Ever since I read Anita’s Diamant’s novel The Red Tent I felt the draw hosting one, but I didn’t really know how to get over my fear of doing something spiritual, something women-centred, something so completely different from anything I’d ever tried before.  My first attempt resulted in a meeting in my living room of about nine women whom I thought might be interested in a conversation about the things that mattered to women. We were animated and angry, and annoyed and frustrated but we were also keen to help make a difference in the lives of other women and young girls. We settled on doing some campaigning work on abortion rights and access to period products, and we then wrote and signed letters to MPs and MSPs in the hopes of adding our voices to the more organised women’s groups actively campaigning for reform and change.

After the initial flurry of activity, I was glad to have organised the meeting, but I felt instinctively that I wasn’t getting to the heart of what was missing, and what I was drawn to in Diamant’s novel.  I was too in my head, using the patriarchal ways I’d learned about how to organise and get things done, but it didn’t come close to satisfying the inner yearning I had inside me for something deeper, more spiritual, more connected to other women. It wasn’t until the confines of lockdown that I decided to venture forth once more and set up an online Red Tent group of willing friends whom I thought might be interested in getting this tent up. Lockdown seemed to have an impact on people’s need to connect so the timing felt right, and we met for about eight months before I felt brave enough to try offering something face to face.

The whole time I was organising this work, I was quite anxious about what I was doing, I felt scared about what I was offering and whether it would resonate with anyone.  I was having a hard time seeing myself as someone who held space for others in a sacred space when compared to the professional roles I’d held throughout my career. But as with much in life that challenges us to come out of our comfort zone, I decided to explore in earnest what connecting with other women could mean on a spiritual level and I signed up for Molly Remer’s Red Tent Initiation course.  Molly is a priestess, author, creator of all things divine feminine and together with her husband Mark, they run Brigid’s Grove (def worth checking out www.brigidsgrove.com).

Over the coming year I would read and learn all I could about facilitating red tents.  I went to other women’s red tent spaces, I watched You Tube videos and took inspiration from Isadora Leidenfrost, De’Ana L’am, leaders in the Red Tent movement. I listed my Red Tent offering with the Red Tent Directory in the UK, and slowly over time, any awkwardness I felt about offering a sacred circle to other women disappeared and became replaced with the magic of holding space for women to come together and share, connect, feel uplifted and be heard and seen in ways our society rarely stops to think about, far less offer.

I’ve since had the honour of listening to the experiences of many women as they journey through life; words never spoken aloud before, stories of joy, of shame, of fear, and wonder. I am regularly lost for words after hosting a Red Tent and I am drawn to the power of a circle of women speaking and sharing their own truths.

Sitting with other women in circle is a tradition lost to many of us in the western world, but it needn’t be.  Free from the expectations and demands of daily life, for an hour or two, you too, can find the magic of stillness, peace, connection and a little piece of soulful acceptance in the Red Tent. I only wish I’d known this magic years ago.