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For 6 days at the end of May, 2001, 8 of us went on a journey together, both magical and physical. We backpacked into the wilderness at the North-West edge of Yosemite National Park in the Sierra mountains of California. Along the way, we worked with and did exercises relating to the 5 sacred elements as would be done in a Reclaiming Elements of Magic class. And, we also worked a ritual cycle about a story, East of the Sun, West of the Moon.

Since this story includes the winds of the 4 directions, we used those as the magical container for the trip. Each day, the appropriate wind carried us through our day, as in the story, each wind carries the heroine towards her destination. We broke camp and hiked 4 of the 6 days. We spread the class (also called, "path") work out during the day. Some of it we did before hiking, some on the hike, and usually, an exercise or 2 after the hike. There was time for participants to do their own work as well (personal practice time). We tried to balance the Elements of Magic exercises along with being in, listening to, working with, and attending to the Elements as we found them.

We did path work on Air day high on Cliffs with magnificent views and a steady (Easterly!) breeze. On Water day, we were at a lake. On Fire day, we worked between a grove of trees and granite shelves, and, of course, had a fire later that day for the ritual. On Earth day, we moved together through the woods in a magical attention state called dropped and open attention. Center day was the longest hike, which we used as an opportunity to observe the centeredness of ourselves and the group.

A couple people had to cancel just before we started, so there were 5 particpants, 2 teachers, myself and Rock, and a student teacher, April. We had pitched the class as an Elements of Magic, expecting beginners. But, more experienced particpants were called to it because it was to happen in the wilderness.

The teachers had worked up magical intentions for the story's ritual cycle, and priestessed the first night's Working. The next morning, participants requested more particpation in the story's rituals. In response, the teaching team decided to open up our ritual planning process completely.

The resulting planning sessions and rituals astounded me with their inventivesness, depth and beauty. We each brought our gifts into the circle. The teachers encouraged people to take risks, but we did not shy away from offering our gifts into the workings, either. The magic was truly co-created and priestessed. Consequently, each of us had the opportunity to do personal work in the rituals, to priestess them, to shape the energy, to weave in our politics, and to deepen our ritual making skills. And as we did exercises during the day, we could then practice the learned techniques in the evening's workings.

The trip was quite physically demanding, even though we had tried to keep the hiking limited and not on particularly difficult trails. Backpacking can just be hard work. And, with heavy bear canisters, we ended up carrying more weight than I'm used to. Still, we had varying levels of carrying capacity, and so we helped each other out, spreading the weight around such that each was carrying her or his capacity - some lighter, those who could, carrying quite a lot. Of course, as the trip went on, our packs got lighter and lighter. It helped the physical work that we stayed in one place for a couple of days.

The backpacking kept the cost down in a way that having to pay for a retreat wouldn't. And, it got us out into Her glory, directly living with and experiencing Her Elements each and every moment of every day. By backpacking, we were largely sheltered from unwanted contact.

We spent 6 days together, co-creating our lives, personally, physically, and magically. The Goddess provided Her awesome beingness in which we were able to live close to Her and in which and through which we continuously made magic, day and night.

Being with a small group of people engaging with the elements 24/7, and doing both pathwork and ritual every day in itself was an incredible intensive experience. Add to that the fact that we were in the wild 24/7, under the sky and stars, on the earth, around the water and trees. It was a dream come true to me, to feel so connected, so fully engaged with the Goddess in everything and have her coming out of our pores organically in our rituals. It was the nearest thing I have experienced to what I imagine true indigenous tribal ritual to be. There was also the plus of the fact that it was a dark moon the first night we camped together, and a beautiful growing crescent as we hiked through the week.

The opportunity to co-create the rituals every day was a great gift. Since this trip I've felt much more confident in my priestessing skills, and my creativity has exploded.

This is an experience that I will always remember and treasure. It was pivotal for me personally, and I hope to see more opportunities for Reclaiming Classes and ritual making in the wild.