From Surgipelago, the Beach Surgery encyclopedia
The Healing Spiral—A Participatory LARP
For other participatory rituals and LARPs, see Participatory adaptation.
For spiral imagery across adaptations, see Spiral Descent and The Cycle Turns Inward.
A long-form participatory ritual positioning Leif and Katita's surgical care as a collective act of witness and repair. Over seven hours, participants move through stations mirroring the three injuries: a silent chamber (blindness and faith without sight), a non-walking meditation (immobility and borne-ness), and a heart-synchronization ceremony (pacemaker consciousness and external authority).
At each station, participants care for one another—moving partners through space without verbal direction, listening to shared heartbeats, naming wounds without seeking to heal them. The spiral metaphor operates structurally: each monthly cycle spirals participants inward through intimate groupings, then outward into the full ensemble, creating recursive patterns of disclosure and witness.
The work is grounded in sacred incompleteness theology—the understanding that incompletion is not failure but care's deepest expression. Participants leave still bearing unresolved temptations, carrying the experience as a lived covenant rather than narrative closure.
Sessions have been held at Broken Hill, NSW (primary venue since 2021); Newcastle (2023–present); and satellite sessions in regional hospitals and community centres. Participation is free. No documentation is permitted beyond personal journals.