Moving forward
A new beginning
As you are probably aware, Joseph is soon to be leaving the country to live and work in Spain,
and while he will still be supporting the brotherhood here and continue running courses,
the responsibility for the continuation and expansion of this brotherhood now rests with all of us,
and marks an important juncture for the brotherhood “coming of age”
Newsletter
At the last camp, it was agreed that that this regular brotherhood newsletter would be sent which would not only contain details of events and gatherings, but would also be open for you to contribute writings and poetry and to share from your heart any insights, breakthroughs and experiences that would support us all.
Conference Calls
It was also agreed to hold monthly brotherhood conference calls, the first of which will be after the summer months, but this will be confirmed shortly. It has been suggested that these calls be on the last Thursday of every month.
Gatherings
There will also be regular gatherings starting in the Totnes area and in the Bristol/Glastonbury area for our support and to further the exploration of the inner landscape, as well as a camp/retreat in November. As you are only too aware, it doesn’t take long for us to default back to the first/second disconnection if we are out of practice and in isolation. We need to meet weekly or fortnightly, and get a real, felt sense of each other, and by this regularity have a sense of being in each other’s lives. The first of these regular meetings in the Totnes area will be on the evening of September 15th. Details of the venue are to be confirmed. At this we will collectively decide the regularity of these meetings, but feel that these should ideally be weekly. The first one or two will be facilitated by Ian, and from there we can rotate the facilitation.
The next Men’s Initiatory Journey will be starting in January of 2012. For those that are interested in participating, or know of someone else who may be interested, there is an introductory weekend in October (details below), or you can contact Joseph to arrange a private session.
As you know, the last brotherhood gathering was on Tim’s land in Herefordshire and below are some words written by some of the men who were there:
Brotherhood Camp
Motorway ,Dual carriageway , Main road, Side road, a ‘Gate’. Up and out of modernity into countryside and hills; and then meeting a new ‘man’, an instant connection and trust with an unknown man, a man with the some work behind him within the culture of honouring, for me this has happened every time I meet another COH man, why does this easy feeling exist, this time it was Bob. We walk down gentle woodland into a beautiful bowl of bluebell woods, abundant nature in full spring resplendence, and our home for three days, The Camp. As we set up the other brothers arrive and we slot together and find ways to help set up camp and prepare a meal together, and yes we start the camp fire that more or less we kept going all weekend. The most amazing rainbow ever seen appears to bless our beginnings. We sink in together and start our sharing circle in a sauna, a fast way to approach our masculine natures together. I felt at the edge of realising that I had not been shepparded into maleness by my dad, to be able to open to needing men to welcome my maleness, to see my maleness and accept my pain, felt vital and liberating. Hot sweaty hugs meant a lot too, it seemed to allow, in me an openness to being more sexual when men are around. Having been so hot, and pouring cold water over ourselves in the moonlight, the night in a tent felt very cold. We got going again in the morning, more sharing and possessing though peer support, power and pain, a long walk, from feminine abundant valleys to stark open masculine hillside. Relaxed connected conversations, who are we as men? Do you have similar hopes and fears? A real deep felt sense of the masculine develops within me across these two days, encouraged by the masculine. A big hot red glowing fire after supper, we contemplate the brotherhood, we seem to need each other, can we say and commit, ‘We need each other?’ More circle, more opening to that within, too much wind, we cry either way, with the smoke from the fire or from within, perhaps it helped that we could do both. Then too soon, we pack up and collect ourselves, six brothers deeply in the now. Individual and a brotherhood, inseparable for a weekend, yet separate, now again the centre of our own universe’s, can we hold the masculine that we have touched? Did meeting further deepen our journey? Blessings to you five brothers, you helped me not to be the same person who headed up the motorway, I actually feel more male. Can we help each other again, will that time come, perhaps with a different mix of ‘men.’ Paul
“I experienced the camp tugging at those nagging questions that won’t go away about a felt masculinity. Taking me way beyond my ambivalence anger and shame about a patriarchal masculinity into a kind of shared holding where we were able to live in a full blooded embodiment around the issues we brought. Trust and belonging, an unfelt heart, sexuality, buried anger, love of self. There was a sense for me of unchartered territory, an edginess around our capacity to hold this space for each other, which created its own excitement. The struggle, too for me, of mind and body heaving towards a newer, as yet dimly felt, appreciation of our gifts and abilities as men…heart and spine, vulnerability and strength.
There was lots of challenge coming, it felt, from a loving place. As always, the invitation to differentiate between 1st, 2nd, 3rd.
“I still feel the emerging fellowship that grew from this diverse group of men, our appreciating each other’s attempts to get real, to seek connection and receive each other.”
And throughout in that chilly, Welsh landscape the fire burnt big! Huge gratitude for the sharing of this experience.” Chris
Brotherhood Forum:
Men (UK)
This is a forum for the UK Brotherhood*
