WELCOME TO
An annual event in Central Virginia that connects women* for healing, wisdom sharing, creative expression, and celebration. We gather in ceremony to deepen our relationships and nourish our collective power as healers and change makers.
This lovely Spring weekend event includes workshops on herbalism, the healing arts, social justice, and sustainable life-ways. We circle outdoors in ceremony, build friendships and community, learn from gifted teachers, create a village of support, shop the marketplace, enjoy laughter, song, and the joy of being together close to the land.
*Gaia is created by and for women, including female-identified, trans-feminine, genderqueer and cis women. We are a community graced with a full expression of the human experience and warmly welcome all ages, abilities, religious faiths, cultural & ancestral backgrounds and sexual orientations. We envision a thriving and diverse community that gathers to manifest vital resilience and celebrate our inherent interconnectedness.
GAIA HERSTORY
The Gaia Gathering for Women was first held during Beltane of 2007 at Shannon Farms Intentional Community in Central Virginia. Visionary Kat Maier co-created this gathering with many amazing herbalists of the Sacred Plant Traditions community. These women set out to create a safe and magical space built by and for women to celebrate their lives, health and creativity. They lit a sacred fire, shared their knowing, sang songs of remembrance and birthed the gathering we share today.
This special event has been held, tended and shaped by many hands since then. It is a community gathering and continues to grow and respond to the needs of its members. As Gaia enters into its thirteenth year, a new group of organizers continues the legacy of offering educational and experiential programming to cultivate opportunities for healing, connection, wisdom sharing, creative expression, ceremony and celebration.
OUR NAMESAKE
This gathering is named for the Greek Goddess Gaia who is the embodiment of this Earth. We honor our vital connection and call her by many names: Mother Earth, Pachamama, Akna, Ki, Terra Mater, Prithvi, Bhumi, Umay, Izanami, Dimu, Mau Dia, Spider Grandmother, Papatuanuku, Ala, Asase Yaa, Mara, Mat Zemlya, and Mattarahkka.
In calling forth the ancestral the names for the primal mother, we re-member the women and two-spirit people who have circled for eons, keeping wisdom and sacred power alive in their communities. Honoring the Earth has been a way for humans to reciprocate care, connect with Spirit and bring healing to our world. We continue this lineage by weaving support networks, sharing wisdom, and healing ourselves. In so doing we bring healing to our families, communities and our beautiful Mother Earth.
