In the Presence of Mystery

priestessThe main thing to understand about my mystery school is this, Reflections is not for beginners.

Reflections is a place for people who have already made a commitment to their spiritual path. We provide mentoring, training and community. What you get out of it is pretty much up to you. I often refer to it as the equivalent of a graduate school.

I even successfully hid a description of the school, the tradition and our work on our web site under the menu heading About. I do get that for some people, reading the web site can be problematic. And I also get that many folks want more information than what is offered. But it seems to me that what folks really want to know is if Reflections is right for them.

And I cannot answer that question, that is a question that only you can answer for yourself.

And so instead I will address Del's question, " I'd love to see more detailed explanation on what your official definition of a 'mystery school' is, and how it applies in a world where the Secrets of the Occult are becoming more and more accessible to the everyman."

Well, that is the problem in a nut shell, Del. We are all swimming in information and at the same time, the quality of the available information has deteriorated.

heirophantFirst off a secret is not a mystery. Mystery is all around us, waiting, watching and staring us right in the face. We turn away from mystery every time we go searching for THE answer or THE solution or THE secret key formerly held secret by the secret society of secret keepers. Mystery can not be taught or read about -- mystery can only be revealed in the now, in the present moment.

... circling around a large stone that blocks my path and just as suddenly, the entire mountain is revealed in its glory. ..

That moment, that precious now means absolutely nothing unless you were there to experience it. I can describe it to you, i can share my reactions and insights ... but until you take that path or something like it ... it is just as if it never happened for you.

Mystery is ever present, it is ever accessible and it is your birth right.

My job as a shaman, mystic and priestess is to take you to places ... if you are willing, able and ready ... where you can encounter mystery. All the rest is up to you.

magicianAnd how do I do that? I lead you to the liminal places, the 'tween places and I show you .... yourself. I hold up a mirror, probably for most of us the clearest mirror you have ever seen and I say ... Who is this?

I walk you right up to the edge of your comfort ... and despite what my students claim ... I neither push or nudge you over the cliff ... I stand with you as you face your darkness, your edges and your feeble first steps toward flight ... and I catch you midflight if you fall... depositing you back on level ground so you can try again.

Reflections is in short a formal apprenticeship with someone who is humble enough to appreciate the gift of a Student's trust, and strong enough to take on the mantle of Teacher.

What I offer is my humanity, in all its gloriousness and all its limitations.

You are the one who decides whether it is enough, whether it is what you need, or whether it is right for you.

And for me at this very moment... that is what a mystery school is all about.

blessings,
Katrina

Posted in

Submitted by katrina on Fri, 11/30/2007 - 2:46pm.

I can't resist observing that before Alan Moore became a magickian, he had Cain and Abel (!) explain in the pages of the Swamp Thing comic that a secret is knowledge that you keep to yourself --- which ceases to be a secret when you share it --- while a mystery is a glimpse of the unknown to be shared and pondered. Abel has dominion over secrets, Cain over mysteries ... which is itself a mystery to share and ponder.

Neil Gaiman, who will remind you that he is not not not a magickian, referenced this several times in the pages of The Sandman, where he has Cain tell us, "It is the mystery that endures, not the explanation."

Love the pics! The abdomens of the Major Arcana. Very Cool.

My only argument with your post is your statement that all you offer is your humanity. Oh Katrina, my goodness, you offer up so much more than that! Bravo!

really it’s useful interesting and informative. thanks

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Recent comments

Thank you for posting this
Claire-Marie Le Normond (not verified)
Wish I could be there. Very well spoken.

16 weeks 1 day ago
Katrina, I wish you all the
David Salisbury (not verified)
Katrina,
I wish you all the blessings and power you need on your journey. Thank you for these words. It is good to remember that returning to work (and thus returning to grace) bring a chance for us all to rest and have joy.
Wishing you joy in the Work.

David

18 weeks 3 days ago
The Raging Storm and the moving universe.
Sigre (not verified)
Dear Katrina- Thorn reposted your blog and happy am I. Your passion, always so immense, comes blowing out in these words. So akin to my own heart and soul that it makes me have a bittersweet smile.

The Storm is only now coming to the edges of our universe and yet it will sweep and consume all that is. In the end, our beautiful universe will be so much...more? Different? Complete? Who knows?

All I do know is my soul came here to witness and be part in this period. I cannot shrink from the work. I am here with you, fae sister!

18 weeks 4 days ago
descriptive titles
Macha NightMare (not verified)
Thought-provoking piece, Katrina. Thanks.

I don't know what to call myself either. In Pagandom, I've taken to referring to myself as a Witch at Large. In the interfaith world where I'm active, I call myself a Pagan. Sometimes I call myself an uppity woman or a Second Wave Feminist. I've never really thought to publicly identify myself by my sexuality, het woman, which is very "white bread" and old-fashioned. Not only het, but serially monogamous for the most part. It seems almost a liability these days to say you're het, but I am proudly and happily so. I tend towards intellectualism but only have a BA, which doesn't carry much weight, at least in public and professional worlds, no matter how much you've studied, trained, and can articulate, even teach.

My biological heritage is Irish, Dutch, French Huguenot, Euro-mongrel. My social heritage is Roman Catholic on one side and conservative Methodist, temperance-crusading, women's rights and education on the other, with distinct East Coast sensibilities, now mellowed by more than half a century living on the Left Coast. My maternal political heritage is conservative Republican (altho what my relatives might think of current trends in the GOP I cannot imagine, since they did have brains and they did think and they did have a social conscience), yet I am much farther left in my outlook than any elected official I know. My paternal political heritage is blue collar Democratic, except that my dad broke with his family on politics and allied with my mother's family's conservatism.

I'm a former hippie, a home-birth advocate, a home death and green burial advocate, an opponent of capital punishment and resorting to warfare to resolve humankind's differences. I support the right to conscious self-deliverance. I rejoice in any and all consensual expressions of love and eros. I'm a lover and a mom.

I have never missed voting in an election and I disrespect those who don't avail themselves of this hard-won right. (I have ancestors who fought the Brits in the American Revolution.) I support workers' rights. I recognize our interdependence on this planet, so could be called a greenie. I'm a committed environmentalist in my day-to-day life (in terms of eating locally grown food, expanding public transit, recycling, preserving open space and wildlife, opposing exploitation of natural resources [strip mining, oil-drilling, nuclear facilities, agribusiness, monocultures, clear-cutting timber, overuse of pesticides, genetic modification, etc.]) I want to make the city streets "safe for dancing," as my old friend Tony Serra said when he ran for mayor of SF on the Platypus Party ticket.

Well, you got me going there, my friend. Thought-provoking read, as I said. ;-)

xo,
Macha

35 weeks 1 day ago
Azaleas
Eridanus (not verified)
Lovely azaleas!

[cough][gag][snort][sneeze]

Just lovely...

I know what you mean.

37 weeks 4 days ago
INTP
Anonymous (not verified)
I feel you. There is too much bs- particularly when people decide that their temperament is tantamount to truthful and ignore everyone else.
I get irked by immature extroverts or closet introverts who ignore you REPEATEDLY and then pretend you're out of line for being upset by the time they can't pretend you didn't say anything anymore. I find that the same people will ignore you if you blow up right away, too, and that it's because they just don't think that honoring what you value is important to maintaining a relationship, or even worse: that you don't know what you value at all and that it's all a mind game for their pleasure or annoyance. Then they call you passive-aggressive, aggressive, moody, touchy and temperamental. I call them "not listening".

37 weeks 5 days ago