About the Instagram Post...

Who knew IG had a character max??  This is a long post, but it's filled with magic and serendipity and connectivity.  So here's what IG didn't have space for:

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Forgive the meandering of this one. Sometimes, it takes a story to get to the story that’s the real point.
While I was on my journey of artmaking and body healing in Nashville, my friend, Cat Edge, was on her own journey in Dahlonega, Georgia. Instead of healing, though, Cat’s challenge was different: she was having to come to terms with terminal breast cancer.
Because neither of us was very comfortable in a car for very long, our visits became fewer and farther between. Before I moved from Atlanta to Nashville, she and I had established a “goddess” group, where women came together for a potluck and meditation whenever it made sense, usually around a full moon. And because we were already so close and so frequently in each other’s heads, we decided to try meditating and meeting out in The Ethers. We figured that if we could bend space and time while she was alive, maybe there was a chance, too, that we could stay in touch after she’d passed through the veil. (Which is to say, kicked the bucket, bought the farm, croaked, crossed the River Styx, left her body, died.)
We started reaching out each Tuesday to first see how she was feeling or how much my kids needed my attention - in other words, whether it was a good time to “go in.” From the very first time we “met,” we had similar experiences: we saw the same colors and shapes, or even had exactly matching visions. It was remarkable.
To enter the meditation, we set a timer for 10-15 minutes. I usually visualized me on one hilltop and her on another, all grassy and green with wildflowers. Then we’d make our way into some situation or other and then compare notes - usually by text - as soon as the timer went off. Sometimes when she wasn’t available, I’d still “go in.” Cat would often report that she’d felt my presence or tell me what she’d been doing and I’d compare my meditation to her thoughts or activity.
Once, I had a hands-on healing session with my friend, artist and time traveler, James A. Willis. In the session, I visited a place that felt like the edge of Everything. It was so peaceful. I stood on a mountain and looked out. Everything was orange and there were shadows and silhouettes of a mountain range.
When I came out of the healing, I couldn’t wait to get back to that place on my own, unassisted. It took some time and it frustrated me. But one day, when Cat wasn’t feeling well, I went in on my own. I returned to my hilltop and could see her on hers. I blew up a bubble around myself and floated over to get her. She climbed in and we floated to “the orange place,” the edge of everything, peeking over into the other side. Filled with joy, we danced together inside the bubble. We looked at each other and, like in some crazy sci-fi movie, we merged into a single being, still inside the bubble, and gazed out in amazement of our surroundings and reveled in the bliss of our accomplishment.
This is a 6”x12” pink Speedy-Carve block and is printed on fancy paper. The bubble is iridescent cellophane and the gal is a cutout from a church-school ad i found in a magazine who looks very much like a combination of me and Cat, dressed in white robes. There’s a 4” googly eye over the girl that’s been modified to make a real 3D bubble.
I completed this piece in May 2018. In July of that year, I was trying to meet my family for vacation in Montana and my travel was rerouted a couple of times. On the last leg, alone in a cab somewhere outside Phoenix, I was comforted by a very familiar 5am sunrise.