Autumn 2022. For the second time different people and circles around the world were gathered in order to connect and disconnect from each other in physical, virtual and spiritual spaces during the inter-local Deep Live Gathering. This report includes words and pictures from different parts of the world.

UK

The Sacred Space Foundation. Mungrisdale, Cumbria, United Kingdom.

“Well, that was a very full weekend and it continues as I ready to work with the folks in our village to raise awareness in our first ‘adaptation’ meeting. The interest has been sparked and it is hoped that about a third of the people who live here will turn up. Already many suggestions of working together have come in. We shall see. It seems beautifully timely with all else that is going on in the Deep Live Gathering.

We gathered and scattered over the past 4 days, some in pairs, some solo – walking the pilgrimage, sitting in silence, conversation, a re-membering ceremony and generally hanging out and connecting in heart and mind if not practically. The last event was quite practical and took up much time, but it worked. I’d organised a Deep Adaptation gathering in our village and 30 people turned up, listened to the picture, worked through the fear, and then moved into lots of warmhearted ideas about community support, transition towards local sourcing and so forth. In this very scattered and conservative (in all senses) valley it was good to see such a response and to see how people come up with the right answers when asked the right questions. At the moment it falls to me to coordinate things, but that will pass as it becomes more a community led initiative and small groups start to work on subjects and solutions over the next few years. A goodly start and I like the fact that it came in on the tide as the Deep Live Gathering was passing.

Blessings from the cold, wet hills; autumn is here but when the light breaks through the land is alive with gold and bronze”. 

Stephen Wright

France

Oloron-Sainte-Marie, France

“The French gathering ended this evening with a beautiful sunset, after a very rich and fruitful weekend. There were tears, laughter, dreams of radical change, awakening to the lasting impacts of racism and colonialism, and explorations of death and renewal…

… As well as an old linden tree, below whose ancient branches took place an earth ceremony which left no traces save in the hearts of all present – humans and other-than-humans”

“Twenty people gathered from Friday to Sunday. There were three hosts. We had different activities involving deep human connection about the Work That Reconnects and ecopsychology, intellectual workshops (how, why and with whom we talk about collapse or a talk about radical change). We showed a film about the connection between colonialism and climate change that shows some inconvenient truths. Another workshop was about creating local groups in order to work together in this region.

Our participants came from villages and towns near our gathering place, and from further away. We summoned radical joy among us in a singing circle under the tree – where some of us also sat to explore matters of death and mortality.

Together, we breathed, talked, related, cooked, ate, and spent beautiful starry nights on this hill of Béarn.

I felt very different things. A lot of stress and pressure ahead of the event, as I’ve never organized such long offline events before. I’ve put a lot of myself in this.

The next step… We’ve woven something together that is going to persist at least for some of us. We’re planning a gathering in two months to check in and continue…”

Dorian Cavé

US

Hotlum EcoRegeneration Camp, California, United Stated

“Hello from California USA! We are a small group of folks working on a land based project on the slopes of Mount Shasta in the Klamath River Watershed. Our plans have been dramatically impacted by rapid changes in the ecosystem due to extraction of timber exacerbated by global ecological contraction and climate change. We are in support of relational work in our efforts to heal humanity’s relationship with the Biosphere. Hopefully we can contribute to this global event.

On Sunday 10/15/22 we held space for generosity in our community by hosting a Gift Circle. Acts of sharing creates everything. It is this exchange dynamic which grows the Cosmos and our Ecological World. This ceremonious way of doing what we are already doing is in support of growing a deep sense of community. Gift Circles have been developed by my friend Alpha Lo and shared around the world. Charles Eisenstein has written about and promoted Gift Circles in his work on Sacred Economics. Our gift circle was inspired by Deep Live Gathering happening during the same week at locations around the world including Hotlum, California”.

Jonathan Kabat 

Serbia

Fruška Gora national park, Serbia, Balkans

“We live on the border with Fruška Gora, the oldest national park in Serbia. Over the years, the organization that is responsible for its upkeep has been heavily underfunded. As a result, the people who work there fund themselves by poaching and letting others poach there. Roads are cut into the forest, and the wood is sold to others who will poach.

One road like this was constructed late last year. Wood prices have risen so high, there are more people seeking access to the forest. It used to be a tiny walking path through the forest, then they came with a bulldozer. We felt devastated by it. Previously, we couldn’t walk there – it felt so sad and hopeless.

This time, when we walked, we noticed a lot of new seedlings, and branches growing there, because the road isn’t being so actively used. The wounds are being healed – there is that potential in life, for healing. As we walked through the forest, we picked things and felt fresh and alive, part of the life cycle. We gathered mushrooms, dried leaves and other things that represent this cycle of life. We came to one of the piles of the cut wood that has been poached there recently and put these things around it – Life is going on. We talked a bit, sat in silence, and meditated. There were six of us.

