Remembering the Power of the Womb

I went for the adventure, not knowing what I was getting myself into. It was hard, cold, wet, noisy, strange. All of us camping in tents in the forest together, celebrating the sacred feminine. 

As I sat on the forest floor, swatting away mosquitoes, tugging the blanket tighter around myself to keep the wind out, Jane Hardwick Collings walked onto the stage. Her long, silver hair hung down to her bum and her skirt swished around her boots. In her powerful, soothing voice she said:

“Your womb is your source of your greatest power and that’s why the patriarchy, the medical establishment and the religious institutions have been trying to control it since time immemorial.”

Bold statement, I thought, as the women around me clapped and woohoo’d for Jane. 

I’d never thought about my womb as anything other than a body part – like my thumb or my liver – just a tissue that’s useful in its own way. My womb has produced two babies and reminds me of its existence once a month when I shed my uterine lining. Otherwise, I don’t give it any thought. 

“It can become the source of your intuition, your sovereign voice; guiding your purpose and your decisions,” I heard Jane’s voice through the microphone. “It stores the wisdom from all your rights of passage. It’s the key to who you are and why you’re here.”

The longer I listened, the more I knew down to my bones that she was speaking the truth. 

I scribbled notes furiously in my journal, forgetting even about the mosquitoes and the cold. Jane shared the questions we can ask ourselves and our wombs about the many experiences of our lives as women: our first period which she calls the menarche, our first sexual experience, the births of our children or our careers and other projects. She shared how we can reclaim that part of ourselves and stop giving our power away to the control systems our society has in place. 

I had no idea that my womb space held such power or that I could live more consciously connected to my womb, but I was intrigued to know more.

As I walked back to my tent, bracing against the wind and gazing at the mountains in the background, I knew why I had been called to come here. I was meant to attend this women’s festival in the forest to learn from this very wise woman who could guide me back to myself. 

This experience was one of the first moments that opened my relationship with womb wisdom. If you are curious about this path, I now host ongoing womb circles where women explore connection, embodiment, and creative power in a grounded way.