The History of Women's Tea Circles
From the beginning of time to today women’s circles have provided a sense of community. Women’s gatherings and circles have a rich history that spans centuries, cultures and continents. They have always been communal spaces that allowed women to find their voices, be empowered through connection with one another and discover a deep strength and resilience within themselves.
Circles made up of women have been an integral part of many ancient cultures and traditions. Throughout history women have gathered for healing ceremonies, to share knowledge about caring for children, self, and one another.
Women have gathered to honor feminine gifts and observe religious practices. Women’s circles have provided intentional spaces for women to form deep connections and friendships. Discovering how sistership creates a collective strength where women are powerful because they are part of a connected tribe or group; they are included and safe. In many circle settings, through guided activities and creatively led discussions, women have been inspired to enjoy inner reflection and experience healing of emotional wounds.
In some indigenous cultures women met together to pass on wisdom, share traditional values and cultural practices. During these meetings women would often discuss their concerns and specific issues that were relevant to the communities in which they lived. Sometimes they would focus on preserving the customs of their tribe, engage in storytelling, share herbal knowledge and medicines.
In some cultures, like ancient Greece, women gathered for spiritual and educational purposes. They would hold a three-day symposium known as the Thesmophoria, where women’s issues would be discussed. Women would share knowledge about children, fertility, farming and agriculture. They would also discuss cultural or social issues that they might be going through.
During the Middle Ages, in Medieval Europe, women’s circles or gatherings were often connected to religious beliefs and held in monasteries or convents, giving women an opportunity to dedicate their lives to God, prayer or spiritual and religious vocations. As these women banded together, they found common purposes such as providing assistance to the poor or impoverished, healthcare, or helping to educate children or care for the less fortunate.
Some women’s circles through the ages have supported women’s love for politics, the arts, and intellectual pursuits. Many female poets and political figures were products of women’s circles especial during the Italian Renaissance. And who can forget how Women’s Suffrage movement in the late 19thand 20th Century was sparked as women gathered with a common concern for women’s rights and access to equal opportunity.
To this day, women gather in communities and circles in order to focus on issues such as gender equality and addressing changing attitudes towards women. As long as there is discrimination in the workplace, inequality, a need to raise awareness about reproductive rights or many other issues that impact women, women’s gatherings and circles will remain an important part of society and cultures.
Women who are part of a women’s circle or gathering, enjoy a sense of sisterhood where bonds are formed. They learn how resilient, gifted, creative and resourceful they are. Women who are part of women’s circles are stronger—partly because they can draw strength from the positive and collective energy knowing they are not alone on their journeys.
The gathering of women in circle is a sacred concept and force that has transcended time, culture, ages, ethnicity, and geography, and women who have found the right circle that aligns with their core values, values have found support and friendships to last a lifetime.
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Healing Your Grief through Tea Time
Tea for Two: a Private Space to Talk
Healing Your Grief through Tea Time
New grief, old grief, big grief, small grief, light grief, heavy grief, whatever your grief you are welcome in women’s grief-healing circle.
There’s something powerful and affirming when we gather with others who are grieving or have experienced a significant loss. Grief is one of the ways we honor what we have lost. The greater our loss, the more intense our grief. When we grieve, we are being loving, praising, and expressing gratitude for what we have had in our life’s journey.
To grieve well and completely we must grieve together. The best and healthiest way to grieve is in community, being surrounded and supported by others who understand our loss and are willing to be patient and supportive.
Grief-healing communities provide safe spaces to grieve. When women experience significant loss it’s a good idea to become involved in a grief-healing community such as a women’s grief-healing circle. Participating in a woman’s grief-healing circle can deepen relationships with oneself and others. Grief-healing circles help us explore and be fully present in our experience. Through creative and gentle facilitation, we can learn the art of deep listening and the benefit of intentional reflection. We can give and receive sacred tending.
