Initial experiences are often defining moments, and Eclipse credits Margaret Woodside for providing the foundation on which her relationship with Rowe grew. When she first came to Rowe in 1985, she was a different person: reclusive, private, and shy.
Hiding out alone on the deck with sunglasses and bandana in place, smoking a cigarette, Eclipse was surprised when Margaret unexpectedly reached out to her in just that kind of Margaret way. “You call yourself Eclipse. Tell me about your name.” Often people thought of her name as having to do with shadows, but Eclipse explained it was about the light of the sun and the light of the moon coming together. Eclipse said she loved chocolate milk, so Margaret made sure she got some. After that, Margaret had a bottle of chocolate syrup waiting when Eclipse arrived. That simple gesture touched Eclipse’s heart. “Margaret’s heart flows in the spirit of Rowe. She is the mother of the Rowe spirit.”
Since then, Eclipse has preserved and passed on that special gift she received from Margaret. The simple gesture of asking, “Who are you?” energizes that part of one’s self that we keep to ourselves. Margaret embodied the Rowe spirit, and Eclipse carries it on as she directs WomenCircles, keeping the vision of the circle about being present with an open heart.
The following year, Eclipse was made an honorary staff person, and the year after she contacted Zita Lazzarini and told her she wanted to co-direct. It seemed an outrageous thing to do, but Eclipse felt called to serve, and Zita was pleased. So the journey began.
From the start, Eclipse felt a mystical connection to the land at Rowe. Long before coming to Rowe, she had a vision-dream. She saw that she held a small white bird in her heart. She had been holding onto it all her life, so tightly that it died. She laid it to rest in a meadow, and four spirit beings or guardians came out of the ground. When Eclipse came to Rowe and stepped into the meadow (the ballfield), she knew she had come home. She often sees those guardians there, and knows that the white bird of her vision was the Bird of Hope and that at WomenCircles we become guardians – of the land, spirit, and hope.
WomenCircles was first called Women’s Week and was started by Virginia Barrett, the Director of Women’s Programming at Rowe in the early 70s. It was created to provide a space where women could come together for studying, thinking, and playing, discussing ways of relating to custom-bound social and work milieu, and learning new ways to relate to each other and to that larger world.
When Eclipse came to Rowe, women were finding their power, making statements in the world. Eclipse wanted to add the spirituality of women, focusing on the mystical and grounded in the heart. Where WomenCircles had been more political, celebrating the power of women, she wanted to add a more transformative experience.
Eclipse felt that something was missing: the connection with the land. Her first workshop sent women out onto the land to find stones. Sacred sites aren’t just something that happened in ancient times. She knows that Rowe is a sacred site and that WomenCircles is unique because of its relationship to the land and the spirits of the land. She believes this connection supports women to be more present to themselves and to each other. Over the years, Eclipse has created many grids on the land, burying crystals and treasures in the meadow to continue to keep the energy flowing.
Eclipse has seen the aging process among the women who come to camp. When she first came, everyone was young. She created the first Croning Ceremony in the late 80s, a simple ceremony in which the youngest woman carried a crown of flowers to the oldest woman. She remembers catching a glimpse of the first crone, after everyone had gone to bed, standing with the crown on her head, looking out over the Rec Hall in a moment of sovereignty, something she had not experienced in her lifetime. The Croning Ceremony continued to be part of the program from then on. Today, many of the women are of croning age, and there is also a group of “Rowe Ancients” who are all in their eighties.
From the beginning, Eclipse worked with the Goddess of the land, and soon began working with a specific Goddess each year. Eclipse points out that WomenCircles is for all women, and, even though the camp focuses on a specific Goddess, each women can interpret that for herself as the specific energy within herself that is embodied by the Goddess we are working with.
Though Eclipse has been directing WomenCircles for two decades, she says that the camp is what it is thanks to the commitment and service of the many women who have directed, worked on staff, and come to camp as part of this amazing community of women. She is grateful for the wonderful gifts and spirit of all who help to create this mystical experience.
Eclipse was on the Board of Trustees, built the stone Goddess behind the Rec Hall, started the Women of Color Scholarship Fund, successfully proposed to the board that an acre of land in the woods be designated as a space that would be left forever wild and could be used for spreading ashes, and created the Iris Fund to support women artists and create a women’s library at Rowe.
Eclipse wrote Moon in Hand and Wing and Bough, as well as two sets of divination cards. She has just completed a new book, a modern goddess mystery: Motherghost:The Madonna Connection, which looks directly at the powerful complexity of mother love and shows how our mothers can empower or cripple us in our adult lives – even when they are no longer there.
We honor Eclipse on her lifetime of service to the Goddess and her twenty years of service to Rowe.
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