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...”

https://vimeo.com/518756378

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

Read more about the intentions for the full 8-session experience, Reviving the Divine Feminine (and the World) in a Ritual of Beauty here. 

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.  

The Opposite of Addiction is Connection

I've been thinking a lot about this Ted Talk that made such an impression on me when I first heard it years ago. I've never forgotten this sound bite: "The opposite of addiction is connection." Johann Hari's compelling story and research on the essential - in fact critical - nature of social connection offers a context for conversation about our individual and social well-being, after a year of "locked-down" conditions, with no end in sight.

• How are we coping? How are we adapting? Are our adaptations "healthy?"

• How will this affect our social fabric in the long-term? Our Elders? Our children?

• What role can women play in the healing necessary in this moment?

• How do we move forward from here?

Your experiences, feelings, and unique insights on this matter are invited to be voiced in our sacred circle.

Logistics:
Date: Wednesday February 10, 2021
Time: 7-9 p.m. CET
Where: Zoom – please RSVP to register
Cost: Free/donations welcome

Register/RSVP: redtent@heartwombandsoul.com
If you've already registered, you will receive a zoom meeting link one day prior.

Looking Ahead/Spring Gatherings:
(Dates TBA, on or around New Moon)

March: Menstrual Rhythms: Menarche through Menopause
April: Birth Stories

Conversations in the Red Tent: Human Connection

Let’s lean in, look into one another’s eyes, experience smiles and tears together – as is the tradition of the Red Tent - and have a down-to-earth heart-to-heart conversation about the implications of (a year now) of social isolation, the power of human touch to heal, calm and connect, and how we evolve in this moment as a community of deeply empathic, wildly alive women dedicated to a resonance of love, self-care, and profound respect for our shared humanity.

I look forward to hearing what’s on your mind and in your heart. 

Date:  Wednesday February 10, 2021

Time:  7-9 p.m.

Where:  Zoom – please RSVP to register

Cost:  Free/donations only

Read More about the Red Tent Here.

Reviving the Divine Feminine (and the World) in a Ritual of Beauty

Guided Meditations and Practices to cultivate the Art of Divine Beauty

 Beauty is the very essence of being alive. 

It exists and persists in cycles and spirals of birth, growth, glorious manifestations, and even in the predictable and essential processes of decline and death. 

The resonance of beauty can be felt and sensed in robust, authentic expression; it naturally captivates.  It can be witnessed in the process of being born; in fiery eruptions; a wholesome harvest; wind traveling through grass and blowing leaves off of trees, and clouds floating across the sky.  It causes our eyes to widen as we behold the fierceness of ocean waves; and it softens us when we experience the gentle waters of a clear-as-glass lake.  It touches us – activates us - from the inside.  It is experienced as recognition or familiarity, awe or yearning, and may evoke sensations of tingling, excitement, deep contentment, or even aching.  It is part of the universal order of things and is inherently regenerative. 

Our notions of beauty have been tweaked and engineered into ideas, images, products and actions that have confused the human psyche, and tragically dimmed our creative potential, and even our self-worth.  Efforts to “achieve” beauty, though usually well-intentioned, have been misinformed, splintered into alienated parts and rote mechanized protocols, and delivered via industry and airbrushed imagery, as have our notions of health and “health care.”  Where true beauty has been desecrated, perverted, commodified and faked, dullness, illness and devastation of all kinds have become widely accepted manifestations of “normal.”  Somehow the once-divine notion of beauty was corrupted and convoluted with false images, nebulous standards and unnatural and un-healthy efforting; and “health” was rendered a dissociated measure of linear scientific variables. 

