Be the change you want to see this IWD 2025: All about the Siren and inspiration behind this year’s theme in here:
“Now stop your ship and listen to our voices. All those who pass this way hear honeyed song/poured from our mouths. The music brings them joy/and they go on their way with greater knowledge."
Speech of the Sirens in Emily Wilson’s translation of Homer’s Odyssey
Wordsmithing women, women who open their mouths, women who listen.
Creating women, holding women, women who are truth bearers.
Women of Water, Women of Wind, Women of Earth.
Wild women, go-with-the-flow women, women of power, vulnerable women, women who open their eyes and feel.
Life-giving-women, women of wonder and women in awe.
Woman, do you hear the call?
Join in our Siren Songs of knowledge and joy, not to destroy but to rebirth, to renew the vow, to evolve.
What is your piece of tempting wisdom, your seduction of heart, body and mind?
What is it that you want written on the billboards or screamed into the void?
What is your chord of coherence, your dissonance of disruption, your pitch of purpose?
For this year’s International Women’s Day on March 8th (and beyond), we invite you to join words across the world in your own post with us.
Together we weave words of wisdom and wonder, recorded workshops, spoken poetry and live events. No matter if you write, speak or sing you can contribute your story from personal essay to fiction, from teaching to raw draft - as long as you dare to share what is on your heart!
Did you know that sirens are bird women who bring enlightenment to human mankind and are not seductive mermaids that kill helpless sailors?
Throughout the centuries the female bridges between human and divine were layered on top of sea nymphs and mermaids, who dangerously lure men into despair. Sirens were made into sexualised objects that bring death and are to be avoided by men, when actually their sweet song (but otherworldly and wild appearance) bring more knowledge not death. Emily Wilson on Sirens: “They inhabit the water, the air, and the earth, they’re also associated with song; they have voices that are not human voices, and kinds of movement that are not the same as human kinds of movement.”
The sirens are just one of plenty examples how female power has been shape-shifted from life giving and enlightening to damnation and impure. Our culture’s stories still keep the spark of their original flames alive if you dare dive in deeper but on the surface the ripple of distortion has conditioned us as women to forfeit our true potential in favour for the good girl or the tempting sorceress. We have endured millennia of suppression and were made to believe we are unworthy, less than a man and only valuable as either innocent virgin or dutiful wife. The only power we possessed was as seductress. Further contributing to the internal split in ourselves. Making it nearly impossible to integrate contradicting aspects of Self, leading to hyper-identification with either the bad or the good girl and of course fuelling the external competitive sister wound most of us have to address today.
We have a mission to change these ripples of distortion into ripples of love and healing. Of experience and wisdom. Ripples of devotion and connection.
Which distortion have you freed yourself from and changed the narrative of your life?
I will share about the Siren’s origin and mythic meaning more soon but let this glimpse be a reminder to ask yourself:
What is YOUR vision of wisdom for change?
RIPPLES OF LOVE AND WISDOM
Know that there is a party online, here on Substack and you’re all invited, we’re all invited and we can keep inviting more women to speak, to create, to show up in every way they choose.
We already have a line up of incredible creatives who can’t wait to share their voices with you and help you find yours!
Below you find further ideas and prompt that help you to decide what you wish to share with us and the world on IWD 2025 as every woman is invited to join in our hymn for new stirrings, deep belonging and our homecoming to Self, Spirit and this world.
To give you a taste what our core group are doing further inspire your own creations, here are the first announced posts that will go out under the theme IWD Siren Songs:
🪽 Claire Venus (she/her) ✨ will lead us to our authentic voice in a recorded mini class called Your Creative Essence:
How do you know if you are writing with your beautifully unique voice?
How can you lean into what’s authentically YOU.
No trying, no people pleasing, no anger or reactivity, no ego, no marketing, no hooks or getting lost in words.
Just unapologetically, congruently you.
And once you know, like really know what is it you are being called to do? How do you paint your words on the page. And when should you edit and send them into the world?
🪽 Emma Simpson has spent the last 2 years interviewing women about their relationship with water for her book, Breaking Waves which releases on this year’s International Women’s Day! She will share exclusive excerpts and powerful experiences with us to get a glimpse into her water world. The book centres on the unique strength and power of femininity, and how we as sisters of the sea, navigate the ebb and flow of life. How we collectively howl under the moon that draws our inner tides, cry salt water into salt water as we surrender to the primal pull of the sea; how we laugh and play in the face of storms, and stand together in a sisterhood as fierce and forceful as the waves themselves.
