Monet Domonique Clark

Monet Domonique Clark, BFA

Psychic Medium and Animal Communicator

Monet is a second generation psychic medium, animal communicator and healer, with 30 years experience. She works from a deep state of compassion, addressing one’s questions and goals, identifying the roots of issues, and aiding in transformation. Monet sees into one’s past and present, and she assists in the shaping of one’s future. She provides clarity and tools for those ready to do deep work. Monet works by phone, reading the energetic field, and her sessions include an energetic healing. She has a deep reverence for animals and can address their behavioral and health issues. She dives deep into their soul journey, history, and emotional needs. She communicates telepathically with them and can receive answers to questions.

Monet was forever altered by the experience of being near death and recovering from a disabling illness, experiences that greatly magnified her ability to see deeply into the world of spirit. Monet is also an environmental theorist, visionary and contemporary artist. When working with clients she draws from her formal education at San Francisco State University in woman’s studies and cross cultural ritual practices and minor in their groundbreaking holistic health department, plus her study at the San Francisco Art Institute in critical theory and conceptual art. Further she draws from her extensive training in the healing arts, her diverse family lineages, and her Earth connection. She sees the personal growth of each of her clients, as important components of our collective and global recovery.

For a full list of Monet’s offerings click here.

Sessions assist you to:

Increase physical wellbeing and balance
Experience major shifts in perception
Have clarity, insight and realizations
Experience present time consciousness and yourself in present time
Identify and release outdated perspectives and emotions
Transmute and release past traumas, fear, emotional pain, and negativity which can stem from this life, your past lives or ancestry
Achieve goals, create your future
Focus and know what to focus on
Recognize your strengths, feel positivity and empowerment
Enhance your capabilities
Heal
Have answers to questions

Your energetic healing may include:

Cleansing, balancing and grounding
The removal of spirit attachments
The removal of cords or other people's energies from your aura
Transmuting and neutralizing negative energies
The running of relaxing, uplifting energies through your system
Learning about and healing ancestral traumas and habits passed down from your ancestors
Soul retrieval from past events
Healing for your relationships
Healing your relationship with your pet(s)
Communication with loved ones who have crossed over
Identifying and healing past life issues affecting this life

Animal Communication and
Pet Services

Behavioral issues -pet communication, healing, root causes, solutions to implement
Healing trauma --assists in behavioral, emotional and physical recovery
Physical healing --energy body and emotional body clearing/balancing, diet, wellness coaching
Relationship healing between pet and guardian

“There was an immediate shift between the cats, the healing has continued since that day…” Jasmine, OR

“I believe in combination with the treatments we were doing as directed by our holistic veterinarian, these sessions gave us the edge we needed.” Lindy, NY

Training and Experience, the Refinement of a Natural Gift

Early training:
My initiation into the unseen world, and training in natural and mind/body medicine, began when I was very young. I was raised within the Southern California subculture of the 1970s where the study of healing foods, herbal medicines, and other methods for natural healing were commonplace. Throughout my childhood my Mother included me in her healing journey. She brought me with her to courses on subjects such as acupressure where I learned about energy meridians and pressure points, and pranayama yoga (breathwork), and meditation. She took me to Native American ceremonies. I watched her perform her Tarot work. I accompanied her to sessions with psychic healers who did amazing things before my eyes, and she shared with me the mystic side of Catholicism. She took me regularly to a psychic church which was presided by a powerful female medium who performed random individual psychic readings for members of the audience during her public sermons. The church had a multicultural approach and referenced many spiritual traditions and I remember feeling ecstatic there. At an early age I took an interest in books on spiritual philosophy, including the writings of Paramahansa Yogananda, the yogi from India who introduced yoga to the West in the 1920s. We often visited his Self Realization Fellowship which was nearby with its Lake Shrine. I spent much alone time in nature, which for me was deeply mystical.

Surrounded by a rich multicultural spiritual melting pot in the Los Angeles area and the Santa Monica mountains, and through my own multicultural family, it became normative for me to appreciate the commonalities between spiritual disciplines of diverse cultures, and mysticism in general.

