Freedom Circle Gatherings

Gemstones in the Sun Freedom Circles are vital small Gemstones’ spiritual support groups that are facilitated and led primarily in person and/or digitally by Movement Chaplaincy Team members. They are composed of POC who desire to participate in an ongoing spiritual recovery process, working together in solidarity to lessen greed and lack and to connect to a range of alternative and supplemental ways to create a sense of security in and a deepened understanding of what true freedom involves and why it can never be denied.

Before you sign-up to participate in Freedom Circles, please mindfully and carefully read our Freedom Circles Guidelines Clarified. 

Freedom Circles Guidelines Clarified

Freedom Circles are the foundation and the root of Gemstones In The Sun. Freedom Circles are “life recovery” work of a different and unique kind. Our approach to healing and transformation shines through the lens of Relationship building. Inviting, establishing, building, and nurturing relationships is essential to the sustainability and the richness of Freedom Circles and the GITS Community.

Freedom Circles are Communities. The richness of Community is all inclusive of good and bad, ugly and beautiful, sweet and bitter, pain and joy, disagreements and solidarity, secular and spiritual. This inclusivity is what makes each of us who we are - humans - being and experiencing multiple levels and layers of our Beingness - sometimes all at the same time.

Freedom Circles are where we begin to breathe and give birth and rebirth ourselves into new ways of being, seeing, feeling, and knowing. It is where our healing, recovery, and transformation process begins and deepens through the continued sharing of our authentic selves, the mindful practice of respectful listening, hearing, and speaking, the deeply honoring of real-time life stories and experiences, and holding space for the Wisdom of all our Ancestors to come through.

Freedom Circles are where we begin to curate “brave hearts” and “brave spaces” that, GITS believes, will empower those who choose to fully commit to this deep dive process to live “Braver lives.” This transformative work is not for the faint of heart. It requires so much more than most are aware of, ready, willing, or able to commit to. This work asks all who say YES! to be open, honest, and vulnerable with ourselves and each other, sit in the discomfort of something we heard or shared in Circle/Community, meditate, pray, cry, get angry, feel deeply, love strongly, reground to our center, grow beyond our comfort zone, pause, breathe, come back to Circle/Community... and try again. 

With all of this in mind...

Freedom Circles and the GITS Community are for you if you are aware of, ready, willing, and able to commit to:

  • Seeing yourself and each other as amazing precious Gems. As a precious Gems, you commit to the best of your ability, to do no harm to yourself or each other

  • Being honest, patient, and respectful and remembering we are each growing at different rates and paces

  • Practicing non-judgement, deep care, and full-heart listening and responding

  • Honoring each other’s intuition, wisdom, and ancestry

  • Empowering one another on this healing journey and to live into our collective purpose

  • Allowing ourselves and each other to be imperfect and make space for growth

  • Accepting accountability for any harms we have enacted within and beyond the group

  • Being open to feedback, even when it is hard

  • Challenging yourself and others to stretch beyond perceived limitations and viewpoints - even if we do not fully understand it all 

GITS and Freedom Circles are fully aware everyone may not be ready to step into this deep self-exploration and expansive learning journey. Again, this work requires “brave hearts.” With Love, Compassion, Grace, and Gratitude, we honor all of who you are and where you are on your Life paths. Within Freedom Circles and beyond, we desire you to grow and flourish in ways that are exactly right for you. Please know that it is really okay if your continued growth is not with us.

It is with deep clarity and awareness that Freedom Circles are not for you if:

  • You believe you already have ample support in your life recovery process and you feel you do not need the support Freedom Circles offer

  • Having your views and beliefs respectfully challenged is too uncomfortable or takes you too far out of your comfort zone - [which is how we grow] - and you are not willing or able to sit with that discomfort, move through it, and return back to Circle/Community

  • You are not willing to respectfully and mindfully engage in open, honest, and affirming conversations - no matter how messy they get - with those whose thoughts, beliefs, cultural views, and language, may differ from yours

  • You require professional support and care that is beyond the scope of Freedom Circles and other GITS Community engagement

GITS Freedom Circles are always free of charge.