Who are we?
“Friendships between women, as any woman will
tell you, are built of a thousand small kindnesses …
swapped back and forth and over again.”
— Michelle Obama
Meet Sarah & Fiona
Founders of Soul Sisters Derbyshire
Our story
Fiona and I have been friends for many years, first meeting when Fiona had a market stall in our local town, and I was renting a room in a local alternative health clinic.
We’ve helped each other through relationship breakdowns, business problems, moving home and all the other curve balls that life can throw at someone.
We’re the sort of friends that can go weeks or months without talking and pick up as if that time in between had never been spent and our connection is our spirituality. Our belief in the magick of nature is strong and I’ve lost count of the hours we’ve spent exploring our local woodlands with our drums in hand.
Just before covid hit and we all ended up at home, Fiona and I had been talking about how much time we spent on our own as we both worked for ourselves at home, and how we wished there were groups of other women we could go to, and especially if those groups did things that we enjoyed doing.
The trouble was, we couldn’t find any that weren’t miles away from us.
We have always been looking for ways we can work together so we wrote some ideas down about starting a group and had a look around our local area for a venue. We had no luck though and we couldn’t find anywhere to host our group.
The idea got shelved when covid came along. I had to shield for almost two years as my eldest son was vulnerable and Fiona and I only saw each very occasionally until finally in very early 2023, we spoke again about our wish for connecting with other women. We’d both found ourselves even more isolated over the previous two years and were desperate to get something going.
As if the universe was trying to tell us something, we found out that the community centre in the village that sits between both our houses had been reopened and they had rooms available for hire.
We opened our first circle on 15th May 2023 and were blown away by how many women were waiting for us at the door!
We’ve had so much fun with you all since then!
We’ve made friends, we’ve been supported and we’ve been the supporters…..
We’ve been blown away by the amazing souls that we’ve been able to connect with through the space that we created out of our own need for connection.
Onto the next chapter......
We outgrew the space at the community centre late last year and decided to move on to the next space we could call home. We’re currently renovating the space and our aim is to make it the safest, most magickal indoor space in our local area for healing, magick and all things spiritual.
In the meantime, you can join us for circle online every Monday evening and follow us on Facebook for updates on our renovation journey.
You can also sign up for Sisterhood straight to your inbox at the bottom of this page.
Yours in Sisterhood,
Sarah x
Meet the Soul Sisters
Fiona Bunting
Creative Director
Hi,I’m Fiona Gypsy Bunting.
I’ve always been a creative soul and a lover of nature from a young age. Being outdoors was my happy place,as much as being sat in front of a fire with a sketch book and pencils.
Creativity and a love for being in nature stayed with me in many ways growing up, but it wasn’t until my 2 children were older and I turned 40 that I decided I needed more creativity in my life, so enrolled on a college course of art and design.
I really found my place and my tribe in that time, I knew I was ‘home’ and that art was to take me on a new path,a new journey. That new path lead me to here and creating becoming my way of life.
Living in Derbyshire I am forever inspired by the changing seasons,landscapes and wildlife. As I’ve got older my connection to nature has grown stronger,not only for its inspiration but for its ability to heal,to ground,to bring an inner calm. It’s wildness,its softness,its ability to rest and wake,roar and be still,it is us,we are it. It is in some ways my teacher,my therapy and my friend.
So it was the natural flow that brought nature and creativity together to become my way of life.
During lockdown I found a new passion.Enrolling on an online writing course I found a love for creating through words,rather than painting! I particularly love writing poetry and prose,inspired again by nature and our close connection with it. Some of my poems/prose, now find their way into my artwork,which I love combining!
Sarah Kerr
Circle Lead
I’ve always believed in the healing power of nature. I learned early on that spending time outside in among the wisdom of the trees and flowers was my tonic of choice.
It was a combination of the power of the trees and flowers together with the warm, compassionate nature of my paternal grandmother that led me to want to be a nurse.
I never made it to that particular career, but when I was 16 I found witchcraft which taught me that I was right about nature. Then at 22, my eldest son was diagnosed with a life limiting genetic condition when he was just 18 months old, and I found energy healing.
My paternal grandmother also taught me about the power of women together and I knew I was missing that in my life a few years ago when Fiona and I were having that conversation about feeling lonely.
Now I bring all three to my work and I spend my time helping people heal, find their own magick and creating supportive communities.
