I was brought up in a marriage where my mother is Jewish and my father Native American. My father converted to marry my mother, and I was brought up as a Jewish person in New York City. In spite of all my parents' best efforts, Judaism did not stick with me. If anything I was drawn more to my Grandfather's tradition. My Grandfather was from the Yanomani tribe, which is a rainforest tribe in Brazil, and he married a Cherokee woman. When I was a youngster my Grandfather taught me some of his ways which included songs, some chants, and cultural knowledge and heritage. These lessons were not in vain, and they remained with me throughout my life. In order to know or understand me as a person, I would have to define my morals, my boundaries, my hopes and my aspirations. It is my hope and aspiration to use the gifts and talents I have to bring light and to be a facilitator of wholeness and wellness to those who need it. It is my belief that any move towards wellness and wholeness should be approached carefully, and with reverence and respect.
Each individual is different. No two souls are the same. Along with humility it is my belief that I must have faith, discernment, and most of all love. It is the Universal Love or Light manifested through me that does the ultimate work. It is with positive intent for the greater good of each soul that I provide counseling, help, and healing. It is these core beliefs that make me who and what I am as a person.
If you ask my friends about me, they would say that I am empathic, loving, generous, kind, and warm. They would say I am honest, open, and a compassionate person. I have many talents amongst which are singing, crafts, jewelry making, needlepoint, and creative writing. I have a reasonably good sense of humor and I love to make people laugh. I've also been told I am charming, intense, and dynamic.
Many have said that I am a gifted healer, although I would preface that by saying in my opinion, my gifts lay in my ability to channel Spirit and put myself aside to allow Spirit to work. I am to some degree also considered psychic. It is not so much that I can predict the future as that I have intuitive discernment about what is going on spiritually with a person.
I am able to pinpoint with what my husband defines as surgical accuracy what a person may need to effect healing, and help or guide people along their path. I hit at the heart of a matter fairly quickly. I am able to break down barriers and work through the facades that people often project in order to get to the heart of things.
On the minus side I have to guard against being taken advantage of. Sometimes I am empathic and kind to a fault and will give to my detriment. Being empathic means I need to protect myself, because there is a tendency to take on everyone else's issues.
It's easy to get caught up in problems that belong to others, and if that is not put into perspective, the results can be damaging. I would say I've learned how to protect myself, yet remain empathic and caring at the same time. While this is a delicate balance, I consider my empathic abilities a true gift.
I am as well someone who has been through many battles physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally in my life. My childhood was not particularly pleasant. Both my parents were alcoholics. My mother suffered from extreme depression and anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder.
I have had a lot of serious physical challenges including three back surgeries to date. The last surgery was the most serious in that the disc severed the sciatic nerve that runs down my right leg. As a result there are no reflexes, the leg is numb, and my bowel and bladder functions have been impaired to some degree.
In spite of this I have survived. I would say I am not just a survivor but in spite of circumstances I have both overcome and thrived. I know it's a cliché. But what hasn't killed me has instead bred character, an iron will to live, tenacity and endurance. What could have shaped my life outlook negatively has instead become a lesson for growth. Much like a diamond is shaped by intense heat and pressure; I believe I was forged like a diamond by the heat, intensity, and challenges in my life.
I am a wife and a mother who has two grown children, and two grandchildren. I have devoted my life to my husband, and we are now married thirty-three years. I am very proud of my family, and I am very much a family oriented person.
I have provided my children with a solid moral base as well as being a loving parent that is consistent, caring, and compassionate. My husband and I very much believe in a nuclear family. And we have worked very hard to create a loving nurturing marriage between us.
I have spent my life in ministry and in service to others in one way or another. What motivates me is my desire to serve and help humanity. From my twenties until approximately ten years ago I was a nondenominational minister. I received my Master of Divinity from Almeda University and was actively involved in a non -denominational church for many years. I was involved in healing extractions also known as exorcisms. I also practiced healing and the laying on of hands. I was considered a person with a prophetic gift.
