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Journal

Spring 2023 Mini-Retreat

Announcing Aperta Jewelry’s second annual mini-retreat!

Sunday May 7th, 2023 12-4pm

Racial Equity & Ancestral Healing: A Talking Circle for White Women

Spring is a time for new beginnings.  Here in the Northeast, the Earth is emerging into her season of growth and this is a beautiful time for initiating new patterns, relationships, and ways of thinking and being in the world.

Many of us in recent years (or longer) have felt a desire to more deeply engage in  racial justice and its intersection with gender, sexuality, class, and ability. Some of us have read books or even taken courses as first steps toward this process, while others have been unsure where to begin or felt overwhelmed by the strong feelings associated with the emotional charge of race and addressing issues of equity and belonging in society.

This mini-retreat is designed for people in white bodies who identify as women, femmes, or non-binary people who were socialized as women to look at our own cultural history and how generations of gender trauma have fostered unhealthy ways of being in community with each other.  We will look at how our collective past perpetuates whiteness and prohibits many of our best intentions of inclusion and belonging.  Learning and sharing together in circle can help us identify new behavioral patterns so that we can take responsibility for different layers of healing and the connection to racial and social equity.


This event is facilitated by Rae Carter, founder  of EmpowR Transformation-–a business that guides capacity building for people and organizations navigating the complexities of change. This event is intentionally being facilitated by a white person for white identifying people as a way to address white accountability in racial equity work without putting emotional labor on People of Color.

What is the connection between this mini-retreat and jewelry?  Aperta Jewelry is committed to supporting personal and social growth through Intention Necklaces, mini-retreats, and regular donations to organizations.  We usually offer jewelry sales at our mini-retreats since our Intention Necklace designs tie in with the retreat themes and are designed to hold the work and intentions into our lives beyond the retreats.  Due to the complexity of this topic, instead of selling our Intention Necklaces at the event we will give participants a discount coupon toward a future purchase on Aperta Jewelry’s website.  All purchases using this coupon will donate 100% of profits to the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust to further social equity in our region. In this way Aperta Jewelry will continue to use our Intention Necklaces to support change without interrupting the serious and important work of this mini-retreat.

We hope you will join us for a powerful experience of feeling and sharing together as we dialogue about our work as white women in our accountability to racial equity. This event will be held in Northfield, VT and the cost of $50 includes a 3-hour facilitated circle and lunch; 100% of profits from this event will be donated to the VT Professionals of Color Network. Lunch will be provided. We will have a mix of vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free tapas-type options such as hummus, small sandwiches, etc.


   For more information or to sign up, please contact Tossy through her website form, email directly at design@tossijewelry.com, or call (802) 595-1180. Signups will be open through May 1st.

Tossy Garrett