Onyx and I just got back from Salt Lake City last night, and I’m sure I’ll be writing about that again soon. After having, in some ways, three weeks off due to travel and such I feel revitalized and ready to rededicate myself to some things I’ve been meaning to for quite some time. We’ll see what happens.

Just in case you are in Seattle and are reading this in the next eight hours or so I thought I would post about the salon I’m co-hosting tonight. It is part of a series along with Return of the Divine Feminine: Birth, Sex & Beyond (last week), Integration of the Divine Masculine: Celebration, Creation, and Community (July 27th), and Embodying the Sacred Whore: from Inanna to Babalon (August 2nd).

Declaration of the Divine Other: Exploring the Mysterious

A Living Love Revolution Salon with Tai “Scarlet” Kulystin & Teri Ciacchi

July 19th 2011 – 7pm to 9pm

Avanti Art and Design
7317 Greenwood Ave. N
Seattle, WA

$5-10 donation requested (no one turned away for lack of funds).

The concepts of the Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine are understandable language, but what about those of us who do not feel the call for either of those categories? Or both of those categories? There are other options that exist beyond the feminine and masculine on this level of existence, so why would divinity be any different? What does it mean to accept and work with the Divine Other?

In order to talk about the Other we also have to talk about the concepts of Masculine and Feminine. Not just rooted in between masculinity and femininity, though that is a valid option of expression, the Divine Other can encompass both or be something else entirely. There is a vast expanse of options at our fingertips within and beyond all of these categories. It is irrepressible, unconfinable, and undefinable. Part of its essential nature is to encompass the unknown and to be unfathomable. Join us for an exploration of divinity through sacred gender, hermaphrodeities, and our own experiences of mystery.

Both Onyx and I saw this call on Lee Harrington’s site and immediately we both wanted to write something. We’re going to submit a piece together and we’re going to make the time in the seriously crazy month ahead to do it. We have temple this weekend (Thursday-Sunday), then are taking an alchemy class the next two weekends (Saturday-Sunday), and have a Beltane gathering the weekend after that, when the essay is due. We’ll make it work, or get burned out trying.

In any case, I wanted to share the call along, since I had not seen it before Lee published it, even though it has been out there calling for submissions for a few months already. Here you go.

http://fetlife.com/users/117165/posts/508213

Call for Submissions:

Sacred Power, Holy Surrender: An Anthology of Spiritual Power Dynamic

I’m looking for people who are actively in power dynamic relationships (dominant/submissive, master/servant, master/slave, owner/property) and consider those relationships to have a strongly spiritual aspect – or perhaps even to be the mainstay of their spiritual path – to write essays about your experiences of spiritual power dynamic relationships. I’m looking for essays from both M-types and s-types, or from couples if you’d like to write something together. You can write under any name of pseudonym. If you feel comfortable with it, I would love to have essays accompanied by a photo of the two (or more) of you.

Any religious or spiritual perspective is acceptable so long as that perspective is not blatantly intolerant of others, and there is no generalization about what the behavior of others ought to be. Keep it to one’s own experiences, please. Write about what moves you on this path, and what you would have wanted to see written down about spiritual power dynamics when you were first starting out. If you really want to write for this book but you’re having trouble organizing your thoughts on the matter, ask me to send you a questionnaire about the subject, which you can fill out with in-depth specific answers and I’ll edit it together into a proper essay.

Essays should be 2000 – 8000 words, emailed to me at cauldronfarm@hotmail.com as a Word or Word Perfect attachment. Deadline is May 1, 2011. Each contributor will receive a .pdf copy of the book.

Please pass this CFS around to anyone you think would be interested!

Thank you,
-Raven Kaldera

Life is moving along at such a pace lately that it’s difficult to keep up with writing about all the things I want to write about. Not that I’m complaining, really, but this hasn’t happened to me in a while. Nearly a month ago Onyx and I attended a Living Love Revolution Aphrodite Temple. It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind, but in a wonderful way. The temple was absolutely phenomenal and transformational in so many ways.

This was a two-day retreat, essentially, at a remote location outside of Seattle. There were somewhere between twenty and thirty of us there. We had been told about it before we went, of course, including having some of the activities described in a good amount of detail, but I don’t think either of us were really prepared for everything that occurred. In a good way.

I could feel a very noticeable energy shift in me from before the temple to after. I have felt far more open as well as more radiant, which often go hand in hand. I feel less timid about expressing myself however feels authentic for that moment, less anxious about what other people will perceive and more content with what I have to offer. I feel in touch with love, which was at least part of the point.

There was great emphasis on embodiment, autonomy, safe consensual touching, and getting what you need. It is all about getting your needs met and learning about how to ask for those things you need. It is about finding the beauty in yourself and everyone around you. It is also about Aphrodite, of course, and all these activities just aid in connecting with her more.

While we were there I felt somewhat disconnected with Onyx, or like I had to disconnect with him in order to be seen the way I wanted to. It’s something I didn’t experience at the play party we went to on March 4th ⁰¹, which says to me I may getting through that little blockage. It’s something I’ve held on to for quite some time, this notion and worry that I will be seen as less queer because I’m with him, when that’s really just silly. I have tried not to be ruled by it, but at the same time I have been.

I wasn’t opposed to the disconnection in the moment, exactly, but I saw it as a necessary part which irritated me. I think going through the experience of the temple, though, allowed me to let go of that and be able to connect with him more ever. I’ve been allowing my shy masculinity to shine through ever since I wrote about it and more and more since the temple itself. I think I experienced what it was to be seen for me in the moment which has just made me want to be seen like that more often.

I also didn’t experience any jealousy or anxiety about being disconnected and each of us being touched and caressed⁰² by other people, which was fantastic. I wasn’t sure how I was going to do with that going into it. It was remarkably easy, and though we were in the same room we rarely interacted with each other during the activities. I’m excited to see what happens in the future.

I loved it so much I’m now in the Priest/ess training program for it and Onyx and I will be going to the one being held in April. I want to go to the July and November ones as well, and would be surprised if that didn’t happen. I’m beginning to work quite closely with the high priestess, not just for the training but doing classes and workshops with her as well as working on websites for her. This is only the beginning.

1. yet another thing I should write about… that one might fall through the cracks, though. We’ll see. [↩]
2. and in his case a little more than that [↩]