BEING WOMAN FESTIVALS – A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE

In March of 2009 I was invited as a participant to my first Being Woman Festival and at the end of the festival, I felt inspired to offer my services as a support person- second circle sister – for the organizing committee of the following year’s festival. It turned out to be quite a journey. Even though the festival is a shared experience and is organized collectively, there is often one person, who initially hands you the keys, and that person, in my case, was Nadia.

Let me tell you a little about Nadia, who has been involved with Being Woman Festivals almost from the very beginning – not quite from conception through gestation and birthing – but definitely through lactation, through the weaning process and the early developmental years and into what could now be termed the tweens. Nadia is a remarkable person of great warmth and presence, of integrity, and personal power. She is a single mum. She is a social worker. She also runs her own business. She is one of the co-creative founders of the Humandala project and has facilitated the organization of many such humandalas over the years. She has great spiritual wisdom and insight. She is finely attuned to the rhythms of the earth and the moon as many women naturally are and has a strong connection with the indigenous people of this land although she was born in France. Nadia is just one of the many remarkable women whom you will meet if you attend a Being Woman Festival, someone who nurtures and nourishes and holds the energy for the Being Woman process, which is so much more than just a festival.

Through Nadia I was invited to meet with the Elders of the “third circle” who collectively hold the energy and intention for each year’s festival. It was already late in the year and I had not had much previous involvement with Being Woman members other than to facilitate a healing and dreaming circle for the “first circle women” who volunteer their services for the much of the practical organizational aspects of the festival. This was very warmly received and it was wonderful to spend a bit of time in the company of such beautiful and dynamic younger women. The elders were meeting to discuss ideas for the opening and closing ceremonies for the forthcoming festival and I must admit I felt a little bit out of my depth, perhaps not quite ready to take onboard the role of elder. I did however have a strong feeling to go and visit the new site where the festival was to be held and make my acquaintances with the Spirits of the land, so we set a date and time to collectively do this.

Nadia and I arrived first and we both received clear guidance that something was very much amiss with the energies of the land and that the earth here needed healing and cleansing. We sang a Spirit song to connect with the souls of those who had died here in pain and trauma – not all that long ago I was told. The elders arrived not long afterward and amongst many other things we talked about the need for healing for these souls still trapped here, both the victims and the perpetrators. The Being Woman Festival is blessed to have the active support of local indigenous female elders and elders of all colour and backgrounds. Together we walked the land, feeling the energies as we went, and the guidance of Spirit. When we came to the crossing at the creek, the energy became quite intense and I began to shake as I felt fear and trauma release through my energy field and one of the elders began to vomit and retch – a shamanic way of releasing intense negative energy. I sensed the presence of some young women of this land who had been raped and murdered and also the earthbound soul of the man who had done this. At this stage we had less than a week before the festival was to begin and there was still more cleansing and purification of the land needed.

I arrived at the Festival on the Friday afternoon and was excited to take part in the finalization of plans for the opening ceremony. It was a very beautiful experience and took place outdoors in the moonlight. Imagine if you will, a ribbon of 80 women, all holding hands, and weaving their way through the park like landscape, lit up with lanterns and fairy lights and  studded with majestic gums trees that towered up into the starlit sky. One by one we payed our respects to the elementals, as we weaved our way through spaces lovingly created by the Elders to honour the earth, the wind, the water, and the fire. Then we gathered in a circle to welcome each other home to our hearts and into the loving embrace of the Spirits and of Mother Earth.

The next morning I woke up feeling horribly ill. My intuition told me there was negative energy still to clear for the land but it had overwhelmed me before I had the chance to do anything and I was sick for much of that day. I had a workshop scheduled for the afternoon to be held outdoors but I was still quite unwell. Luckily it began to rain right on time for my workshop so only two people turned up. After some sharing we decided to be spontaneous and go for a swim in the creek in the rain instead of a workshop. For many years I have referred to the waters of the rain, the rivers and ocean as Grandmother Ocean in the Native American tradition, and we had that energy with us in spades that day. I truly did feel that the Grandmothers came to me in my hour of need that day to bless me and to heal me. I began to get better.

That night we collectively put on a concert, a series of “Sister Acts” for each other’s enjoyment and there was much laughter and hilarity and fun. Even though I retired early, I did not sleep. My guides kept me awake for much of the night preparing for my 6:00am workshop on Chakra and Lightbody activations. I was also told that we were clearing the energy of the land and opening up a portal of light to bring the higher frequencies through from the Central Sun and the Stars for beloved Gaia. Given the poor attendance from the day before at my previous workshop, I was absolutely gobsmacked and deeply humbled when 36 women took the trouble to get out of bed at 6:00am in the morning to attend my workshop. It was a truly awesome experience. As we collectively got more and more into the tonings (of the seed syllables) I began to hear all sorts of beautiful Angelic voices coming through and the loving presence of many Divine Beings. It was only an hour’s workshop but many women kept coming up to me through the rest of the day telling me how profoundly affected they were by that experience. I decided to treat myself to a massage after that from one of the several women who volunteered their skills and talents in the healing tent. I also attended an excellent workshop by Kate Bardzo on Zen-Shiatsu. All too soon it was time for the closing ceremony as we gathered together in the main hall for prayers of gratitude, love, and celebration of what it means to be a woman in today’s rapidly changing world.

So what did I learn and receive from my Being Woman experience?  In the short space of 36 hours I had been through incredible lows and highs, I had gone through stages of feeling completely alone in my journey to being almost swamped in love and affection, and I had come through this festival with a newfound sense of self- respect for my own personal power. Like many modern day women, I have learnt to become strong and independent and self-sufficient, and indeed that is part and parcel of the Soul’s journey, to learn to go direct to the Source of our own power, wisdom, love, and truth, etc. However, the journey is not really complete until we come back together again within the sacred circle.

 I see us all as women of all ages, colours, and race, standing in a sacred circle in an ancient Arcadian setting. Perhaps we are holding hands as the Sylphs and Naiads adorn us each with garlands of flowers and sing through us in the language of love. We epitomise all that is beautiful in woman – grace, compassion, sensitivity, intuition, creativity, forbearance and nurturance. I see us embrace and gently kiss as we part company to go our separate ways on our quest for the divine masculine qualities- we are searching for strength, courage, leadership, discipline, practicality, and new ideas. Many aeons and ages pass, as we passage through the fires and travails of many initiations, but at last I see us gathering together again. How joyful it is to receive each other back into the embrace of the sacred circle once more, to stand as equals on the sacred earth. We are excited about our newfound discoveries, eager to share and exchange ideas and experiences. Together we make the whole. Together we co-create the new. Together we are birthing a whole new way of Being Woman.

Written by Debbie Greenwood 

 

By: Debbie Greenwood