She's Baaack!

I am still recuperating from my working vacation. As I shared earlier, I had a lot of fun in New Hampshire with Claudia, Chelidon, Kelly, Paul and Forest. I also got to hang out a little bit with Angelica too, but I had to leave midway for the second half of my trip.

In the second half I visited the Assisi Institute for an intensive on Archetypal Pattern Analysis. I met such wonderful people including the school's founder Dr. Michael Conforti. He gave me some ideas on how to grow Reflections Mystery School. His faculty are such giants in their respective fields, I admired how he surrounded himself with stars, never fearing being eclipsed by them or his students. He reveled in the contributions of all within his constellation. A wonderful role model, a deep visionary and on top of it all, a very funny guy. Yeah, I guess you could call me fan.

But it goes deeper than that, Dr. Conforti et al are on a mission to study what they call the Objective Psyche, the intersection between Spirit and Matter -- Universal Archetypes. They have amassed a good deal of evidence to support their conclusions from mathematics, physics, systems theory, mythology, sociology, archeology, organizational dynamics and yes, psychology. I think they are on to something.

They offer a two year program for certification as an Archetypal Pattern Analyst. I am considering joining their program. For one thing, they are an order of magnitude cheaper then Pacifica, and they are on the East coast. We will see how this develops.

I also managed to get several more sponsors for my Teddy Bear Knitting. Check out my web site for my handy "Bear-o-meter!" (patent pending)

I came home to a whole heaping pile of things to do ... including

• Preparing to teach my first Cherry Hill Seminary course -- Dynamics of Group Leadership.
• Opening registration for my upcoming workshop, Answering the Call.
• A looming due date for a huge new Amber Eyes web site design.
• Fixing the Connect DC web site upgrade (again) and
• Planning for the next 18 months.

So today, though I am still moving a little slow, as of now ... I am officially back to work.

Be very very afraid ...

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Hands Full of Gratitude

Snapshots of my vacation so far …

• Selecting a bit more of the dark side then the light side when cutting a “balanced “ piece of Star Trek/Star Wars themed birthday cake
• Forced to watch adult swim episodes (Venture Brothers) with drunken companions.
• Munching on gourmet two-egg omelet filled with herbs and dotted with cheese.
• Sitting in air-conditioned interiors while it is only in the seventies outside, and no … we have no hot soup, hot tea or quilts available… brrrrrr ..
• Subject to late night torture with Muppet videos while swilling back Old Fashioneds.
• Crashing my way to last place in video driving game in front of cheering on-lookers.
• Early morning conversations with an eight year old about naming pet tarantulas and scorpions with names like Fluffy and Spot.

Spending time with dear old friends ... priceless.

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Ten Years

There are many accomplishments in my life for which I am proud. My academic accomplishments and awards were the high points of my childhood.

I am proud of my engineering and computer science degrees and my eight promotions/advancements at Bell Atlantic/Verizon. And in spite of how difficult it became at times, I am proud of my many contributions within YOBU, Revolutionary Workers League, National Organization for Women, Washington Peace Center, Sojourner Truth Congregation of Unitarian Universalists, and Reclaiming.

I am proud of Dark Flame Coven, Reflections Mystery School, and my web design company, Amber Eyes Solutions. Hell, I am even proud of this blog, Katrina’s Joy.

But besides my corporate career (25 years) and my coven (14 years), my longest running project is Connect DC.

Back in 1998, Dark Flame Coven was notorious only because we were public. This is surprising when you realize that we have never had more than six members. I am not sure, but I think we had already been on the front page of the Washington Post and had been invited to do ritual at several local Unitarian Universalist churches.

But it was after I attended the Reclaiming Spring Equinox ritual in San Francisco, that I felt Dark Flame could do more. So in the summer of 1998, I cajoled Dark Flame plus members of other covens, several Radical Fairies and a few radical feminists friends such as Dr. Loraine Hutchins to join me in Eric Eldritch’s living room to plan our public celebration of the Summer Solstice right here in DC. We pulled together a ritual on a rooftop with a few small theatrics ending with the presentation of the Sun cake by my coven sister Rose and her Radical Fairy brother Nicko. It was glorious!

It was after noting the discomfort of a coven member plus several of the invited covens, that I decided to pursue my dream as a separate public ritual group. And so it was after our public Summer Solstice ritual that I began to plan for what became known as the original working of Connect DC.

Next Spring will be Connect DC’s ten-year anniversary. But yesterday’s ritual on the mall was the ten-year anniversary of my test run. Next year we will celebrate in public, but right now, I am celebrating the manifestation of a vision and the realization of a dream ... my dream … come true. And for me, this is a source of great pride.

Thank you to Dark Flame and the entire DC community, and of course, a hearty thank you especially to the ancestors and the gods.

A grateful Katrina

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On the Trail ...

Shadow stalking can be an exhilarating sport. My quarry is leery of being seen much less being cornered. The chase can seem thrilling, especially when I am getting close.

It throws up all these distractions …

”Why are you doing *this*? You could be watching TV. You like TV right?” Or …

What if that car exploded and then ….the resulting gas cloud was ignited by *this* candle and … it fried half of the block?” And …

"What if a car careened from the road and headed right for these trees while you were gazing at *this* stream and listening to its water?”

It stalks me, even as I follow its trail. Booby traps filled with emotional triggers, hidden pits of despair and grief, and poisonous self-talk all are weapons at its disposal. All I am armed with is the light of awareness, and it is all I need.

Hey! If I can see you clearly, you are mine!

And lately, let’s face it, your tactics have taken on the stink of desperation – I must be close. When I catch glimpses of you, you seem nervous and twitch at every sound. And I am getting closer everyday.

Your armory is well stocked, and your stealth knows no limits. And you have escaped me for many, many years. But as soon as I can see you, you begin to weaken. Every time you escape me now, just hastens the day when I will have you squarely in my sights.

And on that day, I will pull out my trusty journal and draw your image with words. And with each detail I capture, you will become pinned to the canvas of the page.

There, I will remove your mask and peal away all your disguises. And there I will uncover your real name and then … you will be mine.

Then … we will embrace, join hands and dance joyously together. It will be so wonderful, so beautiful, we will both cry with delight and relief.

But till then, you better run and you better hide … because I can see you and baby … the hunt is on!

©2008 Katrina Messenger

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