of Tantra for a Transforming Planet, by Rudolph Ballentine
The Minoan Snake Goddess
I loved our gathering last night. Menstruation and all of the tenderness, vulnerability and watery emotion of womanhood is so fascinating to me - most essentially I think, for its value as our infinite source of holistic, benevolent, healing power.
I've been studying a bit about ancient Minoan culture and it's deity, who graced our altar last night; The Minoan Snake Goddess. Minoan culture (the ruins of which are still present on the Greek Island of Crete) is known for being an ancient society of true partnership with nature and among men and women. In Rhian Eisler's book, The Chalice and The Blade, Minoan Crete is identified as a civilization characterized by robust health and vitality, sophisticated art and social life, and overall conditions of peacefulness and ease for all of its citizens - which, from the archeological evidence, seems not to have had a hierarchical ruler or ruling class, or weapons of war. I find it profoundly interesting that such a culture would be represented with an image of a bare-breasted Goddess and snakes (belly to the earth!). Soft belly to the earth.....
Gratitude and appreciation to all who attended and shared!
Women's Day and Ecofeminism
“You’ve got to be small and different.”
— Dr. Vandana Shiva
In honor of Women’s Day, I signed up for a three-day advocacy course with Dr. Vandana Shiva on Ecofeminism, through her organization, Navdanya. Women from around the world dialed in to hear about Dr. Shiva’s most recent work, and to be encouraged and inspired to be confident protectors of land, soil, seeds, food, and human rights.
Read more about Navdanya here https://www.navdanya.org/site/ and here https://navdanyainternational.org/.
I have followed and admired Dr. Shiva’s work for decades. Her voice is a persistent, lucid, and fierce international presence in the realms of organic farming, world-wide agriculture policies and widespread corruption, colonization and technocratic interference with indigenous sovereignty and natural systems of resilience.
“The future will be what we seed.”
- Dr. Vandana Shiva
I am an inexhaustible activist by nature in the areas of women’s health, food as medicine, bodily sovereignty, medical freedom, and in my inconsolable desire to activate human potential. As an Ayurvedic and Chinese Medicine practitioner I have been trained to seek, understand and address root causes of imbalance and dysfunction. This leads me to be keenly interested in ecological disruptions, women’s health (and therefore human health and well-being), the up-rooting of humanity through mass displacement and perpetual crisis (trauma), food and housing insecurity, and thus, necessarily, political and economic corruption and grassroots activism. Currently I am delving into issues of soil health and seed security by aligning with gardening experts and activists around the world, and by getting my hands into the soil to tend and discern the lessons held at the roots of life on this planet. All of these issues, of course, are one and the same in their implications for human and planetary health and vitality.
In a conversation about how to be effective in methods of stewardship and activism in the face of massive, extractive and manipulative global powers, Dr. Shiva tells us that “You’ve got to be small and different.” Top-down mechanistic power structures seek to impose uniformity, conformity, and monocultures of the mind – in exactly the same way that mechanistic, market-driven agriculture debases the soil by planting low-nutrient, genetically modified single-species crops for volume and profit. Dr. Shiva guides us instead to cultivate relationships in our local communities and with our natural environment, and to learn and practice indigenous regenerative agriculture methods that favor crop diversity, rich nutrition, and a reciprocal relationship between the land and all who inhabit it.
Through patents and intellectual property rights that now aggressively claim ownership of seeds – laying claim to life itself – corporate agribusinesses are increasingly seeking to bully, conquer, manipulate and master land, food, and the right to farm the land in India and around the world. Dr. Shiva teaches, writes and implores individuals - especially women - to disrupt this pattern by taking responsibility to study and engage directly with the living systems in our local environments in order to create ecosystems and communities based on co-evolution, partnership and relationship; driven by what women bring naturally – an appreciation and deep connection with the aliveness and vulnerability of our world, nurturing care, sensitivity, awareness, compassion and love.
