Update On Me

Time flies. It has been nearly four years since I last set foot on the Maetreum grounds and things could not be more different. A year ago, my husband Gary and I divorced. (As an aside, he is most assuredly NOT a millionaire. I should know. I divorced him!) I bought my own home with the proceeds of the divorce. It’s a small cottage: 2 bedrooms 750 square feet and half an acre of land. I don’t need much more than that. My home is the only house that was built on a street that barely exists off the drawing board. Most of my street is still just paper street and is surrounded by paper streets. I like it that way. Although where I live is technically in the ‘burbs, my home is a little oasis of woodland. I live in a hollow that I call Woodpecker Hollow. Just simply because it’s a hollow that’s full of woodpeckers: pileated, red-bellied, Downy and Hairy as well as Nuthatches and Northern Flickers. They say goodbye to me when I leave and are the first creatures to welcome me back home. I don’t just have woodpeckers here, though. I’m also home to a mated pair of hawks and am visited by owls, especially during the winter months. I have heard the calls of Great Horned Owls, Screech Owls and I have seen a Barred owl. It isn’t just birds, although even the little songbirds who visit my feeder are curiously unafraid of me. There is a creek on my property which acts as something of a wildlife superhighway. I am regularly visited by deer. There is a family of beavers who have made their home on my creek. There is also the usual wildlife of groundhogs, skunks and possums. Last autumn, I was also visited by a mother fox and her kits. Bats also roost in the concrete fill that litters the hollow: a failed attempt to build over it prior to 1935 which, ironically enough, created the perfect habitat for them. My woods are also home to wild honey bees and fireflies. Oh the fireflies! Last summer I saw more of them in my woods than I ever saw in the Maetreum woods! I get to watch it all from my deck. I decorated it with all kinds of fairy lights, colorful furniture and woven outdoor mats. Unfortunately, it’s only seasonal. I can’t wait until the weather gets warm and I can chill and entertain people on my deck! My indoor space is chock-full of books, colorful baskets, plants, wall masks, psychedelic art, bottles and throw pillows. Lots of throw pillows. Because throw pillows are cozy and make me happy. I live with my two cats: Squishy, my grey tabby lockdown kitten and Violet, my tortoiseshell girl who was a stray on the Maetreum grounds and was formerly known as Rooftop Kitty or Two-Face. I also have a housemate named Cynthya Brynkattae. She is a legally blind transwoman. She likes to say that I rescued her from Long Island. I suppose I must have. Because of her disability, she was essentially stuck living with family. Since she has moved in with me, she has been able to proceed with her physical transition as well as learn life skills like cooking and cleaning. With the help of organizations such as NABA and The Commission for the Blind, she is finally gaining some life functionality. We have hope that soon she can get an actual job and build her own life. I am extremely proud of her. I am continuing to produce my radio show, Viktoria’s World of Metal. Currently, I am with WCAA-LP in Albany. For a time, I also produced it live at WIOX in Roxbury. It is now available once more through the Pacifica Network’s Audioport database. But what I am most excited about by far is my own continuing ministry. Thanks to Chelsea Goodwin, I have now been initiated into Rachel Pollack’s line. Pollack herself was practicing the Rites of Cybele as far back as the mid 1990’s, well before Cathryn Platine ever did. That, however, will be the subject of a future blog entry. For the last two years, I have been conducting the rites every new and full moon with a small group of celebrants, many of whom are former Maetreum people. We also hold a monthly brunch at our home as well as a monthly meetup at a venue in Durham. I have also conducted classes, particularly teaching magic to blind and other disabled pagans. Both Cynthya and myself have been ordained through the Universal Life Church. This in and of itself may not be something to write home about, but it is how Cathryn Platine and Jeremiah Bruce Lennox got their start. When I was at the Maetreum, I was the only priestess in residence who was a practicing Sibyl. So, to is Cynthya. She is far better at it than I am. She is my dedicant as well as a proud Maenad Galla. I’m very much excited about the future.