Here is what I wrote the first time I set eyes on her extraordinary work: “Colette’s magnificent limited edition of GATEWAYS OF THE DIVINE: An Illuminated Manuscript for the Modern Age is a catalytic portal into the shadow world. During the course of a decade, Colette underwent her own intense initiation and deep process, and through this has emerged a work of art that is both compelling and a powerful transformational tool.”
- JEFF HUTNER, Writer and Producer.

To read more about the book and watch a video I shot for her please visit Gateways of the Divine (http://www.gatewaysofthedivine.com). Colette is offering her remaining copies at cost to NPD readers.

From Colette’s Crucible of Chronic Illness

Moving Forward
10 Sep 2011 05:10 PM PDT

Solutio I

And moving forward takes feral courage,
opens the wildest
and most outrageous light of all,

becomes the hardest path of all.
the firm line we drew in the sand
becomes the river we will not cross.

But the river of the soul flows on
and the soul
refuses safety until it finds the sea.

The ocean of longing,
the sea of your deeper want,
the gravity well of your own desire,

the place you would fall becomes
in falling
the place you are held.

-DAVID WHYTE
from “Millennium”

“I don’t know if I should write or scream,” I confess to my sister Carolyn at the end of June. For a month now my body has been riddled with angry, itchy hives, my entire immune system inflamed and overwhelmed, my nights turbulent and devoid of restful sleep. All the symptoms of my chronic health conditions have returned with a blood-sucking vengeance – crippling fatigue, digestive distress, brain fog, a woefully weakened immunity. I am numb with shock, spun out from suffering, unraveled in anguish. I’m outraged, but too stunned to express it. How did I get cast into the Underworld from just one chemical cocktail injected into my veins?

At the end of May, as I complete two months of Hyperbaric Oxygen treatments, I feel as if I am sailing off into the healing sunset. I am feeling vastly improved, with greater stamina and vitality, a stronger immune system, and the sense of hope about the unfolding of my life. I feel a great sense of accomplishment, having worked so hard to raise the money for this treatment course, and an enduring gratitude to all the friends and family whose generous support made it possible. I have also completed a month of IV chelation therapy for heavy metal toxicity, which has been going very well, with few side effects. I only have 4 more weeks of IV treatments to go, and then I will be retested to check if I needed additional treatments. As far as I am concerned, I am in the home stretch.

Just five days after completing the HBOT treatments, however, I have a blind date with destiny in the form of a chemical called DMPS, which I later discover was developed in the post WWII era for acute mercury and industrial chemical poisoning, and gets injected into my sensitive body to remove only moderately elevated levels of mercury. In a few short hours, my veins take in an overwhelming blend of IV DMPS for mercury, IV EDTA for lead, and followed by an injection of glucathione, a potent antioxidant, and then a push of minerals, which burns and aches terribly as it goes into my arm. I leave the clinic feeling weak, unstable, in a state of shock. I come home, collapsing into bed at 5PM. All night I feel as if I have poison coursing through my veins. I feel assaulted, but I tell myself that maybe it’s just the toxic metals clearing from my system.

The next morning, though, I don’t feel anything is clearing out from my body. My digestive system is on strike and I feel increasingly toxic. Then hives start erupting all over my body. Inside and out, my body feels inflamed, my immune and nervous systems on red alert. The next night, I am unable to sleep. Something is very, very wrong. I’m sinking in a cesspool of fire.

Ragged and worried at this point, I go to the computer the following morning to research DMPS, since that was the only drug I’d never been given before in the IV chelation series, and I had been tolerating the IV EDTA treatments well. I find out that DMPS is not an FDA approved drug, and its status is only as a “bulk chemical” that requires an informed patient consent in order to be legally administered. I was not warned of any dangers and side effects, nor given a DMPS consent form to sign. I also find out in my research that chemical chelators are not supposed to be combined in one treatment, and that it is necessary to wait 24 hours before receiving the mineral push, neither of which happened in my case. There are serious risks associated with the use of DMPS, especially with in those with chronic conditions and sensitive constitutions. Dr. Thomas Levy, a cardiologist who co-authored the book Uninformed Consent, says “DMPS is an unqualified sledge hammer to the immune system. Immune declines and clinical illness can result can result for weeks and sometimes even months after only one injection of DMPS.” Even Dietrich Klinghardt, M.D., who is an expert on heavy metal detoxification and is a big proponent of IV chelation therapy himself writes, “More aggressive approaches, such as I.V. Glutathione, Vit.C, DMPS, CaEDTA and others have a place in reasonably healthy people but often worsen the condition in patients with advanced illness.” If I had known any of this beforehand, I certainly wouldn’t have agreed to this treatment.

