{"id":1188,"date":"2023-01-04T12:31:34","date_gmt":"2023-01-04T16:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/?p=1188"},"modified":"2023-01-04T12:31:34","modified_gmt":"2023-01-04T16:31:34","slug":"womens-christmas-retreat-2023-in-the-light-of-a-new-constellation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/womens-christmas-retreat-2023-in-the-light-of-a-new-constellation\/","title":{"rendered":"Women’s Christmas Retreat 2023: In the Light of a New Constellation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Image:<\/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 Day (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 is titled In the Light of a New Constellation<\/em>.<\/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 2023 Women’s Christmas Retreat<\/a><\/h3>\n

(If you don’t see the 2023 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

Those Stars That Turn in Us
\nA Blessing for Women’s Christmas
\n<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I do not know
\nhow to keep it all together
\nor by what patterns
\nthis world might
\nfinally hold.<\/p>\n

What I know is that
\nour hearts are bigger
\nthan this sky
\nthat wheels above us<\/p>\n

and what shines
\nthrough all this darkness
\nshines through us,
\nsetting every shattered thing
\ninto a new constellation<\/p>\n

and we can turn
\nour faces
\nto that light,
\nto the grace of
\nthose stars
\nthat turn in us.<\/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 Day (January 6, which brings […]<\/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-1188","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-ja","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188","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=1188"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1190,"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188\/revisions\/1190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanctuaryofwomen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}