Katrina Messenger was looking for ways to meld her Wiccan spiritual practice with her long-term political activism. In spring of 1998, while in San Francisco for a meeting, she attended the public Spring Equinox ritual put on by the ritual-planning cell of the Reclaiming Collective. She returned home with the idea of starting a public ritual group in DC.
The first ritual, using the process that was to be later used for Connect DC, was held for Summer Solstice 1998 on the roof of the now closed Lammas Women's bookstore. After discussing her idea for the "original working" with numerous friends and colleagues, Katrina launched Connect DC in spring of 1999.
The original working of Connect DC was to ritually reconnect the boundaries of the city. In the 1790's, boundary stones were placed all around the diamond shaped city. However the land donated by Virginia is no longer consider part of the city. The city literally has a gash in its side and using a magical metaphor, is like a circle with a hole in it. So the original working's intent was to energetically reconnect the boundary stones and give the city good boundaries. The original working began at Spring Equinox 1999 and concluded a year later at Spring Equinox 2000. More information is included in an article Katrina wrote in 1999 after the first ritual.
"Washington, DC, a planned city in the shape of a diamond, is literally the jewel in the center of a much larger working. Every day people come here from all around the world seeking justice and freedom. Let's give them something to work with, a shining jewel sitting on the Potomac River. Lets reconnect and heal the city as part and parcel of our work to heal the world."