Well, I Grew A Lot Of Carrots: The Fever Dream Year

In Wales lockdown measures have recently been relaxed, so that we are now easing back into some kind of semi-normality. On Monday 12th April I returned to work for the first time since just before Christmas 2020 when it was announced that all non-essential retail in Wales would close. I vividly remember returning home from work on December 19th after a long hard day and hearing the news literally as I pulled into the driveway. At the time I imagined I'd be resuming work some time in mid-January, yet it has taken until now, mid-April for that to happen. 

Being back at work this week has been a strange mixture of the familiar and the strange. The environment and the work is well-known and yet there's an odd sense of unreality that I don't recall feeling on my return to work after the first lockdown last spring.

I suspect I'm not alone in feeling this sense of confusion and dislocation. The long months suspended from our normal routines have been followed by a supposed return to normality which is anything but normal. I may be back working one of the  several part time jobs I had before the first lockdown, but most of my other jobs have fallen casualty to the pandemic for one reason or another and ceased. I may be back in familiar surroundings fulfilling a familiar role, but I am doing it while wearing a mask and observing social distancing, and I still can't hug a workmate, invite friends into my home, or teach a workshop. Looking back, so much and so little has happened.   

Seeing (separately) two friends for the first time in months this week highlighted this strangeness for me. It was lovely to see them and reconnect after being separated from them for such a long time. And yet I found myself floundering when they both asked me the simple question, 'So how have you been?'

How have I been? What have I been doing during the long months of lockdown? What has life been like, what has changed, where will life go from here?

All the answers that I could give are too deep or too shallow. How can I convey the spikes of fear and the blur of boredom; the endless anxiety about my elderly parents and my friend with COPD; the unaccustomed luxury of time to sleep in late and garden and cook and write and immerse myself in a good book; the stupefying lack of focus; the slow accretion of outstanding tasks which keep me awake at night, while I instantly forget the goals reached and accomplishments achieved during the same time frame?

When one friend asked me 'What have you been up to?' I found myself giving the slightly surreal, completely inadequate and not even wholly accurate response, 'Well, I grew a lot of carrots,'. At the time it was all my mind could pluck from the nebulous swirl of 'my life during lockdown'.

Looking back over the last year, it all seems rather like a fever dream - simultaneously vivid and vague, surreal, epic, confusing and impossible to convey precisely. Which is all quite understandable. We have all - the entire world - undergone a dislocation from our normal lives, experienced a trauma. Everyone experiences upheavals in life, times of pain and fear and loss, but we don't usually all experience them simultaneously so that the whole world is jolted from its tracks. And this trauma has not been a single short-lived shock, but a long, drawn-out upheaval which has left people exhausted.

And yet... I wonder what will come from this in the long run? I am hopeful that we as a species will move forward from this having learned some useful lessons, and thinking hard about what it is we want to 'go back to'. 

Some years ago at a Witchcamp, I took part in an elaborate life/death/rebirth ritual in which people were guided through a series of gateways, each representing an aspect of their lives such as their name(s), possessions, achievements, friends/family/loved ones etc. At each gateway they were instructed to leave every one of these things behind. It was a gradual stripping away of every part of identity and self. At the final gateway they were greeted by a priestess aspecting the Goddess, who blew out the tealight they carried (symbolising their life force). They were then given as much time as they needed to bathe in Her Cauldron of Rebirth (a hot tub!) while meditating on what they had left behind, what they wanted to retrieve - and what they wanted to leave behind. It was a gruelling process for most people, but deeply informative and transformative. So much of what we carry with us through life we carry through habit, or because we've been told by others we must carry it. Stripping everything away and consciously choosing to recover only those things of value is immensely freeing. When each person was ready, they left the hot tub and were given a new tealight symbolising their rebirth. They retraced their steps through each gate, picking back up the things they wished to carry into their new lives - but crucially, leaving behind those which they had decided they no longer wished to carry. So, for example I have been known by many names in my life - Susan, Moonroot, Moonie, Susie, Wallis, daughter, sister, wife, witch, aromatherapist etc. But I have also been called ginger, fat, stupid, ugly, bitch etc. Some of these names have come from other people - and some I have called myself. When I strip away these names and identities and leave them at the gate, on my return I can choose which names I wish to carry - and those I am happy to leave in the dust.

This pandemic has stripped our normal lives away from us. When we return through each gate, I hope that we will think very carefully about what it is that we wish to pick back up. My 'normal' life before all this began was actually pretty dysfunctional in many ways. Post-divorce, job insecurity and fear of poverty had led to me working 6-7 day weeks. I was permanently exhausted, short-tempered and ill, but I couldn't seem to get off that hamster wheel. Every time I was offered more work I said yes, because I was always short of money and afraid that the work I did have would dry up, leaving me penniless. Being forced to slow down and stop made me realise how joyless life had become. During months of lockdown I have started to read books again, cook from scratch again, grow vegetables again, observe the Wheel of the Year again. I have finally learned how to properly use the camera I bought several years ago and have taken reams of photographs. I have had time for the long, deep conversations that feed my soul. I have written more in the last year than I have managed in the previous three or four years. I have had time to sit and drink in the beauty surrounding me. And most importantly I have had time to reassess the way I've been leading my life and come to some important decisions about what I want to change about that. 

Much of my 'normal' life was in direct contradiction to my values and beliefs. I was buying pre-packaged convenience foods because I was too damned tired to cook. I was driving miles and miles between my scattered jobs, eating junk food on the hoof. I was too tired to have much of a social life and short-tempered with my loved ones. My house was a mess. Every so often I would manage a holiday or have an enforced break caused by illness and I would resolve to do better - but immediately fall back into my old ways. My mantra seemed to always be, 'next month, when things are less busy...', but next month never was less busy, and so it went on.

All of that has been taken away from me. I have lost three of my part time jobs and of the remaining three, restrictions mean I am only able to work at one of them at the moment. When I am able to resume all three, that will be enough. I am determined to find a way to manage financially without damaging my physical and mental health further and working myself into an early grave. My petrol consumption has plummeted. I have been gradually sorting out the house and making my environment a pleasant one. I have stopped shopping at big supermarkets and now buy most of my groceries from a small local zero-waste shop. Guess what? Their prices may be higher than the supermarket, but because I am only buying what I need and not getting sucked in by special offers and convenience foods I have actually cut our food bills and food waste. I have been growing our own vegetables and cooking proper meals - I make my own hummus and veggie burgers and bread from scratch. What I have realised is that staying on the hamster wheel required me to spend more money than it brought in. My life is now more manageable, less expensive, less wasteful, greener and infinitely more satisfying.

The other great lesson I hope we can learn from the pandemic is that we are all in this together, and working collaboratively for the good of the whole is the best and fairest way to run the world. Look at the awe-inspiring collective effort that has brought us effective vaccines in the space of a year! We humans are at our most marvellous when we co-operate rather than compete.

