2025-03-26: Gates of Heaven
GATES OF HEAVEN | How NOT to go through them
Using your free will to keep doing God’s work
Listen to an audio of this blog post below and / or continue on to read.
The fires in Los Angeles, CA began on the same day my mother started immunosuppressive therapy for her Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, a slow growing blood cancer. Getting accepted into a clinical trial to start treatment earlier than usual, she anticipated a year long journey back and forth to the infusion center receiving an intravenous drip of a highly potent, targeted drug followed by a pill that would hopefully bring her cancer levels down to basically nothing. It wouldn’t eradicate it, but the levels would be undetectable by the time treatments ended putting her in remission for roughly six to seven years.
Both having healthcare backgrounds, my brother and I had to remind ourselves that it came down to supporting the patient, our mother, in what she felt was right for her and what she believed would work even if we thought otherwise. Taking a similar approach of supporting my mother with where she was at, my father looked at both eastern and western medicine treatments regarding my mother’s cancer to understand different options forward. After we discussed as a family all known possibilities, he left it up to her to decide.
What occurred inside my mother’s body starting on Tuesday, January 7th, 2025 mirrored on a micro level the apocalyptic scene that occurred on a macro level in Los Angeles (LA). The explosive inflammatory response from the initial two treatments burned tens of thousands of cancer cells just like how the fire burned tens of thousands of acres of land. Both lasting roughly a month, the adverse reactions from these events would bring both parties, my mother and the residents of LA who were affected by the fires, to their knees. My mother begging God at the black iron Gates of Heaven for her life during a near death experience (NDE) and the LA residents begging friends and family for a roof to cover their heads.
The debris clean up from these two events would be unlike any other. The hazardous waste materials from all the drugs pumped into my mother’s body and the ones intermixed within the ashes and debris of burned homes and structures needed to be carefully removed to prevent overload of the body’s detoxification system. Not only from the physical elements, but the emotional and spiritual response as well. In the meantime, prevention of further issues such as potential infections and fear of adverse reactions for my mother or mudslides and severe depression for the fire victims rose high on their priority lists.
Art therapy, including gardening, dancing and painting proved to be helpful for my mother during her healing.
GARDENING THERAPY
A normally vibrant fuchsia flowering plant with lengthy stems, Rock Purslane had been blooming around my parent’s yard for the first couple years after they moved in and had the landscaping completed. After my mother’s diagnosis, we noticed its slow decay as the leaves shriveled up and the beautiful flowers no longer bloomed. As we made our way outside to get my mother fresh air during her recovery phase, I’d don my gardening gloves while my mother, using all her strength, sat in a patio chair with her walker in front of her, head slouched down, eyes barely open. I’d pretty easily pull out each one of these dead plants from the soil as we repeated the affirmation, “Bye bye cancer,” with each successful yank. Visualizing every one of these plants as the cancer cells that were leaving her body, my mother’s words came out with a soft whisper and mine as a strong cheer trying to instill in her the energy she needed to heal.
DANCE THERAPY
Feeling the power of this visualization and affirmation technique, we developed this further when I got an opportunity to choreograph a dance routine live during one of my classes at school. I told my mother the theme for my dance was human imperfections. At the end of the piece, each dancer would go up and voice words that filled in the phrase “I release (blank) and become (blank)”. Since her risk for infections remained high, my mother stayed home, but I recorded her voice saying, “I release cancer and become healed”(listen below). Playing this recording for her during my open choreography session, it again helped my mother feel the healing power of the arts as she watched the recording back afterwards.
ART THERAPY
Now it was time to incorporate my mother’s experiences by creating a piece of mixed media artwork called “Release” that perfectly summarized the previous events in a visual form. Taking a few stems from the withdrawn Rock Purslane, I made shadows on a wood panel that were outlined and carved. Already part of the wood, what looked like the thin line of smoke from a blown out flame streaked through the center and became the backdrop for my mother’s affirmation “I release cancer and become healed”.
