Tea with the Ladies

I am currently reading Women Who Run with the Wolves. Much of it is about reconnecting with the Wild Woman inside ourselves, the woman who knows all things, who is intuition, creativity, courage and strength. The woman who is mother, child, teacher and student. The woman who speaks her mind and knows when to hold her tongue. I am trying to find my Wild Woman, to bring her out of the basement of consciousness, to feed her and water her, to be guided by her, to learn from her. Part of this process is re-exploring my own creativity. And part of it is nurturing my female friendships.

There is something so filling about healthy female friendships. Women provide a source of renewable energy to each other which is not available anywhere else. Even women with different histories and different paths - maybe especially these women - can feed and refill each other from their own psychic reservoirs. We all teach and learn from each other; we all mother each other and allow ourselves to be mothered. Even when we feel empty, giving the last of our reserves to another woman fills us to the brim.

All my women friends are so dear to me; they each mother and teach me different things, and allow me to mother and teach them different things. Today I had the privilege of being refilled by two such women. The three of us are in similar places in our lives. I started the day feeling depleted, but now I feel peaceful and refueled. Sharing our experiences and struggles, offering advice and just listening... these things have restored my core.

I don't know how pioneer women did it, how they could be so isolated from other women by so much distance and for such long periods of time. I would have starved. Thank you, my women, for teaching me, for mothering me and guiding me. Thank you for feeding me and saving me from starvation.