Meet Miss Marisa
Just a-settin' on my back porch
I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii ten days after it became a state. I was raised in Oak Harbor, Washington. My first "real" job was as a medical transcriptionist. I worked ten years in a family practice clinic, and six years in a pathology lab. After moving to Portland, Oregon in 2002 to be with my future second husband, I created Radio Bastet, where I now podcast music from my vintage bellydance vinyl LP collection. I also worked at Caravan Studio for two years and then took some time off to figure out exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I married Byron (he's Mr. Smooth of The Mr. Smooth Show) in the interim. We live in a one hundred year old house (affectionately known as "Zolac Manor" - Zolac is Byron's last name spelled backwards!) in the St. Johns neighborhood of Portland. I also began my rootwork and doula studies at this time.
Spiritually, I've been all over the map. I was baptized Catholic but raised "generic Christian." I almost converted to Judaism in the 80's. I discovered Neo-Paganism in the mid-90's and dedicated myself to the Goddess in 1996. After nearly ten years in the Neo-Pagan community, I was more than surprised to find myself heading back towards Christianity, but certainly not in a way that I or anyone else could have expected. As I mention on the Rootwork page, becoming a rootworker pretty much demands that you at the very least make your peace with Christianity, even if you are not a strict believer in it. This I have done, and I have also discovered a deep affinity for folk Catholicism, folk magic and working with the saints. My involvement in rootwork also led me to explore the African Diasporic religions, which have resonated with my soul more than any other spiritual path I have investigated. I am now dedicated to the Lucumi faith (known popularly, and sometimes disparagingly, as Santeria), and have recently been marked as a daughter of Yemaya, the Ocean Mother. As my spirituality has always been rooted in the idea of the Mother, this really came as no surprise! I am on the road to becoming initiated as her priest. Maferefun Yemaya!
These are a few more of my favorite things: mermaids, cats, belly dance, books, tattoos, Mystery Science Theater 3000, nuns, witches, knitting, Turner Classic Movies, cooking, surfing the web, lefty politics, entheogenics (the use of psychoactive substances in a ritual/spiritual context - nothing I've ever tried, but for some reason it's a subject that interests me greatly), and oh yes, how could I have forgotten - thrift shopping! (It's how Byron and I met! It's a long story...)
Byron and I on our wedding day
Marvin, the undisputed Emperor of Zolac Manor
Spalding and Delbert, our newest arrivals
Spiritually, I've been all over the map. I was baptized Catholic but raised "generic Christian." I almost converted to Judaism in the 80's. I discovered Neo-Paganism in the mid-90's and dedicated myself to the Goddess in 1996. After nearly ten years in the Neo-Pagan community, I was more than surprised to find myself heading back towards Christianity, but certainly not in a way that I or anyone else could have expected. As I mention on the Rootwork page, becoming a rootworker pretty much demands that you at the very least make your peace with Christianity, even if you are not a strict believer in it. This I have done, and I have also discovered a deep affinity for folk Catholicism, folk magic and working with the saints. My involvement in rootwork also led me to explore the African Diasporic religions, which have resonated with my soul more than any other spiritual path I have investigated. I am now dedicated to the Lucumi faith (known popularly, and sometimes disparagingly, as Santeria), and have recently been marked as a daughter of Yemaya, the Ocean Mother. As my spirituality has always been rooted in the idea of the Mother, this really came as no surprise! I am on the road to becoming initiated as her priest. Maferefun Yemaya!
These are a few more of my favorite things: mermaids, cats, belly dance, books, tattoos, Mystery Science Theater 3000, nuns, witches, knitting, Turner Classic Movies, cooking, surfing the web, lefty politics, entheogenics (the use of psychoactive substances in a ritual/spiritual context - nothing I've ever tried, but for some reason it's a subject that interests me greatly), and oh yes, how could I have forgotten - thrift shopping! (It's how Byron and I met! It's a long story...)
Byron and I on our wedding day
Marvin, the undisputed Emperor of Zolac Manor
Spalding and Delbert, our newest arrivals
missmarisa@ladyhearted.com