I believe the sense of unreality I am feeling is the world re-making itself in a new and hopefully better way. We have all had much of our lives stripped away over the last year, and spent time immersed in the Cauldron of Rebirth swirling in a fever dream of possibility. Now as we prepare to leave the Cauldron and re-enter the world, let's consider very carefully the kind of 'normality' we wish to return to. What will you pick back up? What will you choose to leave behind? The great blessing of every period of difficulty in our lives is the lessons we learn from it, and the chance we are given to grow. Let's seize this unprecedented opportunity we've been given with enthusiasm and build a better 'normal'. The old world wasn't working anyway, why go back to it?

           

     

Avalon Spring Witchcamp

I have attended, helped to organise and co-taught at Avalon Witchcamp (latterly Avalon Spring Witchcamp), since 1998. Today I am saddened to be posting that we are at the end of an era. Avalon Spring has come to an end.

I loved Avalon deeply, have had some life-changing experiences there, met wonderful people and learned so much. I am deeply saddened at the loss of this event, yet I know that things must change and move on, and Avalon Spring seems to have reached an end point. I am also glad that there is an alternative British Witchcamp, Dragonrise, where the British Reclaiming Community can continue to meet and grow.

R.I.P. Avalon Spring.

Below is the statement issued by the organising team:

Dear British Reclaiming Community,

We (the organising team for Avalon Spring) regret to announce that there will not be an Avalon Spring Witchcamp this summer or in our foreseeable future. After 16 years, Avalon Spring organisers have taken the decision to end their work of running an Avalon Spring Witchcamp. The cancellation of the 2012 camp left Avalon Spring without any 'seed money' to finance another event, and in addition the current organisers all have various time, health, finance and work circumstances which have led to the decision. This leaves a clear magical space for any others to offer their time and energy to the challenge if they so wish. We hope that others may feel inspired to take up the mantle of another witchcamp as an event that belongs to the community, or of initiating a new event/events at some point in the future. Ending Avalon Spring does not mean that the current organisers will not participate in new endeavours for the community, but in fact several have moved on to other organising and community teaching activities.

 

We would like to thank all current and past organisers for their contribution, who all gave freely of their time and creative energy. They were not paid for the work, and financially subsidised the events in many ways. We would also like to thank all those in the wider community who supported the events, both financially and in other forms. A particular mention goes to the Earth Group who gave generously of financial backing so that camps could go ahead. 

 

On reflection, we recognise that camps have evolved and changed over the years, as has the economic climate. This included the growth and developments at Earthspirit, a venue created not long before our first camp, and which has offered us positive support throughout. The nature of camps changed allowing for a more experimental model, but this was in parallel to increasing pressure on our attempts to maintain affordability. We realised that certain numbers attending were required to support lower costs, and lessons have been learned about the type of flexibility required in this work.  

 

To conclude, we believe that Avalon Witchcamp  has offered many people positive and valuable magical and communal experiences over the years. The camp played its part in introducing teachers from overseas, training Reclaiming teachers in the UK, providing links to the wider Reclaiming community internationally, and creating links between people which facilitated the formation of the British Reclaiming Community. 

 

Thanks once again to everyone who has supported Avalon Spring over the last 16 years - campers, organisers and teachers.

 AnneMarie, Georgia, Mikey, Monica, Susan, Suzanne, Will, and Annie

The 'C' Word, Part 3: Building Bridges

I went to my first Reclaiming WitchCamp (Avalon, held near Glastonbury) in 1998, and loved it so much I went back the following year. The year after that I joined the organising group. It became an important annual event in my calendar: every summer, a week at Avalon WitchCamp, and the people I met at the camp became my spiritual community. In 2006, I nervously became a student teacher at Avalon, and in 2007 I was asked to teach again. Except it didn't happen. For a variety of reasons, Avalon WitchCamp 2007 was cancelled (I'm reasonably sure my shortcomings as a teacher weren't a major contributing factor!). The repercussions of the cancellation  were many and various, including the organising of a Summer Gathering, and also the birth of a new, second British WitchCamp, Dragonrise.

It was a turbulent time for the British Reclaiming Community. I've a written a little about it here, but for the most part - not wanting to stir up additional controversy or add fuel to any smouldering fires - I've skirted around the more difficult areas. But suffice it to say, difficulties at the 2006 camp caused divisions that derailed the 2007 camp. Dragonrise Camp arose in part as an alternative to Avalon Camp for those who were dissatisfied with Avalon or wanted to try a different model. And although both camps behaved well - even helpfully - towards each other (agreeing to hold camps in alternate years so as not to be in direct competition, for example), there remained a certain amount of distance between them. Some people in the community fell very definitely into the 'Avalon' side and others into team 'Dragonrise'. Still others - myself included - maintained links with both communities.

In 2009 I was asked to be a resource teacher at Dragonrise but couldn't accept due to other commitments, and in 2011 I was too late booking a ticket and missed out. In 2012, Avalon (by now re-named Avalon Spring) had to be cancelled due to low bookings, so by this year I was determined to attend Dragonrise for the first time! I booked my ticket early, and was looking forward to attending a WitchCamp as an ordinary camper with no responsibilities except to myself for the first time in a while. And then a couple of months before camp was due I got a phone call...

Changes within the teaching team had created a vacancy. Would I like to fill that vacancy? Of course, I said yes.

******

How does this fit with our theme of Closure? Well, as mentioned above, there was still some healing to be done between the two camps. And I felt I needed some healing on a personal level since the fall-out from the cancellation of Avalon 2007. I'd found the split in the community very distressing, and papering over the cracks and pulling together warring factions to create the Summer Gathering was far more stressful than I could possibly have imagined. And now once again, only a week after the emotional upheavals of the wedding in Essex, I found myself faced with the prospect of re-visiting old 'issues' and the opportunity to finally resolve them.

From the outset, joining the Dragonrise teaching team was reassuring. There's a huge amount of work involved in teaching a WitchCamp, and joining the planning process at such a late stage was to say the least nerve-wracking! However, my fellow teachers (Chelidon, Suus and Fortuna) were very welcoming to this late-comer. From the outset we worked extremely well together and things proceeded very smoothly. By strange co-incidence, Chelidon had been my co-teacher for my first WitchCamp teaching experience at Avalon in 2006. We gathered together for in-person pre-camp planning a few days before camp started at the lovely home of one of the Dragonrise organisers, Raven, who had also been on the teaching team at Avalon 2006.  Before camp even started I felt loose ends left hanging for years were being tied up, old wounds finally being soothed and healed.

The camp itself was a delight. Lovely venue, amazing food (a thousand 'thank you's to the fabulous cooks, Amanda and Raven), wonderful people (some of whom I hadn't seen since the 2007 Summer Gathering or earlier), favourable weather, and the Paths (teaching groups) and evening rituals went really well.

