29 Mar Class Sign Ups for SWG
Dearest Weavers~
In just over a few weeks we will gather together under the forest. In preparation for our time together, I would love to ask that you begin to prepare your heart and mind for our days together. Many of you have been curious about the sign up of classes and how it all works.
When we first gather together on Thursday afternoon, teacher introductions will take place. This is why we ask that you arrive on time so that you are present for introductions and are able to sign up for your classes. Introductions and Opening Ritual will begin promptly at 3pm. You can arrive anytime after 9:00 am. Please allow yourself time to set up your camp and be fully present for when we begin. During Introductions, Instructors will be announced. After everyone has spoken, we will begin class sign ups with our community. I will share with you a post from our Facebook group page that was wrote a few years back. There are many gems to choose from and we can assure you, each class is powerful and unique in it’s own way.
~~~When receiving input about last years gathering a few women mentioned they felt a bit of a frenzy during class sign ups. Many felt anxious about not getting the class that they wanted. Some couldn’t remember who the teachers were or where they were located. Thank you for sharing this! The model we use for class sign ups is based off of the Ancestral Skills Gatherings that have been taking place for over 30 years.
When I first heard of this, these were my thoughts:
~Why have I never experienced this with other gatherings that have the same exact sign up system that we did? Why did I not hear those same concerns from others at those gatherings?
~Did this happen with an all women gathering because we have been programed with shopping and “sales”? “Be the first one through the door and get the best deals before the rest? Run through the store to find the items that you want before they are snatched up?”
~ How can we switch these thoughts and actions in a graceful and conscious way?
After hearing about this experience of a frenzy at Spirit Weavers, I took notice at Saskatoon Circle this last fall at others movements, and actions after classes were announced. Men and Women walked slowly and patiently to find their teachers and if they couldn’t at first locate them, they asked around. If a class was full, they moved on to another. There were plenty of classes to choose from and everyone seemed to find their place and at least get a few classes of their choice.
I remember my first skills gathering. I wanted to take every class there and I was so excited about them all. I think that first year I only took 4 classes the entire week. Some were 3 hour classes, some were two day classes. The fact that I couldn’t take ALL of the classes motivated me to keep attending gatherings and keep learning! Now 10 years later I have attended almost every class that has been offered.
This is a great opportunity for us all to practice patience and to also trust in the divine and recognize that we are supposed to be exactly where we need to be. This is a moment of surrender where we drop your expectations and just BE. I understand that many of you pay to come to take the classes that you want so I hope that this year out of 100 available classes you at least get to take 2 or 3 of your choice.
We don’t feel called to offer “online pre registration” classes as some suggested for several reasons. Lets take Paola’s class for example, many of you may or may not have had Paola’s Cacao Ceremony as your top pick. When you got to the gathering, heard Paola speak, felt her loving energy and experienced her heart centered ways as she shared about her deep love for cacao and then heard about the class experience from others:: all of the sudden, Paola’s class’s with 72 spaces each was filled! Seeing an online class though a computer screen and meeting that person in the physical and hearing them speak is a whole different story. It’s like judging a book by it’s cover! If we did pre online registration I’m pretty sure we would have a lot of women asking to switch classes and it would just create extra work for everyone. Besides, who’s to say with online registration you would still get the classes you want out of 700 other women signing up at the same time?
This system that we have found in which works best is we have all of the teachers stand in front of large signs that are categorized into groups such as fiber arts, herbalism, spirituality etc. The signs will be placed in Alphabetical order according to categories posted along the trees around our main grass area so that we can see them clearly. This should make it easier to find your teachers and the classes you wish to take. We will also have the categories color coded in the program with a key. Class sign ups always take place after Opening Ritual on Thursday night before dinner. Instructors will also wear name tags with their classes so that you can recognize Instructors from Attendees. I hope that we can all go into this with much more trust and patience in our hearts and can also spread these ideas to new women who will attend this year. Let us be the example so that we can all have a much more enjoyable and calming experience for this year and many years to come.
Thank you for trusting! Thank you for remaining open! Thank you for your patience in reading this.
i love you all. xx Mea