How do we come together to effectively dismantle/disempower power structures that extract, manipulate, and seek to colonize and capitalize on every aspect of Nature’s bounty – seed to harvest, birth to death, from cellular structure to spirit and soul? After years of advocacy on various issues myself, I suspect the way to do this will have to do less with opposing or fighting anything or anyone, as this is exhausting and leads to more and more physical, emotional and psychic violence. I imagine that getting in the trenches; hands in dirt – heart-to-heart and shoulder-to-shoulder with our neighbors – will be the way to steward the Earth in a way that will make our ancestors smile and ensure abundant landscapes for our grandchildren and great-grandchildren to inherit.
In conversation about the lessons she’s learned as an activist and food and soil protector, Dr. Shiva had this advice for us: (some comments are paraphrased)
· “Hold your ground.”
· “(Cultivate) resilience.”
· “Keep doing the right thing.”
· Don’t wait for external funding to start or motivate your actions. External funding means that you will be indebted to the wishes of those who financed your projects.
· Take action with commitment, conscience and courage.
· Walk lightly; be extremely sensitive. Let the universe take care of you. Give your bit; do your best, but do not expect an outcome.
· Life does not thrive with the imposition of top-down orders. Mechanical systems dissipate energy. Life thrives when it is tended with the love, compassion and nurturance of women.
Read Dr. Shiva’s book Oneness Versus The One Percent.
Watch the trailer for the soon-to-be-released documentary about her life, Seeds of Vandana Shiva:
“Monsanto’s worst nightmare...”
Read about the farmer’s protest happening in India now, and the history of agricultural policies and corporate take-overs that have harmed India’s small farmers for decades.
https://navdanyainternational.org/30-40-years-indian-farmers-protest/
Read recent reports published by Navdanya:
http://navdanya.org/site/eco-feminism/women-feed-the-world
https://www.navdanya.org/site/eco-feminism/the-earth-rising,-women-rising
Open Invitation to a Conversation About Beauty
What if Beauty were not about a woman’s body shape, skin-tautness, or camera-ready display of pseudo-confidence, but a portal?
What if the mundane – chores, random interactions, daily routines of “doing stuff” – were each a unique opportunity to activate a heightened state of awareness; wild aliveness; vivid, awe-inspiring Beauty.
What could shift if, instead of expending our precious energy in perpetual busy-ness and a constant stream of “stuff to do,” we instead pro-actively cultivated Beauty in each seemingly bland opportunity to engage with the world; with the wholeness of our bodies, with other beings, and with the aliveness that inhabits literally everything in our surroundings.
What if a true sense of Beauty is in our ability to see, hear, smell, touch, taste, and sense with profound sensitivity and clarity?
During this free community conversation, we will explore where our perceptions and pursuits of beauty in modern times have been misguided and led us astray. We are inviting you to embark on a journey to reclaim Beauty as our inherent, glorious nature – that which is born of, shared, and infinitely regenerative, as a function of our relationship with Mother Nature Herself.
This free-of-charge gathering will be an introduction to our 8-session series that will train us to invoke the divine in every aspect of our lives. On this extended journey, you can expect to get to know yourself more intimately through Ayurvedic assessment of your constitutional nature, guidance on gentle, personalized seasonal detoxing, holistic nourishment, and potent and luxurious self-care practices.
Regardless of whether you decide to join us for the full 8-session experience of Beauty Rituals – you will not want to miss this eye-opening, celebratory invocation of infinite Beauty as our guiding principle for high-level wellness and deeply satisfying engagement with all that this human experience has to offer...
Please contact Jennifer or Jasmijn to register.
Date: Sunday, March 21, 2021.
Time: 5 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. CET / 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. EST / 8 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. PST
Place: Zoom
Cost: Free
Conversations in the Red Tent: The Divine Art and Ritual of Menstruation
“In the Tantric tradition, a menstruating woman is considered to be at the height of her power, ‘a true transmitter of the life force, able to act and respond with true wisdom’. It is the loss of contact with this innate wisdom that has led to the distortion of menstrual power into menstrual symptoms.” – Lara Owen, Her Blood is Gold; Awakening to the Wisdom of Menstruation
There are historical and anthropological accounts from all over the world that demonstrate regard for menstruation as a crucially important, sophisticated and sacred experience in a woman’s life, from menarche through menopause. Contrary to modern attitudes about menstruation that implore girls and women to be discrete, medicate, and tolerate discomfort at “that time of the month,” traditional wisdom guides us to rest deeply, turn inward and experience the wisdom and magnificence of our bodies. When we recognize that physical and emotional symptoms that accompany menstruation bring us crucial information and insights meant to be tended and pondered deeply, we engage in a natural and powerful process of developing true health, resilience, maturity, and earned wisdom – a practice that may be well characterized as feminine spirituality.
