Please Introduce Yourself
My name is Emma Meadows and I am 46 years of age. I am a Shamanic Womb Wyse Practitioner, Healer and Teacher and I work closely with women both individually and in groups. I heal, teach and facilitate women to enable and empower them to self heal and reconnect with the truth of who they are, in deep relationship with their personal Womb Wisdom and Spiritual Allies. The combination of these energies makes for a potent mix of uncovered ancient wisdom within us – which we can all tap into – and the strong powerful awareness of who we are in ourselves as women as we step forward together in these changing times to bring our gifts and knowledge to the world today.
Largely inspired by my own Womb Wyse journey, involving life, death and all the in-betweens – my training and experiences have lead me to work in various ways over 20 years with Womb Wysdom, including Shamanism, Healing and Teaching,Art, Tantra, Fertility, Birth and Death, Writing, Voice and Visualisations. I have worked with many women supporting them in various ways, eg; fertility, to regain Womb Power following a hysterectomy as well as Soul Retrieval, Healing Womb trauma and harnessing Womb Energies, developing and strengthening these for personal empowerment, spirituality and deepening self-knowledge.
It was through my work as Shamanic Womb Healer and Teacher that I came to be involved with WomanFest and as part of the Core Team I am really excited to be holding the Women’s Circle for the four days. The festival is being held this summer in Frome, 16th-19th August and tickets can be purchased via the website www.womanfest.co.uk or our Facebook page. There are still some concessions left at £165…a bargain!
How did WomanFest come about?
From the desire to gather together as women in a safe held space where we can celebrate our all our juicy ‘womaness’ in many varied, colourful, wonderful, beautiful, magical, gentle, loud, wild, crazy, innovative, creative, sexy ways! Women have always gathered together in love and friendship, to share their wisdom, visions and experiences and pass knowledge from generation to generation. Through hundreds and thousands of years of oppression, suppression and patriarchal control still we have found ways to come together and now the veils of this oppression are lifting and women are stepping into a new paradigm together in love and sisterhood in a way that hasn’t been seen before, bringing our deep knowing and wisdom carried through our DNA into these times we find ourselves in.
Why do you think now is the right time?
This is why it is the perfect time for WomanFest! We are standing together again visible, stepping into our power, pushing boundaries, declaring what is and isn’t ok for us, hearing our voices, speaking our truths in new ways to meet these times we are in. We come with all that we bring from our ancient ancestors, our mothers, our grandmothers, their mothers and grandmothers, aunts, great aunts and so it goes on back through the ages, as sure as it runs through our veins today. We are the elders of tomorrow and this festival gives us space to show this and to shine in our power and wisdom.
Traditionally mothers were honoured and celebrated for bringing human life into the world, There was no greater doing than birthing new life. Wombs and Vulvas were known to be magical places of sacred depths, the great universal mystery held in every woman. Older women, the elders of the community were honoured for their teachings, their healing knowledge, plant spirit wisdom, blood wisdom, the magical universal ways and they had many stories and ceremonies to share, passing these teachings to the community and younger generations.
In our society today, we have lost much of this way of living, in particular through organised political and religious structures. We have forgotten how to celebrate and honour all ages of life, all forms of wisdom and as a result, we are significantly dominated and subsequently disempowered by corporates and systemic constructs which serve only themselves. The way of women is to serve life in all its forms, the all and the everything in love, compassion and cooperation – WomanFest gives us the freedom, time and shared space to do this. Here we will be opening ourselves up to each other again, serving each other with our offerings while receiving from each other in sweet gratitude, bringing what we know deep within ourselves as women, to the world today. For some women, this will be the first time they have shared their gifts with others and we celebrate this, we welcome this, we are encouraging this – we have so much beauty to enrich each other with!
At WomanFest, everyone can safely offer a workshop or a song or a prayer in a safe space in which it will be received with love, joy, thanks and open hearts. WomanFest is a space where we can share our gifts, strengths and talents while opening up to new experiences, learning from each other and having an amazing time enjoying ourselves in our womanliness!
What is the vision for WomanFest?
