Finally, after much work I was able to go kayaking yesterday in beautiful Tully Lake and I swam far into the water with my good friend of 18 years. I told her what was going on with Daughters of the Earth Gatheirng and how much energy I had been putting in to bring diverse women together for the council, ceremony, and depth that takes place. She knows what is happening here and she reflected back to me that she had never seen something quite like this and that even though she is my good friend, she was also very proud of the vision that I was bringing into the world.

I hear a lot of things as I do my work with women but for some reason to hear this from my dearest friend meant a great deal to me in that moment. Probably because I had just come from my family reunion and you know sometimes in your blood origins it is hard to be seen in the core goodness of who we each are. I love them dearly but you know what I mean right? There is something that often is never understood. Maybe like Kahlil Gibran writes in The Prophet.

"Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday."

I was born a visionary passionate about what we can bring into new form and yet even in our communities it is hard to talk about why we do something, what it is for, where our passions lead us. I have championed many people when they go forward with their dreams. In moments of raising up visions I am beholden to the many circles that I am a part of ~ Priestess Path, the fire circles, the pagan circles, the herbal circles, the Red Tent Temple Movement circles, the dance communities, the drum communities, my Shadow Work community and all the women who have gone through Women in Power. In these many overlapping and diverse circles the word travels about my work as it is so much easier than me saying, hey, look at this.

We are in something together. Life is spitting out polarities on every breath. And somewhere I do believe that it is important to weave, to build the new paradigms and to empower the sacred feminine to rise and I mean in both men and women. It is way time now to honor life and its source at our core.

Daughters of the Earth for me is not only raising four elemental temples but one for the healing of our hoop in humanity. No small vision there huh? But I feel we must give it a go with full hearts. I have given many scholarships to women of color so that we increase the potential of collective healing together. I stand in that fire with my sisters.

Last year that fire was thunder and lightening that came from all directions and encircled us in our opening circle. My mentor who is now my elder said we would talk about that storm with us for the next thirty years. For the first time in my life I heard the thunder in my head and it told me that we would be safe even though the electricity went right through my right hand when I laid it on the earth mother. I really hope that we are done with storms such as that although I must admit that the power and magnitude that this experience descended me into, lasted for months and brought more of my spirit present than anything I could have imagined.

Daughters of the Earth with such magnificent teachers, presently 26 of our finest teachers, storytellers, drummers, dancers, ceremonialists, has the potential to transform our lives, bring us inspiration, weave us with earth magic and give us what we so long for in this moment in history.

Here is what I summarize about ONE of the temples we hold:

Enter the Rainbow Turtle Women's Temple

Daring new paradigms together by diving into the unspoken, honesty with deep listening, Shadow Work, council, offering up our heart stories, healing the Sacred Hoop, courageously facing racism, classism, homophobia as fractures that we the women of the earth are bravely seeking to repair and actively shift, remembrance of our ancestors, teachers, and children, naively asking for trust to form new buds in the hearts of our sisters who the dominant culture has hurt, forgiveness, radical shifts, learning Restorative Justice.

And yet on the next breath we are singing, dancing, drumming, laughing and coming home to who we are.

If you are a woman who has touched the spirit of Daughters of the Earth or me, or you are a man who knows my spirit, or you are a being who can feel my deepest intention, then I ask you to let your communities know. There is so much to sift through. This is a portal of my 23 years of experience as a women's empowerment and transformational leader. Ask your sisters to come through the portal if they are searching. The only way that they learn of it is through us. When the word is passed between us we become messengers for what others are often looking for. I am so grateful for our circles, for our communities, for the way in which we live. It is an honor and a privilege to be dancing our dreams to life together. Who knows where it will lead us? We must go forward even when it is often daunting. With love and gratitude, ALisa

"We are hungry for the mysteries. We are hunting for our authentic selves, our power nourished by the roots of the Sacred Deep Feminine, a connection with life, a life lived with meaning." ~ ALisa Starkweather

www.alisastarkweather.com
www.womeninpowerprogram.com
www.redtenttemplemovement.com under construction