Saturday September 24 Women's circle new season starts

I'm looking forward to starting the fall season of the women's circle Saturday September 24. We will continue to meet at the same time and place: from 4:30 to 7:00 at C/Escolas Pias17, 2-1, Sitges (the narrow glass door).

I will be honored to share the water ceremony teachings of Ojibwe Great Grandmother and Water Carrier Mary Lyons and the teachings of the other Wise Women Elders I recently studied with.

We will do our Sufi healing prayer and silent meditation followed by a pica-pica. Please bring something vegetarian and healthy to share. Also any unwanted clothes or household items for exchange among the group with whatever is left going to charity.

We will also discuss which charity we will be supporting with our donations for the rest of this year. Recommended donation 15 euros, but what ever you can give is welcome.

Save these dates for the following circles
October 29th
Novemeber 26
December date to be decided later

You are most welcome to share an activity (presentation, dance, song, recipe….)  lasting any amount of time up to two hours at the following circles, please let me know what and when you would like to offer it to the circle.

You are very welcome to share this information with others.

Blessings to you and looking forward to seeing you.  

Above photo of Elenware Heart Spiral Goddess necklaces

Spring Equinox and Water Day Ritual Circle March 19th

This month we are celebrating the Spring equinox, which is exact at 5:30 Sunday the 20th. We will also celebrate World Water Day which Tuesday the 22nd of March.

We will join together in a Spring Ritual, think about a goal or wish you would like "planted, grounded in Mother Earth", Please feel free to share a short prayer or song.  To celebrate World Water day we will also do a blessing over water given by the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers.  You are invited to bring an object representing you wishes for Spring and a lidded bottle or jar for water to put on our altar. You will take these things home with you.

As always we will do our Sufi healing prayer and a silent mediation. With the changing weather, it's a great time to sort through your wardrobe and bring any clothes you don't want or household items to exchange or be donated to a local charity.

Donations from the circle will go to Calaid Barcelona who are helping in the refugee camps in Greece.  

Circle held at c/ Escoles Pies, 17, 2-1,  Sitges , the narrow glass door.

Save these dates:
April 30th
May 28
June 18

Please share this information with friends and confirm your attendance.

You can also join our virtual circle on Facebook.

There will be a small section of Elenware Holy Sheramics on offer.

Women's Circle celebrating Mother Earth, Saturday April 25

This month our circle meets on Saturday the 25th of April at our usual time from 4:30 to 7:30p,  We will be celebrating Mother Earth and Earth Day. Think of all the little things you do to make the environment around you cleaner or ways you conserve what there is and come share with us. Other activities or rituals are also welcome.

We will be meeting at c/ Escoles Pies, 17, 2-1,  Sitges , the narrow glass door.

Our gatherings will include a Sufi healing prayer of the heart, silent meditation and snacks as well as our clothing exchange. So please bring a healthy snack and any clothes you no longer want. It's a great time to go through your wardrobe.

I invite all of you very talented women to share what you love with us--be it family constellations, dance, a kind of massage or breath work, a recipe or… The possibilities are infinite. It should be an activity that we can complete in 2 hours or less. I just need to know before the day.

The circle dates for the rest of this season are:
May 30th We'll watch the documentary For the Next 7 Generations about the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers.
June 20th activity to be decided

Come Fall the Circle will need to find a new home. If you have any ideas about this, please get in touch with me.

As usual, donations from the Circle will go to support The Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers and their upcoming meeting in Gabon.

Beautiful tree-goddess image by Francene Hart
http://www.goddessgift.net/banners-by-francene-hart.html

Women's Healing Circle Saturday April 27 from 4:30 to 7:30

*I'm so looking forward to our next circle. I wanted to thank the women that came last month. We joined voices chanting the vowel sounds and went from there straight into our healing prayers and meditation.

When I thinking what we could do in addition to our prayers for healing and silent meditation this month, it came to me, it's best to create it in the moment. We'll let the alchemical magic of the women in the circle decide. There are infinite possibilities. We could chant some more, do some inner healing work using the breath. We can share the projects we're working on both professionally and personally. There are many inspiring videos to watch and discuss. So many choices. What a treat to join together on a Saturday afternoon  share, listen and heal. 

Please remember to bring a healthy snack for tea and any old clothes you no longer want to share with the women in the circle and/or donate to charity.

Suggested donation 15 euros. All donations go to support the Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers.

The circle meets at my house. Please confirm your attendance and I will send you the address.

Saturday April 27 from 4:30pm to 7:30pm

Next Circle: May 27

We're over 80 members in our virtual circle on Facebook. Please join and share with us there.

*This is one of my Goddess pendants embellished by a jeweler named Sergio in Southern California.

