04/17/2026
The news these days is hard, triggering, heartbreaking.
Today I am coping by dreaming of a world safe, peaceful and respectful for all children and women everywhere.
And I donât think I am just a dreamer. History has models.
The photos here are of âLes bĂŠguinages,â communities of women in medieval Europe, living and working together, without taking vows or retiring from the world.
These communities flourished in homes and on land owned by women, connected by a common wall or garden, with a common intention to live well, live free and to do good.
The Princely Beguinage Ten Wijngaarde, arranged around a large, central courtyard of white houses and trees, is a UNESCO heritage site which can still be visited in South Bruges today. In that enclosed, quiet space, everything faces inward, toward a shared center.
It was a way of life that was connected, but with privacy; empowered, yet humble; simple, but full of beauty; communal, without strict demands;
peaceful, and dynamically creative, prosperous, alive.
I love the idea of it being multi-generational, too. Women of all ages inspiring, supporting, nurturing sisters in all facets of life.
Of course, in my dream, we grow food, flowers, herbs, and natural products for market. We make things with our hands, we run free with animals, children, rivers and sunny breezes. We have communal meals, meditations, and healings for larger community.
We love, we laugh, we sing, we rise.
What do you think? Have you ever dreamed of living in nature, or in beauty, with a group of like-minded women, creating and prospering in dynamic, inspired community? Who are your women?
Women once lived like this - safe, supported, together. I feel something like this calling us again.
We are healing. We will rise. But I donât feel we are meant to do this alone.
Virginia Woolfâs A Room of Oneâs Own was a revolution. A *community of oneâs own* - intentional, respectful, loose, but connected- feels like the next evolution.
Who are your sisters?
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