WE CREATE THE GATHERING

Some of you have had experience with these gatherings, and some of you will be new to them, so I thought I'd bring a few things to the table for discussion.

Everyone gets a chance to offer up a topic, class, discussion, workshop, etc. Everyone. These events are not centered around the channels, so if you have a specialty, no matter what it is (it doesn't have to even be spiritual or metaphysical), bring it! Don't be shy!

I love that channels and students are considered one and the same, and as valuable as each other. I do love that.

WHAT MIGHT YOU OFFER?

So, my first question is to ask what some of you might be interested in offering up?  It can be an actual class, workshop, topic discussion, or it can be something like bringing goods to sell, share, trade. What might you be bringing to the gathering?

CHANNELS WON'T BE CHANNELING

Before attending my first gathering, it was made clear to me that offering up a group channeling event was discouraged, since past events of such things have not been interactive enough, and because "Open Space Technology" doesn't really lend itself to channeling, since people can mingle, move around, come and go as they please, etc. It was put to me that people did not want to just sit around listening to a channel. Apparently, this was done a couple of times over the years, and they have been boring as hell to most who attended.

I find this lack of expectation on the channels to be extremely awkward and uncomfortable, but I am also glad not to be expected to channel in that environment. It's true that the current mayhem that is in place for how the weekend unfolds is both beautiful and liberating, but also far from supportive of channeling.

Over the years, I have heard more and more people commenting about how bizarre it is that we have such expensive gatherings, but with proportionally minimal Michael Teachings involved, and absolutely no channeling involved. I had resolved last year that I would be brave and offer up a channeling event at the next gathering! But that's not going to happen.

Even when we've had a smaller group, the afternoon of our presenting our ideas, and the subsequent voting on those ideas, and then the finalizing of the schedule, can take hours. No matter how thoroughly this process is explained, people get impatient, agitated, confused, and overwhelmed. It always works out, but it's often a mess along the way. That has to be taken in stride, though, when using this format. And now, this year, the event has exploded into a huge gathering, and not only would holding a channeling event in the "Open Space" already be difficult, but now we've even been encouraged not to offer any classes or discussions, because the fewer the options, the easier to finalize the schedule for the event. 

These gatherings are uber-expensive, and I am amazed that so many, so eagerly, dive into these events with these exorbitant costs involved, and with nothing more than a meeting place secured. I am as fascinated by it, and as in awe of it, as I feel awkward and uncomfortable about it! lol 

Hence, my sharing this background so you understand why there aren't any group channeling events at these gatherings. I would love to offer that up, but it's discouraged and the setting and format are just not supportive of this. I don't know if other channels have been told the same thing, and I know there are conflicting ideas among the organizers, but these things have been made clear to me every year by Ed.

But we can offer up anything else, of course,... interactive, and as ourselves.

WHAT MIGHT I OFFER?

So, obviously, I'm not going to attend and NOT offer up something. People can vote my offering off the schedule, if they aren't interested, so it makes sense to ask you what you might be interested in. Before I work out some of my own ideas, I wanted to hear from you.

What would you look forward to having as a discussion, topic, workshop from me? ANY ideas would be helpful.

PRIVATE SESSIONS

I thought about offering mini-group sessions that could be held on my own terms, but I think this would be rather rude, since it would defeat the point of such an open weekend, and it would naturally exclude others.

I may be able (and up to) offering Private Sessions, which many channels do offer up in lieu of the lack of public channeling. I never like to offer these up while on these trips because I am in such high-energy, uber-present, hyper-social mode, it's hard for me to get into full trance and separate myself away from the gathering. But I might offer these up this year. These would be offered up as an additional fee, of course, and highly limited in availability, but could be done.

Would you be interested in private sessions?

I've very excited to hear from you guys so I can help make this event as fulfilling as possible!