A number of years ago, during meditation I saw an internal crystalline structure within myself and then realized it is in others as well. We are all outlets for spiritual power....

Sooo, yesterday as I sat in the room with all the women gathered for the planning session it occurred to me that what you/we are building is a "Worldwide Spiritual Power Grid" similar to the electrical power grids from which we all get our electricity.

As electricity is neutral and goes where the path is open or it is called so too does spiritual power....with the connecting of the women on all the continents the grid for the spiritual power flow will be complete.

My interpretation of what I have become a part of as a partner in GTW.

Love to you,

Rosemary Williams
Women's Perspective

On one leg of my long flight home yesterday I sat next to a man who is president of a large auto parts company. His appearance and manner of speaking, both laden with swagger and bravado, are of a sort I would normally find off-putting and so my inclination was to bury my nose in my book . He was a friendly chap and persisted in his effort to get a conversation going. I anticipated that he would ask what I had been doing in Dallas and I thought of ducking the question by saying I had been on a family visit in order to avoid what I thought would be awkward explanations to an uncomprehending mind.

I felt a surge of power and saw that "if I were brave today" I would tell him about the experience I had at Gather The Women. And so I did, in words and in tone I didn't know were mine. He listened, asked questions, made comments and disclosed deeply personal things. At the end of the flight, this large, gruff man shook my hand with tears in his eyes.

I am indebted to all the women in Dallas for their teachings and examples of authentic self-expression which gave me the courage have such a conversation with a stranger. I am also grateful for the chance it gave me to pass along some of the magic I was carrying in my heart.

Love,

Denise Ommanney
Winnipeg, CANADA

I got that:

1) One or two women's efforts, fueled by their passion and truth can spread like ripples, creating positive change.

2) Women can inspire and support each other to action. Gather the Women created an important venue for this influence to radiate out to the world.

3) Entertainment can be spiritual without religious dogma.

4) Movement moves ideas through the the mind to the soul and embodies our experience.

5) Some of the most valuable dialogue was around our table, when we each had a question to start us off or when we could just ask each other in turn, "What is your passion?" and is there a way we can support it? We were given the permission early on in the conference to "get up close and personal in this way" but could have had more time to meet each other through these kinds of questions. Otherwise, it was catch as catch can, random surface talking at meals and sharing the experience of the speakers and entertainment.

6) There is hope in the younger generation, (thanks Ashley) that our energy will carry forth. Like the Monarch butterfly, we may take several generations to meet our destination, but if we can be nurtured along the way, we will make it. To do this, we must also have Earth Keepers who conserve our natural, life giving habitats.

7) The planning for and execution of Gather the Women was a complex labor of love. It was accomplished in spite of fears and obstacles and was greatly appreciated. Thank you so much.

Bobbie Nehman
Richardson, Texas

When women are in a safe and trusting environment where they feel free to express themselves fully, they are 100% unconditionally loving and open to collaboration on every level.

Bonnie Kelley
author Harmony's Way
Santa Barbara, California

I got that, while it is up to me to be the world I want to see,and that healing is from within to the world outside, I am not alone and there are fabulous, beautiful, caring women and men on the journey with me. And the music .. WOW!!

SHALOM,

Janey Burruss
Women’s Perspective

I was swept away by the love and support I felt at the Gather the Woman Congress. I am a business woman and have been in Corporate America for over 25 years. Out there in the business world it is very male dominated, and woman tend to be just as cut throat as the men so they can prosper in a man's world.

I didn't really have great female role models in my family of origin either. I had become one of those apparently testosterone driven females who decorate the halls of big business, and I had very little faith or trust in other woman.

But at the congress I experience woman in the height of their power, and it didn't look the same as the male world I have lived in all these years. It actually reminded of how I always hoped relationships would be in the presence of woman. It was all so heart warming that I was teary eyed most of the weekend. Those were tears of joy. It was a life changing experience, and I thank you one and all.

I have reconnected with my feminine side and I am just as competent and productive as I ever was. Perhaps I am even more so. I know I feel much happier, and I owe it all to the wise wonderful woman who attended this magnificent event.

Sincerely,

Glenda Maddox
Plano, Texas

Flying back from the Congress I jotted down some thoughts on what Gather the Women had gifted me. I share them with you now as I have shared them with others in my circles.

A Feeling of Belonging
I have often felt that I am alone in my world view, helpless in trying to articulate a different world order. My heart was warmed to know that I am not alone in my vision.

A Sense of Optimism
When I have asked myself, "how do we end war?", the basest and grossest manifestation of human violence inflicted on each other , I am often left feeling confused and overwhelmed. At the Congress, I saw the emergence of a possibility, detailed in a viable plan. Peace on Earth through a Feminine Collective, linking One by One, Peace X Peace, Circle by Circle.

