Springcamp in Gredos 4-6 April

Springcamp in Gredos was something I'd wanted to do for years (my previous opportunity had been dashed by, ironically, a Spanish exam at the same time.) After finally getting to go last April, and successfully roping Ginger along when I convinced her everything was translated into English, she told me shortly after, "this was one of the best weekends of my life." Needless to say we had a fabulous time, and it made me happy it was the same for her too. When we arrived on the Friday it was overcast and a misty rain hung in the air, but fortunately this turned out to be Ginger's favourite kind of weather and I couldn't drag her away from the river that flows through the bottom of the site (the water baby that she is). She describes such weather as 'ginger friendly', but fortunately by the final day the weather had turned in my favour (I need plenty of sun to recharge the old solar cells.)
Next came the welcome and shared meal between about 25 of us including two adorable kids who were *nice* for *most of the trip*. After dinner we had an icebreaker in the circle, sang songs, and Halo (who'd come from the UK) set the theme for the camp, a story of the faerys. Being the International camp, people of many European nationalities were present and Jana, an English teacher was on hand for translation for whom Spanish or English might be peoples' second or third language. There's a tradition within Reclaiming to have a 'thread' for each camp - for this one it was the faerys and the loyalty of our shadows, and following them through every challenge.
On the Saturday we did a ritual of the Waters of the World, collecting water from bottles that people had brought from home, in a bowl in the centre of the circle. Also in Reclaiming there is the tradition of sending energy from the current camp towards the next camp, in whatever part of the world it is to be held. At the beginning we received energy from Australia, and at the end we sent it to the next camp in California for June. I was even roped into invoking and thanking the element of Fire (which I didn't fluff up as badly as I thought I might.)
Next we had Halo's workshop, 'Reclaiming your inner shadow.' She told us another story and we did some activities to work with our shadows, including automatic writing (an exercise I know from British Reclaiming training), which there are ways to work other than through writing as we were advised for those who don't express themselves the best this way. Afterwards we walked the quartz labyrinth laid outside the roundhouse, chose a crystal from a bowl in the middle while we sang 'Labyrinth of my Shadow'.
After lunch we formed 'afinity groups' according to which object we took from a table - a flower, a twig or a stone. It surprised me that Ginger, as an archaeologist took a twig instead of a stone (then later informed me she already had a stone.) In our small groups we talked about our work, homes, and magickal work in the best Spanish I could scrape together.
After dinner we had the main ritual of Goddess oracles, similar to the ones from the beginning of my stay in Spain. Saucco invoked Cernunnos and three priestesses invoked varias Spring goddesses, one Basque. My translation skills were reigned in and tested, with varying degrees of success, and the sobremesa that went on til 3am  was pretty unwelcome for those who weren't expecting it!
The next morning we were all awoken eye-wateringly early by a nine year old screaming "TIME TO GET UPPPP," (which was the only irritating thing the kids did - Pagan parenting I guess?), and after breakfast Ginger and I had some away time to take photos of some of the stunning views Gredos has to offer.
The last workshop was in dance, taught by Saucco and Irantzu. Saucco taught us the difference between 'danza' (more from the soul) and 'baile' (more artistic and of set movements), and the importance of dance and moving the body in magickal work. We danced slowly first, then more quickly with more upbeat tunes, and we had the chance to dance with everyone in turn. Then we made a circle in the clearing at the top of the hill to do a dance in a circle divided into quarters with pieces of string. There was a representation of each element in each section, and we danced accompanied by Reclaiming chants from the states, feeling the energy of each element. We bid the elements farewell and ended by sending the energy to California.
Afterwards I was engaged in translating a conversation between Halo and Saucco about Iberian deities and interpretations of cards for the kids.
From this trip I learned from Halo a lot more about the style of Reclaiming as it's practiced in the UK and the States. To finish off Jana told me, "Si sigues en tener problemas con las bestias (the kids at work), sólo tienes que gritar ’¡orgasmo!’ y ya está.’ Awesome, I'll remember that one. This was definitely one of the best camps and left me in greater anticipation of Espiral 3 which would be held in this amazing place.