Moving Toward the Millionth Circle: Energizing the Global Women's Movement

By Jean Shinoda Bolen

“Describes how every woman can be supported by a circle of friends with a sacred center, and how circles multiply their spiritual and political energy.” —Isabel Allende

While women’s individual experiences and stories differ, there remains to be a uniting factor that draws women from around the world together. In this book for women, author Jean Shinoda Bolen calls upon this uniting factor, this feminine spirit ingrained in the soul of each woman, as a source of motivation for activism. As a result, this activism focused on women empowerment is person-focused and heart-centered.

Each of us wields the power to make change. By channeling our passions into all that we do, our voices and our actions, we take this world one step closer to being a better home for all who live in it. But joining with others is key to this effort. Bolen emphasizes the importance of relying on a support system, particularly women’s circles, in order to grow in influence.

The metaphoric millionth circle is the tipping point into a post-patriarchal era. It is through the process of a growing number of people changing their perceptions and behaviors that a new era will begin. Those in the circles feed the activism by strengthening each other, and in turn, the movement as a whole. This spiritual book for women serves as a practical and poetic call to action, inspiring women and others to follow a path with soul.

In Moving Toward the Millionth Circle you’ll discover . . .

• A deeper dive into The Millionth Circle Initiative
• Words of passionate wisdom from an internationally known author and speaker
• A rallying cry for all women seeking change

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Mar 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781609259228

Jean Shinoda Bolen

Jean Shinoda Bolen, M. D, is a psychiatrist, Jungian analyst, and an internationally known author and speaker. She is the author of The Tao of Psychology, Goddesses in Everywoman, Gods in Everyman, Ring of Power, Crossing to Avalon, Close to the Bone, The Millionth Circle, Goddesses in Older Women, Crones Don't Whine, Urgent Message from Mother, Like a Tree, and Moving Toward the Millionth Circle. She is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a former clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California at San Francisco, a past board member of the Ms. Foundation for Women and the International Transpersonal Association. She was a recipient of the Institute for Health and Healing's "Pioneers in Art, Science, and the Soul of Healing Award", and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. She was in three acclaimed documentaries: the Academy-Award winning anti-nuclear proliferation film Women—For America, For the World, the Canadian Film Board's Goddess Remembered, and FEMME: Women Healing the World. The Millionth Circle Initiative www.millionthcircle.org was inspired by her book and led to her advocacy for a UN 5th World Conference on Women. Her website is www.jeanbolen.com.

Book preview

Praise for Moving Toward the Millionth Circle

"No one has done more than Jean Shinoda Bolen to awaken the global heart. With Moving Toward the Millionth Circle, she continues to inspire and direct the spiritual uprising of women around the world."

—Marianne Williamson

I believe that heart-centered feminine activism can change the world, and I agree with Jean Bolen that now is the time to do it. In her book, she describes how every woman can be supported by a circle of friends with a sacred center, and how circles multiply their spiritual and political energy toward a tipping point.

—Isabel Allende

My personal tribute to Dr. Bolen for highlighting the need for implementing the UN Security Council resolution 1325 adopted in 2000 which recognizes how women would contribute to peace and security. I wish a wider readership and deeper absorption of the wonderful contents of her book. Dr. Jean Shinoda Bolen has contributed substantively to the ever-increasing focus of recent years on women's empowerment and equality and the importance of their participation at all decisionmaking levels. Her rich personal experience, perception, and perspective have made the book truly engaging.

—Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, Former Under-Secretary General of the United Nations

OTHER BOOKS BY JEAN SHINODA BOLEN, M.D.

The Tao of Psychology

Goddesses in Everywoman

Gods in Everyman

Ring of Power

Crossing to Avalon

Close to the Bone

The Millionth Circle

Goddesses in Older Women

Crones Don't Whine

Urgent Message From Mother

Like a Tree

First published in 2013 by Conari Press,

an imprint of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC

With offices at:

665 Third Street, Suite 400

San Francisco, CA 94107

www.redwheelweiser.com

Copyright © 2013 by Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. Reviewers may quote brief passages.

ISBN: 978-1-57324-628-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

available upon request

Cover design by Jim Warner

Cover photograph: Yellow Leaf Circle © Martin Hill

Interior by Jane Hagaman

Typeset in Minion and Trajan

Printed in the United States of America

MAL

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1992 (R1997).

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CONTENTS

1 • Premise

2 • Heart-Centered Activism

3 • Moving Toward the Millionth Circle

4 • Stone Cutters

5 • Sovereignty

6 • Circle or/and Hierarchy

7 • Path with Heart

8 • The Dalai Lama and the Millionth Circle

Appreciation

I think the Cherokee approach to life is being able

to continually move forward with kind of a good mind

and not focus on the negative things in your life

and the negative things you see around you,

but focus on the positive things and try to look

at the larger picture and keep moving forward.

—Wilma Mankiller, the first woman chief of the Cherokee Nation

1

PREMISE

The eyes of the future are looking back at us and they are praying for us to see beyond our own time.

—Terry Tempest Williams

PREMISE

I THINK OF Moving Toward the Millionth Circle as a sequel to The Millionth Circle (1999) but with a different focus. The Millionth Circle was a guide on how to create and sustain women's circles with a sacred center, which I called Zen and the Art of Circle Maintenance. It proposed nothing short of bringing humanity into a post-patriarchal era via the proliferation of women's circles through a principle that can be intuitively grasped: when a critical number of people change how they think and behave, the culture does also and a new era begins. The millionth circle is a metaphoric number for the tipping point. This second small book was inspired by being at the United Nations during meetings of the Commission on the Status of Women each spring where several thousand activists from grassroots non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that help women and girls present panels and workshops, sharing information and meeting each other. I realized how their effectiveness and numbers would grow exponentially through a world conference on women, and how circles with a sacred center would support women who work for change in their lives and in the world. I became an advocate for a UN conference, not as a goal in itself, but as a huge step toward reaching the tipping point.

Moving Toward the Millionth Circle is especially meant for heart-centered activists who are motivated to act by compassionate action, a sense of sisterhood, or fierce mother-bear protectiveness which is a combination of love and outrage. It is for women wherever they are, who are activists because of a promise made to others, to divinity, or to themselves. It may have been a calling or is the result of one step leading to another. It may be a vow to stop a multi-generational pattern of family or institutional or political indifference toward abuse or injustice. It may be