Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Laced with Grace Wombanhood Welcome Letter

Dear lovely one,
The first time I sat in a Red Tent, I was enthralled. There were four of us present and together we shared a night of songs, stories, and activities woven together with honesty and vulnerability about how we felt about being women. It was magical. One year later, and I am still enthralled. Red Tent  is a place of rest, and deep breaths. Not disregarding our wombs, but an acknowledgement of how we are created. Lacing each other in grace as we share stories: first bleeds, births, miscarriages, and life. Exploring what it means to be an embodied woman, together.

The past few years for me have been about delving into what it means to be a woman with a womb. Is it important? What happens down there, what use is having a cycle? Why do our hormones do crazy things? Why when women gather together does it either feel like coming home, or like a nightmare you don't want to repeat? How do we learn to be embodied women who treat their bodies like the temples that house our souls and the Holy Spirit, while also treating the women around us the same? These were my questions.

You see, I believe we have an amazing God, who stitched us together with more love, kindness, and wonder in his eyes than I can even fathom. I also believe He made women to be powerful beings of love, grace, and strength. And yet, if you’re anything like me, you have apologized for being a woman, probably more than you’ve apologized for anything else. You’ve said your piece, then backed down: blaming it on ‘those pesky PMS hormones’. You reach out, get hurt, and blame your stupid woman tears for embarrassing you. Discarding your opinion by saying ‘never mind’, or ‘it doesn’t matter’, thinking that your voice is less worthy of being heard. All because we have vaginas.

We’ve all been there; female, and frustrated.  Talked down to, ridiculed for being stupid or too smart, or told it’s a good thing we’re pretty. We feel guilty because we have it better than women on the other side of the world - meanwhile our sisters of color carry double this weight; we’re told to not be a distraction, draw too much attention to ourselves, or be too loud.  We can bleed anywhere from 3-9+ days a month, feeling like our uterus is raging a war on us. Endometriosis, miscarriage, and assaults can leave us with more questions than answers. We feel disembodied and disempowered, tired and angry, or our bodies seem angry and we can’t figure out why: if we dare ask questions, we’re told to cover it up, plug it up, pray about it, take pills for it, drink on it, stop being hysterical, and just “calm down.” (And really has that phrase ever made ANYONE calm down? I think not.)   

For so long, believing in God and talking about vaginas has felt like an either/or situation. Asking questions gets a hushed side eye, or a gasp. Discussing pleasure, or birth control leaves you feeling like a heretic, and yet here we are: spiritual beings in bodies that work on a cycle. There are truths, lessons and life to be learned and lived through not just our wombs, but our cycles and in our connections to things greater than us.

So this is my invitation to you, to set aside the lies, shame, the hand packed guilt. To come open minded about what it means to be a spirit led woman. We’ll do art, online red tents, and I’ll post here first about Soul Art, and in person retreats. I’m not going to preach at you, nor suggest you burn your bra; but being a daughter of God, and a woman who cycles, is who I am, and this space is what I bring to you as an offering. 

I’ll be diving in about what our bodies have to teach us; it’s possible I’ll say things you’ll disagree with, or maybe our beliefs don’t align. You are still welcome here. I know without a doubt in my heart that God has brought me to you in this moment.  Spirituality and Vulvas.  It’s a place that has felt like no-man’s land, but I’m letting you know we have a field here, to play in, to grow in, to dance in. Whether you have a womb, or your body no longer participates in hormonal cycles, this is a space for all of us.  A space To hear ‘me too’, to give grace instead of condemnation, to laugh and love and learn together. To lift each other up, instead of tear each other down. So pull up a cushion, pour a hot chocolate, invite a friend, and relax, it’ll be an adventure for sure.To join our online tribe you can find the facebook group Laced with Grace Wombanhood and request to join!

To Laced with Grace Wombanhood: Exploring what it means to be a spirit-led woman through Art, stories, and cycles.

Welcome to our Red Tent.

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