Red Tent Gatherings
Every woman’s life is shaped by profound thresholds—the first bleed, partnership, pregnancy and birth, postpartum, menopause, and beyond. Across cultures and throughout history, these passages were often marked with gathering, guidance, and ceremony, ensuring women were not meant to move through them alone. Today, many of these traditions have faded, and while the transitions remain as powerful as ever, they are often experienced in private. Still, the longing remains: to be witnessed, supported, and held through life’s most transformative changes.
Red Tent Gathering is led by Diana and Sasha — two Hudson Valley-based practitioners & friends whose work meets at the intersection of herbal wellness, cyclical wisdom, and embodied care.
Diana
Diana is Lebanese-Egyptian, a cycle educator, and the founder of Cremona Studios. Her work is rooted in the body's cyclical nature as a map, its phases, their distinct qualities, and what it means to live in rhythm with your body at every stage of life. In each ceremony, she holds the educational heart: guiding women and their circles through the body literacy of the transition at hand, and what the chapter ahead can look and feel like. Through Cremona Studios, her sustainable fashion label, she extends this work into the organic, plant-dyed garments women wear through every phase.
Sasha
Sasha is an herbalist and artist based in the Hudson Valley. Her practice is rooted in local plants, the seasons, and a deep relationship with the landscapes of the Northeast. Through medicine-making and herbal study she has developed a practice that invites people to engage with plants not only as remedies, but as teachers and sources of connection. In ceremony, she brings herbal wellness, ritual, and a grounding awareness of the natural world, helping women mark life's transitions through practices that are both practical and meaningful.
Red Tent Gathering is a community offering devoted to women’s rites of passage, cyclical wisdom, and embodied care in the Hudson Valley. Inspired by ancestral traditions found across many cultures, the Red Tent was historically a shared space where women gathered during times of transition—first blood, pregnancy, postpartum, grief, menopause—to rest, tell stories, and be held by one another. While the forms varied across place and time, the essence remained the same: connection, care, and continuity.
Each Red Tent Gathering is shaped by the time of year and the women who arrive. Some gatherings are simple and spacious—low-pressure, potluck-style circles for meeting, resting, and belonging. Others are more intentional and ceremonial, designed to mark thresholds and deepen relationship with the body, fertility, and the natural world.
We created Red Tent Gathering because these are the ceremonies and forms of support we longed for in our own lives.
Many of the most significant thresholds a woman crosses—first blood, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, menopause, grief, and transformation—are often experienced with little communal acknowledgment or ritual support. While many cultures once held traditions that honored these passages, much of that framework has faded from modern life. As a result, women and families are often left to navigate profound transitions without the witnessing, guidance, and sense of belonging that can make these moments meaningful and transformative.
We believe there is a deep need to gather together again in ways that strengthen relationships between women, families, and communities. Through ceremony, shared meals, storytelling, herbal traditions, and simple acts of care, we create opportunities for people to be seen, supported, and celebrated during life's important passages.
Our hope is not only to honor individual transitions, but to help rekindle a culture of connection—one where women are held through change, wisdom is shared across generations, and communities grow stronger through showing up for one another.
Offerings may include:
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Herbal classes and seasonal workshops that cultivate relationship with local plants
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Fertility awareness and cyclical support grounded in body literacy and choice
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Menarche ceremonies honoring first blood as a threshold of becoming
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Pregnancy blessings & postpartum support centering the mother’s experience
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Embracing elderhood by celebrating peri-menopause, menopause & post menopause
We offer a range of Red Tent gatherings and ceremonies, each shaped by the woman, the season, and the threshold being crossed:
Menarche Ceremony
This ceremony is for families who want their daughter’s first bleed to be something she remembers - held by women who love her, in a space that tells her this is sacred.
It is for families seeking an intentional, loving alternative to silence or shame. For daughters who deserve to begin this chapter trusting the innate wisdom of their body, that their cycle is meaningful, and the women around them have stories worth hearing..
We offer in-home ceremonies or private venue options. Travel within the region can be discussed during inquiry.
THE EXPERIENCE
The Menarch Ceremony gathers the young woman with her chosen circle — her mother, aunts,grandmothers, close friends — to honor this threshold with storytelling, ritual, herbal wellness, and presence.
