Full Moon Women’s Initiation
'Swallowing Pearl Moon’
Women ages 47-59 are welcome to join us as we explore.
What is shifting around us & in our bodies?
What turns us on?
What are we here to disrupt?
What is calling us for expression and connection?
How do we thrive in our new body?
What do we need to be witnessed and supported?
What kind of an Elder are we becoming?
“The Pearl Moon time for women” is a term from some Indigenous cultures, particularly the Ojibew, that refers to a woman’s menstrual period, when she is considered sacred and is encouraged to rest, reflect, and reconnect with herself and the earth. It is a time for spiritual cleansing, holistic nurturing, and slowing down, sometimes accompanied by rituals like giving blood back to the earth.
Women entering Peri-menopause and Menopause are not offered the rite of passage into this next powerful phase of life. Often, all that is attached to this time is the emphasis on our physiological hormonal changes and their impact. However, this is fertile ground to reclaim ourselves in a new way as our bodymind is radically changing.
Swallowing the Pearl Moon is the invitation to internalize and alchemize our creative energy that was connected to blood, birth, mothering, or othering into a new Identity and Presence. We will initiate ourselves into our new place as Women. The phases of initiation rituals are generally characterized by three stages: separation (detachment from the old status), liminality (a transitional, in-between state of testing and learning), and reintegration (return to the community as a new, transformed person).
We will be flowing through these three stages for two moon cycles each. In between our regular meeting times, there will be two pop-ups each Month for connection and deepening. The pop-up offerings will be based on what is alive in the group, but we will also be tuning in with the Seasonal energy. You can choose which pop-ups speak to you, but we would like to ask for committed attendance at our Full Moon meetings. This is a living field that can offer us a coherent, compassionate, fierce, and nourishing initiation into our next phase of life.
In the January & February Moons, we will connect to what is changing or separating in your life. What are you letting go of? What is dying? What no longer serves you? In this cycle, we will have pop-ups that support letting go, grief, and surrender, like: Offering Fires, Drumming, and Sauna Sweats (limited to 4 people), and some Movement/touch choirs.
March & April Moons, we will connect to the Liminal Space —the cocoon of becoming — through Presence witnessing, connecting with Archetypes, Guides, and learning Authentic Movement. The pop-ups for this time will be Studio Time for Mask Making, Authentic Movement Sessions, Head Rubs & Feet Rubs with Warm Foot Bath.
May & June Moon, we will Reintegrate through Affirmative Emergent Rituals that we invite our community to collaborate in and reflect on our new place inside. Drawing on Peter Levine, Joanna Macy, Malidoma Some, & Buddhist Feast Offerings, we learn natural, easy structures for integration. The pop-ups for this will Be Spiritual Flower & Herbal Baths, Studio Art Time, and Welcome Tunnel.
At each Full Moon Meeting, we will follow a similar structure to honor our inner space as we generate our ‘body’ as a group.
The basic structure will be: Somatic Grounding Practice; Concise “What is Alive” check-in; Bringing the Inquiry; Individual Journal, Move, or Draw; Small Group Shares; Big Group “What was revealed?”, & Closing Sound Attunement.
Hello, I’m Natalya. I am kissing 55. Soon to be an empty nester, in the throes of peri-menopause, and have been in a committed relationship for 25 years, but am currently sleeping (not really haha) alone. I am a changing woman. Ready to be initiated into… a living mystery of my Wise Woman? I have found the lack of support for this Rite of Passage to be saddening; thus, I am creating the balm for my spirit-heart-mind-body. I will be the 9th participant in our journey together.
I will be calling on my experience in ceremony from my 30-year devotional path in Vajrayana Tibetan Buddhism, the Guatemalan Mayan Fire Ceremony, Medicine Work with the Shipibo People, a Dance Movement Therapy Degree, Internal Family Systems Certification, Acutonics Sound Practitioner, Somatic Psychology Researcher, Trauma Integration, and Classical Chinese Medicine Student. All of these lenses inform me in my way, I facilitate and Guide Groups.
The character strengths I aspire to bring to this group are: openness, clarity, listening, compassion, forgiveness, humility, playfulness, and courage.
DATES & TIMES: We will meet for 2.5 hours on the Full Moons for 6 months: January 3rd (Saturday), February 2nd (Monday), March 3rd (Tuesday), April 2nd (Thursday), May 1st (Friday), & June 1st (Monday). We ask that no more than two regular Full-moon meetings be missed. If you will not be present in person, you can join the group via Zoom.
INVESTMENT: $66/month, which includes the pop-up happenings. The monthly payment is expected even if you cannot attend the Full Moon meeting.
If you cannot afford the full $66/month cash payment, there are other ways to carry the energetic load by helping with email correspondence, set-up/clean-up, snacks, making playlists, herbal teas/medicine, and ritual supplies.
8 Openings are Available for the Ongrowing group.
FIRST MEETING IS FREE!
In our initial meeting, we will introduce the structure, agreements, and rhythm of this group. In this initial meeting, you can see whether this group and structure are a fit for you. If you are considering joining, I would like to ask that you are comfortable and curious about self-inquiry, emotional regulation, and group dynamics, and that you practice personal accountability. Also, if you are outside the age bracket and would like to participate, please get in touch with me directly.