JOHN SEED'S COMMENTS IN UPPER CASE
From: Peter Merry <office@beyondthemask.com
To: John Seed johnseed@ozemail.com.au
Subject: Council in Slovenia
Date: Friday, August 04, 2000 7:23 PMHi John,
How's things?
I've just returned from a big youth festival I was organising in Slovenia, and during the Festival we ran a Council of All Beings, and I thought I'd share some of the experience with you. It was about half way through the two weeks, and we planned to run the Council activities over a day during an excursion into the countryside.There were about 40 people in the group who came. The group was made up of people from many countries in Europe, including all the Balkan countries, and varied in age from 15 to 65 (but most were about 20-30) It was a sunny day to start with and we were blessed. Before leaving we did some Tai Chi. Then we walked for about 45 mins to a place on top of a hill with a beautiful view. After resting for a bit and eating sandwiches, we gathered for the introduction and milling, which clearly had a powerful effect - the concentration and presence was very strong. We then moved on, walking over the hills, scrambling up a gully, and meeting on the top of another hill where there was a small church. After resting, people looked for their object and we did the mourning. This also worked very well, although not everyone participated (but that felt OK - the attention was still there).
There was a great moment as we sat in silence for a couple of minutes at the end contemplating the cairn of objects in the centre and remembering peoples words, when the wind rose up for a minute or so, seemed to take our thoughts and feelings up, and then died away. We then walked on for another hour or so, and found a spot on the edge of a forest, some vineyards, and still high up with a view, and people went out to find their ally and came back to make masks. This was also a great process, with some fantastic masks being made from natural materials. The people who had most problems with the process were the Bosnians and Serbs, who felt it wasn't right / they weren't ready to engage in such activities when there were so many "serious" problems they were confronting at home in their daily lives. They found it very had to let go of those for a while, and enter into the spirit of the Council activities. I talked to a couple of them, and in the end one Bosnian and a Serb made masks (more of them later). Unfortunately by now the clouds were massing, and we decided to head back to the Castle for the Council rather than risk getting soaked outdoors. As soon as we got backs, we went into one of the rooms, lit a circle of candles, and people entered the space in their masks to a drum beat. The Council itself went much as in Budapest, with some deep reflection, some lighter moments, and also some intellectual discussion (which disturbed some people as they felt it was more like the people speaking from behind the masks rather than the ally). One person left (she told me later if felt like a "sect"). Alen, the Bosnian, joined us, whereas Dragan from Serbia didn't in the end. It lasted about 45 minutes. It ended with a discussion of how we could engage the "two-legged ones" and the proposal that we put on human masks and go out and mix with them. This was how it ended, and people left to the drum beat and removed their masks outside the room. This ending proved difficult for some people as they felt they were still the ally dressed up as a human, and on reflection I think that next time I would not let it end like this, but rather make it clear to people that they are removing the mask of their ally and going back to being humans.
I HAVE OFTEN ENDED THE COUNCIL IN THIS WAY AND HAVEN'T HAD THIS PROBLEM. I LIKE THE AMBIGUITY - ARE WE REALLY HUMANS OR IS THIS JUST A MASK THAT WE'VE FORGOTTEN THAT WE'RE WEARING?
One other problem that arose was that we were planning to burn the masks in the fire that evening,and that had been announced in advance. However, because of the rain, that wasn't possible. This clearly disturbed some people (it turned out the next day), as they felt a need to round things off. I remembered that in Budapest we had left it at this stage without any further closure, and it seemed to be OK, but people here clearly needed that extra step.
THAT'S INTERESTING, IT SEEMS THAT THIS WAS QUITE A DIFFICULT GROUP
That night, some people who had been in the Council had some strange experiences. The Castle was used in WW2 as a PoW camp for partisans, and people had been tortured and killed there. During the night one person felt the strong presence of a spirit of some kind pushing them down. They remained quite disturbed for the coming days. The opinion of one person was that in invoking spirits of any kind (e.g. nature spirits in the Council) you open up people's souls which means that other spirits can enter as well - suggesting that the Council process had opened up that person to the spirits of the dead in the Castle. In my mind, I have no doubt there were negative spirits around (one person I trust read "grey" energy in the room they had been sleeping - when they moved they slept better), but I'm not sure of the connection with the Council. Have you heard of any similar experiences of this kind?
NO, THIS IS A FIRST FOR ME.