By the time we found ourselves gathered for the closing ritual I was feeling very happy that we had had such a wonderful camp, satisfied with the renewal and strengthening of old connections, and very sad to be saying goodbye to such a lovely group of old and new friends. For me, Dragonrise 2013 was magical: a totally reaffirming and healing experience for which I am very grateful. I certainly intend to book my place at Dragonrise 2015 as soon as I can.

See you there?

******

Anyone would think this was enough closure for one summer, wouldn't they? After the Birthday, the Wedding and the WitchCamp, I myself thought that was it. More than enough to process and work through. But there was more in store. Something I had been trying for some time to push away and not deal with was coming to the fore, demanding my attention whether I wanted to deal with it or not. At Dragonrise I had the chance to build bridges. But on my return there was another bridge waiting, and this one needed burning...

(To be continued!)






  

    

An Invitation...

Join us for a 5-day spiritual intensive at

Avalon Spring

5 June – 9 June 2012!

Come and connect with like minded souls; laugh, learn, sing, celebrate, dance, talk, discuss, dream, chant, work magic and do ritual under the stars, in a beautiful peaceful setting near Glastonbury, the magical Isle of Avalon...

This year the story we will be working with is Diana, Queen of Witches and Lucifer, Lightbringer

Diana was the first created before all creation; in her were all things; out of herself, the first darkness, she divided herself; into darkness and light she was divided. Lucifer, her brother and son, herself and her other half, was the light.

*****

And so our journey begins. Diana, Queen of the witches and Lucifer, Lightbringer, her brother and lover. What do they have to teach us? What parts of ourselves are touched by the moon and sun, all of it. For five days we will work the mythic story from Italian witchcraft first published in a book by Charles Leland in 1899. We’ll do this through path working and ritual.



The teaching team for Avalon Spring 2012 is Anne-Marie (Bríghde Éire), Cassandra, Georgia Midnight Crow and Rook.



Earth Spirit has been the home for Avalon and later, Avalon Spring intensives in the Reclaiming Tradition for many years. For the last few years we have tried different formats for our witchcamp; very low cost at Epping Forest, to long weekend formats, and the addition of Feri Tradition work in acknowledgement of who we are (the organisers) both Reclaiming and Feri, and the roots of much of Reclaiming core working.



We will be focusing more on the strengths of Reclaiming style in public ritual and witchcamps. All the teachers are Reclaiming witchcamp trained, and have always been so, and have been teaching for many years.



Costs this year are on a sliding scale £300-£350 for camping, £350-£400 for dorm accommodation. Concessionary places are available if you are low waged/unwaged. Payment by instalments is possible, please contact us for details.



Please see the website for further details: http://avalonspring.me/

Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Avalon-Spring-WitchCamp/244559932242936

email avaloncamp@gmail.com

Or contact Suzanne 0208 667 1525



Hope to see you there!

Avalon Spring 2012

Avalon Spring 2012 will be held 5th-9th June at a gorgeous venue near Glastonbury, Somerset. This year we will be working with the Diana/Aradia/Lucifer myth - I can't wait! Full details may be found on the website. I'll be going - see you there?

ThriftWitch: The Magic of Scent

Scent is one of our five senses, yet for many of us it takes a bit of a back seat to seeing, hearing or touch. Nevertheless, despite - or perhaps because of this, it is a powerful link with our subconscious. Just as the taste of a madeleine brought up many involuntary memories for the narrator of Proust's "À la Recherche du Temps Perdu", I'm sure many of us have experiences of aromas bringing forgotten memories and (perhaps more importantly) emotions flooding back. For example as an adult, just walking into a school and smelling that distinctive, familiar, yet long-unencountered complicated mixture that is 'school' brings back one's own schooldays with an almost shocking immediacy. The smell of an old-fashioned kitchen - gas stove, vanilla essence, cinnamon and just a dash of vinegar - instantly has me sitting at my Nanna's kitchen table watching her bake her famous fruitcake.

Sometimes, the link between scent and memory becomes so explicit and well known to us that we no longer need to smell something, just see or conjure up its image to recall all that the scent holds for us. There was a huge lavender bush just outside the kitchen door of my cousins' house in Dorset where we spent so many happy summer days in my childhood. The sent of lavender has always brought those days back to me, but now I only have to see a lavender bush, or the image of one, for the memories to come back just as clearly as they would from the aroma of lavender.

We use this connection between scent, memory and emotion in many ways. For example we choose different scents for the way they make us feel - a zesty citrus shower gel to wake us up in the morning and make us feel alert and energised, a floral scent such as jasmine or rose when we want to feel feminine or seductive, or a comforting smell like vanilla to turn our homes into a relaxing sanctuary. Of course, because smell is a very personal thing, if you hate vanilla it's not going to make you feel relaxed. So never mind what moods people tell you certain scents are supposed to evoke, go with what they mean to you.

Scent of course, can be used in so many magical ways. It is usual to light incense for example, when creating sacred space. This is partly to cleanse the area and create the right atmosphere for the intended working, and thus there are many commercial blends of incense available that are supposed to evoke the energy of a particular deity or Sabbat. But again, I would advise that if you want to invoke Gaia yet think the Gaia incense you bought for the occasion stinks, don't use it! Think instead about what Gaia means to you (abundance? nurturing? the green Earth?) and try to come up with scents that conjure up these ideas - you could try a berry, apple or peach fragranced oil for abundance for example; perhaps vanilla, cinnamon or your mother's favourite perfume from your childhood for nurturing; a patchouli or pine or grass scented joss stick for the green Earth. You get the picture. As always, use the books (or websites or blogs!) for inspiration, then toss them aside and use what works for you.

I would suggest another function of incense is to put us in the right mind for ritual and/or magic. Some incenses do actually have a measurable effect on our physiology. Frankincense for example is known to slow and deepen the breathing, putting one into a meditative state of mind which explains its popularity as an incense over the millennia. With other incenses, I would suggest that if you habitually burn, say, sandalwood incense for your rituals, the involuntary memory thing will eventually kick in so that whenever and wherever you smell sandalwood incense your mind will go into 'ritual mode'.

So why not use this scent-involuntary memory connection to help you 'change consciousness at will' (Dion Fortune's definition of what magic is)? The first summer I went to Witchcamp, I took a new perfume with me and wore it every day. When I got home, without thinking I reverted to my normal 'everyday' perfume. One day I picked up the bottle of Witchcamp perfume - as soon as I took a sniff I was transported back to Witchcamp! From then on I wore the perfume only for Witchcamp-related things: at subsequent Witchcamps, when meeting up with friends from Witchcamp, or (when I started to get involved with organising Avalon Witchcamp) at Witchcamp organising meetings. Later on, after a vision of community as a giant, sacred beehive, I found a honey scented shower gel from Lush that I used whenever I was doing anything community orientated or when I was trying to make connections or draw new friends into my life. I still use both scents when appropriate, and find they continue to stir my unconscious and help me achieve the state of mind I wish to be in.

