How the Saffron Tent came to be
The Saffron Tent is my vision of a Red Tent for menopause. Just as the Red Tent includes ceremony and community gatherings centered around the experiences of fertility and menstruation, the Saffron Tent does the same, only centering the experience of those moving beyond their fertile years.
The sense-delighting space of the Saffron Tent invites Sacred Feminine wisdom, and is rich in symbolism. We’ll set up a seasonal altar, light a candle, and have music or drumming.
The Saffron Tent ceremonies and other gatherings are an extension of my work as a healer/midwife. My approach picks up where the healthcare system reaches its limits. While ceremonial and community offerings are not “healthcare” in the Western medical sense, through my own intuition and through my learning from indigenous healers, I hold ceremony, community and ritual to be powerful ways to integrate life changes such as the menopause experience. Deliciously un-masculine, powerfully non-medical; it’s a space to hold the mystery of this one-way passage with reverence and power.
The story of deciding to offer these experiences happened at a festival. I chose an event off the public program: “crone ceremony”. I showed up at the appointed time, and so did several others. We waited…but…no one ever appeared to perform the offered ceremony! As we waited, the message of the moment settled onto my shoulders - this is work that needs to be done and someone must do it. That day, I led the group in an informal discussion that we all enjoyed. But more importantly, I left with a plan to create the ceremony I had hoped for. If I wanted it, then others did too.
Not everyone feels drawn to ceremony. But those of us who do should have somewhere to go that isn’t a church and doesn’t require a particular belief system. That space is the Saffron Tent.
If my concept of midlife ceremony and connection resonates with you, that resonance is all the validation you need. Patriarchal/colonial value-logic is not the arbiter of how we will navigate our lives! However, if you’re into research as I am, you may be interested in how I conceptualize this work in a logical/scientific sense. If so, read more here. In any case, I hope to meet you when you come join us for a few magical hours.