I offer consultation in the form of sacred circles for mothers who wish to create their own mother daughter group.

Format: Three preparation gatherings, and quarterly sustenance circles.

Preparation Gatherings: Three, two-hour meetings designed to address the following themes:

Building trust

Deep listening

Intentions

Hopes, fears, and expectations

Wounds and gifts within your female lineage

Topics you would like to explore with your daughters

How to engage your daughters in the creation of the circle

Ways to structure your mother daughter group

Sustenance Circles: Two-hour quarterly meetings with mothers designed to address the following themes:

Clarity of purpose

Communication

Collaborating across differences

Celebrating successes

Learning from failure

Modeling ways of being

Some Ways We May Address These Themes:

Sharing in Circle

Brainstorming/Heartstorming

Art

Journaling

Time in nature

Ritual

Cost: $150 an hour

Minimum of four mothers required for a group

From Grief to Inspired Action

I am a mother of a beautiful thirteen-year-old daughter. Several years ago, I was in Wyoming participating in a ritual. The focus was on expressing grief for the earth and the world. As I listened to my husband speak of the pain it caused to him watch his daughter become entranced by the culture, I was taken by a grief that I did not expect. I began to wail. Gone was my list of complaints and social critique. Gone was my sense of opinions and stances. This wave emotion felt like the expression of loss that spanned generations.

From this grief arose a yearning to mend what has been broken. From the yearning, arose an image of starting a mother daughter circle. A few months later, six mothers and seven daughters in my community began to meet monthly.

In our circles, we have shared our fears, frustrations, hopes, and dilemmas. We have spent time hiking, and sitting around a beach bonfire singing under the stars. We have volunteered at a local homeless shelter. On Solstice and New Years we have created simple rituals that were inviting to all. We have spent a weekend away together, moving between informal pajama breakfasts and formal circle gatherings. And, we have come to know each other, and ourselves more deeply.

We have also struggled. The process of deciding on the format of our gatherings and the intention behind them has not always been easy. Questions have arisen as to whether we should have cross talk in our circles, or simply listening to one another. Some of us have wanted to incorporate more fun, while others more depth. We have had to look at settings limits, such as no cell phones, texting or emails when we meet. We have dealt with the age difference between 11 year olds and 13 year olds, and the resistance to sharing in circle, as they get older. As mothers, we have talked about whether we should bring up issues such as sex, body image, and menstruation, and if so, how. We are still in process, and perhaps always will be, as are most groups that open to honesty, transparency, and difference.

When considering beginning your own group, questions such as format, frequency of meetings, size of group and age of members are important to examine. Equally important are questions about what each mother deeply wants for her daughter, and what gifts and challenges each woman brings to the circle.

What I offer is a place to begin exploring what kind of mother daughter group you would like to create. I offer my experience as a mother, a ritualist, a counselor, and a woman who yearns for greater connectivity and relatedness in our world.  What do you wish to offer?