How Women's Circles Can Change the World
"A circle of women may just be
the most powerful force known to humanity.
If you have one, embrace it.
If you need one, seek it.
If you find one, for the love of all
that is good and holy, dive in.
Hold on. Love it up. Get Naked.
Let them see you. Let them hold you.
Let your reluctant tears fall.
Let yourself rise fierce and love gentle.
You will be changed.
The very fabric of your being
will be altered by this, if you allow it.
Please, please allow it."
~ Jeanette LeBlanc
"We have to believe in women's ability to work magic." This sentence struck me to the core when I heard it a couple of weeks ago.
It was a mother's response to her son, who had come home from a university environmental science lecture feeling scared, having learnt the hard truths about climate change. He asked, 'Mom, it's over, it's irreversible - what can we do?'
And that's when she told him that we have to believe in women's ability to work magic. He responded, 'ok, I can do that' and ever since, I've been reflecting on this woman-magic and the new possibilities that arise when women get together in circle.
This month we're launching our new 'TreeSisters Groves' project, where we'll support treesisters from around the globe to create their own women's circles to gather in sisterhood on behalf of nature. And it's inspired me to share four things that the timeless practice of women's circles have taught me about our ability to work magic to create change in our world...
One: They remind us we're emotional creatures, and that's ok.
In a world where reason is valued highly, and emotion often seen as weak, an evening with women who are openly sharing their feelings is powerful medicine. Listening to the challenges, joys, frustrations and longings of other women calls us home into ourselves as a feeling creatures.
We are reminded that the willingness to be receptive and to 'feel what is' weaves us into interconnectivity with all things. This connection to Life awakens our care for Life - inspiring a river of love that can fuel our sacred activism in the world.
Two: They root us back into our cyclical nature and remind us to take care of ourselves.
We women ebb and flow with the tides and experience nature's seasons within our own bodies. But in a world that values productivity above all, it can be so easy to forget our cyclical nature and push ourselves beyond our limits, can't it? Even an hour with a circle of women can plug us back in, and help us harness our energy and creativity when it is at it's height, as well as remember to stop when it's time to rest and renew.
Imagine what millions of resourced, nourished women who take exquisite care of themselves could create on this planet of ours?!
Three: They heal our bodies.
There are healing keys within the female body. One of them is Oxytocin, the 'Love Hormone' which helps to activate the rest and digest part of our nervous system, support our immune function, reduce stress, and help us feel grounded, safe, and part of a greater whole.
Women's circles are an Oxytocin-filled haven; deep listening with no agenda, hugs and nourishing touch, feeling seen, met and accepted just as we are, and a sense of kinship all activate a flush of oxytocin and it's host of healing effects. With the chronic illness epidemic that is currently affecting millions of women globally - women's circles could be a powerful key to help women create and maintain full health.
Four: They help us step into leadership and commit to our life work.
So many of us are feeling the call to step out into greater leadership in our lives. And we know we can't do it alone. We can do it because we are part of a sisterhood, part of a movement that recognises our togetherness as a gateway to life's limitless intelligence.
When we get together, we actively awakens our feminine nature - the part of us that can more easily expand beyond our limited sense of self, into the sea of collective consciousness. From there we can tap into endless resources of creativity and intelligence to inspire our work and embolden us as we lead - the same intelligence that make the tree roots grow, and the waves rise and fall and the planets orbit the sun.
Would you like to create your own Women's Circle?
Stepping into conscious togetherness as women can be one of the most powerful acts of healing, activism and invocation of a new paradigm that we can do. It can also serve as an invitation to ignite on behalf of nature and take action about the things that matter most to us. Alone we can be astonishing. Together we will be unstoppable.
Written by Sophie Jane Mortimer
Art by Claudia Trembley
Sophie is committed to 'being the invitation' that TreeSisters is calling women into. She is dedicated to the sacred feminine spiritual path of honouring Nature's cycles both within and outside us as our teacher, mentors and healers. She dreams of a world of millions of enlivened, resourced, connected women who gather together to re-create our relationship with our precious Earth.
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