Guardian Note 1: Autumnal Reflections from the Bergerac Hub
Following her first month as Hub guardian, Alexia shares about the rhythm and atmosphere of the fall residency.
Like the cadenced falling of raindrops on wet grass, we carry out our days in precise rhythm, our fall cushioned by the soft growing of community. Wrapping up the second week of our long-term residency, the group has landed into a soothing routine enabled by the lightweight frame of a few communal practices.
We share the responsibilities of our sustenance, each taking our turn in cleaning the house and cooking for the collective after visiting the local markets currently overflowing with multicolored root vegetables.
We also share the joys and challenges of our gradual attunement to each other. Much like the bodies of water collecting on the sidewalks, reflecting ourselves back to us, our collective body has been steadily growing with every passing rainy day, and serves as an ever-changing mirror to our current shape, form, patterns. Through the co-designed and emergent evening activities, we understand more and more how we fit into this open space we’re co-creating. Our weekly circling practice is a structured manifestation of our commitment to open communication and authenticity, and our Sunday dances and occasional movie or singing nights are budding ground for our seeding friendships. Most of us also choose to ground through this season of transition by just sitting together by candlelight every morning, as the sun rises, and then enjoying some invigorating yoga.
With every gust of wind accompanying someone’s arrival or departure, our group joins the trees in shedding the foliage it no longer needs. The putrid bits that clung to us through summer’s humid days are now washed away by the incisive interactions we have with those who pass through the hub.
As the season of integration is embedding itself into the town, bringing with it falling leaves and shorter days, we too relax deeper into a communal processing of what was, in order to make space for what may come to be. The flora and fauna around us are adapting to ensure survival through the winter, and we too are re-evaluating the requirements of our sustenance. Here, at the Bergerac hub, we are glad to be satisfying our need of being part of a community which lights us up as the sun fades more and more.
