Ceremony

The first weekend in March saw the second ‘Gathering of WellBeing’ which Robin and partner Rob were on the inaugural organising committee the year prior. This year was a wonderful success with nearly 100 people in attendance. Workshops, Ceremony, Affinity Groups, Dance, Song, Cabaret and immersion in a wild nature place all contributed to a wonderful deep and enriching weekend. Robin was an Affinity group leader for the weekend and also ran a workshop entitled ‘Journey to the Heart of Community’. In her workshop, for the finale, participants walked a Spiral Labyrinth to transform anything getting in the way of being in one’s heart to live and be more fully in the heart of community.

The annual build of The Sacred Union Labyrinth by 14 people over the week prior to Woodford Folk festival, coordinated by Robin and organized by a core group of four – Christine, Stephane, Rob and Robin, went very well despite extreme heat and then some rain. The front entrance to the Labyrinth received a new mural art paint job, the guiding pennants got a solidifying make over and a quarter of the stone Labyrinth had some major drainage work done by hand!!! This drainage work turned out to be much needed due to rains during the Festival with thousands of people walking through the pathways then heavy, consistent rain on our pack down day. Huge thank you to our Build Crew team and for Woodford Folk Festival for supporting us as a mini Department and Volunteers. Also big gratitude to Woodford Programming Department for supporting us as a Ceremony team …

What a delight it was for John Seed to come all this way up to Crystal Waters to offer his weekend Deep Ecology workshop. Robin Co-facilitated with him and it was a full house with 35 people booked in. 25% of the facilitation fee went to the Rainforest Information Centre to support their work on the Ecuador rainforests campaign.   Here’s a link to John’s Work. https://www.facebook.com/johnseed.deepecology    

Robin and Rob were invited to be on an organizing committee for this inaugural gathering with the theme of ‘The Art of Being Human’.     Six months in the planning of the event and a significant amount of time and preparation for Robin to lead six facilitations over the two days, including one all in session and co-creating the Opening and Closing Ceremony and the Heart Circle. Great feedback was received and some good suggestions for improvements will support the gathering to power on. Nine wonderful humans stepped up to hold the energy and facilitate the next Gathering, scheduled for 1st to 3rd of March 2024.

We’re delighted to announce that The Sacred Union Labyrinth will be fully set up, programmed and open to all festival patrons for walking any time or for attending the magical Ceremonies and any of the magnificent acts performing in our beautiful open air, garden venue.  The tickets to Woodford are capped this year so if you haven’t booked tickets yet, now’s the time. Here’s a link to the site  

In modern times we seem to have lost the age old tradition of supporting our young people to make the transition from boyhood or girlhood or young personhood into young adulthood. Virtually all indigenous cultures have Rites of Passage imbedded in their way of life and use ceremony, challenge, storytelling and wisdom sharing as key elements to support the change. Often the young people are witnessed and celebrated as they return to community after an experience in nature, away from daily life and distractions. In recent decades in Australia we have had the Pathways to Manhood and Pathways to Womanhood which in Queensland has now evolved into Journeys to Manhood and Journeys into Womanhood. Powerhouse Programs is the host and organizer and a skilled and dedicated team lead two camps a year for the boys and the girls program has begun and is finding its natural flow. Robin is one …