Woman's Circle.

I had a unique experience yesterday...but a familiar one at the same time. I went to the markets and hung out in the 'red tent' and we had, what's called, a woman's circle.  Basically woman sit around and pass around a 'talking bowl' and the person who's holding the talking bowl speaks about whatever that's on their mind, then passes the bowl to the next person. 

I have heard of that concept before where the person holding the 'baseball bat' or some other inanimate object get to speak and no one interrupts them, a very good way of getting heard where you would probably be interrupted a million times.

At the beginning we all held hands and conjured the earth's energy into the circle through our own energy...or something like that.  It was all very familiar, in the sense that it seemed very controled and religious.  Everyone is quiet while we 'pray' for the Holy Spirit to come into the congregation etc etc...bowing one's head and closing one's eyes.  Of course, me being a christian, I only invited one energy into that circle and asked only one God for his hand on us during that time....so maybe it brought the 'religious' aspect that way.  Although 'religion' isn't just about faith in God, it's also about faith in anything...the goddess even, or the universe.  Religion is also about something you do over and over religiously.  I wouldn't think it was a negative thing....it was kind of nice to have one objective within the circle, even if we were praying to a different god. 

But there was one negative thing that, I felt, was a bit on the unnatural side....while one is holding the bowl and speaking, we weren't allowed to placate the person.  So if someone was starting to feel sad and get teary...the natural side of me (and most women) is to give the person a hug or say 'there there' or something...and we weren't to do that, we just let the person feel that feeling.  Although I can understand why one would need to do that....I still felt that it went against what women do best, which is nurturing, comfort etc  So I kinda felt that my hands were tied behind my back a little...controled, repressed...just with that aspect.  Although there is nothing really 'wrong' with that, I did find it strange that us women are trying to get back to our roots and fighting for who we really are and to escape oppression...so to be told 'No you arn't allowed to do what comes natural to you' sort of goes against that a tad. But I'm not one to buck the system, so I sat on my hands and used a lot of facial expressions to give that comfort...a lot of nodding (yes I get it!) etc etc 

I love being a woman, I love supporting other women...is one of the reasons why I want to become a midwife and a lactation consultant, I want to be able to faciliate women's strengths and teach them how feel liberated in a controled environment (such as the hospital).  To be able to do what one wants within the contrains of rules...to ask what one wants, to be assertive enough to 'command' (in the way one carries themselves) for what one wants.

I felt this during my own births...I felt like I was the boss here and those nurses were there to serve me which meant that however medicated (or unmedicated) my birth was, I still felt in control and that my body and my wishes were being respected.  Obviously I, myself, was limited by my knowledge...but we all are...in our everyday lives even...but the biggest thing is to feel like we are not feeling violated in any way.

This is what I want for women, so yesterday has encouraged me even more to get what I want :)