Our Journey up to Now
How these retreats came about
Starting points
1. This is the first time in human history that women (at least in most of the western world) have a longer life expectancy with better health, with education and the ability to think and feel for themselves as well as the opportunity to learn and train and explore.
1. This is the first time in human history that women (at least in most of the western world) have a longer life expectancy with better health, with education and the ability to think and feel for themselves as well as the opportunity to learn and train and explore.
2. There is a vast resource of experience and wisdom among older women which is largely untapped.
3. Having had the opportunity to share life experience with women of other faiths and cultures in different parts of the world I realised that while we interpret life through the lens of our own culture we all share a primary concern that children should live and love and grow in a world at peace. This is a powerful concept now realised by many women all over the world and which with our combined energy and cooperation could become a reality.
4. We each have our own special skills, talents and personal experience and by telling our stories and sharing our experience,... giving ourselves time to consider and reflect we can find our way forward with integrity and perhaps begin to discover wisdom.
5. Jung pointed out that woman was the only female on the planet whose life continued long after her capacity for physical procreation had ceased. He thought this could have evolutionary significance. (Maybe the potential for physical creativity flips over at the menopause into a potential for spiritual and emotional creativity?)
6. The next few generations could experience a whole new way of being based on a greater understanding of the dynamics of love. An evolutionary development could emerge as great as the leap into language. Our generation have only caught glimpses of this But we need to explore what are the questions to stimulate awakening and development among the young as well as encouraging any growing awareness.
7. It is good to have the support and friendship of like-minded women on our journey along new pathways in the second half of life.
The development of our Explorations
During the 1980s (on our return to UK from abroad) I became increasingly aware of all these aspects not least through some of the groups exploring at St James, Piccadilly. If only there were a place where older women could meet and share for longer than the hour or two of a daytime session perhaps things would begin to happen. In 1987 we were able to obtain such a place: The Grange in Shropshire. My husband and I moved in that year and I sent out leaflets but it was some time before anyone came to the exploration weekends as such. Nevertheless we were blessed with a group of women Peacemakers, Mothers for Peace . . . and were able to use the house for other groups doing yoga, tai-chi, painting and prayer, meditation etc.
During the 1980s (on our return to UK from abroad) I became increasingly aware of all these aspects not least through some of the groups exploring at St James, Piccadilly. If only there were a place where older women could meet and share for longer than the hour or two of a daytime session perhaps things would begin to happen. In 1987 we were able to obtain such a place: The Grange in Shropshire. My husband and I moved in that year and I sent out leaflets but it was some time before anyone came to the exploration weekends as such. Nevertheless we were blessed with a group of women Peacemakers, Mothers for Peace . . . and were able to use the house for other groups doing yoga, tai-chi, painting and prayer, meditation etc.
By 1993 women began coming in viable numbers to the explorations and in 1994 Rosemary Ward (same name no relation) joined me. This considerably enriched proceedings (especially as she had training in psychosynthesis).
Soon after this we started the newsletter "Sophia" which comes out twice a year and in the last three years "Friends of Sophia" has developed. In 2004 there was a new step when one of the Shropshire Friends invited others who lived in the locality to a regular meeting at her home and there seems interest in starting such groups in other areas.
During our explorations we have considered quality of life and sifted our wisdom, partly through telling our stories. In areas of spirituality we have also learnt from each other in meditation, yoga, tai chi, dance, silence and celebration. We have been glad to welcome women from other faiths and none. We can often find a shared sense of the sacred and a common spirituality. We have learnt that love grows from vulnerability and trust It has been wonderful to have such a wide variety of women sharing their life experience and often their expertise. Some came wanting to give something back to society and we are exploring ways of doing this. Others came after half a life-time of giving to others and wanted some time for themselves. We all need to give ourselves time to think, to feel, to reflect, to explore , to dream . . . and to laugh! We need to receive spiritual and emotional nourishment before we can give any to others. Rosemary and I have found it very enriching too, not only learning much about the second half of life, but also how we can facilitate these sessions most helpfully . . . and needless to say we are still learning.
Some people, looking at our leaflet, have assumed that this was "A Course - Part 1 and Part 2"! It is difficult to convey the concept of a joint exploration to which everyone contributes. It is true I suppose that on the first weekend everyone is coming fresh and aiming to find where and who they are. Further Exploration is more concerned with our spiritual path but there is much overlap. Since many had been to our Further Exploration several times and wanted to come again we had an "Even Further" weekend in 2004. I had thought that this might just be a "one-off" reunion, but it has now become a regular annual event - Friends of Sophia weekend.
I hope we shall be able to welcome more women from overseas in the coming years.
In 2007 I published a book called ‘Towards Wisdom’ in which I describe my own life exploration and give advice for those wishing to set up wisdom circles. For those who are interested, the book can be obtained from http://www.greenspirit.org.uk/books/
Some relevant quotations
A human being would certainly not grow to seventy or eighty years old if this longevity had no meaning for the species.
Jung
One day, when we have mastered the winds, the waves and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of Love - and then for the second time in the history of the world, we shall have discovered fire.
Teilhard de Chardin
Should we awaken to the truth of the moment, we can consciously usher in one of the most important human breakthroughs in history. We have the opportunity to forge a marriage between masculine and feminine, more potent and more vibrant than any we have experienced on the earth for ages - more beautiful, perhaps, than any the earth has ever known.
Marianne Williamson
What women have to stand on squarely is not their ability to see the world in the way men see it, but the importance and validity of their seeing it in some other way.
Mary Austin. (1918)
The women of today are the thoughts of their mothers and grandmothers embodied and made alive. They are active, capable, determined and bound to win. They have one thousand generations back of them.... Millions of women, dead and gone are speaking through us today.
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1889)
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Muriel Strode.
If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognise the whole gamut of human potentialities. We must weave a social fabric in which diverse human gifts will find a fitting place. Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music.
Angela Monet
Our thoughts about the future go far towards creating it, our minds and hearts are like the filaments that connect today to tomorrow, they are conduits for either the status quo or the emergence of different, hopefully more loving possibilities. How we think and how we behave determine where we are going.
Marianne Wiliamson
Our Journey up to Now
