My Mermaidy Brand of Uniquity

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Most of us feel like we’re weird. Out there… Different… A misfit…

…that there’s something about us that no one could ever accept and quite possibly would ridicule us for. And often it’s the juiciest, most interesting piece of ourselves. So we keep these parts hidden away in the dark closets of our psyches. We deem them as unacceptable, inappropriate (especially in business), unlovable, ugly, too much. Or too little.

I’ve been part of Michelle Ward’s Clubhouse, a mastermind for brilliant and creative entrepreneurs, for over a year and I’ve had Michelle’s and the group’s support for perhaps the most profound transformation in my 45-year trip around the sun: I came out as a mermaid.

Short Interlude:: How I became a mermaid.

photo by r.s.thurston photography

So…this is going to sound weird, but here I go. And, I’m going to give you quick snippets of events and experiences in chronological order.

1. As a four year old child I had a near drowning experience. I fell into the deep end of our pool in Encino, CA when no one was around except my sweet dog Spokane. As I sunk to the bottom I remember feeling someone there with me and I wasn’t afraid. I knew I had to figure out a way to get myself out. I looked over at the side of the pool where Spokane was putting his face in the water. He was pointing to the silver ladder that was on the side of the deep end. I walked over and jumped a few times, finally grabbed onto the bottom rung. I pulled myself out and went to my room to dry off and change my clothes. Most people, including my parents DO NOT know this story. They’ll find out right before the book is published.
2. In 1987, I had a dream of a beautiful, very dark-skinned African woman rising out of the ocean. She was calling out to me in a language that I didn’t know, but understood that she was calling me to her. One of my congeuro friends at the time who was a practitioner of Santeria/Lucumi (an African-Cuban religion that combines West African deities with the Catholic saints) told me that I was being called by Yemanja, the great Mother goddess of the oceans.
3. I traveled to Bahia, Brazil in January 2006 to complete fieldwork on Candomble (a sister religion of Santeria/Lucumi) and female drummers for my dissertation, “Mothers, female tricksters and heroines: A mythological portrait of feminine dynamism in Brazilian Candomble and the women drummers movement.” One of my mentors in Brazil, a high priest of Candomble and anthropologist, told me that my patron orixa (a Yoruba term that is loosely translated as “guardian angel of the head”) was in fact, Yemanja.
4. In 2011, I had an encounter with a different merspirit who appeared as a red orb in my bedroom one night. And, I had a distinct intuitive hit to put on a mermaid tail and be photographed as a mermaid. I contacted my photographer Rachel Thurston who told me she had been obsessed with MERMAID images for two weeks before I even called her!

   In 2012, we had the mermaid photoshoot that graces the pages of this website.

We need your gifts. Come out of hiding!

I recently gave a workshop to 65 people total at Pacifica Graduate Institute‘s conference, The Writers Journey: Outside in and Back Again.

One of the participants, who is now a client, told me later that she wanted to work with me after I did a certain part of the workshop.

After giving my shpiel about good marketing and branding, by using storytelling techniques, I decided to tell a story whilst playing my congas.

As I began, my client told me that at first she was revolted by this display.

“This isn’t what someone should do when giving a workshop about marketing! What does this have to do with marketing?”

In the middle of my story/conga playing, she found herself relaxing into it and realizing that she also wanted to break out of her own preconceived notions that were keeping her locked into a career track that was well-defined, traditional and ultimately unfulfilling. Now, she is beginning to walk a new path and blaze her own trail.

Because I showed up, boldly proclaiming my weirdness, my uniquity, I embodied an image of her authentic self. The self that she is now becoming.

And, that is just one story out of at least 30 comments that I’ve received over the past year where someone told me that because I came out as my wild authentic self, they felt they had permission to do the same.

It’s time to throw away “good” manners and just get real. It will give your brain a burst of feel-good dopamine. And, amazingly, you’ll find that more people are on board with you and your business.

I know that you are a powerful transformer. When you let your greatest and wildest parts of yourself out into the light, you empower others to do the same, and grant them the permission to be their full self.

Come out n’ play. I can’t wait to see your unbound soul emerge into the light.

With all my love and en-Courage-ment,

Kris