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«A circle of women helps you find the river of your life and supports you in the process of surrendering to its current.» Marian Woodman

In recent decades on all continents a new way of meeting between women who is creating a deep personal and social transformation has emerged. Unlike what happens with the hierarchical or vertical forms of relating, with the simple fact of sitting in a circle, at the same height, all the voices and stories of each person are important. I still remember with emotion the first time I participated in a circle of women, more than fifteen years ago: I felt that I had entered a place outside the time in which an intimate connection was created between each of us. We left radiants, with a great desire to stay again. «What had happened?» I wondered internally.

A trip in

One of the transformative elements that characterize women’s circles is the experience of having a time without hurry to turn our gaze in and connect with what we are really feeling and what we need, in the company of other women. With the speed of our society and our look almost permanently out, it is a balm to find a warm space where we can listen to ourselves and to listen to what moves within the others. Many times we go to a circle in a moment of transition and changes, when the desire for a deeper and more authentic connection with the same and with life is awake. The form of the circle accompanies that trip of introspection, while allowing us to feel the strength and support of the group.

A look without trial

Perhaps one of the most healing aspects of women’s circles is the experience of sharing something that we had silenced and feeling recognized and accepted at the time of telling our truth. When a space of trust is created to open ourselves in front of the others, we discover that our history is reflected in the stories of others (beyond the differences of age, culture or life route) and is part of the wealth of the collective experience of being a woman. Sometimes it is precisely from a look without trial that we started cultivating a voice and loving look towards our parts that had remained in the shadow. Participating in a circle of women can be a key part in our path of integration as a woman, a place to release masks, charges and obligations and enjoy more and more of being ourselves.

A collective wisdom

In that first circle of women that I mentioned before I had a very clear feeling to reconnect with a very old memory, recorded in my bones, of an experience that is undoubtedly part of my feminine heritage. It was the memory of the tribe, of an endearing space between girls, mothers and grandmothers. Intuitively felt that recreating today that memory was fundamental to my health and for the health of the entire community. When we open to this collective memory, a natural wisdom emerges within the circle that guides the group’s steps in this reconnection with the ancestral feminine. For example, many times the creation of some simple ritual to honor and thank what is present in the circle arises in a fluid and spontaneous way. A song. An act of release. A dance. A symbolic gesture. Something that we could call «mystery», because it transcends the rational and the planned, and connects us with the sacred of the present moment.

The gift of sustaining and clothing

We are more and more women who feel the call to cook these spaces for transformation and offer a place where each person finds their own voice and can bloom within the fortress that the circle encourages. Throughout many years I have had the privilege of meeting women who, with an rooted and loving presence, and from their personal healing path, create environments that surround and propose dynamics that facilitate an internal transformation in the others. In the role of «facilitators», we are one more in the circle while occupying a place of guidance and support so that each can access the depth of the work we offer. A facilitator is an initiator, an authentic woman, at the same time vulnerable and powerful, wise and apprentice.

Multiply these transformative spaces

I feel more than ever that women’s circles are a key part of the evolution that will take us, as a society, of competitiveness, the repression of emotions, domination and violence to a consciousness that embraces and values ​​what we feel, that cultivates care and interconnection, that unites internal transformation with social change and that remembers the sacred of life.

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Have you been part of a circle of women? Do these words resonate you? Leave a comment if you want.