What was my naturopathic doctor thinking? When she had recommended this IV treatment course to remove toxic metals several months earlier, I had expressed concern about DMPS in particular, because a friend had suffered permanent kidney damage 10 years earlier from IV DMPS. My doctor assured me that the IV specialist had the latest training, and that I was in good hands. End of discussion. No explanation of possible dangers and side effects, nor an informed consent for me to sign. None of the standard preliminary tests were done on me prior to starting the chelation series: blood and urine tests to assess the health of my kidneys, liver, and immune system, hair test to check mineral levels, nor an EKG and chest x ray to see if my heart would be at risk. Hard lesson learned: no matter how much you like and trust your doctor, do the research yourself before agreeing to any drug or treatment course. I know my doctor didn’t intend to hurt me, but that doesn’t excuse the gross negligence in this situation.

“Acceptance is hard. To accept my pain means holding it in my arms, like a package handed to me, my proper burden to be carried. The package may be as heavy as lead, or burning hot, or stuck through with razors, but I must concede that it is my package, simply because it has arrived in my life.

It is not a mistake. It has not been sent by accident to the wrong person. I may not welcome it, but accepting means I can carry it without protest for as long as necessary—and then I lay it down.”

-JEANNE DUPRAU, author, The City of Ember

In the weeks and months that follow, I do everything I can to recover from this nightmare: juice fasting, strict diets, energy healings, and two weeks of additional HBOT treatments to help me get over the worst of the DMPS poisoning. I am now working with a highly skilled and intuitive MD named Catherine Fehrmann who specializes in safe and gentle detoxification, as well as healing areas of infection and trauma in the body. God knows, my body has been through it. I’m now on a regime that includes chlorella tablets and cilantro tincture for the heavy metals, as well as a host of other pills and potions. So far, the treatment is going well. I feel like I’m in good hands.

It’s been more than three months since the DMPS debacle, and unfortunately my immune system continues to feel weakened, with frequent bodily aches and pains, and swollen glands. I have some good days, but my overall energy and stamina are not good. I wonder how long it will take for me to recover fully. I’m considering going back for more Hyperbaric Oxygen treatments, since they are gentle and have had the most positive impact on my health of any course I’ve been on during the past decade.

I’m worn out from what I have been through, but I’m hanging in there. On September 22nd, just 11 days after 9/11, I celebrate the 10th anniversary of the publication of my book, “Gateways of the Divine: An Illuminated Manuscript for the Modern Age.” At another time I will share the amazing and mysterious synchronicities between the events of 9/11 and the Gateways, but for now I will offer one jewel I gleaned from birthing this 7 lb. book: If you follow your healing path completely, and trust the guidance you receive along the way, you will naturally be led to your path of service in the world.

With a feral courage, I’m moving forward…

“Solutio I,” 4×6” collage on paper from The Oracle of Alchemy, ©2006-2011 by Colette de Gagnier. To order prints from this series, please visit Alchemy of the Divine and Colette’s Visionary Art Gallery at www.MysticAlchemyDesign.com

To learn more about Colette’s book, Gateways of the Divine, please go to www.gatewaysofthedivine.com

For more information on the risks and side effects associated with DMPS, please go to http://www.dmpsbackfire.com/dmps/default.shtml

For more information on Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, please go to: www.ImproveHealing.com

For more information on the healing work of Dr. Catherine Fehrmann, please go to http://www.catherinefehrmannmd.com

For more information on the writing of Jeanne Du Prau : http://www.jeanneduprau.com/books.shtml

For more information on the offerings of poet David Whyte: www.davidwhyte.com

I had an up close and personal experience recently in which my two delightful landlords and amazing healers, Julian and Susan Lange (http://meridianholistic.com), who have become dear friends, their loving feline family, were evicted from their home at 276 Running Ridge Trail in Ojai, CA thanks to an illegal foreclosure. Also forced find a new home was a second renter, Darina, an artist and world traveler. And to add insult to injury, the new illegal owners sued me as a renter, which is ridiculous, and caused me great upset and stress, all in an effort to try and drive a wedge between us which they were unsuccessful in doing and, in fact, simply multiplied our bond.

Today, Julian and Susan are living in a one room rental and the new owners will no doubt put the house on the market and make a quarter of a million dollars or more on the deal built on the emotional and financial suffering of two extraordinary and compassionate human beings in service to their patients, clients, workshop participants and the world.

