Medicine
Keepers (only) Gatherings
Medicine Keepers are an integral part of Clearing the
Air
Between Women & Men (CTA). The mystery of the
medicine circle and bounty of the feast bring a magical
quality to the day a beautiful ending to a day of
facing our death. However, I feel that the most amazing
contribution the MKs make is to the opening up of
the people who are going through CTA. Suddenly when
confronted with a group of people who understand what
they have gone through, who can relate to deep,
open-hearted non-sexual intimacy, who are loving,
vulnerable and powerful, the CTA participants get that
intimacy is what we make it. We can be this open, this
vulnerable, this honest with whomever we choose, not just
a group of people who shared a workshop. The Medicine
Keepers offer the invitation to look at the world
differently, to reenter reality from a new perspective.
The Medicine Keepers can be the safe transition back to
the Real World.
Over the course of
the years the role Medicine Keepers have played in CTA
has gone through many changes. We need to work out a
structure that is safe, encouraging, and welcoming for
everyone. We would like to explore what being a Medicine
Keeper involves. With a clear understanding of our
intentions, duties and agreements, I think we can all
reach a place where we are working as a cohesive team.
So, we invite people who have attended CTA to gather
together and hash out what we think would assist the
participants of CTA in opening up to a new understanding
of intimacy. Let's explore how we can welcome these 12
travelers into a safe, and supportive environment, and
also find a way to offer playful, compassionate
interaction.
We called in BIG
energy when we took on Father Wound, Mother Wound and
Gender Reconciliation. We invited in all the festering
Family of Origin sores, and the unresolved tensions,
shame, frustrations, sexual awakening and worthiness
struggles of adolescence. As a community we can work out
these issues, we can address them in a safe place, so we
dont keep acting them out from our wounded place.
We have confronted our wounds in the workshops and in the
Community. And there is more to look at. Send us
feedback; anything you'd want to consider, ritual ideas,
what you'd like, miss, or wish to drop from the Medicine
Keepers portion of CTA. Please E-mail
or snail mail your written material to the following
address. MK Gathering, HOW Workshops, PO Box 60894, Palo
Alto, CA 94306.
Clearing
the Air Circles
A number of
years ago a group of Midwestern CTA graduates set up
quarterly support group meetings that helped expand the
transformational work we had each done in CTA. We held
the groups in the Chicago area. Folks flew in from
Minnesota and Michigan. The group met for a couple of
years. I personally found the group to be stimulating,
challenging and encouraging. It was a safe and sacred
space. Part of the safety I believe came from the
foundation we had in support group protocol. Most of us
were veterans of Woman Within and New Warrior groups, and
had been meeting for years on a weekly basis within that
model. So we had a certain understanding of
group dynamics, projections and how to assist each other
in process work, without getting in the way or trying to
control another persons work.
It is our hope that
as a community we can establish circles of support for
each other so that we can assist in the reentry of recent
graduates of CTA, and can continue to help each other to
live in our truth and freedom.