Imbolc in Gredos 2014

I didn´t realise how much I´d missed the snow capped mountains, miles of pine forest and crystal clear water in the river until I came back to Gredos for Imbolc after 2 and a half years. I was fortunate enough to get a lift with some others to the camp from Madrid this time (including three first timers who giggled all the way there, you know the types - and one of them was crying by the end of the weekend.)
We began with a walk around, which included looking at the new roundhouse they´ve built since the last time I was there (ooh, shiny).

We had a communal lunch and then began the ritual. I helped smudge people as they came into the room, and then we had an icebreaker circle where I said in the best Spanish I could cobble together that a lot had changed since the last time I´d been there, I hoped my Spanish had improved and I hoped to make new friends. There always comes a time during these terrifying weekends of immersion when I think, what on Earth am I doing here, my Spanish simply isn´t good enough to to this on my own. Fortunately those moments are getting later and later on into the weekends and hopefully as soon as six months down the line they´ll all but disappear.
We continued with opening the ritual and doing a meditation to visualise what we wanted to manifest in the coming year, then drew it with chalk on black card. We put these cards around the room with oracle cards we´d drawn earlier. Next we prepared for the sweatlodge, which last time I swore I´d never do again, and there I was 2 and a half years later doing it again and  feeling like I was about to hurl by the end of it. There were a lot of Camino Rojo people there and I´m sure they got a good deal out of it, but I´ve tried it twice now (and know I hate it), and in any case it´s not part of my path so next time I´m ducking out of it for sure. Next we had a meditation with giant quartz singing bowls which was lovely, and then, at 10:45, dinner. It seems to be a thing in Spain that they´ll leave eating dinner as late as possible, and if they feel like they´re on holiday they´ll have it even later. So there I´d been ravenous for a good 4 hours but I´m hardly in a position to argue since I can barely communicate in the first place. It was an enormous relief to have Saucco there as a facilitator, my Spanish-English exchange student, as he at least now grasps the idea of having something you barely understand bombarded at you all day and having to deal with people getting frustrated because they can´t communicate with you properly, never mind your own frustration at not being able to communicate with anyone properly. Yet I inflict immersion on myself for a good reason for all its unpleasantness, and someday the grinding hard work, terror and isolation will pay off when I´ve mastered another language and integrated myself into this wonderful community.
We slept in the roundhouse and the fire keepers gallantly kept the fire and woodstove going all night, and we rose early for breakfast the next day. We had a closing circle and then, when we were getting ready to leave, impressed by my work with Saucco, a lot of people came up to me saying they wanted English lessons. In our line of work speaking English is an enormous advantage and this lot are beginning to cotton on. I´d rather have them for students anywho rather than some random kid who doesn´t want to be there.
One thing I really noticed this time around was the behaviour of animals in circle. It´s a Wiccan belief that animals can pass in and out of a sacred circle freely without disrupting the energy flow, and someone brought their dog with them and we saw this in practice. During the spiral dance she stood in the middle as if entranced by the vortex of energy, then fell asleep during meditations. She seemed to very much enjoy it and didn´t at all get in the way.
In any case I thoroughly enjoyed it as usual (and I hope I got that across) and I'm very much looking forward to Springcamp if I'm not back before then. :)