Friday, December 7, 2012

Healing Beyond Triple Negative Breast Cancer: My Henna Crown


Today marks the beginning of the Hennaissance. 

That’s right, with an “H”.

If you’ve been following along, then you already know that I shaved my hair off and started rockin' the wigs and scarves awhile ago in anticipation of losing it all during my A/C-T chemo. Taking control over my own head was a major boost for me, and I haven’t been sorry for one minute that I did it. I love how I look without hair, and I love how fun it is doing my makeup and find creative ways to cover up with scarves and hats on these cold winter days. I’m in love with my bald head, and I am still so glad I took this step, even though, now two treatments in, my hair still hasn’t fallen out completely as promised! 

Today, I am so jazzed to have an even more incredible opportunity to stand in my power in a new way: I’ll be receiving a henna crown from Kimberly Allcock of Henna Blessings here in Reno.

Shaving my head was very much a forward movement. It was me taking a warrior-stance, putting my fists up for an uppercut, and making a declaration to cancer that no matter how much cutting and prodding and poking I might need to deal with to beat this thing, I wasn’t going to let it back me into any corners. I see the creation and receiving of this henna crown as its corollary, the restive movement where, still in warrior-stance, open for business but not actively punching away at anything, I may take a moment to receive a blessing, and to celebrate and honor my healing and the victories of the journey to date. 

Tomorrow marks the two-month anniversary of the day I received the phone call (from a well-meaning but anonymous radiologist who couldn’t even pronounce my name) that my tumor biopsies had come back with cancer, and weren’t just the benign lumpy-bumpies we’d hoped and assumed they’d be. 

In that time, I have already learned so much about myself. I have healed so much of myself. I have been awed by how miraculously my body repairs itself from invasive procedures like biopsies, injections, surgical incisions and dose-dense chemotherapy. And, I have been amazed by how my mind and spirit are healing through practices like exquisite self-care, profound gratitude, active happiness, Reiki, crystal and shamanic healing. 

I believe that blessings are a sacred transference of energy which help us grow in consciousness. I believe they are most effective when they are actively received. I believe that blessings come from all over, not just from ordained clergy or holy people. I believe they come to us directly from Nature, from Source, from God, from any number of places in our Universe, and that they may also be co-created by individuals working in energetic resonance to create a shift. 

So, you can imagine my excitement, since I believe that today I have that type of co-creation opportunity: to work with an artist to craft something that is more than just a design, and, is in fact an energetic vessel for transformation. Art, as anyone who has ever looked upon something and felt it move them can recognize, is in itself is a blessing. The co-creation and craft of art imbued with energetic meaning offers some of the most powerful blessing work I have ever seen. 

My intention today is to be both the creator and recipient of a blessing designed specifically for my own healing and transformation. I will channel Reiki while Kimberly works her magic. I will do this as a form of healing, and as a way to celebrate all that I have come through already, and all that I have learned. To honor the journey I am on, recognizing I am already in perfect health. To welcome into my consciousness the reality of what it truly means to be living beyond triple negative breast cancer, and standing in my power as a survivor and thriver.  

Update: 
The Henna crown is done, the blessing complete... so now... here are some early reveal shots from Henna Blessings’ Facebook page. This is with the paste still on. I’ll post some more shots in the future with the paste off, so you can see how it turns out!

















For me, the symbolism of this blessing was just perfectly echoed in the design Kimberly created. Flowers for transformation, joy and happiness. Vines, for vitality, perseverance and growth. Paisley and ripples for luck and water, renewing life. 


















This beautiful blessing reminds me to stay present to what is true: All is Well.










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