Almost two years ago, my friend and Earthaven member Delphi Dofflemyer saw a need to support female business owners. She gathered five village women to begin a journey that we’ve been on together ever since. We formed our Women + Business Circle to support each other with business development, inspiring and encouraging each other along the way.

We meet monthly to check in about our businesses, what we are doing in our lives, and new directions and to receive support and feedback. We have had a few day-long retreats to have more time to explore new ideas, have photo shoots, and feed our inspiration together.

For many new business owners, offering their gifts to the world can feel daunting. Especially as women living in rural Appalachia, finding opportunities and inspiration to continue to put yourself and your gifts out in the world can feel hard. This circle of women has been an amazing gift in my life. It gives me a space to explore what I have to offer and how I want to offer it.

Having four other women who can give me feedback in real time is invaluable, whether it is about the specifics of text on my website or the big picture of my offerings. Hearing the journeys of the other women in the circle — about their exploration of business and how they offer their gifts — is so connecting and feeds my own inspiration. We have found many ways, both large and small, to support each other’s journey.

It is such an honor to witness each of these women’s journeys. Hearing from each woman monthly, through her ups and downs in business and in life, has helped me to honor their work deeply. It’s also been an amazing reflection for me to see where I am on my own journey.

Here are our businesses:

Medicines of the Womb

Delphi Dofflemyer

Rooted in ancient wisdom and weaving together Maya abdominal therapy, traditional uterine massage, and holistic breast care, Medicines of the Womb offers botanical medicines, education, bodywork and self-care rituals for the sacred feminine.

www.medicinesofthewomb.com

IG & FB @medicinesofthewomb

Alchemy Herbal Wines

Griffin Abee

Offering ancient plant medicines in modern times; inspired by the bees, the seasons, and a long history of female brewers concocting special formulas to support and celebrate their communities.

www.alchemyherbalwine.com

IG & FB @alchemyherbalwine

Priestess of Cycles

Kaitlin Ilya Wolf

Providing guidance, support, and facilitation for earth-centered ritual and ceremony, including rites of passage, women’s circles and Red Tents, and personal ritual. Kaitlin will support you on your journey of grounding your life in ritual and spirit. She is also teaching Growing Women’s Circles or Red Tents for the School of Integrated Living and offering a Red Tent for Earthaven Ecovillage Experience Week.

www.priestessofcycles.com

IG & FB @priestessofcycles

Tantric Life Coach

Mana Vermeulen-McLeod

Using the principles of Tantra to guide people on the path of the Householder. This spiritual path allows for the Mundane to become Sacred within a person’s everyday life. Based in breath work, somatic awareness and mindfulness, this path allows for a re-awakening of one’s own deeper body-based knowing.

IG & FB @tantramom

Elements Naturopathic Medicine

Dr. Monique Mazza

Providing whole-person primary care medicine that is reconnecting to the healing vitality within nature, community, and oneself. She is also teaching Soil Health=Human Health: Feeding that which feeds us for Earthaven Ecovillage Experience Week.

www.drmoniquemazza.com

IG & FB @drmoniquemazza

Through meeting to support our businesses, we have also found new ways to connect as friends and community members. Living in community, there are so many aspects of life that are interwoven. The web we are weaving through the Women + Business Circle is holding more than “just” business.

Meeting regularly with a group of people to support each other in business or other ventures is an amazing way to build community. We’d love to inspire more Women + Business Circles to be seeded. Please reply to this email if would be interested in learning more.

In community,
Kaitlin Ilya Wolf

Earthaven Ecovillage Member
Priestess and Ritualist
www.priestessofcycles.com

The post Growing Small Businesses in Community appeared first on Earthaven Ecovillage.

Earthaven is like two different villages in the winter and summer. In winter all the leaves are off the trees and everything in the village feels closer together. I can see buildings in other neighborhoods and mountain horizon around us. When the leaves grow in, bright green curtains shift how our neighborhoods relate physically with each other. As the leaves come out, so do the people. We move into the season of work and play.

Every year around the first of May, we celebrate this shift of seasons and life with our Beltaine Festival — a day of celebration, ritual, and feasting. The festival begins with a May Faire. We gather on the Village Green to make flower wreaths, paint faces, play games, have a picnic lunch, and just chill out together in the sun. We dance around our Maypole, dancing in the summer. We jump over our sacred Bel Fire. We feast around the fire, sing songs, and recite poetry into the night.

Beltaine is the Celtic name for the cross-quarter holiday between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. Linguistically, one of the meanings of the word Beltaine is “lucky fire.” Ancient Celtic culture was a herding culture. Beltaine was the time of year to move the herds from the winter fields into the summer shielings (fields). Villagers would drive the herd between two fires, blessing the animals and also driving away disease and insects. The Bel Fire would also bless the villagers and the land.

At Earthaven, villagers jump over a small fire in pairs, in groups, and individually to bless their new and continuing relationships, while the community sings, dances, and reflects on the vast web of relationships in the village.

At Earthaven, we are inspired by long-established customs around the world and are developing our own traditions for our community. As we move around the wheel of the year, having traditions that ground us in the season is important. As Beltaine comes to Earthaven, we know that we will once again play together at the Beltaine Festival. I enjoy how this yearly gathering highlights the growing children and our changing lives. Annual traditions help us notice what has changed, as well as appreciate what has stayed the same.

Establishing traditions for your family or community is easy. Choose something to do every year to welcome the summer. It can be as simple as a special meal or a campfire. Your traditions will evolve over time. Honoring the seasons with tradition can help us to honor ourselves as we grow and change. Finding ways to do this together is what community is all about.

What does this change of season look like in your area and how do you celebrate? Please leave a comment in this blog post.

As we move into the season of work and play, Beltaine is a great time to bless and celebrate our bodies. Gathering in community to play in the sun is a wonderful way to bless the coming season.

The post Seasons Changing: Beltaine Traditions at Earthaven appeared first on Earthaven Ecovillage.