Confirmation of a World Order
Where do things come from? As someone who has completed a 6 year intensive program in Tibetan Buddhist Studies and Practices, I ascribe to a world driven by Cause and Effect. A world that is a creation of our Reality. A world where I am responsible for my own reality because how I act now, in body, speech and mind will directly correlate to the future reality that I am creating.

Earlier this year I started mentoring younger women. I have been on the lookout for their gifts, aspirations, potentialities and quietly guiding them in helping them manifest them.

At the Congress, without asking, a wonderful women came and offered to assist me in exploring ways that she might guide me. I was surprised and grateful for this acknowledgment of the ordered state of the world.

My love and gratitude to all the amazing women present. May we continue to be Guided.

Dorathea Thompson
New York City

I am still overflowing, planning, co-creating our new reality of peace, faith, hope and love, mostly love...I am still levitating and so enlightened by the harmonic convergence we have had these last several days as we became One. I am missing all of you and cannot wait to see your beautiful smiling eyes at our earliest convenience. Remember: "I know what you wish for, for indeed I am with you everywhere; keep in mind all that you desire to learn, and I will teach you." - Hermes, Corpus Hermeticum.

Idea, Thought Equals Form...The Magic of Quantum Physics...

Nell Lang
Grapevine, Texas

Dear Sister,

Greetings of peace and love from your sisters all over the world.

I have just returned from a Congress of 200 women peacemakers representing six continents. It was not just a congress; it was a celebration. We sang and danced together. We laughed and cried and shared our dreams together. We looked into each other’s eyes and touched each other’s hearts. We were African, American, Australian, European, Native American, Israeli, Palestinian, Latin American, Canadian, Asian. We were young, old, middle-aged. We were doctors, poets, social-workers, publishers, musicians, homemakers, artists, attorneys and even a politician or two. We were a gathering of women.

What I see when I close my eyes and think about the Congress is two Palestinian and one Israeli woman sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, heads together, interpreting for one another. I see 200 women, arms raised to the sky singing the words of We Rise. I see a beautiful Kenyan woman joyfully announcing to the congregation, that another Kenyan woman had just won the Nobel Peace Prize. I see a young woman of 19 boldly assuring all of us that she will “gather the girls” to join in this peace movement.

I feel confident that my greeting represents women all over the world because what I learned there, what was written on my heart forever, is that we are all One. Though we come in all colors, shapes and sizes (and we most certainly did) there is no doubt that underneath it all we are all One.

Sometimes we like to pretend that we are not One, that they are the other, that they don’t think or feel like we do. It makes it easier to send our men and boys off to kill their men and boys (and women and children). It makes it easier to close our eyes to their hunger, to deny them access to decent jobs and a decent place to live. But we are only kidding ourselves.

Have you ever had a child or grandchild who was critically sick or in great pain? What would you have given to relieve that child’s suffering? Your African sister would do the same. Have you ever watched your husband or father cry because he couldn’t find work to feed his family? Did it break your heart? Your Brazilian sister knows that pain. Have you had a loved-one in a war-torn country on the other side of the world and ached to bring them home to the safety of your love. Your Australian sister has felt the same. We are all in this together. There is no “Them”; there is only “Us.”

The purpose of our final gathering at the Congress was to begin the planning for Six Congresses on Six Continents in 2006. We want to make it possible for women of every nation and every socio-economic bracket to come together with their sisters. And we want you to be there, in body if possible, in spirit for certain.
The purpose of these Congresses will be to co-create a more peaceful and equitable world for our children and grandchildren. It’s up to the women of the world to make this happen, not because we are better than the men, but because the evolutionary events that have brought mankind to where it is today has allowed us to maintain our gentle, loving, nurturing, peacemaking qualities, while the men have been encouraged to squelch their emotions and harden their hearts. We have to do whatever we can to keep those qualities that make us Woman alive and well. Acknowledging that they exist in all of us is the first step. And please don’t neglect to vote.

I hope that you will be with us in 2006. But we can’t wait for any single event to take place. We have to begin, or upgrade, our peacemaking efforts right now. We must not waste a single opportunity to change the course that this world of ours is on. We can start by being more loving to ourselves and then take it to our families and friends, our villages or communities, our nations and the rest of the world.
So I bring you this greeting of peace and love from me and my 200 sisters who attended the Gather the Women Congress and ask that you share it with all of your sisters, with every woman on all of your “lists.”

Peace be with you.

Rose Lord
Global Coalition for Peace