“I believe that the thought that women together can change the world is emerging into the minds and hearts of many of us and that the vessel for personal and planetary evolution is the circle with a spiritual center.”
Jean Shinoda Bolen
My four friends and I have been meeting every solstice and equinox for almost twenty years to talk, to laugh, to eat together and to share our deepest concerns and our most wonderful stories. We talk about any and everything: deaths, births, marriages, divorces, relationships and the challenges they bring. Getting to know each other and our selves better after each circle.
We have been through a lot together. We feel happy when things are going well and are supportive when one of us is going through something difficult. We listen to the tale of one’s divorce, remarriage, and another painful separation. We hear about years of sobriety after many years of alcohol. We commiserate over tales of worrisome teenagers and ailing parents. We comfort each other during illnesses and crises. We tell stories of success and joy and highlight moments we are grateful for.
We light candles and sometimes grind corn in the stone bowl and bless all we have been given. We read poems and passages from books and articles that are meaningful to us. We give each other gifts and share food and offer encouragement and support. We have learned to love and accept each other for exactly who we are.
In her book, The Millionth Circle: How to Change Ourselves and The World, Jean Shinoda Bolen tells of women gathering together to help tip the scales toward understanding and wholeness and to shift the planetary consciousness to one of love and community. In solidarity and support our little circle underscores the importance of women getting together to celebrate all of life. (www.millionthcircle.org)
In listening to each other’s stories, never knowing what anyone should do, we laugh and talk and make gentle suggestions of what could be of help, something valuable we got from a book, a class, a video, a teacher, a practice or a diet. We are interested in what each of us have found out or experienced in the three months since we last were together.
We lead totally different lives but our intent is the same: to find as much joy in life as we can and to summon the strength and courage to get through hard times. In our quarterly circles we find appreciation for all the many gifts each season gives us. We are one of the world’s women’s circles that are changing our planet. We five are now in our 60s and 70s, still going strong, better friends than ever and grateful that the circle goes on.
