Many of the policy questions we’ve received as of late are regarding our Women’s events, so we’ve placed those at the top of this page. As you scroll you will find additional FAQ and our responses. Should you be wondering anything and not find it listed here, please reach out to us directly!
How does your organization define Women?
- Adult human females.
- Humans with xx chromosomes.
Who are your Women’s Retreats and gatherings designed for?
- Women.
Who are your Women’s Retreats and gatherings not designed for?
- Men.
- Women who are experiencing gender dysphoria:
- Biological Females who identify as males;
- Biological Males who identify as females;
- Individuals who identify as non-binary
- and/or gender fluid and/or species fluid spectrums.
Can you explain more about your decision to keep your Women’s Retreats exclusive to biological women?
Ours are the kinds of events that cater to a unique, and necessarily exclusive, client base. If you were born female and identify as female, these retreats were created with you in mind. Our Women’s Retreat leaders have decades of experience facilitating gatherings with the biological Women’s experience in mind and have decades of lived-experience as biological women. Our more spiritually-based Women’s Retreats often draw from Women-honoring traditions and as such are shaped with the perspective of the biological woman. To alter that perspective would be a disservice to the attendees of these retreats, and is outside the scope of the retreat facilitators’ purview.
The majority of our team who host Women’s Retreats do not have the expertise to facilitate retreats for individuals who believe they have been “born in the wrong body.” More than that, it is important to note that many of our facilitators have been drawn to do this work for the very purpose of empowering women to embrace the body they were born in, to celebrate its distinction from the male body, to discuss with nuance and clarity the kinds of experiences only women can have, to rejoice in communing in sacred space with other women who have shared understandings and perspectives of being biological women.
We feel great compassion for those suffering from gender dysphoria and hope they receive the services needed from skilled professionals to help them live healthy and fulfilled lives.
What other policies should people be aware of regarding inclusivity?
Can women of all ages participate?
The answer to this depends on the theme, focus, design and scope of individual retreats.
While we recognize that in most of the locations we host retreats, 18 years is the age of maturity, and some of our events are indeed intergenerational, many are not, nor are all our events inclusive of all age brackets.
For instance, some of our Women’s Retreats are narrowed in focus to specific feminine experiences, such as:
Motherhood, Menopause, Women whose mothers have died, Women estranged from their mothers, Women estranged from their children, Widows, Grieving Mothers whose child(ren) have died, etc.
When we curate attendees for any of our retreats, we do so mindful of the focus and scope of each individual retreat, and the criteria for an individual to participate.
That said, it is common to see a large age range for many of our intergenerational Women’s Retreats to be 25-75 years old. This range naturally narrowing based on event theme. Some examples include:
- Our gatherings that focus on Mothering and Motherhood tend to be comprised of women ages 25-45 who are amid mothering young children through teenage years.
- Gatherings focused on Menopause are most often comprised of women ages 43-56 experiencing peri-menopause or early into their post-menopausal life phase.
- Our Sacred Sisterhood retreats are not intentionally non-intergenerational, yet do tend to be comprised of groups of women in similar age groups – and within that the typical range is women between the ages of 35-55. Though we have had a couple groups of young women in their 20s and several groups of Golden Gals in their 60s, 70s and even 80s!
- Grieving Circles, Workshops and Retreats are absolutely specific to those experiencing the specific kinds of grief the event focuses on.
Are your events for all scopes of ability?
No. Some of the activities and event locations are just not suitable for everyone.
- Those with mobility issues may find it challenging depending on one’s limitations for many of our popular activities such as hiking, kayaking, snowshoeing, even walking on the beach.
- Some of our indoor locations have fluorescent lighting that can be challenging for those with light sensitivities, likewise when we host events in bright sun or in snow covered areas.
- Alternately, some struggle with events when the lighting is low, indoors and/or outdoors.
- When our events are larger, audio can be an issue slanting to one extreme or the next, either too loud for some (such as our concerts and music events) or not nearly loud enough for others (such as our panel discussions and salon style gatherings).
- Many of our spiritual events make use of scented materials such as incense, sage and other aromatic herbs and oils, as well as gathering around campfires can be unfortunately prohibitive to some who may otherwise wish to attend.
We expect that each potential event participant will thoroughly review the event details and determine if the scope of the event’s activities is a match for their abilities.
Are you able to create customized events?
We are happy to discuss your event ideas with you to determine if we are able to manifest the gathering you envision. Many of our featured events were developed by request of the individuals and groups we cater to. Feel free to contact us with your request/proposal along with your budget. If it is within the scope of what we feel we can offer, we will collaborate with you to create your custom event.