Groundhog, by Cephas – Wikipedia.
Wren has sent me this box every Groundhog Day for thirty years, since I moved to New Mexico. The contents vary, but always include some of Wren’s delicious cookies as well as a tiny figure, a woods fairy Wren makes out of dried leaves, acorn shells and other fruit of the landscape she knows and loves so well. She marks this date because that was when, in the 1980’s, I was sitting in the living room at Hopscotch House—the retreat house the Kentucky Foundation maintains—in the middle of a late-winter board meeting, and a groundhog climbed up on the porch, peered through the big glass doors, and then stood on his hind legs to survey the women inside.
That was also the day I met Wren and knew immediately that she should be the next director of Hopscotch House.
During the years she lived in the cottage next door, she organized and supervised groups of women as well as individuals who had applied and been accepted for free residencies at Hopscotch, lasting from a few days to a few weeks. She was the shepherdess for a great variety of women writers, artists and activists who gathered to work, rest, cook and eat together—and to take trail walks through the woods and fields, led by Wren, on paths she had devised herself. She taught dozens of women over those years the faith and craft that was at that time called Ecofeminism, a title and a practice that needs to be revived.
Hopscotch House – Photo by Nicci Mechler
“Groundhog holds the knowledge of metabolic control. Its medicine is that of going into the great unconscious to touch the mystery of death without dying.”.
Animal Speak…Ted Andrews.
Dear Sallie what wisdom showed up when your whole being knew looking at the Hopscotch Groundhog upright that Day…to choose Wren Smith as Shepherdess .
This quote also speaks to me of the essence of the mystery of memoir…particularly of our family members with that diamond dust in bones like some amplified crystal radio conductor to perception which recreates ever new again and again. So particularly in the context of time and forever.
Thank you
Rebecca
Such a lovely story of two of my favorite women leaders !!!
Hopscotch House.
Ahhh, I have magical memories… especially the amazing women of Minerva. Our monthly gatherings celebrated the art of ritual, seasons, birthing, and death. The Hopscotch land and house provided a nurturing space
for introspection, art-making and inspiration. Wren, for many years, you helped to create that magic with your beautiful cottage, late night story telling, fairy-villages, and a gentle spirit.
Sally, thanks for your generous gifts that have moved countless women artists forward in their visions…including me!