In my teens I began having health problems, not yet aware that my body had been impacted by high levels of mercury and arsenic. High concentrations of these substances contaminate the Northern Californian, post Gold Rush-mining landscapes, where we had moved. In my efforts to heal my body I studied with masterful herbalists, homeopaths, and other natural health practitioners. I made progress in my health, yet remained somewhat fragile.

In college I minored in the groundbreaking holistic health department at San Francisco State University, which focused on the intersection between science and mystic practices, mind/body medicine, and neuroscience. I majored in liberal arts, with a focus on women’s studies and cross cultural ritual practices. I won a scholarship to the San Francisco Art Institute and finished my education there, receiving my BFA.

In my early 20s I traveled with my maternal Grandfather to live with our relatives there in the Philippines. For months I attended group gatherings with a cousin’s faith healing church. I photographed them at length, incorporating spiritual beings into their bodies to perform healings and sermons. Incorporation is not a method I practice nor advocate, but they have a long standing tradition of it. During my time with those humble and kind healers, I witnessed and experienced many miraculous events.

Training through illness, the mechanics of ME/CFS, Environmental Illness and COVID Long Haulers:
After another toxic exposure and a stressful event upon my return to the United States, my health took a downturn. I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, the poorly named serious disease now known to be a neuro-inflammatory-immune disease. It is now commonly referred to as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). It consists of a baffling myriad of symptoms attributed to a chronic inflammation. At the time mainstream medicine had no treatment protocols to address it. Doctors didn’t understand its mechanics, it being so new and it was not being federally researched. Severely ill patients like myself were often dismissed and marginalized. Commonly we heard ‘it was all in our heads’, or we were misdiagnosed as depressed. Hundreds of thousands of those suffering with ME/CFS were ignored by the mainstream medical establishment, eclipsed by the other new health crises of the era, which was AIDS.

For 12 years I was left often needing a wheelchair and mostly bedridden. At times I was too weak to even brush my teeth, let alone walk. I was a prisoner in my body. The hallmark of ME/CFS is exertion intolerance. Exertion increases the systemic inflammation that worsens all of the disease’s many symptoms, including a weakness and fatigue that is utterly devastating. It is now known that mitochondrial impairment plays a significant role in the morbidity of the disease.

That was 30 years ago in 1992 and is wasn’t until 2016 that ME/CFS was finally federally recognized and validated, and thusly allotted a federal research budget. Now a renowned Stanford scientist is studying the disease. His son is as life-threatening ill with ME/CFS as I was, having gone from very athletic and fit to suddenly bedridden, emaciated, and too weak to lift his limbs. For many years he has been in state of ME/CFS, that is often referred to as a “living death”.

This Stanford research team has finally found a bio-marker for ME/CFS, finally proving scientifically that the disease is physically based. It is thought to be triggered by a virus. This new research, combined with the advent of COVID-19 and especially COVID Long Haulers which is another systemic, inflammatory, post viral condition that produces many identical symptoms to ME/CFS, has increased medical awareness about the disease. Yet sufferers of both conditions frequently are still dismissed. Not all doctors are familiar with the latest research data, and they stick to what they learned in their early training when nothing was taught about these disorders.

ME/CFS also effects so many body systems that it perplexes doctors who are trained in the current mainstream model of medicine which tends to separate parts from the whole, when diagnosing and treating disease. So they often have great difficulty understanding a symptomatology that spans so many body parts at once including: whole body pain; fatigue; heart rate issues called POTS; cognitive symptoms; disrupted sleep cycles; and the resultant chemical imbalances sleep depravation produces mentally and emotionally; endocrine system disruptions; digestive issues; nervous system problems; light sensitivity; the startle response; and violent allergic reactions. Environmental illness, aka multiple chemical sensitivity, where one becomes very ill with allergic type inflammatory surges from even small amounts of outgassing from building materials, synthetically scented products, petrochemicals etc., is often an adjacent condition; so is lyme disease; and so is toxic poisoning. Seven years into the illness, tests revealed that I had extremely high levels of the aforementioned mercury and arsenic. All of these factors including viruses, contribute to the body’s inflammatory response getting stuck basically on “on”.

