Community Gathering

Since the dawn of time human beings have been gathering around the camp fire. We gathered in our village hall, our places of worship, our fields. We came together in community to celebrate, to tell stories, to note the passing of time and to witness rites of passage. Through their intentionality these gatherings became sacred and their actions became ingrained in our souls. Through this sacredness we laughed, we cried, we contemplated, we danced, we sang. And through that we bonded, we learnt, we grew, we healed. In today’s increasingly industrialised and urban world the social fabric can be challenging to navigate and we can at times struggle to find our spot, our people, our community.

This is an invitation to come together and to gather around a digital camp fire. To create a virtual village hall. And to convene our own sacred gatherings. A place where we can come together in community. A place to connect with the sacred that’s around us and within us all. A place to share experiences, to tell stories, to sense-make, to listen, to witness. A place to be still. A place to simply be.

This biweekly community gathering will be hosted by Nectara Guide Nigel Pedlingham. We will build community together.

As if in each of us
There once was a fire
And for some of us
There seem as if there are only ashes now
But when we dig in the ashes
We find one ember
And very gently we fan that ember
Blow on it It gets brighter And from that ember we rebuild the fire
Only thing that's important is that ember
That's what you and I are here to celebrate
That though we've lived our life totally involved in the world
We know We know that we're of the spirit
The ember gets stronger Flame starts to flicker a bit
And pretty soon you realize
That all we're going to do for eternity Is sit around the fire

Jon Hopkins “Sit Around The Fire” (Feat. Ram Dass & East Forest)

Examples of themes we will explore‍

• The moments that change our lives
• The journeys of importance
• The role of rituals; the roles of ritual in my life; creating a ritual for the moment
• Sacred items on our journey
• The seasons and the earth
• The medicines that nourish our soul
• Our cultural heritage
• Stories/customs from our homeland
• What is it that I need to thrive?
• Practices: meditation/breath/sound/music making/poetry reading