At the November Red Tent we talked about how in order to be strong, we first need to truly love ourselves. Since the gift-giving holiday season was upon us, what better gift could we give ourselves other than love? And if you’re thinking, “well, what about giving love to others,” authentic love is only given to others when we can love ourselves first. And I’m not talking about egotistical love (although you have to give love to that part of being human, too). I’m talking about loving every itty bitty and big parts of ourselves. The whole enchilada. With this idea in mind, we wrote love letters to ourselves and read them aloud in our sharing. I asked everyone to seal them and then read them again during the holidays as one of their gifts. It was a very sweet activity and sharing. I encourage you to do it, too, if you missed the Red Tent. Find a nice card, write yourself a love letter and stash it away until it’s time to open your presents.
I just put mine under our tree and it felt so good “to give myself some love.” Especially now that we have such darkness upon us, we need as much love as we can get. It’s important for women to seek the love of our sisters and respond in kind. It is in coming together that we can be a stronger force. Here’s some advice from Madonna in her 2016 Billboard Woman of the Year acceptance speech: “as women, we have to start appreciating our own worth and each other's worth. Seek out strong women to befriend, to align yourself with, to learn from, to collaborate with, to be inspired by, to support, and be enlightened by."
With that, I’d like to announce that we are going to have 2 Red Tents per month in 2017, with 1 in July and 1 in December! One of our Red Tent sisters has offered a space in her home to have a second monthly Red Tent on or as close to the full moon as possible! Thank you Andrea Firpo! Please check out the new calendar we added on the Moondays Events Page with all the happenings of the year, including movie screenings, a “Pop-Up” Red Tent and another Goddess Swim. We will also have all of the new moons and full moons on the calendar as well.
Happy Holidays to everyone and see you in the New Year!
Susan