zoom
CTCW is going Virtual this year!
We have to learn some new skills, which has me a bit nervous, but when do we not have to learn? This will allow CTCW to reach people farther away than could come physically, and also some who couldn’t afford the travel and hotel will be able to afford the $25 cost! But how do we let everyone know that we are happening, and in a new way?
We’re going to have a weekly Podcast!
We’ve got a CTCW channel on Youtube, and I am going to be doing a weekly show: live, so people can call in, I’ll be interviewing some of our teachers, moderating panels, and essentially, we’ll have a free weekly CTCW class or panel, or chat with one of our great folks, as you may have in the Hospitality room, or a hallway. The live shows will be from 8-9 pm EST Wednesdays.
We’ll be using this new platform, Zoom, to share our workshops and panels, and Hospitality (chatting space) this year at CTCW. We’re expanding to a whole week, with evenings Monday through Friday, and full days of Panels and Workshops on the Weekend (with the chat room open at the same time to see old friends and continue talking about topics). Zoom allows us to record our workshops, so we’ll be posting them on You-tube. That way if you miss one, you can watch it later.
When I heard about this, I thought, I can use this to give folks a chance to see what we’re about by doing a talk show and put up an hour a week. That should give us about 20 panels or workshops between now and then to share the stuff we like to, and let people find out what we’re about.
What is CTCW about?
We don’t go for big name guests, but have a lot of experienced people sharing how to do the stuff we are doing. By “Stuff”, I mean Paranormal, Occult, Supernatural, Metaphysical stuff- the stuff that’s not supposed to exist, but some of us use it every day. If we learn how to use it better, maybe people will stop scoffing and start using these useful techniques.
Science jumps on the occult because it wants everything to be replicable. The problem is- it’s something people do. If you run, you can learn to run faster, but none of your “runs” will be exactly the same. If you sing, even when you sing the same song, each time you do, it will be a bit different. If you bake, even though you have a favorite recipe, it won’t come out exactly the same every time.
The Kreskins of the world say that if they can replicate an effect with trickery, that proves that it can be done that way, so it must have been done that way when we do it. Really? In what way is that scientific?
People are nervous about the ‘occult’ because it’s hidden. A lot of it was hidden because if they caught you doing it, you could be punished- even killed. And yes, this was done, many times, by the Church that was trying to make sure that they had a monopoly, because many of the healing and divination and manipulation of odds was done with the help of spirits, that the Church designated as evil. They especially reviled healers because they were very good at energy healing, so it was a huge selling point in early recruitment situations to claim that they did it better. Later, they just wanted to keep people coming back and not accepting help from any other entities. That intolerance was horrible, but I think they’ve stopped that, so we don’t need to hide any more, or complain about what they did. (Only complain about when individuals and groups do bad things now.)
If you define something as impossible, it’s hard to learn to do it well. Any time you want to learn something, it helps to have someone help you- show you better techniques, explain which conditions make things work best, what the best tools are, etc. That’s what we are doing.
If you want to talk about something you do, I’d love to have you come on the show, if you have questions, listen and you’ll be able to ask them. 21st century technology will let us record it, share on Youtube, so others will be able to find out about us. If you have friends who haven’t heard about CTCW, let them know about us, and this will help spread the word.
Times change, the World needs to change for the better. That’s what we’re doing with CTCW. Won’t it be a better world for future generations if we can use all our talents and not pretend they don’t exist?
The world changes, we change with it
Once again I find myself thinking about life during this pandemic and how it has changed,… and if possible, how to make those changes beneficial.
When it gets cold the people with boats pull them out of the water and put them away for the winter. When the top of the water freezes, it’s no longer a good way for people to get around. All over the world cities have grown up around ports: on oceans, lakes, and rivers because it’s a lot easier to move stuff from one place to another along the water. Winter stops that.
On the other hand, when water freezes, it gets hard and flat. People can now walk across the water whereas most of the year they’d have to find (or make) a bridge, or wade, or swim. Ice allows them to cross, facilitating rather than preventing travel. Snow lays a layer of lubricant on the ground so sleighs and sleds can slide far more easily than a sledge. People can ski on the snow, or skate on the ice. The difference is knowing that it’s possible, and learning how to take advantage of the new condition of the world.
Change can be hard. The world is not the same. We may need to learn new ways. Walking on ice is different than walking on less slippery ground, you have to learn to keep your weight over your feet, keep your knees loose, and maybe spread your arms out a bit- like a penguin. (In the world of shelter-in-place, I need to learn how to negotiate Zoom.)
We know that the world is changing. Climate Change is sometimes called “Global weirding” because it’s changing in so many ways. Those who have locked their expectations into things staying the same, like oil companies, may try to force things to stay the way that is beneficial to their interests, but they are fighting a losing battle. Some people want to do business they way they have “always done”, the way they did before we lived in a word where we don’t know if we have a virus inside us that might kill anyone we meet. The virus won’t go away because we can’t see it, and half the people who do get it can’t tell they’ve got it. The world has changed, and we need to adapt, or we could kill people accidentally. No one wants to do that.
The way to deal with change is to honestly look at what’s happening, as with boating down rapids: find a course that goes with the flow, rather than trying to make the water go your way. While the population of the world learns to live with this new virus, we have to create a new way to live. This gives us a chance to look at the lives we have considered normal without thinking about them, and create a better world, one that supports us in who we want to be. Many of us are being forced to stay home and ‘do nothing’. This gives us a chance to do more than clean out our drawers and closets. We can take the time to think about what we can do to change the world into a better place as long as it’s already changing.
Like heavy loads on ice, things move more easily when they’ve already started moving. This is an opportunity for us to steer the world into a better direction. Trying to stop change is liable to get you run over. Embrace the change. Make the world into the one you want for your descendants. Make yourself into the person you want to be. (“Be the person your dog thinks you are.”) This change has forced us to slow down, but like an iced over river, it may be what we need to move the way we want to go.
