Gaia's Womb

Gaia's Womb Changes Lives

Welcome to the Sisterhood!

Imaging the Divine as intimate partners helps to balance consciousness of the sacred and heal the distortions of the current, rigid patriarchal systems in both our religions and our governments. 

On this site, you’ll find weekend experiences for women, with presenters we love, whom past attendees have suggested, and whom we hold in great regard. They have made, through one medium or another, a resonant and lasting impression, which is not an easy feat in these times in which we live.

You'll find Rites of Passage that honor the phases of womanhood, from First Blood to Croning, and that attune to the Divine Feminine as a creative source both immanent and transcendent. Gaia - She who constantly gives birth to Herself.

We present our weekends in the spirit of learning, laughter, and a longing for connection and creative thinking with other human beings. We invite you to bring your heartfelt curiosity, your skepticism, your sadness, your fears, and your joy to any one of our wonderful, interactive weekends.

We want to know you. We want to know how you move through the world.

 

 

Gaia’s Womb Presents: FORBIDDEN

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Forbidden

A winter Retreat for Women!

February 28. 29, & March 1, 2020

Dekoven Center Racine, WI

Featuring Byron Ballard

&

Lauren Raine

“We are volcanoes. When we women offer our experience as our truth, as human truth, all the maps change. There are new mountains.”
— Ursula K. Le Guin

We’re living in remarkable times in which humanity is awakening to realities that for hundreds of years have been hidden or ignored; judged by science and medicine as having no value.

Hecate Mask by, Lauren Raine

Hecate Mask by, Lauren Raine

It is often the women who kept the secrets of the Universe alive through their stories, their folk magic, their healing remedies, and their oral traditions.

It is the women who have been the Prophetesses, the Seers, the Priestesses, and the ones who channel the messages of the Divine Feminine.

Rootworker’s Workshop

Rootworker’s Workshop

Join us as we bring together two strong presenters who hold the keys to some of the mystery and the magic that has been FORBIDDEN to us for so long.

There will be a First Blood Ceremony at this event.

This event will take place at DeKoven Center in Racine, Wisconsin (formerly know ans Racine College). DeKoven Center is a waterfront venue situated on 10 scenic acres overlooking Lake Michigan.

We will be in Taylor Hall. Built in 1867, Taylor Hall is on the National Register of Historic Places, as are the other buildings on the DeKoven Center campus. (Think Hogwarts) All meals and accommodations are included in the price of this event. Please see the registration form for pricing.

Introducing our presenters -

Byron Ballard

Byron Ballard

Byron Ballard

H. BYRON BALLARD is a WNC native, teacher, folklorist, and guide to help you on your exploration of alternative modes of spirituality, including Appalachian hoodoo. A rootworker and energy consultant; freelance writer and urban farmer; a weaver of words and webs, She is the author of:

  • Earthworks: Ceremonies in Tower Times

  • Embracing Willindorf: A Witch’s Way of Loving Your Body to Health and Fitness

  • Asfidity & Mad-Stones; A Friendly Ramble Through Hillfolks’ Hoodoo,

  • Staubs & Ditchwater, A Friendly and Useful Introduction to Hillfolks’ Hoodoo

Byron comes to us from Asheville, North Carolina. Her website is: https://www.myvillagewitch.com

Lauren Raine

Lauren Raine

Lauren Raine

LAUREN RAINE is an artist whose work has been devoted to the Great Mother for 40 years. She studied sacred mask traditions in Bali, and was inspired to create "contemporary Temple masks" devoted to the many faces of the Sacred Feminine. For 20 years the Masks of the Goddess Project traveled to dancers, storytellers and communities, including Reclaiming’s Spiral Dance, the Glastonbury Goddess Conference, the New College of California, and the Parliament of World Religions. In 2019 the entire Collection and Archives of the Project was exhibited at HerChurch in San Francisco.

Lauren comes to us from Tucson, Arizona.

She is the author of The Masks of the Goddess: Sacred Mask and Sacred Dance. Click the link to leaf through the book online!

Her website is: www.masksofthegoddess.com or, read/subscribe to her blog here: Threads of the Spiderwoman

If you would like to vend at this event, please fill out the application and pay the fee here: