A three day women's festival promoting health, creative expression and community spirit. Hosting stimulating and insightful workshops, exceptional live music, art and performance in lush natural surrounds.
From the Seven Sisters Festival website.
It's funny, I've had the photos loaded and ready to go on this post for a few days now but I can't seem to get the words to feel right. I so badly want to record the days and nights I spent away with Indi so I can hold on to them and go back to them in the future when I need to remember and relive that time, but I can't. Everything I write seems too hippie and I feel too self conscious to put it out there.Maybe it's too soon. Maybe it's all too fresh and alive still dancing around in my mind. Maybe some experiences just cannot be captured in a one dimensional space. I'm not sure.
I do know that over the two days away I went from feeling overwhelmed and out of place, to surrendering and owning my place, to reconnecting and recentering my place, to returning home to my place feeling refilled and recharged.
I guess the biggest moment in my festival experience, my biggest blessing, happened on the Saturday afternoon while walking back down the hill from the chai tent to our tent when Indi turned and whispered to me;
you are who you want to be mum
Inhale. Exhale. Such big words from my 13 year old. Such big words that I've probably always wanted to hear and feel, yet there I was completely overwhelmed when I finally heard them.
Over the next day or so I took Indi's precious words and turned them over and over in my mind. Am I? Do I? Can I be? Should I be? And then sometime later, while listening to the beginnings of a workshop about making your dreams come true, I came to the realisation that I know she's right.
I have work to do and I know I'm not nearly there yet, but I am heading in the right direction and I feel empowered and inspired and excited to be here. Right here. And I feel grateful, ever so grateful for the time out of our everyday lives that allowed us to really see our lives for what they are.
Maybe I'll follow up this post with a nitty-gritty - this was what Seven Sisters was actually like - post, maybe not. I'm discovering that these things don't like to be forced. But if you are interested, you can check out their web-site and look at these 497 gorgeous photos (if you look closely you'll see us in a couple).
Big thanks to Jessie and the Happy Glampers for the loan of the cutest bell tent ever, to Miss Indi my traveling companion (look at that golden aura in the first pic!) and to Miss, Zoe and Nina for making it so much fun. xx
I'm pressing publish before I change my mind again.
Big love and light
xx
You're beautiful, Kate :) xx
ReplyDeletei love who you are
ReplyDeleteThis post says more than all the nitty-gritty in the world. Thanks for putting it out there, and for being who you are.
ReplyDeleteOh Kate, this is so beautiful! I would love to hear more. Perhaps I will pop you an email. And Miss Indi you are a wise soul indeed. Sophie x
ReplyDeleteWhen I read Indi's whispered words a little sob-hiccup thing came out. True dinks. I only realised that's what happened because I got to the end of your post and I was sitting there with my hand over my mouth holding in any more sob-hiccup things.
ReplyDeleteOh my god I just burst into tears. Big love xx
ReplyDeleteOh yes when I read Indi's words I gasped and tears started to well up. Oh how wonderful! Please oh please write the 'too hippie' post, I would love to read it. You are remarkable and so inspiring, I could read your posts all day!! Can you please write another book???? :) xx
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post, no such thing as too hippie ;)
ReplyDeletethank you for sharing such a personal experience, our babies are so wise, I'm sure I wasn't that wise at 13, actually I'm still not that wise.
cheers Kate
The first thing I thought was how wonderful it would have been to hear my daughter say that to me when she was 13, that's golden! Please do a Seven Sisters "hippie" post!
ReplyDeleteI realized to late The seven sisters festival was on , I would have loved to have gone. I hope you have some more photos. Indy sounds very wise x
ReplyDeleteyour beautiful wise girl, I have a lump in my throat x
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful... tears in my eyes because i know what you mean ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this. Kx
I desperately wanted to go this year but sometimes it's just not meant to be, hopefully next year. I would love to hear what you thought however.
