Autumn Retreat and Craft Camp - Centre for Craft, Creativity and Consciousness

In September 2023, a beautiful group of people spent three days and nights on the shores of Lake Lascelles in Hopetoun, weaving, drawing, feasting, dreaming, bead making, laughing, meditating with Blue Lotus, making willow charcoal, swimming, talking and being. Those who attended last years inaugural Craft, Creativity and Consciousness Camp had this to say about it:

Thanks Bianca Flowers and Shalome Lateef for organising and facilitating such a magical retreat. Looking forward to the next one. 😍😍😍 Wilma

Craft Camp is not just a place to learn new techniques; its a sanctuary for the soul, where we find solace in the rhythm of crafting and the beauty of creation. It is a journey of self-discovery, where craft becomes a sacred practice, and every creation tells a story of spirit and resilience. Giselle

I lay down on the grass, staring up at the sky, happy and fully content in my whole being. Mila

This year we meet again for another three days and nights from the 23-26th of April, to deepen into the ways of being which were established at that first camp, bringing all of our learning from that time to make something even more wonderful, in collaboration with the land, each other, the weather, and the Gods.

Our theme for this camp is sleep and dreams. Sleep and dreams are important times of renewal and spiritual journeying. At this autumn Craft Camp you will weave your very own sleeping mat on a handcrafted stick loom with the beautiful Bianca Patetl-Flowers. You will learn to weave on a stick loom, get instructions for making your own loom, and leave with a sleeping mat that is part mattress, part dream incubation aid, part magic carpet, part chrysalis. These mats will be places for you to rest upon, journey from, and seek renewal within, and hatch your magnificence self out of! 

Learn the magic of crafting with the hands, the ways of anchoring and disseminating wisdom as you weave, and experience the blissful and ultra-conscious and receptive states of mind that are achieved through ongoing work on a single project in this exquisite place. Be nourished with wholesome delicious food, engage in discussion circles, workshops, family constellations sessions and ceremonial ritual. Take time out to rest and be restored by the deliciously refreshing waters of Lake Lascelles.

What to expect

Three days and nights of...

• delicious food
• a beautiful bush environment
• crafting in community
• stimulating conversations
• laughter
• deepening in connection with land and earth
• learning new skills
• developing resilience and new ways to tackle to the challenges of our times

Accommodation

Camping:

Unpowered camping is available all around the lake. A limited number of powered campsites are available near the function room. Powered sites attract a small donation (min $20 per night) to the Mallee Bush Retreat which can be paid on arrival.

Accommodation:

The Mallee Bush Retreat has a number of huts and cabins that will be allocated after booking according to your requirements. All cabins have beds but no linen - you are required to bring your own linen and pillows - and no cooking facilities or bathrooms. 

Toilets and showers are located in separate amenities blocks - one near the function room where the bulk of our activities will take place, and one further around the lake.

Food

Most of our meals will be shared meals, so please bring food items to contribute to meals that will be cooked and shared together. Recommended items include:

• rice, pasta, bread, couscous, polenta, etc
• lentils, chickpeas, beans, etc (tinned or dry)
• cereals and other breakfast items
• eggs, meat, cheese, milk, plant milk, tinned fish, tofu, etc
  
• fresh fruits and vegetables
• spices, condiments
• olive oil
  
• spreads
  

What to bring

• camping things including bedding and tents 
  
• all bedding if staying in onsite accommodation
  
• food items to share (see food section above)
  
• weather appropriate clothing and footwear including swimwear if you plan on swimming
• materials for any workshops or activities you want to share
• drums, ritual tools, etc
  

                                Further information and schedule can be found below.

What is it?

Craft camps are the dream child of Shalome Lateef and Bianca Patetl-Flowers and is designed to take crafting into the environment and to give form to our joint passions for an earth-centred spirituality and creative practice.

Draft schedule:

Tues 23rd 

afternoon: arrive, settle in, opening circle - introduction to weaving a sleeping mat

evening: dinner, yarns by the fire

Wed 24th 

early morning: meander through the lakebed, learn the history of this place

daytime: weaving, interspersed with mealtimes, workshops (e.g. family constellations, nature mandala making, etc), discussion circles, etc

evening: dinner, full moon ceremony

Thursday 25th

early morning: movement with Joani on the shores of the lake

daytime: weaving in earnest

evening: dinner (feast), drumming

Friday 26th

early morning: closing circle, ongoing connections, ongoing engagement

morning: pack up, swim, farewell the lake

A note about the schedule

We always draft a schedule when organising the camp so that participants have an idea of what will happen, when and with who. However, we have found that it is imperative to have a degree of flexibility within the schedule to accommodate the diverse needs of those in attendance, and to facilitate an experience of deep connection to person, place, and materials which is the foundation of the camp. While on camp, the aim is not to be ruled by the clock, but to start to tune in to bodies - human bodies, earth bodies, water bodies, animal bodies, plant bodies - and the processes of crafting and creative work, so that workshops are sometimes delayed, extended, rescheduled, or exchanged for other activities. All this is so that we can deepen into what is, instead of being confined by the structure of the schedule.

Continuous crafting

In order to enter into the state of mind talked about by Tyson Yunkaporta in his book Sand Talk, in which its possible to access knowledge and wisdom by way of the body by working with the hands, its important to engage in a craft activity for a good duration, a few hours at a stretch, or even better, a few days.

