Prologue
I stumbled across the idea of monthly solitudes at a time when my life was very good, and very stale. In her book, The 13 Original Clan Mothers, Jamie Sams writes of the value of a woman going into solitude every month for three full days, for an entire year. She states that regular times of withdrawal in which a woman has nothing to attend to except her own natural rhythms returns her to her visionary nature and spiritual sensitivity.
Something in me recognized this practice as an antidote to my discontent. I committed myself to one year of monthly solitary retreats. I followed Jamie Sams’ guidelines for making the most of my times alone: stay away from books, television and music with words; eat light, healthy foods and drink clean water; spend time in Nature; honor your impulses for rest, creativity and self-expression.
My retreats turned out to be a defining passage for me. They brought me home to myself. My outer life didn't change much...yet everything was transformed.