As we have just started our third Lodge, I thought it might be interesting to those of you who have a passion for empowering women and girls to get a little info on what we do. Last Sunday was a perfect example of an amazing day with our older girls and how far we have come together as a lodge…We decided for the first time to split into 2 groups- the girls who have started their moon time sat around the fire with 3 women who are not their mothers, and the others went into the red tent to sit in circle and do some craft work with one of the other mothers. The openness of the girls was a beauty to witness, we passed a talking bowl and each girl shared honestly and open heartedly. There were moments of discussion and questions- from school, to embarrassing family moments, to managing your moon time on holiday…we went from serious topics to hilarious ones within moments of each other! And the group in the yurt had a lovely time being a smaller group, bonding more deeply without the ‘older girls’! The sun was shining, we all had a glorious afternoon picnicking outside and then learning a little about aromatherapy and making their own massage blends- with the finale being them all stripping off to their undies and giving each other massages… it was such a joy seeing how uninhibited they were together and how relaxed. It just affirms how much this work supports these girls with their self assurance and confidence!

Our “little sisters” lodge is quite different, they are mostly 8-9yr olds and as we are just starting the focus will be on bonding as a group, games, working with the seasons…At our last gathering we celebrated Imbolc by planting seeds, bulbs, willow, giving offerings to the land and having the story of Demeter and Persephone, finishing our session with a shared picnic lunch. As these girls are much younger we are only meeting for a few hours, but it worked and at the end of the morning all the girls enjoyed being welcomed into the red tent with singing and smudging and they all bravely spoke when the talking bowl was passed around!

Later that week I was caught off guard a little by my daughter insisting she was the only one at her friends birthday party with out make up…this shocked me, that girls at an 8 yr olds party would be wearing make up…at that age they might be ‘playing’ with makeup but not seriously putting it on for parties! Surely? And then I got an email from school reminding parents that make up was not allowed…so it’s coming into school now! Well I did speak to some of he mums- and I am assured my daughter isn’t the ‘only one’ not allowed make up…but it did get me thinking about the underlying issues …which you can read about in my blog here.

(c) Rachael Crow 2018