Grok Camp part one
Aug. 14th, 2003 09:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magentaWednesday morning, I woke up feeling, hey, this is my vacation, I am NOT going to stress about this. Rather than rush, I let myself take it a little easier than I usually would. We still managed to leave before 10 am.
The trip down was exhausting. We did 500 miles on Wednesday. Ran into a bad traffic jam on the freeway just after we stopped for gas near Beloit. It took us 25 minutes to go about 5 miles. Had dinner in a truck stop in Mendota called Busters. Okay food, lots of license plates on the walls for Martin to gawk at, including one that said ELSHADAI or some facsimile.
Stopped around 8 pm at a Days Inn in Farmer City, Ill. Turned out to be a very inferior place, with lots of little things wrong. Even if it was only $40, it was lousy. Didn't sleep well, got about 6 hours sleep.
Next morning had a good breakfast at a rather spartan place across the street from the motel, and got going fairly early, bit after 9. Stopped for lunch in Greencastle, Indiana, which is, I believe a college town. Had an excellent lunch at a tea room called "Almost Home". Quite memorable. Wish I had gone ahead and tried dessert – prize winning place. But I had been off sugar over a week at that point, and wanted to stay that way.
Arrived at Lothlorian about 2:20 pm. It is nearly 700 miles.
Martin had to do a lot of the set up, and he did it well. He is really getting the hang of camping. He still fiddles with stuff a little more than I think necessary.
The opening ritual was the typical CAW sort of thing; saying "I am the Great Goddess Magenta and I claim this fire as my tribal fire", then water sharing. Tribal fire was the theme, as much as there was one. Internest potluck that night was mostly dessert. (Like Prodea Lunasa had been mostly salads.) There was enough other stuff, fortunately. A Bardic circle was scheduled, but most people just wanted to sit around fires and talk, so that's what happened. I'm glad CAW is willing to be flexible. I know festivals where the organizers would have *insisted* on a Bardic circle because it was on the schedule.
Friday after breakfast I did about a half hour of yoga with Anne Greenstar. She has wonderful vibes, and I had a good workout. I did some this morning as well, and I am inspired, I hope to continue.
Later Friday morning was Sam's presentation of mind machines, which was interesting. Lunch was an Ottercat creation, and delicious. In the afternoon was Bill and Tam's workshop on Sacred Sexuality, which turned into a freeform discussion on flirting. Friday's supper was their "Discordian Hot Dog Dinner" – offend 5 religions at once just by eating hot dogs. That was fun, and a couple of hotdogs were plenty after the feast at lunchtime.
Friday evening was Ottercat's "Favorite Things" ritual. After struggling to come up with 7 tokens, they weren't really part of the ritual, and it wasn't about favorite things, but about what blocks us and stands in our way, and what we have given up or lost because of our blocks. After a series of invocations, we walked the path around the village and were challenged 7 times, by Insecurity, Greed, Jealousy, Sorrow, Fear, Anger, and Hate. (I think that's the order.) I think they were going to ask us for the tokens but only two did, and only one really had something that matched the block. But I came away from it with a few interesting insights, none of which I can really put into words to recall. I like rituals that give me insights that take time to mull over, rather than the obvious, "Oh, this means that". Grokking comes in the fullness of time.
The trip down was exhausting. We did 500 miles on Wednesday. Ran into a bad traffic jam on the freeway just after we stopped for gas near Beloit. It took us 25 minutes to go about 5 miles. Had dinner in a truck stop in Mendota called Busters. Okay food, lots of license plates on the walls for Martin to gawk at, including one that said ELSHADAI or some facsimile.
Stopped around 8 pm at a Days Inn in Farmer City, Ill. Turned out to be a very inferior place, with lots of little things wrong. Even if it was only $40, it was lousy. Didn't sleep well, got about 6 hours sleep.
Next morning had a good breakfast at a rather spartan place across the street from the motel, and got going fairly early, bit after 9. Stopped for lunch in Greencastle, Indiana, which is, I believe a college town. Had an excellent lunch at a tea room called "Almost Home". Quite memorable. Wish I had gone ahead and tried dessert – prize winning place. But I had been off sugar over a week at that point, and wanted to stay that way.
Arrived at Lothlorian about 2:20 pm. It is nearly 700 miles.
Martin had to do a lot of the set up, and he did it well. He is really getting the hang of camping. He still fiddles with stuff a little more than I think necessary.
The opening ritual was the typical CAW sort of thing; saying "I am the Great Goddess Magenta and I claim this fire as my tribal fire", then water sharing. Tribal fire was the theme, as much as there was one. Internest potluck that night was mostly dessert. (Like Prodea Lunasa had been mostly salads.) There was enough other stuff, fortunately. A Bardic circle was scheduled, but most people just wanted to sit around fires and talk, so that's what happened. I'm glad CAW is willing to be flexible. I know festivals where the organizers would have *insisted* on a Bardic circle because it was on the schedule.
Friday after breakfast I did about a half hour of yoga with Anne Greenstar. She has wonderful vibes, and I had a good workout. I did some this morning as well, and I am inspired, I hope to continue.
Later Friday morning was Sam's presentation of mind machines, which was interesting. Lunch was an Ottercat creation, and delicious. In the afternoon was Bill and Tam's workshop on Sacred Sexuality, which turned into a freeform discussion on flirting. Friday's supper was their "Discordian Hot Dog Dinner" – offend 5 religions at once just by eating hot dogs. That was fun, and a couple of hotdogs were plenty after the feast at lunchtime.
Friday evening was Ottercat's "Favorite Things" ritual. After struggling to come up with 7 tokens, they weren't really part of the ritual, and it wasn't about favorite things, but about what blocks us and stands in our way, and what we have given up or lost because of our blocks. After a series of invocations, we walked the path around the village and were challenged 7 times, by Insecurity, Greed, Jealousy, Sorrow, Fear, Anger, and Hate. (I think that's the order.) I think they were going to ask us for the tokens but only two did, and only one really had something that matched the block. But I came away from it with a few interesting insights, none of which I can really put into words to recall. I like rituals that give me insights that take time to mull over, rather than the obvious, "Oh, this means that". Grokking comes in the fullness of time.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-15 11:25 am (UTC)OK, I can get to two - all-beef & cheese gets Hindu and Judaism at once. But five? How, please!
Hot Dog Ritual
Date: 2003-08-16 07:25 am (UTC)Judaism and Islam - no pork
Hinduism - no beef
Buddhism - no animal flesh (okay, not ALL Buddhists are vegetarians, but many are)
Discordians - who are enjoined not to eat hot dog buns. It's in the Principia Discordia, which is somewhere online, I can find the link you you want. Or I could bring my copy of the Principia to the next Minicon meeting.
Magenta
Re: Hot Dog Ritual
Date: 2003-08-17 07:51 am (UTC)