So many women business owners have been phenomenally supportive! Check out all of the amazing prizes they have donated to give away at the Pop-Up Red Tent! Remember, you can't win if you don't come this Saturday. Here's a list. (There's one I forgot to mention in the video: art prints and card set from Suzanne Elizabeth.)
You can earn more raffle tickets by sharing the Pop-Up Red Tent event by posting on your social media accounts!
All you have to do is share the event on any of your social media walls before July 27th, take a screen shot and email it to me at [email protected] with your name and phone number. I will automatically enter an extra raffle ticket per post for you, towards winning one of our fabulous prizes!
Link to event webpage: http://www.moondays.com/events.html
Link to Facebook event page: http://bit.ly/2gTfaca
Thank you so much for your support and help in spreading the word!

Feeling so supported and loved. It's the best feeling in the world. This is what I want to create for all of my sisters around the world. Starting in my home town of Portland, Oregon- with a Pop-Up to raise funds for the first, permanent, brick and mortar Moondays Red Tent.
Please visit the website event page and the Facebook event page for more info.

We had a wonderful time and a really nice group at our 3rd Mother-Daughter Red Tent. This time we had it on the morning of Mother’s Day. There were 9 moms and 10 daughters. Moms always walk away grateful and daughters sometimes, too. For those daughters who still aren’t sure about making their period and cycles of womanhood into a joyful beautiful thing, at least we planted some seeds!
I was so happy to see Morghannah and her new baby girl, Lotus. It was Morghannah’s first time back since we did a Blessingway (which was precious) for her and the birth of her daughter at our October Red Tent. And it was Lotus’ first time to a Red Tent outside of her mom’s belly. She’s such a little sweetie pie.
One of the moms is in a mother-daughter group and had been wanting to bring some content and meaning around this topic for their girls. Here’s a bit of what she wrote to her group about the experience. So glad others find value in these events!
“Hi Friends,
The Moonday gathering was absolutely lovely! Coral was a bit nervous (as was I) not knowing what to expect. We gathered at Soma Space.  If you are not familiar, it is really nicely decorated in golds and reds with beautiful fabrics all throughout.  It's a very cozy and safe space. 
Everyone was invited to bring something special to place on the altar.  We were "cleansed" with a sage smudge stick and given a candle to place on the altar in silence.  We opened the circle by honoring the four directions.  We sang a song together to lift our collective vibration.
Susan, who began these Red Tent gatherings, was inspired by the book The Red Tent.  She said after that book came out many women recognized the importance of honoring our cycles and the divine feminine within each of us.  She hopes to open a brick and mortar women's center by next year.
She spoke quite a bit about how when you get your period you begin a chapter in your life that is cyclic, much like the cycle of the moon and the seasons.  We went around the circle and spoke about our thoughts and feelings in regards to menstruation and our mothers. The daughters introduced themselves, stated their age, and spoke about their relationship to their moms.  Lastly, those girls who had their periods spoke about their feelings towards it.
It was a safe space for sharing.  I found it empowering for all the girls and educational for Coral.  It's really important to me that Coral has a positive experience moving into this chapter of her life and I think this is one way I can support her.  This was not my experience growing up and I intend to help shift this for my girl, to remove the stigma attached to this natural, life-giving process in our beautiful bodies!”

The Womb of the Red Tent
If women are to raise the divine feminine on the planet and heal the imbalance in the world of male/female, it’s imperative we join hands. Each one of us is coming to understand more deeply that we need to reach out, connect with and support our sisters.  I love the regularity of women coming together in a group on an ongoing basis. We might have enjoyed women’s company through sewing, knitting & quilting bees, church groups, mom groups, etc., but there’s something so special about coming together in a Red Tent where we get to reflect on our lives and share from our hearts in a more ritualistic setting. The container is created and the tone is set to hold our energies in a protective manner, as if we were in a metaphorical womb. I believe there is great opportunity for personal growth in this kind of setting.  And when we grow personally, we lift our sisters up along with us.


