We held our first waterhole gathering on Sunday 28/10. The weather was spectacular – sunny, mild, calm and clear. The campfire was burning as participants arrived, and many of the horses we sleeping in the sandy arena.
We gathered around the fire and shared what community meant for us. While the list was long, it was all along the same theme: safety, acceptance, honesty, connection – where everyone matters.
The horse herd mirrored the human herd – matching both stillness and movement. Before the break the horses were still and attentive, and after the break – when we had been chatting and moving about, the horses were more animated. It is always amazing to see how a subtle shift in our group energy impacts our environment, and consequently the wider collective.
Gathering with others for the purpose of changing the paradigm of ‘community’ – to one that is inclusive, accepts the perspectives of others without judgment or persecution – where everyone matters including nature and all sentient and insentient beings, can and does make a difference to the whole.
We discussed what might be a good topic to explore at the next gathering and one suggestion was to address how do we stay congruent in an incongruent world? Horses are never incongruent. They have peacefully co-existed for over 55 million years. Perhaps their code of behaviour and ethics has something to teach us.