Gather Round

WHAT REALLY HAPPENS AT A SACRED WOMEN’S CIRCLE? LINDA MUSIC FINDS OUT

When I told my husband I would be participating in a sacred women’s circle, he half-jokingly asked if we would be dancing naked around a fire, sacrificial frogs in hand, chanting and summoning the spirits. Although I laughed at his feeble attempts at humour, a tiny part of me cringed. What if it did get too weird?

My curiosity about sacred women’s circles came about after numerous photos of such events kept appearing on my social media feeds. The images were of women sitting peacefully in, yes, a circle around a setting usually comprised of colourful flowers and candles which illuminated the surrounding darkness with long, flickering, golden shadows.

These images stirred something within me and I yearned to discover what such a peaceful and mystical evening might entail.

And surprisingly, once I made the decision to attend a women’s circle, not one but two, were advertised. I signed up for both.

Letting go of the masks we wear

My first women’s circle was in a rural setting – the perfect introduction to an evening designed to remove us from the stresses of everyday life.

I turned up to find the facilitator, Rita Panuccio, standing outside with sage stick in hand, cleansing the aura of each participant as they entered the sacred space. Alarm bells instantly rang in my mind. I knew that my sensitive nose would not appreciate inhaling the smoke and smell that accompanied this cleansing. However, I needn’t have worried. Rita was respectful of my preference not to participate and I was invited to enter the sacred spacewithout undertaking this particular ritual.