Ten years of the Mercian Gathering
Published: Fri, 09/05/14
I am going to the Mercian Gathering this afternoon until Sunday.
Over the last twelve years or so I have been a facilitator at
various camps. Some have only lasted one or two years, some are
still going but didn't work for me but the Mercian Gathering
has lasted ten years and gone from strength to strength in that
time. I met Anna Franklin the organiser at another event early in
the summer of 2004. She told me she was planning an event for the
end of the summer not far from Coventry (in the old kingdom of
Mercia, where else?) and I was invited to teach Stav and do a
workshop. The first MG had about 120 people attending, the weather
was perfect and everyone had a wonderful time. From there on it
grew each year and for several years now the total number of people
allowed on site has been pegged at 1000. (Apparently if you go
over 1000 you start needing special permissions, a police presence,
extra insurance etc.) An excellent team has been established to
organise and run the event and the profits are donated to charity,
over £13,000 last year alone. It is a short camp, just the
weekend and there is a lot going on in terms of workshops,
entertainments, rituals and talks. It is not an event one goes to
just to relax but it is fun, I always learn something new and there
are lots of great people to catch up with or meet for the first
time.
I take a Stav session each morning. The support does vary from
year to year, I have had as many as 20 and as few as 2, I just have
to take it as it comes. As far as a workshop is concerned I have
given talks on bindrunes, self-defence, my personal spiritual path,
the 80/20 principle, aspects of Norse mythology and I really
can't remember all of them. This year I was going to do a talk
on marketing. So many people at these events talk about how they
would like to give up their jobs and become full time shamanic
healers or Tarot readers or basket weavers. The women generally
work for the NHS and the men are in some form of IT, not all but
you would be surprised how many pagan types are in this stereotype.
Even if you just want to run a group of some kind or a small camp
once a year then some practical marketing advice is going to be
invaluable, or so you would think. However at Druid camp I had two
ladies at my talk on marketing and it was just what they needed at
that point in their lives. However at MG I will have access to a
good sized space for my presentation and it will be a bit wasted if
I end up with very few people. So I had a chat with the organiser
and I have changed my session to one of learning about learning
from animals about self protection, both real creatures and spirit
guides. It isn't that I am that worried about being popular at
the MG, you can never predict how many people will find their way
into your workshop at any camp (I will tell you sometime about the
time I was scheduled to do a talk about runes at the same time as a
very glamorous Druid priestess was giving a talk on sex magic.)
But I do want to develop a workshop based on Peacock Kung Fu which
I can teach locally, later this morning I am visiting the town hall
to discuss opportunities to promote all aspects of Stav and martial
arts teaching locally. So a workshop on this theme at the MG gives
me an opportunity to test and develop my ideas. I believe the
lessons in PcKf are all most people need to keep themselves safe
and it may be a gateway into more advanced training for a some
people. If anyone wants to know about marketing they can go up
to London and pay hundreds if not thousands of pounds for a big
seminar there, there is no point in trying to give it away for free
in a field in the midlands.
It will be a fun weekend anyway, the weather fore cast is good so I
will soon by loading my tent and getting on my way. Have a good
weekend yourself.
regards
Graham
PS Peacock Kung Fu is available on paper or ebook or Kindle, all
three options are linked from here http://iceandfire.org.uk/lit.html