 |
 |
 |
 |
Winter WomanSpirit Conference
was held on January 25, 26 and 27, 2002
PHOTOS are NOW ONLINE! (2/5/02)
"The winter WomanSpirit conference was like a summer for my soul!" The fourteenth annual WomanSpirit conference used as its theme "Nourishing the Spirit Within" Women's lives are always full: raising children, being effective at work, and exercising hard. Those varied activities don't leave many spaces for those small moments that are so big, those still moments where one centers, where one listens truly to a friend, where one feels the pulse and life of the earth.
Vicki Noble, author of the MotherPeace Tarot cards, was invited to speak to the three hundred women attendees. "It was great to have a visual, bodied person working with us, and great to have the MotherPeace cards around, " praised one participant. Her healing ceremony Saturday night was especially appreciated. "The healing ceremony was a privilege for all of us. Exhausting and exhilarating!!"
The workshops followed the theme of nourishing ourselves: Feed Me Chocolate; The Art of Shamanic Journeying; Personal Path: the art of Natural Balance; Women's Myth in Film, and, of course Yoga, Tai Chi and Belly Dancing. Vendors provided many ways of nourishing ourselves including goddess figurines, jewelry, and shimmering clothes. Participants were able to choose from the many offerings, as each person needs to nourish herself in her own personal way. For some, the richest part of the weekend was being with old friends and acquaintances who have followed the path to women's spirituality together.
This year's conference was held at Marriott Hickory Ridge Conference Center in Lisle, Illinois, and drew people from the Central Midwest District, Michigan, Minnesota, North and South Carolina, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Texas. Each year the conference has grown, affirming the need for a place where women can develop for themselves their own brand of religious ritual based on joy, beauty, love, intuition, and intellectual power.
The Ambiance Committee did a fantastic job of inspiring participants with pictures of goddesses on the walls, inspirational sayings by women, and, of course, the obligatory flowers in the men's urinals. The food supplied by the hotel was plentiful and delicious. Maidens and small children had their own activities, joining the adults for meals.
Clear stones with the WomanSpirit design were given to us all, and we charged them with energy at the Saturday evening service, after the Myth of Demeter and Persephone was danced by Isis Panthea and Women at the Well. The Women and Religion Committee chose a Sunday service theme of the goddesses and women from the logo created for us by Carol Nichols: Gaia, Hi'iaka, Danu, Durga, Mary, Venus, Buffalo Woman, Magu and Ma'at. These figures nurture us in our lives, both as role models and as sources of energy which we can draw upon. Nancy Vedder-Schults drummed while singing a traditional Hindu bhajan to Durga/Kali.
The Women and Religion Committee from the Central Midwest District includes: Sally Gonzalez, Chair; Mickey Callahan, Carol Hosmer, Gretchen Ohmann, Jean Pierce, Misty Sheehan, Elly Wynia, and Susan Zuern.
Here are the QUOTATIONS that were decorating our space at Hickory Ridge!
updated 02/20/02