I suggest you find a 'basic' scent that you use for your generic rituals and magical workings that will help you instantly get into 'ritual mind'. You can always vary things for specific purposes, but having a reliable standby scent can be a great shortcut! My two standby favourites are patchouli joss sticks or Starchild's 'Hecate' loose incense. If you don't like incense you could try fragrance oils or essential oils in a diffuser or rubbed onto the candles you are using. Or apply perfume to your pulse points, use scented candles, pot pourri, fresh flowers, herbs and spices, floral waters in spritzers, floorwashes... the possibilities are endless.

I was thinking that it would also be helpful to choose a series of emotion-linked scents that you could carry with you in small vials to give you a heping hand when you need it. You could choose your favourite soothing scent for stressful situations, a scent that speaks to you of confidence and self-esteem for challenging situations, perhaps something that makes you feel healthy and full of vitality for when you are lacking energy or feeling under the weather. You must be careful not to only sniff them in 'negative' situations though - remember to wear them on your skin when you know you are going to be feeling relaxed and happy, or full of self-assurance, or full of well-being. That way you will make the connection in your subconscious and can then bring them out in times of need. One of my favourite perfumes is Chanel's 'Cristalle', a light summery scent that I usually reserve for special occasions. A little sniff of it instantly brings so many happy memories flooding back and always lifts my mood.

I am also a great fan of essential oils which I use for first aid (tea tree for cuts, grazes etc, lavender for burns, a quick sniff of ginger as an instant cure for queasiness...), around the house for cleaning purposes and just because they smell nice. My next ThriftWitch post will cover the subject of making your own household cleaning products - they're cheap, safe, smell great and are really effective. In the meantime, have fun experimenting with the magical/emotional possibilities of scent...

Story of a Necklace

I will shortly be leaving for this year's Avalon Spring witchcamp. And when choosing what to pack, I was drawn to bring along a necklace which normally sits on my main altar, in a corner of the bedroom.

The story of this necklace goes back to Avalon Spring 2008, where I first became acquainted with it. Dawn Isidora, who was one of the teachers that year, made three beautiful necklaces which she brought with her to be auctioned to raise funds for camp. Three members of the teaching team wore the necklaces throughout camp so that they would soak up the energy of the rituals. I felt an instant kinship for the necklace I was given to wear, and decided I would definitely bid for it in the auction on the final night of camp. Dawn had strung the other two necklaces with a definite intent for their energy, but she said she was unsure what 'my' necklace was about. She had strung it instinctively, and was still unsure what its purpose was.

For me it spoke of love, romantic love. The pale pink pearls (pink being the colour of love) were interspersed with tiny glass hearts and teeny copper beads (copper being the metal of Venus). At that time I had been married for nearly 17 years and whilst I was happy in my marriage it is fair to say that romance wasn't particularly high on the agenda - familiarity having bred a certain amount of taking each other for granted. Nor was I interested in drawing a new love into my life, being decidedly monogamist in my preferences. Nevertheless, I felt I had 'bonded' with the necklace and determined that I would be the winning bidder.

At the auction, I allowed myself a budget of £45. The first necklace sold for an amount comfortably within that limit, and I relaxed a little. The second went for a little higher than my budget, but I told myself hopefully that by now people would have exhausted their spending muscles and I would be lucky. But by now, the end of the auction, people were really getting into the swing of it, and the price for the necklace went up and up, as my heart sunk and sunk. All however, was not lost. My dear friends Georgia and Annie had noticed how much I wanted the necklace, and when my price limit was exceeded and I stopped bidding, they chipped in additional money on my behalf, until at last all competition fell away, and the necklace was mine.

I still remained puzzled as to why I felt so drawn to the necklace, but took it home to sit proudly on my altar and occasionally come out, displayed around my neck.

Later that year, my marriage - much to my surprise - ended, and I was left alone, dazed and confused by this unexpected turn of events.

The necklace lay mostly forgotten on the altar, until a friend from the local Pagan community started to become more than just a friend. At Beltane 2009, I wore my love necklace for the first time with intent; the intent that if the time was right I would open my heart to new possibilities. By the end of the month, IB and I had made the transition from friends to lovers, and my happiness grew and grew.

Today, packing my bags I wanted to bring the necklace, but it has always had a loose fastening and I was worried about losing it. I mentioned it to IB, who promptly delicately, yet securely soldered it so that I can wear it with confidence.

And at Avalon Spring this year, for the first time I will be joined by my partner (T never having been interested in such things), and I can't wait to share this event I love so much with the person I love so much. My happiness continues to grow.

Now my necklace and my love are secure. Don't you just love a happy ending?

Avalon Spring 2010

Now that summer is in full bloom I am getting excited about this year's Avalon Spring (Witchcamp). Witchcamp is always one of my summer highlights, and I just know that this year's is going to be wonderful.

I am lucky enough to be teaching again this year, along with three dear friends who also happen to be wonderful teachers and priestesses - Brighde Eire, Georgia Midnight Crow and Deborah Oak. We're cooking up some great offerings (workshops) which I'm really excited about. Once again we will return to the beautiful Earthspirit retreat centre near Glastonbury where we will gather under the stern gaze of the resident dragon, Clifford (really!), bathe in the dappled sunlight of the sacred tree circle and dance beneath the stars in the evening rituals. And this year we are working with a beautiful story, the Feri Creation myth of the Star Goddess.

I can't wait - come and join us if you can, it's going to be amazing!

On the Magic of Time and Hope...

Photo: Clifford, the Earthspirit Dragon (part mural, part 3-D sculpture), who watches over the main meeting room.

One of the pieces of advertising we put out for this year's Avalon Spring read: "In the leafy freshness of early summer, step out of time between the mists of Avalon at our magical intensive, Avalon Spring. We will meet together within the sacred enclosure of Avalon, to create sacred space and experience ritual, trance work, visualisation, ecstasy, sacred drama, ecomagic, dancing, chanting, storytelling, community building and have lots of fun!". As it turns out, that is exactly what we did, although in the weeks leading up to camp we had worried that things might turn out very differently...

Photo: A close-up of Clifford - isn't he gorgeous?

Bookings were very slow coming in this year, and we mused on the underlying reason. Was it the economic downturn and a lack of funds that was preventing people from coming? Or had the Witchcamp model run its course in the UK? Was it just a quiet year, or was it in fact the end of an era? Avalon Spring is a labour of love for those of us who organise and teach it, and we didn't want to think that this could be the camp's last year.

To make it more affordable - in case the economic climate was to blame - we made the decision to shorten the length of camp from 5 days to a long weekend (23rd-25th May) and reduced the prices accordingly. After the change was announced, only two of those who had already booked decided not to come after all, and suddenly bookings were coming in thick and fast. Phew - so it was only a shortage of funds keeping people away!