12th Grandmothers Gathering for Peace

Support the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers' Prayer for Peace in the Land of the Buddha - Kathmandu, Nepal, November 8-11, 2012.

My experience with Grandmother's Council in Spain last month

During my second experience with members of the Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers I was shown how when one trusts the flow of events, everything falls into place. So much of the weekend flowed like magic. For example, I didn't know until 4 days before that I would be able to attend the event. When I got on the train in Barcelona I didn't know how I was going to get from Madrid to the event outside of El Escorial. I'd written Rashmika, the woman organizing the retreat, the time I was arriving, but she was busy attending the grandmothers and didn't have time to respond. Even so, there was a lovely woman waiting for me with a "Welcome Ellen" sign in the station. 
After arriving at the event a volunteer, heard I didn't have a place to sleep and invited me to her country home in Las Navas del Marques in the province of Avila. I awoke both Saturday and Sunday morning to the sound of the wind through the pine trees before riding with Carmen and her husband to the Grandmother's retreat. The amazing tale of how the  the Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers came to be is a story Jyoti shared with us, it's all about trusting and being ok with not knowing the next step until it presents itself
Another big lesson I got from Grandmothers Rita and Julieta is that age is really a state of mind. They both are so full of energy, wisdom and love. Being in their 80's and 70's respectively, they affirm the notion that when we are truly on our path, we are given the energy and resources to do what we need to do.
I met many women doing super-interesting work in many fields, such as the arts, healing, yoga... I'm sure some wonderful friendships have begun.
I will be sharing more of the experience and showing the documentary film about the Grandmother's Council at women's circle in Sitges this month on Saturday the 27th and also in Clot, in Barcelona on the 31st. Both events are fundraisers to help support the Council of Grandmother's work.

Women's Circle, Saturday May 19th in support of the Council of 13 Indigenious Grandmothers

Join us for an afternoon of stretching, meditation and mantra in movement. Then, If you missed out the first time, we will be watching For the Next 7 Generations, a moving documentary about the 13 Indigenous Grandmother's.  All proceeds from the circle will go towards support of their  11th Council gathering.

Make room for summer by bringing any clothes you don't want to exchange with other women at the circle or donate to a local charity.

Please wear comfortable clothing for stretching and bring a healthy snack to share.

Saturday May 19th from 4:30 until 7:30 at C/Escolas Pias 17, 2º 1º in Sitges.

Suggested donation 15 euros, but whatever you can is fine.

I will also have a selection of my ceramics on offer.

Bring your friends!!!!

News of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, the Women's Circle in Sitges and more.....

This month at the women's circle I talked about my experience with the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers and the wisdom they share/d. The donations we collected at the circle went to help the Grandmothers get to Brazil. It was especially lovely to have a circle of 13 women. Many of the women came for the first time, young women, a pregnant woman and even a few grandmother's were part of the circle.

Someone asked if the Grandmothers had much to say about the future. All the Grandmothers (and many other spiritual leaders) from many different traditions are saying that the most important thing is the present--the now. We need to pray in whatever way we are comfortable with, stay grounded in ourselves and be at peace with the environment and others. We need to stay present and be aware of all that is going on around us to avoid getting lost in the chaos we see and experience.

Starting this Tuesday October 18th (until the following Monday the 24th) the 10th International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers is being held in Brasilia, Brazil in honor of Grandmothers Maria Alice Campos Freire (who I've "studied" with,) Clara Shinobu Iura and the peoples of Mapia and Brazil. By lighting a candle with them in heart and mind we can connect to this event.

From their website:

“Gratitude and joy are the words that come out to express what it is to be hosting the 10th Gathering of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, here in Brazil, in South America. When we look at what is unfolding in this preparation, we can see the prophecies becoming reality, and we feel so humbled." “We, as the people of the South, naturally were guided to dedicate our gathering to the Water. And we can witness the flow of this sacred element designing the event. The prophecy says about the encounter of the eagle and the condor as a sign of the New Time. This is the first of our gatherings that is going to happen in the condor's land and, as the time is approaching, we see the different expressions of native people from South America making signs, joining us, here in Brazil for this sacred moment, when we will host the people from the eagle's land." — Grandmother Maria Alice Campos Freire

Our next women's circles here in Sitges are:

*Saturday, November 12th, 4:30 until 7:30pm
at C/Escolas Pias, 17, 2º 1ª, Sitges

*Saturday, December 17th, 4:30 until 7:30pm
location to be arranged

* Special Circle for Winter Solstice ,Thursday December 22nd
time and location to be arranged

In the morning, before the next two circle meetings I will be participating in a crafts fair here in Sitges where I will have my ceramics, knitware by my mother and traditional Mayan/Mexican ritual incense (Copal sticks) for sale. Many local craftswomen will be offering lovely items. For more information visit Cinnamon Cafe.