The Red Tent – or Moon Lodge – is a place dedicated to rest and deep listening; it is here where we offer undivided attention to our bodies, the wounds and lessons of our past – even our lineage – and our dreams. It is here where we develop the ability to be sensitive, compassionate, confident friends, daughters, lovers and creators of the world we live in.
In our modern re-imaginings of traditional Red Tents, we are making time and space to appreciate the sacredness of all of life once again – and honoring our blood as a vessel of life’s essence. Taking a wider view, re-installing the delightful spirit and teachings of menstrual rhythms into our psyches and therefore the fabric of our communities, we are rebuilding the conscious physical and social infrastructure necessary for embracing habits and lifestyles that holistically honor Mother Nature and her cycles. This is how ecological regeneration will, over time, manifest as intuitive, embodied habits, and how healthy, confident women will once again become an anchor of love and true sustainability in the world.
Our meditations and conversation under the New Moon this month will be dedicated to cultivating our relationship with menstruation as a ritual for renewal, connection to the divine, and a celebration of life’s essence. It is here where we develop healthy respect and relationship with all elements of a life well lived.
Recommended (not required) reading: Her Blood is Gold; Awakening to the Wisdom of Menstruation, by Lara Owen
Logistics:
Date: Saturday, March 13, 2021 (New Moon)
Time: 7 - 9 p.m. CET
Location: Zoom
Cost: Free/Donations Welcome
Register: Email to RSVP
Looking Ahead:
Monday, April 12, 2020 (New Moon) : Birth Stories
Tuesday, May 11, 2021 (New Moon): Goddess Archetypes in a Woman’s Soul Journey
Wounds, Grace, and Superpowers
I was recently invited to offer some inspiration for healing at a forum on the global issue of violence against women and girls at Webster University, Athens. This essay is what came through me and what I offered at the event.
I would like to talk with you about Wounds, Grace and SuperPowers. The way I’d like to do that is by talking about the practice of the Red Tent for Women, the power of our cyclical nature, and what we have to gain, and to offer, from being in intimate alignment with our own cyclical nature and that of Mother Nature herself.
I am a trained natural healer of many stripes. I also consider myself a “wounded healer.” I know I’m not alone in this. In fact, I will go as far as to say that we are the daughters, mothers, sisters and stewards of a wounded humanity…. We bear the wounds of our own lifetimes, and of our lineage, wherever it is we hail from. We are in a moment where humanity the world-over knows the ruthless smack of war, forced displacement, slavery, exploitation, sexual abuse, domestic abuse, economic crises, homelessness, hunger, deep social and political division, and ironically, illness caused by habits of endless excess and exhaustion. We are more disconnected from ourselves and others than perhaps ever before, giving ourselves to constant busyness, and often, for our nervous systems, and our bodies that don’t often enough receive the benefit of our attention, gentleness and care, there is a feeling of being in a constant state of crisis. While technology has brought us many incredible developments and conveniences, it also brings perpetual news and influence – much more than we can reasonably keep up with and process emotionally and spiritually.
It is my intention today to remind us that we have a very powerful ally in our corner, nourishing us, holding us, offering us Her wisdom all day, every day – if we slow down enough to perceive what is right before us, and in fact, within us. Our Mother Earth – her nourishment, her seasons and her cycles, for women in particular, is an infinite resource and inspiration. When we remember how to listen deeply, tend to vulnerabilities, harness her power, and to be her ecological stewards, we will be making enormous steps towards personal and collective health and harmony.
I’d also like to talk about the notion of Grace: Merriam Webster defines grace as
“ unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification.”
