Wild Women, Wild Birth...pass the howl on!

Wild Women

Creative Pregnancy Courses


Creative Pregnancy Course for Women
A course of 10 Saturday workshops, plus 1 weekend
July –Dec 2007

Make space in your life to celebrate your pregnancy and connect with other women sharing this amazing journey!

Pregnancy is an intensely creative and intuitive time. Through gentle guidance and supportive inspiration, this is an opportunity for women who are pregnant to explore and celebrate their natural creativity, as well as learn more about natural pregnancy and prepare for birth. Held in the South Lakes, this is a Women-only course, lead by Victoria Bennett (poet, creative guide and founder of Wild Women), Helen Bebbington, (holistic therapist and birth Doula) and guest wild guides. Course includes:

Connecting to the Wild Creator – using various creative approaches (journaling, artmaking, movement, dream-work) you will be guided and encouraged to connect your wild woman in pregnancy;

Holistic Pregnancy & Birth Support – learn more about holistic therapies and their uses (Aromatherapy, Massage, Homeopathy, Natural Remedies) as well as discovering more about Doula childbirth support and other non-invasive approaches;

Times/Dates: 10 – 3pm on Saturdays: Jul 14th, 28th; Sept 8th, 22nd; Oct 6th, 20th; Nov 3rd, 17th; Dec 1st, 15th 2007 plus 1 Weekend: Sat/Sun August 18th/19th 2007.

Price: £360 Full Rate; £240 conc.
(we may have places available at further reductions for those unable to meet this cost due to personal circumstances – please discuss)




Natural Pregnancy Course

A course for women and their birth partners
A 2 part course, 5 evenings each, Summer & Autumn 2007

Through gentle guidance and supportive tuition, this is an opportunity for pregnant women and their pregnancy support partners to creatively explore and learn more about natural pregnancy and birth. Held in South Lakes, this course is open to women and men and will be lead by Victoria Bennett (poet, creative guide and founder of Wild Women), Helen Bebbington, (holistic therapist and birth Doula) and guest guides. Complete course includes 2 x 5 workshops – can be booked separately:

Creative Connection – using various creative approaches you will be guided and encouraged to connect with your shared pregnancy journey;

Holistic Pregnancy & Birth Support – learn more about holistic therapies and their uses in pregnancy (Aromatherapy, Massage, Homeopathy, Natural Remedies) as well how to prepare for a natural birth using non-invasive approaches;

Times/Dates:
Weds 7 – 9pm

Part 1: suitable for those in early/mid pregnancy
(July 11th, 18th, 25th; Aug 1st, Aug 8th 2007)
Part 2: suitable for those in the last trimester of pregnancy
(Nov 14th, 21st, 28th; Dec 5th, 12th)

Price: £100/£75/£50 per course for woman and partner includes Basic Remedies Kit
Total Cost for Part 1 & 2: £200/£150/£100

Enquiries for all courses contact: vik@wildwomenpress.com

Acquire the courage...

And then the day came, when the risk to remain tight in a bud
was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

Anais Nin, Danish diarist

I am reminded today of this truth. That there comes a time, I believe, in every person's life, where the risk of staying safely wrapped in that bud is much more than the risk of letting go of the control and discovering the truth of who you really are. When I was a small child, I remember seeing a sadness that surrounded most adults - a kind of suffocation that settled on their spirit, behind their eyes, that said "This is life, this is all I can expect". Even then, I knew this was not the way I wanted to walk my life.

A child asks "Why can't I?" to most obstacles he or she meets. And slowly, we are taught, all to often, the answer "Because..." But the real truth is that there are no limitations to the depth of one's true spirit and this journey always leads to expansion, not restriction.

Sometimes, life can hurt. I know this. My last real hurt came when I lost my child in 2003, and my relationship hit the hellish lows. At the time, I could only see what I had lost, what had been 'taken from me' in my life. And for the second real time in my life, I doubted the truth of the above quote, of the Fool's Path. When life hurt this much, why open your shirt to the sword? It took a long path of night, good friends, Love, courage and the willingness to listen to the spirit beyond what we see, for me to get to the place where I woke up and found myself feeling in the pain the abundance of what had been given to me.

If someone had told me when I sat with my heart breaking that this was a gift, I probably would've given them a bloody nose, yet something inside me, even then, knew that I could not, would not give up, that I would keep walking the path.