Continuous crafting is the main thread of the camp on which all the other activities hinge. It provides the opportunity to deepen into a specific craft over the three days, and to enter into a relaxed but focussed mental state into which insights, unveilings and spontaneous ‘uhuh’ moments regularly enter. This activity - weaving a sleeping mat - is started on the first day, and can be continued through to completion while engaging in discussion circles or other sessions over the course of the three days. Participants might elect to engage in a joint craft project or to complete one solo. If you wish to finish your project, its important to recognise your pace, to weave when you feel called to, and not to be bound by schedule, politeness, or protocol.

Discussion circles / community processes

The consciousness part of ‘Craft, Creativity and Consciousness’ involves looking at things in our lives, in our societies and communities from the perspectives that we get when we sink into the state of mind that continuous crafting brings. These circles and processes are opportunities to engage with others from that space of deep listening. Sometimes we will gather to talk on a specific topic in a structured way - in September we had a fireside discussion about drums and the earth, involving a question and answer type format with someone who had knowledge and skills in that area - but most often conversations arise spontaneously out of working with the hands. 

Proposed topics for Autumn:

• models of land ownership, strategies for dealing with western systems of land ownership. Is western land ownership a type of enslavement?
• Waking up to the dark. Waking up to the dark is a book by Clark Strand about our infatuation with light and illumination and its effect on the planet. In this circle we will investigate questions like what does the dark have to offer us? How can we turn our attention more to the dark and its wisdoms? what does it mean to be in darkness? How can we become more comfortable with the dark? Who is the Black Madonna and what role does she play in our lives?

Family constellations

One of the highlights of the inaugural camp last year were the family constellations sessions run by Michael ? and Joan Reid. Family constellations is a community/group process of unravelling family, ancestral, and other traumas or stagnation, in a person's body - physical and energetic - by way of a gently facilitated process. These sessions will be held again this Autumn where and when they are deemed appropriate and required. Involvement is option, but is deeply rewarding!

Workshops / skill sharing

We welcome those in attendance to run workshops and/or skill sharing sessions, especially on the Wednesday or as morning or evening activities. Do you have a skill that you would like to share that feels aligned with the ‘what is it?’ section above or the focus activity of the camp? If so, please get in touch, or let us know when you arrive, or in the opening circle.

One-on-one sessions

Attending practitioners are invited to offer their services in one-on-one sessions. Booking sheets will be available in the function room for each healing space / treatment room. Practitioners are responsible for taking bookings in consultation with their client, making sure they don’t clash with other practitioners using those spaces, and to arrange payment. As a requirement of offering these session, practitioners are required to leave the spaces as they were found and to bring any additional equipment (a massage table and beds are provided) they should need.

Morning / Evening activities

Because there is limited outdoor lighting outside of daylight hours, mornings before breakfast and evenings after dinner are times to sink into a different pace and mode of being. Activities such as morning nature walks, tai chi by the lake, dream sharing/circles, storytelling and ceremony will be offered at these times.

Leisure

One of the beautiful things about Lake Lascelles is the call to slowness and self-nurture. In many of the photographs from the September 2023 camp, people were smiling genuine, relaxed, blissful smiles. The lake calls us into deep care, surrender and self- nurture, whether this be sitting and soaking up the place, swimming in the lake, crafting on its shores, walking, talking or just being.

There will be opportunities for ‘leisure’, or more precisely, important processing and switching gears times. Times in which you will have the opportunity to retrain your bodies and your brains away from the constant impulse to be ‘on’, whether its on our phones or computers, or on in a social or familial sense.

The land 

Hopetoun and the surrounding areas is the traditional lands of the Yarrikaluk people, the Wotjobaluk and the Wergaia people were also in the area. Our way of acknowledging their continued tending of the land is to listen, as facilitators and as attendees, to the land while we are there and in the organising of the event. The land and the lake held us most beautifully in September of last year, and our final session of that spring camp was a family constellations-type exploratory session to see whether there was scope for an ongoing collaborative relationship between the land and our craft camps. We were given guidelines and points for focus for the continuation of that relationship. This place calls us to be present with what is in the moment, and to honour our needs for rest, engagement, activity, creation, ceremony, solitude, compassion, conversation and community. We are excited to see what will be delivered up this autumn as we deepen into and foster that initial convergence.

Kids

Kids are welcome to attend but their caregivers are responsible for their safety and wellbeing during the retreat. Particular care should be taken around the lake and on roadways as there are no fences in the campgrounds. Kids under 10 do not need a ticket but you do need to let us know if they need a bed so we can adjust numbers on the ticketing system. Contact us if you are coming with kids over 10 and we can negotiate an amount for accommodation and catering and crafting if they wish to join in.

The space

We will gather, weave, eat, have workshops and ceremony in and around the function room. The function room is a large structurally beautiful enclosed space with a wood heater, kitchen, chairs and tables, an outdoor BBQ, an exquisite fire pit, and luscious lawns parading down to the lake edge.

Healing space / treatment rooms

Depending on the number and types of practitioners attending and available for treatments, we will reserve one or both of the Silos for one-on-one treatments. These may include massage, sound healing, bowen therapy, kinesiology, human design readings and more.

Nearby amenities

Lake Lascelles is a short walk from the Hopetoun pub - a community run establishment - and supermarket. There are two petrol stations in Hopetoun.

Costs and contributions

Your ticket price covers material costs and accommodation as required. Above and beyond this flat fee, we welcome and encourage additional contributions towards organisation, advertising, teaching/presenting, and space holding - those activities which make this camp a truely magical experience and not just an ordinary reality one. These contributions help us to plan for and facilitate future camps, as well as helping to cover our costs as organisers and facilitators. We love our work and want to make it accessible to everyone, and we also have families to feed and appreciate the financial recognition and support!

Alcohol

Alcohol is allowed, however if you plan on participating in ceremonial activities its recommended not to drink for at least 24 hours beforehand.