Welcome to the Winter Witchcamp paths of 2010
The Embodied Mystic:
The Ecstatic Priestess: The Gift of Being in Service to the Sacred
Tending the Garden:
please scroll down to read the descriptions of each path.
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The Embodied Mystic
Welcome to the Embodied Mystic Path!
What do we mean by the Embodied Mystic?
We have noticed that an ‘Embodied Mystic’ holds such understandings as:
- We are just one of the Folk who dwell in the multiverse.
- The Good Green Earth is a sacred living being.
- We are our bodies until the Mystery of Death transforms us.
- Life force, sexual energy and viriditas connect us to all of the realms.
- The past is mutable, living and alive.
- There is no future, only probability based upon choice.
- The only constant in the cosmos is change.
What will we do?
In this path we will begin to explore a few of the Northern Mysteries. Among other things, we will explore Yoiking (singing the essence of a person, place or thing); Galdr (sung incantations); Seidhr (divination and spell work); Pome Magic (apples, pears & quinces) and Ecstatic Embodied Movement.
Where will we go?
We will be spending time in the warmth of our Idunna’s Hall, on the ice of a frozen sacred lake and places in between while traveling the borders betwixt the domestic and the wild. We will also practice living in the Eternal Now as we walk the daily roads that touch not only Midgard (Earth), but many other realms throughout the branches of Yggdrasil.
Who are we looking for to join us on this expedition?
We are looking for skilled Witches who are willing to push their edges; Folks who are able to ground at the snap of a finger, cleanse themselves with a breath and enter a trance state at will; Spakona who are comfortable in the liminal spaces between the wild and the domestic; and Volvas who are open to this Mystery: Neither a human community, nor a human individual can long survive, let alone thrive, without each other.
Pre-Registration is required. *After you have registered, you will be sent the materials you will need to prepare for the work we will be doing in this path.
The Deadline for Registration is January 8, 2010.
Come, join us on this grand adventure.
- Bless the Ice!
Bless the Sun!
Bless the Apple Trees!
*To pre-register, please email both Copper and Donald at:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
and
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and/or write:
Donald L. Engstrom-Reese
3116 11th Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55407
The Ecstatic Priestess: The Gift of Being in Service to the Sacred
Just as Idunn’s magic Golden Apples of Immortality are a sacred gift given freely to the Gods; so can we give the gift of ecstatic service. Idunn is a priestess of ecstasy—singing the Apples to life. As ecstatic ritualists, our goal is to open and to be present... present to the moment, present to the community with whom we share sacred space, present to the Mystery that infuses everything, and present to ourselves. Ecstasy is the state of being alive and embodied, connected and open to the rapture of Spirit, yet completely aware of life unfolding around oneself. To be a priestess in service to the ecstatic experience is an art that relies on that awareness.
In this path we'll offer tools and uncover techniques for how to create a container for energy, how to facilitate ecstatic energy as a team, and the paradoxical art of both leading and following a group at the same time. Whether you plan to facilitate ecstatic ritual in your home community or just want to learn how you can be a supportive, participating priestess in ecstatic sacred space, this path is for you. Drummers, singers, dancers, percussionists, priestesses of all genders, people who feel rhythmically-challenged, tone-deaf, or are graced with two left feet, are all encouraged and welcome. While we invite those of you who are musically-inclined to bring along an instrument or two and a journal, the only requirements for this path are: familiarity with Reclaiming (or another) style of ecstatic ritual energy-building, a willing body, and an open heart.
Pre-registration not required for this path.
Tending the Garden
I find one vast garden spread out all over the universe.
All plants, all human beings, all higher mind bodies
are about in this garden in various ways,
each has a uniqueness and beauty.
Their presence and variety give me great delight.
Every one of you adds a special feature to the glory of the garden.
--Sri Ananandamayi Ma
In Asgard, Idunna cultivates a garden whose influence reaches into every corner of the multiverse. It is well known that the apples that grow there are holy and transformative; but the mystery is that it is not just the apples themselves that carry the magic, it is the care that Idunna gives them that imbues them with power.
On this path, we will walk with Idunna through her gardens and her orchards. We seek to become her sacred apprentices as she cultivates joy, wisdom and passion in her garden and throughout the multiverse. We will seek to connect with our allies, and to craft our lives as though they were a grand spell, re-enchanting the world with beauty, wonder and compassion.
As we walk with Idunna, we consider what shape our worlds would take if we tended ourselves and the multiverse as a garden. We will ask ourselves, "What are we cultivating?" We will examine our microcosms: We will explore tending ourselves as the fruits of a sacred tree, through embodied movement, song, food and sex magic, edge-walking, and trance work. We will move to the macrocosm, and move our magic past ourselves and into the multiverse as we seek to re-make the worlds through our actions, our words and our thoughts.
We do not do this magic alone. Of course, Idunna will be with us. Further, we will work with plant magic, and we will connect with our allies in this world and other worlds. We invite both new and seasoned witches to walk with us. We invite those who have an affinity for plant-magic, those whose thumbs are green, those whose thumbs are brown, and those for whom plant-magic is a new concept. As we walk with Idunna, we will discover magics that will transform ourselves and our worlds.
Pre-registration not required for this path.