Saturday, April 25, 2015

The Inner Sanctum Symposium on Infinite Possibilities - April 9-12, 2015

Sometimes the second rounds are not as good as the original movie but this was not the case with The Inner Sanctum Symposium of Infinite Possibilities that took place at the Isis Oasis Temple in Geyserville, California on April 9, 2015. Last year, I had the honor to present in the first Inner Sanctum Symposium so when I was invited to participate gain this year, I couldn´t say no. I decided to cut my vacation in Miami short to be back in the Bay Area for this event. Needless to say that it was worth coming back to attend this event.

I landed on Thursday April 9 and unpacked my bag to repack it once again with my Priestess attire. This attire includes my robes, systrum, wand and many other magical elements that I always bring with me when I go to Isis Oasis. I left early on Friday morning with the intention to get there to be present for Linda Iles presentation on Lady Nephthys. I was stuck in traffic for a while but I surrendered to the universe and did traffic. I can´t complain as I was reviewing my notes and presentation on the book of doors. I arrived at the Temple just in time to be part of Michael Starsheen´s amazing presentation titled "Stretching the Cord". Michael has the ability to present on the stars as nobody I´ve ever seen. It was great to learn how the Egyptians would create their temples in alignment with the planetary bodies in the skies. After this presentation, Linda Iles presented on Nephthys showing us a different side of Isis´ twin sister. Even though Nephthys gets a bad reputation because of some of her actions, she is also the one that brings harmony and balance to the Isis-Nephthys duality. 

Celestine Star performed an ancient Egyptian Moon Ritual  taking us back to Dendera-Temple of Stars. When I arrived at this ritual, we got to choose our seats. Some of the seats had little orbs on them. I decided to sit in a seat that contained an orb... These orbs represented the different planets in the solar system.. guess what planet I got? The one that is not a planet anymore! Lord Pluto of Death and Transformation. I definitely accepted my role in this ritual as bringer of transformation and the scorpio energy. The Ritual was the perfect way to tune into the energies and prepare for my consecration ceremony later that evening. I was to be consecrated ArchPriestess in the Fellowship of Isis Tradition. As I prepared for this ceremony I remembered the last consecration ceremony I participated in several years ago when Lady Olivia Robertson consecrated me ArchDruidess. My father had always been present in my consecrations so this time felt different but it also felt right. The ceremony was beautiful and I had the honor to witness Rain Graves and Mana Youngbear´s consecration as Grand Dame Commanders. After the consecration we watched the fire dancer dance outside the small Temple and we ended the night in the Nesu house with wine and amazing conversations.

Saturday was a day of assimilation and preparation as it was the day I was presenting about The Book of Doors Oracle. First I had to assimilate the energies of the previous night´s consecration and then I had to make sure I was ready for my workshop. I spent most of the morning practicing my presentation and when the time came, I was ready. People enjoyed learning about this oracle that is based on alchemy and numerology combining the Emerald Tablet teachings with the Pythagorean Table with the Goddesses and Gods of Ancient Egypt. I was introduced to this oracle many years ago by Lady Loreon Vigne so it felt just appropriate to present it in the symposium that took place in the place she founded. After my presentation, I was able to participate in an amazing ritual for Sekhmet, one of my main Goddesses, presented by Kielankhamun Milner. Connecting with Sekhmet in ritual space was very powerful and then during the feast, it was funny when somebody brought me a red beer and I thought... I do not have the rage of Sekhmet but I can use a beer! To finish the evening, I participated in the Nefertem´s Sacred Blue Lotus Ceremony with Rain Graves. This was my first time participating in a blue lotus ceremony so I was intrigued. I did not like the blue lotus elixir that much but the ceremony was beautiful and very powerful as well. So powerful that it left the veils very thing for me to see  a spirit that we identified as the Goddess Dana the following day after talking to Tracy and some others. Luckily Tracy saw the same Lady in our room so I did not feel as weird as I had dreamed it.

The last event I participated in was Connecting with the Bast through Art with Serena Toxicat. This event was an art class where we got to create a piece of art to bring home so I used some of the stamps and acrylic paints to create a painting for the Goddess Bastet. Art is not my biggest strength but I enjoyed a more practical class to balance a lot of academic and ritual work that had taken place during that weekend. 

When the weekend was done, I felt complete as I had learned many new things. I had spent time wiht my chosen spiritual family and connected with the Goddess once again. Being a Priestess is one of the best things that have happened to me in this lifetime and I enjoy every moment in this journey. I am already looking forward to Convocation in October and Symposium next year. 

Many blessings,

Carolina Amor



Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Miami

As I say my final good byes, I look back at this journey of 6 days in Miami, Florida. What a journey!!! It did not take long for me to get lost. As soon as I got off the plane I had a hard time finding my way out of the airport... then finding my way to the rental car... then to my next location. Each movement in this land has come with some sort of lost feeling even when I had a GPS. I kept finding myself saying but this is not the right direction... finding the GPS was taking me to who knows where. The lesson was to be comfortable being lost... just surrender... go with the flow... you will eventually find your way and when you do, you will get to your destination. 

I also found myself spending a lot of the time in the beach these days. It feels like from all the attractions that Florida has to offer the one I have connected with the most is spending the day on the beach observing the ocean, getting into the water and singing Yemaya Asesu and enjoying the feeling of connection with the Water. I was created in the ocean when my father took my mother on one of his trips so no wonder my connection with the sea is very strong. My father was quite cute today when he told me ohhh you have converted in a "beach Lady" when I said I was getting ready to go down to the ocean. I told him... Yes!!! Just like when I was a child that we would spend the days on the beach in Mar del Plata... with the exception that the ocean here is blue and clear instead of brown and cold. 

I couldn´t believe the lady with the umbrellas memorized my name by day two! I would get to the beach and she would be Sra. Amor!!!!! I felt tempted to say Sra. Amor is my mother but I realized that now I am Sra. Amor even when I am divorced, I am a Sra. and I will not change the Amor name ever again... no matter whether I get married again or not.

The hotel life has been very nice. As I said good bye to all servers today I felt a mutual appreciation and I promised I´ll be back. Now I want to bring my father here to do some days of beach relaxation, good cuisine and total connection with the ocean. It´s been an amazing vacation and I can say I´ve seen the sawgrass mall and the dolphin mall and it´s ok! I did some shopping, I had a few drinks, I had lots of meat and I felt like home with the Spanish influence everywhere I went. I honestly think if I lived in Miami, my father would have moved in with me because the Spanish influence makes it easy to transition to this land.

I know I´ll be back... I enjoyed Miami... I enjoyed my vacation.... Miami ... I´ll see you next time!

Many blessings,

Carolina A. Amor