The ceremony that is Women’s Summer Solstice begins as you journey to our gathering. As you travel, take a moment to breathe and gather your thoughts. Can you feel a tug on your heart and hear your sisters’ calling? You are invited to the sacred space of ‘Women’s Circle.’ If it is in your expressive nature, you are encouraged to bring face paints and other adornments, your scarves and fabrics, wings and head-dresses, all to represent your goddess self!
The power of women in circle and ceremony has been experienced throughout the ages and around the globe. By coming together in song, celebration, and prayer, we connect-into an invisible field, a deep well of womb-an love and support where we can be fed and nourished. These ceremonies are the heart of WSS and have been a part of WSS’s tradition for nearly three decades. They weave us together at deep levels and also connect us backward and forward in time, to our greatest grandmothers, to the wise medicine women of the past, as well as to our great granddaughters, the wise women of the future.
Our Ceremonies
- Opening Ceremony and Earth Weaving
- Moonlodge Ceremonies
- Stepping Up Ceremony: Rites of Passage and other Honorings
- Solstice Ceremony
- Give Away
- Sacred Theatre of the Goddess
- Pipe Ceremony and Closing Ceremony
Opening Ceremony and Earth Weaving
Together we’ll delight in casting our sacred space for the weekend, calling the grandmothers and other elements that support our time together. Plan to meet and greet, sing, and move as we focus our intentions for our time together and honor each other and ourselves and begin to “Weave the web of Sisterhood.” For our Earth-Weaving ceremony, please bring a handful of earth, sand or soil from somewhere meaningful to you. It can be from your own garden, a special place you love, or a sacred place you have visited. You will mix your soil with that from your sisters and the soil carried over from year to year held in the gourd “She-Who.” This ritual honors the earth as well as WSS’s “her-story,” tying us all together from the past to the future.
Moonlodge Ceremonies
Check the Info Tent for offerings throughout the weekend. Friday morning we will host a workshop for women who have ceased menstruating and want to honor the passage of their monthly blood by creating a ceremonial Moon Blood Staff out of a tree branch. Friday afternoon, we will host a special workshop for young women who have stepped into womanhood through menarche, followed by an honoring on Friday evening during the Rites of Passage ceremony.
Stepping Up Ceremony: Rites of Passage and other Honorings
Our lives have many stages of growth from cradle to grave. We support each other and our maturation process as we acknowledge and honor the initiatory passages that take us to the depths and transform us into wise, empowered women. This ceremony will honor Birth (new mothers, new babies), Maidens (first blood), Crones (newly menopausal women), and Death (sisters who have passed away). We also acknowledge the Queen, the Fairies , the Amazons and other archetypes of a woman’s life, viewing our life-span as a mythical journey.
- Friday afternoon – small group opportunity for women who are experiencing a passage or various stages of life to sit with others and share about their journeys.
- Friday evening – culmination of these discussions and an opportunity for the entire community to honor and witness the significant passages and other ways we “step up.”
Solstice Ceremony
The longest day calls us to shine! Please wear something yellow, white, or gold to this ceremony. We will reflect the Sun’s radiance and welcome the summer season with joy and gratitude!
Give Away
The flow of life includes both giving and receiving. For more to flow our way, we must “give away” some of the abundance we already have. For this ceremony, we each bring something to give away. Please do not buy anything, rather choose from what you already have–something special, sacred and well-loved, something from a past phase of life ready to be released. If you pay attention, the item will tell you it needs to go. Trust it, even if you don’t want to give it up. There is magic in this ceremony: what you receive can open new doors for you; what you give away can be the perfect thing for the one who receives it. The ceremony will bond you with someone in a mysterious way.
Sacred Theatre of the Goddess
Held on our last night together, the intention of Sacred Theatre is to bring forth and share the fruits of our time together in some kind of creative expression: dance, song, poetry, music, story telling, jokes, skits etc. Show us what you’ve learned, what you’ve experienced, how much joy you feel, whatever else bubbles forth! The spirit of Sacred Theatre and the Goddess herself invites you to bring forth your gifts with energy, expressiveness, playfulness and creativity. What will the goddess inspire you to share with us? Wait and listen within. If nothing arises, please come to witness for those who do step forth!
Pipe Ceremony and Closing Ceremony
Sacred Pipe Ceremony gives our prayers and gratitude to Spirit! Our weekend together comes to closure as we gather dirt from our collective Earth Weaving, acknowledge those who worked to bring together this sisterhood. This is your moment to step up for the next Women’s Summer Solstice Council!