The ceremony created here stays with her for life, while also offering the women present a chance to reflect, reconnect, and witness this passage with care.
offerings may include
• Guided Red Tent circle with her chosen women (2–3 hours)
• Menstrual cycle education: the four phases, body literacy, what her cycle will mean across her life
• Storytelling from the women in her circle
• Ritual to honor the body and the onset of bleeding
• Flower foot bath as an initiation ritual — held by her circle, blessed by each woman
• Herbal support and grounding practices from Sasha
• Herbal baked goods and teas
• Space for witnessing, reflection, and questions
• Her curated gift box: Red Ceremonial Jumpsuit (Cremona Studios), Sasha's herbal wellness package (red bath blend, herbal soap, body oil, herbal tea blend, body butter)
• Guest gift boxes available as an add-on
• Option to add on: Menarche feast · Photographer
Held in-home or at a private venue · up to 10–15 guests · minimum one month in advance
What the CEREMONY looks like
The ceremony runs two to three hours. We arrive and set the space creating an altar, mandala and foot bath. Herbal baked goods and herbal tea are shared throughout our time together.
The circle opens with the women. Each person present shares what she was told before her own first blood, what she has learned across her years of menstruation, and what she wishes she had known. The room fills with stories, with wisdom, with what women carry in their bodies for years. Diana then guides the group through the menstrual cycle: its four phases, what each brings, what this girl’s body is beginning and what that will mean across her life. The education is woven into the circle.
Sasha leads the ritual to honor the onset of bleeding, drawing on herbal medicine and grounding practices chosen for the season and the individual. The young woman’s initiation is marked with a flower foot bath — her feet held in warm water and petals, while each woman in the circle offers a blessing directly to her.
The ceremony closes with the gift. The young woman receives her curated box — a red ceremonial jumpsuit and Sasha’s herbal wellness package. Guests who wish to receive a gift box of their own may do so as an add-on.
Bridal Blessing
Marriage marks a real shift in a woman’s life. It changes how she relates to home, partnership, and the life she is building. For women who want to acknowledge this transition in a more meaningful way—beyond conventional bridal parties and surface-level celebration—this gathering offers something more personalized and intentional.
A Bridal Blessing gathers the woman with her chosen circle—her mother, sisters, closest friends, and the women who have shaped her—for an intentional and supportive experience. The time is spent in conversation and reflection where each woman contributes something of her understanding of love, relationship, and commitment.
The Experience
The Bridal Blessing is a curated, immersive experience designed to support the bride through ritual, rest, and meaningful connection with her chosen circle of women.
The gathering is shaped in collaboration with the bride, and may include a combination of the following elements:
- Grounding and body-based herbal care practices for rest and arrival
- Floral, seasonal, and sensory rituals to support presence and ease
- A facilitated circle for storytelling, reflection, and shared wisdom from the women closest to her
- Spoken blessings offered directly to the bride from her chosen circle
- A shared creative or hands-on ritual that anchors the experience in something tangible and memorable
- Seasonal food and herbal teas woven throughout the gathering
- Time for connection, witnessing, and informal sharing among the group
OFFERINGS MAY INCLUDE
• Grounding and body-based herbal care practices for rest and arrival
• Floral, seasonal, and sensory rituals to support presence and ease
• A facilitated circle for storytelling, reflection, and shared wisdom from the women closest to her
• Spoken blessings offered directly to the bride from her chosen circle
• Seasonal food and herbal teas woven throughout the gathering
• Time for connection, witnessing, and informal sharing among the group
• Plant dyeing silk scarves
• Herbal skincare making: soap making, clay face masks, herbal creams
• Creating small amulets or keepsakes using natural materials
• Weaving on lap looms
• Writing and assembling collective blessings or letters for the bride
• Crafting herbal sachets or bundles for rest, dreamwork, or home
• Clay sculpting as a grounding, tactile practice
Who this is for
This offering is for the bride who wants to approach this transition with intention, and to shape the experience in a way that feels true to her. Each gathering is designed in collaboration with the bride, with space to choose the tone, setting, and structure that best supports her.
It can be held simply for an afternoon, or expanded into a full-day or weekend experience with her chosen circle—her mother, sisters, closest friends, and the women who have shaped her. For those who want more time and space, we can help coordinate a private setting such as a rented home or retreat property, with options like a saltwater pool, sauna, and shared meals woven into the gathering.
This is for women who want to step outside of conventional bridal activities and create something more personal and lasting. And for the people around her who want to offer their presence in a way that feels thoughtful, grounded, and meaningful.
What the blessing looks like
Each Bridal Blessing is shaped in collaboration with the bride. The overall structure is held with care, while allowing the details to reflect what feels most supportive and meaningful to her.
We guide the group through a shared experience that centers the bride within her circle of women. Diana facilitates the conversational and relational aspects of the gathering, creating space for honest reflection, perspective, and exchange between women. Sasha leads a simple, hands-on creative experience that brings the group into a shared act of making or doing together.
