What Women With Wings Means To Us 

“Randomly, I wandered…by a different route that took me past your door.  Indulging my curiosity out of my feeling of emptiness and surrender, I decided to investigate the heavenly sounds I heard.  When I saw the altar and the circle of women, I recognized part of my spirituality I had dropped and neglected as I entered my trials this past year.  I was just going to watch from the shadows, but you welcomed me in.  I sang my pain and joy with you and seemed to magically know all the words.”   Catherine E.

“When I started to sing with ‘Wings’ I felt it was like coming home.  There are no auditions (judgments) or competitive vocalists.  We sing by listening…no paper to study.  Standing in the circle, I feel an acceptance and openness to creativity.  This is where it happens...The music is healing and that is why we are strong.”    Grace Walker

“Women With Wings has brought me through a threshold from my separate womanness into a collective experience of women.  This is a place where I can show up, speak out, give and receive love and, of course, sing!  To me Women With Wings is about belonging.”  Crone Judith Coscarelli 

“Most of us Wingers are very nervous about singing at first.  Few of us have had any formal music education.  Many of us believe we cannot sing.  I will always remember the absolute terror the first time I sang my name during weekly introductions.  Some of us really do have difficulty carrying a tune, but you know, we all sure can sing...The songs we sing often are spiritual and emotional affirmations of our worth, of the worth of others, of the divine in all things and in all places.  They are prayers repeated over and over, week in and week out.  We begin to believe them, and then we begin to live them.”  Maryann Ingalls

“Being part of ‘Women With Wings’ has been an affirming and empowering experience for me.  Nine years ago, at a women’s retreat, which birthed this circle of song, and where I first met Kay Gardner, I learned that there was such a thing as ‘women’s music’ and that age and experience were positive things to be honored in rituals.  The first song she taught us was ‘We are the old women, we are the new women, we are the same women, stronger than before!’  How healing, for me to hear and feel these words/sounds after years of depression from the end of a thirty eight year marriage.  Since that day, I have not only been comforted and strengthened by my participation in Wings but have gained enough confidence to sing for/with hospice patients; it is supremely satisfying to see terminally ill people’s faces relax when beautiful healing words are sung.  First I received comfort and now I can give comfort to others.  The circle of love continues and grows.”  Carolyn Kinnard Ziffer   

“The simple truth is…without you, I would not have learned to fly, to soar (higher and higher), to rise and ride a thermal, to see the distant horizon – rather than just the path below. Your wings helped me to remain aloft when my own were too heavy – laden with sadness and loss...You have each, in turn, embraced me with the warmth of your hugs and kisses, kept me safe within the folds of the flock. When I could not see through my tears, I listened for my heartbeat and found you in song...“   Sandy Imondi

“I turned on to the interstate for a twelve hour trip south in the February snow. ‘Beauty’ began playing in my head. I listened, I sang. I noticed the beauty around me as the snow plowed trail I followed led me by pines, out croppings of rocks, fields and sleepy houses all covered with a cloak of soft white. Two hours into the drive the snow turned to rain. No white knuckled anxiety for me this trip. Just beauty and peace. We sing our songs for circle and life. Thanks, Grace! The hectic life of self imposed responsibility with details, decisions and deadlines can be overwhelming. Beginning my day with a mental list of all I think I need to do before bedtime can zap my energy before I even begin. ‘Be Here Now’ turns frantic into calm and reminds me to notice my breath and to love. Debbie’s is a song for all occasions.”  Alice

“...Women With Wings has been a sacred, healing place where I have felt safe enough to find my voice. Wings’ songs find their way into all parts of my life – from driving in the car, to rituals, celebrations, and the classes I teach. Now it’s OK that I have a deep, loud voice. At Women With Wings, there’s room for Nightingales as well as Frogs. Blessed be.”  Rani Lynn   

“Singing in circle fills my heart with joy! The amazing blend of our voices, joined as one, to celebrate, to comfort, to heal, to pray is a gift from God/Goddess. We are truly sisters, diverse and connected, on a journey discovering the Divine in each of us, through our songs.” Mary Ellen Quinn

“Thursday evenings are often a refuge and a surge of strength. Two hours of simple, repetitive songs that feed the soul (‘My Spirit Lives On’), that tell me we are all divine and all can be sacred (‘The Goddess is in Me’ and ‘Holy Ground’),  that comfort me (‘Everything Will Be All Right’), that remind me to live in this moment (‘Be Here Now’). Songs that are written by the women in Wings. Songs that are brought from other places in the world. Songs that are sung alone. Songs that are sung with others. Songs that remind me what life is about. “   Jan Silbury

 "In the early days of Women With Wings, I actually felt myself coming back to life as if returning to consciousness after a long sleep.  I let the colors and healing vibrations of the circle wash over me and peel back the layers of defensiveness that had grown from a lifetime of denying my inner beauty and not listening to my heart.  The women who sang in circle gave me the courage, support, and acceptance that I needed to stop running from the power and creativity that are given to every woman at birth.”    Colleen Fitzgerald

“When you were singing at the Fair and invited the audience to come into your circle, I came into the circle and was glad that I did even though it was difficult for me because I don’t sing.  Because of childhood experiences, I have not been able to convince myself that it’s okay to sing…One goal of mine is to convince myself that it’s okay to sing again…I very much appreciate and thank every “woman with wings” for coming into my life.”  Meg P., Woodbury, MN