NW Area Steward Corner

Our next NWTA is July 28 – 31 at Gray Owl Hollow. The weekend is full with 32 men
ready to go.

Take a moment to find out about your community welcome home plans, I-Group and
PIT plans and readiness to welcome New Brothers into community as we look at 2 more
NWTA this winter. If you can help let your leadership team know, if you need support
this is a good time to ask for help. If there is something we can do at the Area level to
help – make a request. I’m thinking about an Area level Zoom Welcome Home – would
that be helpful and who could help lead that? The Area level welcome Home would
support – not replace community plans.

As we get back into NWTA mode it is helpful to all be on the same page, especially at
the community level. Here are the immediate things that need to be considered at the
community level:
1.) Welcome Home for NWTA attendees
Each community is asked to provide this important part of the initiatory journey for men
who are entering their community from the NWTA.
The recommendation from MKPUSA is to do these as Zoom calls to avoid indoor
meetings for Covid reasons.
Each community can choose how you want to do the Welcome Home with the following
advisories:
a) If meeting in-person – please use an outside venue, maintain spacing and
consciousness of potential for Covid spread
b) if meeting in-person schedule 2 weeks after NWTA to allow enough time for
New Brothers and Staff to identify if they have Covid
c) Zoom Welcome Home is safest option and may allow more men to attend

2.) Things have changed and there are now several ways for men to get to the
NWTA or your I-Groups through on-line offerings. Some of these offerings open the
door for men to drop into I-Groups from online coursework with enough skills to be
active participants. Here’s a link to a short video about the path that outlines the ways
men may become community members in addition to the NWTA. The path video link
follows ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah5otvSUaxE ). This is important information
as it helps fill out our recognition of the many ways a man can be engaged with our
work.

3.) There is one weekend Protocol change that will have a bearing on our New
Brothers understanding of what we do in I-Groups. The Directions and Archetypes
remain largely the same except for the moving the Archetype of the Sovereign to the

West and the Magician into the North. This has long been discussed as this
placement better represents a journey through life and the Sovereign is appropriate to a
man (or woman) in leadership and the magician is appropriate for a man (or the crone
for a woman) as he/she settles into elder. The need for an elder to take direct action in
the world decreases as we retire from work and begin to focus on other things. I know
this from experience.

Change is part of how we react to the world. MKP has changed a lot over the 27-years I
have been involved. These changes reflect the needs of the men who are looking for
this work and our community. Our MKP Mission has changed to reflect increasing
connection and responsibility for action in the world.

Mission Statement: “The Mission of MKP USA is to create a world where men act on
their individual and collective responsibility for the future of humanity by initiating and
supporting men on a path of emotional maturity, spiritual awareness, and deepening
community.”

Thanks to each of you who support our community,
Steve Newcomb