January Newsletter 2020 (NC, MD, and Audio)

Much love from my new office space in Austin! Out my second-story window are big beautiful trees that come the spring will fill everything with green. The creek-bed is currently dry, but when the rains hit in random bursts, it will be great. In short, this place is magic waiting to happen.

I moved to Austin just between Yule and Christmas, driving with my friend Mia and my Ma’am, Ms. Cenna, across icy Colorado, through the edge of New Mexico, and through a full day of Texas to find our way here. What a gift of a place. Like Denver, the way opened up easily, and having a queer-friendly and kink-friendly apartment-hunter helps. Yesterday I unpacked my desk, and hung the large-scale print from the cover I did for Dark Moon Rising: Pagan BDSM and the Ordeal Path hanging front and center. My reminder of the power of my work, as well as the magic that can come out of little moments that fall together.

This week I received the homework for my first online class – how exciting! It is a by-invite only opportunity for folks that are currently in-person sexuality educators to learn how to build online class series. In the introduction, the instructor, the wonderful Dr. Pavini Moray, spoke of the high attrition rate of online education, and that as students we will both be learning and building empathy for our students as for why they step away from the learning process. Already I am seeing why – only 10 classes, and half are while I am out of town. “Luckily” they are at 1pm EST, so I can make that work with most of my travel… but it means that in the midst of Dark Odyssey: Winter Fire I will be stepping away to go learn in the midst of a conference full of teaching and learning. This is intimidating, but exciting, all at once. My class starts this Friday, and homework on our codes of ethics as educators is due Thursday. How exciting! What a great way to start two new adventures in the new year.

This is an exciting next two months. This weekend I will be going to Round Rock, Texas, to see Paranormal Cirque with my whole poly family. I am so jazzed to have such an outing – it’s rare to get everyone out of the house together all at the same time. The following weekend I’ll be on a spiritual and social retreat with one of my tribes of the heart, which I am looking forward to as well, and hope to come back with a focused mind ready to dive into my career direction as Ma’am helps me refine my priorities lists.

At the end of the month (January 24-26) I will be going to Raleigh, North Carolina! I was last in Raleigh two years ago, and this year the folks at TMG, FAD, & The NC-Triangle Spanker’s Club are teaming up to do a full weekend of classes and parties alike. You can see the complete schedule of classes here, and I’m especially looking forward to teaching about leather identity, gender and orientation, and how we negotiate for our desires after looking into ourselves to be authentic in what we want. Don’t worry though, it’s not all “work.” We’ll be playing around with erotic role-playing skills and having some frank talk about sex and kink – whether you are new to it all or have a few years under your belt. I know 20+ years in I still learn a lot attending classes that open up my beginners’ mind.

Two weekends later (February 14-16) I’ll be back at Dark Odyssey: Winter Fire at their new venue in Baltimore! How exciting. I will be teaching an array of classes and part of ritual work there as well, and I look forward to seeing how the event blossoms in its new soil. The weekend between the two though I will be back in Denver to work on the audio recording for Sacred Kink: The Eightfold Paths of BDSM and Beyond. We have it almost half-way there, but it is a big text, and I don’t want to change recording studios halfway through. He did an amazing job for the audio book On Starry Thighs: Sacred and Sexual Poetry, and I’m glad we get to continue for a second project.

Looking to listen to some of my voice beyond the poetry in the meantime? I had the chance recently to be on the American Sex Podcast with Sunny Megatron and Ken Melvoin-Berg, where we talked about Sacred Kink… but in a way that makes it accessible to those who don’t do “woo” as it were. In the show I share how you can translate these experiences into your own personal belief system, if you even have one. This episode can help you make these concepts accessible to those with deep spirituality and the science-minded alike. 

This coming week over at my Patreon, I will also be sharing some audio – a class that I have recorded that never went out into the world at large. My plan is to have one of these a month this year, so this is a great time to join.

Much love from Texas,

Lee Harrington
http://www.PassionAndSoul.com

Upcoming appearances:

• TMG, FAD, & The NC-Triangle Spanker’s Club – Raleigh, NC (January 24-26): Teaching Kink 101, Let’s Talk About Sex, Introduction to Roleplaying, Playing Well With Others, What’s Leather Got to Do With It, and Our Intimate Selves. 
• Dark Odyssey: Winter Fire – Baltimore, MD (February 14-16, 2020): Teaching classes and leading rituals.
• Oklahoma LeatherFest – Oklahoma City, OK (April 3-5, 2020): Teaching classes.
• Camp Crucible – N. Maryland (May 23-30, 2020): Teaching classes and leading rituals.
• GWNN Bash – Austin, TX (July 24-26, 2020): Teaching classes,
• …and more to be announced soon!