Feminine Wisdom Circle 2014
A Virtual Mentoring Series and Fundraising Event for women change-makers who want to embrace their feminine wisdom and fulfill their heart’s calling to make a difference in the world…
Purpose, design and flow for Wisdom Mentors
10th March 2014
Dear Wisdom Mentor,
Thank you so much for stepping forward to support this project. I want to share a little more about the inspiration for A Call To Stand which I’m sure will resonate with you.
In the past few years I’ve been waking up to a deep calling in my heart to make a contribution to life that feels true to who I am and what I’m really here for. I know I’m not alone. This ache of yearning that so many women feel (or have felt) is, I believe, life calling us to a new awareness, a new way of being in the world… and to step up to meet the true calling that craves our attention, both within ourselves and in the world around us.
I believe it’s a call for us to listen to and take a stand for life: to experience the flourishing of life within ourselves and to foster the flourishing of life around us. I believe that life itself needs us to play our part, to wake up to our heart’s call for change and rise to meet the challenges that are present within and around us. Not alone, but together. Not so much a heroic gesture, as a fiercely loving one: fiercely loving of ourselves and fiercely loving of life. It is a feminine stand.
We know that taking a stand takes courage and moves us way beyond our comfort zones. Our stand begins within by honouring our deepest sense of who we are and why we’re here. I believe we are all being called and yet it is up to each of us to listen for our individual song and respond in our own unique ways.
I have been learning that this is a journey of awakening that we cannot do alone. We need loving encouragement, support and a community of people that can see us in our true power and believe in our potential.
This is why I have created this series and invited you to bring your story, wisdom, experience and passion to this conversation as a speaker and Wisdom Mentor.
Thank you so much for stepping forward with the unique and powerfully inspiring contribution that you bring to this Wisdom Circle and for standing with me in holding a rich and safe container, so that many other women can join in and take their stand.
I believe there is a role that women are being invited to play which requires us to move beyond our fear and patterns of ‘victimisation’, reconnect with our authentic feminine wisdom and return to the sacredness of our hearts. This of course is where our true power lies and our capacity to stand for and lead the world towards a more just, loving and sustainable future.
It is through being on this evolutionary path myself, that the vision for A Call To Stand came to me over 3 years ago. I was standing in the middle of a beautiful circle of trees on our land in Scotland. Partly from the frustration of my own struggle and partly in my readiness to step up and make a bigger contribution, I reached out to life and said “YES!” to fulfilling my own calling and asked for guidance. A Call To Stand is what came back to me. Needless to say, following the call brought me to this point today.
The design and flow
The following outlines a simple design and flow that I have seen for this event. Most women are unlikely to engage fully in the journey live over the 3 weeks but will hopefully touch in and receive what they need, when they most need it. I have written this to help you sense more deeply into the energy of the event and to support you in clarifying the overall theme and topic for your contribution. This is a preliminary document which I’ll update until the website goes live.
Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any questions or suggestions by emailing joeywalters121@gmail.com
With much appreciation and warm blessings – Joey
Wisdom Mentors
We have asked you alongside a number of other inspirational women, who are already ʻtaking a standʼ, to be ‘Wisdom Mentors’ for the series. During our 60 minute conversation we’ll be inviting you to engage in honest and open dialogue about your journey, how you were or are being ʻcalled to take a standʼ, the challenges you have navigated and what has resourced you on your leadership journey.
Weʼll also be further exploring what it means to be a feminine leader in the world today, how we can begin to take action and how collectively we can come together to make a real difference in the world. We’d like the discovery conversations to be rich, vulnerable and ‘wisdom gathering’ conversations and to provide inspirational mentoring guidance for the women listening.
Speakers are a mix of non-profit leaders, transformational mentors, spiritual teachers and ‘feminine’ business or leadership mentors. Around 14-16 in total.
Design and flow over 3 weeks
“And then the day came when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” Anais Nin.
The transformation this series intends to support is to catalyse the movement from bud to blossom… helping women to get in touch with and trust the seed of their true potential, blossom in their authentic gifts and take a stand as a feminine leader.
