A Gathering of Women: The Journey of the Handless Maiden

Program Details

The next season of our Gathering of Women will begin September 9th with Rev. Lee Ireland facilitating our monthly program via Zoom, on the fourth Tuesday from 7pm-8:30pm. We will be looking at Clarissa Estes' masterpiece analysis of "The Handless Maiden" story in Women Who Run with the Wolves. Through this work, Estes helps women learn about the key forms of challenges we all face and the rites of passages we travel through to evolve from young maidens into wise women/crones. Our current culture doesn't naturally support women on our inner journeys and in the development of our intuition and following our own dreams easily. Come and walk with other women as we learn together what can actually help free us from societal expectations so we can grow, heal and follow our path/dream.

Cost: $149 for the series which includes 10 online monthly sessions. No part-time rates for participation are available

About the Leaders

Lee Ireland

Rev. Lee A. Ireland is now retired after serving many churches as a long-time Interim Pastor. She lives in Niantic, CT and is focusing on spiritual formation programs, retreats and offering Individual Spiritual Direction sessions. She received her M.Div. from Andover Newton Theological School, and was trained as a Spiritual Director at Mercy Center, Madison, CT from 1997-99. She has served in 14 different congregational settings as well as working in a women's prison and as a per diem hospital chaplain. Since 1990, she has had the joy of leading retreats. She is well aware of how life throws us curve balls and we can become distracted from our soul's journey by many events that may lead us to dead-ends. As we choose to study the wisdom of others, journal, listen to our dreams or participate in retreats and spiritual formation programs, we learn how to listen within so we can stay on our faith journeys. We discern the guidance we need so we can live into our personal Calls, and live into unexpected moments which nurture the peace within and make our hearts and souls sing. We can then make new life choices that enable us to live in the Now as we love and serve from our centeredness, a sense of gratitude due our deepening relationship with God.