Beltane on the Brookberg

This weekend Wonder and I joined the Children of the Circle to celebrate Beltane on the Brookberg. Beltane is the sabbath of the joining of God and Goddess, of fertility, growth, love and passion. I took the train to Den Haag and Wonder picked me up. It was the first time we went with his new car, which is a lot bigger than his former one. The drive was comfortable and the car turned out to be more economical. All our stuff fitted in better too. All in all a great improvement!

We arrived around 11am. The weather was terrific: warm and sunny, blue skies and a breeze. The lake looked beautiful, the surroundings fresh and green. An idyllic picture. As we pitched the tent (actually... Wonder did; I didn't feel too comfortable in the sun), the others were arriving one by one. The group that built the new sweatlodge at Imbolc is faithfully present, a lot were there again. Also some new faces and other people from before. Llwella was there too, Luna had to cancel unfortunately. Ben2bears had brought his dog Spike. We weren't the only ones with a tent, there was a little village of tents around us. At night it was lit by torches.

The group split in two: people for the workshop inside and people for the sweatlodge. Wonder and I joined the latter. Because of the temperature outside we didn't need a lot of stones to heat the sweatlodge. We all picked one and added a wish for ourselves. I wished to be able to let go of the resistance and get healing by acceptance, which applies in more ways than one. Together we added wood to the pile. The fire was kindled and burned high. It was so hot that we couldn't stand close. Wonder singed his eyebrown and moustache when the wind suddenly turned.

Before we went into the sweatlodge we took a dip in the lake, cold but refreshing. The sweatlodge felt very hot, I was hard to stand. I lied down, that felt better. We went on a guided journey. I surrendered myself and let it come over me. I remembered no pictures, sounds, etc. When I accidentally touched Wonder (or he me) in a split second I saw a sextant. That made no sense to me until he told us he had been thinking of navigating in a certain way. In between the two sweatlodge sessions we swam in the lake and enjoyed the sun.

After the sweatlodge ritual we joined the others for dinner. Everyone had brought something to eat and/or drink. Wonder had made a very yummy soup, there was fresh fruit and a lot of other food. I was quite hungry and enjoyed a bit of everything. After dinner we sat outside and talked.
Later in the evening we went back to the fire place and started a smaller fire. We gathered around for a drumming circle. The circle was made by 8 stones, one for each sabbath of the yearwheel. Wonder and I sat behind the Lammas or Lughnasadh stone. The drumming was very intense. I just sat there with my eyes closed and enjoyed the rhythm. Wonder had to lie down and was "out" in some strange kind of way. It took me a lot of effort to get him back, but fortunately he was okay. When the fire went down Wonder and I jumped over the fire together to confirm our friendship. We were both tired and decided to go to bed after a drink and snack.

Sunday morning we woke up after a good night's sleep. The weather was very sunny again. We had breakfast together. After breakfast Wonder and I made a walk around the lake. It was beautiful and we took a lot of pictures. I called Ron again, he was just out of bed. Back on the "camping" we took down the tent. Around noon we closed the circle and said our goodbyes.

Next time at Litha Ron will go with us. I'm happy he wants to see the Brookberg and experience it for himself. We talked about it and decided to invite Gaialynn to come along too. Litha will be just before her cosmetic breast operation.
On the way home today Wonder had to go to the loo and we stopped at her home. Wonder showed her his car and we drank a cup of tea. I invited Gaialynn to accompany us with Litha and she gladly accepted. I called Ron and gave her the phone, so she could thank him too. I'm already looking forward to Litha!