Much of the work to get better involves retraining one’s overactive inflammatory responses and nervous system to function in a healthy way again. To understand ME/CFS is to understand the body holistically. Although there is still much to learn about this disease, the many varied symptoms can be helped by addressing the one’s root issue of systemic inflammation.

Intensified study:
With very little offered medically for ME/CFS, I had to turn inward and toward alternative healing options to get well. My recovery process thus served to intensify my training as a healer and a psychic medium.

Through the first 3 years I developed ME/CFS I trained with a psychic school that is part of a lineage of Rosicrucian and earlier mystery school traditions. There I learned techniques including neutrality and present time consciousness, which I practice to this day. I trained with them again after my recovery. Right when the illness began I had been accepted and began my MFA studies in the San Francisco Art Institute’s performance/video department and I was exhibiting internationally. I reduced my course load in an attempt to complete the program despite my new disability, but sadly I succumbed to the illness just short of of obtaining my MFA.

I continued to make art however, no matter how weak I became, capturing self portraits in which I framed my life as art. I also made self portraiture drawings. I have several bodies of work from my infirmary period, and after of course.

My health continued to deteriorate. I became homebound. I was treated by Naturopathic MDs; with plant based medicines; Traditional Chinese Medicine; Tibetan medicine; Bio Energetic Synchronization Technique chiropractic work; Craniosacral therapy; EMDR; psychic healing; and Reiki including a 12 hour Reiki marathon with practitioners globally sending Reiki to me and others administering to me in person; and I studied self healing methodologies. When I was mostly bedridden I studied and practiced with Tibetan Buddhist teachers as the illness progressed and this brought me much inner growth.

When my condition worsened to being totally confined to bed for two years, with six months of that period near death and unable to lift my limbs or feed myself, I learned to practice Core Shamanism. This utilizes shamanic techniques that are common to cultures all over the world. I became adept at going into a shamanic waking dream state and accessing my subconscious at will. I regularly entered into what Yogic practitioners refer to as superconsciousness. I honed my Buddhist puja practices, prayer work and inner eye.

I practiced breath work, Reiki, Chi-Kung in corpse pose, a spiritual tradition connected to my Pacific Islander ancestry, plant spirit medicine, and worked with deities within several other traditions. I was too sick, and my nervous system too easily overstimulated, to do anything else. I ate an anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, anti-spirochete, and an allergy elimination rotation diet.

These experiences although difficult, served to refine and potentize my natural psychic and healing gifts.

The wounded healer archetype:
I trained in spiritual practices for years to manage my physical symptoms and to restore my health from chronic illness. During the most challenging periods, when I was confined to bed, usually all of my waking hours were involved in spiritual training.

So my work to recover my health coupled with my upbringing have provided me with an extensive experiential knowledge base of alternative healthcare options; and tools for transformation; techniques for manifestation; and a keen aptitude for spiritual, emotional and physical healing processes, all of which I can guide my clients through as needed.

At the worst of my bedridden years my doctors were preparing my family for my death. At the same time I was having vivid visions of my life post recovery, within my Core Shamanism practice. On that edge between life and death, I could see into the veil, but it felt to me like I was going to make it back through to life, and I did.

As is common with the wounded healer archetype, I brought myself back from that near death state and have been able to see deeply into the world of spirit, ever since.

Recovery and continued training:
I was able to resume my outward life to the amazement of everyone. I went on to experience events, which I had seen in my shamanic journeys earlier when confined to bed.

All of the healing I had accomplished over my years of hard work, finally hit critical mass. I suddenly and rapidly got better.

I traveled to Brazil and spent a year in mediation at a Spiritism healing center, still utilizing a wheelchair to walk any distance. There I was able to rapidly regain my strength and overcome POTS and walk full time again. I accomplished many other improvements in my health. I traveled to Europe and then to Africa.

When I came back to the States my doctors called me ‘the miracle’. They said they’d never seen someone as debilitated as I was for so many years, recover and then go on to lead a productive life. I still have to manage my condition, but my tools to are fined tuned and effective.

I have continued advanced training with my psychic school, and other spiritual practices, and to learn new healing modalities.

