The Spell of the Steward

The story of Sir Orfeo goes something like this. The Faery King steals Queen Heroditus away to the land of the fairy. King Orfeo is beside himself and leaves the kingdom to live in the wild to find the Queen. He leaves the kingdom in the hands of the Steward. After many years, King Orfeo spots the Queen and follows her to the land of Faery where he outwits the Fairy King and takes her home. Unrecognizable, the King goes back to the kingdom and tests the loyalty of the Steward, who has wisely ruled the kingdom and welcoming King Orfeo back and passing the test of loyalty.

Early this summer outside of Pittsburgh, I worked with a group of people who used the story of Sir Orfeo as a jumping off point for magical working. Over the weekend I worked with the Steward. I brought roving and handspun on the drop spindle throughout the weekend as part of my own physical manifestation of caring for the kingdom. As I walked away, I kept wondering what it was I was the Steward of and how was I being tested? Was I being tested?

I spun the roving into the yarn you see here. I didn't know what it was about at that time. However, as you continue to stay open to mystery and work the magic and let it move through your body and around you, something happens. In 2000 at the SpiralHeart camp, I was one of the people responsible for putting together a strand of community prayer beads. I had been the Steward of those beads ever since. I did not go to SpiralHeart this last year, but I sent these four balls of yarn to be placed on the directional altars and sent the beads to the camp. Knowing that if they did not come back, my job as the Steward for those beads (and maybe more) was done. The beads did not come back to me.

This yarn, however, found its way into a ritual at Dreamroads camp. Angela, Cathy and I stepped into the space with my drop spindle, a pair of knitting needles and scissors (the norns).  I spun, Cathy knitted new patterns, and Angela cut thread. It was a powerful working for me. I kept thinking about the new things I'm creating in my life. I kept thinking about the new patterns that need to occur and what is it that needs to be cut away.

This is the beauty of magic, for once you begin the process, you see it in many aspects of your life. For me, it is manifesting in my relationships with both SpiralHeart and Dreamroads Witchcamps and shifting to a teaching role. It is manifesting in the desire to Steward the Reclaiming Tradition throughout the work I do at these camps and throughout other parts of my life. And finally, I'm working at being a good Steward for my own house right now. I've been challenged to think about my material "stuff" and the challenge I have in "collecting clutter." I look in my closets and find my favorite thread bare shirt with a missing button, that I still like to wear, and realize,  it is OK to let it go. I've been digging into the back of closets trying to find the things I'm not wearing and packing them for goodwill. I've even went to the CoinStar machine to cash in my pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. I can't believe how much loose change I've stashed away for the last 12 years. Get this I'm at $160 and I've still got more to go. I'm finally buying a "real" bed. For many years, I've used a mattress and box springs with the frame that was given to me at some time in the past. I've let it go and bought a headboard, footboard, brand new mattress and new linens. However, the big project is the kitchen remodeling. I've started talking with contractors, designed the space, and am securing a home equity line of credit for the work.

It is time to be the Steward of my own kingdom.
 

Nonprofit Human Service Leadership

So as I continue to build this website, I added a few things to the nonprofit leadership section today. When I came to NC in 1987, I came  for graduate school at the University of North Carolina's School of Public Health. At the time I had been working in hospitals as a Respiratory Therapist and I wanted to be a patient advocate and work in the administration. My focus was on Health Policy and Administration. After graduation, I found myself working in the nonprofit human services field as an Executive Director. For 13 of the 15 years I was an Executive Director of nonprofit human service organizations (the other two I was a development director for social change agencies). Two years ago, I decided to go back to graduate school and am working on a PhD in the Public Administration Department at NCSU with an emphasis on nonprofit human service management and governance.   

The papers I've added to the section on nonprofit leadership, gives you a sense of where I'm headed with my professional work. The paper on positive outcomes really begins to address some of the critical issues in human services that are related to power and magic.

My spirit history

I've been struggling with how to introduce this topic without going into a long drawn out history of work I've done in the past. Here is the short and sweet version.

I grew up in Christian fundamentalism. However, fundamentalism and being a queer kid didn't work very well. (I'll spare some of the details). After graduating college, I found the perfect excuse to leave home and the church behind. I moved to NC for graduate school. I didn't attend church for a long time, yet missed that connection to spirit. I tried the Metropolitan Community Church, but it didn't seem to work for me either.   

I came to witchcraft via the tarot. I started reading and working with the tarot in 1991 and have been using the tarot as a divination tool ever since. (One of my dearest friends is a professional tarot reader and if you'd like more information, I'd encourage you to visit Beth Owl's Daughter's website if you would like a greater understanding of the work.) After a couple of year's I was given a book to read by Starhawk entitled, "Dreaming the Dark." It discussed the relationship between magic, sex and politics. I was hooked on her writing.  Soon I had the opportunity to go to a weekend workshop with Starhawk here in North Carolina. It was amazing and I began to read more of her work. I went to my first witch camp in 1997 and have been practicing Reclaiming magic ever since.

I have also been sitting for several years at the local Shambhala Center. Practicing meditation has been an incredible support to all of my work, both the magical and the mundane.

Over the next few posts, I'll try to provide some more detail about what I do, how I do it, and more information about me, but this seems like a quick introduction to me and my connection to the divine.

 

Socks

Knitting socks is one of my favorite things to do. Over the holidays, I gave away five pairs of socks that I had knitted over the last year. I only managed to snag one picture. All the others I gave away prior to the digital camera. At this point, I've only been knitting the basic sock pattern. My new year's resolution is to try some knew patterns.

 

Some more product

When I started spinning, I focused on the intention of creating the thread of my life. Within six months, I changed jobs and started the process of enrolling back into graduate school. Along about Samhain of 2005, my thread was beginning to need more shape and I decided to spin with the intention of building a home for myself. Spellworking is part of a witch's work and for me the focus I place on that intention shifts things within me and around me.

 

Here is an angora (rabbit)/wool blend that I spun last year about the time I started focusing my intent on building a home.