Campaign finishes

The campaign closed on 6th Sept, having raising just under 50% of the target of £4,444.

There were numerous ups and downs during the campaign. The initial start where we raised over £1,000 in the first week (from friends and family). The second phase did not work out as we lost our main network - the Children of the Sun. 

The third phase was to go back to our original funders for last minute contributions. During this phase, our highest funder came forward with a donation of £500. Wow

Only £320 could be processed through the web, so the remainder £180 was given to me in cash.

On the close you can get downloads from Indiegogo of all the donations and email addresses and postal addresses etc. 

The way the funding works is that whenever any body pays (all done via paypal) a 9% payment of the donation is paid immediately to Indiegogo (from paypal). In addition paypal takes a fee of approx 4%.

So the funding fees were - £169 (on money through Indiegogo/paypal of £1,876) plus the paypal fee of just under £80. I had not budgeted the paypal fees (and had assumed we would raise the target so only budgeted the 4% ie with the 5% refund for successful campaigns).

Go live email to pilgrims

Go Live

The big date finally arrived.

Before we went live, we had a beautiful blessing by An Ra Nae. Then we pressed the button at noon on 6th August - new moon day right in the middle of Lion's gate.

The last minutes changes to the video, text and perks have been done. There are still a few minor changes needed (eg change icon to include Glastonbury Tor not the crop circle - the problem here is that Dave did it - on a windows machine, and as I don't have the master, I can't change it and Dave is away. (I use mac and sometimes there are compatibility issues).

Tip is to have all material in a central location ( ie dropbox) if someone does some art work , you need to get the master, so it can be changed as necessary.

Sent an email to pilgrims with email template, etc.

I will post a copy of the email.

So we went live on 6th August - and have 30 days to achieve the target of £4,444 (these two elements of the campaign can not be changed post go live - just about everything else, including the video can be changed).

Grand Sextile

Well we had the Grand Sextile - or Star of David on 29th July

It has added its awesome power.

I have re done the youtube with team member suggestions - including using celtic music associated with AA michael.

An Ra Nae has added some awesome perks including £555 as Blue Flame angel and I removed the £5 for free pilgrimage pass as not needed and made it clear it was from Listowel only.

Also added a section with pilgrims photos (not all in yet) and will add voice over with the names and function of each pilgrim.

Found that I need a custom domain for pilgrimage website so that it can be verified with google - so upgraded groupspaces to basic plan £5 a month and bought a domain name for £12.50 for a year.

Checked paypal linkage - and asked pilgrims for help with Twitter - and emphasied need to get 25% to 40% from friends and family initially.

Planning go live

Finding the amount of work is getting quite heavy - but fortunately getting help from other team members.

Sent out an email to pilgrims with:
1. Target for each of us to raise at least £130 from friends and family
2. Then get out to wider networks when there is some money in the pot.
3. Draft email to send out with flyer
4. Note to pilgrims on what to bring etc.
5. Request for a photo so we can add to video (with name to use)

Plus received suggestions for video and mission.

Will re record video tomorrow - saturday
And added mission to campaign details.

It is looking much better now.

Next step is draft thankyou email to donors.

Post go live planning

Now that the Indiegogo site is almost finished (one of the group members is going to do some last minute editing) - I can start thinking about post go live promotions

I draft two documents:
1. Email to be used by pilgrims (and others) to send to their friends
2. a Flyer to be sent with the email.

I also figure out we need a thank you email (with a share on facebook link) - which can be personalised and also used as a template.

I also figure out how you can choose custom thumbnails in youtube - you have to monetise your channel first (under channel settings under video manager)

Anna, Skype call and route plan

Following a very useful Skype call, the travel arrangements for the pilgrims is beginning to come together.

I checked out campsites on route and discovered lots of places that take motorhomes set in beautiful locations:

Tir Abbey outside Swansea in Wales
St Margaret's near Rosslare
a super campsite opposite Newgrange on the way back
and the Whitelodge campsite on Anglesey.