And this is hardly an exceptional situation. The same “investor criminals” who stole the Lange’s beautiful home which I had the privilege of living in for three plus years, have done exactly the same thing to many other people locally and other criminals have done the same to hundreds of thousands of individuals in what has to be the greatest criminal fraud in U.S. real estate history.

When you view the extraordinary eye opening video below on youtube.com/ForeclosureFree and the rest of the series shot by filmmakers Andrew Cameron Bailey and Connie Baxter Marlow, you will begin to understand how the banks, investors with inside information, and the courts have colluded to develop a sophisticated process for separating people from their homes and make obscene profits at the same time.

You may also want to visit chasechase.org to get the latest on what’s being done as more and more people join the battle for justice for the people. And, if you know anyone who is in the process of losing their home, please let them know about Susan’s videos and the chasechase.org site. It is critical that those most deeply affected have a support community around them that can make the journey bearable and know they are not alone.

Perhaps you will be as outraged as Julian, Susan, I and countless others have become as they have lost their homes representing their principal financial asset. And let’s be clear here. We are not talking about those who could not afford the mortgages they took out hoping to flip them in the game of musical chairs that ended so abruptly. We are talking about those individuals who were defrauded by their mortgage brokers, made their payments on time and were again defrauded by the banks and finally the courts who are not interested in hearing the truth and in 99% of cases rule in favor of investors and the banks.

It is a very sad and bitter state of affairs and is simply an extension of the greed and deception that represents this time in history on so many levels including Washington where more and more is given to the wealthiest at the expense of the rest of us. We pay when criminals rig the mortgage game and get rewarded with bonuses for doing so. The inmates are truly running the asylum.

May the new paradigm of compassion and connection replace an economy of greed. May love rule the planet rather than fear and may each of us play our parts in bringing this about. You will soon read a review of Sacred Economics and a wonderful interview with David Korten which both point the way to a new paradigm economics. It would seem the worst in us is catalyzing the best in us and building new communities of awake and aware consciousness. Stay tuned, join and act.

Finally here is Andrew and Connie’s latest video shot on the last night in Julian and Susan’s home. What is striking is that the anger and rage that one might feel and express when your personal assets are being destroyed is transcended by the grace, intelligence and articulation of the deepest truth of who we are beyond the courts and rulings that go against everything this country was founded on and a sense of fair play which has become a relic.

p.s. Here is a note from Susan received a few moments ago:

To our very dear friends and family,

We were evicted on Friday morning by the Sheriff and 3 heavies….Got it all on video – and they couldn’t look us directly in the eyes. I know they say they’re just doing their job but there are other sheriffs who won’t “just do their job” any more. I hope they got to see us as human beings – even if only briefly – and that somewhere in their hearts we might have touched a chord or planted a seed that later may start to
sprout. (If not, then perhaps our two little panicked cats left in the back yard might have got through to them.)

All last week black crows were circling our property. And the morning the sheriff came huge vultures were actually flying in circles over our driveway.

Then I went to work in LA. Exhausted … we had worked til 3 am moving stuff out before they came to take our home. What a system. We’re exhausted and we’re proud. Proud to have done our best in standing up along with many other wonderful people against injustice and fraud….

As I drove across the bridge out of Ojai I noticed two white birds flying across my path. As I got closer to them I saw that they were white egrets, symbolizing the resurrection of the Christ Consciousness. And when I arrived at my office in Santa Monica a white dove flew in front of me….

Right now we seem to be in a kind of free fall. And we have to TRUST that we will land on firm ground – much firmer than
ever before.

“They may try to steal our homes but they can’t steal our souls” is my latest quote.

Here’s to Justice,Truth and Freedom!!!

Thank you Connie for reminding us of the Trust Frequency!.
Thank you Karol for reminding us to be grateful!
Thank you to our wonderful attorneys, Roger Senders and Douglas Gillies who have gone to bat for us and hung in with us through thick and thin.

And a HUGE thank you to all of you for your constant support, hard physical labor, check ins, emails and love that have kept us going all the way through on this journey.

Our love to you,

Susan and Julian

PS We’re taking time out for a few days to re-group, re-orient and re-invent!

Can modern science help us to create heroes? That’s the lofty question behind Philip Zimbardo’s Heroic Imagination Project (http://heroicimagination.org), started by a Stanford professor who has spent 50 years teaching and studying psychology. The goal of the project is simple: to put decades of experimental research to use in training the next generation of exemplary Americans, churning out good guys with the same efficiency that gangs and terrorist groups produce bad guys. In this video, he inaugurates the project.

Visit newparadigmdigest.com to watch the video.

Video from KarmaTube