Full Moon Women’s Circle: How to plan

by | Ceremonies & Rituals, Storytelling, Women's Circles

Follow these 10-Steps to plan your Full Moon Women’s Circle.

It’s always a good time to gather women and sit in Circle together but it’s often helpful to have a theme.

Let’s Begin:

Whether you’re looking to hold a women’s circle in your home for your friends, out in your community or as part of your business, the Full Moon is a potent time to do so. When you gather for a Full Moon Circle you are tapping into the collective energy of thousands of women around the world doing the same thing.
 
If you track your menstrual cycle or follow the Moon and journal on your monthly journey, you’ll be aware of how you personally feel around each Full Moon but, even if you don’t (yet) you are probably aware that the energy builds from the New Moon to the Full Moon and then comes the release. This is a perfect time to deal with our “stuff”; to let go of bad habits, grudges, guilt, fear, irritation, disappointment, anger and ways of being that are no longer serving us and replenish the space created with gratitude.

The Full Moon is a powerful time of the month to gather in a women’s circle and share, release and recalibrate together.

Follow these are 10 simple steps to plan and hold your first Full Moon Women’s Circle:

1. Collaboration
Decide whether to collaborate or host the Women’s Circle on your own. Collaboration can be a supportive way to hold your first Circle; you have someone to share the experience with and to help you with the organisation and facilitation.
 
2. Create your Circle plan
Think about where you’ll hold the Circle, how many participants you would like to attend, how long the Circle will run for, whether you will provide food or ask everyone to bring a plate and how you will invite people to come.
 
3. Choose your theme
For a Circle on the Full Moon, usual themes include release and forgiveness, celebration and gratitude. But, I invite you to get creative. Allow yourself to feel into the energy, connect to your heart and draw on your cultural heritage. Your Circle is an expression of who you are. If you need some inner guidance, take a journey to meet the Soul of your Circle here.
 
4. Write your Women’s Circle Guidelines
These are an essential element of holding safer space so give yourself time to think about what you’d like to include and how you wish participants to feel when they are in the space you have created. It is also worthwhile thinking about any challenges or conflict that could arise around your chosen theme and how you will navigate that. Don’t be afraid of challenges; if you’ve given it some thought beforehand you will have the tools to navigate it and the trust to see how it is serving the Circle.
 
5. Create your ritual or ceremony to open and close your circle
This may be as simple as a meditation, poem, prayer or invocation (you can write your own or find one to share) or you may wish to create an altar together, draw oracle cards or share why you were called to come to Circle.
 
6. Decide on any practices or activities that you wish to share and gather any materials that you will need
For a Full Moon circle you may like to invite the women to write down everything that they wish to forgive or let go of and then burn them (safely) in a fire place or cauldron (or rip them up or bury them) and then fill the space that you’ve all created by sharing what you are truly grateful for or sharing a gratitude meditation.
 
7. Create a timeline or running order for your Circle
Review what you would like to include and approximately how long each component will take e.g. welcome and opening ritual, introductions and sharing, talking about the theme, facilitating the practices that you’ve chosen, reflection and sharing, and closing ritual or ceremony. If you are co-facilitating, agree which roles you will both be responsible for.
8. Before your Circle starts take time to create Sacred Space

You can set your intention for the Circle, energetically preparing the space and arrange the seats in a circle (remember that the centre of the Circle is an important aspect of the space as this where all the energies pass through). You may like to play music, burn incense or diffuse essential oils.

9. As participants arrive, welcome them and invite them to take a seat in the Circle
Take your place and welcome everyone. Share the Circle Guidelines and use your running order to guide you. Conduct your Opening Ritual or Ceremony and enjoy every moment of your Circle.
 
10. Conduct your Closing Ritual or Ceremony
Ensure that you give yourself enough time to close your Circle intentionally so that and break from the Circle to share nourishment  (tea and sweet food can be grounding).
 

Finally:

If you’re holding an on-line Circle, think creatively about how you can adapt these steps to plan and hold a connected and powerful sacred experience. For example, asking participants to bring a candle and an item for your virtual altar can elevate your opening ritual in an on-line Circle.

