Pat Taub
I don’t want to close Women’s History month without acknowledging my history with women’s circles, to whom I owe enormous gratitude. My sister circles supported me at the major crossroads in my life. I can’t imagine my life without them.
In the ‘70’s there was the circle that accompanied the birth of my first child. David was born at a time when women were rediscovering natural childbirth. I was among their ranks, but when I was in labor, I wasn’t sure I could hold out without meds, until my female obstetrician arrived with a small entourage of student nurses, proudly offering me as a specimen, declaring, “This woman is delivering naturally.” Several of the student nurses elected to stay with me, rubbing my back, offering ice chips and pep talks. They were my pain relief.
A woman in labor during natural childbirth
Fast-forward to 1994. Glancing through a women’s journal, I came upon a Ph.D. program in Women’s Spirituality at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, meeting monthly. It felt like a dream come true. I was eager to learn about past and present women’s spiritual communities.
A recent photo of students and faculty at CIIIS (Instagram)
After six months of flying across the country, while trying to balance a job, studies and a teen still at home, exhaustion took over, forcing me to drop out. The experience of this amazing circle stayed with me. Desiring to re-create the circle I experienced in California, I applied and was accepted to teach Women’s Spirituality at the Chautauqua Institute, which I did for seven summers. Teaching has never been a one-way street for me. Each woman in my classes had her own wisdom that made us all wiser.
Images of important female historical figures on the grounds at Chautauqua
In the late 90’s I worked with an amazing circle of creative, progressive women, producing “Women’s Voices,” a women’s radio show for the Syracuse NPR station. We worked hard to produce the best possible program, which meant no one could be thin-skinned, if her idea was shot down. (I wonder if the reason so many women’s circles fade away is because of their reluctance to engage in constructive criticism.)
In the early 2000’s when I was depressed over an unhealthy relationship I couldn’t break off, I discovered a women’s spiritual retreat center in Tenants Harbor, Maine. I attended their Sunday services, meditations and weekly dinners where I garnered the strength to end my relationship. Eventually I became a volunteer staffer at Greenfire. The wisdom, love and support I received there turned my life around.
A Greenfire communal dinner, sometime in the 1990’s
While I had always been an activist, I wasn’t part of a women’s political group until I joined Codepink, the women’s peace and justice group. Reading about Codepink, I became fascinated with their bold actions at Congressional hearings and with their imaginative street theater. I hunted down a Codepink presence in Maine and for several years helped to organize actions. This circle of feisty troublemakers emboldened me, cementing my conviction that women banding together can make a difference. We’re still fighting the same battles, but, like the Suffragettes, women activists persist.
Lisa Savage and Yours Truly in action, 2014
For the past ten years I’ve joined women’s circles as a teacher. As an elder I’m trying to give back to new circles all that I’ve learned, but the secret is, I still get more in return.
I’m deeply saddened at the disappearance of those women’s circles that were my life rafts. When I lived in Syracuse in the ‘70s and ‘80s I belonged to the Women’s Information Center where we held support groups, a Friday night coffee house and a big annual fair. Syracuse wasn’t alone. Cities across the country had their own women’s centers. Communities are way overdue for their return.
Syracuse, New York Women’s Center
Women need one another for support, the exchange of ideas and to mount social justice campaigns. I’m reminded of the saying, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” Let’s dream of new ways for women to gather in circles to affirm one another and to heal our planet.
