April 1-3, 2005
Like everything in nature, mothering includes cycles of light and darkness. There are feelings of love and gratitude so pure and profound that we feel immeasurably blessed. But mothering also includes feelings of despair, grief, anxiety, frustration, and rage that we can hardly tolerate. It’s a deeply profound thing to be a mother. It transforms us. By touching birth, we also know death. Because we nurture growing life, we also know loss. Mothering is a spiritual path, calling us to the deep complexities of life: the ecstasy of love and sacrifice, acceptance of an approach of loving kindness towards ourselves and others, compassion, letting go of attachments, forgiveness, and the inevitability of death. Mothers have always lived with this sacred paradox, but our culture glorifies the joys of motherhood and denies or sugarcoats the pain. We’ve lost the rituals and elder councils where the sacred aspects of mothering were honored.
MotherWoman has designed inspiring rituals and workshops to honor all mothers and re-unite each woman to her deepest Self. Explore the paradoxes, speak the truth, look for the gold in the darkness. Our most profound wisdom and feminine power are embedded in the sacred exploration of the Dark Side of Mothering. We’ll share in small and large groups, journal, visualize, meditate, drum, laugh a lot, and create ritual to awaken the sleeping magical Self, the Wild and Wise Woman within every mother. We’ll explore cultural myths, the messages from our mothers and grandmothers that may no longer serve us, and heal wounds we may still carry about how we were mothered. We’ll journey into the Dark Side of Mothering to explore the truths we’re holding that deserve a voice. We’ll become the council of elders that we’ve been craving, and find more self-love, healing, and transformation than you could imagine as a woman and a mother. You will come away from this retreat with clarity and open-heartedness that will benefit, not only you, but your entire family. We’ll embrace the natural beauty of Rowe’s forests, meadows, labyrinth, and waterfall and we’ll be fed and cared for. We welcome all women.
Annette Cycon and Gabrielli LaChiara founded and co-direct MotherWoman Inc., a non-profit dedicated to raising consciousness and the sacred empowerment of all mothers. They offer a leadership training program and publish MotherWoman Journal. Their professional expertise as therapists, group facilitators and healers balances their personal experience as spiritual seekers, mothers, and daughters. When a mother brings more consciousness to her own growth process and her mothering, she becomes a powerful agent of change in her family and in the world. As mothers and as women, we are very powerful. We’re raising the next generation, so taking care of ourselves can make an enormous difference in healing our families, our culture, and the earth.