Elderflower WomenSpirit Herstory

Elderflower was founded in 1988 by Deborah Bender. When asked how she came up with the idea for the festival Deborah said, "The Goddess told me to do it." She then went on to say, "One day I went to a friend's birthday party and noticed that there were Goddess figures all around the house, and I realized that most women who had a spiritual connection with the Goddess were going to small private gatherings, or expensive events because that was all that was available. That was when I came up with the idea for Elderflower. It would be a low cost, all woman, grass-roots event with a connection to the Goddess. It would be open to any woman who was interested and women who attend the festival would share their skills and experiences by putting on workshops and rituals. Elderflower would also give women new to women's sprituality and opportunity to spend time with long-time members of the women's sprituality movement."

The first Elderflower WomenSpirit Festival was held in the summer of 1989 at the Mendocino Woodlands, which has been its home ever since. It was organized by Deborah Bender and Rita Rippetoe.

By 1991, the annual festival had grown to the point where it became more organized and women began to take on official responsibilites as festival staff. After the 1992 festival, Deborah Bender and the staff realized that the organizational structure needed to be changed. Deborah no longer wanted to be totally "in charge" of the festival and the staff wanted to take on more responsibility and be more involved in decision making. As a result, the Core Committee was founded, and the responsibility for organizing the festival was spread out among a collective group of 5 women, including Deborah Bender. Each member of the Core Committee coordinated staff working on different aspects of the festival. Decisions by the Core Committee about the festival were made by consensus.

After the 1993 festival, Deborah Bender decided to hand over the festival to a Core Committee. Elderflower was transformed from a business owned by Deborah Bender to a congregation of the Association for the Integration of the Whole Person (AIWP). A non-profit, pulic benefit, religious organization, IRS designation 501(c)(3). Through the umbrella of AIWP, festival attendees and benefactors of the festival may make tax-deductible donations.

The festival continues to be run collectively by a core group of women who meet throughout the year. The core committee was originally structured so that each woman would volunteer on the core for a minimum of three years, and in her final year, she would apprentice a new woman to take her place on the committee.

Through the years, we at Elderflower have enjoyed drum & rattle making, face painting, collaborative art, rituals, psychic journeys, belly dancing, martial arts, nature awareness activities, rites of passage ceremonies, flowering in women's poetry, song and dance, just to name a few!

Each year, the main ritual evolves from unique and various aspects of honoring and celebrating the Goddess in her many guises. In this way, the main ritual provides a continuous growth experience for the festival as well as those present.

As Elderflower's herstory continues to unfold, we encourage you to get involved. The women who work on and attend the festival, are the festival. If you have enjoyed yourself at Elderflower, consider joining the volunteer staff and make it happen. Our different input and energies make the festival unique every year.