We did the thing and now we have made it stronger. There is now a form. A small simple form of something that was not there before, but is now.
A new thing born by colouring in the edges, building out from the center.
A formation meeting for a new cooperative can be many things; a box ticked, an agenda made and minutes taken to prove that the happening, happened. But mostly it gets you that bit of paper that turns ALL the wheels.
We have our bit of paper now, there is nothing stopping us.
We spent 3 days together, working our project criteria, our processes for knowing the what/who/where/how much of the things we are doing next.
We have built more forms to pour our exciting ideas into, to create an ease of understanding, co-creation. Making choices, together, in consensus. We learnt more about each other. We shared meals, and moments of laughter, pain and truth. Blessed honesty of knowing we are exactly where we are meant to be, doing what we are meant to be doing.
Those chicken and egg moments of knowing how to build the breadth and depth of what it is we know we are to be building. Temple, Hearth, Crucible, Sanctuary. Vessels to share, to do the works within. Creating pathway for those that are to come, to take their place in this worker cooperative that was built for them all along.
We have decided that the path to membership is through employment. So we will need to be creating projects that will need the employment of others that we may taste each other, know enough about one another to be able to commit to the processes we will need to sustain this adventure.
There are no room for hero’s in a cooperative, except that we are all hero’s! Balancing the individual and the collective, our personal security and our collective wealth. Meeting the demands of this capitalistic reality and the desires of our cooperative dreaming into the real that takes the time it takes. Knowing many of us are witches and time is but a construct to bend, yet already meeting those edges of government time sucking nonsenses.
So many moments in this weekend that illustrated that we are indeed a worker cooperative, doing the work together. I no longer feel alone on this epic adventure, I have four others that have all stepped into the ring with me, to see what we are capable of, what we have the capacity to grow, together.
I will be inviting each to come here and add their voices, so for now, I shall just name and thank these four wonderful humans.
The bushy bearded man with the glasses is Simon Williams. I am grateful for his wisdom, his intelligences, his love and commitment to this vision in front of us both.
The smiling red hat wearing woman is Pia Cameron. I am grateful for her passion, her priestess prowess and her deep commitment to Her, Goddess, Earth.
The blonde woman in the centre back is Karen Crawford. I am grateful to her for the business understandings lived from such a powerful connection to spirit, energy and Earth.
The big smiles of the man in the green shirt is Peter Grounds. I am grateful for his honesty, his willingness to lean in and learn sharing so many different skill sets.
I am deeply grateful for each of them, and the friendship we have forged.
We are a mathematician, a priestess, a business woman and an engineer… and a Katherine, a writer of dreams into realities. We are Alchemical Worx.
Our first offerings are almost ready for sharing… stay tuned for what comes next!