At 11 am on 11-11-11, I will be celebrating a Surgery Rite of Passage. I would be honored if you would say a little prayer, send up a voice, offer a blessing, positive energy, invoke Angels, Animal Spirits, chants—whatever feels right. This is the second in a series of surgeries based on the reconstructive facial, eye, nasal and sinus damage incurred in a midnight “accident” last December. During and after my first surgery so many of you carried me in your thoughts that I healed superbly. I bow in gratitude to you all. You are the Angels in my heaven!

I chose this auspicious time for many reasons. First, because my body is now strong and ready for the new surgeries. Second, because, for many of the World’s esoteric traditions and perennial wisdom sources, 11-11-11 heralds the end of past short-sighted, greed-centered, unconscious cultures of violence and the proliferation of “holy” wars. Time and energy, vibration and resonance are all said to be expanding, picking up the rhythm in the dance of the spheres, bringing on-line new human organs of perception to communicate with subtle realms and profound frequencies of inspiration and guidance. Spiritual, psychic and physical centers are being refreshed, galvanized. It is predicted that the long-awaited New Paradigm is shifting, calling us to resonate with aliveness, conscious awareness and communication throughout Nature and the Multiverse.

Down on Earth it is Leaf-Fall, Samhain, Hallow E’en and the Celtic-Scandinavian celebration of New Year. It is the traditional time in which ancestors, spirits and nature-kin can walk among us and ancient, subtle sources of healing can communicate between the Worlds. What a splendid time for a Surgery Rite of Passage! And, on November 11 it will be a full Hunters’ moon and the earth/moon erotic connection will be in the highest state of healing relationship. Plus, truth comes in blows. Through my accident, attention was acutely directed to my own Shadow qualities and character flaws. And, I was also reminded of my resilience and healing energies, both in physical and spiritual manifestations.

The S.E.E.R. (Somatic Empathic Emotional Resonance/Release) modality which I have been researching, creating and refining for 20 years served my recovery from my first surgery with amazing benefits. There is nothing better than the call to “Heal Thyself” to raise the learning curve and teach us exponentially about the craft of our personal magic. Such experiences transform the sensitivity, intuition and vision of becoming Wounded Healers. The heroine’s and hero’s journeys are the enacted true, life-myth which allows us to go forth and, to seek deep inside ourselves. First, we seek healing for our own suffering, and then we honor our community and our world by bringing this healing awareness back to share, serve and release suffering for others.

As Above, So Below. As I write these words a line of tender, swaying silk and a spider, belaying herself drops just in front of me, and is silhouetted against the light of the computer screen. Having been a devotee of Grandmother Spider through practices from Native American, Celtic, Nordic, African, Greek and South American Goddess healing traditions for most of my life—I know what this means. Keep Watch! Pay attention! You are in touch with your truth! Grandmother Spider is the Keeper of our life stories. She weaves our fates from the past, into the present and on into the future. She also reminds me of the Native American Big Medicine reality:  “Nothing is so small or inconsequential that it is not sacred.”

When I realized that I could actually request a surgery date and time from the hospital, I took on the fiercely protective administrative crew at my surgeon’s office. When they said NO! to my request, I made an appointment with the surgeon and asked if he would be willing to switch his operating schedule so that we could celebrate this miraculous rite of passage together. He laughed and laughed and loved it! And, I must say, what recommends him even further, on an earthy, shared experience level, is that I bought my beloved horse-companion, Ranger, from him 20 years ago. How can a Coloradan not love the idea of a rancher-cum-otolaryngologist-maxio-facial surgeon? Also, think of the many marriages being celebrated, babies being born and international peace rituals being shared on 11-11-11-11.

All these 11’s have numerological relevance. I have been told that the alignment of 4 elevens is the sacred numerology of the name of God in Chasidic, Gnostic and Sufi traditions. Alchemy puts special emphasis on these numbers as do Egyptian numerological meanings and interpretations. Another, more worldly friend said this series is the gambler’s dream: “4 Jacks and a Queen—gotta be lucky!” I like the idea of being a queen, but, however you count it—I’m not a gambler. I am just a careful woman, and I am calling down and up the Great Merciful and Healing Energies to carry me into and through this contemporary Vision Quest.

Surgery is a Rite of Passage. Through it we enter a realm of deep stillness and mystery. We ask for prayers and guidance as, with preparation and intention, we surrender to the realm of the unconscious and the worlds of transformation. We imbue ourselves with the sacred gifts of life and the faith that the surgical staff are gods and goddesses who perform the healing ritual which will change us forever. I had a dear friend and sister-Aries who looked fiercely and successfully into the face of bone cancer for over a decade. She taught me to enter the Western, allopathic medical system like a Valkyrie. When she went into the radiation chamber she road it like a wild steed and roared like a warrior goddess calling:” “Bring it On! I am the woman for this—Bring on the forces of healing!”

I know that I will be a different human and soul when I return from the realms of Hades and Healing. A vision quest requires that we take a large risk, that we offer our lives and spirits and voices up for the healing of All the Relatives—and that we do this consciously and in a sacred manner. There is a chant known to Native Americans as “the only prayer:”

See me! I am a humble woman. I do this thing so that all my relations, 2-leggeds, 4-leggeds, swimming, flying, standing, growing-ones will be well. Come to me Great Spirit! Come to me Grandmother Earth. Come to me Spirits of all Nature. Come to me, come to me, Now! I do this so that all my people may live!  Metak’e oaisin

Thank you for sharing this beautiful world and precious life with me. Bless us all!