About our Community
Parents
Hearth Elders guide and support parents on a parallel path of internal exploration and discovery during this time of transition in their families. Through a series of evening gatherings with other parents in the program held nearby during your daughter’s preparatory meetings, you’ll have the opportunity to connect with nature, song, yourself, and each other. You’ll enjoy meaningful potluck meals as bonds and self-nurturing deepen. Feedback over the years from parent participants suggests that this element has been supportive, transformational and root feeding.
If you would like to know more, please email westernmasswildernessrites@gmail.com
Elders
The Hearth Elders are a wonderful web of women in their 60s and beyond comprising a circle of care. They participate in every element of Hearth with the Girls, Parents, Guides, and Aunts. They are the closest link to the Ancestors, bringing a spiritual and ceremonial component, as well as good humor and practical guidance. Elders offer life-earned wisdom, unconditional support, open arms and warm hearts. As deep listeners, Elders offer compassionate reflection, insight, and perspective through a longer view.
Aunts
To be an Aunt in Hearth is to step into a loving, attentive, and steadying role in a young woman’s life. Aunts walk alongside one participant for the three years of Hearth, offering a safe space for her to share fears, frustrations, stories, and dreams as she moves through her rite of passage. Through deep listening, thoughtful questions, and heartfelt presence, Aunts mirror the girl’s growing strength and help her recognize her own gifts. This relationship becomes a vital thread in the larger web that holds Hearth—an intergenerational circle of women supporting the next generation as they cross the threshold into young adulthood.
We welcome community volunteers who want to share their wisdom, knowledge, time, and skills. If you are passionate about making a positive, lasting impact on your community, we’d love to hear from you. All participant-facing volunteers undergo a mandatory child safety background check.
