Creating our altar
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by Glen Rogers

We had a great response to our inaugural women's gathering, Calling the Circle, last November. The event reached its maximum capacity, with almost 50 women attending from Mexico, the U.S. and Canada.

The gathering touched the yearning to celebrate the Divine Feminine in the hearts of many. We created a safe space, a vessel that we filled with three days of inspiration, connection and empowerment. We all left with lasting gifts of new friendships, new spiritual tools, plus inspiration and commitment to make life changes.

Dr. Ratka Popovic
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Now more than ever, there's a hunger for the connection and coming together that the Circle provides. I just read, "Each time women gather in circles with one another, the world heals a little more." In 2009 the Dalai Lama proclaimed at the Vancouver Peace Summit that "The world will be saved by the western woman." Women gathering in Circle is powerful medicine for the planet.

Calling the Circle in San Miguel is one of many such events across the globe, a way to re-gain primal wisdom. Women have been gathering in circle from the beginning of time to tell their stories, offer healing and guidance and to share from the heart. We continue to seek this spiritual thread in our modern lives. There are many books by best-selling authors like Jean Shinoda Bolen and Christina Baldwin which explore the phenomena of Women's Circles.

Tying the thread
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Planning for last year's initial event, I pulled together a wonderfully supportive Advisory Council of wise women who have guided me along the way: Lena Bartula, Emily C-D, Susan Page, Dr. Ratka Mira Popovic, and Bobbi Van. Donating to a non-profit to benefit local women was an important part of the the process. Last year we donated $1000us to Mujeres en Cambio, a non-profit that gives educational scholarships to women in the campo.

And this year we are doing it again. Our second Calling the Circle: a Woman's Gathering will take place Monday-Wednesday, November 6-8. This year we will donate to Mano Amiga, whose mission is to empower women, financially and personally, to pull themselves out of poverty through micro-lending.

Sound Healing
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The Circle is all about nurturing, and everyone feels that as soon as they enter the space. Dr. Ratka Mira Popovic, initiated Priestess and doctor of Chinese Medicine, is our Priestess of Ceremony and will hold our space. Beginning with blessings and purification, each person is crowned with a flower garland befitting a goddess. Ritual and ceremony are a big part of the scenario. Moving through the sacred landscape, with warm chai from the cauldron in hand, everyone then contributes to the altar, our centerpiece for the three-day gathering.

We have some very juicy presentations this year covering both spiritual and feminist angles – goddess wisdom, ancient matriarchal cultures, and healing practices – by Alison Bastien, Hélène Drouin, Dr. Ratka Mira Popovic, Dr. Tayler Ava Friar, and myself. At the end of each one, we break down into smaller groups for journaling and discussion. Joy Sablatura, will spin her magic with the gong, for an amazing sound healing.

Glen with Butterfly Tapestry
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Collaborative art installations are a central focus to the whole experience, adding a fun, hands-on creative element to the event. For instance, the Butterfly Tapestry that I created last year is a metaphor for transformation with an opportunity to contribute with image and word. (It's also a great photo op.)

This year artist Lena Bartula will lead everyone in her Matrix Project which comes from the same word as Mother/Matriarch. This is an interactive artwork that connects us to a mother figure of our heart choice, be she human, divine, or mythological, by adding messages, letters, poems, drawings to a common grid. Emily C-D, resident artist of the local Seed Library Somos Semilla, will lead us in the creation of a collective seed mandala in order to reconnect us with our generative feminine spirits and to Mother Earth.

The creation of a collective seed mandala with Emily C-D
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We are honored to have both Alicia Mayo and Dr. Rossana Quiroz once again lead us in separate sacred ceremonies. Alicia, who led the Full Moon Ceremony at El Charco del Ingenio Botanical Gardens for over 25 years, will guide us in a Circle Ceremony connecting us to Mother Earth. Dr. Rossana Quiroz, archeologist at Cañada del la Virgen pyramid site, will lead us in a Salutation to the Four Corners.

We are excited about our upcoming Calling the Circle gathering this year at beautiful Villa Xichu – a lush and nurturing environment. We welcome new and returning women for a celebration of the Sacred Feminine.

Villas Xichu

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Glen Rogers is an internationally exhibited artist whose work includes paintings, prints, drawings and public sculpture. She has lived in Mexico for over 20 years and in San Miguel since 2017. Glen has published two books, Art and Sacred Sites: Connecting with Spirit of Place; Symbols of the Spirit: A Meditative Journey Through Art and Spirit Cards oracle deck. Her public sculpture, Throne for a Goddess, was dedicated in Austria in June and Aleteo, a sculptural seating, will be installed in El Charco in November. As a curator, she organized the Plastic Madness traveling exhibition in 2016 which just opened in Cartagena, Colombia at Museo Naval. She is the founder of Calling the Circle: A Sacred Feminine Women’s Gathering. You can visit her studio in Colonia San Antonio by appointment or visit her website:
www.glenrogersart.com

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