A vacation whose objective is to feel better about yourself
In the age of #metoo, of the feminist demonstrations , of sorority, empowerment and of the -controversial- non-mixed spaces, the retreats for women only It is the vacation that many have been waiting for.
There are, for example, yoga, like this 150-hour intensive powered by agama , with an emphasis on tantric techniques, creative movement, meditation and female empowerment. There are also others who explore women's relationship with nature and, above all, with her own nature, like that of Spirit Weavers .
This lasts five days. celebrate the cultures of the past and encouraged to work "the most basic human skills to ensure the survival of the body and soul", as explained on their website.
Thus, food fermentation is practiced, fabrics are woven and colored, "dinners at night and dreams in the morning" are shared, people learn to use medicinal plants , it is sung... "Let us come together as women and share our abilities to remember the path of beauty and honor our ancestors ", animate these 'spiritual weavers'.
But what do all these actions refer us to? To us, to the covens , those wise women meetings which, as he defends Marvin Harris in the book Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches, they began to meet as a fruit of the social discontent of the eleventh century.
Their main characteristic is that they knew the plant Power, with whom they lived hallucinogen trips such as those promoted from current workshops such as Ganja Goddess . He himself is focused on using cannabis as "a creative and spiritual tool", and is just one of many who use this drug as primordial part of the experience.
But of the witches we will talk more in depth later; now, let us focus on the retreats of our times, which, if they are characterized by something, is that they have as their objective achieve greater well-being through the self-knowledge To better understand them - and for you to find out if you should join them - we talked to Sajeeva Hurtado , who teaches them, and with Luna and Rocío, two participants in these meetings.
"I organize trips with spiritual and tourist sense to places like Egypt, India, Indonesia, Riviera Maya and Machu Pichu, which are cultures that I have experienced very closely", Sajeeva tells us. her itineraries, which combine visits with activities such as meditation or dance , seek to get out of the most typical framework, and are carried out in order to empower female travelers and encourage them to feel safe when visiting other places alone.
Sajeeva also organizes nature retreats, and in Colombia, where she lives, she has founded a headquarters to carry them out: The House of Women.
There she combines teachings from Chinese medicine, gestal psychology, meditation and dance to organize workshops attended by "all kinds of women", but especially those who are in an important moment of transition . "There is something in them that needs to change radically, and go to countries like the ones I take them to or isolate yourself from your world for several days; is really something it changes their life ", she observes her.
THE UTERUS AS THE PROTAGONIST
Rocío was also experiencing a moment of transition when she went to her first female retirement . "I started having sexual blocks, things that I didn't know where they came from. From the outside everything seemed normal, but I, intuitively, I knew there was something wrong with me my relationship with the body ". she explains to us.
"In fact, I think all women have to work on it at one point or another, because, because of Our culture , we have a relationship with our body, and especially with our womb, a bit complicated and not as healthy as I would like.
Precisely for this reason, the first retreat she attended was called 'Connect with your womb'. It brought together eight women around experiences whose purpose was, in the words of Rocío , "connect with the feminine energy from the womb consciousness" : meditations, free dance, visualizations to try to feel how does it beat that organ... "There was also a very interesting part of anatomy , where I discovered that we have a gland that causes the female orgasm may be accompanied by ejaculation," she explains.
Luna, for her part, also began by going to a meeting in which the female organ he was the protagonist. It was about a "global womb healing", an activity that takes place several times a year and to which hundreds of women from all over the planet join, almost always under the auspices of the teachings of Miranda Gray , "author, artist, healer, channeler and teacher", as stated on her website.
In these encounters, "the womb is the symbolic term for the center of feminine energies , and the term 'blessing' is used to indicate a return to sacredness", according to the page **Blessing of the uterus**. Luna remembers that they sang and drew their ancestors , then doing different activities with those drawings.
THE RED SHOP AND THE SACRED FEMININE SPIRIT
Another of the retreats Luna attended was the Red Shop, "a sacred space that is conceived by its creators as a magical womb. In it, women of all ages, with all their shapes and colors, will always be welcomed with absolute respect and love.
The definition is from the web DeAnna L'am, expert author and coach "menstruation empowerment" and promoter of these spaces, whose healing power, we continue reading, "comes from purity, grace and infinite confidence that emanate from Sacred Feminine Spirit . Her energies flow through the women who invoke them with the simple fact of meet up ".
In this case, the meeting took place in a river. There were three participants, and they elaborated a joint altar in which each one contributed "something that would connect us with our femininity , nuts and food for later, a candle and a bowl", Luna recalls.
