Gathering of the tribe: Rappahannock’s Red Tent Sisterhood

On the Vernal Equinox, women gather in Castleton to find strength and support in each other

Years of monthly potluck dinners among women in Rappahannock County became a safe place for women of all ages to take refuge and connect with themselves and their sisterhood.

The Rappahannock Red Tent held its 2nd annual gathering of the tribe on Saturday, the Vernal Equinox, to provide a forum for women and celebrate healing and regenerative arts. At the heart of a gathering is a tent where women have unfiltered conversations about their bodies, hardships and other shared experiences.

Rappahannock is part of a global network called “Red Tents in Every Neighborhood” where groups of women meet for a similar purpose — to honor the journey of womanhood.

“It’s just [about] reclaiming our power and our independence and a support network for each other, because we get busy,” said Cherl Crews, founder of the Living Sky Foundation and Rappahannock Red Tent facilitator. “The whole thing about communities, it’s only as strong as your members. And so we established Red Tent in Rappahannock to strengthen our community again.”

The mission stated in their event pamphlet is for the Rappahannock Red Tent Sisterhood “to provide a safe, private forum where women are always welcome, nurtured, respected, and honored and to connect with the feminine community of our home in the foothills of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Rappahannock County.”

The Saturday event was hosted at Teresa Boardwine’s Green Comfort School of Herbal Medicine in Castleton. Women spanning the ages of pre-menses to matriarch participated together in Red Tent conversations, a vegetarian potluck, and various forms of healing arts like dances of universal peace, yoga and meditation and a celestial wisdom workshop.

The global network was created by author and Mentor of Menstrual Empowerment DeAnna L’am with the goal of “making menstruation & menopause visible and reclaiming them as Spiritual Journeys,” according to her website.

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“The dominant culture will say, ‘oh thats woo woo,’” said Cathy Kiley Martin, a healer in the Wise Woman Tradition and student of indigenous culture. “No, it’s ancient.”

Martin opened the Red Tent event with songs from the Lakota and Cherokee tribes, saying indigenous culture appreciates and honors Mother Earth. Martin moved to Rappahannock County in 1986 and found that her spiritual beliefs aligned with indigenous culture, and she has studied alongside members of the indigenous community since. 

“Those songs are very special — ancient spiritual songs,” Martin said. “So I was singing them to open the ceremony and of course bring in the Earth, the air, the fire, the water, Father sky above and Mother Earth below. And of course, the great mystery that is creator, that is the creator of all. So that’s where I’m coming from, and I’m on a path of sharing that with people.”

Molly Swartwout, 23, attended the Saturday event and said she found the Red Tent organization on Facebook as a younger woman and liked how the group made talking about things like menstruation and menopause not only normal, but celebrated. 

“I think there’s a dominant narrative for menstruation being something to suppress or to be embarrassed about or an inconvenience, and the same thing goes with hormones in general and just having a uterus or aging,” Swartwout said. “And so having a space where the entire purpose is honesty, and nuance and celebration of differences and of bodies existing exactly as they are, is really transformative and revolutionary, in my opinion.”

Swartwout initially came to Rappahannock County a couple of years ago to work on a flower farm and then stayed to take Boardwine’s course on herbal medicine at the Green Comfort School, where the Red Tent event was held last week.

She said she hopes to see the language for Red Tent organizations begin to include women who are transgender, saying it’s not always inherent that a woman is going to have a uterus.

“Unfortunately, I think that the Red Tent got created in a time where language about trans rights and just trans people in general didn’t really have a lot of visibility,” Swartwout said. “Red Tent to me is about celebrating cycles and celebrating your body as it is, however it is, and I think that actually translates really well to trans people and to gender inclusivity.”

‘You’re never too old’

Rhonda Foster Hughes, 59, was a little nervous to attend the Red Tent event, saying she’s always admired this group of women who are unapologetically spiritual and in touch with “hippy” culture. 

Growing up, Hughes felt misunderstood by her family and felt like she couldn’t have conversations about spirituality. Hughes said she left Saturday’s event feeling like she finally came into her true self at age 59.

“I was always fascinated with astrology and numerology and the moon phases and just stuff that was different from the rest of my family and friends in general, and so… a lot of us will suppress ourselves to fit in,” Hughes said. “Now you fast forward, of course, I’ve had a lot of life changes. But here I am, 59, And I’m finally at a place where I’m becoming more comfortable with that part of me … And so to be there with those women that I admire and who inspire me … it was life altering.”

Hughes participated in a Red Tent discussion with women who were either mothers or identified as matriarchs. She said her mother recently passed away, and now that she’s one of the eldest women in her family, she’s had to assume that matriarch role.

“I was able to have those discussions in the tent and found that other women were walking similar paths,” she said. “Maybe the specifics were not the same, but it was incredibly helpful and the timing was perfect…  just being in that red tent is a magical feeling.”