A little about me..I am a 44 year old mother of 1, an 11 year old daughter, live with my life-partner/mate, am from New Orleans and have relocated to Austin due to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. After many changes in my life due to Hurricane Katrina I thought all was back on track and I was living a fairly 'normal' life until I was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2007. This came as quite a surprise as I had done yearly mammograms and the one in 2006 came back 'normal'. I had surgery in late April and before making my decision on treatment plans I attended the "Spring GoddessFest". This festival was truly life changing as I was not in a good place, physically, emotionally and spiritually. During the festival I met so many truly beautiful and loving women who completely accepted me for just being me. I have never felt such unconditional love, and it truly transformed my state of mind and renewed my spirit. I came home totally 'glowing'.

I then was able to decide on a treatment plan. I had struggled with the thoughts of chemo since I work in the alternative medical field, but as I have a young daughter, and want to be around a while longer, I decided upon complementary medicine. I am at the end of my chemo then I will continue my treatment by using only alternative methods.

Just prior to my diagnosis, I had met a group of women holding monthly 'Moon Lodges". I have been a Solitary Practicing Witch for many years and the main reason I never joined a coven was in my experience with them their was always some sort of struggles, politics, whatever you want to call it. I feel that 'sacred space' has no room for these types of struggles. But when I attended Sage's Moon Lodge, I felt so comfortable with this group of women, all have varied spiritual paths, and all women were welcomed with open and loving arms. This group has been a great source of strength for me during my journey with cancer. I have made some of the most loving , wonderful friends due to participating in this group. Many women have come and gone including Sage herself (she moved to Vermont to attend school), the core women, including myself have continued to meet monthly for the full moon. During the holiday months, we will meet at the New Moon so conflicts with family gatherings will not be an issue.

We are a eclectic group of women who share a love for the Goddess and Mother earth. We honor all her aspects (we recognize and appreciate all those aspects within ourselves) and respect the varied spiritual paths of all who attend. We have no 'High Priestess', as we rotate this role so all can have a chance to lead the group or if someone is either new to the path or uncomfortable, it is not 'required' to Priestess. All women are asked to participate in the planning and suggest ideas for the intentions of our circle. This allows everyone to have their individual ideas and paths incorporated into the monthly moon circle. There are no 'rules' other than respect all who attend for their path and who they are, as we are all the Goddess in all her forms (maiden, mother, crone).

That's a little about me. I hope to meet some like minded individuals here and possibly find more women interested in joining our Moon Group. We do have a yahoo group set up. You are welcome to look at it and if you live in Austin and would like to participate in our Moon Circles, please join the group and give a short explaination of your spiritual path, where you live, and why you want to join our group. It is intended for 'active participants' in our circle and is set up for a way for us to communicate easily. It can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mooncirclesisters/

NEW NEWS**** Just before Thanksgiving 07, I finished chemo. I have since taken CAT scan and many labs and all seems clear. YIPPEE!! I am scheduled to have the 'port' removed from my chest on Jan 7th and will be leaving for West Palm Beach to attend a CAM conference on Jan 10-11th. Upon my return, I plan to search for a change in my career. After giving it much thought, I have decided to try and find a job working as an Advocate to help educate other cancer patients on the benefits of complementary and alternative medicine. Without a doubt, it helped me and I was fortunate to be so closely involved in the alternative field that I knew there were many options that could help me during treatment. Many others however, never get this type of information and suffer needlessly. I feel a passionate calling to embark on this new journey of helping others and sharing all the information I have learned through my research as well as my own personal experiences. 

I have so much to be thankful for during this past year. Honestly, if I were never diagnosed, I would not have had this realization. I now know that we must ALWAYS tell those who we love just how much they mean to us. I am thankful also because this journey has deepened my spiritual path and widened my practices. I have met some of the most wonderful people along the way, some of those have been via the web and coming January at the CAM conference, I will be able to meet some of those people in person. My daughter and mate are the center of my world now more than ever. I feel as if I have woken up from a dream and life is beautiful, I hope everyone can have this type of true awakening, not from having the possibility of death knock at their door but through other avenues. 

Peace and Blessings,

Karen

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