University Heights Sacred Women’s Circle
A monthly meeting for women by women to support, uplift, inspire, and be in community together.
Meeting Time and Space:
2nd Thursday of every month:
Thursday, May 9, 2024 from 7-9pm
Thursday, June 13, 2024 from 7-9pm
Thursday, July 11, 2024 from 7-9pm
Location: Upstairs Main Room of the Taoist Sanctuary located at 4229 Park Blvd., San Diego CA 92103. The room is located upstairs and there are bathrooms and a water station for filling up bottles. There is a heater/AC unit to keep us comfortable. Chairs are available or bring a pillow/blanket if you prefer the floor.
Cost: $15 per meeting
Mission:
Women have joined in circles of community on every continent among all people for thousands of years and it is only in today’s modern society that we have lost this crucial element of support. We have individualized and been told to be independent and strong but along the way, we have forgotten the power and strength that can be gained when women gather in ceremony, in support, and in journey to understand this one life. This circle would gather women together once a month to meditate, to share, to learn, and to tell our stories without judgment, without fear. We would take turns sharing our wisdom and stories to enlighten each other to help us all move forward with more support and camaraderie. This is a safe place for women to gather, to learn, to share, and to be each other’s support system.
“Women’s circles help to provide a safe space for women to share their true selves, where they can find their voice, reclaim their power, and remember their self-worth. Together you can celebrate your unique diversity, while honoring the universal divine feminine energy to foster self-growth and planetary transformation.” - Kellee Maize
Circle Guidelines
We offer love and respect to each other always—especially to our guests and elders. We are each other’s sisters.
When we gather, there is an unspoken pact to create a safe space to share, to respect one another, and to stay open to learning new things in fellowship with everyone else.
We trust each other to not share our personal stories outside of the circle.
We listen well to each other. We try hard not to interrupt. We don’t judge, put down, or degrade what any sister says. We raise each other up. We share our truth and accept each other as we are where we are.
This is a circle of equals. We are learning to gather in honesty, open communication, and trust. We are each responsible for our part in the group and what we bring to it. This is not a therapy group. We stay in tune to the group and what is needed—no one person shall gather all the attention. This is a circle woven together by the participation of each woman equally. We each accept that we can speak up and be heard.
The women’s circle is not a perfect circle. We will grow and create this circle together and as Bolen writes in The Millionth Circle, “Playing together as equals takes practice and presence.”
We share a deep respect and love for Mother Earth and all her creatures. We believe that energy is a vital force in the Universe and you can call it The Force, God/Goddess, or Creator as you see fit. We believe there is more to this life than what we can see and we seek to know more of it.
We believe that we can listen to our intuition to find answers to many of our questions. We want to learn more about how this works and seek spiritual advice from ancient and indigenous cultures to better understand this and other spiritual principles.
From The Millionth Circle by Jean Shinoda Bolen
“For a women’s circle to be safe it must be a womb space for new possibilities where the woman and her dream can be supported when it is barely formed and still in the dark. When the psyche of a woman is pregnant with an idea of what she could do or become. Ridicule aborts what could have come forth, indifference starves it. A safe circle holds the dream of what she could be in confidence and nourishes the possibility.”
Sample Agenda
Welcome by the circle leader and Sage Clearing for each member
Reading of the Women’s Circle Purpose and brief review of the Women’s Circle Guidelines
Calling in the four directions and a brief meditation
Circle Check In with talking stick—Sample question might be “In a few words, please introduce yourself and why you are here in this circle. What are you looking for tonight?”
Introduction of Spiritual Wisdom (20-30 minutes). Examples could be an introduction to a goddess, a Celtic celebration like Samhain, a sacred ceremony, the phases of the moon, or a Tibetan chant.
Break for 10 minutes
Resume the Circle with a breathing exercise, reading, or yoga pose.
Talking Circle—sharing reactions to the spiritual wisdom portion or sharing of other personal stories.
Announcements and Closing Song
Facilitator: Melinda Pajak
Melinda Pajak, a resident of University Heights for the past 17 years, has led many Moon Lodges for Women and has been on a spiritual journey of her own especially over the last 13 years. Her exploration has led her to her ancestral Celtic Roots in the UK and France. Her fascination with trees and Tree Spirits is a particular interest of hers. She has studied Native American traditions as well as more modern spiritual practices and ceremonies. She is an intuitive and a medium and uses these skills to help her clients become more aware and heal from past trauma so they can move forward in positive ways. Email Melinda for further information.
Monthly Reading
Women’s circles are ancient, deep within us we know them, we feel them, we long for them. When we step back into them, we feel the women before us, the ones who knew their divinity, the ones who were free.
Yet with that, we also feel the pain, the pain of the suppression that broke these circles away. And thus every time we step back into circle, we are calling our power back, the light and the dark, the wisdom and the magik.
Through a collective healing, and a collective remembering, we awaken. We do this for our grandmothers, we do this for our daughters, we do this for our sisters, our mothers, ourselves.
For there is no safer space for a woman than a space held by the sacredness of the circle. A space for you to remember who you really are, and in remembering, who you really are, you let go of who they told you to be.