Somehow we condensed things down into the new time slot. To our great amazement, time seemed to stretch to accommodate us, and much, much more than I would have thought possible somehow fitted neatly into our schedule. Nothing felt rushed or pressured, yet everything we had wanted to include was included. Bríghde Éire (Anne-Marie) and myself taught 'The Path of Devotion', examining a variety of devotional practices and the question, 'How many ways can we pray?'. Georgia Midnight Crow and Dawn Isidora taught 'The Sacred Sexual Soul', dealing with issues of sex, love, spirit, personal boundaries and finding our own authentic selves.

People enjoyed the work we did, they enjoyed the evening rituals around the fire, the venue, the food. The sun shone and the rain held off! The feedback we were given from everyone was without exception positive. Yes, they loved it. Yes, they want it to happen again. Yes, they would like it to be longer next time, and yes, they will be coming back.

Photo: L-R Georgia Midnight Crow, Dawn Isidora, Sylvia Rose. Also gorgeous.

After the campers had left, we remaining organisers planted two trees, an ash and a crab apple. We had brought them as a gift for Earthspirit, our venue for all but one of the Witchcamps we have held each year since 1998. Our initial expectation was that the trees would be something of a parting gift, in thanks for and acknowledgement of the good times we have spent there over the years. Many of us feel a deep connection with the Earthspirit land and the many beings who make their home there, and in thinking this may be our last year it seemed an appropriate gesture. And yet Avalon Spring 2009 has shown clearly that things are not over after all. Times are tough all round, but with imagination and flexibility we have been able to find revitalisation.

In the end, the tree planting was done in an atmosphere of quiet joy and hope, as we softly sang chants that sounded like lullabies to the young trees. This won't be our last year. We will return, and be able to watch our two small saplings as they grow into beautiful trees. May they and Earthspirit and the Witchcamp community flourish! Blessed Be.

P.S. Leaf's well-written and interesting account of his experience at Avalon Spring this year may be found here.

A Little Magic...

Avalon Spring is fast approaching. However, we became aware that the 5-day intensive we had planned was proving a step too far financially for many people in today's economic climate. So we have waved our magic wands and abracadabra! Avalon Spring has been transformed from a 5-day residential intensive to a far more affordable weekend intensive.

Full details are on the website. It's going to be wonderful, so please join us!

Work of the Heart

I have been away this weekend, at a planning meeting for Avalon Spring, this year's Witchcamp. It was tiring driving up to Croydon and back in two days (including a couple of diversions to pop in and see Mum & Dad and to give my friend Gaia a lift back to Swansea), and the meeting required a certain amount of hard work too!

But it is exciting to see the project coming together so well. I love the unique event that is a Witchcamp, and it is gratifying to put in the graft that makes it happen and see the resulting enjoyment of others. And of course it was wonderful to spend time with my good friends, not only working but laughing, talking, eating and drinking together. Isn't it a fact that the company of good friends makes any work a pleasure?

Here's the publicity we've sent out to people via email - I think this is going to be a great camp!

Charge of the Goddess

A 6 day residential intensive in Reclaiming and Feri magic 23 - 28 May 2009

In the leafy freshness of early summer, step out of time between the mists of Avalon at our magical intensive, Avalon Spring. We will meet together within the sacred enclosure of Avalon, to create sacred space and experience ritual, trance work, visualisation, ecstasy, sacred drama, ecomagic, dancing, chanting, storytelling, community building and have lots of fun! Our venue, EarthSpirit lies nestled within the beautiful Somerset hills, surrounded by fields and woodland. Avalon Spring has a long and intimate relationship with the land at EarthSpirit and has made deep connections with the beings that reside there - visible and invisible, and human and non-human - and is happy to be back there for 2009.

*****

Listen to the words of the Great Mother...

and so it begins; our journey into this beautiful and profound
piece of liturgy originally written by Doreen Valiente that embodies

most witches’ concept of the many faces of
the Goddess. Her many names come to us through time.

‘For behold, I am the mother of all things and My
love is poured upon the earth.

For behold, I have been with you from the beginning, and I am that which is
attained at the end of desire.’

Working through the lens of the Charge of the Goddess, we will explore the ecstasy of devotion and our inherent Divinity and Humanness through daily pathworking and evening rituals.


'Present and aligned. Divine and Human. We are paradox and possibility.'

The intention for the 2009 Avalon Spring intensive invites us to become who we really are.
Join us from the 23 to 28 May 2009 as we explore what it means to be aligned and present, divine and human and to be paradox and possibility. We will celebrate our divine selves and immerse our ’selves’ in the Charge of the Goddess. Gather with us to do the work the multiverse calls us to do at our 11th residential intensive just outside of Glastonbury on the edge of Compton Dundon village in Somerset.

Avalon Spring is a 6 day residential intensive in witchcraft and earth based spirituality in the Reclaiming Tradition, which this year will also be exploring the Feri roots of Reclaiming. We welcome all traditions and people of all experience levels, and invite all to come together as community to explore practical magic, devotional practices and ‘craft’ skills to take into our everyday lives.

Dorm Place, £450-£600
Camping Place £350-£500
(Cost includes all meals)

To enquire about booking, or for details of concessionary places and sliding scales contact us:

E-mail: avaloncamp@gmail.com
Website: http://avalonspring.wordpress.com/

Tree of Happiness Award

Continuing to play catch up on the blog, I find I have been tagged by the lovely aromatic at Winds of Change, who has awarded me the Tree of Happiness. Thank you!

The rules of the award are:

• Link to the person who gave the award to you.
• Post the rules on your blog.
• List six things that make you happy.
• Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
• Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog
• Let the person who awarded you know when your entry is up.

It's always a good exercise to focus on the positives in life, so with no further ado, my six happy-making things are:

1. Spending time with my loved ones - blood family, chosen family and friends. I am especially looking forward to spending Christmas with my loved ones this year.
2. Going to Witchcamp! Next year's will be Avalon Spring in late May, a beautiful time of year. We will be working with the Charge of the Goddess back at our old familiar venue, the lovely Earthspirit, near Glastonbury. Can't wait!
3. Watching my chickens. They are so interesting and so entertaining as they eat and drink and scratch and socialise and explore. And it has been wonderful watching the ex-battery hens blossom and thrive.
4. Tai Chi. I have mentioned before the positive effect it has on my mood. I've noticed that even if I'm feeling really depressed and sad, my weekly lesson never fails to pick me up. It's strange as I'm really not an exercise lover - I loathed PE at school and spent a great deal of time evading it whenever possible. Later, I went dutifully to aerobics classes but never enjoyed them and always left feeling exhausted - I thought I was immune to the 'exercise high' that others seem to get. But after a Tai Chi class I feel stretched (literally and metaphorically), energetic and positive.
5. Craft activities. I love getting totally immersed in the creative process, and I especially love recycling something old/broken/tatty/useless into something new and beautiful.
6. Harvesting food I have grown and making it into a tasty meal for my loved ones. I often say I don't like cooking - by which I really mean cooking and eating alone is not something I find pleasurable, it feels like a chore. And frankly, I get sick of my own cooking. Yet harvesting food I've grown feels like a real achievement, and preparing food for others is a different matter, a pleasure indeed. And when the garden suddenly throws up something unexpected - say a glut of broad beans or courgettes - then by necessity my cooking becomes inventive and suddenly it's fun again!