Yesterday, sat atop of Garsdale Head with Adam and Simon, eating banana and yoghurt, the only sound the birds crying around the hills, we fell into laughter so deep and silly it made me weep. A simple, beautiful thing. And something I thought I would never feel again.

I would rather live a thousand times of tears to feel the true bubble of joy that comes with love, that comes with being within my own skin, in my own life, walking my true path, than live always safe, neither hurt nor happy.

My mother always said "save me from a grey life" - for years I thought that meant it had to be dramatic. It doesn't. It can be as soft and small as sharing stupid laughter in the silence of a Sunday picnic. And that moment can burst into life in a myriad of colours, because at its heart is love, and truth and freedom.

"Acquire the courage to believe in yourself.
Many of the things that you have been taught were at one time the radical ideas of individuals who had the courage to believe what their own hearts and minds
told them was true, rather than accept the common beliefs of their day."

Ching Ning Chu

there are signs...

Is this a sign of the strange things to come?

Welcome to the real 'wall of weird'...next will be the bird-headed man, as predicted by Gill Hands...

Story courtesy of:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/3534361.stm

We can't stop here. This is Wild Women country.

Inspired by the wonderful Dark Blonde (aka Gill Hands) I thought I would waste some of my own rainy day time on playing with the quote gadget she found...here are a few of my favourite Wild Women lines...

They're here already! You're Wild Women! You're Wild Women!

Which movie was this quote from?

Get your own quotes:

Of all the Wild Women joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.

Which movie was this quote from?

Get your own quotes:

With great power comes great Wild Women.

Which movie was this quote from?

Get your own quotes:

Go on - have a go yourself - you know you want to...

and here are a few more of my favourite ones...some sound spookily true...

ahh, blissfool day of rainy day play...

Love means never having to say you're Wild Women.
Here's looking at Wild Women, kid.
I've got a feeling we're not in Wild Women anymore.
It is too late, my Wild Women is in your veins.
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world Wild Women didn't exist.
All work and no Wild Women makes Jack a dull boy.
When there's no more room in hell, the Wild Women will walk the earth.
They may take away our Wild Women, but they'll never take our freedom!
We are indeed drifting into the arena of the Wild Women.
Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty Wild Women.
You've got Wild Women on you.
Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the Wild Women Room!

Beautiful people, they go the same direction as you do...

Byron's first outing on the tube...capturing the art in action! (Melanie & John)

All that talk about London reminded me that back in April, Gill and I had a wonderful jaunt to the city to share our poetry at Loose Muse, a monthly women's writing event hosted by the fabulous Agnes Meadows. The evening was really interesting, and the audience attentive and interested, and the hostess full of energy and warmth. Only women read, but men are welcome in the audience - go along if you get the chance. It is held at the Poetry Cafe, 22 Betterton St, London - details usually found on their site.

Gill, perfecting the 'poetic gaze' at the nearby pub as we take in our liquid refreshments...

Poetic gorgeousness in the form of Inua Ellams and John Challis...
who came along to support our London debut!

Anyway - like I said, we were invited down to read our poetry and talk a bit about Wild Women Press. What was fascinating was that in our audience, there were 5 women who had originally lived in Cumbria, but who had moved to London for work or because, at the time, they had felt there was no support for women writers up here - a situation they were glad to see had changed with the spirit of Wild Women Press!

We also got a chance to catch up with some fellow wild friends and enjoy the good old poetic connection - what better life is there than that of the BlissFool? The money may be little but the love is immense!

John shows us how he has sold his soul to the Devil at the Crossroads...
naughty boy, his soul was ours!

In an english country garden...

Rural Art?

I recently discovered that there are still people from that there city of London who think of us poor rural folk as being a bit backward, a bit slow on the old uptake an' all...so I thought it be fitting to say something on this here tinternet about how I feels about their comments.

The other day, I unwittingly subjected myself to 2 hours of pomposity of the highest degree, in the form of Nightwaves, the Radio 3 "arts and ideas" programme. The live debate was around the question:

Is the countryside more English than the city? Where is the heart of English culture?

I suppose I should have known by the question what to expect. That, and the fact that the only actual 'rural' person on the panel also happened to be the only person from Cumbria, and the only woman. And the other 4 panelists had made long careers from the male-dominated arena of reviewing, editing and criticism (though some were now authors), whereas the one woman, rural Cumbrian was a practising artist. I also noticed that, throughout the discussion, every time Matthew Sweet (the presenter) turned a question to Sarah Hall, he jabbed his finger accusingly at her - a physical gesture that was absent when he addressed any other of the panel members. Now, why was this? Of course, being radio, listeners will not see this - but I found it fascinating and a little bit alarming.

