Sunday May 8, 2011
End of 5th Week of Hyperbaric Dive
Forty-nine years ago today, my (barely) 17-year old mother gave me the gift of life. Thanks Mum for saying yes to having me at such a young age! I feel like I have something to celebrate this year. I have crossed a threshold, where the ravages of chronic illness are not dominating my days as much, nor consuming my consciousness. The leaden sense of despair and hopelessness has lifted. It’s been amazing, really, how deep the shifts have been in just 5 weeks of hyperbaric oxygen therapy. My chest rises and falls, fully and fluidly, with each expansive breath. There are moments of unbridled joy and wonder, a golden sense of new possibilities for my life, a lightness to my step. These are the fruits of lead's longing for gold.
Yes, I can still get toasted when I overdo it. I’m in a tender process of recovery, one which I sense will be with me for some time. It seems one of the biggest lessons for me is in moderating my energy during the “good” days. When I feel an exuberant burst of energy, I want to do all the things I’ve been unable to when laid up in bed, utterly exhausted. Let’s do some gardening! Let’s go out to lunch with my girlfriends! Let’s go to a concert on Friday night! And then I crash, crash, crash, waking up at 4am the next morning, my body starving and riddled with aches and pains. When that happens it takes literally days to recover.
The compassionate staff at Advanced Hyperbaric Recovery of Marin have been great about encouraging me to rest during this process. Remember in days gone by, doctors used to prescribe “bed rest?” There’s a lot to be said for this. I think part of the reason so many of my treatments in the past have had limited success, is that I was doing too much, trying to heal while working full-time, under the strain of enormous financial pressure, trying to keep my life going, etc. This time, I have called in ample resources so that I can really take the time I need to heal, gently and deeply, and with incredible support along the way. It’s making a difference you can see:
Colette on 1st day of HBOT- April 4, 2011
Colette at birthday dinner, May 7, 2011
Here are some glimpses from my “Oracle of Alchemy” readings during the 5th week of the Hyperbaric Oxygen dive:
Monday, May 2, 2011
Day 21 of Hyperbaric Dive
Rubedo II
The sun’s radiance in her face
Is in the heart of every particle,
And I am like a wave
Glimpsing into every cell.
Through her parting elixir of alchemy
My face becomes golden,
And so I could plunge the heart
Of the universe into red fire.
I am the songbird of the Divine
And in the depth of richness,
Should I destroy this cage
I shall fly from this bowl of dust.
-Sufi Shah Maghsoud
Divine Breath
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Day 22 of Hyperbaric Dive
Prima Materia IX
The maidenhead of innocence
must be broken
for the deeper mysteries to be enacted,
for life and consciousness to be reborn.
Conception only happens
in the darkness of the earth,
of the womb, of the psyche.
-Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Paradoxes of Love
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Day 23 of Hyperbaric Dive
Solutio IX
At last I can throw away world without end, and meet you
Unsheathed and naked and narrow and white;
At last you can throw immortality off, and I see you
Glistening with all the moment and all your beauty.
-D.H. LAWRENCE
from "She Said As Well To Me"
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Day 24 of Hyperbaric Dive
Alchemical Communion V
Such gratitude I feel,
for the ineffable Beauty and Mystery
that emerged last night,
and for the healing fires that arose between us.
Those alchemical fires that I feared would bring destruction have instead forged a re-membering,
a gathering together into wholeness
unlike any other I have experienced with a Beloved.
All that we have shared,
exuberant light and dismantling shadow,
is precious and holy to me.
You are precious to me...
-Colette
Friday, May 6, 2011
Day 25 of Hyperbaric Dive
Prima Materia VII
Through our desire for light
we restrict the creativity of darkness;
through our pursuit of purity we kill
the alchemical magic of corruption.
...we have lost the true freedom of hopelessness,
the wild joy of disorientation, the erotic wonder
of being spun into nowhere...
What is it that we have been hiding, and hiding from?
What is it that keeps us desperately looking straight ahead, avoiding the dark currents that can suddenly deter and command us?
Uncharted Territory is the only landscape worth exploring.
-Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Working with Oneness
“Rubedo II,“ ”Prima Materia IX,” “Solutio IX,” “Alchemical Communion V,” and “Prima Materia VII,” 4x6” collages on paper from The Oracle of Alchemy, ©2006-2011 by Colette de Gagnier. To order prints from this series, please visit Alchemy of the Divine and Colette's Visionary Art Gallery at MysticAlchemyDesign.com
To learn more about the teachings of Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, please visit GoldenSufi.org and WorkingwithOneness.org
To learn more about Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and Advanced Hyperbaric Recovery of Marin, please visit ImproveHealing.com