Our role is to hold the container from beginning to end—setting the tone, guiding the flow, and ensuring the experience feels cohesive, grounded, and intentional. The ceremony closes with the gift. The bride receives a curated box from us, including a Cremona Studios garment and Sasha’s herbal gift set, chosen to support her as she moves into this next phase. Guests who wish to receive a full gift box may do so as an add-on.
Mother's Blessing
This ceremony is for the pregnant woman who wants to be truly seen before she crosses the threshold into motherhood. It is for the circle of women around her — mothers, sisters, friends, chosen family — who want to offer more than a party. Who want to sit with her, speak to her, and send her into birth knowing she is loved, held, and not alone.
Becoming a mother is a rite of passage — an initiation. One of the most profound thresholds a woman will ever cross, marking the beginning of a relationship that will reshape everything: her body, her identity, her place among the women in her life. This transition deserves to be honored.
THE EXPERIENCE
- Guided Red Tent circle with her chosen women (2–3 hours)
- Maternal education: the transition ahead, body literacy, postpartum wisdom, and how her chosen circle of women can hold her
- Storytelling from the women in her circle
- A guided creative blessing — each woman weaves or paints her intentions and love for the mother-to-be, and all the pieces are joined together into a single hanging or banner for her birth room
- A custom herbal tea blend by Sasha
- Her curated gift box: Cremona Studios Maternal top and Sasha’s herbal wellness gift set
blessings may include
• Guided Red Tent circle with her chosen women (2–3 hours)
• Maternal education: the transition ahead, body literacy, postpartum wisdom, and how her chosen circle of women can hold her
• Storytelling from the women in her circle
A guided creative blessing — each woman weaves or paints her intentions and love for the mother-to-be, and all the pieces are joined together into a single hanging or banner for her birth room
• A custom herbal tea blend by Sasha
• Her curated gift box: Cremona Studios Maternal top and Sasha’s herbal wellness gift set
Held in-home or at a private venue · up to 10–15 guests · minimum one month in advance
WHAT THE BLESSING LOOKS LIKE
The ceremony runs two to three hours. The circle opens with the women. Each person present shares what she carried into her own experience of birth or motherhood — what she was told, what she learned, what she wishes she had known. The room fills with stories, with wisdom, with what women hold in their bodies across generations.
Diana then guides the group through the transition the mother is entering: what her body is preparing for, what the postpartum window will ask of her, and how the women around her can hold that space. The education is woven into the circle — conversational, embodied, rooted in her actual experience.
Each woman in the circle is then invited by Sasha into a creative act of blessing. Using lap looms, fibers, and colors that speak to her, each woman weaves her prayers, hopes, and intentions for the mother-to-be into a small weaving — a tactile, meditative act of devotion. Small fabric canvases are also available to paint symbols, words of encouragement, or heartfelt messages for the mama. When each woman has completed her piece, all the weavings and painted canvases are brought together and joined as one — either sewn together into a single hanging or strung as a banner — creating a unified tapestry of love made by the hands of her chosen circle. This blessing can hang in her birth room as a visual anchor during labor, a reminder that she is held by every woman who sat in that circle with her, and that their strength, wisdom, and love are woven into the very fabric she looks upon as she brings new life into the world.
The ceremony closes with a gift. The mother receives her curated box — a Cremona Studios Maternal top, Sasha's herbal wellness gift set. Guests who wish to receive a gift box of their own may do so as an add-on.
Mothering the Mother
The postpartum period is one of the most significant and often most under-supported thresholds a woman will cross. Mothering The Mother is a practical and ceremonial offering designed to wrap the new mother in genuine care — in her own home, on her own terms.
We come to you. We bring nourishing food and broth to stock your kitchen, fold laundry, hold the baby, and tend to whatever your home needs that day. Alongside the practical care, we weave in ritual — blessing the mother, honoring her body's work, and witnessing her in this new chapter.
offerings may include
• A home visit from Diana & Sasha
• Nourishing foods, herbal tea and restorative broth
• Practical home support: laundry, errands, light tasks
• Space for conversation, rest, and witnessing
• A blessing circle with chosen guests, if desired
• A Cremona Studios garment
• A Sasha Botanica herbal wellness gift set
Held in the mother's home · Hudson Valley · scheduled in the first weeks after birth
WHAT THE visit LOOKS LIKE
Diana and Sasha arrive at the mother's home for a two to three hour visit, shaped entirely around what she needs that day. We arrive with nourishing food, herbal tea and restorative broth prepared with postpartum recovery in mind, ready to be shared or stored for the days ahead.
