The Red Tent or Moon Lodge is simply a gathering of women that occurs at the new moon when girls & women are most in need of support, rest & reflection. A timeless tradition observed by ancient cultures it serves as a regular forum for empowering one's feminine sense of selfhood.
Welcome to your Womanhood
Traditionally, girls would start attending the Red Tent when their bodies started to cycle with the moon. It was here they would learn about their fertility cycles & every facet of being a woman known as Women's Lore, Women's Mysteries or Secret Women's Business...(the info not covered by school sex education, teen mags or the Girl Guide association!) In a nutshell, it gifts girls a mystical understanding of their womanhood. Including the effect of the lunar & seasonal cycles on women's emotions, energy levels & psychological well being, as well as how to balance those cycles for greater harmony. This secret knowledge then engendered empowerment as women learnt the value of their bodies as physical temples & learnt to set personal boundaries accordingly.
This custom also acknowledged that when a girl begins to cycle it is natural that she will feel the need to individuate from her mother by doing exactly the opposite of everything her mother says in order to find her own feminine identity. Initiating teenage girls into a circle of trusted women who they can turn to when they feel unable to share with their mother, ensures they are guided & protected by a circle of wise & loving mentors rather than being blindly led by their peers or seeking guidance from magazines sponsored by a corporate agenda. This provides an authentic foundation of practical support so they can make the necessary errors in judgement that are universal on the road to wisdom...even if that means calling one of the women from their Red Tent circle at 2am if they find themselves outside a club unable to find a lift home in their early twenties!
And by actually welcoming girls to their womanhood we collectively affirm that being a woman is worth celebrating & that it is safe for us to gather & speak our truth. Marking this rite of passage also helps both mother & daughter to acknowledge that the childhood phase has passed so new responsibilities must be accepted if new freedoms are to be granted.[#http://www.starofishtar.com/what-is-the-red-tent/# # Goddess , Goddesses , red tent , Tanishka , what is red tent#]
