The Wild Woman Within
Wild Village Festival Experience
At the end of September, I was fortunate enough to attend Wild Within’s Wild Village Festival in Dwellingup Western Australia. A whirlwind generously gifted by Vera to gain inspiration and connections with an amazing women’s festival to bring forth to our 2023 Summit. This was a truly incredible experience bringing together women and non-binary people from all walks of life to heal, connect and celebrate together.
“Wild Village is an intentional, soul-fueled boutique festival of free expression and ecstatic celebration. A creation of sisterhood and long-lasting community.”
The Weekend
Friday
The trip to Perth was greeted by an amazing sister who generously gave me ride to the town of Dwellingup on the beautiful Nyoongar Country. We were welcomed to the festival by the sounds of red-tailed black cockatoos, red dirt and the smell of freshly stoked fires. I settled into my dorm and then attended the Welcome to Country by the incredible Mailtland from Kaarak Dreaming Maitland’s Cultural Tours. . We used the fire to cleanse ourselves from any bad energy from our journey or otherwise while he told us about the wisdom of the spirits of the land and invited the good ones to stay and the others to leave.
After this we were welcomed into the dining portion of the evening with delectable food from Food Remedy who nourished us for the entirety of our stay. By this time my early morning flights was getting the better of me so I slowly sipped my chai to the sounds of Fieldsy The Divine Trinity, Stacey Ann, Tanya Ransom and Lucy Peach.
Saturday
I greeted the morning with yoga in the marquee by the fabulous and deeply intuitive Puja Hart. After a nourishing breakfast and come coffee, it was onto decisions of where to go and what to do with the day! Six spaces, countless amazing facilitators, a Zen space and locally made market stalls – I had no idea what I was going to do! Feeling excited and slightly overwhelmed I sat with my coffee and my journal and planned the day…
10:45am – Practice Your Power with Lucy Peach
We danced through the power of our cycle nourishing and acknowledging each day and the ways to own our cycles. TAKE AWAY – you don’t need to bleed to have a cycle, pair it with the moon, the ocean or your own internal rhythms!
12pm – Lunch
1pm – Creative Writing with Danielle Caruana
Object writing to form ritual in your creative practice! Try it yourself – find the first object you see, set a timer, WRITE and let the writing take you. Theirs is a lot more to it and if you’d like to learn more click here!
3pm – Yarning Circle on Mental Health Relaxation and Healing with Elisha Kubineh
A beautiful space held in Peer Support of women who are living with Mental Health struggles, this space was held in a trauma-informed way that made each women feel safe and supported, big conversations, deep connections and support!
5pm – Dinner
Chai/ Cacao and the musical sounds of Kiera Jas, Cecilia Brandolini, The Nomadics and Mama Kin Spender. There was some moving and grooving this evening! It felt so nice to be in a space of connection without alcohol – I’m not saying that this must be the way forward but for myself, I haven’t had a festival experience in a VERY long time that didn’t involve alcohol and I really enjoyed the experience of connection to music with a warm beverage.
Sunday
Another morning greeted by yoga this time in the Festival Hall with the gentle aroma of the coffee being brewed! After a full day yesterday, I was feeling fragile and a little bit of healing fatigue, so I decided to take the morning in the sunshine with my journal. These times of rest were some of my favourite times to connect with my heart and body and begin to integrate all the knowledge from the previous days.
10:30am – Word Magpie with Danielle Caruana
I went into this workshop not knowing anything about it and WOW! Depicting and dissecting the power of language! I always knew the power that words held but I didn’t realise the narrative that was living inside my body with certain words.
12pm – Lunch
2:30pm – The Wilding Stories Listening Lounge with Margot Edwards
Wow. Just wow. Take a look at their website – there are no words!
5pm – Dinner
My evening included music, chai and conversations by the fire.
Musicians – Helen Shanahan, Karin Page, Formidable Vegetable and Katy Steele
Monday
Sacred Rage Ritual
Over festival the one thing remained in common was women with big stories and big desires for connection. Whether it was a group of people celebrating a birthday, solo travelers meeting for the first time or musicians and facilitators holding space for the wild woman in all of us. This was a space where we didn’t have to be clean and tidy. During this weekend, no one once asked me to smile or to tailor my thoughts and words into a nice, neat conversation that shows I’m ok! That was a nice feeling – I got to be messy, and I didn’t have to be careful. That’s the beauty of women who have autonomy and power - we get to be ourselves. Now, back to the Sacred Rage Ritual… I cannot express the importance of letting out anger! This was a safe space for people to hit things, yell, scream, cry, laugh, dance, destroy boxes and be hugged. I think we all need a little bit of that sometimes!
A big thank you to Wild Village Festival for having me and all the facilitators that I connected with. I wish I was able to experience everything, but it’s nice to save some things for next time!
If you made it this far, thank you for reading my experience and I’d love to hear your thoughts! Or if you have a story about your experience as a woman, non-binary person, uterus owner I’d really love to listen. Email me at creative@verawomenswellness.com.au
With Love,
Ains x
