Ten Years of Brewing Against the Machine—Year 6 / 2021 / METAMORPHOSIS

Let us reflect on the sixth year: the year of our Lord 2021 | METAMORPHOSIS

If the first five years of MP was just complete non-stop chaos and insanity, 2021 was the complete opposite. For the first time in a long time, or ever, honestly, I stopped.

Why?

Looking back I almost feel as though I didn’t have a choice. My mind and body reacted to the experiences of the previous year, and essentially forced me to pause. Looking back I now understand a little more of what was going on. That pause, arguably forced, though I had no issues submitting to it, was my CHRYSALIS. 

I’m not sure about you, but the concept of metamorphosis was not new to me. Obviously I learned about it in school, and we loved to use it metaphorically in Sunday School to try and make reading our bible sound more exciting. Unfortunately no one ever took it a step further and actually explained it. But a little reading can really cause your jaw to drop. (Yes, I’m about to get all National Geographic on you)

First, despite being taught this way, the caterpillars do not turn into just a pile of goo and reform into a beautiful butterfly. Like, at all. In fact, several components stay intact, such as the brain, parts of the nervous system, and these really neat things called imaginal discs. Which essentially get awakened from hormonal changes, allowing for the rapid development of wings. For example, these discs start with maybe 50 cells, but by the start of the chrysalis they are at 10-50,000 per disc. 

What also bends my mind is the fact that this process for caterpillars is around two weeks. TWO WEEKS. Versus Cicadas who can take up to 17 years to metamorphose (Yes, that’s a word, and I had no idea) into adulthood. 

Now, I could keep regurgitating fascinating facts I’ve been reading all morning because honestly, I am in a state of wonder at the moment. Instead, I’ll spare you and encourage you to just go read some fun articles. BUT one more interesting thing I found included studies that were performed that suggest fairly strongly that butterflies/moths can maintain memory even after this process of metamorphosis. The reason why I find this crucial is because the way metamorphosis was explained to me through the filter of Evangelical Christianity:

2 Corinthians 5:17, that the old was “forgotten”, it was “gone”. Now you are a new creation! 

But what does this imply? Do we then begin to deny ourselves our ability to become more whole by suggesting our “old” is no longer relevant? Maybe it was this faulty concept of my being, my soul, that prevented me from fully healing. Maybe I am not meant to forget. Maybe who I have been the whole time at the root, my soul, is actually what the purpose of healing is for. So much for total depravity.

In this moment and through the better part of 2021, I found myself wrapped up in my old skin (which is actually what the chrysalis is btw, it’s actually a PART of the caterpillar, not some outer protective shell separate from the insect) being transformed. And similar to the caterpillars, it was happening fast. It was excruciating, but I didn’t have a choice. Those fungi had their way with me. And for a long time after.

As far as Mad Priest is concerned, anyone who has followed us from this point or before, could begin to see the shift. Despite this year not really having much to report, the simple reality is that I needed to just allow this process to play out. The first ¾ of the year I did hardly ANYTHING for the business. I focused on myself. I spent time with my family, something which was lacking greatly for several years. To this day, I feel very deeply about the days I missed with my young girls. We went on several trips through that year that became core memories for all of us. 

It was risky. As a small business, it could have easily led to our demise. But again, I didn’t have a choice. It’s something I’ve always carried with me, for better, or for worse. This idea that once I hear that “voice” – I surrender fully. The problem oftentimes is being capable of hearing it.

Are we allowing ourselves to actually enter the chrysalis phase? Or are we just gluttonous caterpillars eating non-stop the shitty nourishment being fed to us whether it be technology, consumerism or culture wars. 

Honestly I would say I am still in somewhat of a chrysalis phase. Maybe it’s something we have to lean into regularly for the rest of our lives. 

So what does all this have to do with coffee? I mean, directly, nothing. But indirectly, everything is connected. My hope with Mad Priest is simply that we can be a community of curious people who together can enable and awaken the deepest truths of our being so that we may become all that we were created to be. Which in turn, also has a profound impact on the world and those around us. Coffee is just the medium. And a damn good one at that.

So if you are on this journey with us, it means you really like good coffee. It is also likely you have a reverence for a tenet we observe  in the dance community; PLUR / Peace, love, unity and respect.

As Katy Prudic, an entomologist at the University of Arizona in Tuscon says about metamorphosis, “It’s this wonderful process of really reinventing yourself… When insects metamorphose, they're able to explore and go places that they couldn’t as maggots, caterpillars, and grubs.”

At the end of 2021, I found myself doing a photoshoot with a friend where we really stretched ourselves regarding the direction of the company and the brand. It was edgy. It was new. Several folks really didn’t like it. But it was that photoshoot that launched me on the discovery and journey of where Mad Priest is today, and the calling that we had to push boundaries. Where most people fail to understand is their inability to be curious and ask questions. But like most things we do at Mad Priest, there is always a WHY. And at that time, carried through to today, the why was, and is, a simple purpose to strike up challenging conversations and actually engage as people. To listen. To empathize. If someone sees a picture of a nun smoking alongside myself wearing a cassock and that is the driver for them to walk away, they were never my customer. 

Kinda like when you go on a passionate rant for 5 minutes about some injustice, and the person you’re talking with can only focus on the fact that you used the word ‘fuck’ in your use of language. Instead of hearing the pain of dying children in Gaza. I want change. And change requires more than words. You have to dig deep. And for me, I can figure that out pretty quickly about someone depending on how they respond or react to how we communicate. 

2022 was the year all of this came to a head and I broke free and began to spread my wet, wrinkly wings of this updated version I was becoming.

+Michael, High Priest

P.S. Do you like what you’re reading? Do our values and our story resonate? Just share our coffee with friends & family. We’re not interested in participating in late stage Capitalism. We want to build a community of like minded people with coffee as the medium. Especially today when everything feels divided and connection feels harder to find.