I have regular visions today which inspire my artworks, my life, and my intuitive sessions with clients. I am happy to now use the tools I developed during my own healing process, to assist in helping others.

Art Practice

Art and activism:
As an internationally exhibiting artist I work in the mediums of performance art based video and photography, as well as live performance art. My current eco-feminist pieces function as another expression of my intuitive work and lifelong study of holistic theory, which recognizes that parts are not separated from the whole.

I like to reference the Taoist philosophy of Yin and Yang which lists intuition, non-linear cognition, the internal, stillness, nurturing, and healing all as cooling Yin principals, and I see the rise of these as vital to the healing of our global biosphere. There is an urgent global need for non-essentialist feminine Yin principals to restore balance to our inner and outer environments. These are potentials within everyone, men as well as women, and are deserving of cultural respect equal to their counterparts.

This correlates with indigenous perspectives globally which place human beings in a web connected to all of life, versus being seen as dominant over nature and animals. Indigenous perspectives consider nature as a form of divinity, and teach that we are responsible to steward nature, and that all life forms are sacred. This is opposite to the dominant western vantage which treats nature as wonton, and in need of conquering and dominating, and which over exploits nature and animals for profit with a philosophical arrogance that places humans in a superior apex over all earthly life forms.

I see my artworks and my psychic and healing work as contributing towards the overturning of these effects of western Patriarchy, this system that has revered the masculine hot Yang principals over the feminine cooling Yin principals for so long. The cultural dismissal of the cooling Yin principals, this mistrust of nature, and mistrust of the intuitive and inner forms of communication, and lack of respect for animals, has led us to an overheated planet, the global imbalance commonly referred to as Global Warming or Global Climate Change. In order to heal our planet we need balance within, which in turn contributes to the balance of the whole without.

For more information about my art please visit: www.monetclark.com

Early Training, Childhood and Teenage Years

I was raised within the Back to the Land movement of the late ‘60s and ‘70s in the Santa Monica mountains of Los Angeles county, and later in Nevada City, California. Not only did this inspire my connection to the natural world, but it also broadened my understanding of natural phenomenon beyond the dominant western mindset. I was also influenced by the eastern perspectives brought to Southern California by my Asian family members, as well as the western values epitomized by pop culture and the image fueled entertainment industry all around me. I was further greatly impacted by the multi-cultural spiritual melting pot of Los Angeles and its burgeoning natural medicine movement, and was brought along on my mother’s explorations and studies. I attended classes on Chinese acupressure and Hindu Pranayama breath work and went to Yogic retreats. We spent Sundays at a psychic church which was presided over by a powerful seer and medium named Gloria, whose sermons at times singled me out for having many spiritual guides and intuitive gifts. The church’s enshrined imagery and teachings included icons from many different spiritual traditions, including Martin Luther King. We made frequent visits to Self Realization Fellowship, where I was introduced to the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda, the first Hindu Yogi to teach extensively in the West. We attended Native American cultural and political events. I was exposed to Catholic mysticism from my mother’s Catholic background. I grew up watching my mother and her friends work with the Tarot. Psychic work for me is a family affair, my mother is a professional Tarot reader and my sister is also a natural clairvoyant.

At around 7 years old I was witness to a physic healer’s work which served as my initiation into the unseen world. I had accompanied my closest friend at the time who was a profoundly deaf little girl, to see the healer. Our mothers took us to see if the healer could improve my friend’s hearing. While in the waiting room at the office, the healer’s assistant announced that there had been a cancelation and my mother took the spot. When it was time, they brought the four of us into a room together and my mother proceeded to tell the healer that she had suffered from migraines for years. I then stood next to her and watched intently as the healer’s fingers from one of his hands disappeared into my mother’s back! He had wrapped a thin layer of gauze around the base of his fingers which developed a bit of blood. His hand was sideways and erect and his palm faced my mother’s spine. I could clearly see that there was nowhere for his fingers to be folded or hidden, and I felt awe when my mother remarked that she felt a tickling sensation inside her body. Next, I stood by my friend and watched as two of the healer’s fingers disappeared behind her right ear, and she giggled from the tickling sensation it made! Later when he had finished, he made some loud claps from behind her out of her line of sight, and we all saw her startle with surprise upon hearing the sounds. Everyone in the room was smiling. My friend was able to hear loud noises from that day forward, my mother never had another migraine episode again, and I had begun to understand that all seemingly solid matter is in fact energetic.

