"The connections between & among women are the most feared, the most problematic and the most potentially transforming force on the planet."
-Adrienne Rich
The world we live in is filled with many complicated relationships among women. As women living in the modern world, it’s easy to get caught up in a scarcity mentality. It’s easy to feel that other women’s success means that we can’t succeed, to feel that we must compete with each other rather than support each other. I want to live in a world where women support each other and lift each other up, a world where we know there is enough for us all and we can help each other to find what we need. Gathering in women’s circles is one of the most important stepping stones on the path to that world.
Women have been gathering circles since prehistoric times. They would gather to prepare food, to share stories, and to support each other. In modern times, our society has shifted to a much more linear culture which often doesn’t permit space for deep connection. I have found that the environment that is created in a circle of women is very different from that found in other spaces. Something shifts. Many women can let go in a way that they can’t anywhere else. Connection usually comes quicker, and flows more easily, in women-only space.
Women gather in circles. We gather under the stars, in yurts, in apartments, and in libraries. We gather around fires and around coffee tables. We gather in big circles and small circles. We gather with younger women, with older women, with girls, with mothers, with daughters, with sisters, with grandmothers, with aunties. We circle together and remember what we have in common. We learn from each other. We teach each other. We grow together.
In my community, we often gather together. We gather in many forms, in different groupings, for different reasons. When women gather, we hold a different energy. We can work together on a different level. Often we can flow together without words. We share our tears and our laughter and know that we are holding each other.
According to one of the few pieces of academic research on circles, Women's Circles and the Rise of the New Feminine, they “...are indicative of women’s heightened participation in the realm of subjective wellbeing culture, including both elements of spirituality and more secular ‘personal growth’.” In the current climate of the country, it’s more important than ever that women connect with and support each other. We are more powerful together.
“A Circle of Women may 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