We are so strong when we are united in love and a shared vision of healing the world with love and ceremony- we are leading the way and WomanFest gives us an awesome platform for all that juiciness to come together and grow, be nurtured, gain strength and momentum for us to remember who we are and stand true in ourselves and with each other. In this way we are beginning to dispel beliefs that we may have been raised with such as we must compete and compare ourselves with each other, that we are bitchy and catty with each other, that after having children we are not so employable, that when we reach ‘a certain age’ (whatever that is!) we have nothing more to offer society, that old people – our elders – should be separated from the whole community and place in homes away from those who are dear to them and places that are familiar to them. We want to dismantle these structures and co-create new ways to be together rooted in old traditional ways such as our gatherings.
When we take each other’s hand and share our gifts, we enter into the space of lovingly giving and receiving and this is what Radical Participation is all about in WomanFest, that we are all coming and co-creating this gathering together – we are sharing our gifts and receiving each others’ in mutual love and support! Wow, that’s radical! So everyone buys a ticket or volunteers and shares their gifts in Workshops, Ceremony, the Arts, Spirituality, Healing, Stallholding, Music, this is a Festival of Co-Creation! In this way it is clear to see how older women are so vital in this process – we have so much to offer and share with our younger (and older!) sisters, it is an intergenerational Festival where we can share the gifts of our experiences and heart knowledge gained over the years, our sacred stories, prayers and songs and the footsteps of our ancestral pathways, journeys that have brought us to where we are today. Just as our ancestors would have done we now have the opportunity to pass our knowledge onto younger generations.
WomanFest is open to women of all ages, from those young women who have come through the sacred passage of their first moon cycle to the elders who have passed the sacred passage of their last moon cycle and those years beyond the gateway! We are all bringing something to WomanFest as we Co-Create a new way for ourselves as women in this world.
What will be happening at the festival?
We have got So much going on at WomanFest! Music of many flavours, Shamanic Ceremonies, Yoga (clothed and Naked), Kundalini Meditations, Dance workshops, Movement workshops, Goddess workshops, Bodywork – sensuality and Sexuality Workshops, Art, Crafts, Writing and Song. All these take place in a variety of tents -the Women’s Circle Tent, The Women Rising tent, the Embodiment Tent, the Creativity and Expression Tents. There is also a Woods Tipi to rest and relax if the mood takes you. We have wonderful stalls for women to sell their offerings. There will be the Awesome Cunty Cabaret – a sizzling sensation of music, theatrics and Radical Participation performances.
I heard that there will be yoni steaming?
I will be holding the Women’s Circle throughout WomanFest where, amongst other things, we will enjoy the Shamanic Ceremonies – one of which I am co-holding – the Jade Egg workshop, Gong Healings, Womb Wyse Stories and the Sex Magic Ceremony. WomanFest women will also enjoy a Yoni Massage Demo in the Women Rising tent and Yoni Steaming in the Woods Tipi. Yoni steaming being an ancient practise of healing and cleansing the vagina and womb using a blend of herbs infused in hot water. The steam from this infusion can amongst other things, release toxins, calm and/or relieve menstrual pains, support a healthy moon cycle, tone the vaginal and uterine muscles as well as bring deep relaxation, improve general circulation and bring about a greater sense of wellbeing.
Why is it important on a wider societal level?
I feel there has never been a better time for WomanFest – We are living in changing times, all around us we are now seeing women gather together and claim their power both individually and collectively. The Feminine Energy is rising and we are standing together in juicy strength and potency. We are standing in our true power, reclaiming our voices and most importantly, we are gathering in love, because in the end that is all there can be to co-create the new ways. In love, we can co-create new ways that no longer tolerate separation, division and pain. It is our time to lay down the swords of defence, attack and intolerances and pick up the flag of compassion, kindness, tolerance, understanding and love. In this way, as older women leading the way and as younger women coming with fresh eyes we hold the threads of our ancestors and gather together to weave a new cloth for the times we live in and for the generations to come and this, I believe, is the essence and magic of WomanFest.
An All-Woman Radical Participation Festival, Frome, Somerset
Hurry! Tickets selling fast. Click here to buy.
16-18th August 2018