Other connections are being made. An Ra Nae asked that all pilgrims read the book by Claire Heartsong - Anna, Grandmother of Jesus. It is an amazing book that gives the (long) life story of Anna who prepared the way for the birth of Yeshua to her daughter Mary Anna.

Anna was an Essene but not from the Qumran community, but from Mt Carmel. That is the location of the end of the third phase of the pilgrimage planned for next year. She visited Britain many times with her son Joseph of Arimathea. Well the second phase of the pilgrimage is to Glastonbury, Stonehenge and Avebury where Anna came all those years ago.


The next step is to communicate the route plan to the pilgrims - so the travel arrangements are finalised. Also we need to start preparing for the Indiegogo campaign go live - planned for end of July. Ruth has offered to help me with any emails etc that may come in (whilst Trish and I are on holiday in Croatia). An Ra Nae is helping with the email wording etc - and the campaign wording as well.

It is all progressing nicely

On Monday, I will visit the workshop in Upper Dicker to check out Bessy. The cash is in place and Ray has agreed to let her stay on the farm until winter.

Update to pilgrims

Using the groupspaces website, I send out a short email to the 10 pilgrims to keep them putrid ate with plans. Cecily, who was the original inspiration for the trip to Skellig, has kindly agreed to co-ordinate the Irish end.

Eg
Accommodation, meals and transport.

I have started paying deposits, eg the deposit for accommodation at the hostel in portmagee. So I have found another task to do: keep a record of payments to be re-imbursed when money starts flowing into the PayPal bank (Barclays) from the Indiegogo project.

I received a very helpful list of comments from Edwin eg the need to mention my personal commitment to the project in buying a motor home which is not cheap! Looking at eBay, they range from £5,000 to £30,000. I need to spend sometime figuring out what is best.

Here is one that looks promising - at AMC motorhomes, Peacehaven.

http://www.amcmotorhomes.co.uk/used-motorhome-bessacarr-e435-motorhome-212.htm

Prepare for change

Inspired by a beautiful video - prepare for change by Vossa.

http://prepareforchange.net/









The pilgrimage is definitely one of the projects that Vossa is inspiring us to lead to change the system.

The Video

The help for Indiegogo says the video is the key to a successful campaign. So today I start the process of building the video. The new children of the sun website is live and there is an super welcome video by tiara with opening shots of the planet earth and lots of people coming together.

So I wonder if I can use the first opening sequence for this campaign. I also download the new logo. This is easy on a mac as you can take a screenshot of anything on the web, using the shift command 4 keys ( pressed all at the same time) then after measuring out what you want and pressing the enter key.

To download a YouTube video there are lots of apps - I have iskystudio.

So the set up that I am going to use is
iMovie as the software
Load photos via iPhoto so they are available in iMovie
Download you tubes with iskystudio and crop and trim using iMovie
I have an Olympus camera with a HD movie option. I need to buy a tripod.
Will take the video of me on my verandah when the sun is shining ( morning will work best)
Then we can use photos of skellig Michael, Stonehenge, etc and have a voice over
The voice over could be recorded using the iMac recorder or an Olympus recorder. Will need to check for sound quality
iMovie can upload directly to YouTube - the new account that I created a few days ago.

I do a test run, it all comes together and works. The iMac is running slower than normal. I wonder if it is because it is a few years old and more and more stuff on it, slows it down somehow. I wish apple would provide a mechanism for cleaning it up. Instead I may need to buy the mac speed cleaner.

I am running mac keeper anti virus. Maybe that is the culprit. So difficult to find out what it is doing. Rather like the body. One day we will be able to communicate directly with our bodies and find out what it needs to function at its optimum, ie what food to eat and when. What exercise is needed, when to go to sleep etc.

Maybe one day we will get the same control over computers.