This spiral is a diagram of everything – oversimplified, but infinitely true. This is simply and elegantly how the living world works. In this spiral we can map life cycles, infinite patterns of birth, growth, manifestation, death, decay and regeneration; also the circulation of blood through our arteries and veins; the perpetual expansion and contraction of waves rising and falling, cycles of breathing in and breathing out, moons shining brightly and becoming dark again, and, most essentially, our very own cyclical nature as women.
Making these connections, of course, is not original wisdom on my part.
In traditional cultures such as Native American and others, there was the notion and practice of the Red Tent – a gathering of women at the new moon, also called a “moon lodge,” where women went to rest and be together when they were menstruating. They engaged in self-care, conversation, meditations, and this is where the young were guided by the mature women of the tribe. In Lara Owen’s powerful book for modern women entitled Her Blood Is Gold; Awakening to the Wisdom of Menstruation, she shared her personal experiences, as well as her extensive academic research into modern and traditional attitudes and practices around menstruation. She documented numerous tribal cultures that viewed this extraordinary feminine phenomenon as Sacred. Sacred as life itself. In fact, what comes through as an overall theme in her writing, is embodied in the beliefs of the Cherokee tribe, that “the menstruating woman is performing a function of cleansing and gathering wisdom, that is beneficial not only for herself but also for the whole tribe.” (pg 33) She writes that “Our monthly shedding is a key to our own renewal, our health and our personal power. Every month we have the opportunity to renew and refresh our whole being, physically, psychologically, and spiritually.” Thus, in the modern red Tent, we reclaim this gift and responsibility to tend to our vulnerabilities as well as our dreams, to re-align with the wisdom of the natural world, and thus to holistically empower ourselves.
Long before we were living under fluorescent lights and in front of screens, women would tend to menstruate together, at the time of the new moon; the darkness nature’s cue to encourage deep rest, deep dreaming; allowing space for important insights to come in the quiet of these tender moments when women are most sensitive and attuned. As we let go of our blood and metabolic debris, so too do we have the opportunity to process and let go of emotional debris.
Most of us will relate to tears and discomfort being experienced as this time, even rage. These are messages from deep within us, meant to guide our way forward. Our task is to responsibly, gently, with great forgiveness and ever-evolving maturity, transform the metabolic and emotional residue of painful experiences, and even tragedies, into insights, wisdom, and a renewed sense of purpose and courage.
The principles of Yin and Yang, from traditional Chinese medicine offer another rendering and perspective on the relationship between darkness and light, masculine and feminine, expansion and contraction, seasons and cycles, which we embody.
By honing our sensitivity and cultivating the art of going with the flow, we collect our nuggets of truth as we go, shedding skins, growing, transforming, slowly, slowly, month by month. Year by year. It is a beautiful, graceful, powerful, difficult process. It often hurts – and it is not to be taken for granted. We must come to understand these energies, our bodies, our emotional life, and we must engage with courage and great intention. In doing so, we more intimately understand the Mother Herself – correct choices become more obvious and more compelling, as we recognize Her patterns, Her vulnerabilities, and Her power in ourselves. In modern times, in the circumstances in which we find ourselves, the imperative is to slow down in order to feel, to let go, to heal, and to finally break free from our patterns of pain, abuse, and extraction.
Grace is our surrender to nature, coming to terms with our pain and vulnerability and also coming to terms with the power of our creative and thoughtful actions. Grace is deep listening, keen observation. Grace is forgiveness. Grace is being humble and rising from the ashes of despair to be in true service to humanity, ecology, and holistic vitality. Grace is communities of women coming together in genuine support of one another to tend our sensitivity, celebrate our beauty, and to stand as anchors of hard-earned wisdom, emotional intelligence, and humanitarian integrity, and to be catalysts for positive change.
