This year we celebrated our 6th Annual Ancestral Womb Wellness Gathering in South Phoenix. Our theme was Rest as Resistance: Reconnecting with the Elements. After year’s of growing and working in our community, we realized just how important rest is in our day to day lives. Not just to recharge, but simply to be and support us in our healing as indigenous peoples.
Thank you to Denise Amaya, the artist who created our beautiful image to represent our rest theme this year.
Although our gatherings are focused on Black, Indigenous and LGBTQ voices and experiences, this year we made the intention to open our space up for cis-men and those outside of the BIPOC experience. This idea had a lot to do with how cis-men in our families and our allies and extended community have supported the collective work. In addition, we’ve recognized that cis-men in particular, are in great need of a space for their healing as well. Although things were not centered around their experience, we decided to welcome them to our forward facing space so they could listen and learn in hopes for them to connect and create their own space for healing.
Another thing we intentionally carved space for, is a message regarding the use of the word womb in our gathering name.
As we prepared for the gathering and focused on the theme of rest, we found it appropriate to focus on the elements: water, air, earth and fire. The elements always help ground us in the work we do, and they are present in every which way. Our first day was focused on water and we learned of how to support ourselves in self-care to rest. The second day was focused on air and we heard stories about loss and release and learned of the importance of community care. The third day was focused on earth and we came together in community to sync our bodies with our mind and spirits through drumming, song, and dance. And the fourth day, which was actually our 7 year anniversary Gala, we focused on fire and the ways in which this collective has grown and will continue to grow as we tend to our fires.
Community came together each day to hold space for themselves and each other. We created pods with mats and a few chairs around so people could gather in small groups. At each pod, we had the elements present with lit candles, beautiful wooden decor and medicine they could place over the fire to help center themselves as they listened to each speaker.
Our presenters provided a wealth of knowledge for community to learn from and apply in their own lives. We brought together Black Indigenous voices to speak on how vital rest is in our every day lives.
We have many thanks to give for this sacred gathering. Thank you to our volunteers for all the help throughout these full four days. Thank you to our translators for your support in making sure language justice is a part of every experience we hold space for. Thank you to Phil our DJ for providing music and a sound system, a first for us. Thank you to our presenters for your time and the wealth of knowledge you provided. Thank you to our healers and those who tended to our altars to support the spiritual wellbeing of our community. Thank you to all the behind the scenes staff who helped unload, set up, clean up and pack up at the end of the night. Thank you to our staff who supported the event by filling in gaps and being an extra set of hands. Thank you to our childcare team for taking care of our children so lovingly and mindfully. Thank you to the collective comadres for showing up and supporting in whatever was needed. Thank you our Azkame/Co-directors for conceptualizing and planning this 6th annual Ancestral Womb Wellness Gathering! Tlazocamati!