However, in I went, bravely going where no wild woman should stray. And luckily, in the company of fellow wild woman, Gill Hands (who has also written on this in her blog, should you wish to read more!).

What followed was a very confusing debate about Art, art, Culture and culture...with little clarity given to exactly what was being spoken of. But I won't spoil the debate for you here - you can listen in on Thursday night, Radio 3, around 9.45 pm I think.

Now, I am a reasonably erudite woman, but I found myself thinking, in broad Cumbrian, "eh?"
listening to a lot of what was said, which amounted to not very much, in my opinion. What really got my goat, (or should I say sheep, being Cumbrian?) was the comment made by a certain Tim Lott, who obviously has a phobic distrust of anything not London. Namely, that there has been no real or significant art to come out of the countryside in the last 100 years, and his reasoning for this was that the artists are simply 'not good enough', that they lack the 'competition and conflict' of urban artists that is, in his opinion, necessary to create "Good Art", and that, at best, all rural artists are happy amateurs, knitting doilies for toilet rolls.

The panel, it appeared, collectively hinted towards a feeling that whilst rural art contained some talented 'folk art' and 'craft-makers', the "real art' of social significance came only from the city.

...because obviously we in the countryside are too narrow-minded and inward-looking to ever consider the wider social, political, cultural, sexual or economic implications of our existence, or our art, not to mention ever fall in love, break hearts, get ill, experience grief, feel isolated or be prey to any of the other many shared connecting experiences of being human. We can, at best, knit well and write about nature.

Only urban artists can make ART.

At which point, I really wanted to shout "WHAT A LOAD OF BOLLOCKS!" and leave.

But I manged not to do this. I did however, wonder what we were debating, since it seemed to be straying away from the original question.

Thing is, I know of a lot of rural based artists of all disciplines, who are challenging, intelligent, controversial, political, fresh....and I know of a lot of urban artists who are hackneyed, over-influenced, over-intellectualised and exhausted. And of course, I can happily acknowledge the opposite too, before anyone accuses me of being 'anti-urban'.

Surely, together, our collective experiences make up the 'art' and 'culture' of this country and English-ness is about diversity and connection, instead of division and prejudice?

There are some things though that maybe, just maybe, play a part in the reason rural artists are not so widely known (to Mr Lott). Perhaps it is because:

a) the urban (london) centric media thinks, rather like Mr Lott, and as Gill said at the time, that if it doesn't happen in London, it doesn't happen;

b) whilst people in rural areas are more likely to go to London and other urban areas to experience art, how many urban based artists come to rural Cumbria, or other rural areas, to do the same? A person in Cumbria is likely to travel up to 150 miles on average to take part in art, whereas when I lived in London (yes, I did, for a short while!), I often found that people would rather sit in and watch telly than go the extra tube stop to see and exhibition/listen to poetry etc - which in effect means that we experience a wider diversity of art and culture than the average city dweller;

c) rural based artists are getting on with getting on with the art, instead of talking about it...

d) many rural born and raised artists move to the city believing the claptrap that the only way they are going to 'make it' is by living in an urban sprawl - thus, they get labelled 'urban artists'...if there was more support from funding and media for rural based artists and art networks, they wouldn't feel this need...

Of course, with the increase of citizen journalism, none of this will matter in 10 eyars...viva la revolution! And for the record, this is my potted Cumbria history...

My father's family were many generation Cumberlanders but moved to London during the Depression to find work. At this time, with the mines shut down, their area of rural Cumbria starved, literally. I grew up in rural Oxfordshire, but also lived in my adult years in various cities, including London. I chose to move to Cumbria in 1997 because I felt that there would be greater freedom to create up here. I was right.

Anyway, we are now busy collating a list of rural artists to have come about in the last 100 years, just for Mr Lott...more soon on this.

Right, best get back to my crocheting now...

We can be heroes, just for one day...

Recently, Gill Hands and Ruth Snowden nominated me for an Art 07 Award. The awards aim to recognise the contribution an individual, project or organisation has made to the arts in the NW region, and fall into 4 categories. My lovely wild sisters put my name forward for nomination in the "Unsung Heroes" category, in recognition of those who have worked behind the scene to make something possible. They put me forward for the work I have done with Wild Women and Wild Women Press. On Friday 8th, I found out that I had been selected as one of the 4 finalists for this award.