My six nominations are:

1. Brett at This Guy's Journey
2. Boho Mom at Words from a Bohemian Mom
3. The Awakened Heart - if she has time to do it, having just moved home
4. Sleepy Kitty at From the Windowsill also sounds very busy, but I hope she'll find time to do it too
5. Breezy at Breezy Break Blog because she liked the last meme I passed on to her, and she's been quiet of late...
6. The Kitten's Mother

Something To Look Forward To...

Avalon Spring 23 - 28 May 2009
A 6 day residential intensive in witchcraft and earth based spirituality in the Reclaiming Tradition.

Listen to the words of the Great Mother... and so it begins; our journey into this beautiful and profound piece of liturgy originally written by Doreen Valiente that embodies most witches’ concept of the many faces of the Goddess. Her many names come to us through time.

At Avalon Spring we will celebrate the divine spirit of ourselves with the Charge of the Goddess.
Gather with us to do the work that calls us at our 11th residential intensive at Earthspirit, a residential retreat centre just outside of Glastonbury on the edge of Compton Dundon village in Somerset.
All traditions welcome!

Dorm Place, £450-£600
Camping Place £350-£500
Cost includes breakfast and two vegan/vegetarian meals served daily.

E-mail: avaloncamp@gmail.com
Website: http://avalonspring.wordpress.com/

Avalon Spring 2009

Early days yet, I know, but a quick reminder that Avalon Spring will be held 23rd-28th May 2009. We will be working with 'The Charge of the Goddess', which I'm really looking forward to. And we have a new website address which will have all the details as they become available.

Go to http://avalonspring.wordpress.com/ to check it out and admire Anne-Marie's excellent artwork.

Danger, Hidden Currents

Recently someone asked me how I got my position within British Reclaiming. This left me somewhat non-plussed, as I didn't realise I had a position within British Reclaiming, or certainly not in the sense that the questioner meant - a position of power and authority. I wasn't really sure how to answer.

I have never been a person who sought out power (actually, even writing this I'm wondering if it sounds too much like I'm trying to blow my own trumpet. I'm not. My natural inclination is in fact to put the trumpet back in the bag, hide the bag behind my back and pretend I have no trumpet - but I digress...). I remember a few Witchcamps back when we were drawing tarot cards at the beginning of path (morning class). I drew a couple of cards which were interpreted for me as meaning, 'great power and authority'. My reaction was to shrink away and protest that I didn't want those cards, they must be meant for someone else!

And yet the question about my position within British Reclaiming got me thinking. I do have several different roles within the community and I suppose this raises my profile. I can see why that may be interpreted as my having some kind of position of power. And yet from where I sit, it doesn't feel like power. The different 'hats' I wear feel like work to me. Work I do willingly and joyfully, because this community and the different ways it comes together are important to me. I readily admit that there is selfishness in my actions: I enjoy working Reclaiming-style magic and ritual, I enjoy Witchcamp, I enjoy the Gatherings, I like - and in many cases love - the people I know within Reclaiming; so in order to maintain and nourish that connection I'm willing to put in the work to ensure it continues. I edit the newsletter, co-moderate the yahoo list, co-organise events and co-teach. In each case, I have started work on these projects simply because it needed doing and I was able to help - and somehow because of this I am perceived as having some kind of authority.

Well, I suppose in a way I do. But it isn't what I came for.

For me one of the attractions of Reclaiming has always been the emphasis on sharing power. In the kind of community I want to be part of, leadership roles are shared. For example, co-teaching is encouraged to model this kind of shared power. Furthermore, if you want to know more about drumming, or priestessing a ritual, or leading a spiral dance for example, those with the expertise and experience will point you in the right direction, offer mentorship and pass on their skills, without being precious about hoarding their knowledge and experience in order to gain an advantage over others. Even initiation is optional and confers no special status on the initiate. At the same time, those with expertise to share hopefully don't feel they must downplay their skills to avoid diminishing others. Of course we all have different levels of knowledge and experience - we are all at different skill levels. That doesn't mean we have to get caught in the 'power-over' paradigm. The Reclaiming Principles of Unity state explicitly that "We strive to teach and practice in ways that foster personal and collective empowerment, to model shared power and to open leadership roles to all. We make decisions by consensus, and balance individual autonomy with social responsibility."

But of course there are also more insidious hierarchies like being in with the in crowd. The danger with this kind of invisible, unspoken hierarchy is that it elevates the few whilst being difficult for 'outsiders' to break into and become part of. Reclaiming is by no means perfect (we're a work in progress!) so this does happen sometimes. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I'm perceived as being part of an 'in crowd' or two myself. The presumed 'in crowds' I'm in don't feel cliquey from my perspective. I think we're friendly people who are open to and inclusive of others. And yet, we have a shared history. We have weathered some pretty severe storms collectively over the years, which has helped to bind us together with mutual trust and respect. No one joining us can share what's past. Does that make us cliquey? Not intentionally. We look forwards as well as back, and we will build new bonds with new people over time. Nevertheless, I understand that our closeness could look daunting to others, and this is problematic when the mere appearance of exclusivity can so easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

So I am perceived as having both a position of power and powerful friends. And with power, just like popularity, appearances count for a lot. So does that mean I actually have 'power-over' type power? I don't think so, and yet if people are treating me as though I do, isn't that the same thing? How to handle this unexpected and unlooked for responsibility? I want to be an ethical person, but power-over is notoriously slippery to handle, a double-edged sword which subtly corrupts. How best then to negotiate the hidden currents and avoid being submerged in self-importance, or overwhelmed by discomfort over the disparity between how I see myself and how others do? Luckily this is one area in which community can provide its own remedy. At Avalon Spring this year, we worked with the notion that we need our community, in part because 'we cannot see ourselves by ourselves.' I have my own vision of myself, but it is neither 20:20 nor 360°. Luckily I also have wonderful and reliable family and friends who see me clearly. Whilst I can rely on them to hold my hand and tell me I'm wonderful when self-doubt and my inner critic are giving me a drubbing, I can also rely on them to call me on my shit and tell me honestly if I'm getting self-important or smug. Hopefully together we can navigate a relatively straight course with sails neither over-inflated nor deflated. This is truly shared power. And I think I can be comfortable with that.

