What a wonderful and exciting year 2012 is off to!  Hope you are taking time to pause and reflect as all the changes in your lives seem to be ready to sweep you off your feet.  We are women who are strong and adaptable creatures so this evolution we seem to be experiencing is such a time of amazement.  Seems so many I speak to are in transition and truly making big decisions drawing upon lifetimes of experiences.

Gathering of Women

May we all be blessed in our journey of life.  May we know that for each choice we make we are taking another step closer to our own versions of enlightenment.  I like to think of life as the little tiny stream just barely a part of our own lives (baby) who grows with the nourishment of the world around us and some will become streams, some rivers and others into oceans and even glaciers.  The world around us is in full evolution right along with us.

If you have not taken a pause to think about where you are and what little drop of water you have come from, take that moment now.  Then imagine the greatness that water is from the tiniest of drops to the vastness of the oceans.  Just like that drop we are capable of so much more than we ourselves can even imagine.  Take a step into the water and let us flow through this year of change.

We hope that you might make yourself a priority this year and get together with other women whether that be for a cup of tea, a book club, a Red Tent, a retreat….just something….just for you!  The below are ways in which you might connect with other women through our events at Blessings Within/Texas Red Tents.

Love Thyself Women’s Retreat – February 23-25, 2012 More…
last minute registrations accepted now with a special one day option for Saturday available.

Free the Beat Within – Women Living Consciously Retreat – April 20-22, 2012 More…
Special discount pricing through 2/20/2012!

Red Tent Experience Women’s Retreat – September 28-30, 2012 More…
Open to women and maidens 13 and up! Payment plans available.

The 3rd Tuesday of each month will be our Red Tent Experience in the Houston Heights from 7pm-9pm.  For 2012 we have a new home at Wild Heart Art which is just a wonderful little gem with it’s own secret garden and just full of energy.  This new location even has great off street parking which is sometimes the challenge when going down to the Heights so come on out, feel free to bring a bottle of wine to this Red Tent if you choose.

January – Topic:  Dreams for 2012
This month will be about making your intentions for 2012 known to you and to the universe in term.  Luck is where opportunity meets preparation, let’s have a lucky filled 2012 by clearly preparing ourselves my expressing our dreams within the Red Tent.

Please bring a pen, journal/paper and something to put your wishes into (a board, box, purse, vase…something that you will see each and every day as a reminder of your dreams.  Please come dressed in shades of red.

Light dinner will be served.  Suggested donation of $10-20 to help offset facilities and materials costs.  More info…

Retreat Registrations Closing Soon!

Registration for the Interfaith Ministries retreat “Love Thyself” is coming up next month.  Love yourself by changing your life and sign up for a wonderful weekend of transformation.

Early Registration for the April 20-22, 2012 ends January 31.  Sign up now to reserve your spot to Free Your Beat Within and save $60 off the semi-private and $70 off the private lodging.  For more information, please visit www.freethebeatwithin.com.

Many exciting things happening in 2012!  We have several Red Tents and retreats already on the calendar with more to be added over the coming months.

Red Tent Tambourines

The 2nd Saturdays will be abuzz with feminine energy with two different Red Tents happening down in the South of Houston.  The Women of the Red Tent group will meet from 1pm-5pm at the Alice Young Library, this group has been meeting for the past year and is now opening up to more women.   Then we have the Red Tent Extravaganza meeting in Pearland from 7pm-10pm in a private home, this group has met several times over the last year and is now opening to more women.  More info…

The 3rd Tuesday of each month will be our Red Tent Experience in the Houston Heights from 7pm-9pm.  For 2012 we have a new home at Wild Heart Art which is just a wonderful little gem with it’s own secret garden and just full of energy.  This new location even has great off street parking which is sometimes the challenge when going down to the Heights so come on out, feel free to bring a bottle of wine to this Red Tent if you choose.  More info…

We also have several retreats already on the calendar:

Love Thyself - This is one we are helping out Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston with.  The gathering space will be all decked out Red Tent style and is sure to be a renewing experience for women looking to find that love for themselves that we as women sometimes forget to nourish.  For more info, please see www.imgh.org.

Free the Beat Within:  Women Living Consciously – This one is a joint effort with Liz Plaster to really awaken all that is within you.  Hurry to save your place on this one as it is nearly sold out!  More info…

Red Tent Experience – This one is in the early planning stages and still open for new presenters with new ideas.  It will be a coming together of women across Texas and beyond with over 100 women attending!  Would you like to be on the planning committee?  Would you like to be a vendor in the bazaar?  Sign up now with payment options even.  More info…

Family Red Tent and Drum Circle

December 21, 2011 at 7pm. This month we will be a Solstice celebration open to women and their families. Liz Plaster is going to join us for this wonderful evening where we will release our fire within to the winds of change as the Sun once again comes to life full of light.  She bring over 60 percussion instruments so everyone has the opportunity to join in!  We hope to have a  Traditional Yule Fire in which we will make our intentions for the coming year known to the universe through wishes in the Yule fire.

Green Planet Sanctuary

Cathy is so gracious to have allowed us to come in an use the space for our monthly gatherings. It is a little tricky to find for the first time. It is a little off the southwest corner of Briar Forest and Eldridge. It is located between Parkway Fellowship and Westside Montessori and just behind Auto Check. Just look for the metal palm trees at the gate. Photos of Green Planet Sanctuary.

What a roller coaster ride it has been this past year of hosting monthly Red Tents in the Houston area. Lots of lessons learned along the way and still working through things to find what might work best for us here in Texas. It is such a diverse area we live in with such diverse women. We feel blessed to be a part of this movement of diverse women with the womb of the Red Tent.

2011 Events:

December 21 – Winter Solstice Red Tent

This will be our only gathering in December. We will have Liz Plaster with us bringing all of her percussion instruments for everyone to play.  Perhaps mother nature might work with us to be able to have a Yule fire but we shall see on that one.  The whole family is invited to attend! We all come from the womb of the Red Tent so it is only right that once a year the Red Tent is open to all to understand and experience. More info…

We will be supporting the Red Tent Movie at our two upcoming Red Tents in Houston.  Please come out, watch the following trailer with us and in turn bond as women.  Please support the film at www.redtentmovie.com so that all women can know what a Red Tent gives them.

Our monthly Red Tent in West Houston

Texas Red Tents are meant to be an experience that many women might not have realized they were missing from their lives until perhaps reading The Red Tent: A Novel by Anita Diamant. It was a time where woman took time away among the women when women’s bodies were in tune with one another and the moon. It is our hope that we can bring this experience to women once again. You will be immersed within the textiles of the red tent with all the pillows of comfort to bond with women and explore your own divine feminine within.

When we find our inner enlightenment then we in turn can find the light within the world we live. The Red Tents are a little light of taking time to yourself.