Women’s Grief-Healing Circles provide an environment where participants can grieve openly and as authentically as they need or want. Stories of loss are shared; emotions do not need to be hidden behind forced smiles or pushed down.
In Women’s Heart and Soul Grief-Healing Circle we will:
o Open and close ritually
o Learn something beneficial about grief and the ways we process and are impacted by it
o Engage in creative grief-healing activity
o Practice a skill to help navigate grief more effectively
o Hold space for each person to creatively express her grief
o Practice active and deep listening
o Practice offering and receiving reflection from others
Faith Deepening Study Group
Tea for Two: a Private Space to Talk
Healing Your Grief through Tea Time
In our journey of faith deepening, we create a sacred space for healing where women can come together. These women's spirituality circles provide a nurturing environment for exploration, connection, and growth, allowing participants to deepen their spiritual practices and support one another on their paths.
Tea for Two: a Private Space to Talk
Tea for Two: a Private Space to Talk
Tea for Two: a Private Space to Talk
...A Circle can be as small as one, two, or three women, including me as the facilitator. The Word of God reminds us “where two or three are gathered in my name, there I’m in the midst (Matthew 18:20).
One-on-one circles can be a powerful, liberating atmosphere where the presence and movement of the Holy Spirit is sensed as He moves in and out, unfolding, filling, revealing, gently leading us to greater self-awareness and helping us learn how to activate our feminine nature through self-attentiveness and nurturing ourselves just as we have nurtured others.
As we work together, through creative facilitation we will explore your unique and internal nature. We will unlock hidden strengths, and participants will learn how to use their personal stories and experiences as a pathway to live more holistically, authentically, and experience transformation in their lives.
Whether circle time is for healing grief, healing past wounds, deepening faith and exploring spirituality, or learning how to practice self-love, through a collaborative partnership that focuses on nourishing the soul, you will learn to trust your instincts, find your voice and reconnect to your femininity that results in personal growth and empowerment.
...A Circle can be as small as one, two, or three women, including me as the facilitator. The Word of God reminds us “where two or three are gathered in my name, there I’m in the midst (Matthew 18:20).
One-on-one circles can be a powerful, liberating atmosphere where the presence and movement of the Holy Spirit is sensed as He moves in and out, unfolding, filling, revealing, gently leading us to greater self-awareness and helping us learn how to activate our feminine nature through self-attentiveness and nurturing ourselves just as we have nurtured others.
As we work together, through creative facilitation we will explore your unique and internal nature. We will unlock hidden strengths, and participants will learn how to use their personal stories and experiences as a pathway to live more holistically, authentically, and experience transformation in their lives.
Whether circle time is for healing grief, healing past wounds, deepening faith and exploring spirituality, or learning how to practice self-love, through a collaborative partnership that focuses on nourishing the soul, you will learn to trust your instincts, find your voice and reconnect to your femininity that results in personal growth and empowerment.
Self-Care Tea Time
Ministry Wives Tea Time
Tea for Two: a Private Space to Talk
Women are often socialized to prioritize the needs of others and see their own needs as secondary or
...They often feel they have no choice but to take care of others first, which leaves women short on time, resources, and energy to take care of ourselves. It’s not unusual for women to feel stressed, burned out, and unsatisfied with how life is going.
So, what does it mean to take care of ourselves? First, we can stop thinking of “self-care” as optional, a luxury, or selfishness. A true definition of self-care can be defined as, “the actions one takes on their own behalf in service of their well-being.”
Who was it that said, “we cannot pour out to others from an empty cup or vessel.” Whoever said it first, how true this is! Yet we continue to drain the cup or vessel dry, burn the candle at both ends, and demand our bodies, minds, hearts, and souls show up for our pouring out. This often leaves us discouraged, frustrated, sick, and berating ourselves when we struggle to give to others what we don’t have.
Coming together with the purpose of caring for ourselves can be strengthening and healing. Single-moms, women caring for aging parents, the chronically ill, desiring to have a better quality of life, women healing after loss, or anyone who recognizes etching out time to care for themselves is not a luxury but necessary if they want to keep giving and loving.
