More from Sirius Rising

I just returned from Sirius Rising and it is clear to me that it was a good thing that I went – in spite of my resistance and missing my family. As with most years, the experience brought greater awareness of the personal growth I've achieved over the past 12 months and opened me up to further growth as well. While the workshops I taught were rather short (I got 1 hour slots for both) I made some excellent new connections and also deepened some existing ones.

When I am at Sirius, I camp with Elisheva and Karen, together with Jan & Tom, Wolfy & Harold, and – usually – Hacksaw, we make up Camp Sashu. A federation of many different traditions, we borrow our name from an ancient Egyptian record of cattle-stealing barbarians that plagued their borders and may have been an early manifestation of the Hebrew tribes. This fits well with us, since Elisheva is shofet of the Amha, a reconstruction of pre-rabbinical Hebrew Earth spirituality, which I am also aligned with. This year we got dinner invitations from both an Asatru group called Manaheim, and the Druids (ADF) Camp Sashu has been hosting potlucks for Manaheim for the past few years and it was a pleasure to have our hospitality graciously reciprocated. The ADF feast the next evening was kind of a surprise. It began raining about the time we started preparing to head up to their camp, so I ran ahead to make sure it was still going to happen. I found a very well organized camp with lots of dry space and chairs and a warm welcome. We mixed in with folks from the other tribes and I got to chat with Nora, who has invited me to present some workshops out at Desert Magic, in Tucson, AZ next May. That led to her asking Elisheva to come as well. We both agreed and I'm looking forward to that trip already. I hope to be able to set up a Family Constellation workshop the weekend before or after in Tucson.

One thing that became gradually more clear to me over the week is the extent to which Elisheva has been more than just friend, mentor and chosen family, but one of my very few teachers as well. And I don't use that term lightly. There are only three people I would put into that category: Elisheva, Master Ting and Heinz Stark. It feels like it is especially important for me to recognize these people as I begin to develop my own students to advanced levels.

It was good to be able to read aloud from my book during the first of my workshops at Sirius. I wouldn't have thought of it if not for Patricia's suggestion. I think it worked well. And it seems that every copy of the book that I sell adds more momentum to the work I'm doing. It makes my soul smile to feel this happening. Even with the Warrior Shaman workshop, where there was no time to read anything, I felt like the people there were really getting something worthwhile. Always a good feeling!