The part of your show that stayed most profoundly with me was the interactions with complete strangers. I feel that this doesn’t happen enough in the world, and with the prompts you gave, forced all of us to open up in a way we would not have otherwise… it was powerful!
And I loved your singing! (I didn’t know that you had such a voice:)
Thank you! Mattie Rose
I felt welcomed into the space and the experience by Katey, and relaxed walking around the room to view the art and poetry. Katey gathered us into a circle and talked about why she had created this experience and led us through a number of one-on-one and group sharing experiences. I felt opened up to, and supported by, the community I was sharing this with and deeply connected with the larger purpose that had brought us togetherd at this difficult time in our world. This is truly a magical and moving healing arts experience.
Rebecca Esch
In the Arms of the Mothers,
Healing the Pain of the World with Love
~ available to be brought to your community
In the Arms of the Mothers is a healing arts experience providing space to contemplate what is happening in the world within a refuge of support, encouraging you to feel what comes up for you, and consciously choosing how you respond. Events in this space provide opportunities for us to express our grief, fear, longings, hopes, visions and commitments through meditation, writing, drawing, movement, and singing, together.
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So many have forgotten our inherent oneness and the sacredness of life, as we have been lured by the illusion of power and control regardless of the consequences to ourselves and the planet. It is critical to care for and nurture the health and well-being of our families, communities and the Earth with love. We must tend to the body, emotions and our relationships to survive and thrive and reclaim spiritual embodiment. We must wake up to the mystery and power of love as a radical act that opens the way for more possibilities.
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Being “In the Arms of the Mothers” reminds us that every one of us was born through the body of a woman. Our mothers’ bodies cocooned us in their wombs and fed us. These “Mothers” represent different aspects of impassioned, innocent, spirited, grieving expressions of our relationship to life. We are innately a part of everything on Earth and beyond. Because of that, we all feel the pain of the world, and each of our actions has an impact.
The more in touch with grief we are, the more aware of the preciousness, and impermanence of life we become. The more you love people, places, animals, the more it hurts to lose them. Being close to pain, loss and death wakes us up to being alive, engaged, and impassioned to honor life, and become the arms that tend to the world.​
Potential Events in the space​ ​​​​
Opening with music, poetry, and prose readings by Katey Branch, a multimedia healing artist of 40 years.
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Community Sing where simple, powerful songs of resistance and community building. Singing has been used for healing for centuries. Communal singing offers the experience of being in harmony with breath and presence with others sharing songs invoking inspiration.
Storytelling opens the space for everyone to find their voice and share their wisdom.
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Dance is rooted in ancient traditions, communal dance invites individuals to connect to their bodies and music to move freely in a transformative movement medicine experience.​
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Yoga brings breath, movement and presence to the body, mind and spirit.
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If you would you like to bring
In the Arms of the Mothers, Healing the Pain of the World w/ Love
to your community contact Katey at 207-890-9622 for sponsorship information
My experience "In the Arms of the Mothers" stubbornly resists being translated through my left brain. I wanted to speak eloquently about the melding of the written and spoken words, singing, sharing, meditation prompts and spaces, powerful goddesses towering above and grounding the space. I wanted to capture your presence; your humble courage and generosity, gifting us with the invitation to live, to love, to grieve, to be whole.
My heart tells the story like this:
Entering sacred space. Feeling beauty, power, comfort, care, curiosity. All my edges softening and moving toward stillness.
A bolt of sound, piercing grief, rips the doors off my heart. I fear I might drown in this sea of sorrow. I feel the arms of the mother holding me. I hear her gentle, loving voice reminding me that my heart is big enough, wide enough, deep enough, strong enough to hold all of the pain and suffering and all of the joy, in this moment and the next. No need to constrict, close down, protect. I am enough. I can embrace it all, welcome it all, bring it all home to my heart. The more I expand, the more joy, the more grief fills me, opens me. I surrender to all that is. Feeling alive, feeling free, feeling oneness. Feeling peaceful, joyous, grateful. Feeling transformed.
This wasn't a passing feeling. I have a new resiliency and capacity to remain open- hearted. In the face of fear, anger, pain and sorrow, I know that I always have a choice. I can constrict or expand. I can shut out or embrace. I can open wider and serve life and love.
Thank you for sharing your many talents and gifts. Your presence in my life is a guiding light, a welcoming smile and a hearty laugh.
With deep gratitude and much love, Kerry Read
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