It’s been just over two weeks now since I returned from Andrew Collins’ Psychic Questing Weekender (PQW08) and my brain still feels as if someone buzz-sawed off the top of my head, reached inside and polished up my brain until it squeaked.
I had previously attended a number of QuestCons, starting in 2000, and while I had initially enjoyed the big set-piece lectures from high-profile authors, I began turning more and more to what were then classified as the “fringe lectures”. With PQW08, everything else has been jettisoned and the “fringe” is now centre stage. [Click on the "Read More..." link to continue] Paolo at Spectral Light has beaten me to a detailed review of the weekend (at two weeks post the event, that’s not hard!) so I’ll try and give a different perspective to my review.
Firstly, I have to say that we were absolutely blessed with the weather. The combination of the great weather and the superb setting (Avebury) created an unbeatable platform for the rest of the events.
Secondly the variety of the activities worked really well. There were talks inside, there were meditation exercises inside, there were meditations outside, there was a psychic treasure hunt, there was a dinner for the delegates in the nearby Red Lion pub, there were daytime activities, there were night-time activities and there was plenty of time just to roam around the Avebury site in your own space and take in the atmosphere. For me the ability to mix actually getting out to sites with talks was the single biggest improvement over the old-style QuestCons. Nor was it just Avebury. We had a lovely two-mile walk past Silbury Hill and up to West Kennet Barrow and then down to Swallowhead Spring – this last an amazing spot that you would never happen across unless you knew it was there.
Thirdly, the amount of information imparted was staggering. I recorded 90% of the talks and listening to it again I was impressed by the wealth of anecdote and practical Questing advice that was dispensed. At the time I think I was listening for the development of the stories and wondering where they were going to go. When you re-listen to it, however, you can appreciate better the structure that Andrew had fashioned it around and how the different quests almost leap-frog each other *backwards in time* with the last quest being the earliest – and yet also the latest and most dramatic.
On that last point, I was spellbound by the descriptions of Bernard’s Egyptian information and by the detail with which he mapped and sketched the Crystal Chambers. I’d never heard Andrew talk about any of this before and I found it totally fascinating.
From a personal point of view, I got a few minor flashes in the meditations but I was fairly exhausted going into the weekend so, as mentioned in my intro, the big win for me was the re-energisation that I experienced. I came away with my head bursting with ideas including a total re-design of this site and a desire to re-ignite my own quest (The Icon Trail) and some others that I can’t mention now but which will hopefully bear fruit in due course. The only down-side to this sudden rush of energy was that a speed camera caught me doing 36 mph in a 30 mile zone on the way home on Sunday – so that’s a fine and 3 points for me 
While I’m on the topic of minor quibbles, the one thing that I would have liked would be to have had a chance to be introduced to the other attendees. I appreciate that this would run the risk of turning into a lengthy session but even a simple “Hi, I’m Simon” or a name badge would have helped identify people that you may have only known via the forums or their websites and give an opportunity to strike up a conversation.
Also there was some debate about the value of the psychic treasure hunt. I personally enjoyed it and it certainly was an interesting exercise in observing the thoughts that flicker through consciousness. However, I do also appreciate that there is a big difference between (a) discovering that something is in a place; and (b) knowing that it is there but finding exactly where it is. Perhaps it was due to the treasure hunt falling into category (b) but (apart form ReikiSue’s valiant attempt) it seemed like the dowsers had the edge.
So all-in-all a brilliant weekend which I would thoroughly recommend to anyone interested in the subject. Next year Andrew has promised a “Masterclass” weekend building on this one. Can I wait a full year? It would be great to think that maybe there could be some localised groups set up to enable questers to get together at more frequent intervals.
So hearty congratulations to Andrew, Sue and the team for pulling off a masterful event. You have to applaud the dedication of Andrew and his commitment to his vision. There is no doubt in my mind that he is blazing a path which is going to become more and more mainstream over the coming years (with all the positives and negatives that this brings). Hopefully, you’ll remember where you heard it first and even count yourself lucky to have been at the seminal events!