The presence of wise women

Me and Maura Manzo

On Thursday I was inspired by words my dear friend Maura Manzo shared on social media.They were from the closing lines of astrologer Chani Nicolas’ January 29 newsletter, reflecting on how to meet these wild + heartbreaking times at the hyper-local level. One line in particular stayed with me:

“and make sure that no matter where we are, we are building networks of care that are as resourced as possible.”

Maura has been a true sister + wise woman on my soul’s path andshe helps remind me that spiritual work is also political work, especially when I forget. We met back in 2009 while we were both enrolled in yoga teacher trainings. 

I taught at the yoga studio Maura co-founded in 2014 (Yoga Home in Conshohocken, PA) for 6 years and for the last year+ I’ve been teaching at the new mind body studio she opened in Ambler, PA:
Camaraderie: A space to come together. Truly a living expression of those "networks of care".

Maura is a connector in the truest sense—an incredible community builder who really walks her talk. Which is why Camaraderie feels like the perfect home for the spring round of MotherCircle - starting Wednesday, March 11!.

Curious about this 8 week class that is also a global movement centered around creating a culture of care for women? Read on. 

I'm in the middle of teaching my 3rd annual winter online round of MotherCircle. Last week in MotherBody, Class #3 of the 8 class arc, I facilitated a conversation around the 5 universal postpartum needs. These needs are recognized across cultures worldwide, yet are sorely lacking in the U.S.

We explored which of these needs we each received—if any—whether we’ve given birth (no matter how long ago), experienced miscarriage or abortion (because they each deserve postpartum care) or found ourselves in another deeply yin or “winter” season of life like: menstruation, peri/menopause, a traumatic event, a descent into the underworld, or a profound loss-—of a loved one, our health, a relationship, etc.

Side note: In a past MotherCircle, one woman once said, “These feel like needs for every human. Period.” Yes. Exactly.

Toward the end of class, I invited each woman to reflect on which of the 5 needs she is longing for right now. One woman (who is doing MotherCircle for the 2nd time!) shared: “the presence of wise women.”

“I feel so whole and satisfied when I’m around other women who get it. And it’s understood that we are raising these children together. And we’re supporting each other. And hugging each other. That deep understanding with women that somewhere in them know regardless of whether they’ve birthed their own children or not that these are our children. And doing it together, the way I want it to be."

My tears ducts opened in response to her share. There were only four of us that night, which allowed for more spacious sharing, and I felt called to share personally—something I don’t always do when I'm facilitating.

I shared that my longing right now was also for the presence of wise women - and realized it made me feel grief I've been very present to this last year - for female friendships lost over the years - whether it was from a falling out, losing touch, outgrowing each other or relationships that stopped feeling nourishing + energetically reciprocal.

Side note #2: Women circles yes can bring up your grief connected to women, which is connected to your first female relationships- your Mother, sisters + and connected to ancestral + collective grief due to Patriarchy which causes us to feel shame around our bodies, cycles, sexuality etc.  

I shared that that longing + grief is part of what carried me to Mexico in November, to a large prayer gathering led by thirteen grandmothers. I went to fill my cup. To be nourished. And to remember why I keep returning to the work of building women’s community, even when it feels tender or hard.

Side note #3: The gathering was the vision of Chilean grandmother LuzClara - who introduced me to working with the cycles of the moon, honoring a woman's bleeding time, + women's circles and an example of someone who started organizing women in ceremony + creating a culture of care for women in direct response to living under the Pinochet dictatorship in the 1980s.

I shared in light of what has happened in Minneapolis and beyond is part of why we need to collectively bring women back into circle together, to build women's community. That I couldn't stop thinking about how George Floyd was murdered only one mile from Renee Good. And how it was said that when he cried out to this mother, he was calling upon all mothers. (ahh always makes the tears come) and how Renee was a mother + how so many women were saying, omg that could have been me.

Mothers, you are being called. Women who nurture life, we are being called. To remember the circle, to organize in response to this old death machine, this system we have lived under that has not respected women + children or human life period for thousands of years.  

When we sit in circle, we begin to remember the wisdom held deep in our bones from our ancestral mothers and grandmothers, of the power of our bodies + the Earth.  We remember how to care for one another + we shift the culture little by little.