Hope to see you at these events or at the Snatam Kaur concert in Barcelona on Saturday October 29th. Tickets can still be purchased at Shunia Yoga, Sicilia 236 bis. 08013 Barcelona, T. 93 265 89 26

Strength and Wisdom for the Next 7 Generations: A weekend with 2 of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers

I had the good fortune to attend a weekend entitled Strength and Wisdom for the Next 7 Generations with Grandmother Maria Alice Campos Frieres of Brazil and Rita Long Visitor Holy Dance of the South Dakota (United States) Lakota people. Both of these extraordinary woman are part of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers.

About 40 people from all over the world attended the event which was held at Damanhur, a spiritual community in Northern Italy.

The first evening Jyoti, who helped create the council, introduced the Grandmothers and a documentary about them, For the Next 7 Generations. I was moved to tears by their stories.

The next day we met next to Damanhur's open air temple. Again I was deeply moved--not only by the Grandmother's stories, but also by those of the others attending. These people, mostly women, are doing interesting healing work all over the world.

Both Grandmothers spoke of prophecy, current events and how to respond to the changes we are experiencing. After lunch we planned to do a ritual for healing water, but it started raining so hard we had to go inside. Once inside, I placed an eagle feather I'd been gifted and my Tewa rattle on the "altar" for the ritual led by Brazilian Grandmother Maria Alice.

Sunday was dedicated to discussion of "The Circle of Life" and we finished the weekend with a fire ritual. Part of the ritual involved a drum the Lakota Grandmother Rita's son had made to give to a Grandmother of the Arctic indigenous Sami people.

I had the honor of playing my frame drum for the ritual along with some of the others who also played percussion.

Grandmother Maria Alice has a clinic on the shore of the Amazon River. She shared with us that information about plants (when to harvest, dry or plant) passed down to her from generations of healers before her is no longer useful because of climate change having so affected the ecosystem where she lives.

Grandmother Rita shared her earthy wisdom with us mostly in her native Lakota tongue, so her son translated for us. He also help lead the fire ceremony.

This unforgettable event was my first experience with the Grandmothers in person. I had done an online course with Grandmother Flordemayo. I look forward to studying with her in person one day.

Please visit the Grandmother's website and share their work with others.

New Cycle of Women's Healing Circles

I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone, hearing what experiences this past summer has brought each of you. The circle is to support us all in our personal and professional lives as we endeavor to "become the change we want to see in the world".

We will be meeting the second Saturday of every month from 4:30 until 7:30pm until December when we will meet on the WInter solstice, which is a Wednesday. The solstice circle will be later in the evening.

September 10th

October 8th

November 12th

December 21st

The circle will meet in Sitges, but I'm waiting to see which location we will be using--a situation that many of us are experiencing in our personal lives.

I look forward to sharing things I've learned this summer at the Kundalini Yoga festival in France (see previous blog entry); two days of lectures in London from my Sufi teacher, Llewellyn Vaughan Lee and the online course I took with Mayan elder Flordemayo.

At the October circle, I will share about my experience studying with 3 more of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers. In mid-September I'll attending a workshop entitled "Wisdom and Strength for the Next 7 Generations" at the spiritual/sustainable community, Damanhur in Northern Italy.

My interest in the Mayan calendar and Mayan Astrology was sparked by studying with Flordemayo. According to one Mayan calendar specialist, from August 18th until Sept. 4th we are in a process called "destruction." But not to worry, from September 5th until Oct. 10th the process of "flowering" happens. Here you will find more information about this view of the Mayan calendar.

If you would like to offer a meditation or any activity for the circle please get in touch with me ahead of time. I know many of you are very talented and I hope you will find the circle the perfect place to share those talents.

I also recommend you visit The Shift Network site and listen to an amazing conversation with Marianne Williamson and Raine Eisler.

Blessed be!

This month we dedicate the Women's Healing Circle to the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers

Until this month and continuing in May the Circle donates all the money it collects from participants to EQUIS-MGF , a Pan-African women's group based in Catalunya providing training to African women to help educate other women to prevent female circumcision and promote family planning and health awareness.

But this month, our circle meeting on the last Saturday in April, we dedicate the activities and funds to The International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers. They are preparing for their 9th International Council in Anchorage in May. Please visit their website and that of the documentary about their work For the Next 7 Generations.

I'm sorry I missed their visit to Spain and hope I can be in their physical presence someday. I've heard their talks online and am always inspired and moved to tears.

What a wonderful way to celebrate Earth day, all month, by learning more about the 13 Grandmother's work.

For The Next 7 Generations Trailer from Laughing Willow on Vimeo.