Once upon a time, when I was a wee lass of forty, I had a quite unusual experience. To this day, I still can't explain it... which makes it ever more wonderful! 

Many years before this mysterious occurrence, while at the Oregon Country Faire, I was gifted a small goddess pendant carved out of bone. I strung her on a leather cord and hung her from my car mirror. My stepson Josh called her 'Oogabooga' and the name stuck. She accompanied me on all my driving journeys and I felt her protection while out on the road.

For way too many years, I always got a raging headache the day before I began my moon. If i didn't catch it just as it was starting and take some advil, it pretty much had me in bed for a full day. I didn't like to take so many painkillers and much preferred to find natural remedies for health issues. In my ongoing search for a natural cure for headaches, I tried many things... aromatherapy, massage, herbal tinctures, homeopathics and more. Sometimes they worked and sometimes not. 

On the morning of my unusual experience I awoke with a familiar ache in my left temple, and on this day I was determined to NOT take advil. I tried everything in my bag of tricks... a hot bath infused with lavender oil, peppermint tea, deep, continual massage of the acupuncture point in my left hand, and a host of other remedies. 

By early evening, as I was being driven around town by my then husband Bob (with Josh in the back seat), the migraine became overwhelming. I couldn't take the pain anymore and just as I gave up my valiant efforts and reached down to get some advil from my purse, 'Oogabooga' flew to my feet and I heard these words inside my heart... "Stamp your feet and yell your head off!". So thats what I did, much to the shock of the men in the car. And I tell you, the migraine went away!

But even more amazing than curing my headache is that 'Oogabooga's' leather strand was intact... there was no way she could have fallen off the mirror unless it had broken! The three of us in the car were dumbfounded. (Actually, that was the second time she had talked to me in this way... that is another tale for another time). 

So, inspired by my success, in the future, when I felt that familiar throb, I practiced this primal technique of moving stuck energy out of my head into mama earth, Sometimes it worked and sometimes... I still had to reach for the advil!

Thru many veils we journey,
Thru many fires we burn,
Thru many fears we drown,
Still our soul continues to yearn.

We yearn for sacred union,
We cry out for the One,
We ask to be remembered
As we reach toward the sun.

When the radiant Sun lights our way
We realize we have never been apart...
For the heaven we search for outside our self
has always lived within the heart of our heart.
(Mara ©2004)

A poem of deep inner reflection to accompany my painting "Heart of My Heart". 

Beloved Heart Warrior,
May you face fear with love
as you walk thru the dark doorway of doubt.

May you enter the radiant field of faith
and be tenderly held in trust's embrace.

May you be carried by gentle clouds of compassion.
May you wear the golden crown of freedom!
(Mara ©2007)

This poem was written to accompany the painting "Olivia Cloud Walker". The poem and the painting were a response to a powerful experience I had at Crater Lake. Together with my teacher Gary and my dear sangha sisters Denice and Brooke, we climbed high above the crystal blue pool. There at the sheer cliff edge, Gary unfurled the robe we had sewed for him and led us in a beautiful ceremony that is forever engraved in the memory of my heart.