PLANETARY PARADE
Interestingly, on a larger scale, seven of the eight planets within our solar system aligned in a “planetary parade” during this time. This meant multiple planets appeared in the same part of the sky, often along the ecliptic, which is the plane of the Earth’s orbit around the sun. Mercury was the only planet to not take part in this parade, but everybody else joined. Visible to the human eye, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn lined up while Uranus and Neptune followed suit and could be seen by binoculars or telescopes. This occurrence caused a magnetic shift that attracted elements back into alignment. My mother, slowly transitioning back into a state of health and the LA fire victims into new locations in life. Both hopefully bringing a shift in the direction of fulfilling their life purpose. Therefore, in my mother’s artwork a sphere symbolizing these planets made its way in the center with the petals of a sunflower blooming around it to illustrate new growth.
“I’m not ready yet. I can do a lot of good in the world. I can cook for people.”
My mother always had such a strong will and this message she wordlessly delivered to the Supreme Being who had arms stretched wide open above the Gates of Heaven ready to receive my mother back home during her NDE, brought my mother back to this Earthly physical plane eager to perform her service. She lay alone on a gurney in the Emergency Room during this experience waiting for a hospital bed post swelling of her airway due to a rash from the toxins trying to escape her body through her skin that left her almost intubated and sedated. Our family sensed the awe in her voice the following morning when we heard about this experience as she described the thin metal rods on each periphery of the gates that moved into larger rods that made its way to the center arching upwards towards a central peak where the Supreme Being presented on a different plane than where my mother stood. Unable to fully comprehend in a piece of artwork what this visually looked like for her, an embroidery string showing thin and thicker lines seemed to be the simplest, most efficient way to go. This same string holding up a black cloth tied only by a bow in the back showed how the act of releasing this cloth that represented her cancer could be the mental power my brother and I hoped she would develop from the beginning to help heal herself.
WHAT DID I LEARN?
I learned through this experience to let the Greater Plan be the highest good for all as I myself had a discussion with this Supreme Being before my father and I left my mother in the ER room to get some needed sleep. Holding her left hand quietly chanting, I delivered my own thoughts through the melody, “If it’s her time, take her. I let my mother go for You know what’s best for her.” This realigned me to my own purpose in life to be a channel for God’s divine healing to move through if He knows it’s what’s best for the individual. Being ready to accept my mother back home, He couldn’t resist my mother’s free will to keep doing her service here on Earth. For all the fire victims in LA, may you see the hand of God stretched out ready to help you as you use your free will to keep going, find a greater purpose in life and realign yourself to the Greater Plan through this horrific tragedy.
Written in morse code on this artwork, the word love reminds us all of the attractive force that is pulling and aligning us back to our true self and the work we’re meant to accomplish in this lifetime.
.-.. --- ...- .
NOTE: “Release” artwork is being shown during the FLORA art exhibit at the Coastline Art Gallery in Newport Beach, CA from April 9th-25th, 2025.
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Viktoria T.
Interests: Art, Ceramics, Dancing, Nature, Designing
Viktoria T.
Interests: ART, DANCING, NATURE, CERAMICS, HEALING, DESIGNING
Blog Posts
2024-05-09: Sacred Threads
SACRED THREAD | an organic state of destruction bringing people together through the invisible strings connecting us all
There are certain people you meet that seem to be instant friends. Some could argue that it’s because of shared interests that bond people immediately together and I have known this to be true, but I also understand that these bonds can seem much deeper than simply sharing a common like or dislike.
As the first law of thermodynamics states, “energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only change form or be transferred from one object to another.” When we change form by destroying the outer body through death, this invisible string or sacred thread keeps us together until we can meet again with a different outer garment needing to learn each other’s new names and faces.
This is how I felt with my dear friend Viktoria whom I met in fall of 2023. Both of us had come from different places in the world, Viktoria from Ukraine and myself from Texas, and we landed at the same school in the same modern dance class. We instantly became friends and it was clear the timing of our meeting was divinely guided to help support one another during our particular periods of growth.
