I love women’s circles. I’m sure you’ve noticed. I am leading a new Sunday circle once a month as well as a monthly moon circle. These new circles allow me an opportunity to explore ritual in a new way. To connect with women in a new way. To expand and empower the circle of women in this community. To witness their healing and their growth. There’s no doubt in my mind that this is the work I am here to do. In this lifetime. At least for this part of my life. I am divinely guided.

I have been leading circles for a while now. I think the first one was in 2017. Like all good things in my life, I started from a place of “that’s stupid and I’m never doing it.” It started like this. After a completely uneventful morning meditation, I opened my journal to write. What came out onto the pages was so bizarre. I wrote that I was going to gather women. I was going to create a community of women. This was bizarre for a number of reasons. The first one being that I didn’t really have women friends. I had an AA sponsor and women I had met here and there in yoga, but these were the days when I really didn’t like or trust women. We certainly didn’t hang out. So WHY would my journal say that I was going to gather women in a group? Why would I do that? And what was I going to do with them? How would that even be possible?

I decided that was stupid and I was never doing it, closed my journal and went on my way. But the seed had been planted. And it took root fast. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Not because I wanted to do it, but because it was just so strange. Never did it occur to me that it was divinely inspired. I wasn’t there in my faith yet. I didn’t know or understand intuition. I began to research (Google) how to gather a group of women. I dropped a bunch of money, signed up for circle facilitator training, and realized pretty quickly that all of this moon circle stuff I was learning were things I already knew and was already doing. I didn’t finish that training. Instead, I rented space at Hearts and Sol Wellness, posted the details of the circle I was going to lead and showed up on the night of the New Moon. And there were 21 women who showed up for that circle. This was the Universe showing me exactly HOW I was going to gather the women. I see the WHY in every circle. To change the world.

Last Sunday I led a women’s circle. The topic was Emerge. We talked about spring approaching and the new life that was emerging within us and all around us. There was a beautiful ritual that represented the emergence of these women from their cocoons and into the world. But I don’t participate in these rituals while I am leading them. And while I was excited for the expansiveness I am feeling and the new life Southport has given me, and this confidence that is absolutely growing within me, I wasn’t sure what was emerging next. And then I drove home.

On the way home I felt the nudge. A women’s retreat. I have led retreats before, for friends. On Bald Head Island. In the mountains. The year I got my yoga teacher certification I led a women’s yoga recovery retreat. But those were all small and didn’t really require much from me. This felt different. And if I am honest (which I always am), I was slightly terrified to drop the money on the property because what if nobody signed up? I told myself if I could find a cool ass woman to come on board and cook plant-based food for us I would do it. Enter The Holistic Hipster.

On Tuesday I booked the property. On Wednesday I threw the idea out to the world. On Thursday I opened the retreat for registration. On Saturday morning it was FULL. (As a side note, I opened the bonus spaces and there are now two available). It happened so fast. And it’s so exciting to know that I am doing what I am here to do. To the person on the outside looking it, this might seem simple and silly and perhaps insignificant. But to me it’s a big deal. It comes back to trust. Never my strong suit. Learning to trust myself, my intuition. To trust that I am being divinely guided. My lesson in this lifetime. I’m sure there are others. Of course, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if nobody signed up. I’d be out some money and I would have a fabulous time in the mountains by myself. But instead, I get to lead an amazing retreat experience for a wonderful group of women. I get to teach them things they haven’t been exposed to yet. I get to share new experiences with them. I get to sit with them in what is essentially an extended circle. To hear their stories. heir vulnerable heart shares. To witness their tears, their laughter, their strength. THAT is the experience I’m in love with. It’s powerful and life changing. We are changing the world every time we gather. Starting with ourselves. And I am here for it. I am honored and grateful for the opportunity. Honored, grateful and excited for what’s next.