Our Herstory
The Nectar of Life Red Tent Temple is a community of women coming to rest once a month away from family and career life -- our Doing spaces in the world. This is our sacred space where we are able to Be present and care for ourselves by learning to listen to our bodies, blood cycles, ways of dealing with stress, and discovering how to be more gentle with ourselves through laughter and by nurturing one another. We explore topics related to sex and sacred sexuality, childbirth and rearing, contraception, life, death, and honoring our Sisterhood through the ancient ways. See our Past Events page for more details.
Our Red Tent began in August 2014 with a private viewing of Things We Don’t Talk About: Women’s Stories From The Red Tent, a film directed by Dr Isadora Leidenfrost. Fourteen women filled my office to learn more about the Red Tent and explore what it would have been like to have had a place to grow, develop, and mature as a woman. Shortly thereafter, Dr Isadora contacted me to hostess a public Director's Film Screening in October 2014. The response was incredible! Each month our numbers grew as the Colorado Springs community learned about our Red Tent. Women were inspired to share their experiences and extend the invitation with friends to join them the following month.
This surge in our Sisterhood led us to change our name from Nectar of Life Red Tent to the Colorado Springs Red Tent (2015-2019) to reflect moving from a private Sisterhood to a public Temple. Our Temple location shifted twice to better accommodate our growing circle, a volunteer committee known as Keepers of Temple, was formed to assist with administrative needs, and we began discussing how to ensure safety, increase trust, and support the deepening growth for the women who were consistently attending. As such, in March 2015 the Keepers of Temple and I opted to close our circle. Since then, new Sisters have come by invitation only. This has provided a great deal of comfort, safety, and security as we grow to know each other far more intimately than many of the relationships we share outside this sacred circle of women.
Our Red Tent began in August 2014 with a private viewing of Things We Don’t Talk About: Women’s Stories From The Red Tent, a film directed by Dr Isadora Leidenfrost. Fourteen women filled my office to learn more about the Red Tent and explore what it would have been like to have had a place to grow, develop, and mature as a woman. Shortly thereafter, Dr Isadora contacted me to hostess a public Director's Film Screening in October 2014. The response was incredible! Each month our numbers grew as the Colorado Springs community learned about our Red Tent. Women were inspired to share their experiences and extend the invitation with friends to join them the following month.
This surge in our Sisterhood led us to change our name from Nectar of Life Red Tent to the Colorado Springs Red Tent (2015-2019) to reflect moving from a private Sisterhood to a public Temple. Our Temple location shifted twice to better accommodate our growing circle, a volunteer committee known as Keepers of Temple, was formed to assist with administrative needs, and we began discussing how to ensure safety, increase trust, and support the deepening growth for the women who were consistently attending. As such, in March 2015 the Keepers of Temple and I opted to close our circle. Since then, new Sisters have come by invitation only. This has provided a great deal of comfort, safety, and security as we grow to know each other far more intimately than many of the relationships we share outside this sacred circle of women.
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Located in business locations from August 2014 through July 2018, we made the decision to offer our Sisters the opportunity to open their homes and hostess. The fabric of our Temple has been blessed and further imbued with the love it takes to raise the Tent each month as it is now a shared responsibility spread among us. This has served to further solidify the bonds between us and we have moved closer to Red Tent tradition by making this change.
In order to keep Red Tent alive we moved to an online platform in March 2020. And, despite Zoom fatigue, our Temple has persevered. Though it has not gone without significant change in structure and design. As of May 2022 I am working with a seamstress to once again raise our Temple -- this time in Central Florida. Blessed by technology, we will connect with our Sisters in Colorado, and across the Nation to continue our evolution as women. In Light, Love, and Service, Jessica Mother of the Nectar of Life Red Tent Initiated in Ancient Red Tent Tradition by The Moon Woman, Tanishka |
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A Word on the Red Tent Temple Movement
The Red Tent Temple Movement in the United States is a vast and growing grassroots movement inspired by Anita Diamant’s New York Times bestselling book The Red Tent. The Movement’s governing principle is that each woman should have access to a Red Tent in their community. The Nectar of Life Red Tent is part of the Red Tents In Every Neighborhood Global Network. As you become familiar with the Movement, you will find that each Tent is as unique as the Sisterhood it contains.