Prioritizing our artistic avenues of interest was apparent for both of us as we had each been through other careers during our earlier years that we knew we had to learn from in order to get to where we needed to be. Viktoria was an accountant and graphic designer while I had worked as a nurse and done property management. Watching each other reconnect with our artistic talents was motivating and inspiring for us to see. We continued to collaborate with one another through dance, voice, and fashion, landing an opportunity for me to showcase Viktoria’s uniquely designed hummingbird dance costume down the runway during the Saddleback College Spring 2024 Fashion Show on Thursday, May 9th, 2024 that just so happened to be called, “Sacred Thread”.
INITIAL PHASES
Anything Viktoria touches turns to gold. When I saw her initial sketches, I knew the outcome of this piece was going to be good. The hummingbird symbolizing the following:
A highly developed, open heart
The ability to fly backwards
Being brave, cheerful , and fearless
The path of the soul, when through serving other people, a person gains the joy of being and trust in what is happening
An immortal soul and creative energy
Viktoria skillfully collaborated with Tetiana Markova to construct the costume. Over the next couple of months, I met with her for fittings, each time being more and more impressed with what was surfacing.
FINAL PRODUCT
The outcome was GOOD. Real GOOD. Far exceeding anybody’s expectations.
CHALLENGES
Anything good always comes with its challenges.
Viktoria had a vision for how she wanted the costume to be presented down the runway with myself improvising dance movements and poses to tribal inspired music. Because this wasn’t Viktoria’s own runway show, she couldn’t do whatever she wanted. We had a bit of push back as the fashion department wanted our number to fit within the theme and protocol set out for the rest of the models. We understood and chose to collaborate as best as possible finding the happy medium between both sides.
The hair and makeup became another issue. Seeing the fashion department’s vision board, their model looks consisted of slicked back, wet looking hair with dark, smokey eyes. Total opposite of the curly hair mohawk updo and light eyes with black symbols / dots precisely drawn on my face look that Viktoria was hoping for. Again, we chose to keep working towards a middle ground without fully giving up on Viktoria’s vision.
PERFORMANCE READY
The day of the performance became a different story. As I sat in the chair getting my hair and make-up done by the cosmetology department, there was no resistance from the fashion staff. Viktoria expressed what she wanted done and it all became a go. After, I went to do a test run of my walk / dance down the runway and the lead gal pulled me aside and said, “You know what. Go for it. I think you should dance the entire time even in between your poses.”
Getting my hair and make up done by the Cosmetology Department.
It was a good lesson to be learned. To hold your vision, but do so with love. Meaning harmony is more important than what you desire and most of the time it’ll end up working out better than you ever would have expected.
PERFORMANCE
PHOTOS
WHAT NOW?
The hummingbird costume adorns a mannequin in Viktoria’s art room. It’s new additions…a peacock feathered crown with a card that says, “Keep bloomin…Keep becoming” that I made for her to match it.
I have a feeling this costume is going to come to life in a future dance performance using this beautiful theme of sacred threads and friendship that not only shares my story and the many lessons learned from it, but many others as well. We’ll hold this vision with love and see where it leads us.
Til then my friends…Peace out!
HOLD ON - NOT SO QUICK
FAST FORWARD Seven Months
Remember I predicted another performance with this costume? Well, it happened. An informal dance concert at Saddleback College on 12/16/2024 where I performed a solo piece entitled “Wake Me Up”. Music by Simply Three. This piece symbolizing coming back to ME. Finding myself again. Of course Viktoria was in the audience and she got a big shout out at the end. Check it out below.
Maybe we’ll get MANY more performances with this gorgeous costume. Let’s wait and see what the universe has in store for us and this lil’ hummingbird.
Mia R.
