This year we will hold two WiP Initiations at Unstone Grange:
- 10 – 13 MAY 2018 (Cos arrive at Unstone on 8 & 9 May)
- 20 – 23 SEPTEMBER 2018 (Cos arrive at Unstone on 18 & 19 September)
So what does it mean to staff at WiP? Here, Sophie Hunter shares with us her personal experience of staffing at WiP over the last few years.
And below, our beloved and experienced staff coordinator Sophie Boss has an invitation for you.
After I went through my WIP initiation in 2013, I knew that I needed to stay connected with what I’d experienced. The initiation had touched me deeply, and I wanted – needed – to keep it alive in some way. Although I live close to the Unstone site there were no other WiP women living in this area then, so initially I stayed in touch at a distance through doing the 6 months of R-group calls, which I found rich and deep and incredibly useful. When the calls ended I felt bereft, knowing that I wanted to stay in touch with it all, but not really knowing how. And then a couple of months later, the staffing email came through. Did I want to staff? You bet I did!
I was lucky – I was picked as one of the first time staffers. The week in May came round quickly. Being a first time staffer was huge for me: it felt so GOOD to be re-connected to my pack, to that side of myself, to the land – and I felt honoured to be the other side of the portal. Going through the initiation again as a Co, from the other side, was just as profound as it was the first time as an initiate – maybe even more. I heard the teachings. Really heard them this time. I realised where they needed to impact my life more. And now every time I staff, I hear them again and another layer of understanding reveals itself.
Staffing isn’t easy. We work really hard. We work long hours. (We laugh a lot too.) And we come up against our own edges and cracks and wounds over and over again, baring them to the light. I’ve learnt that whatever is going on in my life will come into sharp relief, and I will receive an answer, should I choose to listen to it. And I’ve experienced so much joy from connecting with my WiP sisters; both the other Cos, and the initiates. We are encouraged to bring ALL of ourselves to Unstone with us – our wholeness, our weaknesses, our strengths, our vulnerabilities and our power. I realise what a gift that is, to really bring ourselves, and to be seen for all that we are.
Staffing has given me an opportunity to consider my relationship to leadership. I have witnessed and learnt what embodied feminine leadership looks like from the Co-Founders, Directors and other Co-Creators, realising how little of this I witness in my ‘other’ life. Each time I staff I have been asked to take on something new: a new stretch, a new challenge, which has been both terrifying and the most magnificent and potent cauldron that has taught me profoundly. Each time I staff I step into more of me, and I am hugely grateful for that opportunity, and for the opportunity to serve our community.
Sophie Hunter
Magnificent Wolf Woman, Giver of Milk not Flesh
We want YOU!
We invite you to step forward to be part of the co-creation team for one or both of these initiations.
They are our community’s life force and we need you, whether you have experience in staffing or are new to our community.
Being a Co is a wonderful opportunity to be back in the cauldron; to serve, to grow, to learn, to connect. Take a few moments to recall your own experience and the support you received from the co-creators who were present when you came to Women in Power.
Whether you know any women who are coming or not, whether you have experience or expectations or not, we welcome you…and we want you!
During the initiation we are in service and our work is to focus on the needs of the initiates. We expect Co-creators to practice good self-care which includes checking in with yourself before applying and throughout the run up and the initiation to ensure your needs are being met.
If you have any questions or if you would like to talk to someone before you apply, you can call Sophie Boss on 07904 125997.
