My Journey

My personal journey has taken me from growing up in a family of four in South Carolina to life with my own family of four in Northern Kentucky.  Along the way, I’ve been an Art Museum Education Curator, an Insurance Claims Processing Manager, a Director of Reimbursement for a Pharmacy Billing Company, a Compliance Officer, a Healthcare Attorney and, now, a Seeker of Mystery.  

Throughout all of these versions of me, I have always had a love of nature and the creative world.  From sitting under the treasured Willow Tree in my girlhood home when I was young, to annual visits to the beach, to hiking newly discovered trails in my own neighborhood, the experience of nature has brought delight, nurture, wonder and awe.  My creative self has found expression in so many ways from my once mermaid colored hair, to cross stitching my own designs, to photo scrapbook mania, to beaded jewelry making and, most recently, the transformative practice of SoulCollage® card creation.  

My Training

For me, connection with the natural world and exploration of my creative spirit has brought profound soul moments of self-discovery---an awakening to my truest self. Buoyed by a job downsizing almost five years ago, I have been on a spiritual quest these last few years to find more meaning and purpose in my life.  This quest led to training as a Level III Reiki Practitioner, certification as a Spiritual Companion through a 2-year program with The Haden Institute, and certification as a SoulCollage® Facilitator.  

A life-long avid learner, I am always reading several books at the same time in search of knowledge and deeper understanding about the mysteries of this life.  (Some of my favorite books and authors are shared in the AWE Library.)  I am equally a lover of images, symbols and archetypes and the wordless way that color, form, and energy speak to us and through us.  I continually engage in creative practices and workshops with fellow practitioners to enhance my own inner knowing, well-being and growth.

Growing Wings

When I was in elementary school, I took a cocoon I had found in my yard to school for show and tell.  I lived several blocks from my school, so I walked home most days.  On the afternoon I took the cocoon home, something frightening happened on the journey. As I carefully held the glass jar so the sleeping caterpillar wouldn’t be disturbed, I noticed a startling change happening in the jar.  A black winged creature was emerging from the depths of the light brown sack.  I was terrified!!!

I managed to make my way to the house of one of my mother’s bridge friends.  When I showed her what was happening, she smiled and told me this was exactly what was supposed to happen.  That it was nature transforming life from one state to another.  A beautiful butterfly had been born.  I’m sure back then that the import of this transformation made no sense to my little mind.  But to my heart, a deep seed of truth had been planted.  Now much older, and hopefully a little wiser, I have begun to see my life as an unending series of caterpillar to butterfly growth moments.  Never content to stay the caterpillar for long, I keep growing new wings and being reborn, like the butterfly, to something more.