I live on a gravel road in a small magical cabin I built with my partner, Michael. We are surrounded by trees through which we can just see distant mountains, sounds of crickets and cicadas in the summer, and family nearby.

THe Current Project

I started the current blog and podcast in December 2021 around an interest in the magical dimensions of an ensouled universe, and creating better psychological and cultural maps for fulfillment. In the spring, a new clarity emerged around seeking a deeper unity with nature. During the spring, that urge remained a primarily mystical and psychic adventure (see Talking to the Bees or The Least of These, Our Insect Teachers for examples). This summer, a more pragmatic focus has emerged: I want to dedicate myself to a vision of Appalachia, the place where I live, as an ecoregion teeming with life, flush with biodiversity, a landscape of deep resilience, beauty, and harmony where people participate in creative and generative ways.

KATY MORIKAWA PODCAST

Work History

Freelance Web Developer, Graphic Designer, Virtual Assistant (2015-2021)

See more about this aspect of my professional life at katydidwebsites.com.

Co-Founder, Sales, Marketing, She-of-Many-Hats (2015-present)

The Workshop, Floyd VA. The business we launched in 2015 when I left Crenshaw Lighting is pretty quiet these days, but it accentuates our lifestyle, and we continue to draw inspiration from our mission: “Live simply. Leave a light footprint on the earth. Cherish beauty. Make by hand what we can. Protect nature, and especially protect the trees. Love our neighbors. Laugh a lot. Keep learning. Live long and prosper.”

Inside Sales, Project Manager, Marketing, Website (2010-2015)

Crenshaw Lighting, Floyd, VA.

Volunteer Work

Community Advisor (New in 2022)

Sustain Floyd is a local non-profit organization working to build ecological and economic resiliency in the Floyd County area of Southwest Virginia since 2008. I have known many of its founding members for decades, and my father is one of these. But only in 2021 did I get involved as the organization seeks to engage a younger generation. I have been particularly galvanized around the issue of recycling, which led to my part in Sustain Floyd’s presentation to the Industrial Design class at Virginia Tech: Household Recycling Problems for Industrial Designers. On January 19, 2022, I was formally nominated and accepted as a Community Advisor. It’s a wonderful honor and I look forward to years of engagement on sustainability issues in Floyd.

EDUCATION

M.A. Counseling Psychology, Somatics (2009)

California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA

B.A. Religion (1993)

University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI

H.S. Graduate (1986)

Blacksburg High School, Blacksburg, VA – I’m dating myself by showing the year of my graduating class!

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

The Mind Illuminated (2019-2020)

Stage 7 TMI as taught in The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide by Culadasa (John Yates, PhD).

Becoming Supernatural (2017 – 2019)

Dr. Joe Dispenza‘s mind-healing techniques as taught in Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself and Becoming Supernatural.

Shamanic Astrology Certification (2006)

The Shamanic Astrology Mystery School, founded by Daniel Giamario.

Kundalini Rising (1997 & 2003)

This is the primary subject of my memoir, Doorways and Wings.

The Seeker’s Life (1980-present)

I don’t mean to gloss the rest, but I have literally tried SO MANY things, as have those of us who caught the seeker’s bug early and never found a way to live without it. From the first time I plucked Siddhartha from my parents’ bookshelf, I have sought answers to the biggest questions about truth and meaning. An incessantly independent mystic, I have dabbled and studied widely, but always in the end came back to the Great Teacher within rather than to any religion, guru, or community to serve as my guiding star. (Okay, there was that one cult that one time!)

I have tried to boil down the influences that have risen to the top and remain with me today. I notice that many of them are works of fiction. But actually, this relates to my recent discovery of the imaginal as a framework for accessing deep Truth, so it’s perfect!

PHILOSOPHICAL INFLUENCES

• Love without End: Jesus Speaks by Glenda Green
• Cosmos and Psyche by Richard Tarnas
• Shamanic Astrology founded by Daniel Giamario
• Shamanism with Jade Wah’oo Grigori
• Courting the Wild Twin by Martin Shaw
• Greater Than the Sum of Our Parts by Richard C. Schwartz, PhD
• The Way of the Psychonaut: Encyclopedia for Inner Journeys by Stanislav Grof
• Becoming Supernatural by Joe Dispenza
• The Mind Illuminated by Culadasa
• The Soul’s Code by James Hillman
• The Practice: Shipping Creative Work by Seth Godin
• This Is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan
• How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan
• Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
• Marie Kondo’s KonMari Method
• Edgar Cayce
• Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkein
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
• The Expanse by James S. A. Corey
• The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson
• The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
• Uprooted by Naomi Novik