A. January 2010

Theme Sessions

The month of January started with Theme Sessions…

The third installment of YS, ES, BS: January 4 More on YS, ES, BS
The fourth installment on Facilitation: January 5 Space In Tension Ality
The fifth installment on Struggle: Struggle theme session 5

Opening of the Five Bells

On January 17, Storm sent out an email announcing the new Five Bells Village Pub in Bieup.

Storm writes:

...I chose the Five Bells to match the number of meditation bells at the start, end and during a one hour PaB session. Inside the Five Bells, you will find seating for 10 people around a cozy fireside. There are games to play: traditional pub darts, mini-go, and a chess table with an additional two chairs. To drink there is Greene King India Pale Ale or Guinness from the bar, or there is a Moroccan tea service by the fire. If you need to freshen up before leaving, there is even espresso coffee at the bar. There are two candles always lit inside, and two torches at the doorway that light only in hours of darkness....In email #2: ...the pub is now set in a small apple orchard - and we've already gone wassailing to ensure a good harvest for cider later in the year - and there are grasses and more flowers on the garden outside; there's a new traditional inn sign outside the door, on a pole with five bells as part of it (in addition to the existing one on the south wall) and you may hear a distant chime every 15 minutes; the fire now crackles invitingly and you may also hear an occasional distant flurry of birdsong.

The Five Bells also comes with it's own Cat-In-Residence. A “Name that Cat” competition commenced in January (which was not really a competition). The cats name was announced in February. ;) 

Malta Retreat January 25 - 29

The biggest event for the month of January was the Malta Retreat January 25 - 29. I'd like to include every single wonderful thing that arose as topics as a result from the Malta theme session. Rather than repeating what has been documented quite extensively here in the wiki, please see the following links for rich, detailed accounts of the Malta retreatants experiences.

About Malta:

2010-01 Malta

Retreatants accounts of the experience:

2010-Malta-Accounts

Guardian Meetings

2010.01.03 08:00 - Guardians Seeing PaB
2010.01.10 08:00 - Guardian Retreats
2010.01.17 08:00 - Guardian Session: Sticking to the Topic
2010.01.24 08:00 - Guardian Session: Ways of Sharing

Working Group

2010.01.12 14:00 - Working Group Meeting

The working group took a break January 19 and 26, which was well deserved!!!

January Guardians

The new guardian for January was Liza Deischer. At the end of January, there were 70 guardians.

January Scribes

The scribes for January were Eliza Madrigal, Vendy Walpole, Calvino Rabeni, Gaya Ethaniel, Arisia Vita, and SophiaSharon Larnia.