An immersion into something different

magic and fireflies and tea parties!

This weekend, I had a piece in the Asheville Fringe Arts Festival.
An immersive experience.
A tea party.
With books and fireflies and quests for everyone to go on.

Each person received an invitation when they walked in.
And a world of magic embraced them.

To begin, I spoke these words…

“…something incredible happens when we allow ourselves to step into another’s world, even if just for a moment. Without the constraint of the stories of who are supposed to be, we discover who we actually are.”

In the very first Quest I created, I asked people to find a key.
Their key.
The key that unlocked the adventure.
And even though I explained very little, people understood.
Without question.
Or worry.
They found they found their key.

****

I once invited people to cross a threshold.
To the eyes of someone passing by, it looked like line of beads strung out across the floor.
To those about to cross, it was a beginning.
An ending.
A place to lay down the sacrifice.
And bridge into a land of reclamation.

Everyone who stepped over this simple line of beads knew that something transformed as they did.

****

Over and over, I get to see what happens when people cross the threshold.
Find the key.
Feed the fireflies their stories.
I get to see what happens when they step into a world of my making.
A world where they are asked to remember who they are.
And act accordingly.
Over and Over, I see people reclaiming what was lost.
The spark.
The knowing.
Themselves.

It’s a different way than talking through it.
Than creating action plans.
Than figuring it all out and getting it done.
It’s different than the ways we have been told to fix the problem.
Deal with the issues.
It’s different.
Because maybe we need something different to embody all of who we are.

I think we crave the landscape of imagination that I call The Evers.
A world of make believe made real.
Where a spark of the mystery can set our whole being ablaze.
We want the mystical to rain down upon us.
And show us that we are seen.
Held.
Known.
We want to play.
Like we did.
Once upon a time.

I had been working on the tea party since the beginning of the year.
Everyday, I steeped myself in this world where fireflies wrote tiny notes on tiny typewriters and incredible people made enchanted creations for us to wear.
I wove together a mythology that asked people to become more of who they have always been.
It was an epic undertaking.
And worth every second.
Because I got to see, in real time, the magic that happens when we believe that can.
I cannot wait to do it again.

With love and fire~
Jo Anna

P.S. A big welcome to those folks who attended the tea party and signed to keep in touch.