Workshop Phyllis Curott

In June I did an amazing workshop weekend given by Phyllis Curott. She is my favorite pagan author, so this was a great opportunity to meet her and learn from her. She was in The Netherlands to promote the Dutch translation of her third book The Love Spell. I bought it in Dutch during the weekend; she signed it, along with her first two books I brought with me. She wrote something in all three books. In the meantime I've read the book and it's great!! I'd like to read it in English too. The translation isn't bad at all, but I like to read the original.

The location of the workshop was perfect: a hostel very close to the woods. I've been there before (workshop weekend with Janet Farrar & Gavin Bone), but this time we spent much more time outside. The weather was a bit unstable, but I didn't mind.
The group was very diverse: young and old, coven witches and solitaries, beginners and advanced. Phyllis adapted to that and it became a close group working together like a charm. I have written lots and lots of pages in my paper journal, but I'll share some of it here.

A very interesting proces was something called "unnaming". It's a way of learning from nature by paying attention and use your senses. You have to describe something without using its name. In that way a tree becomes: green, tall, has branches and leaves, has roots deep into the earth, etc. In the beginning it was quite difficult, but in the end the most beautiful descriptions came out of it. This is something I'll do more often when in nature!

Saturday afternoon we spent by making journeys to find a power animal. I already did it once for myself, but this time we worked with couples. We had to find a power animal for our partner. Both journeys were wonderful. My partner found me a big and proud red deer. I found her a hawk with the help of both my familiar power animal (black panther) and the new one.

Saturday evening we did an impressive ritual. I brought my livewood staff, a Bast statue, my pendulum and some little things with me. Everyone had changed their clothes and looked special. I wore Monique's dress and felt good in it. Here's a picture of Phyllis and me. We have been chanting and dancing. The energy felt so good! And afterwards: partytime!!

All in all I learned a lot, had fun, met wonderful people... In short: a terrific weekend to look back on and enjoy for a long time!!!