ALUNA TEMPLE MAGAZINE Edition No2 'HONOURING LIFE' | Page 15

You didn't always have this cocoon-like space available to you. Growing up the words 'Red Tent' meant
nothing in particular, except a camping trip perhaps. Your first blood was also nothing in particular.
Not as shaming as some of the stories you heard in New Moon gatherings at the Tent, and certainly not as
supportive as recent ones, in which you were an Auntie to your friends' daughters.
It was you, and the women of your community, that turned the tide. After gathering for years in living rooms,
in nature, and in communal spaces, you collectively decided that enough was enough: you had to have a
permanent space in your neighborhood that every woman could count on being open and available - any
time of the day or night, every day of the month!
You started stirring the pot of your creativity together: collectively you organized fund raisers, created and
sold cookies, art, clothing, and jewelry. You screened women-centered movies, you wrote letters, you made
appeals, and you received donations. It took far less time than you imagined raising funds for this essential
oasis in your community. And when the funds were there, you all went out and purchased it: a round, red,
weather-proof yurt, which was easy to set up, especially with so many hands working together.
You must have fallen asleep in front of the altar,
since the Tent around you was fully quiet now. The
candles still flickered, casting dancing shadows on
the red fabrics. You stretched and yawned,
considering whether to go home, or to spend the
night right here, in this communal womb you helped
create. Turning over you decide to stay.
Your eyes are softly closing, and as you drift back
into dream-scope, you spread your wings and fly
low, under a full moon, feeling soft breezes caress
you. Your neighborhood's Red Tent is getting smaller
as you head south under glistening stars.
Altar; DeAnna L’am © ‘Red Tents In Every Neighborhood - Global Network’

You fly over valleys and streams, villages and towns. It doesn't seem surprising to see a vibrant red spot in
each of them, peeking from garden lawns, beneath tree canopies, or on hill tops. Rounded, hexagonal,
square, or domed structures -- wave to you in red shades from every neighborhood, village, town, and city.
They seem like they have always been there, and as you fly above them, you know that in each of these
sisters are reclined:
In solitude or in circles, laughing, crying, singing, dreaming, nursing babies, honoring girls as they start their
cycle, weaving their lives into a tapestry of stories, in a place they
ALL CALL HOME.

***?***
Red Tents in Every Neighborhood is A Global Network of women.
Holding a vision, and taking actions, toward having Red Tents in every city, town, village, and community
around the world! For links to all 'Red Tent in Every Neighborhood - Global Network' pages, visit:
http://www.deannalam.com/global-network/

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