We expected that the Earth Ceremony would be hard, and feel heavy and full of sorrow, but as we meditated, we felt some hope and joy. This is counter-intuitive, but we felt as if those acts of destruction are things that pass in a long stretch of time. We felt immense power and love in the Big Picture. Of course we also felt sorrow, but some unusual sense of Hope, too.
While we were meditating, we also heard dogs barking. These dogs belong to the people who have built a big hacienda-like home destroying forest that lived in that place. Usually we feel these dogs through their aggression, but somehow we felt that they are also wounded – these dogs.
Overall we had expected a lot of tension, but what we felt was some hope and joy about the magic of life. We realized how many places have been massacred, but they can recover to some extent”.

Goran, Višnja, Milja, and others

Montenegro

Bar / Budva / Podgorica, Montenegro, Balkans

“I wasn’t able to put in as much energy as last year, and things evolved differently – someone wasn’t able to join, and finally it wasn’t possible for the gathering to take place in the place we were planning. So it happened at the school. Guests were mostly from Russia: Sergey, barefoot, sleeping on the roof, and Pavel, sleeping downstairs. There was a meeting with parents at the school. Main idea: teaching children to cooperate with each other and with nature – which will be necessary anyway.

The Earth Ceremony was held in a beautiful place, quiet with a spring nearby, mountains, flowing rivers. We had a conversation about Beauty, discussing what Act of Beauty to do or what to give here. We noticed that for some reason we can see beauty and be in resonance and when we do so, it is important for the place.

Flowers are beautiful for us, yes, but also they are beautiful in order to attract insects. Our Act of Beauty is to connect with this beauty, to be in resonance with each other and the place, to be one because we used to be disconnected. We also resolved to have beauty in our lives. This is important not just for humans, but it also helps us to perform our role in the ecosystem.

Last year, when we did this, we were really united. This year, there are lots of borders and separations. The bridge of communication is being burned because of the war in the Ukraine. For some people there is too much pain to communicate and to connect. This ceremony was healing for us, perhaps more so than for the place, which is already so beautiful.

Some of us drank tea with psilocybin. There was a cave in the mountain, like a womb. During the ceremony, we experienced some sense of disconnection between what we were doing and other people around us. I felt trust in the waves and the flow, and I knew that some people might be disappointed, and felt responsible for that.

On Monday we called people for a strategic talk about the future with other Deep Adaptation folks. We didn’t maintain so many connections online, they were fewer but stronger. Now, I feel relieved closing this space and honoring our connections.

Future: for us here, we will continue with the school and everything. For the Deep Live Gathering: I’m glad it was not so dependent on me/Montenegro this time. This year the groups were more independent – more like traditional culture, without centralization. The Earth Ceremony works as a central event. Next year we can make it clearer to people, and leave a lot of space for improvisation in each place. We can let more people join and do what they want.”

Igor

“It is important to know and to be sure that in different parts of our beloved planet, the inhabitants at the same time praise and connect with Gaia, with each other, synchronize in a positive feeling and noosphere. Yesterday at sunset the children also created a recycled art object, which they called the “Keeper of Souls”. It was amazing! Pure act of creation!”

Irina

“I was surprised by the very limited number of people. I enjoyed being with the group, and especially the ceremony, mountains, olive tree and the ecosystem. It was not possible for the organizers to be responsible for the gathering as they’ve just started a new school. Even people who said they were coming didn’t come in the and there was disconnection.

Next year I would like to see a more intensive and intentional program. It was fruitful for me. Also the conversation about the strategy was quite good and I am ready to support future conversations on the Deep Adaptation Forum later”.

Pavel

See also: “Unaware (Unconscious) Violence, and the Seeds of In-action”: Reflections from the Deep Live Gathering 2022 in Montenegro by Sergey Dmitriev

Dominica

Caapi Retreats, Dominica island, Caribbean

We hosted our Deep Live Gathering here in Dominica on Saturday, Nov 19th. It had to be postponed from the October date, due to Dominica’s Independence Celebrations during that month.

It was definitely worth the wait! Our gathering was a wonderful event with a diverse mix of people, from ages 16 to 73.  I don’t have a complete summary ready yet, but I can share some photos from the afternoon and comments.

We had 17 participants and some of the comments were: “surreal experience”…”..the sights and sounds were calming to the soul”…”wonderful meeting”….”loved the atmosphere you created and level of comfort I felt”…”magical”….”inspired to live alongside nature like you do..”  “I received a lot of inspiration from our time together”..