We will hold space for conversation: what the mother is feeling, what her body is doing, what this transition is asking of her. We are also happy to help with whatever is needed — a load of laundry, some light tidying, errands, the small tasks that pile up fast in the early weeks.
If the mother desires, a quiet blessing circle can be woven into the visit — her chosen women gathered to witness her, offer blessings, and hold the space around her as she steps into this new chapter.
Before leaving, the mother receives her gift — a Cremona Studios 100% cotton plant-dyed garment and a Sasha Botanica herbal wellness gift set.
Menopause Celebration
This celebration is for the woman who senses the awakening moving through her — and wants it honored. A gathering where the women in her life can witness her, reflect back what they see, and celebrate this threshold together. For women at any stage of the menopausal journey — perimenopause, menopause, or post-menopause. For daughters, friends, and partners who want to offer something meaningful as she crosses into this new chapter.
Whether you are moving through perimenopause, arriving at menopause, or stepping into the wisdom of post-menopause, this gathering honors where you are with intention and reverence.
Offerings may include
• Guided Red Tent circle with her chosen women (2–3 hours)
• Menopause education: what the body is doing, the qualities of this new chapter, and cyclical wisdom for the transition
• Storytelling from the women in her circle
• Ritual gestures of honoring and blessing from Sasha
• Custom herbal teas, blends, and baked goods to support the transition
• Space for witnessing and communal support
• Her curated gift box: Cremona Studios garment, Sasha Botanica herbal gift set, and ritual items
• Guest gift boxes available as an add-on
Held in-home or at a private venue · up to 10–15 guests · minimum one month in advance
WHO IS THIS FOR
Menopause has been buried under a cultural story that gets it completely wrong. Portrayed as something to endure, to manage, to get through. But the truth is — this is an awakening.
This is the moment a woman comes home to herself.
The body that has cycled for decades is completing something immense. And what emerges on the other side — the clarity, the authority, the deep sense of knowing who you are — is worth celebrating.
A Menopause Celebration gathers a woman with her chosen circle — her closest friends, sisters, daughters, the women who have walked alongside her — to honor this threshold with ritual, storytelling, herbal wellness, and presence. Whether she is moving through perimenopause, arriving at menopause, or stepping into the full power of what comes after, this gathering meets her exactly where she is.
WHAT THE CELEBRATION LOOKS LIKE
The ceremony runs two to three hours. We arrive and set the space, creating an altar and mandala. Herbal baked goods and herbal tea are shared throughout.
The circle opens with storytelling. Each woman present shares what she has witnessed in her — what she has seen her carry, become. The room fills with what women hold across a lifetime of knowing each other.
Diana guides the group through the initiation the woman is entering: what this transition means, what it is asking of her, and the qualities of the chapter she is stepping into. Kris Geerken, Sasha's mother and gerontologist, joins the circle in conversation around menopause, aging, and ageism — what it means to enter elderhood in a culture that fears it, and how reclaiming this phase restores dignity, power, and voice to the aging body.
Sasha leads the ritual gestures of honoring and blessing, drawing on herbal medicine and grounding practices chosen for the season and the individual. Then the woman speaks. She names what she is done waiting for. What she is finally claiming. What she is walking toward now that she has earned the right to take up full space in her own life.
The circle witnesses her in silence.
The ceremony closes with the gift — a curated box including a Cremona Studios garment, Sasha's herbal gift set, and ritual items chosen with her transition in mind.
Curated Gift Set
As part of our Red Tent honoring ceremony, each woman will receive a thoughtfully curated gift set created especially for her.
Every gift set includes a one-of-a-kind, 100% organic cotton garment hand-dyed with plants by Cremona Studios, alongside a collection of handcrafted herbal offerings curated by Sasha Botanica. Created with the recipient in mind, each set is unique and may include items such as custom herbal tea blends, nourishing body oils, rich body butters, botanical soaps, and other seasonal herbal creations.
Together, these offerings are intended to serve as tangible reminders of the care, wisdom, beauty, and resilience being celebrated. Rooted in the traditions of women's circles and gift-giving as a form of blessing, each collection is crafted to nourish the body, delight the senses, and honor the woman receiving it.
“The connection between you both is inspiring and contagious. I feel connected to you both and look forward to more of your workshops."
"You created a beautifully safe space for all of us to simply 'be.' Thank you so much for a healing and nourishing weekend."
“If you want to feel held, supported, and so nourished — you're in the right place. Being on a retreat with them felt like escaping into a magical land."
Let's plan your Red Tent Gathering