In 1992 I developed a seriously herniated disc in my back. During that time the church turned its back on me because they believed that healing was a divine right that could be accessed through faith and thus, my affliction was due to direct sin. Without any malice or anger I can say that the church shamed, blamed and finally ostracized me when I wasn't healed.
At that time I felt abandoned and broken but Spirit is good because in essence it was this experience that was the catalyst for another life journey that led me to a path of wholeness, wellness, healing and light.
For several years I was pretty much adrift after the incident with the church. Their teachings had left me afraid to venture into anything else. Then one night, I had a dream. In the dream a very large white bear came to me.
The bear then told me that I was to seek out my heritage and that I would find healing and solace in it. The bear explained he would be with me as an avenue of strength and power, and that like the bear I'd been hibernating for several years, but now it was time to awaken and find my destiny. The bear told me he was my power animal and totem and would remain with me to help me for the rest of my life in my journey.
I began this new journey on my own as I had no idea where to turn or who to ask. I began by meditating and speaking to the white bear every morning and evening. The bear would take me to places in non-ordinary reality and teach me. At that time I did not realize I was journeying.
There were no words in my knowledge for what I was doing so I was simply following in what was child-like faith. I would get up in the morning and assemble my day with meditation, prayer, and intent. Bear taught me the honor and dignity of letting go of pain that no longer served me. He taught me tenacity, endurance, patience, forgiveness, and fortitude.
In 2005 I became a Reiki Master. This was a progression for me based firstly on a need for physical healing, but also because I saw Reiki as a way to learn to ground myself emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Once I began Reiki I absolutely fell in love with it. I got my Master in Sekem-Seichim, Usui Reiki, Gendai Reiki, and Lightarian Reiki.
In the last year I opened and have been running my own business. I have volunteered with Frederick Memorial Hospital in their Reiki healing outreach. I have given freely of my abilities at least once a month at their wellness center in Frances Scott Key Mall. As well I have volunteered my Reiki at the Cancer center, also affiliated with Frederick Memorial Hospitals' Reiki outreach.
I have always believed in compassion, and in being a vessel for Spirit to work. It is in this surrender to Spirit that I am most defined as a person. It is in allowing Spirit to use me as a vessel that I shine.
I have in my life learned to practice the art of forgiveness, love, compassion and hope.
If you were again to ask me to define myself as a person, I would use something I recently wrote that says: "I choose each day to remember my sacred contracts with Spirit. I choose to acknowledge Spirit within myself. I choose to remind myself that every soul brings their special light into the world. I choose to love myself and to extend that love to others.
I choose to remember that every life lesson is a chance to grow. I choose to be tenacious and patient with others and myself. I choose to forgive things that have been said and done whether it was deliberate or not. I choose to honor each day and ask Spirit's blessing on it. I choose to give thanks each day and every day no matter the circumstances. I choose to allow the light of Spirit to shine and share that light wherever I go."
About a year or so ago I met Dana Robinson through a friend. I began going to Dana's core Shamanism class, and all the things I've been doing to date finally fell in place for me. It has been an amazing journey. I absolutely love Shamanism and I feel that I have finally come home to my path.
I feel that Reiki has built the foundation, and now Shamanism will build my spiritual house. I have built a medicine wheel and I am there every morning and night to meditate and to journey. I spend a lot of time in journeying and have lately taken to creating blogs on a site with the results of my journeys. Again I feel that the love of Shamanism I have defines who I am, and is in harmony with what it is I feel I am to do with my life's path.
I have begun volunteering Shamanic help and aid, and have facilitated a Drumming Circle at my home once a month. I have joined several foundations to help save the Earth, and find myself with a new respect for nature as I get further into my studies in Shamanism.
My goals are to take all the talents I now have in counseling, ministry, Reiki, and pour it into Shamanic Counseling. I am hoping to minister to abused women, and to help them find themselves, and their power again. I would also love to minister to young people in trouble.