  True beauty shines from behind the eyes.  It emanates from the heart’s divine pulsations, and each delightfully sensuous cycle of breathing in and breathing out.  Beauty is the luminescence of our complexion, the suppleness of our belly, the agility of our fingers, the grace of our movement, and the curvaceous resilience of our backbone.  Beauty is the sounds, shapes and words that invoke presence and send love into the world.  It is the mystery and effervescence of the sacred alchemies that animate our human bodies.  It has been named and theorized as “Essence,” “Ojas,” “Jing,” “fertility,” “creative potential,” and “divine spark.” 

True, wholesome, divine beauty will guide us home to ourselves and our beautiful planet. 

Drawing upon traditional arts and sciences, our own lived experiences and experimentations, and our insatiable desire to witness, share, and cultivate beauty, we invite you into a forum where together we will nourish, cherish and re-invigorate our innate capacities as daughters of our divine Mother Earth.   

This gathering will be an active engagement with the creative force and an inquiry into the myriad opportunities to imbue our bodies, our relationships, and our world with practical utterances of wild, wholesome, pleasurable aliveness.  We will engage and cultivate our senses and sensitivities to revive and reinforce our relationship with natural beauty, high-level physical, mental, spiritual and emotional wellness, and ultimately nurture and activate our divine creative potential. 

Meet the facilitators:

Jasmijn van de Loo is an Ayurvedic Practitioner, Herbalist, Mental Coach and Caretaker. Because of her background in Vedic studies and humanism, she has always been interested in the meaning of life and the idea of life as a piece of art and beauty. There are so many ways to approach beauty in philosophical, physical, emotional and practical ways. “I am looking forward to exploring this magical field of life with you and sharing some of my ideas and practical ayurvedic tips and recipes.”   www.ayurvedischcentrumeindhoven.nl

Jennifer Moiles is a Certified Ayurvedic Practitioner and holds a Master’s Degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine.  She considers healing an art, and a healer’s role to be that of a midwife, catalyst, disruptor, fellow journeyer, and community organizer.  “By nourishing our roots, cultivating our connection with our innate wisdom, and aligning with the Earth’s bounty in a relationship of reverence and reciprocity, mundane tasks of self-care become opportunities to engage with the divine and ignite the wildness of human vitality and wholesome creative potential.  Importantly, when individuals come together with the intention to hold space for healing and growth, infinite ripples of potential to shift in big ways will travel and gain momentum through relationships, family dynamics, local communities and nations.”  www.heartwombandsoul.com

 Logistics:

This holistic journey will be rich with luxurious beauty rituals, lifeforce-activating healing arts, and sacred inspirations.  It will be a wholesome experience for women of all ages who wish to engage meaningfully in with all of life, and cultivate radiance that shines from the inside out.  Our space will be well-suited for individuals, mothers and daughters, sisters, aunties and friends.

This 8-session bi-weekly course will begin in March.  

Sundays, 3-5 p.m. CET:  March 28, April 11 & 25, May 9 & 23, June 6 & 20, July 4

Fee Structure:

We are so passionate about what we do that we would do it for FREE; however, there are costs associated with our investment of time and effort, and practicalities of living that we must provide for.  Please choose the level of contribution that is comfortable for you.  A basic supply kit for creating beauty rituals is included with the “Friend” package.  A luxurious supply kit will be included with the “Supporter” and “Whole-Health Enthusiast” levels of contribution.   Scholarships are available.  Inquire directly with the facilitators. 

Friend:  100 Euro

Supporter:  250 Euro

Whole-Health Enthusiast:  500 Euro

Contact Jennifer or Jasmijn with questions or to reserve your spot.

Thanksgiving Blessing

I’d like to offer the intention that our food and gatherings today will support us in cultivating greater health, higher states of clarity and compassion, as well as the courage to be agents of holistic well-being in our deeply troubled times.  I’d also like to offer gratitude for the gifts that each of us brings to the literal and metaphorical table, and for all of the blessings of Nature that bring bounty to our table and our lives. 

Peace and Good Eating

Conversations in the Red Tent: The Art of Seasonal Harvesting for Wisdom and Renewal

Harvesting lessons for wisdom cultivation, giving myself to darkness that fertilizes dreams, and sowing seeds of renewal is what the fall season implores for me.  