I was really thrilled to find myself chosen, especially as I am the only Cumbrian based finalist out of 14 in total. It feels somehow fitting to be in this category, as the journey of Wild Women has felt more of a quest that an art project, with its shared journeys of discovery, bizarre twists and turns, fellow adventurers and magical talismans. Of course, it ought to be Unsung Heroine, but there you go.

When I decided to set up Wild Women in 1999, I did so based on an intuitive hunch, a thread of a scent that told me this was what I needed to do. For the few years before, I had suffered with depression and anxiety, so the setting up of a group was a challenge, but as soon as I made the decision, people came along to support me, and pretty soon, I was standing infront of 12 other women, encouraging them to release their wild woman! And 10 weeks later, when I read the poems written by these wonderful courageous women, I said to Adam "We need to publish these" and so, with his help, we set up Wild Women Press, even though neither of us had ever published anything before.

That was 8 years ago, and it has been a wild and wacky journey, and a great success too. The point is...it began, literally, with a dream, and a willingness to follow that dream. Through it, I have met so many amazing women, and men, and have had the honour of sharing the journey with many of those original Wild Women. However hard things have got, and they have been hard (as life can be when you live it without artifice!), the Wild Women, and I include myself in this, have kept creating, kept loving, kept courageous and often, kept laughing. As much as I have given inspiration, I have received it.

So, I just want to say thanks to all the wild women, and men, along the way, for being brave enough to follow their bliss - and a big thanks especially to Gill and Ruth, for putting my name forward for this award. A big Wild Woman howl for you!

http://www.wildwomenpress.com

And if you want to see the announcements, you can go to:

http://commonpeople.blip.tv

Art Strike 07!

On June 8th, I took part in the Art Strike at the Art 07 Day in Kendal, Cumbria. I was there with fellow poet, Gill Hands, taking part in Art Strike - where I got to wave banners and encourage people to deface naff art in the name of action. Actually, it had a serious message - namely that artists receive no support for their work, and do a great deal of work for no pay. I have often wondered this - especially when reading governmental brochures about how fantastic this country is artistically - what exactly would happen if all the artists in the UK stopped doing all the stuff they do for no payment? There would be a hell of a lot less grassroots activity, for one. Which would mean a lot less variety and a lot less community access to creative participation. And huge sections of our society under-represented, stripped of a voice...Of course, we wouldn't stop creating, because in the end, as an artist you get faced with a choice: to create or not to create. I for one, always choose creation, because I am an activist. So, big publishing houses do not represent poetry or women's real voices enough...my response is to rally around other wild women and set up our own press. I look at my community and I think: there needs to be a space where women can feel free to create and feel supported in that...so I set one up. That is the way I am, I guess. That is also why last year I worked for an average pay of £1.73 per hour, instead of the minimum wage of £5.52, and why my bank manager does not like me.

I believe in being the change I want to see in the world, as Ghandi once said. But that doesn't mean that I don't feel that this society is poor in its recognition and support of the contribution that art and artists make to our culture, and it doesn't mean that I don't believe that there should be adequate social security support, accessible funding, pension schemes, low cost insurance etc etc etc.

The french are very good at revolution. When the government tried to cut the social security support it offers to working artists (yes, you can sign on there in between paid jobs without having to declare yourself unemployed, and without having to go and clean toilets), all the artists got together and actually went on strike. They closed down the National Opera. They closed down Avignon Festival. They cost the government millions in tourist revenue. They got their complaint listened to and answered.

Whereas on Friday, I was surprised to find that people actually shouted at us "well, who do you expect to pay for it?" and "why should everyone pay for poetry when it is only for the chattering classes?" and so on and so forth...

urm...well, for starters, what about the billions the government spends on war? Trident? Government official expenses? The Olympics?

After all...without art and creativity, the world would be a very, very strange place indeed. Without war, well...I think I could do without mass killing, don't you?

Anyway...that was what I did in the daytime...you can see some of the strike art videos if you follow this link, including the ones The Common People (myself, adam) made...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxy3vwsVrIE

For now... here something to consider next time someone says

"But you do it for the love of it…"

Man kicking ball about on a field:
average annual UK salary
£676,000.

Author writing to enrich our world:
average annual UK salary
£4,000

Poet writing poems that save lives:
average annual UK salary
£… too small to be listed.

Support the strike!
Vik Bennett 07