A Different Point of View...

Following on from my description of Avalon Spring, if you'd like to know more, see additional photos or just get another viewpoint, Deborah and Donald have now blogged about our magical time together too. Reading their descriptions has brought back many wonderful memories as well as making me think, 'Oh yes - why didn't I write about that??'. Such is the value of differing views and voices.

Deborah Oak's account may be found here, and Donald's (in the first of several instalments) starts here.

Enjoy!

Avalon Spring

Yes, after months of planning it was finally time for Avalon Spring. On 4th April I packed the car and set off, picking up my friend and fellow facilitator, Gaia, en route.

We gathered at Alessandra's house in Hemel Hempstead along with the other teacher-facilitators and worked hard planning the evening rituals and honing our 'Paths' (classes) with our teaching partners. I say 'worked hard' - and we certainly put in the hours - but the group was friendly and harmonious and we had so much fun that it scarcely seemed like work at all.

Then on Sunday morning, the day we were due to move to the venue, we awoke to this:















Snow in Alessandra's garden, 6th April 2008


The weather had changed from mild and sunny to winter overnight and we awoke to a heavy fall of snow. I have known it to snow in April before, but I don't recall it really settling - and certainly not in such abundance!

The mood in the house changed to one of mild hysteria. Not only did we have about 8 people planning to camp for the duration of the event, but we had also planned to hold many of the classes outside to compensate for the rather restricted indoor space available. Clearly, this was a serious problem!

Our worries were compounded when Brighde Eire's car broke down. We had a large amount of equipment and luggage to move as well as people. With one car down we were seriously short on transport. We agreed to meet at a café and discuss things over coffee. And while driving over to the café disaster number three manifested: the exhaust pipe of my car broke and was dragging under the car.

As witches we are accustomed to looking for meanings, signs, omens, cosmic messages in such things. Could someone or something be trying to tell us something? We were starting to feel jittery!

Over coffee we came up with solutions. The lack of indoor Path space - and the impracticality of utilising outdoor space due to the snow - could be solved by cutting down from four separate paths to two by combining the 'Air', 'Fire' and 'Water' Paths into one. We kept the 'Earth' Path unchanged as it would be producing the food we'd be eating. For the campers - well, we had warned them to bring plenty of cold weather gear due to the uncertainty of the April climate, and as the snow had chosen to fall the day before camp started hopefully they would be fore-warned. One of my fellow facilitators, Sayre, managed to hook up my exhaust pipe with the aid of a wire coat hanger so that at least it wasn't dragging under the car, although it still growled ferociously. And the lack of car space was solved by packing all of the luggage and equipment into the available cars, and putting most of the facilitators on the train.

Arriving at the venue we were all taken aback by what we found. It was smaller than we had expected. And spartan. The kitchen (which the Earth Path would be using) was actually a barely screened-off part of the main living area - which the combined Air-Fire-Water Path would be using. How would we cope with noise levels and conflicting needs? Clearly this camp - which we had been describing as a 'new model' was throwing up a lot of new challenges. But we were determined to rise to those challenges.

We decorated the bare walls with saris and hangings. We created elemental altars in the four directions, plus an 'emotions' altar and a camp altar for campers to add to. Gaia had brought along three of her amazing Goddess paintings which made great focal points. Alessandra had brought fairy lights which we strung around the room. We used more draping cloth as additional screening for the kitchen area. Things started to look better. Fran had brought along a huge tent which Naomi transformed with rugs, cushions, draped fabrics and a 'Brigid' altar into a relaxing sanctuary for anyone who might feel overwhelmed by the cramped living conditions. The Air, Fire and Water Paths turned out to combine amazingly harmoniously as it transpired we'd all been planning a similar 'arc' to our work. The Combined Path and Earth Path planned together to minimise disruption. Perhaps it would work after all!

We were anxious about how people would feel with only a choice of two paths, after we had advertised four. But when everyone had arrived we held a meeting to explain why we had made the changes and everyone was very understanding and supportive. And so the grand experiment began in earnest.

The microcosm!


So, looking back, how did it go? Amazingly well actually. So much for portents of doom! By the end of the week everyone seemed to have enjoyed themselves - some of course more than others - and got something from the experience. For myself, these are some of my personal highlights and favourite memories I shall be taking away: my role as fire tender during the first night's ritual which put me deep in trance and led to a new relationship with that element; watching the sharpest sliver of a new moon growing nightly in the sky; the magnificent job done by the Earth Path in not only feeding us, but also helping us experience our food in a sacred, mindful, magical way; the blackbird who sang to us so beautifully every morning; the joyous hilarity of the last night's ritual in which dancers in the two concentric circles moving around the fire began anarchically swapping places so that everyone could experience both the dark and the light; the way the Combined Path took the best bits of its three original components and re-wove them so seamlessly into something new and dynamic; the sun coming back out after we did some weather magic; the enthusiasm with which the campers rose to the challenge of creating their own 'Community Ritual'; Fran's beautiful poem read to us over dinner; the chance to discuss how 'Introvert' and 'Priestess' are not incompatible concepts (thanks, Dawn!); Chris's song; the open-hearted generosity shown by people supporting the raffle and auction; my dear friends Annie & Georgia adding to my bids at the auction for the necklace I had fallen in love with to help me win it (I really am blessed to have such good friends!); forget-me-nots and violets in the grass; meeting with old, dear friends and making new ones.















Community-created food mandala, which was left out as an offering to the local wildlife.


It is amazing how 32 adults living together in very cramped conditions for five days can manage to co-exist compatibly. We all had different expectations, outlooks and needs; yet somehow we worked around and with each other. Someone described the situation as a 'microcosm of the macrocosm' - after all, planet Earth is a crowded place where we all have to try and live in community - and I find it very heartening that our microcosm worked so well. Blessed Be.















My fellow facilitators and dear friends (Thank you all for a wonderful and memorable week. Love you and miss you all!):
[back row L-R] Sayre, Georgia Midnight Crow (seated), Suzanne Swan (standing), Deborah Oak, Annie, Dawn Isadora
[front row L-R] Gaia, Fran, Donald, Will, Alessandra Proserpina, Brighde Eire.
Naomi isn't in the photo as she was busy giving a lift to someone.

P.S. Deborah Oak's account of our magical time together may be found here, and Donald's (in several instalments) starts here.

Happy

Today we have had brilliant sun and brief, fierce snow showers. Both bring a smile to my face.

Yesterday some good friends from Witchcamp who are visiting Wales this weekend stopped by. Today I met up with them again and they ended up coming to us for lunch. I made leek and potato soup which we ate with crusty bread, cheese and salad and the cake, chocolate, fruit and juice they brought along. It was a laid-back, laughter-filled meal with conversation both fascinating and hilarious by turns. We talked about plans for another Summer Gathering. Something else to look forward to this year.