Your need to practice emotional self-care, physical self-care, Mental self-care, social self-care, professional self-care, and spiritual self-care is vital to your overall well-being. It's not selfish, but self-preservation leading to joy and fulfillment.
If you want to find out more about the Women’s Circle of Self-Care and what to expect, send me an email.
Discipler's Tea
Ministry Wives Tea Time
Ministry Wives Tea Time
Connect monthly with other women who have a ministry of discipling women. Share ideas, stories, pray together and encourage one another as we fulfill Jesus' command to make disciples o every nation.
Ministry Wives Tea Time
Ministry Wives Tea Time
Ministry Wives Tea Time
If you’re married to someone who has been called by the Lord to shepherd one of His flocks, then you know there’s nothing glamorous about the ministry and nothing glamorous about being a pastor’s wife. In fact, being married to a minister, pastor, or shepherd can be hard work, demanding, stressful, isolating, and lonely. It’s common for a pastor's wife to feel judged about everything from how she dresses to how she raises her children. She may struggle to make friends and set healthy boundaries. Many wives share experiences of feeling wounded, betrayed by other women, and at times, invisible. It’s easy for a ministry wife to put herself last, lose touch with her core values, and neglect self-care.
Belonging to a ministry wives support circle offers many benefits. Time spent in a healthy, uplifting environment can be affirming and strengthening. The nonjudgmental and loving atmosphere helps participants open up and share freely in ways they might not in other settings. The pastor's wife community provides a space where deep listening, healing activities, and confidentiality are practiced.
What you can expect in Ministry Wives Circles:
Participants can look forward to a loving, respectful, accepting, and safe environment. They can share their stories without fear of judgment, identify their strengths, and feel empowered to fulfill their role as a ministry spouse. This women's empowerment circle encourages building confidence and promotes an affirming environment where personal growth, healing, and transformation can thrive.
What Ministry Wives Circle is not:
While Ministry Wives Circle offers therapeutic benefits, it’s not a therapy session. It’s a strengthening space where you can find or rediscover your strengths and voice, but it’s not a platform for husband, women, or church bashing.
Ministry Wives Circle is healing for body, mind, and spirit, but it’s not a replacement for professional healthcare. Women are encouraged to care for themselves and recognize their personal and spiritual needs as important, without neglecting the responsibilities that often accompany the role of a pastor’s wife.
Ministry Wives Circle welcomes women from all denominations, and wives of all ages are encouraged to join.
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Healing through Tea Time
One of the most profound reasons for participating in a healing tea circle is experiencing healing...
Regardless of the kind of hurt or how it came about, gathering with other women for circle time and being in an atmosphere where she is heard, affirmed, and empowered, can lead to the healing she longs for.
Many women come to circle with wounds they can trace back to childhood trauma or received during unhealthy relationships. Some have experienced abuses of all kinds in their journey and some have unhealed wounds due to being sexually molested or violated.
Our stories of how we became wounded may vary, but what we all have in common is our need to experience healing for our life. As far back as Eve, women become stuck, lost touch with who they are, of had their strength
Circle time provides an atmosphere where energy is powerful, deep listening is practiced, self-discovery, learning how to care for ourselves holistically, being gracious towards ourselves, and experience acceptance without judgment. In Circle time we discover we’re not so different after all and the things that bind us together as God’s feminine creation are greater than the things that separate us.
While all Women’s Heart and Soul Circles include modalities that also bring healing, Healing Eve Circle is especially designed for the participant to experience healing in all aspects of life. Guided meditation, activities and discussions are all designed and purposed to bring transformation and peace. Healing Eve Circle provides a sacred space for women to grow, be empowered, become comfortable with new power and learn how to set healthy boundaries. In Circle time women can hit the reset button and practice self-kindness, self-love, self-forgiveness and grace.