OUR HERSTORY
In the fall of 2000 Rose Dowling and Wendy Sarno found themselves in conversation sharing a mutual dream. We both had imagined for some time gathering women together around Women’s Spirituality. On November 12 of that year six women came together for the first time to explore what Women’s Spirituality meant to them and how they could offer their gifts in creating and presenting spirituality programs for other women.
“Connected to the ordinary which becomes extraordinary” “the gift of waiting” “grounded and earthy” “interdependent and relational” “mutual and inclusive.” These were some of the phrases used on that first evening to describe what we understood by Women’s Spirituality and our desire to give it expression in our lives. Of those gathered on that November evening, some remained and became the founders and first woman’Space associates. Others joined the group later and became associates along the way. Over the years we have been enriched by the spirits of women who have shared their gifts with us for a time before moving on to other places in their lives. Marilyn Davis was part of the original group and Mary Jordan came along shortly after. Others who have contributed their spirit and energy to us as Associates are Sandy Reis, Jeri Malone, Cyndi Grewe and Beth Kessler.
At our January 2001 meeting, we were attempting to find a name for our group when Wendy articulated what was recognized by the whole group as our mission statement: Through experiential programs, we offer women space to deepen their relationship with themselves, with the Divine and with each other. Our name: woman’Space flowed naturally from that mission statement.
For much of the first year we gathered for ritual and sharing as we dreamed and developed a sense of what woman’Space would look like as an organization, as we created and designed the first programs. We applied for and received some grant money to help us get started. We became a not-for-profit corporation. We knew that we would be a wandering group without a permanent “space”. Our sense was that wherever women gather to nourish and deepen their souls would be “woman’space”.
And so woman’Space was born, and in November of 2001 we offered our first program called What if God Were a Woman? In February 2002 was Writing Your Spiritual Autobiography, and in May, Leading from Within.
Each year since then, we have presented three or four weekend workshops annually including three residential retreats. All those who have sat in these circles tell us how much their lives have been enriched by the experience. In 2006 we began issuing an annual newsletter called woman’Spirit containing essays, reflections, poetry and art by woman’Space associates and participants. We created a website, revamped and updated in 2008 to better reflect who we are and the vision we share with other women.
In our associate meetings and in our presentations, we make a choice to operate in a feminine mode in so far as we can. For instance, we always function in circle and begin every gathering with a ritual to close the circle and end with a ritual to open it in keeping with the ancient tradition of our foremothers. When we offer retreats there are two presenters who collaborate on the design and facilitation of the program. For our residential retreats, all the woman’Space Associates take an active part in the planning and presentation. In this way we choose to manifest that interdependent connection which is so much part of who we truly are as women. As one woman has reflected, we “sister each other”, and we model community which is, we believe, the Divine mode of on-going creation in the Cosmos.