26/03/2026
I still don't have the words to talk much about last weekend's Shewolf retreat. I am still allowing it to burn through. The alchemy of transmutation by fire is One of patience. Of allowing the process from initial spark through to roaring flame, across glowing embers, and down to cooled coals that you can work with. I am allowing this fire to burn long and slow, allowing it to do everything that it needs to do before I attempt to form it into words that I can share.
But I WOULD like to share this part with you.
One of the most sacred ceremonies in SheWolf is our Fire ceremony. This was our third Fire retreat, and each one has been different. The thing with Shewolf is that it is an organic dynamic creature. It changes each time according to the energies that each woman brings with them. We approach the retreat with the bare wolf bones of plan and ceremony, but the sinew and muscle and meat is added according to where the river takes us and where the flame inspires us. This way we are able to work to the needs of each specific group.
During this Retreat, the women built the fire slowly. Mindfully. Together. It was lit together, with each woman striking sparks into the kindling . We prepared slowly. Each preparing in her own way and together. We spent time to connect with the fire individually and as a group.
There was no ownership. We were all priestesses of the sacred Flame that evening. Equally building, and equally sharing in its warmth and light and wisdom and power.
When I can, I use red ochre in sacred ceremony. It has been used by humankind for over 300,000 years. It has adorned cave walls, been used in burial rites, ritual body paint and make up. It is both magical and medicinal.
It is a red vein that connects us back to our most primal selves. It is birth, and death, and rebirth.
When red ochre and fire combine, It has the power to unleash that which we repress. That which we tidy up and put away because it is not conventional or pretty or ladylike or delicate.
There are no photographs of the actual fire ceremony. It was liminal and timeless and feral and the flames are still burning deep in my belly. The Bruja drummed and I invoked , and something deep inside each of us , and bigger than any of us, stirred, awoke, and was unleashed.
I was an honour to share that space with those involved.
