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A Highlight of Witchcamp

There were a lot of well thought out parts to Spiralheart’s Summer Witchcamp Intensive this year at Four Quarters Farm in PA. One that I enjoyed thoroughly from inception to action to residual effect was the healing circle that occurred mid week. This year was billed as a shadow year and the RATs (ritual arc team) felt a no-holds-barred approach was in the best interest of serving that purpose.

Yet the RATs didn’t want to be dangerous or irresponsible about it. We had many built-in safety features for those pushed hard into discomfort to find care. We had people from a wide range of experience both magically and in coming to witchcamps, from a first timer to long timers (decades). We had tenders and a suggested buddy system. We had a community built nest created in the opening ritual that stayed up all week. We had feedback every day and approachable staff all week. Many built-in things for self-care.

The healing circle was not a built-in. It grew organically from a perceived community need. The music path facilitators (Watersong and Dragonfly) suggested it. We practiced it in path that day then offered it to the camp at large that afternoon. It was a resounding success all around.

The premise was healing through song, sound, and touch. A welcoming place was made with blankets on the floor. If called you went to the blankets and got settled comfortably. You could request a particular musical instrument or sound or for people to do as they were moved to do. You could specify a body part or all over. You were asked if touch was okay and if you answered yes you were then asked what, if any, body parts were off limits. It was amazing and useful. When one tones or makes music or uses touch for healing it is not only the person in the center who benefits, but those who participate. What moves through you out to the world touches you first.

Anyone was welcome to partake of the center or contribute to the healing up close. They could opt to sit in the circle around the perimeter and contribute through sound or sit quietly in support. Those who didn’t attend heard of it and wished they had. Those who did attend left shifted in their being for having done so. Spontaneously conceived and lovingly done – it was one of my highlights of camp.

This entry was originally posted at http://pj.dreamwidth.org/388019.html. Please comment here or there there using your LJ ID or OpenID.

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Gratitude Project; Day 2

Today I am grateful for the tomato plant the fairies planted. Prior to discovering the magic of invisible deer fencing a wee tomato plant grew next to the water meter. The deer of course found it and bit it to a stub, but not before I had seen it. Tomatoes are annuals and I hadn’t planted since moving here in 2009. My mum hadn’t planted in many years before that, so it was obvious it was the fairies who brought the seed. After my fencing discovery I gently transplanted the stub to the now protected garden space. That fairy plant is 2 feet tall and has a opening blossom and 2 buds. Thank you, fairies!

 
This entry was originally posted at Infinitesimal Significance (two big words spelled correctly) Please comment here, or over there using your OpenID.

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Gratitude Project 2013; Day 1; guidelines and why I do it

Once again I nod to estaratshirai  who started the Gratitude Project. I joined this myself in 2004 on Livejournal. The Gratitude Project runs from Lammas to Mabon. It entails you being mindful of whatever brings you Joy and you journal “the something” you are grateful for each day between those Sabbats. No repeats – you can be grateful for your spouse/kids/job/friends, but the reason for the gratitude needs to be different for each entry. It can BIG or not, your journal/blog entry can be long or short. It can be on paper or in pixels and public or private.

Why: A daily focused devotional work that runs from first to second harvest is a lovely and useful thing for me. I’m not someone who gets stuck for long in a “why me?” stage and I do that with a sigh, slow grin at whatever piece is absurd, and remembering a blessing. I do tend to rely on the same blessings on some sort of auto-repeat that is internal and almost unconscious. This project opens me to all the others in ways I would not pay close attention to if not forced by this project. Every year a little bit of the openness sticks and I have a wider repertoire of gratitudes to choose from to unstick in my most intense moments. So, that is my why.

Today I am grateful for my wee vegetable garden. Growing your own food is like printing money. Growing your own food eliminates chemicals and is fresh as can be. Win, win. It’s been decades since I’ve had a dedicated ground space and it feels wonderful! The deer have been kept at bay as have the rabbits and squirrels. Though I planted late, tomatoes and peppers and whatnots are doing their best to come forth in rainy, cooler, and longer spurts than we usually have. Go garden!