Who to surround ourselves with
I am so grateful for the women who come to the Red Tents regularly and for the friends and connections I’ve made. The commitment they share with me -- to actively take steps to empower themselves and other women -- aligns with my values in a big way. I’ve been contemplating recently about what kind of people I want to be close with and allow into my reality. I’ve also been wanting to be clear on this so I can model it for my teenage kids.  I want to make sure they know how important it is to choose to surround themselves with people that will nurture and support their growth as individuals, people who share the same values.
Taking action
Because I know it would be easy to just stay home and watch a movie that night, or something else instead of coming out to a Red Tent, I so appreciate the efforts of the women who attend. Like my teenage daughter said to me once about coming to the Red Tents, “It’s like going to the gym. It’s kind of hard to get yourself there, but when you do, you’re so glad you did.” In these tumultuous political times, we must turn our bad stress into good stress and allow it to motivate us to take positive, constructive, action. Coming to Red Tents and Sister Circles is a form of action. Not only is it a great self-care activity, it ripples out into the Universe, raising the divine feminine mass consciousness everywhere.

    I suggest women to come to our Red Tents “ideally dressed in something beautiful and feminine.” I see the Red Tents as a place to honor and celebrate what it means to be a woman and amplify the divine feminine, to help heal the imbalance of feminine/masculine energies in the world. In order to amplify the feminine, we express this energy in various ways, from singing and dancing to sharing and connecting. Seeing all of the women dressed in beautiful “feminine” clothes adds to our heightened awareness of the feminine. It is certainly not a requirement, just a suggestion.

    Occasionally I get questions or comments about why I ask women to come dressed “feminine.” Some criticize that I would be excluding some women. This is unfortunate since it is just a suggestion and not a requirement. I like to think of it as being similar to going to a Halloween party where the host asks you to wear a costume, but if you don’t feel like it, you don’t have to. Really, all dress is some form of costume and carries with it many symbols. I have nothing against women wearing “masculine” clothes. I myself mostly wear pants in the fall and winter. Women who prefer more “masculine” dress can either come to our Red Tent wearing anything they’d like, or they can put aside their daily duds and don a costume of femininity – however they’d like to define it.

    I myself like to define feminine clothing as soft and flowing with pleasing colors. My definition doesn’t include spike heels (bad for your body!) or plunging necklines (although I have nothing against plunging necklines -- we should be proud of our breasts!). A colleague recently suggested I use the term “goddess attire” and to look at it as a means of self-expression, to embody the goddess in order to feel a certain way. I really like the term “goddess attire.” This could be my answer to not offending some women with the currently charged term “feminine.”

We would love your feedback in general and also specifically on how you define feminine attire.
 

It’s been 3 weeks since our last Red Tent -- the final Red Tent of 2016.  Since then (pre-election), many of us have been shaken to our core and our world looks so different. Sisters are banding together, forming groups and holding political sister circles to find support, march in protest and take action against the alarmingly frightful presidential transition. Many Facebook Groups have popped up with names like ‘Pantsuit Nation,’ ‘Badass Women PDX’ and ‘Not Up For Grabs.’ Women are realizing now, more than ever, it’s time to take our power back and join forces! Our power has been squelched for way too long -- thousands of years too long. The world needs us to speak our minds, stand up for ourselves and take action for maintaining basic human rights. Women around the world are rising up and getting stronger. These are exciting times. They are also extremely challenging times.
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

After reading the novel The Red Tent in 2000, I became passionate about women coming together. Six years later, a vision came to me to create permanent brick-and-mortar Red Tents around the world. This vision consumed me and urged me to make it a reality. I worked on a plan diligently for 2 years and then the Great Recession hit. It was a challenging time. I had to shelve my Red Tent idea and focus on my existing gem and mineral business.
Thankfully, my business stabilized in the last couple years and I’ve been able to take Moondays off the shelf and put my plan into action. Ten years after conceiving Moondays, I now have two years under my belt hosting monthly Red Tents. It has been an amazing experience so far! I’ve met so many wonderful women and have witnessed many lovely connections among them. I get a lot of moral support for my vision as I journey forward.
At this point, I am 20 months away from crowdsourcing the capital needed to rent a location, build it out and have enough working capital to get it going. I plan on using Hatch Oregon’s new crowdsourcing platform which allows people to invest in local companies without having to be qualified investors. (Meaning anyone who is an Oregon resident will be able to buy equity in Moondays!) I’m really excited about working with local investors and it looks like the perfect place for Moondays to get the right support. I plan on enrolling in their accelerator program in 2017 which will help me get prepared for the launch. The cost for the accelerator program is $2,500; my goal is to do enough fundraising next year to help cover that cost. The first event towards that goal will be a Pop-Up Red Tent next April. Stay tuned for more detail. Tiffany Prescott from Periodic, Inc. and Amber Carol-Lewis, who caters our monthly Red Tents, both agreed to help me with that project and I am so grateful! I will need a couple  more volunteers to help out the day of the Pop-Up Red Tent, so please let me know if you’re interested.
I recently joined a virtual sister-circle program for women who lead sister circles, in order to take care of myself and get the support I need. I’m excited about the program -- how I will learn and grow from it and the inspiration and connections that will be generated from it.
I will keep you all posted about new developments! Thanks for joining me on this journey towards making Moondays a reality, and helping me “call it in.” I appreciate all of your support: the good thoughts (your thoughts alone affect things), the attendance at our Red tents, the financial and volunteer contributions and sharing the vision with friends and family. Blessings to you!
 

