whale song
a creative circle for maturing women
A 10-week online program for maturing women seeking clarity, community, and creativity.
“Creation, and so creativity, is the act of giving life, the nourishing and enhancement of life, in whatever way you choose to do it. And when we find our individual creative power, we can harness it and use it to fight for what we care about, to remake the world in our own image. But what might such a creative woman look like, and how might she do such a thing?”
― If Women Rose Rooted
You’re no longer a young woman. You’ve lived the breadth of the human experience – from grief and betrayal to ecstasy and love. You’ve been wounded and you’ve learned to heal. You’ve been broken and you’ve found your resilience. You’ve abandoned yourself and then found your way back – time and time again.
In recent years, there’s been a change happening in your body and you can’t deny that it’s happening in your soul as well. Perhaps you’re in the early stages of perimenopause, still figuring out why your body is not behaving as it once did; or perhaps you’ve long since finished bleeding and you’re still figuring out who you are on the other side of this change.
Nobody will hand you a map to help you navigate this new terrain. You must make your own map, with all the tools at your disposal – your words, songs, yarn, wood, paint, and even your own body.
This is a creative circle meant especially for you, a maturing woman living through the disruption and transformation that menopause brings. It’s meant to support you as you rage, ache, bleed, laugh, dance and cry your way through this period of life. It’s meant to help you find your way back to yourself, no matter how many times you’ve gotten lost.
“This is your body, your greatest gift, pregnant with wisdom you do not hear, grief you thought was forgotten and joy you have never known.” —Marion Woodman
We’ll gather for community and creativity, and we’ll also help each other find our voices – our strong, brave, fierce, tender, and compassionate voices. These may be literal voices, with words and music, or they may be figurative voices that come through in paint or clay. In whatever expressions the emerge, our voices – the voices of maturing women – matter.
For 10 weeks, we’ll gather in a circle to create together and to open our hearts. You can focus on your own, already established, creative practice (whether it’s music, painting, writing, dancing, needlecraft, etc.), or you can follow the prompts (and inspiration from others in the circle) to find new forms of creative expression.
As we practice together, we’ll encourage and challenge each other. There will be tenderness here, and there will be fierceness, desire, and passion. There will be rage and there will be love. There may be some tears, but there will almost certainly also be joy.
Along with our creative practice, we will practice telling the truth about what it means to be a maturing woman in a patriarchal world. We will speak of our frustration, and we will also speak of our joy and longing. While we make things with our hands, we’ll dream of making a world with our hearts – a world that’s more kind, more human, and more rooted in the land than patriarchy or capitalism have given us space for.
(Note: If you’re non-binary/trans and this program resonates with you, you’re welcome whether or not you live in a body that goes through a physical manifestation of menopause.)
Why is it called Whale Song?
- Because toothed whales (like orcas) are the only other mammals to go through menopause.
- Because killer whales live in matriarchal societies, with post-menopausal females leading and teaching their pods.
- Because whales have mastered the art of echolocation to find each other in the dark.
- Because whale song can be heard for thousands of kilometers.
- Because mother whales have been known to express their grief publicly.
We are the Whale Pod Women, singing, dreaming, daring, and leading ourselves and each other into a new future.
Whether you’re creating something meant for public consumption, or simply using art-making as a way to gain greater clarity, you are welcome in the circle. You will be invited to share what you create, and there will be opportunities to receive feedback (if desired), but you won’t be pressured to share what you’re not ready to offer.
“If you have yet to be called an incorrigable, defiant woman, don’t worry, there is still time.” ―Clarissa Pinkola Estés
This 10 week program will include:
- Weekly Zoom calls (90 minutes, every Monday at 7 p.m. UTC) with women from all over the world. The calls will alternate between:
- Conversation circles where we talk about our creative practices and our journeys through menopause, share pieces of what we’re creating, and offer whatever feedback is asked for (note: there will be opportunities for special interest groups, where writers meet with writers, painters meet with painters, etc.)
- Creative circles where we practice together, mostly in silence. (You can use that week’s prompts or work on whatever you wish.)
- Weekly tips and creative prompts on themes that are relevant to maturing women
- An online space (on Mighty Networks) where we can share what we’re creating.
- An opportunity to be paired with a creative practice buddy with whom you can meet separately and/or share writing
Your host for this circle will be Heather Plett, the author of two award-winning books and the co-founder of the Centre for Holding Space. Throughout her life, Heather has used creative practice in many forms (painting, writing, woodworking, needlecraft, art-journaling, collage, etc.) as a way of discovering her truth, expressing herself, and finding her path through times of liminality. She has created many courses and been the host of many circles. Having just turned sixty, Heather is still exploring what it means to be a maturing woman on the other side of menopause. Find her bio here.
Dates:
Mondays at 7 p.m. UTC, June 22 to August 24, 2026
(That’s noon in Vancouver; 9 p.m. in Amsterdam; 5 a.m. in Brisbane)
Cost:
pay-what-you-can, with a suggested price of $250 CAD and a minimum of $100 CAD
Questions? Ask us.