A brief rundown of the Leipzig Solstice! There were only 13 of us, not 20, due to a couple of people cancelling or not arriving. As is usual in these kinds of situations, the group size turned out to be perfect in retrospect.
On Friday, we arrived, set up things, cooked, ate, did two funny icebreaker games, sang our first song together, collected things to do the next day, and collapsed into a two-hour cuddle pile that might have broken the record for most number of people ever piled on a single mattress without any limbs sticking out because the floor was lava. We were sober, I swear.
On Saturday after breakfast and preparations, we had the celebration in three parts (Light, Dark, Light) from something like 3pm to 1am, with one meal in each of the light parts. We created the Solstice 2014 tumblr in order to be more connected to the rest of humanity. Then we saw Tim Minchin and the Heritage Orchestra which gave everyone who still needed to prepare a ritual time to do so, and entertained everyone else. Then we sang, did a meditation on our ability to call for assistance involving Spotted Hyenas, the infamous Pinkie Pie ritual, the very effective intimacy-building CFAR exercise “Hot Seat” , and “The Gift We Give To Tomorrow”.
The dark part consisted of a very clever NLPish meditation on leaving behind in the ending year some things we didn’t need anymore, the haunting “Song of Dissociation”, “Adrift in Space and Time”, “Beyond the Reach of God” and the Moment of Darkness. We got back into light wiith my personal highlight of the event, a (slightly altered) “This is a Dawn”. After the “A Thousand Stars” song, we had food and feedback before building a huge pillow fort and in it, you guessed it, a cuddle pile. At some point the wine cooler came out and my memory gets hazy at that point, but apparently four guests were hardcore enough to go see the sunrise at something like 8am froom a nearby tower.
Sunday, between some people leaving early and others sleeping late, was mostly a long and lovely chat that took the entire day. We covered many topics, mostly LWish and personal, and built some good friendships I hope. And we’re keeping the pillow fort.
The emerging feedback consensus was that the light-dark-light structure worked well, that the series of “Adrift in Space and Time”, “Beyond the Reach of God”, Moment of Darkness and “This is a Dawn” was most excellent especially in that particular order, and that the gratitude (Pinkie Pie) and leaving something behind parts were also especially valuable and worth keeping.
Overall, I think the great level of intimacy in our small group made a greater difference to the other Solstices than the length of the event in itself. Almost everbody actively contributed, by reading something, leading a song or a game, or cooking. I’d love to do it again next year, and I think most or possibly all of our guests would agree.
A brief rundown of the Leipzig Solstice! There were only 13 of us, not 20, due to a couple of people cancelling or not arriving. As is usual in these kinds of situations, the group size turned out to be perfect in retrospect.
On Friday, we arrived, set up things, cooked, ate, did two funny icebreaker games, sang our first song together, collected things to do the next day, and collapsed into a two-hour cuddle pile that might have broken the record for most number of people ever piled on a single mattress without any limbs sticking out because the floor was lava. We were sober, I swear.
On Saturday after breakfast and preparations, we had the celebration in three parts (Light, Dark, Light) from something like 3pm to 1am, with one meal in each of the light parts. We created the Solstice 2014 tumblr in order to be more connected to the rest of humanity. Then we saw Tim Minchin and the Heritage Orchestra which gave everyone who still needed to prepare a ritual time to do so, and entertained everyone else. Then we sang, did a meditation on our ability to call for assistance involving Spotted Hyenas, the infamous Pinkie Pie ritual, the very effective intimacy-building CFAR exercise “Hot Seat” , and “The Gift We Give To Tomorrow”.
The dark part consisted of a very clever NLPish meditation on leaving behind in the ending year some things we didn’t need anymore, the haunting “Song of Dissociation”, “Adrift in Space and Time”, “Beyond the Reach of God” and the Moment of Darkness. We got back into light wiith my personal highlight of the event, a (slightly altered) “This is a Dawn”. After the “A Thousand Stars” song, we had food and feedback before building a huge pillow fort and in it, you guessed it, a cuddle pile. At some point the wine cooler came out and my memory gets hazy at that point, but apparently four guests were hardcore enough to go see the sunrise at something like 8am froom a nearby tower.
Sunday, between some people leaving early and others sleeping late, was mostly a long and lovely chat that took the entire day. We covered many topics, mostly LWish and personal, and built some good friendships I hope. And we’re keeping the pillow fort.
The emerging feedback consensus was that the light-dark-light structure worked well, that the series of “Adrift in Space and Time”, “Beyond the Reach of God”, Moment of Darkness and “This is a Dawn” was most excellent especially in that particular order, and that the gratitude (Pinkie Pie) and leaving something behind parts were also especially valuable and worth keeping.
Overall, I think the great level of intimacy in our small group made a greater difference to the other Solstices than the length of the event in itself. Almost everbody actively contributed, by reading something, leading a song or a game, or cooking. I’d love to do it again next year, and I think most or possibly all of our guests would agree.
Thanks for writing all this up!