Monday, March 17, 2008

Rising up out of the ocean*

I had a wonderful, amazing, powerful weekend at the mystery school. I'm only three months away from my ordination! (Or, a quarter turn of the wheel away--this week is Ostara, and I get ordained at the summer solstice.) My class meets officially as a group only one more weekend between now and then. I can't believe how close we are.

There are still several weekends to assist, plus a weekend-long astrology class (optional, so not all my classmates will be there), and a weekend-long integral anatomy class (also optional for my class, since we had anatomy in our second year, but the format for the anatomy class changes a lot each year, so it's always worth going). I'm also traveling in April to work with a "healee" who lives far from here.

My friend John brought me a beautiful orange silk scarf back from India (and a cd of the Gayatri mantra); I intend to wear the scarf for my ordination. John has been a true friend on my journey; a "tree guy" and a radical faerie, he encouraged my interest in Paganism back when I thought I was nuts, gave me my first deck of tarot cards, and has taught me a lot about dog-love.

I've been thinking a lot about "next steps," since this is my fourth and final year as a student at the mystery school. (I will continue to assist for at least another year.) I've almost made the decision to enroll in a six-month apprenticeship program in herbalism, pending financial discussion with my sweet and generous partner. That would begin in May. And I'm seriously considering applying to Cherry Hill for the fall.

I'm so excited by new plans and opportunities. Aries must be right around the corner!

(*The title for this post comes from the Sabian symbol for 1 degree Aries.)

5 comments:

Scrivener said...

Glad you had such a great weekend, and it sounds like you've got lots of interesting possibilities for where to go next. How does an apprenticeship in herbalism work?

Anonymous said...

I'm so happy to be included as a contributor to your spiritual path! I look forward to the continued flowering, and to partaking in all the richness that it surely will continue to deliver to all of us!

Love,

John

Inanna said...

Thank you, John. Your support has always meant so much to me.

Scriv, the apprenticeship I'm looking at is six weekends over six months, from May to October. The weekends are spent camping out on the school's land (which is really just the teachers' land), which really appeals to me--spending whole weekends outdoors. This is only the second year the school's existed, but I'm acquainted with both teachers, since one works in the same building as my acupuncturist and the other taught the cadaver lab for my 2nd-year anatomy class.

It's an introductory intensive, studying the plants, healing, anatomy, energetics, etc. And there's a large hands-on component, where we grow, harvest, forage, and make stuff: tinctures, salves, flower essences, that sort of thing.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! Cherryhill is a great school and they are taking registration for their 2008 Winter Intensive. Best of luck, we need more Pagan Clergy.

Anonymous said...

Sounds amazing! I'm envious.