The series will take women on a light development journey that will inspire, encourage and support them to:
- Value and love themselves as they are, without judgement
- Connect with their own sense of purpose and unique calling
- Find and express their true potential and capacity to make a difference in the world
- Access their authentic power and feminine wisdom and begin to move beyond resistance/fear
- Take a stand through courageous action and bring their gifts into the world through their feminine leadership
- Contribute their energy and resources, if desired, to some inspirational causes
Overall Discovery Question for the series:
“How can we embrace our true power as women and make a real difference in the world together?”
The design is unfolding as we go, so the placing of speakers/mentors is not set in stone until the call times are booked. This is our current sense of how it will look. We’re very happy to have your feedback thoughts and ideas, however we need to book in the conversations as quickly as possible. If you are listed in a week that you cannot make, please let me know ASAP if another week is better suited of if you’d rather schedule a pre-recorded call.
Week 1 – w/c 5th May – Awakening your seed of inspiration and saying YES to your Call To Stand.
This week’s discovery question: How do we listen deeply to our own calling, trust it’s guidance and say YES to who we really are and what we’re really here to do?
In this week we’re opening up our discovery conversations with some truly inspirational social change leaders who have heard their call and are taking a stand for life, through courageous non-profit ventures that are enabling powerful humanitarian work on the ground. We’ll be exploring the myriad of ways that we can receive our calling and how to pay attention to the signs we receive. Speakers include:
Clare Dakin – Tree Sisters
Polly Higgins – Earth Community Trust
Sheva Carr – Fyera Foundation
Spryte Loriano – Youth Action International
TBC Cynthia Kersey – Unstoppable Foundation
Week 2 – W/c 12th May – Taking a stand for yourself – navigating the inner path of transformation.
This weeks’ discovery question: How can we stay connected to our feminine wisdom and navigate beyond the fear that can hold us back from sharing our unique gifts and taking a stand to live our true calling?
This week our wisdom mentors will take us on a deep dive into the transformational journey that we take when we say YES to fulfilling our calling and learn how we can begin to navigate the resistance we meet and align with our true identity as we step up to make a difference in the world. Speakers include:
ALisa Starkweather
WindEagle Kinney-Linton
Elaine Doughty – The Gracias Foundation (possibly in week 1)
Chameli Ardagh
TBC Miranda MacPherson
Joey Walters – (Possibly in week 3)
Week 3 – W/c 19th May – Turning your love into action and truly blossoming as a feminine leader
This week our wisdom mentors will be sharing their wisdom about nourishing, feminine ways to manifest and lead our callings that allow us to express our highest potential through our businesses, social ventures or change projects, as well as our day to day lives.
This weeks’ discovery question: How can we co-create new pathways or structures that honour our feminine wisdom and help us to ground and share our unique contributions with the world without compromising our authenticity and wellbeing?
Lynn Serafin
Miriam Mason Martineau
Leela Somaya
Cindy Schulson
Dr Kate Siner
Sample of some of the questions we’re likely to be asking our Wisdom Mentors:
How did you hear or ‘wake up’ to your calling?
In what ways were you listening (or not) at the time?
What most deeply inspired you to act on it?
How did you begin to trust and follow your calling?
In what ways did you need to take a stand for yourself?
What were the most challenging aspects of your journey as a leader?
How did you move through those challenges?
What resourced you along the way (and what resources you now?)
How would you describe ‘feminine leadership’ from your experience?
What is the stand you are taking and how would you describe the ‘edge’ of your comfort or learning now?
What key gem of wisdom from your own experience would you like to share with us today in order to encourage other women to step forward and take a stand?
How can make a difference collectively and what is needed for this to happen?
If it feels appropriate we may also invite you to offer a short practice of some kind that listeners can participate in.
“By dropping our self-consciousness and competitiveness, we can begin to make a real difference. This is how we are true leaders, for in fact we’re already powerful leaders within our wombs. In re-creating the women’s clans, the mother’s clans, we’ll be able to stand for what is right, not isolated as we have been for thousands of years. For it’s together, in our women circles, that we’ll find the way to lead powerfully along side with men.”
Ohki Simine Forest