N.E.W. – the Network to Empower Women

N.E.W. Circle Meeting Materials and Guide

If you are new to the concept of N.E.W. Circles and/or the circle process, the materials below are designed to help you get started!  Please feel free to print up the meeting guide and materials for use with your circle. Or, you can view the materials in PDF format and print them from Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader. Click the links below to view these materials in PDF format:
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• N.E.W. Circle Meeting Guide
• N.E.W. Promotional Flyer

Of course, more complete details and meeting ideas for all of the Nine Questions in the circle process are available in THE FUTURE FOR WOMEN book.

Circle Meeting Format

• Welcome & Self-introductions: Each woman says her name and why she has come.
• Opening Ritual: The leader lights a candle or sounds a bell, or drum, etc., and leads the group in an opening moment of silence and centering.
• Suggestion: Ask participants to take three deep breaths, close their eyes, and imagine Light filling each person, and the whole room. After a few moments of silence, invite them to open their eyes.
• Reading of the N.E.W. Purpose & Vision, the Nine Agreements and the Nine Questions: The leader reads a copy of these items, or the leader and participants take turns reading them out loud. (Questions and comments about these are welcome after the meeting is over.)
• Exploring one of the Nine Questions – Question One*: What am I grateful to have survived? Accomplished? Who or what has empowered me in my life so far?
  A talking object, such as a stone, stick, feather, etc. is passed from woman to woman as each one speaks. While holding the object, each woman has an opportunity to reflect upon Question One. When she is done, she puts a stone in the center of the circle honoring someone who has empowered her. After all have shared, an opportunity is given, time permitting, for those who have not spoken or wish to say something more, to do so.
• Closing ritual: this can be a song, a prayer, a moment of silence, etc.
  Suggestion: The leader invites the women to stand together in a circle. She takes a stone and passes it around the circle, asking each woman to hold it in her hand and put the warmth of blessing energy into it. Then she passes the stone to the next woman, who receives its blessing energy as she holds it, adds her own to it, and passes it on, until it has gone around the circle. The leader recites a blessing she chooses for the occasion. Each woman is then invited to take a stone from the table at the Center home with her and put it in a place that will remind her of the blessing and support of the circle. Someone volunteers to lead the next circle meeting. All are encouraged to take a few moments before leaving to pair up and arrange for a way to connect with each other between meetings.

(* – NOTE: Circle participants may choose to explore one or more parts of a multi-part question. Each question has its own suggested rituals for opening and closing the meeting. These may be found in the book THE FUTURE FOR WOMEN. Of course, circle members may create their own opening and closing, using this format as a model.)