A Different Wholeness

My dear friend John, who is currently in Costa Rica at his home-away-from-home (Casa Limon Dulce), recently did a ceremony for me on the mountaintop property he and Richard and Philip own there.  I met John back when Kindred Spirit was first opened, and he became quite a wonderful “fixture” at our shop.  He was, among other things, a kind of unofficial, resident dream analyst, and we regularly reviewed our dreams in detail while sharing tea. I particularly loved that John always seemed to have a fresh perspective to offer when I got bogged down by something.

Several years ago, on our shared birthday, John whisked me off to Disney World for the day.  We hopped on a puddle-jumper in Key West, landed in Orlando, raced by taxi to the park, and proceeded to enjoy as many of the amusements and rides as we could squeeze into a few hours, then dashed back to the airport to fly home by nightfall.  It was a memorable birthday, to say the least.

Enjoying "Fantasia" in 3D at Disney World

Although we haven’t seen each other in a number of years, happily we still keep in touch by email & occasionally phone (John, I’m thinking of the time you dropped the phone in the pool while we were chatting about a year ago…).  And, sometimes, our connection is in dreams, as it was earlier this summer when John dreamed of my illness before I was even diagnosed. He sent me a tearful email describing the dream on the very day I happened to learn I had cancer.

So, today I opened his email about the ceremony he, his mother and Richard did for me on their tropical mountaintop. John is so close to my heart, I wanted to share his words here (forgive me, John, if I’ve overstepped…my love and gratitude for you is enormous).

Here is what John says:

Hello Karen, Hello everyone. I had been wanting to do a ceremony for Karen, my birthday mate, here in Costa Rica–the country that has declared peace on the world, and peace with nature. Today was the day. I went to the mountaintop property we have, a wonderful place to feel the energies of the earth and sky (lots of vultures). I was accompanied by my Mother and Richard. My mother’s Parkinson’s makes walking a bit of a challenge, but she’s a trooper, and linking hands we climbed the freshly macheted road. “Lions and tigers and bears” became “Boas, Ormigas(ants), and horse poop, Oh my!” Yes, our machete-er spotted a boa on the road, which is kind of cool, but sobering.

Safely on top, I opened up the sacred space with the South American medicine wheel I learned through Alberto Villoldo. Snake-South, Jaguar-West, Hummingbird-North, Eagle-East. Above-Father Sky, Below-Mother Earth, and Center. Things are done for the benefit of all my relations, which is just about everything. OK, it is everything.

Thoughts were of Karen, and we read the “Thank You” prayer that I wrote down from Jane Worth in Key West. The items were:

My new favorite knapsack–had to have it, may speak to fears and change.

A cosmopolitan–I have been making them recently (blame a crush on a bartender). I imagine Karen sipping away.

Incense.

Costa Rican wood bowl with red wine cork and a lime from our property.

A personal notepad and regular pen with a Tibetan thread design from Paris: I can’t tell you Karen how much it has meant to me to read your blog and to continue to feel connected to you. Thank you for sharing of yourself.

Organic Genmaicha from ArtfulTea…me gusta (sipping as I write)

And a note from Phil.

 

John on the Mountaintop in Ceremony

Thinking I’d cut to the chase, I actually looked for some horse poop to put on the altar, but it was gone. The rains had washed it away. Thought that was a good sign.

 

Spirit seemed to honor the writing pen when this beautiful little butterfly landed on it…After a bit, Mom took a sip of the Cosmo in communion, and I poured the Cosmo on the mountain. I poked the incense into the lime and put it on a rock, and left some Genmaicha to steep in the rains. I closed up the sacred space and walked back down the mountain and saw four beautiful toucans (Collared Aracari) in the trees above our car, the first I’d ever seen here.

I invite anyone reading this to enter into the space as you will and send Karen some Costa Rican love. Pura Vida. Pure Life. Love you Karen. Thinking of you surrounded by beauty there. Dream yourself here if you like for a spell…

John and family…

Muchas Gracias, John. Love you!