 

 

When we come together in Women’s Circles we are honouring the generations of women who have sat in Circle before us and will do so after us. Taking time to plan and prepare for your Circle supports you to create a sacred event that will nourish and nurture the participants that you gather together.

 

 

If you’re looking for support and guidance on planning, creating, holding and filling your next Women’s Circle, I invite you to consider joining us in Circle Skills. Circle Skills is a guided 10-part journey to having the clarity and courage to hold unique, powerful and revolutionary Women’s Circles. Find more details here.

My First Women’s Circle

by | Ceremonies & Rituals, Circles

As I entered the space, the heat and closeness of the air, the tinge of red in the light from the scarlet canvass, gave the impression of a waterless womb.

There were red rugs, red throws, red cushions, scattered everywhere. It was uncomfortably intimate. I nervously took my place on a cushion, my self-conscious face matching the furnishings.

The tent filled with women speaking in hushed tones; their wisdom and confidence shone forth from their whole beings. I was an imposter, completely out of my depth. We were seated in a Circle and following a guided mediation, the sharing began.  Each woman took her turn to share a birth story; her own, the birthing of her children, or a birth she had witnessed. As we went around the Circle, there were no interruptions, no opinions or advice offered. I listened to the experiences and feelings of these women and I felt my anxiety and nerves fade into the red-tinted air. I began to grasp the sacredness of this time and space. I heard intimate details of the birth of their children and listened to the retelling of their own births from family memories that had been passed down. They gave words to the pain and ecstasy of childbirth, to the joy of a new baby and to the devastation of loss, and the grief that follows. As we went around the Circle, there were no interruptions, no opinions or advice offered. I listened to the experiences and feelings of these women and I felt my anxiety and nerves fade into the red tinted air. I began to grasp the sacredness of this time and space. I heard intimate details of the birth of their children and listened to the retelling of their own births from family memories that had been passed down. They gave words to the pain and ecstasy of childbirth, to the joy of a new baby and to the devastation of loss, and the grief that follows.  I saw the interconnectedness of life woven together word by word by each woman.

I hardly knew these women and yet I trusted them completely to witness me without judgment.

I had never felt an overwhelming urge to be a mother, I just assumed that I would be. My first pregnancy was ectopic. My second pregnancy was a silent miscarriage. And now, at 38 and in the early stages of my third pregnancy, it wasn’t a given at all. With one hand on my tiny bump, I shared. Through the process of using my voice without self-censoring, without fear of criticism or judgment, I was empowered to unburden myself. I was able to share the beliefs that had bought me to this point. I delivered into this sacred sanctuary, both my fear of losing this third pregnancy, and my fear of giving birth. I was seen and heard with love and compassion and this had a powerfully transformative effect on me and my pregnancy. I left that Circle with a renewed sense of my own power; I knew that I had to take self-responsibility for my pregnancy and to free myself from beliefs that were clearly not serving me.

Sitting in this Circle of women was the medicine that I hadn’t known I needed.

In the following months, I became a mother and opened an organic cafe with my partner. As the complexities of life with a baby and a business took over, I remembered being held and witnessed in that first circle and craved the deep connection and acceptance that I was wrapped in. And so it was, that I found myself one Sunday afternoon sitting on the floor of our cafe with six slightly nervous women. Those first tentative steps led to me facilitating regular Circles in-person and online and creating Circle School to help others to hold Circles in their communities.

I remain in wonder and gratitude that birthing my son, set me on my path as a Circle Holder.

This was 9 years ago and since then, Circles have given me so much as I continue to dance with motherhood, running a business, my recovery through PTSD, living with chronic pain and all the opportunities and challenges that life presents. How was your first Circle experience? I would love to hear about it. And if you’re looking for a Circle to attend, please follow me on Instagram where I share upcoming Circles held by members of Circle School. Embracing our wild hearted magic and the medicine of Circles. Mitlé xx

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