This invitation is for women who resonate with the practice of Silence to join us in spending the last Sunday of each month in Silence. Each person will organize these days in the ways that fit for her. The distribution of our time zones will form a wave of Silence and connection round the world.

We have established this blog for those who wish to describe their experience and ask questions. Perhaps we can learn from each other and support the richness of the practice this way. You may enter the conversation by registering as a user. The new user registration link can be found on the right of the page. All new users will receive a confirmation link email from the blog administrator.

If you have questions about how to join us, please email the site administrator at: dorian.baroni@googlemail.com.

The Invitation

This letter comes to you with a simple, yet in our experience profound invitation:  to join women around the world in a day of Silence.

In August of 2009, five women who have been doing leadership and women’s work for several decades gathered for two days to talk about ourselves, our lives, and particularly our sense of calling around women and the nature of women’s work in this day and time.  As we explored the topics and themes that were relevant for us, Silence came up repeatedly as an important and central theme.  Several of us had already been experimenting with various practices in this realm.  By the end of the gathering, this invitation was born.

Over the last year, slowly and steadily women from around the world have begun to engage in a practice of a day of Silence each month. At this point over 400 women have received this invitation and the circle continues to expand.  We have initiated this practice to anchor a clear and sacred place of origin for our lives, and as an energetic weave of loving care for this earth and all its inhabitants. The day that we have chosen is the last Sunday of each month.  In considering all the various options and possibilities, this is the day that we chose as potentially the most doable for the largest number of women. We recognize that some of us may not be able to do this day for very real reasons (e.g. as a nurse in a busy hospital), and yet the beauty of the day is that we can still have all those who so choose, be there in spirit with those of us who are practicing.  Three of the five of us, Glennifer Gillespie, Dorian Baroni, and Beth Jandernoa have chosen to practice silence in their own rhythm each month.  Barbara Cecil and Peri Chickering are practicing with the larger circle on the last Sunday of each month~ and then there is Anne Le Claire, the author of the book we mention below, who practices every other Monday.  So, whatever discipline and practice works for you is what is important.

As part of the invitation, Anne Le Claire has written a simple yet elegant book that carries the spirit and practice of Silence in a way that is accessible, moving, and filled with the energy of lived experience:  Listening Below the Noise.  We are sending you a copy of this book as a gift.  It is yours to do with as you like:  read it and join us, read it and pass it on, don’t read it and put it your local library or swap shop, or any other variation that calls to you.  There is no obligation, no duty, and no pressure to “do” this~it is a pure and simple invitation.  It will be relevant for some and not for others.  The main invitation is to listen to your own inner voice and act in accordance. We also welcome you to invite friends and contacts of your own to this process.  To do this you can either email Peri with a list of names and addresses that you would like included and she will send out a book and letter to them or you can simply invite them to participate and get them a book yourself.

If you would like us to consciously know that you are joining us, feel free to email Peri (pchick4@myfairpoint.net).  There is a website:  insilencetogether.com hosted by The Ashland Institute (TAI) where you can find ongoing dialogue, comments, videos, and articles. On behalf of the five women who came together to initiate this practice, may you be filled with the wonder and joy of friendship that comes your way with this letter.

In honor and celebration of the wholeness, beauty, and voice of “all our relations”,

Peri Chickering                                             Barbara Cecil

If you feel the desire to pass this invitation along, please do. We jump started this project with Peri’s purchase of a hundred books, which we sent to friends worldwide along with this invitation. You could “pay it forward”, too, if that felt right.  It is our belief and experience that meaningful expression, activity, relationship, and personal calling are contained in a matrix of life that holds us all. In silence, we have a heightened and dynamic sense of connection to this source, thus informing the choices we make and the way we know ourselves.