Wild Women
by Severine Rose • Reserve, NM

It was only a three hour drive from the airport, but then we have to cross the same shallow river seven times after we park our rented car. I think about the number seven being sacred to the Native Americans, about Steve Young’s song Seven Bridges Road and the "seven sacred gates" leading to paradise. Slipping our shoes off at the first crossing, we laugh as the chilly water jolts us back into our bodies, and into the vital present moment. Deer prance away up the sides of the pink and purple cliffs, and a pair of red headed ducks watch us as we pass by. We are entering an ancient place of sacrament and power, like Machu Pichu or Chaco Canyon. Dancers, a writer, healers and housewives, we’ve all come for the annual Wild Women’s Gathering– as the poster promised, to "reconnect with nature, and our own wilder souls."

"The wild woman has always been feared," our host Loba tells us as she starts to work on the first of many feasts. She’s pouring acorn meal muffins into a pan by the fire, next to piles of wild grapes, fresh gathered nettle and lamb’s-quarter. "But wild doesn’t mean wanton or out of control. It means to be self willed. To be uncompromisingly authentic, with our senses heightened, following our feminine intuition and instincts and daring to live our dreams!"

Loba is a beautiful 32 year old priestess and care-taker of a special home and purpose. She leads through example, savoring and serving life. She is at once an ancient sage healer, one in a long line of celebrants and prayer givers, and a bright eyed little girl, unashamed to sing out her joy, making the spirits happy as she dances to the river among the cattails and swirling butterflies.

I’m both drawn to and put off by most things "spiritual," but my characteristic cynicism seemed to fade with the first afternoon’s hike and swim. It seemed as though every insight and lesson was driven home by something we saw or did. When the subject of gratitude came up, we made each other presents while acknowledging the many different kinds of gifts and blessings in our lives. The second day Loba brought up presence and mindfulness and then made it real by asking us to focus wholly on each individual bite of wild currant pie. We discussed what it meant to "exceed our imagined limitations," and then watched as a tiny cliff swallow made it’s first impossible leap out of its nest and into the sky.

The July full moon gathering takes place on a wildlife refuge in the remote mountains of Southwest New Mexico. Nearby is the Gila, set aside as a nature preserve a full forty years before the passage of the Wilderness Act. While this canyon was always wild, that doesn’t mean it was unpopulated. Ceremonial painted pottery shards on the ground bear witness to the relationship between women and the natural world dating back thousands of years. When Loba has us use stones to grind wild oregano pesto, we feel our hands making the same motions as the women who were here before. We feel ourselves listening to the same bird songs, and harboring the same kinds of worries and hopes. With this in mind, we do our best to honor the place where we are, and make every song and dance a prayer.

Whenever we are out in nature it is an opportunity for insight, connection and contentment. And whenever women gather, they make magic, and healing happens. Women in nature, wherever and whenever, is a sure recipe for transformation and delight. To better know ourselves, each other, and the spirit in all things, we must find ways of being more intimate with the Earth. We can do this in Central Park, on a rocky stretch of ocean beach or beneath a solitary hallowed tree. But do it we must!

There are tears as we say our goodbyes to our hosts and to each other and start our walk back to the cars. Homes and jobs await us, but in some ways we’ll never be the same. We’re somehow more intensely ourselves, as though we’d turned up the very volume of our lives. Like those reintroduced wolves, we may find ourselves noticing every sight and sound as never before, and yearning for longer hours outdoors. We return just a little wilder, more playful, and less tolerant of restraint– looking for our chance to howl!


Severine Rose is an herbalist and single mother, currently studying wildcrafting and Gaian teachings with Loba. The next Wild Women’s Gathering in the Gila will be July 20-27. For information contact: The Earthen Spirituality Project, Box 516, Reserve, NM 87830 <www.concentric.net/~earthway>.