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| photo by the amazing Silvana Rigobon |
“…everything an Indian does is in a
circle, and that is because the power of the world always works in circles…The
sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are
all the stars.
The wind, in its greatest power, whirls.
Birds make their nests in circles, for
theirs is the same religion as ours.
Even the seasons form a great circle in
their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of man
is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power
move.”
Black Elk, Oglala Sioux Holy Man
Over the past years, I
have found women’s circles to have profound healing power. They are the perfect
space for women to come together and share. A women’s circle can be run for all
sorts of reasons, the choice of topics are endless. You can have reading
circles, knitting circles, art circles, grandmother’s circles, full moon
circles, online circles, red tent circles, dancing circles and so many other
circles!
Being part of women’s circle
has been a wonderful experience for me, first because it was inside a women’s circle
I was able to recognize that regardless of where we come from our stories are
far from different, and secondly because it was inside a circle that I started
sharing who I truly am.
When I first started
attending women’s circles, many years ago, I thought I wouldn’t fit in and that
I wouldn’t be able to relate to anyone, that somehow I would be different. Soon
I realized being from Mexico was no different than being from Italy, England,
India, Spain, Croatia or Zambia. Being a woman in any part of the globe means
we know what pain and suffering means and feels, either because of physical, spiritual
or political repression that still exists in our countries and we are able to
feel the collective pain or because we have actually suffered a painful
situation ourselves, and I mean, who has not suffered in their life’s?
When I started attending
women’s circles I always felt very emotional, I couldn't even pronounce my name without bursting into tears, the intensity of my unspoken emotions where
too much for me to be able to share. You see, I was raised in a family where
things where just not spoken, it was always better to pretend nothing was going
on than to speak openly and truthfully, so sharing wasn’t part of me. But the beauty
of a woman’s circle is that it has the capacity to hold you and support you in
whatever situation you may be in. There is no pressure for you to share, the
sharing happens willingly. You can just sit and listen to other women’s stories
and identify yourself with them as ultimately we are all mirrors of each other.
Talking in a circle
can be scary but it can also be very liberating, Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes
says that sharing our stories has the power to heal us and this is exactly what
a circle of women does, it heals you.
Jean Shinoda Bolen in
her book The Millionth Circle also talks about the basic principles of a circle
and about how some circles may come to an end. I feel that a circle will
sustain itself as long as it has been created with utmost love and respect for
all things. However, I also believe we are all evolving all the time and so
some circles may be transitory circles.
I must say I am now
part of the most beautiful women’s circle and I feel truly blessed for having
so many sisters around me who I have come to admire and love with all my heart.
Each one of them has amazing talents and so much wisdom, the times we’ve been
together had been like a huge bubbling cauldron of pure raw wisdom! They’re all my blood
sisters, sharing a common blood, our moon blood.
All these beautiful, wise,
talented and powerful women have all been part of my years’ apprenticeship
program with Alexandra Pope. I must say that been part of this beautiful nourishing
circle has helped me grow down deeper into myself, have a deeper connection
with who I am and a clearer idea of my path and my calling. The beauty of this
circle is that we’re all riding the magical wave together and going through
the ups and downs of life, but as I said before, a circle has the capacity to hold
you and nourish you until you feel safe enough to go out on your own and spread
your wings. I feel our year’s apprenticeship program with Alexandra has done
exactly that. It has given us the capacity to unroll our wings one step at a
time and so we are now ready and free to fly!
Life is sometimes too
hard to walk on your own and so you need a circle of women to carry you on…
Belinda x