At our September Red Tent, we honored and celebrated the Fall Equinox since it occurred just two days prior. The three things that stand out most for me during this time of year are: harvest, balance (since day and night are almost equal,) and preparing to go into the darker months. This time of year, we welcome the Dark Mother or Crone in the Triple Goddess.
In our sharing, we reflected on three things: what are we harvesting in our lives currently, how does balance play itself out in our lives and our shadow work. I’ve done a lot of personal development in my life, but the term ‘Shadow Work’ was relatively new to me. As one who likes to focus on the positive, I never really wanted to do that particular kind of work. Although, I’ve come to realize that the “shadow” doesn’t necessarily have to be “negative.” Like one of the women brought up in her sharing, our “shadow Selves” can be our inner warriors, a place we draw strength from. We talked about becoming aware of these parts of ourselves, not judging them, shining the light on them, accepting and loving them. We also talked about becoming aware of and working with the same shadows in others as well as in families and organizations. For many women, this topic resonated with them and we had some wonderful, deep sharing.
Amber’s food and display were wonderful as always. I love the details she includes that often play off the theme. Like for instance, she had this beautiful, crystal balance scale on the table. (See picture below.) Afterward our event, I thought it was a shame that probably many of the women miss these details, so I vowed in the future to make sure we talk about them in the circle so everyone can appreciate them.
I can’t believe we only have two more Red Tents this year, plus a Mother-Daughter Red Tent! It’s already time to start planning for 2017. Dear Father Time and Mother Earth, May you grant me/us all the time in the world to accomplish all we’d like to do in service. We are less than two years away from our crowd sourcing campaign. Please share, like and comment on our social media platforms and come to and invite friends to our Red Tents so that we may grow the tribe big enough to create a successful, permanent brick and mortar Red Tent.
 

I was very excited about the August Red Tent because I loved the theme and coming up with so many details around the evening that tied it all together.
Summer is coming to an end.  It’s always a difficult transition for me, and for others as well, I imagine. We’re going into the darker, colder months, away from the light, bright warmth of summer. I consulted the Goddess Oracle cards by Doreen Virtue for what theme to go with for our August Red Tent and got Pele, Goddess of Fire and Transformation. How perfect! It was a clear sign. We would conjure up Pele, reflect and share on the following:
1. How can we keep the “fire” of summer and our passions -- those things that keep us on fire -- alive through the “dark” times?
2. What are our passions?
3. How has the fire transformed your life?
We started the circle with listening to this song I found, called “Mele for Madame Pele.” It is so sweet. It’s an original Hawaiian Style slack key guitar song in honor of the Hawaiian Volcano Goddess Pele. Mele is the Hawaiian word for song. Sung by Simone Scholze.
Our chant was a wonderful new women’s chant by Kellianna ©2010 called “Pele.” Listen here. I love the melody, the words and how simple it is.
After sharing we wrote on a piece of paper 5 things we feel are holding us back, then burned our papers outside in front of SomaSpace. It was so fitting to do this ritual using the fire element. Back in circle, as an extra treat, I passed around pieces of pyrite to each woman to take home. In Greek the word means “fire stone.” Pyrite has that fiery energy. We sat in a short meditation to infuse the stone with our passions, our fire and to keep the stones with us to energize us through the dark months. And last but not least, our scarf dance song was “Burning Down The House” by the Talking Heads.
We had an extra activity after the circle: we decoupaged boxes to hold our pyrite clusters and anything else we wanted to put in the box to aid in the intention.
I was so pleased that many of the women who were with us for the first time came because someone invited them! I am happy everyone is spreading the word and having more and more women experience the magic of the Red Tent.