Pat Taub
A recent Facebook posting described how elephants form a protective circle around an elephant giving birth, started me thinking about the women’s circles that have supported me and transformed my life.
One circle that looms from the ‘70s was the one 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, supplying ice chips and pep talks, becoming my life raft.
Fast-forward to 1994. Glancing through a women’s journal, I came upon a new 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 obsessed with women’s spirituality. The only caveat was that I was living on the East Coast in Syracuse.
A CIIS online offering, Fall, 2020
After six months of flying across the country, while trying to balance a job, studies and a kid still at home, exhaustion took over, forcing me to drop out. Drawing on the inspiration I found at CIIS, I continued to study women’s spirituality independently. For several summers I taught Women’s Spirituality at the Chautauqua Institute. Teaching was transformative for me. Each woman in my classes imparted her own wisdom that made us all wiser.
The common area at Chautauqua, founded in 1874 in NW New York State as a summer resort for classes and cultural events
In the late ‘90s I worked with an amazing circle of creative, progressive women, producing “Women’s Voices,” a radio show for the Syracuse NPR station. I was on a creative high with this circle. We worked hard to produce the best possible program, which meant no one could be thin-skinned, if her idea was shot down, or if she was criticized. I continue to speculate, 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, feeling depressed over an unhealthy relationship I couldn’t break off, I discovered Greenfire, 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 turned my life around. When stressed out, I go back in time to my conversations with Greenfire, calming myself.
A Greenfire communal dinner, sometime in the 1990’s
I wasn’t part of a women’s political circle until 2008, when I joined Codepink, the women’s peace and justice group. I was living in Maine when I started reading about Codepink, fascinated with their bold actions at Congressional hearings and with their imaginative street theater. They made protesting seem like fun. 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.
Yours truly and Lisa Savage, before a parade representing Codepink Maine, 2009
For the past ten years I’ve participated in women’s circles as a teacher. I love teaching, but the secret is, I still get more in return, where I’m expanded by the wisdom, warmth and humor of my students.
When I lived in Syracuse in the ‘70s and ‘80s I was enlivened through my participation with the Women’s Information Center, joining support groups, a Friday night coffee house and teach-ins. Happily the Syracuse center goes on, but many cities across the country have seen their women’s centers fold. Communities are way overdue for their return.
The Syracuse, NY, Women’s Information 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 together of new ways for women to gather in circles.
