I'm Em, the herbalist, women’s health advocate, co-author of the Hay House published "Sacred Cycles Oracle," and Moon-loving-mystic behind Garden of the Moon. 🌙 Garden of the Moon's mission is to empower women to rewrite their limiting beliefs surrounding their bodies while rooting them in deep connection to the Earth.
On Building the Village, Earth Reverence & “Where Are All The Good Men?” {recap from Sacred Sons}
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Hey there Reader, I haven’t known how to write this — something to summarize my time in ceremony on the Olympic Peninsula last month with the men’s group Sacred Sons for their first co-ed gather, Convergence. But y'all are curious cats and I keep getting requests to share more — so let's give it a go... I’ve been quietly fan-girling Sacred Sons for years via Instagram and followed their work as an intentional “Expander” for what I (hoped) was possible around the kind of man I see myself with in partnership. But here’s the thing… It was just that - A hope. A wish. A prayer. It wasn’t grounded in any kind of certainty that “it” actually existed out there because I had no somatic experience to anchor in my body. Everything feels so different for me after this experience. Because now I’ve seen - felt - been held by - the kind of masculinity that I genuinely wasn’t 100% convinced actually existed. Every time the women in my life ask me about Convergence - my eyes well up, hand goes to heart, but the words get all jumbly. The best I usually do is, “It changed my life.” Then, of course, they want to know, “But what were the MEN like?!” To which I have EVEN LESS words, because, my Goddess, how do you describe something that you’ve never had a frame of reference for up until that point? I watched men kneel on the Earth, hand to heart - hand to soil, offering prayers. I watched men dip their hands in the waters of the sound, touch salty fingers to third eye and smile with love & awe as the sun rose. I watched men rock my sisters in their arms and hum lullabies as trauma was released and rippled out — and then watched as they offered it all back to the fire and chose to show up again and again and again for the sisters to come forward with their hearts. what I saw was EARTH REVERENCE in these Men and it’s this, this Reverence — Earth Reverence which translates into Reverence of the Feminine… that might be at the root of the whole thing. I think what I’m learning as I unpack this experience is that maybe THIS, this EARTH REVERENCE, is what I {what so many women} mean when we speak about wanting to see “Good Men” maybe what is meant in the cry for “WHERE ARE ALL THE GOOD MEN?”...is actually a desire to see men in Reverence. In deep connection with the Earth. In awe of what Mother Nature is — in ALL Her forms.But how much space are men truly given or invited into where they are called to BE IN REVERENCE? This is why I feel men’s work is so powerful, and why I deeply believe in the reclamation that’s being made through Sacred Sons. It’s spaces like this that are so important for all our men who have ALSO been wounded, subjugated, oppressed by the extractive capitalism that underpins the distorted patriarchy we’re all navigating ourselves out of. in closing ceremony, one of the founders - Adam Jackson, said something to the effect of… “remember, that for a moment in time, we created the VILLAGE” and that’s what it was. it was remembering what THE VILLAGE was, has been, could be, always will be.TWO INVITATIONS TO JOIN ME LIVE THIS WEEK: Would love to hear how this landed for you, Reader. Have you ever been in the kind of ceremony I described above? Do you feel called to it? What could you feel in your body as you read this? Hit reply, and let me know. I'd love to hear from you. I hope I'll see you at one of the calls this week! 👆 Big Love, all ways always
P.S. Don't forget about those two live calls this week: 1️⃣ Wednesday @ 8 PM Eastern IG LIVE: “WHERE ARE ALL THE GOOD MEN?” with my sister, Divina, from Convergence, where we'll dig into our take on this question we hear {and have asked ourselves}, plus more unpacking of the Sacred Sons ceremony weekend. 2️⃣ Thursday @ 1 PM Eastern FREE WORKSHOP: " THE LIVING WHEEL: MAPPING YOUR MENSTRUAL CYCLE W/ THE WHEEL OF THE YEAR" with my IG friend, Jess Reid. This is a free workshop inside her membership community that she's opening to the public so you all can join us! |
Garden of the Moon
I'm Em, the herbalist, women’s health advocate, co-author of the Hay House published "Sacred Cycles Oracle," and Moon-loving-mystic behind Garden of the Moon. 🌙 Garden of the Moon's mission is to empower women to rewrite their limiting beliefs surrounding their bodies while rooting them in deep connection to the Earth.
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