During the activity, different singing accompanied by percussion instruments , as well as rituals and meditations , but Luna can't remember which ones exactly. "I like to go to this type of meeting because I suffer menstrual disorders and a strong conflict with my femininity , but from a plane very skeptical ", she admits.
"During the Red Tent retreat I experienced shame; I felt ridiculous at times, and uncomfortable because I didn't really know what to do. There is something about these activities that attracts me, but it coexists with another part of me that they don't go . However, after the match, I expelled a lot of flow -which was perhaps normal, because my period was about to come- and, curiously, suppurated through the navel ".
THE UNION BETWEEN WOMEN, THE GREATEST POWER
Rocío, after her first workshop, began to make the Miranda Gray Womb Meditations, and even organized a first meeting in your own home with five friends, based on the teachings of the teacher. "It was very interesting. We were meditating together, singing, snacking and chatting , as in the end happens in any women's meeting ", he recalls.
After that experience, he has held as many other meetings, and has attended some more. Of all of them, the feeling of "home, of communion" , which encourages us to feel "less alone" and that "is given by sharing, by the feeling that we all have, in some way, the same wound, the same footprint ".
Thanks to all of this, in the words of Rocío, a feeling of "tribe" of women, something that, according to the artist, "is being forgotten and is fundamental retrieve ".
In Luna's case, the answer is also clear: " I would go back , because, regardless of whether I don't believe in the ritual itself, I find it to be very powerful be among other women , talk to them and check that we are in the same boat. Are crated sorority ties, and I highly recommend it because I believe that women have to be more united , and this kind of thing creates a Brotherhood that's very cool."
A NATURAL RESPONSE TO THE REALITY OF THE 21ST CENTURY
Because women share a body and a particular idiosyncrasy, Rocío sees it necessary that there are no men in these spaces, because they do not have the same experiences.
This 'exclusion' is especially important "in a masculinized world, where the feminine, in general, doesn't have much space ". "The feminine has been relegated to minor things, but for me they are of vital importance, and perhaps they would save humanity from falling into debacle of exacerbated consumerism, logic, the short term and control to which I think we are going", she concludes.
Saajeva also relates that reality away from the intimate with the rise of retreats for women. "I think people got saturated and they began to miss themselves and basic life , simpler, "she tells us she." We live so much in the mind that now the heart is beginning to call us, and we began to listen a little more".
Elizabeth Krohn, creator and editor of Sabat magazine, who " merges witchcraft and feminism , ancient archetypes and instant art, "she also believes that our century is conducive to these kinds of encounters." For girls growing up today, this male dominated world of insatiable consumption, has an air of uncertainty, of tragedy, even of dystopia. It seems that we have an ocean of options, but at the same time, are we changing something? Can we really be and do what we want? Do we have powers?" he asks.
FEMALE RETREATS, THE COVENS OF THE 21ST CENTURY?
As a response to all these questions that Elizabeth formulates, the modern witches , which the editor follows on Instagram under the hashtag ** #witchesofinstagram :**
"Echoing the sentiments of many, the modern witch learns about the structures that keep women 'in their place.' a world less patriarchal and cynical, and use new tools to hack the system. She also offers us another different path, one that is mystical and is oriented towards nature, thanks to which we find our own feminine power as women and witches ", she tells us.
In fact, isn't it the coven the closest concept to female retreats What are we talking about?
What's more: the idea of a witch that Elizabeth propagates through her magazine seems to be in line with what we aspire to when we join these circles: "A witch is someone who dares to stand out as an individual , that she believes in her her powers to evolve and change herself and her world. She fosters a sense of Connection with everything, but at the same time it is aware of hers own limit yes Trusting in her intuition, she feels the smallest of vibrations, and leaves room for magic and mystery ", reflects the editor.
However, despite her taste for the dark aesthetics of her publication, Elizabeth is like Luna: in her day-to-day life, she prefers move away from "the theatrical, from the ceremony and the baroque language" that usually emanate from 'the mystical'. what she does is "look for synchronicity everywhere" and relate the "magical thinking" even with the most mundane.
"After performing Sabat, it is as if many thought patterns and theories have found a more concrete form, from small practical rituals to aspects of philosophy that I would like to explore further. I am quite convinced that our subconscious world, a world of personal and universal symbols, myths and archetypes governs our life trajectory in powerful ways. Connect with different levels of our being, either through psychotherapy or witchcraft or simply being creatives, it's a way of understanding and flowing with it all instead of ignoring it and making it end drowned out by our own fears or desires ", she concludes.
Sorority, sisters!