We all know the power of a women's circle, call it by another name, your BFF's, your peeps, your warriors, your support group, your best girls, your what ever you have named it.
They are there to celebrate with you, to hold you up when you are down and feel out, they are, they cry with you, laugh with you..make you laugh even when you don't want to, they are an ear and a shoulder for you. They don't judge, look down on you or make you feel like you are nothing, or crazy, they hold your hair and rub your back when your head has kissed the porcelain bowl! And, they love you no matter what!
I have had the opportunity to have many circles of strong, vulnerable women who allow me to be me, encourage me to get up or lie down for a little while, if that is what I need. I don't know where I would have been if I didn't have that love and support, especially over the last little while, well, ok all year last year, 2018 was, for me, a year of letting go....and I am still working on it.
The words below are not mine, and yet, they are. They are borrowed from the Blog of Sacred Earth Journeys.
I give you this to ponder, with the hope that you will consider joining in a circle of women to share, encourage, inspire, heal and empower each other to make our communities and the world better than we found it!
The History of the Women’s Circle
Throughout history, women have gathered in sacred circle. Be it around a fire in prehistoric times, within hushed monasteries of the Middle Ages, in consciousness-raising groups in 1970’s living rooms or online groups in the digital age, women have long congregated to laugh, share, heal, care for children, grieve, and spiritually connect in community.
In such gatherings, women can experience a deep authenticity within themselves – a truth or ‘realness’ that is often lacking as we tend to our day-to-day lives and its multitude of roles and responsibilities.
Within the structure of the circle, there is no hierarchy; each woman’s voice is equally important, her story honoured and received fully. In this sacred space, a collective power is harnessed. And when there is focused intent on healing – individually and collectively – magic happens. The support, creativity, and sharing of ideas that is fostered in women’s circles has the power to translate into something much larger and more palpable. There is a ripple effect that positively impacts society at large.
Why We Truly Need Women’s Circles Today
It could be said that in these transformative times of global conflict and economic uncertainty, the women’s circle is needed more than ever. In the words of renowned Jungian analyst and writer Jean Shinoda Bolen, “When women come together and make a commitment to each other to be in a circle with a spiritual center, they are creating a vessel of healing and transformation for themselves, and a vehicle for change in their world”.
It is the Dalai Lama who stated in the 2009 World Peace Summit visit to Vancouver, BC that the world will be saved by the western woman. Though feminine qualities of interconnection, vulnerability, relatedness, and cooperation have historically been undervalued in a patriarchal society which largely celebrates individuality, dominance, and competition, there is a growing sense that a mass planetary awakening is occurring. Despite outward appearances of destruction and decline, human consciousness is evolving at a very rapid pace and, in these shifting times, feminine principles are central – if not essential! – to the new world that is being birthed.
The Millionth Circle Initiative
In 2000, Jean Shinoda Bolen and several other women were inspired to create the Millionth Circle Initiative, an organization whose intentions are “to seed, nurture, and connect women’s circles, to bring the circle process into United Nations accredited non-governmental organizations and the 5th UN World Conference on Women (2020), and to be a means through which women’s circles become aware of being part of a larger movement to shift consciousness in the world.”
There is no doubt that women’s voices are more important than ever, and the circle remains the perfect place to plant the seeds for a new vision for humanity based on love, connection, and compassion.
~ Aleya Abdulla and Sacred Earth Journeys
I want to invite you and your friends for a Girls Nite Out - The Gathering and let's start a group where we can build, heal, support and support each other and maybe, just maybe heal our community.
Check out The Heddeka Group Facebook page for dates.
Hazel
hazel@heddeka.ca