A couple years later I had a dramatic experience which showed me how the power of the mind can be used to heal the physical body. I was around 9 at the time with an absolutely miserable head to toe case of poison oak. The unbearable burning and itching had me in tears and I couldn’t sleep. A family friend guided me to use mind/body medicine techniques to calm my inflamed and oozing skin. He told me to visualize that my skin was cooling and that the rashes were receding and drying up. He directed me how to use my breath to ease my discomfort. After he left I worked at the techniques for quite a long time, and I became deeply relaxed and could finally fall asleep. To my great surprise when I awoke in the morning the rashes were almost completely gone! The lesions had miraculously dried up and healed over, a process that would usually have taken many days and most probably cortisone shots as well. I jumped up and ran to go tell my parents.

I have always had compassion for animals and around the same age I had taken it upon myself to contact Greenpeace with the idea to sell merchandise to help them protect whales and seals. At first the woman on the phone told me that they of course didn’t just send merchandise to people, because they might steal it. In my innocence I exclaimed incredulously “but I would never do that!” My passion to help had convinced her to give me a chance, and I became their little fundraiser. The natural food movement was also a large part of my upbringing and I learned early on about the nutritional and healing properties of many foods and plant medicines, and I have continued this study throughout my life.

As a pre-teen, like all the other girls in school read books by authors such as Judy Bloom, but I also gravitated towards books that explained Eastern mysticism and Native American spiritual philosophy and genocidal history. The latter I was especially drawn to because my maternal grandmother used to tell me stories about her Native American grandmother, my great great grandmother who was Pawnee. She had married an Irishman and together they had raised my grandmother on a farm in Oklahoma. My grandmother had also assisted in raising me, and I watched her struggle with her health. I was a teenager when she died after she was prescribed strong pharmaceutical drugs which accelerated her aging and frailty, leading to her premature death. This influenced my commitment to natural, traditional, and quantum methods for healing as I grew up.

I began training as a dancer and I studied photography in high school. I became political and started junior collage early. I studied about the lasting traumatic impacts of imperialism, colonialism, and slavery. I became an artist and moved to San Francisco and often visited New York City, where the transgressive music and art scenes of the 1980s were at their creative peak. Interested in ritual I studied Indo-European Witchcraft and Haitian Voudou ritual practices. I began to practice Raja Yoga meditation and Iyengar Hatha Yoga. I went back to Nevada City for a summer to apprentice with the master herbalist and proprietor of Olala Farms. There I studied healing plants and foods, and vibrational medicines. The latter included homeopathy, flower essences, gem elixir preparations, prayer and ritual work. It was with her that I became more deeply aware of the power of directing one’s mind and intention, and learned about the healing potential of water, which acts as a vibrational conduit.

Early Training, Childhood and Teenage Years

A couple years later I had a dramatic experience which showed me how the power of the mind can be used to heal the physical body. I was around 9 at the time and I had an absolutely miserable head to toe case, of poison oak. The unbearable burning and itching had left me in tears and I was unable to sleep. A family friend guided me on how to use mind/body medicine techniques to calm my inflamed and oozing skin. He told me to visualize that my skin was cooling and that the rashes were receding and drying up. He directed me how to use my breath to ease my discomfort. After he left I worked at the techniques for quite a long time, and I became deeply relaxed and could finally fall asleep. To my great surprise when I awoke in the morning the rashes were almost completely gone! The lesions had miraculously dried up and healed over, a process that would usually have taken many days, and most probably cortisone shots as well. I jumped up and ran to go tell my parents.

