The Mender and the Ka-tet

"KA-TET: Literally speaking, ka-tet means "one made from many." Ka refers to destiny; tet refers to a group of people with the same interests or goals. Ka-tet is the place where man's lives are joined by fate." -The official Dark Tower website


I started reading Martha Beck's new book this week, "Finding Your Way in a New, Wild World." She uses some of the very old, mystical ways of describing a group of people who exist and have some of the same goals for helping mankind progress. She refers to these people as the 'Team' and says that many of the people she sees who have a general sense that they have a larger destiny but don't know what it is necessarily, but don't know what it looks like yet, fit into this grouping. She also goes on to say that of the Team, there are many who fall into the category of 'Mender,' or one whose job/calling it is to help people/animals/the earth to heal.

I have had this notion of a tribe for a while now, that I am slowly discovering more people who belong to my ka-tet (a term I first heard while reading Stephen King's Dark Tower series, and the notion of it and being a metaphorical "gunslinger" stuck in my psyche pretty firmly).

When I was doing some of my metaphysical work several years ago, I knew that the parts of me I was wanting to bring out were The Writer, The Wife/Lover, The Mother, and some undefined fourth I wasn't sure what it was. It had some purpose in the universal sense of things, but at that time it was just a place holder for a thing that had not been recognized inside me. The notion of being a gunslinger winds its way through all of my persona, but what was this other purpose or calling?

When I realized what it was, I struggled with what to call it. It encompassed a number of things. I was a healer, but that was not meant to be my main vocation. I was a fixer. I was a conduit to help people communicate with the universe, but I wasn't supposed to hang up a shingle in Beverly Hills to tell you your fortune. I was supposed to take care of problems that existed in the spirit realm, and do things that seemed completely crazy to a rational mind. I was supposed to write about all of it.

But as humans, we really like to label things. We like there to be names to reference and categories we can put things into. It makes us more comfortable. And even if we're not sure what a person does, we feel better if we have a name by which to refer to them (what exactly is a "light bender" anyway?).

So somewhere along the line while reading Hafiz, I realized I was probably a Mystic Poet. It sounded as good as any other explanation. It sounded a little sexy (though some of my friends might say it sounds New Age flaky, but to each his own). In the end, it doesn't really matter. I can call myself anything I want. It's the 21st century, and I have a blog, so pretty much I can self-identify any way I want.

But I really like the notion that we are in process of collecting our people, our tribe, our ka-tet. It's those moments of recognition between people, when you meet someone you've never seen before and you feel the instant recognition. "Oh, hi there. Good to see you again."

This doesn't mean that we are creating an "us vs. them" dichotomy. We serve all mankind in so many ways. But it is like coming home when you meet others along your destiny lines.

(note: I realize lately you haven't had much debauchery, so my next post I promise will be totally perverted. Promise.) :D