{"id":1167,"date":"2021-01-04T00:24:42","date_gmt":"2021-01-04T04:24:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/?p=1167"},"modified":"2021-01-04T01:17:24","modified_gmt":"2021-01-04T05:17:24","slug":"womens-christmas-retreat-2021-the-sanctuary-between-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/womens-christmas-retreat-2021-the-sanctuary-between-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Women’s Christmas Retreat 2021: The Sanctuary Between Us"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Image: Wise Women Also Came<\/em> \u00a9 Jan Richardson<\/p>\n

Friends, it is the time of year when I get to wish you a Merry Women’s Christmas and share a gift that I’ve created for you in celebration of the day!<\/p>\n

You might know that in some parts of the world, Epiphany (January 6, which brings the Christmas season to a close) is also celebrated as Women’s Christmas. Originating in Ireland, where it is known as Nollaig na mBan<\/em>, Women’s Christmas began as a day when the women, who often carried the domestic responsibilities all year, took Epiphany as an occasion to enjoy a bit of respite and celebrate together at the end of the holidays.<\/p>\n

Whether your domestic duties are many or few, Women\u2019s Christmas is a good time to pause and take a break from whatever has kept you busy in the past weeks or months. As the Christmas season ends, this is an occasion both to celebrate with friends and also to spend time in reflection before diving into the responsibilities of this new year.<\/p>\n

It has become a tradition for me to create a retreat that you can use for Women’s Christmas\u2014or any time you’re in need of a space of respite and regathering. This year’s retreat (our tenth!) is titled The Sanctuary Between Us<\/em>, and it offers an invitation to ponder how we hold space for one another across the distance.<\/p>\n

The retreat is very flexible, easily adaptable to your own purposes. You can do the retreat anytime you wish, by yourself or with others. It includes an introduction with some thoughts about how you might use these reflections.<\/p>\n

Clicking the link below will take you to a page on this Sanctuary of Women site where you can download the retreat as a PDF file. There is no cost; this is my Women’s Christmas gift to you! If you wish, you can make a donation in support of the retreat; contributions will be shared with the A21 Campaign (a21.org<\/a>), which is devoted to ending human trafficking and providing sanctuary, healing, and hope for those rescued from slavery.<\/p>\n

Download the 2021 Women’s Christmas Retreat<\/a><\/h3>\n

(If you don’t see the 2021 retreat when you click the link, just refresh your browser so that you’re seeing the most recent version of the Women’s Christmas page, and the new retreat should appear.) <\/em><\/p>\n

This year’s retreat opens with a new blessing I’ve written for you, which you can find below. As we celebrate the day and enter into the year ahead, I pray that you will be attended by many graces. Merry Women’s Christmas!<\/p>\n

About the Light<\/strong>
\n A Blessing for Women\u2019s Christmas<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

As of yet
\nI cannot say
\nwhich I love best
\nabout the light:<\/p>\n

that it gathers itself
\neven in what goes hidden,
\nno stranger to
\nthe seed, the stone,
\nthe labyrinth of night,<\/p>\n

or that it is wildly
\ngenerous in where
\nit lands, glad the same
\nto touch the face of
\nthe one in laughter,
\nthe one in tears,
\nthe one in trouble,
\nin fear, in pain.<\/p>\n

But it may yet be
\nthat this is what
\nwoos me most
\nabout the light:<\/p>\n

that it knows
\nwhat to do with distance,
\nhow it arcs
\nacross the space
\nbetween a heart
\nand a heart,
\nilluminating that ache
\nthrough which
\nthe farthest of stars
\nmight be seen.<\/p>\n

\u2014Jan Richardson<\/p>\n

[The image Wise Women Also Came<\/em> is \u00a9 Jan Richardson from Night Visions<\/em><\/a>. To use this image or order an art print, please visit this page<\/a> at Jan Richardson Images.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image: Wise Women Also Came \u00a9 Jan Richardson Friends, it is the time of year when I get to wish you a Merry Women’s Christmas and share a gift that I’ve created for you in celebration of the day! You might know that in some parts of the world, Epiphany (January 6, which brings the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,6,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blessings","category-christmas","category-sacred-time"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p190Xv-iP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1167"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1175,"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1167\/revisions\/1175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}