Grounding in Waters

Grounding in Waters
Name	Grounding in Waters
Location	Het Wilde Weg
Date	2023/07/18-2023/07/27
Time	[[]]
PeopleOrganisations	Yelizaveta Strakhova
Type	HDSC2023
Web	Yes
Print	No

Throughout our time at the campsite, we will trace the water histories of the past and the current watery present of Het Wilde Weg and create rituals that would help us comprehend, remember and ground ourselves in the reality of the site we temporarily inhabit.

Water is matter that unites all on Earth, constantly circulating, always in motion, passing through and accommodating gestation in various bodies. Waters around us do not magically appear but they come from somewhere. Through tracing their journey we get to connect the local and the global, making the latter less abstract. At that point, water has potential to become a matter whose symbolic properties are recognised as much as its utilitarian ones. This is a state from which rituals get born, when simple actions gain a symbolic meaning and start to reflect the values and ways of a group or society.

I am curious to experiment with how we can braid the ritualistic practices into our daily routines.

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First I’d like to propose to do a group session where we:

• learn about the water histories of the area/river Dommel
• use data from various online weather maps to see where the water has been coming from and where it has been going
• becoming familiar with practices of embodied exploration of landscape/listening/observing/feeling/smelling/tasting/walking/swimming
• practicing in combining the symbolic with mundane
• performing our first ritual

During this session I would like to provide people with tools and methodologies as an entry point to our journey of grounding and listening to the environment and learning to weave its stories together with actions. So the accessibility level is basic and doesn't require any specific knowledges.

I would like to introduce these rituals into our daily lives so I’d like to keep the practice going throughout the whole duration of camp. The rituals can be as big or small as we decide on the day. It can be a moment of gathering and washing our faces with morning dew while reading a spell or washing the communal area with water that we bring from the river.

The group size can vary based on people's interest and mood. Maybe sometimes a smaller group of people will want to go and explore and will propose a ritual for everyone to perform together so even though we practice autonomy we find ways of sharing our experiences and moving as a communal body.