Every day the sun rises.

Every day the sun sets.

This year the sun rose and set on the very first Sunrise Camp. A beautiful new venture in magic… a rising of dragons.

A camp which held itself together through sheer determination, and not a little magic. It took a dragon-hearted commitment from the organising team to pull the dragon out of the hat, but we did it. And I’m proud of this fledgling camp.

This was my first year teaching at a Witchcamp, and I’m so grateful Sunrise was my first time.

Let me tell you a story, a story of campers who chose to be dragons.

A story of magic and wonder and strength.

Once upon a time that was, is and shall be, two new campers came away from a Witchcamp in the heart of South West England so inspired that they plotted another camp, one a little different to the gorgeous and luxurious Camp which filled them with such magic.

The years passed and the inspiration became a dream, and the two campers grew a little older (though not much) and a little wiser (and a little more foolish, although who can truly say which is which?) Time danced circles with them, and new relationships grew like flowers in fertile soil.

And one day the dream was planted, like a seed, in the same soil that nurtured the friendships, and so an organising team came together.

Plans hatched and grew and died, and soon, one plan stood out from the rest as yeilding a harvest.

But now Time danced smaller circles, and the dates chosen were so close, with so much to do! But magic has a wondrous way of bringing everything together, and the organisers chose, like the dragons that they are, to make the Sun Rise.

And, of course, it had to.

Sunrise began and the campers came. A new place, a new adventure, new faces, and some that had been around since before the camp-dream was a twinkle of inspiration. Every individual brought something beautiful to the mix, themselves.

They made perfectly imperfect offerings to the Spirit of Dragon, nurturing that force within themselves. They wove a nest of starlight and wonder and love and community and everything that they had to offer. And the egg hatched, and the dragon took flight!

And on wings of magic, the dragon-hearts of the campers also spread their wings, they were challenged, and met the challenges, and received gifts.

They learnt to read the world around them for directions, and to see their own desires in their deepest of dragon hearts.

And each one made a choice, to be themselves, in a world which shies from shining-dragon-hearted people.

We all made a choice to step into the world under our own terms, to shine with our own colours, knowing a little more about ourselves, and claiming our power to shape the world a little to our own designs, so that dragons can fly free and wild again!