This entry was originally posted at http://pj.dreamwidth.org/386727.html. Please comment here or there there using your LJ ID or OpenID.

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Black Heart of Innocence

For a good slot of yesterday this chant rang through my head and past my lips:

“Humble yourself in the arms of the wild,
You gotta lay down low,
and humble yourself in the arms of the wild,
You gotta ask Her what She knows.
And we will lift each other up,
Higher and higher,
We will lift each other up,
Higher and higher.”

(repeat)

It wraps the BHoI in song for me.

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Thought of the Day: The Black Heart of Innocence

We must investigate why we do magic.

I want to know why I desire change, why I am taking action. I want to know what thoughts I am believing before I use the power of my Will upon the world. I want to act with full awareness.

Black: heavy, serious
Heart: one’s innermost character, feelings, or inclinations; the essential or most vital part of something; essence
Innocence:  freedom from guilt or sin through being unacquainted with evil 

(definitions courtesy of Merriam Webster – www.m-w.com)

In cultivating the Black Heart of Innocence, we must come to terms with the heavy and serious essence of what it means to not be acquainted with sin…to say “this is the way it is, and I don’t know that it should be otherwise.”

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Long Ago and Far Away…But Not Today

I’m working on a guest blog post for my lovely partner in crime Pamela V. Jones/Boneweaver, and it is bringing up all sorts of old, bygone emotions, leading me to wonder:

How can we best honor our ancestor emotions?

Today, I’m going to honor my ghosts by reading my favorite Mary Oliver poem, The Journey, aloud…even though doing so always makes me weep.

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Firefly Heart

In a recent guided meditation, Nimue told me this:

You have a firefly heart. Let it out – it needs to breathe or it will die.

What part of you is wild and needs to be freed?

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Transformative camp in the Reclaiming tradition

Are you seeking personal and community transformation? Wishing to take a peek at the shadows that live in the corners of your soul? Explore, go deep, and touch the best hidden parts of you. Some you may want to turn inside out. Some you may choose to leave be and lovingly accept as an integral part of Who You Are. Whatever you choose you will have the full support of the camp. You transformation is in your reach at SpiralHeart Summer Intensive, July 21-27, 2013 held at 4 Quarters Farm, PA. <— This is the Facebook page as their web site is temporarily down due to hacking.

We will be weaving ourselves through a folk fairy tale with Dragon and Hummingbird center stage. We’ll be pulling energies from our ancestors and descendants. We will sing, dance, chant, trance, and feast. We will raise energy and we will raise the roof (well, treetops, anyway). We will laugh. Lots. Come join us! Registration info and online forms are here.

$575 gets you housing, meals, snacks, your choice of 1 out of 4 paths, small group time with your affinity group, woods, creek, indoor or outdoor bath houses, large group fabulous nightly rituals, a talent show, a live auction, a silent auction, special offerings during free time voluntarily led and attended by campers, and an experience you relive happily in memory for years to come.

First time campers get all of the above for just $375! If you have not attended since 2008 you get the first time camper rate! Share this good news with your co-religionists! All are welcome!

P.S. I am part of the ritual arc team this year and we’ve crafted some amazing rituals for you!

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What moves through you

Shimmery Dust (Ancestor/Descendant)

Drink the blood of your ancestors
while you sift ashes through bones;
collect their wisdom
in pulpous marrow.

Cells of virgin blood
infuse you with all the stories
of joys and regrets,
deaths and rebirths.

All that was,
is.
All that is,
wants to be.

~Pamela V Jones ©June 2013

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Thought of the Day

If you are called to a purpose, trust that you will be given enough to take the next right step. The concept of living “hand to mouth” shifts radically if the Hand is Divine.

This post was originally published at Siren Afire.