Today is International Women's Day.
We think it should be
EVERY DAY. 

The first informal observance was in New York in 1909 and by the following year, the idea had gained traction and hasn't stopped since. It is also known as the United Nations Day for Women's Rights and International Peace. Recognizing the integral place equality holds in the progress of peace, we are honored to pause today in consideration of our place in this movement while lending our support and love to all of our sisters on this planet. 

Today, we'll donate 30% of all sales to the
Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights. 

Urgent Action Fund for Women’s Human Rights is a feminist fund that protects, strengthens and sustains women and transgender human rights defenders at critical moments. They intervene quickly when activists are poised to make great gains or face serious threats to their lives and work. They use online, text and mobile funding applications to respond to requests from women’s human rights defenders within 72 hours and have funds on the ground within 1-7 days.

 

JEN: Today makes me think fondly of my Mother - how loving, supportive + kind she is. Even when I got caught shoplifting at 12.

Today I also honor my Grandmother Rosetta. She lived until a day before her 102nd birthday. I will never forget she had the most beautiful hands with the softest skin, they looked like they belonged to a 20yr old. She always told me to grow old gracefully and that all men are philanderers Haha. 

 

Grandma Rosetta was a motorbike rider in the War delivering aid to wounded soldiers. My Grandfather kept this image of her on her motorbike in his wallet until he passed. Every time I visited my Grandmother she would take out a photo album and share a grand story with me. The last story she ever told me was when I was 6 months pregnant with my son. 

My Grandfather was in a sinking navy ship which carried 320 people, all presumed dead. However, unknown to my Grandmother, my Grandfather survived 2 days in the Irish Sea. 

My Grandmother and Grandfather would write letters to each other in invisible ink and one day when my Grandmother presumed him dead a letter arrived, in invisible ink, and, it was him telling her he was alive.

I miss these stories. This woman saw many things during her 101 years and today I think of her. 

 

ADRIEL: To me, today marks a moment in our year where we are asked to pause and consider the reality of the world we live in, our place in it and what we can do to effect the change we desire.

In my mid-30's I am just beginning to truly awaken to the deeply embedded struggle of my own feminine energy and the ways I have had my power taken from me and the times I have relinquished it unknowingly. I've heard it said that in order to see the world clearly, one must first see themselves. It's like looking outward from a glass enclosure - if the glass is foggy, a vision of the outside will be foggy too.

In this way, I am choosing to spend time today in reflection and inner listening. I choose to trust my truest self and her voice of intuition to teach me how I can claim my power more effectively and in so doing, help to empower others.

I think the great lesson of this decade of my life is discovering the true nature of healing. For me, I have come to understand it as a returning of power to oneself. I think of pain as something that affects us spiritually, emotionally and physically. Whether a wound comes as a physical, mental or spiritual blow, it often dislodges a part of us from ourselves. That displacement begs us to re-integrate and seeks our attention.

For me, untended-to pain has wreaked havoc in my life - leading to bouts of severe anxiety, depression, and addiction. But it has also been my greatest teacher. As I am learning to heal, I am learning to call these parts of me, my shadows, back - to love them, honor them, tend to them with compassion just as I tend to my own child when he is in pain.

I have placed a photo of myself as a young girl in a special place in my home where I see her every day. When I look at her, I send her love and total acceptance. I honor her with my thoughts and joy and dreams. In a mysterious and beautiful way, the ritual is helping to water forgotten seeds within me and I feel myself blooming in a new way. So, today, I choose to honor myself with love, healing, acceptance, and gratitude and in so doing, I honor the women who made my life possible and all others connected to the divine power of the feminine spirit. May we all know peace. May we all know freedom.