Back in the UK

Back in the UK, I was able to set up a draft (ie unpublished Indiegogo campaign), together with various other items - so the full list is:

• Indiegogo site (using skellig.pilgrimage@gmail.com sign in)
• New email address - skellig.pilgrimage@gmail.com
• New youtube channel (pilgrimageskellig) - to hold the video
• Facebook group (for pilgrims) - but links to Indiegogo.
• Groupspaces website for communication with Pilgrims.
• Paypal (again skellig.pilgrimage@gmail.com - linked to a spare bank account I had at Barclays)
• Blogger - this blog and may need another one for the actual pilgrimage (Trish's area)

The things to do (by 18th July - my own date for publish date for Indiegogo)

1. Youtube video
2. Enter crystal details on Indiegogo
3. New COS logo to add
4. Write up a pilgrimage plan - so i can circulate to An Ra Nae etc.

Other news is that the Pilgrimage is becoming clearer with the Pilgrims being

• Me and Trish
• An Ra Nae & Sephi Ra (plus James)
• Stuart with the crystal skulls
• Cat and Ruth
• Cecily and Deirdre.

Plus there is a need to buy a motorhome to take everyone over there. At the same time as all this, I am selling just over half of my share in Evolution which will raise funds for the motorhome.

This will be the team for phase 1 - the Skellig trip. Phase2 (Stonehenge & Avebury) is still under discussion.

Indiegogo plan

I realised that to execute this and get Children of the Sun backing I would need to write a project plan for the Indiegogo crowd funding plan.

I also wrote a few notes of how to set up the Inidegogo site:

This I did on the flight back to the UK. Mac books are great - long battery life and lots of apps.

When I got back, I sent it to Edwin and others. It got the thumbs up.

By now the project was expanding to include two elements - Step 1 - pilgrimage to Skellig and Step 2 (not funded) trip to Stonehenge for autumn equinox and Avebury - to give the crystals even more activations.

Mt Shasta and the crystals

After reading the Indiegogo site advice, it became clear that a well funded project will have great "perks" as well as a compelling theme. So I was given the idea of giving crystals to Donors.

This idea just got better and better. I would buy them in Mt Shasta from Soul Connections and wash them in the sacramento head waters as they arise in Mt Shasta from the mountain. It is sacred water if ever there was any (all water is of course sacred).

Michael & Jewels (our  friends in Mt Shasta - of Ascension Now fame- and violet flame saturdays) suggested Lapis Lazuli and Kyanite as the two stones to use as they connect with the Michael energy.

I purchased them just before we left Mt Shasta - drove to the head waters and washed them with a strong intention for the success of the pilgrimage.

Crowd funding and Edwin

At the SOGA conference I get to meet up with Edwin.

I decided that it would be a great idea to use the Skellig Island pilgrimage project as a pilot for crowd funding to see what it is like, putting a campaign together. I selected Indiegogo as I had used it before.

So this is when the clock started ticking - how long, and what are the steps, to getting a campaign set up and funded.

I came up with the idea of writing a blog about it (this one) on 3rd July - and back date all the blogs.

Plan for Skellig comes together

By the end of May, most aspects of the pilgrimage had come together, it was now a case of manifesting it all:

Discussions with Cecily over Rua Holistic centre, and with Chris the owner, confirmed this as the place to centre the pilgrimage around (after Skellig).

At this stage I had enough details to send around a definite plan for Skellig. We already had 5 (Trish and myself), and Ruth and Cat and of course Cecily.

The plan was to meet up at 7pm at Rua, Listowel on 16th Sept. I would drive over probably on 15th in the motorhome which I would buy by then.

Drive down to portmage on the 17th (after visiting a recently discovered megalithic tomb) Night in Portmagee on 17th and trip to Skellig on 18th Sept. The pilgrimage would end on 19th Sept.