This weekend I have spent with T (who actually took some time off work and more amazingly didn't spend it all working!!!) and with my lovely friends. It is a bank holiday so T will still be here all day tomorrow. Next weekend I will be spending with my family. And then it will be Avalon Spring. There are Easter Eggs to be eaten. And the sun is still shining between snow flurries.

No wonder I have a big grin on my face.

Happy Easter!

Why I Go to Witchcamp

I know it's a scary thought, but we are practically one sixth of the way through 2008 already. And I haven't even got used to writing the new year on cheques yet! Oh, for the days of childhood when time passed so slowly that the summer holidays seemed to last for six months instead of six weeks.

This morning my mind has registered that there is only just over a month to go before Avalon Spring (Witchcamp), and as well as the immediate panic of "Oh my God! I have so much to get organised before then!", there is also a thrill of excitement. Witchcamp time!

My first experience of Witchcamp was at the very first held in the UK: Avalon Witchcamp back in 1998. It was a magical week of connection with kindred spirits, powerful ritual, deep personal work, fun and laughter, sunlit days and starry nights. When it ended I cried. I didn't want to lose this magical place and the wonderful people I'd found there.

Luckily for me, I didn't have to. Enough of us felt the same way, and Avalon Witchcamp became an annual event, one that I've never missed until last year's Summer Gathering instead. Over the years, wanting to ensure Avalon continued to thrive I became involved as a Camp Organiser, and also worked on other projects like a community newsletter and yahoo group, and off-shoot events. In 2006 I gathered my courage in both hands and worked as a student teacher at Avalon for the first time - an amazing whirlwind of an experience which was both exhilarating and terrifying in about equal measure. I learned a huge amount and in April I will be student teaching a second time at Avalon Witchcamp's new incarnation, Avalon Spring.

So what is it that makes Witchcamp such a unique and special experience that many of us return year on year? Well, for one thing it's quite different from an ordinary Pagan Camp - in fact the name 'Camp' is a bit of a misnomer, especially here in the UK where it conjures up an image of a few tents in a field and a much looser structure to the event. Witchcamp is a residential Intensive rather than a laid-back camp, and attendees have the option of indoor or outdoor accommodation, plus indoor space for meals and classes. The very first Witchcamp (which started in the US) was so-named partly as a joke, to conjure the image of the American Summer Camp for Kids. Unfortunately the joke doesn't translate so well over here (where we don't have summer camps for kids!) and this has sometimes caused confusion and accusations of overpricing. Actually, for the quality of the venue, the amount and quality of the teaching and just the sheer intensity of the experience Witchcamp is very competitively priced. Renaming has been discussed many times, but 'Witchcamps' are a recognised specific event within the Reclaiming community so it's been hard to break away from that. This year's Avalon Spring is the first time we won't be using the word 'Witchcamp' in the title of the event, and it will be interesting to see if it's easier for people to understand the difference.

The way a Witchcamp works is quite structured and intense. It's a place to learn a lot in a short time. We also work in Sacred Space for the whole week, which imbues even the mundane with meaning and also creates an atmosphere of trust and openness.

In the mornings, we divide into 'Paths' (classes). These are co-taught by the teachers, and are usually connected in some way to the theme of the camp (i.e. the story or theme we are working with), although sometimes the connection is pretty loose! Campers choose the Path that appeals to them and work with it for the whole camp.

Typical Path themes would be for example, 'Elements of Magic' (working with the 5 elements - Air, Fire, Water, Earth & Spirit); 'Rites of Passage' (usually culminating in each Path participant designing and performing their own Rite of Passage ritual witnessed and supported by the rest of the Path); Iron Pentacle (a meditation tool from the Reclaiming & Feri traditions); Shapeshifting; Priestessing (learning practical priestessing skills); Tarot; Bardic Path etc.

The afternoons are taken up with Affinity Group Meetings (where smaller groups of people gather to bond and discuss how camp is going for them), Optional Offerings (where campers and teachers offer their own skills to others - e.g. a workshop on yoga, belly dancing, drumming, or massage), meetings, and time for 'Personal Practice' - i.e. if you usually do tai chi, or write in your journal every day, time is set aside for you to do that.

After the evening meal the whole camp comes together for the evening rituals, which are where we really work with the story or theme of the camp. This usually works this way: each evening a section of the story is told, and in some instances re-enacted. The main body of the ritual is in some way relating the story to your own life, and working with that to (for example) achieve personal insights, make decisions, vows or commitments to take back into the 'mundane' world, work magic connected with this, etc etc.

The teaching team are all thoroughly trained in Reclaiming-style magic and you don't become a fully trained Witchcamp teacher until you have a minimum of 2 years student teaching at camp under your belt. Teachers need to be skilled in such areas as drama, drumming, aspecting, energy-raising and moving, etc etc, and usually have experience of teaching in their own community before student teaching at Witchcamp.

Finally, I think my good friend Annie put it really well when she said,
'Out of my twenty plus years "on the pagan scene", I believe that Witchcamp is an unusual phenomenon... It provides a safe and reasonably comfortable place for a large group of people to spend a long period of time in "alternative space" together. Because you don't have to come back to "ordinary reality" after a ritual (as you would usually have to in order to negotiate the "outside world") people have the experience of being able to fully complete and integrate their "otherworld reality". Also, there are very experienced people around to support them as needed. To be able to do this within a culture which does not validate the skills and abilities that humans possess to do this, is a very rare situation in my experience. '

There are now many Witchcamps to choose from in the US, Canada and Europe (and plans afoot in Australia too I hear), so if this sounds appealing, check out the central Witchcamps website. After all, Witchcamp is something you have to really experience to know what a unique and special event it is. Until you do, you'll just have to take my word for it!

In the meantime, I'm counting the days until April. Yay, Witchcamp!

P.S. You can read someone else's opinion of why Witchcamps are so special here, and you can read reviews of past years at Avalon by clicking the 'Reviews from Past Intensives' link on Avalon Spring's website.

There's No Place Like Home (or Ramblings From A Jetlagged Brain...)

I'm just back from a whirlwind trip to the US, to attend the annual face-to-face meeting of Witchcamp Council. WCC meets in person and on-line to discuss policy and cultural development of Reclaiming Witchcamps, share information between camps (how we do this, what worked on that), problem solve etc. I was representing Avalon Spring, my home camp.

I travelled to New Hampshire from Wales for the meeting, leaving home on the morning of Wednesday 14th November and arriving back yesterday morning (Monday 19th November). Can you say jetlag?

Having spent the time with a magical group of witches in a magical (snowy) landscape, and with jetlag added into the mix, my muddled brain feels rather like I've just returned from Oz.

I just keep tapping my ruby slippers together and murmuring, "There's No Place Like Home, There's No Place Like Home..."

...And when I opened my eyes this morning I was back in my own bed!