Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, as long as you have the longing to meet women in a new way. The Temple Manual is full of tools and resources to help you to start a temple group, whether you are new to the practices or have already experienced Temple. We know from experience that you have a greater chance to succeed in creating your temple group if you do the Facilitator Training.

Women’s Temple is a space where we come to mirror, celebrate and empower each other. A space where we can drop our masks, and let the beauty of our authentic face be seen, in all our glory and pain and passion and vulnerability.
 Where we return to the wisdom of our own feminine roots and listen to what we know to be true in our bones and in the very depth of our soul.  We practice a fierce willingness to let the this moment touch us for real, and the experience of life in this woman’s body to become more transparent, fluid.

We practice the feminine way, an all inclusive in-the-body spirituality, beyond dusty dogmas and far-fetched goals of the future. Spiritual awakening, instead of being a peak experience you once had, or a concept you read about and compare yourself with, becomes a lived and embodied realization of freedom and love uniquely experienced and expressed through you.  Women’s Temple is the bridge across the tormenting schism between spirit and our aching humanness. It rips away the fog, the dusty old concepts, the plastic spiritual food, and invites us to feast at the table with the Goddess herself.

Yes, we have several cities that have multiple Temple groups. The Temple group that you start will have its own unique medicine and flavor, and can often compliment Temple groups in similar areas, serving the women who want a Temple group but can only meet on a certain day of the week or who long for more opportunities to be in Women’s Temple. Women who lead Temple groups in nearby areas often will attend each other’s Temple as a chance to go deeper in their own practice and receive support and inspiration.

Yes, and there are many Temple practices in the manual that you can modify to do on your own. Then, once you feel comfortable, you can start to invite other women. Your own practice will become the foundation for what kind of Temple you want to have with others, and your own familiarity with Temple practices can become a powerful invitation and container for other women to step into.

The very first Women’s Temple started in Nevada City in 2005 with just two women meeting regularly, and was just a small group of 2-5 women for the first year. There is no minimum number of women needed for Temple to happen. The practices can be just as powerful and deep with a few women.

You can start your own Temple group with the help of the Temple Manual—perhaps there are women in your community who also long for the kind of sanctuary women’s temple holds, and just need the invitation for it to be created.

We define Women’s Temple as a circle that is different than other women’s groups. It includes touch and embodiment practices, and is spiritual in its core. We don’t have a trademark for the name Women’s Temple, so you are free to use the term “Women’s Temple” for your group if you are using the temple manual or have graduated from the training, and can verify that your group is in alignment with the modality of Women’s Temple.

Graduates from the Women’s Group Facilitator Training can also refer to their group as “inspired by Awakening Women.” We request that you use something other than Awakening Women to name your group, as that is a registered trademark.

When you use the Temple Manual, you can follow an evening outline exactly, you can modify the practices to suit your group, or you can pick different sections from different evenings to create your own evening. In the manual, you will also find a section with a list of feminine inquiries, which can be “thrown in” wherever you feel they fit.

If you would like to create a Temple group using the practices we share here, however, we passionately invite you to follow the guidelines included in the manual. They have been tested and carefully molded and we know that they support Temple to be a sanctuary that grows and thrives. But remember, they are guidelines, not rules.

It is not necessary to have attended an AWI retreat or Women’s Temple Group Facilitator Training to start your own Women’s Temple; some women have started a Temple group without having attended an AWI retreat or training. Still, there is a great advantage to having an in-the-body experience of Temple practices when leading a Temple group, and we have a whole body of training and retreats to support you in deepening your understanding of the intention and culture of Women’s Temple.

We are happy to support you by listing your Temple group on our website. To have your Temple group listed, we ask that you meet the following guidelines:

You have participated in the Awakening Women’s Temple Group Facilitator Training

You have read the “Create Your Own Women’s Temple Group” manual

Your group will follow the intention and culture of Women’s Temple (of course with your own unique flavor)

To get listed, please fill out the Temple Group Questionnaire.