🪽 Lyndsay Kaldor will explore the indelible tie between water and the feminine through folklore and flowers. A Siren Song and call to share our voices as we unapologetically embrace the nature of ebb and flow of our words, creativity and way of being.
🪽 Lauren Barber will release a Yoga Nidra journey to help us listen to our inner voice.
🪽 Georgia Garnett will be guiding you to romanticise your home life so that you can look back on the mundane parts of your day with a wistful nostalgia for years to come. A Siren Song full of tips, tricks and inspiration to get you started on capturing your beautiful memories at home.
From Georgia we have been gifted the incredible photographs you see in this post to get us into the mood for this years IWD theme.
🪽 Laurita Gorman | Therapist SEP will share a potent spoken-word poem about women and reclamation. She will also share a personal essay through a psychosomatic lens about her own lived experiences of reclaiming her voice, power, and body and the practices, tools, and experiences that have provided deep healing and have truly shapeshifted her life to become more embodied in who she authentically is, and how she supports other women to do the same.
🪽 Laura Durban is sharing an archetypal exploration with you on how to embody your inner Siren through her lens of mythopoetic alchemy and the magic of shapeshifting for your personal transformation. Learn more about the Sirens and other winged-women, swan-women, raven-women and how we can ignite their oracular and magical power within us.
🪽 Lauren Barber & Lyndsay Kaldor offer a live women’s circle on the 8th of March to celebrate our voices on International Women’s Day! This will be a weaving of soothing words, restorative pauses, reflective contemplation and the chance to gather live amongst a community of creative women. If this invitation sings to your soul we would be honoured to sit with you.
Holding Stories - International Women’s Day 2025
11am - 12pm (UK time), Saturday 8th March
Register your free space here.
Here’s how you can bring in YOUR words, wisdom and wonders:
Write an essay, record a video workshop, podcast or curate your personal art in a post (Writing prompts and further inspiration to what you can contribute below!)
Schedule you post on Substack on IWD, Saturday 8th March 2025, at 11.11am YOUR TIME wherever you are in the world.
Use the strap line (sub heading) - “IWD Siren Songs”
Tag some of us (co-authors of this post) so we can see and share it!
At the end of your post (scheduled for IWD), send your voice like a ripple (aka tag) to another writer to pick up the thread….
You can also restack this post to Notes and invite women there or share about what you are planning!
Let’s send our words, images and stories across the world and keep the ripples of inspiration going.
Here are some ideas for YOUR contribution
No matter in which format from personal essay, fictional story, podcast, song, workshop, educational content, art, poetry, live gathering… let it be a concert of our words, wisdom and wonders!
Write from the heart, speak, sing, curate your art or have conversations with other women about a topic that is dear to you and more people should know about!
Reflect, ponder, elaborate about…
Did you ever let go of an old identity only to be faced with confusion before new parts of you emerged, evolved or even endangered your view of the world?
Which distortion have you freed yourself from and changed the narrative of your life?
What needs to die in order to be reborn?
If the Sirens would lure you onto their shores, what would they tell you?
What elements do you connect with most? Do you feel the air in your wings or the salt water on your lips? The earth between your toes?
What is your piece of tempting wisdom, your seduction of heart, body and mind?
What is your chord of coherence, your dissonance of disruption, your pitch of purpose?
What is your vision of wisdom for change?
What is it that you want written on the billboards or screamed into the void? What message would you sing across the ocean?
You can lead with or respond to an inspiring quote from your favourite female voice. Or tell us about the most transformative female relationship in your life so far. If you could sit in circle with 5 other women here today or gone now who would they be and why?
In a world where we are constantly pressured to ‘have it all’… how do you stay centred and connected to your SELF and what truly nourishes you?
So: what story do YOU want to tell?
We can’t wait to be flooded with your incredible words, images and stories.
With a smile and warm embrace from all of us!
Laura Durban
Claire Venus ✨
Georgia
Lauren Barber
Lyndsay Kaldor
Laurita Gorman | Therapist SEP
Emma Simpson
Are you fascinated by archetypes and curious about mythopoetic inner work? I am publishing a series for paid subscribers and my recent post about the Wild Woman is designed to activate your inner roam of self-worth, truth and freedom. You can check it out here:
“The wild woman is the one who has no need to prove her worth through appearance or people pleasing. She is the primal part of ourselves that we have all shut out for too long. For she brings death of conditioned identity, breaks down the illusion of society’s standard and speaks a truth that shatters our sense of security. She is the activator of Sovereignty as she holds us accountable for our actions, mistakes and blindspots.”
Everything about this is so strong, beautiful and empowering. I cannot wait to see what comes out on the day! x
So so excited for this day and all the voices I’ll hear / read on the way there.