A Spiritual Equinox Women Learn To Embrace Light, Shadows Equally At Encampment
K.K. Robby Robbins may be 48 years old, but in the woods she looked about 12.
Wearing a mischievous grin and long, blond braids tied with red ribbons, Robbins hopped around like a sprite Monday trying to finish preparations for a women’s autumn equinox encampment.
This isn’t your typical Stevens County get-together: It’s a pagan, New Agey gathering of natural fibers, of talk over the campfire, of women who want to leave the city behind for a time. Robbins drew a circle around the camp four times, with herbs and cornmeal, to create a sacred space.
“We want to make sure everyone’s welcome,” Robbins said.
Except men. Only boys under 3 are allowed in the encampment, designed to help women get in touch with their inner selves.
The gathering started Monday on an outcropping at Red Hawk Meadows, an 82-acre farm in Valley near Jump-Off Joe Lake that makes a practice of opening its trees and meadows to women. The camp runs through Sunday.
“My work is to help people get in touch with all of who they are,” said Robbins, a therapist in Spokane. “One way to do that is to get back to their roots. To drumming, to singing, and not to be sitting in front of the TV.”
The camp is set on a small hill, featuring trimmed trees, four tepees, a couple of tables and a campfire.
Since purchasing the farm about 13 months ago, Heidi Hunt and Terry Waters have invited women on a regular basis. In June, they held a women’s music festival that drew 80 people and a host of women musicians. They’ve held potlucks and plan more in the future.
“We want to be a safe haven and a place of welcome for women - all women,” said Hunt, who moved from Phoenix.
Robbins met the new farmers through neighbors. She wants the encampment to become an annual event.
Auralee Jameson, 17, and Nan, 18, arrived in the Northwest just a few days ago. Nan said she doesn’t have a last name. Their faces were scrubbed clean, and beads and ribbons were woven into their hair.
The women poured water from a seashell onto their hands and rubbed it on their bodies to open their throats, their bellies and even their third eyes. The third eye refers to cosmic knowledge and supposedly opens doors to the subconscious.
Robbins worked on auras, waves of energy supposedly surrounding each person’s body. She’ll massage a person’s aura, comb it and even tuck it under.
On Monday, the turnout was sparse. More women were expected during the week, with the most anticipated over the weekend, Robbins said. All told, 50 are expected to spend at least one night there, at a cost of $10 a night.
The official schedule is blank. Robbins wants the women to set their own agendas and help plan events. Today they will celebrate the fall equinox, when the sun crosses the equator and the length of day equals night.
Of the four tepees, one is used for administration. Robbins sleeps there. She’s created a tiny home of blankets, healing and spiritual books, and pillows.
A second tepee is for healing and massage. A third is for women to hawk their wares and crafts.
Robbins and Nan built an altar in the fourth tepee. Robbins burned sage and rosemary in a shell, and fanned the smoke around women with a large feather. It’s called smudging.
They chanted. They sang. Robbins beat her drum, and Nan shook a gourd as they made their own beat.
Robbins talked of women embracing their light and dark sides, of acknowledging good and shadows inside.
Nan said she was new to the pagan ceremonies. She asked questions.
“I was always a tomboy,” she said. “This past year or two, I’ve moved more into my feminine side. I love watching women and what they do, what it means to be a woman.”
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