The start of Wild Women - our first ever flyer...
When I moved to Cumbria in 1997, I was on a journey of recovery - or rather, discovery. My attempt to smother the true spirit and voice of who I was had left me frightened, isolated and dead inside - without soul, without spirit. I had a choice: break the bondage and live as I am, or give in, sink under and die. I chose to live. And thus began a hard and beautiful adventure.
Two years later, I woke to the thin winter light and turned to my partner and said:
"I know what I have to do"...
And that was the beginning of Wild Women. Inspired by the resonant truths held in Clarissa Pinkola Estes book "Women Who Run With The Wolves", and taught by my own experiences that all to often women surrender their true voices and spirits for the sake of approval or acceptance - a surrender that leads to depression, repression, medication, denial, physical illness and so on - I decided to take a leap of courage and set up a group for women who, like myself, had committed to living and loving honestly, without artifice or surrender - women who sensed the wolf living within them and wanted to let it howl! I didn't really have a plan, or an agenda, other than a firm belief that if we allow ourselves to be the wild women (and men) we truly are, then amazing journeys unfold, and a willingness to trust that I was not alone, that if I called loud enough, I would be joined by my clan. I gathered the support of my sister Sal, my friend Alison and my partner, Adam, and with their help, I found out how to set up a group, filled in the paperwork, raised some funds and put some posters around the county.
Two weeks later, 12 women were sat around the fire in my living room, waiting to take the adventure. We took a deep breath, believed in the inspiration and began...
Two years later, I woke to the thin winter light and turned to my partner and said:
"I know what I have to do"...
And that was the beginning of Wild Women. Inspired by the resonant truths held in Clarissa Pinkola Estes book "Women Who Run With The Wolves", and taught by my own experiences that all to often women surrender their true voices and spirits for the sake of approval or acceptance - a surrender that leads to depression, repression, medication, denial, physical illness and so on - I decided to take a leap of courage and set up a group for women who, like myself, had committed to living and loving honestly, without artifice or surrender - women who sensed the wolf living within them and wanted to let it howl! I didn't really have a plan, or an agenda, other than a firm belief that if we allow ourselves to be the wild women (and men) we truly are, then amazing journeys unfold, and a willingness to trust that I was not alone, that if I called loud enough, I would be joined by my clan. I gathered the support of my sister Sal, my friend Alison and my partner, Adam, and with their help, I found out how to set up a group, filled in the paperwork, raised some funds and put some posters around the county.
Two weeks later, 12 women were sat around the fire in my living room, waiting to take the adventure. We took a deep breath, believed in the inspiration and began...
