Sacred Arts Camp Culture

Our experience of camp begins in our circle of a dozen or so tents. This is our corner of the camp where we can learn new ways of co-operation in cooking together, sharing kids, songs and stories, washing up and chopping wood. From here we go out to the morning meeting, a forum where we discuss the day's programme, share information and offer our skills.
Dance and song begin and finish the day, which is full of opportunity for arts and crafts, sharing groups, guitar and drumming classes, story therapy, movement improvisation, yoga, 5-rhythms dancing, kids' play and expeditions with the children.
The Medina Cafe is open for three meals a day if you want a break from your circle's cooking, and for hot drinks & snacks throughout the day, making it a focus for meeting new friends from other circles.

This year the camp shop welcomes back David Willow at the helm. David will be supported by Don Watts, with Diane, Habiba and Risi completing the team. It is definitely a place to put on your ‘must visit’ list.

The shop will be situated in the Gate Circle and, as always, will be open 3 times a day. The opening hours will be available in the Welcoming Dome when you arrive. There will be the usual bread and milk and fresh fruit and vegetables. This year we will be placing an order with Riverford for staple foods, such as potatoes, carrots apples etc, so we will be extending our organic range. We will be stocking a variety of wholefoods (dried fruit, grains, seeds, lentils, etc, mostly organic) spreads, drinks, including dairy alternatives, snacks, some convenience foods and a small supply of those things that you may have forgotten like toothpaste, washing-up liquid and toilet rolls. We will also have delicious treats like Green and Blacks Chocolate and Honey Waffles.

The shop operates a ‘shopping list’. In this way anyone who needs to go off camp can buy what others also need, thus reducing our carbon footprint. Just come in and put your wanted item on the list (don’t forget to come back in and collect and pay for it) and if you are going off site, please come in and see what you can buy off the list.

¯¯¯This Year’s Special Offer¯¯¯
Bring a friend and get £15 to spend in the camp shop

This year we are encouraging you to bring someone new to the camp. In exchange for a paying adult new to the camp we will give you £15 credit to spend at the shop. Send a note with your booking, identifying your new person and we will set you up a tab at the shop.

And finally, although we can’t cater for everybody’s needs we would be happy to hear from you if there is anything that you would particularly like to see in the shop and that you think others would want also. Contact Diane on 01297 33700 or via the General email address on the Contacts Page

There is a spiritual understanding behind the camp, non prescriptive and non dogmatic, which encourages compassion and the sharing of such practises as Sufi meditation, the Dance of Life, a Quaker silence, or a Subud Latihan - besides spontaneous expressions of concern, grief, love and healing. There may be a sweat lodge after the dances at night, or a gathering to sing the chants of Taizé around a fire. Your own contribution and experience is encouraged - we only discourage alcohol, drugs and pets.

Throughout the life of the Camps (which have been running for some 20 years) there have been powerful and strong women's groups led from our hearts and taking many forms. Some years we have seperated from the whole group of women to form maidens, younger women, mothers, creating women, grandmothers groups, and more besides.Each year we celebrate our girls becoming young women in a beautiful ceremony with our grandmothers group holding the wisdom, and our menfolk protecting the outside space by drumming, until invited in.

This year we will be open to all the possibilities, gathering for morning celebrations of the dawn, creating art with nature, celebrating with sacred women's sweat lodges to honour the moon, dance and sing, daily groups/ spaces to connect to ourselves, our visions, dreams and share inspirations, nuture our bodies and souls, hold each other softly in our grief, and joy. Every woman is welcome to call a circle and suggest a gathering at our morning meeting.

Men

This is a good opportunity to experience the brotherhood of a men's group. This may take the form of a support group or, as in some other years, develop to mentor the young men, by ritual or by sweat lodge.

Eldership is explored through stories and shared experience, leading to an awareness of the responsibility of our role in the family and community, to create bridges between age and background.

Ceremonies and Rituals

We celebrate the widest scope of spirituality and celebrate dances and song from many traditions and countries. Our celebration of the Spring with Lada, a Russian goddess, in a spiral dance may contrast with the stillness of a Buddist prayer. We celebrate baby blessings and handfastings, and may have have rituals for the young women and young men.


Wedding ceremony	Menarche ceremony
For more photos of the wedding ceremony click here

We begin the camp individually exploring the site, each area of the camp leaping to life. And we end with the closing dance of the camp, hugs and goodbyes.
Some practise the Dance of Life each morning under the open sky, whatever the weather. Some practise Sufi meditation.

We might honor spirit with a sweat lodge, dance the Wave, or free dance and drum under the stars. Some evenings there will be Taizé singing by the fire. And towards the end of the camp, we hold a cabaret - a feast of entertainment. Mid-week we have a market where we share our creativity, and our children celebrate theirs with us.

We especially welcome our adolesents and people in their 20/30's to join us in making the camp reflect all ages.

The Sacred Arts Camp attracts artists and craftsmen who are keen to share their skills - in textiles such as batik and felting, in painting and drawing, raku pottery, and maybe some green woodwork. Classes are designed for various ages, so all the family will have some handicraft to take home at the close of camp.