Seven Sisters is all that and more.
Seven Sisters gathers thousands of women from around Australia for a weekend of wellbeing, healing and connection.
Back for its 12th year, the annual women’s festival will be happening from Thursday, November 14, to Sunday, November 17, in Glenaroua.
Seven Sisters founder Lauren Woodman said there would be new activities added to this year’s festival, like the new Taungurung Lounge.
“The local indigenous community is getting more involved this year,” she said.
“They've got their own space where they’ll be sharing weaving workshops and having their own little market stall and sharing their wares.”
“We’ve also kind of expanded a little bit more in our teens lounge.
“We have much more offerings happening there, so there’ll be more workshops and craft activities.”
Inspired by the past festivals she went to, Ms Woodman started Seven Sisters when she was only 23 years old.
“I really kind of appreciated how open and creative and connected the environments were,” she said.
“I wasn't necessarily super keen on the music, but I was very keen on some of the spaces that had a little healing village or a few workshops.
“I was very much into doing small weekends, self development workshops, and I had joined a couple of women's circles and it had a really big impact on how I connected with my body, how I connected with other women.”
Seven Sisters started with only 350 women hosted in a property south of Shepparton. It kept doubling each year and eventually reached capacity of 3300.
“In the last couple of years, we’ve just consolidated and we’ve just dropped the numbers down to around 2200 just for the nature of the event,” Ms Woodman said.
“It’s nice to kind of keep it at an intimate level and that seems to be a good number.”
Ms Woodman said it was great that women from all over the country made the trip to the region for Seven Sisters.
“It's a really unique, niche event,” she said.
“It is kind of the largest of its kind, having a specific drug (and) alcohol-free women’s wellbeing camping festival that offers this many workshops.”
Seven Sisters offers more than 100 market stalls and 140 different workshops and activities.
“We have 30-plus performers and artists, a number of lounge spaces, incredible food and a big healing village,” Ms Woodman said.
“The festival is very much a ‘choose your own adventure’ festival where you get to explore, experiment and sample a lot of different healing modalities, experiences and learn from different teachers and thought leaders.
“It's all run by women for women.
“It runs over four days and three nights and it’s very much about choice, so people can either camp on site, or they can glamp on site. They can bring the caravan, or some people stay off in local accommodation, all depending on their comfort levels.
“It's an opportunity to kind of curate your own retreat.”
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