Allow yourself to be seen and allow yourself to see.
This experience for women can be life-changing.
Suddenly a woman finds her voice. There is no going back.
Every fortnight women gather together in circle on the new and the full moon.
Feel the power of the full moon, holding your body right now.
We call this a moon circle.
My name's Mary Soderiou and I’ve been running women's circles for about 30 years.
In the sacred we will stand.
A moon circle is a circle that is held depending on the aspect of the moon.
A new moon circle is all about intentions, new growth, new wishes.
Just let your breath go deeper, and deeper into your body.
A full moon circle is at the peak of the lunar cycle
so the energy is very vibrant, it’s very active, it’s very sort of wild for movement.
The circle is cast!
It’s nothing new, it’s been going on for centuries and centuries.
Before electricity women’s menstrual cycles and the lunar cycles were together.
Women ovulated on the full moon and they bled in the dark moon.
So it’s so important that we gather together as women of this century.
And reclaim the wisdom that we have
that we actually start tapping into what our bodies are telling us.
I was 26 years old when I started running women’s circles
I was pregnant with my third child so I was ready for 3 under 3 children
I didn’t drive.
Life was really hard for me.
I needed other women to connect with
and out of the woods came all these women.
I see it in my work all the time
I just see how women come, they’re totally wanting something
they're missing something in their life, they can’t actually pinpoint what it is
and then once they sit in circle, and we just share
I just see the difference in women
I’m feeling quite clouded at the moment
there’s a lot going on in my life and everything feels a bit all over the place.
I’ve had women that have dealt with their spouses suiciding
we've had women that are dealing with domestic violence and terminal illness.
I guess lately I’ve been feeling a lot of anxiety
I’ve just been on a very long journey for about a year and a half, and feeling quite lost.
The basic guidelines is confidentiality, no cross talking, no advice giving, no opinions
and I'm not rescuing women to the point that if she cries we let her cry.
I finally allowed myself to let go
and so I’m here to connect with you all and to be held and to hold and to be home.
I always feel like I've come home, that life stops and there's nothing but this moment
and what we share, and it feels very special.
Raising your hands, and bringing that full moon energy.
My name’s Emma and I’ve been co-facilitating moon circles
for queer people and for women for the past three years.
In the beginning I was participating in more traditional women’s moon circles
and I just knew so many people that I thought, you’ll really benefit from this
this would be really great, but you don’t fit into this structure
and I don’t really like structures where people don’t fit in like I think that’s really shitty.
There were other people who I thought would benefit from this.
The issue of transgender women comes up a lot in women’s circles.
For me I would say ‘come in’ but I think deep down I have some issues as well.
So you’ve never had a womb, you’ve never had a period.
We’re talking a lot about wisdom in womb - how am I going to fit you into this?
I think everyone should be included you know. Traditionally, I know it's for women
there's kind of this whole thing about the moon, and menstruation and all that sort of thing.
Not all women do menstruate, you know?
Some men menstruate, some people who don't have a gender identity menstruate.
They can still have a relationship with the moon.
There are a lot of women who have suffered at the hands of men, and we cannot deny their fears and their pain
We haven't got it right yet, and we want to be as fair as we can.
We welcome the element, the energy, the power of fire.
I've gone home every time learning something more about myself that I didn't know before.
I'm more me than I have been in a long time.
Everyone’s equal, everyone’s got issues and you get to deal with them and evolve together.
For the first time a lot of these women feel heard
valued, without any fear that they have to make excuses for who they are.