Then Alen, from Bosnia (c. 25, a genius classical guitar player studying at the Conservatory in the Hague - he describes himself as having out-of-body experiences when he plays) also had difficult experiences. He had chosen the stag as his ally. The night after the Council he hardly slept, was disturbed the next day, and came to me the night after to talk and asked to burn his mask. We burnt the mask (having recalled the ally experiences and channeled them into the mask), and then I took him through a kind of de-role process (thinking about something you did before the event, and what you are going to tomorrow). This seemed to help. What he said to me was that he could see himself on the edge of an area that he didn't feel ready to go into yet, and that he was very disturbed by that. (Another coincidence was that someone reported seeing a stag nearby during the day - I heard this completely independently and I don't think Alen ever knew). Have you had similar experiences, and if so how did you deal with them?
SOUNDS LIKE YOU DEALT WITH THIS WELL. PEOPLE HAVE OFTEN HAD EXPERIENCES OF ANIMALS DURING AND AROUND THE COUNCIL. IN PERTH A DOG CHASED A RABBIT RIGHT THROUGH THE COUNCIL CIRCLE; IN FINLAND ONE TIME, THE FOG SURROUNDING THE COUNCIL LIFTED AND OUR CIRCLE WAS SURROUNDED BY A CIRCLE OF REINDEER.
The next day in the afternoon, we had a session to burn the masks and round off for anyone who wanted. In the end about 12 people came. We went through the same process I had taken Alen through. We then allowed a space for people to express any feelings they had about the activity. There was a wide spectrum of response from ecstatic to pretty disgruntled. The main complaints were around the way the Council ended, and the not rounding off earlier. One person (a drama therapist) suggested to people that they explore why they felt resistance to things and that they might learn more about themselves from that process than being angry with what happened. There were certainly a couple of people who felt we had no right to take them into that space. Rachel (the drama therapist) also expressed some concern with the use of masks with people who were not used to working with them, due to their power. Interestingly, a woman from Uzbekistan (who was still clearly connected to many energies - her grandfather used to heal and red the future in water) was surprised how much emphasis people put on the masks, as she explained that there was lots more to masks than this. In a discussion with her afterwards, it became clear that she and others in her country were still used to working on that level, and so could cope with it easily, where as most people from our civilisation are so disconnected from all of that, that a mask can evoke powerful emotions (ancient connections?) that are difficult to deal with. In the end, things settled down, and the rounding off session by the fire seemed to calm people. The week went on to be fantastic, and finished in a day-long playing-out of a modern version of the Parzival legend in the Castle (which included a rendition of Angel of Sunshine, when the young Parzival meets four knights and thinks they must be angels!), and a banquet at the end in the Knights Hall which was just amazing (with mime, music, dance fire-breathing etc). Both Alen and the person who had been "spooked" came through things well in the end, and Alen seemed particularly sparky and inspired.
It was clearly a powerful process for everyone, and those few days took a lot out of me. I am convinced the process is still valid, but would be interested to hear from you as a result of this story if you have any advice based on previous experience, that might help me to manage this kind of energy better. The Castle is definitely a place full of energy (sits on the 16th meridian and all sorts of people have identified energy lines running through it etc), so maybe it was just the intensity of the place and the experience that people were going through that brought it all out.
WELL I'M GLAD IT ALL ENDED WELL. IT SEEMS TO ME THAT MODERN HUMANS HAVE A DIFFICULT RELATIONSHIP WITH THE NON-HUMAN WORLD AND THAT WE SHOULDN'T SUPPOSE THAT WHEN WE INVOKE THESE ENERGIES THAT ITS ALL GOING TO BE EASY. IT SOUNDS TO ME LIKE PEOPLE WENT DEEP AND THAT THIS BROUGHT UP VARIOUS ISSUES. SOUNDS LIKE YOU HANDLED IT ALL REALLY WELL. MAYBE IT TOOK A LOT OUT OF YOU BECAUSE YOU WERE ANXIOUS FOR THE PEOPLE WHEREAS I KNOW THAT NO HARM EVER BEFALLS ANYONE IN A COUNCIL OF ALL BEINGS? STILL EVERY COUNCIL LEAVES ME PRETTY DRAINED FOR SOME HOURS AT LEAST SO MAYBE THIS GOES WITH THE TERRITORY.GOOD WORK PETER,
FOR THE EARTH - JOHN
Anyway, thanks for putting me on this track - I am learning a lot and enjoying making these kind of connections.Hope you're well,
Peter
Peter Merry
Beyond the Mask - training and drama for intercultural learning
(KvK 27184020)
Van Blankenburgstraat 25 III, NL - 2517 XM Den Haag, Netherlands
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Email: office@beyondthemask.com"To know and to transform - that is our goal"
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