Our theme was: “How can art help strengthen community resilience, and guide us in our response to this climate and ecological crisis and potential collapse of industrial civilization?“

One Love,
Jessica

Russia

Saint-Petersburg kitchen, Russia

“Yesterday (15th October) we met at my Saint-Petersburg spot. Only one person came, but I had a feeling that she has really strong need to be on this offline meeting, and I’m glad that we’ve met face to face, because it allowed a very profound dialogue to happen.

She is a practicing Tibetan doctor, and a few years ago we met for the first time when I did a Tibetan massage for her. Since then she studied Tibetan and Chinese medicine a lot, and also philosophy.  I wrote about these  details to explain the text I share below, which is following from our common worldview, as we see everything that is going on in the world from the point of our souls’ experience.

After our meeting she wrote this text, as essence of our conversation:

Would our lives have any value if we didn’t have traumas? 
The whole world is the common home of wandering souls. 
Who leads us into an unknown future with strange and amazing adventures and bloody battles accompanying us, from which we return alive? 
The price we pay for the expansion of consciousness is the wound of the protagonist of the novel called Life.
Having met with the pain of life, I sacrifice my infantile longing for a hearth and home.
I accept the burden of my journey and my loneliness. 
No one can accompany me on this journey so that I can fully realize myself.

This text for me is about us who are so powerful and mighty when we lean on our eternal inner light which is always inside us even when there is so much darkness in the outer world. It is just a question of our will and choice, to apply it in every situation.

I was happy to be part of this event! I feel it is really important for me to feel the connection to the people in other parts of the world, to other brave hearts.”

Tanya

Sweden

Suderbyn ecovillage, Gotland, Sweden

“Dearest all, just letting you know that the Deep Live Gathering has come to a close here in Suderbyn, Gotland. We had some wonderful talks last week on nature connectedness, an evening of storytelling, an autumn bonfire, and a walk to the sea alongside some mushroom picking. We will begin listening to the birds more and hope to have more of such shared moments as the days become shorter and the nights longer. Wishing you all a further deepening of connections and much love and light”.

Vivi

Canada

The Creston BC Canada / Flatbow Culture event

“I was there with a friend from Toronto. Still a good ongoing event, and one good starting point I would pick in our Deep Adaptation location. I received no emails as per the Deep Adaptation event, but friends, family and neighbors works best. This location maintains a facebook page, with photos of the teepee weaving — I tried with fumbly fingers. Flatbow Culture

Robin Louie, who’s reviving the Ktunaxa culture, is registered as a Culture Carrier with our Canadian federal government. He mentioned climate change when I was there, speaking of species moving north. I’ll be writing a children’s book with Robin, on Ktunaxa stories of learning from nature. The teepee has 13 poles, because the local turtles have 13 plates on their shells. Biomimicry! And doing what I can this coming winter.

Thanks for organizing”

Les

Spain

Lanjaron, Granada, Spain

A plan for the gathering was created, but then an experience of disconnection happened. One person wanted to join on Monday, but it was not possible. Aimee and her partner had a strong experience during the Deep Live Gathering. Their place is very dry, and dependent on water. During this time together they had a confrontation with a neighbor stealing water from them. They discovered it on Saturday and called a manager. It was a complicated situation and an interesting community challenge. How do people get enough water to manage their own life? It was a strong moment, an intense example of difficult community life.

From a conversation with Aimee

Unannounced gatherings

“Hello people. We haven’t sent you a message at the time of the Deep Live Gathering, as we were on an off-grid trip for a week in mountains. Yet we thought of you and kept our mental/heart connection open. Maybe you’ve “heard” us.

The whole week was in a way an earth ceremony, as it was a week-long course on devastation and restoration of land, on wild untamed nature and human interference, and on how humans can play a supportive role to regenerate deprived lands… so i think we can count as a remote participants of the Deep Live Gathering. “

With love from Scotland – Alisa, Abu and Nayana Mira

“Hello, the World and beautiful creatures! 

After a two days journey, we reached Bohinjsko jezero (lake) in Slovenia. Calmness, beauty, and harmony of the nature mirror. Colors of the autumn – an endless masterpiece of nature. My mind is clear, and I have no worries or any thoughts. I’m here, breathing air with gratitude. After that, I’m falling asleep. 

The Ceremony happened to me”.

Katya Po

Thanks to all participants and organizers!

Deep Live Gathering 2022 interactive map

Support Deep Live Gathering 2023 here

Write to igor@deepadaptation.info
if you want to host a group during the next Deep Live Gathering
or to find others! 😉

See you next autumn!
For now join the DAF 2023 Global Countdown online celebration!
Happy new year…