What is inevitable is that this process of generating momentum and power happens with or without our conscious engagement…..cycles of expansion and contraction, extroversion and introversion, joy and pain, chaos and calm are guaranteed to be in store for us. The process of birth, growth, decay, death and rebirth – as we witness in the elegance of a flower from bud to bloom to wilted compost – goes on with or without our conscious engagement with it à So what happens if we do not engage? If we avoid the storms, or pretend they’re not happening, or we medicate our pain for years on end, stuff our emotions with comfort food and our bloated bellies into skinny jeans? The powerful energy of hidden agony will inevitably gather momentum and collide with other repressed emotions and wounded beings, and patterns turmoil, illness, and violence will erupt again and again and again.
As empowered women, what kind of storm do we wish to unleash in this world?
Feeling deeply into the shadow aspects of ourselves gives us clarity and insight to choose our actions wisely. When we emerge in our more expansive, expressive phase of being; when our ideas and our work - having been generously tended, nurtured and encouraged - are ready for the world; there is no stopping us. Our capacity to speak truth articulately, to create and collaborate according to our core values, and to connect with others in a meaningful, harmonious and productive way, becomes exponentially more effective. We develop the ability to act and speak with clarity, confidence, and conviction. We develop the courage to say YES to life when it is aligned with our desires and when it represents an opportunity to grow, and to say NO with grace and conviction when it is necessary to set a boundary. Imagine the ecological impact we will have when we ourselves are intimately and blissfully aligned with the natural order, when we know it in our cells, because we have learned to catalyze healing and vitality through our own felt experience.
In practicing our skills in community - among our Sisters - in the tradition of the Red Tent, we develop an innate sense of belonging, as well as a sense of responsibility. We learn that we ourselves are sacred and essential pillars, each firmly held by, and ultimately responsible for, holding up the structure and integrity of our communities.
I would like to share a quote from Judith Duerk’s book, Circle of Stones; A Woman’s Journey to Herself:
“How might your life have been different, if, as a young woman, there had been a place for you, a place where you could go to be among women…a place for you when you had feelings of darkness? And, if there had been another woman, somewhat older, to be with you in your own darkness, to be with you until you spoke…spoke out in your pain and anger and sorrow.
And if you had spoken until you had understood the sense of your feelings, how they reflected your own nature, your own deepest nature, crying out of the darkness, struggling to be heard.
And, what if, after that, every time you had feelings of darkness, you knew that the woman would come to be with you? And would sit quietly by as you went into your darkness to listen to your feelings and bring them to birth…so that, over the years, companioned by the woman, you learned to no longer fear your darkness, but to trust it…to trust it as the place where you could meet your own deepest nature and give it voice.
How might your life be different if you could trust your darkness…trust your own darkness?”
In closing, I will ask us to stretch even further and ask:
How would our world be different if every month over the course of a lifetime, every woman comes back into her center, into a deep sense of herself, and what feels right and in alignment with nature, and what feels wrong, and that through that meditative, sacred process, month after month, year after year, she continually informs and refines her purpose, her actions, her priorities, her confidence, her relationships with other powerful women and her impact on her community and the world. How would our world be different?
Rituals and Intentions: Building an Altar
I spent yesterday afternoon conceiving and creating the altar for last night's gathering. Being in deep Winter, and feeling much of the world's anxiety, I wanted to design something that would nourish and harmonize the Water and Fire elements; what I like to think of as the Heart-Womb axis. In Chinese medicine we seek to balance the elements of Water and Fire in the body.... the very essences of Yin and Yang. To represent the Fire element I placed a deep red, heart-shaped candle in the center. I surrounded it with pieces of Dan Gui - an herb that nourishes the blood (which is related to the Fire element) and is commonly used to treat women for menstrual imbalances and general states of deficiency and depletion. I placed a circle of seashells around the perimeter to represent the Water element - the deep, dark salty waters that rise and fall across a majority of our planet and drive its rhythms; and a sprinkling of black sesame seeds in the inner circle - a natural food source that nourishes our "Yin" essence. The candles were lit in honor of each woman present, and to invoke the presence of other women whom we named in our circle with the intention of sending each one blessings and healing energies generated during our gathering.
It is the intention of the Red Tent that we ourselves will benefit from our ritual practice of self-care and self-awareness, and also that our families and communities will benefit from our devotional engagement with the nuance and complexity of our life experiences.