This annual phenomenon of late life glory role models what it means to gracefully let go, how to allow and bear witness to the natural process of decay and death, and how nature deeply appreciates the wisdom and well-earned beauty of life that has aged.  As the nights have become darker and farmers have been delivering ripe fruits and nourishing roots, the tenets of the ‘Honorable Harvest’ that I learned from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s writings during this past year (see below) are deeply inhabiting my dreams, and my yearnings for a renewed way of life.  I am gently releasing parts of my emotional landscape that have served me, taught me - in some cases tore through me - to embark on more wholesome ways of relating to the earth, an organic sense of “home” and belonging, and ever more intelligent and authentic ways of relating to other humans as well as the other inhabitants of the planet. 

According to Robin Wall Kimmerer, a renowned professor of environmental and forest biology and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, as written in her book Braiding Sweetgrass, if the guidelines for an Honorable harvest were to be “made official” (generally they are not in traditionally oral cultures, but they are well understood and faithfully practiced), they might look something like this:  

“Know the ways of the ones who take care of you so that you may take care of them. 

Introduce yourself.  Be accountable as the one who comes asking for life.

Ask permission before taking.  Never take the last.

Take only what you need.

Take only that which is given.

Never take more than half.  Leave some for others.

Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.

Use it respectfully.  Never waste what you have taken.

Share.

Give thanks for what you have been given.

Give a gift, in reciprocity for what you have taken. 

Sustain the ones who sustain you and the earth will last forever.”

Upon deep introspection, for me, living according to principles of the Honorable Harvest would begin with manners of self care, community and living with purpose that vigorously question and challenge the norms and currencies of civilized societies.  In short, in a digital, chemicalized and commercially driven society, it is my experience that what feels like the honorable choice is usually not convenient, quick, or widely celebrated.  Holistic choices are – perhaps necessarily - cumbersome, expensive, and made where no one is looking.  

Trees majestically demonstrate the graceful art of letting go of what’s old, allowing its once lush flora to tumble on the cool, crisp breeze back to the earth; creating a thick, nourishing carpet for the forest floor and compost that will nourish and protect many roots and life forms in the immediate environment. 

Our human processes of letting go according to seasons and cycles can and do turn up in fits of grief or other strong emotional discharge; the menstrual cycle; seasonal allergies or illnesses; or intuitively knowing that a change is imminent or necessary.  The natural urge to let go can show up as personal, relational, community, or ecologic turmoil.  The process of change and releasing what is old and stale can disrupt our equilibrium and therefore feel profoundly uncomfortable, so it is exactly at these moments when the deep nourishment of well-prepared, organic seasonal foods, meditation, gentle movement practices, and deep rest will be supportive and very likely transformative.  

“I think we are called to go beyond cultures of gratitude, to once again become cultures of reciprocity.”  - RWK

I would like to invite our community into a conversation about what the notion of ‘The Honorable Harvest’ means for us city dwellers, and how we can be proactive stewards for earth and a wholesome humanity.  How would the principles of The Honorable Harvest urge us to change our way of relating with food?  Earth?  Loved ones?  Strangers? Community?  Commerce?  Our self care?

“It is an animate earth that we hear calling to us to feed the martens and kiss the rice.  Wild leeks and wild ideas are in jeopardy.  We have to transplant them both and nurture their return to the lands of their birth.  We have to carry them across the wall, restoring the Honorable Harvest, bringing back the medicine.”  - RWK

The winds of change are upon us.  Let us breathe slowly and deeply and make the choices necessary to cultivate health, wisdom, and resilience. 

Join our Red Tent Community for a forest walk and conversation this week:

Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Time: 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Place: Eindhoven, contact host for location

Plan for rain or shine!

Please email to RSVP

Read more about the Red Tent here