GROWING GODDESSES & MOON MYSTIC PROGRAM
For girls and young women ages 11-14~Growing Goddesses and ages 15-18~Moon Mystics
August 15-18th in Topanga, CA
Led by Lena Estes of Earth Path Education
We gather to witness, celebrate, uplift and orient girls on the threshold of womanhood through a 4 day ritual in the Santa Monica Mountains
We believe Rites of Passage are essential for healthy cultures and an empowered blossoming into womanhood. We are committed to providing a space where young women grow in connection to self, community and the Earth through this community and supported in nature-based Rites of Passage. Becoming a woman is beautiful, powerful and worth celebrating, and we believe you don’t have to come of age alone, unaware and in trauma, rather we rise connected, in tune and resilient.
This is the time to claim our passageways and make them reflective of the natural, wild and wise beings we are, as we feed beauty to the Earth and serve our families and communities. In our time together we will cultivate intergenerational mentorship, sisterhood, strong intuition, awakened creativity and a deep connection with the Earth. We feel these connections provide the taproot of strength needed to weather the tests of life and womanhood in a healthy way.
This August 15-18th a group of devoted mentors and 22 young women ages 11-14 (Growing Goddess) and 15-18 (Moon Mystics) will take to the gorgeous Santa Monica mountain wilderness. Our wild souls will be nourished by the sage brush, coyote song and views of the ocean, for a life changing 4 day Rite of Passage Ritual.
While we can’t share everything these young women will experience together, here is a description of some of our main activities:
The community will acknowledge the courage of the young women and bless them on their way in our Send Off Ceremony, 9:30-11 on Thursday August 15th.
~ We will bathe in full moon light on a mountain top hike and lunar Lammas celebration. Dive into our inner world through guided journeys with the drum to meet guides and helpers. Our bare feet dancing on the earth will spring to life with power symbols and feminine spirals from the henna plant, representing our sole/soul connection with Mother Earth.
~ Each morning the young women will tune into the natural rhythms with a brief solo in nature and we will gather for the Energetic Tool Kit, sharing simple practices for optimizing and being in tune with one’s energy and how to shift moods, protect, womanifest goals, etc.
~ We will run and play nature awareness games that pull us out of our heads and into our senses, our bodies, and the ecology around us.
~ We believe the importance of fire tending has practical, ceremonial and inner significance. We will learn to tend the fire of our passions, creativity and power with skill and grace.
~ Myths are maps, and we will share some especially potent maps from the wise woman mystery school of mythic stories, these stories come alive within us, silently guiding us towards our path and our truth.
~ There’s something so soothing about having our hands in the earth, we will craft our inner goddess in clay and create a space to work with the elements of earth and water to let go of the things that no longer serve us, and grieve what needs to be grieved.
~ Our moon lodge is where we have conversations that matter about becoming a woman and we address important curiosities and questions of the young women, and they share their knowledge with each other. We connect in council about self-care, the power of our yes and no, sex and sensuality, gender identity, health, honoring and understanding our cycles physiologically and spiritually and whatever else needs to come up. This space is healing, sacred and extremely important to decompress from our current culture and create the feminine and honoring culture we deserve.
~The young women will experience a wilderness solo. They will prepare for the solo with their daily sit spots, and through guidance through stories. Safety precautions will be in place and the young women will be in hearing distance from one another and the mentors.
On our last day we will emerge into our new form and clarified visions in a potent and mysterious ritual.
The families and community will be the open arms of the “village” as we return like fresh water from the high mountains to nourish all of life with our clarity, power, and beauty. Please join for our Welcome Home Ceremony and community potluck from 5-8pm on Sunday.
*Our meals will be organic, local when possible and accommodate allergies, and preference with advance notice.
We hope you can join us in honoring and celebrating the blossoming women in our lives!