Description:
Gather traces the history and contemporary practice of women's circles. Over sixty contributors share their wisdom through poetry, prose, and artwork to reflect on what women's circles are and why they matter. This diverse and inclusive compendium of contemporary women's wisdom is bound to become a much-loved handbook, providing inspiration, wisdom, and practical guidance.
Women's circles have played an important part in women's cultural history--from sewing circles to the consciousness raising groups of the 1970s and ancient and modern red tents for menstruating women.
Opening with an introduction by Womancraft Publishing founder Lucy H. Pearce, who compiled the anthology, Gather traces the history and contemporary practice of women's circles. Over sixty contributors--authors, activists, artists, community builders, priestesses, mothers, and grandmothers--ranging in age from fourteen to over seventy share their wisdom on what women's circles are and why they matter, sharing reflections on best practice and inspiration on how to create your own.
Includes contributions from elders in the women's circle movement: ALisa Starkweather, founder of the Red Tent Temple movement; Jane Hardwicke Collings, School of Shamanic Womancraft; founders of the Red Tent Directory, Mary Ann Clements and Aisha Hannibal; and bestselling Womancraft authors Amy Wilding, Lucy H. Pearce, Carly Mountain, and Molly Remer, as well as the wider Womancraft community.
Topics include:
- The importance of women's circles for support, healing, and transformation
- Cultural appropriation and land recognition
- Leading and running sustainable circles
- Inclusion of women of color, neurodivergent women, and trans women
- Special circles, including those focused on girls (peer-led and mother-daughter circles), menopause, creativity, and more
This diverse and inclusive compendium of contemporary women's wisdom is bound to become a much-loved handbook for women starting and running their own circles, providing inspiration, wisdom, and practical guidance from the Womancraft community.
Contributors include ALisa Starkweather, Jane Hardwicke Collings, Mary Ann Clements, Aisha Hannibal, Amy Wilding, Carly Mountain, and Molly Remer
Brief description:
Amy Wilding is a circle keeper, rite of passage guide, certified women's hormonal health coach, menarchist, and author. For over two decades, she has guided women and girls in reclaiming their birthright of sisterhood, cyclical literacy, body sovereignty, and the wild wisdom of the sacred feminine.
Her work stands at the intersection of science, story, and lived experience, supporting the dismantling of patriarchal conditioning and the restoration of womancraft as a cultural foundation. Through her circles and writing, she helps reweave matriarchal values into modern life--creating spaces where girls and women can return to their cyclical nature and restore their inherent authority.
She is the founder of Red Tent Louisville and Period of Change, and the author of Period of Change: Welcoming Your Daughter's Period with Care & Confidence.