Interests: Dancing, Swimming, Being A Great Aunt
2024-04-26: The Unstoppable Princess
“I am UNSTOPPABLE!” Mia shouted from the center of the McKinney Theater stage as she twirled around with her right arm in the air, right leg popped. Nobody in the audience except for her mother, Corinne, I stood by Mia’s side helping her to release the trembling and overwhelm that consumed her moments prior. We were two days from our actual dance performance and finding enough confidence to be up on stage looking out at an audience, even if all the seats except for one were empty, was the first step in getting Mia to perform her two dances from beginning to end. Hearing the conviction behind her words, I had the feeling Mia would surpass all obstacles that laid before her: a knee injury, challenging choreography with a fast tempo, performing in heels, and having down syndrome. I was thankful for the opportunity to work with Mia as it would force me to carve out the needed time to practice the two pieces we were dancing in together. One being a modern dance entitled, “From these hands grow dates” and a burlesque number entitled, “Family Business” for the Spring 2024 Saddleback College Dance Collective.
“From these hands grow dates”
“Family Business”
A Broadway Star in the making!
My mother attended the dance performance auditions back in January as she loves to live vicariously through me since her father never allowed her to dance. I found it a bit odd when she started waiving me over as we began doing across the floors. “Kate, this is Mia,” my mother motioned, gesturing her hand in Mia’s direction and not realizing we already knew each other from modern dance class. “This is her first time auditioning and I need you to help her.” Trusting in my mother’s intuition, I followed in her guidance and had a sense this wasn’t going to be the last time Mia and I would cross paths in this way.
It wasn’t until the end of the semester when Corinne reached out to me about doing private lessons with Mia. I had observed her throughout the semester as Mia dealt with a knee injury that happened the second week of practice and left her sitting out the majority of the time. I knew I had my hands full, but with Mia’s dedication to want to take the leap and perform for the first time in college, we were going to make it happen.
We met five times over the course of a week for hour-long sessions where I started with the most challenging section, the Charleston, which was in the second portion of “Family Business”. I learned here that Mia had a dream to dance on Broadway someday and knowing this was a move that dancers become highly familiar and good at on the big stage, I wanted to make sure she nailed it.
To help Mia remember the moves, I combined certain elements together and gave them a funny name. As we’d dance together, I would use a soft voice to call out, “hip slaps,” next is the “wave,” now let’s do the “robot”. All of these words indicated to Mia the type of move we were performing in that portion of the dance. This method worked beautifully and I noticed towards the end of our sessions, Mia was performing most of the dances on her own without needing to look at me for guidance.
Because of the high learning curve, not knowing where she was in the various dance formations and the anxiety that goes along with her Down Syndrome, it wasn’t a surprise after the first tech rehearsal that Mia, myself, Corinne, and the director had to come together to talk about the safety of Mia performing, not only for herself, but for the other dancers as well. What I appreciated the most about this conversation was we didn’t give Mia the option to completely back out. We understood instead that we needed to give her choices to stretch her just outside her comfort zone. Therefore, we told Mia there were plenty of opportunities in both dances where she could exit off stage if she wanted to or she could do the entire dance. It was up to her.
The two choreographers for “From these hands grow dates” and “Family Business” really came together in the end to support Mia further by pairing her up with dancers in the different sections of each piece and running through the formations as a group. When I saw Mia looking back at me as we released the blue fabric at the end of “From these hands grow dates”, I felt so much joy. She did it. She made it all the way through. My heart was ecstatic. Being told to act solemn in this dance, I couldn’t help but smile back at Mia as she mirrored my expression.
Then when I saw her at the end of the formation in “Family Business” with her hands framing her face and her left leg popped smiling out at the audience, I couldn’t help but think of the mountain Mia climbed to make it to that point. She really was unstoppable and as Corinne so nicely added, Mia was the unstoppable princess who was supported every step of the way during her first dance performance for Saddleback College. I truly believe in her and have full faith that she will become a Broadway star someday doing the very same Charleston we performed in “Family Business”.
A flower crown I made Mia with a ribbon that said, “The Unstoppable Princess”
Look at that smile! So happy. You go girl!
Thank you for sharing a shining sample of your creativity, determination, and your love for your family.
It's a beautiful multifaceted artwork and its beauty is revealed, layer by layer, by the engaging story.
The parallels drawn between the LA fires and the crisis your mother and the rest of your family underwent, all happening at the same time, touched my heart and kept me riveted to the screen till the very last word.
May God's blessings be with you and your family.
- S.R. India