Community Grief Circles for Women

---

To grieve is an act of belonging to humanity. It is an expression of honoring and remembering that living as humans requires us to be born and to die, to step into and out of the physical forms we call bodies, and to love along the way. When we grieve, we embody love, praise, and gratitude for what has died, is dying, or will die. it is an act of beauty and despair at the same time. Grieving makes our love visible. 

To grieve well and completely we must grieve together, in community. Grief requires a container bigger than that which we can create for ourselves and holding far beyond what one set of hands can offer. Part of the medicine of grief is being witnessed in our love for other beings and ideas and receiving reflections of our love from those witnesses in the form of words, movements, sounds, images, touch and more. Only with this kind of sacred tending can our grief fully alchemize into relief.

Community Grief Circles for Women are small, in-person circles that seek to bring women in the flow of grief together to: 

• explore and be visible in our experiences through creative truth-telling, deep listening, and intentional reflection; 
• deepen our relationships with ourselves, each other, the elements, and beyond; and 
• give and receive the sacred tending needed to alchemize grief into relief. 

Grief and loss take infinite forms, and all are welcome in these circles. Big grief and small grief. Light grief and heavy grief. Old grief and new grief. From the death of a loved one, to ancestral grief, to the extinction or endangerment of plants and animals, to social injustices, unfulfilled expectations or unrequited love.

If you find yourself longing for this type of sacred space to support your grief journey, and are willing to participate in the co-creation of this space to support other women in theirs, we wholeheartedly invite you to step into a community grief circle. 

 In each circle we will:

• open and close ritually incorporating the elements, especially water
• create space for each person to creatively express their grief
• practice active and deep listening 
• practice offering and receiving reflection from others

These circles are facilitated by death doula and Women of the Water founder, Lisa Cheney-Philp, and are inspired and additionally resourced by the following books:

• Prayers of Honoring Grief by Pixie Lighthorse
• The Smell of Rain on Dust: Grief and Praise by Martin Prechtel
• The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief by Francis Weller

Each circle meets in-person at the location specified and is limited to twelve participants. Registration is required.  Circles with fewer than three participants may be cancelled or moved online.

The cost is $30 per person, per circle

Winter 2023 Dates:

• 1/22/2023 - Be Free Healing Center, Fort Collins, 12:30-3pm, Register here

Spring 2023 Dates:

• 3/26/2023 - Be Free Healing Center, Fort Collins, 12:00-2:30pm
• 4/23/2023 - Be Free Healing Center, Fort Collins, 12:00-2:30pm
• 5/21/2023 - Be Free Healing Center, Fort Collins, 12:00-2:30pm