ReplyDeleteI didn't go this year, but have been to the last two with my daughter, Abby...a beautiful, nurturing, life changing experience, especially when shared with a daugher. You have given her and yourself a wonderful gift and a lifetime of memories. I don't know that you can fully express in words what Seven Sisters is about...you may also find that there is still a lot of processing going on for the next few weeks, at least that's what I found. I love that they offered the gorgeous tent accomodation this year - I'm definitely going next time :)
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a special experience. I have only just found your blog thanks to a link from Lucy at Attic 45, I love reading about your way of living close to the earth and your photos are very special. Elaine
ReplyDeletePerfection. A golden glow for sure. x
ReplyDeleteElaine took the words out of my mouth/keyboard Kate. It does sound like a special experience. Indi is wise x
ReplyDeleteMaybe it is because it is private between you and your girl that you can't and (shouldn't) publish. I like what you have said and think this post will trigger your memory rather than be a diary entry. What a special time you have had. Jo xxxx
ReplyDeleteEin wunderbares Erlebnis und eine schlaue Tochter.
ReplyDeleteGitta
Oh my gosh, what a breathtaking comment to hear from your daughter. I can only hope mine think so highly of me when they reach the so called difficult teenage years. You must be doing an exceptional job. Linda. x
ReplyDeleteThat accommodation looks wonderful and the lighting stunning. What your daughter said is especially important and special. What a great experience for you. Regards Kathy A, Brisbane, Australia
ReplyDeletelovely thing for you both to do, I like the tent! Heather x
ReplyDeleteIndi's words to you are a gift and a truth. Take them fully on board Kate and realise that, although it will never be with out ups and downs and yearning and work - this is it - you are who want to be right now. She can see it. Honour her wisdom by letting yourself believe it. xxxxx
ReplyDeleteFabulous pictures, the tents looks awesome, and it is wonderful that you were able to share such a moving learning experience with your daughter.
ReplyDeleteMwaa x sometimes there are no words for that special heart stuff. It's like when kids explain "I know how it feels but I can't say it in words". Cherish and know that you have the feeling x
ReplyDeleteYour girl is wise beyond her years. x
ReplyDelete(Thankyou so much for sharing your pics on instagram, I hadn't heard of this festival before. This is definitely something I would love to be part of at some stage, big thanks!!).
You did it. You captured something of your experience and translated it into one dimension so that it could unfold again in us - the reader. You have made me yearn to do this with my daughters, you have made me feel so happy for you and Indi for having this experience together. I can only imagine all the other things...
ReplyDeleteJust. Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThank you for letting us in to see such a beautiful thing. Inspiring. x
ReplyDelete♥♥♥
ReplyDeleteThis is just lovely, Kate.Sounds to me like you have experienced what so many of us as mothers hope for with your beautiful eldest daughter. She sounds very insightful and I wonder whether your relatively slow-paced life has a bit to do with that. I think "hippies" get a bit of a bum rap with the current younger generation. I don't think they get the idea that hippies were trying to return to a more fundamental connection with the Earth and eachother. So I think it is quite wonderful that you had a bit of that on your weekend at Seven Sisters.
ReplyDeleteSounds totally gorgeous...
ReplyDeleteYour Indie is intuitive and wise beyond her years...golden aura indeed!
ps. love the sound of a hippie-esque post!
What a wonderful experience ....."Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another." (Toni Morrison). xxx
ReplyDeleteSounds like a transformational week for both of us, however mine didn't have any gorgeous bell tents or teenage daughters involved. What a special experience for your both. I really encourage you to watch the video clip of Brene Brown on 99U talking about creatives and critics, and then read her latest book Daring Greatly. Through following your blog I think you will find these very supportive, as I have this week, and we can all go on being our authentic, vulnerable selves worthy of love, for we are enough.
ReplyDeleteIndi made me cry for you. What a wonderful young woman she is. Xxx
ReplyDeleteIt looks like an amazing experience, Kate x
ReplyDeleteLooks amazing. Hope I can take my beautiful daughter to something like thus one day. I am a total hippie and proud of it! Say it loud! I'm hip (pie) and proud! Love it! XXxX
ReplyDeleteEven though I've know about your blog for a long time now I've only just settled down to read it. I loved thispost, and the precious time you spent with your daughter. Many people would look on to your life and think it was perfect, but like most of us, we haven't got perfect lives. We all strive to become the best that we can, that's all we can do. It sounds like you are very much on the right path to being the best you can be. Off to read some more and to be inspired just a little bit more too :) x
ReplyDeleteBeing an avid glamper, I thought it would be fun to go full -time. I was also realistic about it. Seem to have prompted a lot more people to get their tents out and plan a spot of summer camping.
ReplyDelete