| Abstract: | We are in a red room in a restaurant which has as its decor the Middle Ages. We are seated at a U-shaped table, and we are here to help a young girl celebrate her passage into womanhood. This is no religious ceremony, but a simple spiritual event. No priest, no rabbi is present, only women. All of us are anxious, anticipating what is to come. The girl's mother says a few words about a vision she had had of an inhibition. In it, she said, she saw a group of women seated in a circle around a fire. The drums urged the participants to dance. Amid the stamping of feet around the fire, a young girl comes into the circle and is welcomed by the older women of the tribe. Thus the girl becomes a woman in the community. Then the young daughter stands up and begins to speak shyly of her nature spirit. She tells us of how she has sought for evidence of God in churches and thus far has only found some contact with Him in nature, alone in a field or on a hilltop. After that the mother invited the guests to share in helping her daughter “become a woman in the tribe.” Here is how two of the women shared the event.—G.F. |