So I created a flyer and sent it out

SOGA conference for Children of the Sun in Mexico and Mt Shasta/Kryon

Trish, my new girlfriend wants to go to Mt Shasta and also be at a Kryon conference  A few clicks on the Internet (what we do without it), reveals that there is a Discovery conference with Kryon in Mt Shasta on 20th June (my birthday) to 24th June.

It so happens that the SOGA mexico conference is a few days earlier and the cost of flights is about the same  - ie UK to Mexico to SFO and Mt Shasta and back through SFO, to UK is about the same as UK-SFO Mt Shasta return. So I get to Mexico for free! So sign up for COS Mexico conference. The correctness of this decision is revealed (later in June) when David Boyle mentions Teotihuacan, which we visit before the conference.

It is at the SOGA conference, I get to meet Edwin as we have agreed to collaborate on a crowd funding platform for the new Children of the Sun website. (see posting in June)

Now the real magic

At the same time as retiring from work, writing books and conceiving of bold plans to cross Europe in a motorhome, I was very busy trying to find a partner to do all this with. I put an "advert" in Spiritual Singles for someone to go travelling with me - and this amazing girl wrote back - SheofShasta.

Well that was enough to know that something very special was happening (and another amazing synchronicity that is too private to reveal in a blog).

Anyway we meet up at the British Museum on 9th April - which is a useful date at that pin points the moment when all the boxes for the project - (which now was a pilgrimage) to Skellig fell into place.

Messiah

The memory of Mt Carmel must have stirred up a memory of the Messiah (which I sung as a young boy all those years ago). I got a download of what the Messiah was all about - it is an ascension song. It is about the process, how it starts with "Comfort ye" and goes on from there explaining the process of raising consciousness, waking up the DNA (all flesh) and the mountain referred to in the Oratorio was Mt Carmel.

" 9 Air and Chorus

O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up into the high mountain. O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, behold your god!

Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

Based on the download I wrote a short book with a more detailed explanation of how it is an ascension song, meant for these times - when we all collectively become Messiah - ie it is a collective enlightenment - which was a prediction that the next buddha, Maitreya would be a collective - ie a group of people (if not the whole planet).

My book is self published at the amazing Lulu - where it does not cost anything to get a book published (and an ISBN number! - for free).

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/awakening2012

Mt Carmel

The connection to Mt Carmel mentioned by Tyb  - now gets really interesting. I look it up on the web and discovered it (Mt Carmel) was where the essenes lived (and last year read the book by Dolores cannon on Jesus and the Essenes - http://www.blog.dolorescannon.com/jesus-messsiah/jesus-essenes-messiah/

So knew it was an important place to visit. But it is a long way away. So I wondered if it was possible to drive all the way there. This was a puzzle for a while - but resolved later.

Here is the amazing wikipedia on Mt Carmel

At this time I was getting amazing downloads about the history of humanity, the real meaning behind things (eg who the gods were in the old testament), the Illuminati etc etc.

One of them was the Messiah. - see next blog

Initial plans

When I took over the Children of the Sun British Isles responsibility  I decided to build a groupspaces website and designed a rather excellent logo

I speak to Cecily and we work out an initial plan - to visit one of her friends that she knows - Rua Holistic centre near Listowel which is close to Portmagee where you get the ferry to Skellig.

After a few changes we worked out some dates and I sent out a flyer to the COSBI membership (as I now had the email list from Sarah).

At this time, I also checked again the Earth Keeper site and found a super pdf of a blog by Tyb where he explained that the Michael energy line which starts at Skellig goes across the bottom of Ireland, to the UK in cornwall, then through England (Glastonbury, Stonehenge & Avebury) over to Europe and down through Turkey to Israel (Mt Carmel).

When I read this I nearly fell off my chair as I had always planned a trip across Europe (Italy, Croatia where I have a boat) maybe even the Bosnian Pyramids (again). I had already checked out motorhomes were within my price range. So I could get one and travel Europe with my new girlfriend Trish - perhaps extending the trip to Skellig into a trip to Mt Carmel.