Aug. 31 , 1954 — May 8, 2024
Born Aug. 31 , 1954, in Danbury, Connecticut, Katja (Karen Louise) Machcinski passed through the heavenly gate on May 8, 2024. Daughter of Barbara Weeks and Victor Anthony Machcinski, and a beloved sister and aunt, she graced this world with love for her family, humanity, nature, music, and dance.
A talented ballet dancer, she was known for her performance of the dance of the Sugarplum Fairy in high school, was accepted into the Juilliard School, and was a principal dancer of the Oregon Ballet Company until prevented due to injury.
Katja performed with expression, and her performances were remembered by people years beyond when they occurred. Also an accomplished singer, she sang to her father’s piano accompaniment at home and performed with Pat O’Scannell’s acapella vocal ensemble, Vox Lumina, specializing in
Medieval and Renaissance music.
Katja was a member of the Ashland Siskiyou Singers for many years. Some of her most beloved moments on stage included singing “Alfie,” “Not While I’m Around,” “What Songs Were Sung,” and “Homeward Bound,” which moved some to tears with her soulful expression.
Katja was a unique and artistic soul; she had an adventurous life, living off the land in West Virginia for several years, and even living in a school bus for a time. She was a ’70s flower child at heart with intense physical and inner beauty and energy. She would jump into freezing Cape Cod Atlantic waters, make elaborate games, often corralling her family to participate, create characters with full personalities, visit her parents on the East Coast by surprise, enjoy cappuccinos, croissants, and cream puffs with gusto, and laugh and cry and love with abandon. Katja was a bright light on this planet and brought magic and color into the world.
A healer by nature and profession, she worked for many years first as a massage therapist, and then through rigorous study, became Upledger CranioSacral Therapy certified. Katja loved her work and never ceased expanding her knowledge of the human body. She helped and healed many people. Katja saved the lives of three people during her lifetime, one being an Ashland man she pulled to safety from the bottom of a pool. She also traveled coast-to-coast toting a massage table after the attacks of 9/11 in New York City and gave everything of herself to aid and serve as many people as she could.
Katja lived in Ashland, Oregon, for many decades. This town and Mt. Shasta were her heart and
spirit. One of her favorite things was to interact with strangers, children, and even dogs everywhere she went. She was the official Ashland Doughnut Fairy, giving out doughnuts from Case Coffee to literally thousands of individuals. She was a devout student of the “I AM” Discourses of St. Germain for much of her life and was dedicated to her daily practice.
She believed in Love and Light above all and experienced her own death process with astounding and inspiring courage, faith, dignity, peace, gratitude, humor, self-respect and love. She had no fear and was accepting and ready for her next journey. Gone from this world too soon for those who love her, Katja will be forever deeply missed, for no one could begin to fill her (dance) shoes.
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