Continued Studies, Adulthood

At San Francisco State University I minored in their groundbreaking Holistic Health department. The program had an extensive required reading list including Fritjof Capra’s The Tao of Physics, which explores the implications of sub-atomic physics and the vibratory nature of all matter and thought. It scientifically explains the workings of certain indigenous healing practices, validates teachings within eastern mysticism, and reveals revelations in the field of mind/body medicine. We studied books by Dr. Andrew Weil, who was a forerunner of what is now being called functional medicine, which essentially combines the best of both the mainstream western medical approach (or allopathic medicine) and the holistic medical approach, including energetic medicine. Studying scientific papers, we learned about the physiology of emotions. We were taught how the body is designed to heal. Just watch a wound heal over time, after being properly dressed and cleaned, and you can see this self healing mechanism in action. They taught that in the practice of holistic medicine one treats the whole body to fight ailments and supports the body to do what it is already designed to do.

For instance to treat Fibromyalgia, a condition that I had which involves chronic whole body pain and fatigue, a holistic treatment which addresses inflammation is helpful. Tests are run to identify potential sources of inflammation such pathogenic infections, food allergies or toxins, like mercury. One might be prescribed natural medicines for targeted detoxification protocols, which would include support to the detoxification organs, and/or anti-pathogenic programs which would involve not only killing the pathogen, but support to the immune system to do the same. Using diet as tool, one could increase foods that cool the body and avoid foods that warm it. Further through tests one could tailor this individually to include the avoidance of foods that trigger allergic inflammatory responses. The holistic approach also looks at the nervous system and the endocrine system and past traumas and current stressors, all which may be factoring in on the inflammatory response. There are a wide range of options which can be used to address any of these factoring issues. In holistic medicine one works with the whole person and whole body to address parts of the body.

In contrast allopathic medicine frequently treats parts of the body as if they are separate from the whole body, and treats the mind and emotions separately from the body. It often does not fully take into account the side effects of various treatments and how they may adversely effect the whole. The allopathic method also suppresses symptoms with medication. For Fibromyalgia it may prescribe anti-depressants to suppress the sensation of pain, but these do not heal the inflammation causing the pain, nor the underlying causes of the inflammation. What is worse these pharmaceuticals actually cause inflammation. Of course allopathic medicine has its amazing achievements, such as the modern miracle of restoring sight through a cornea transplant for example. Natural medicines can often help balance the body after its been forced by allopathic medicine, so the two methods can be complimentary, and that is a holistic approach. The trick is to learn one’s holistic treatment options along with the mainstream allopathic medical options, and make informed choices from there.

Majoring in Liberal Arts at SFSU, I chose to study feminism, women studies, politics and classes which taught about ritual practices from a wide swath of cultures both past and present. This included Celtic studies, which due to my Celtic roots especially appealed to me. I won a scholarship to the San Francisco Art Institute in the Photography department with my photographic nude portraits of my pregnant Punk friends. Soon after starting classes at SFAI, I discovered the feral and conceptual Performance/Video department and fell in love with the medium.

Then I went on independent study, photographing in the Philippines where I traveled for 5 months with my beloved maternal Filipino grandfather. There I experienced the embrace of spiritual phenomenon by my family. I spent concentrated time photographing and absorbing the healing techniques of Espiritista, a well known Christian faith healing and psychic surgery church. One of my cousins belonged to a small chapter of the organization, and it was with them in a humble chapel with a dirt floor, that I had my first experiences as a medium. I received my BFA in photography and commenced studies in the MFA program at SFAI’s Performance/Video department. My pieces were often ritualistic in nature with a focus on the empowerment of women.

Continued Studies, Adulthood

Illness

However my completion of the MFA program was cut short because I had become seriously ill with a neuro-immune disease that had a dizzying array of disabling symptoms. My doctor told me that it was named Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) in England, and shockingly that there was no known cure. He did say that some sufferers improved over time with the right holistic support and rest, but some stayed the same or even got progressively worse. I unfortunately became part of the latter group. The disease is now also being referred to as Exertion Intolerance Disease, a name that more aptly describes its main trait, which is an exertion intolerance that is devastating. I was barely able to walk across the room without being short of breath, and lifting a plate of food fatigued me to the point where I needed bed rest for hours afterwards. In order to make it to my doctor’s appointments I needed to be pushed in a wheelchair. Conversing even wore me out. Exertion, both physical and mental, made me weaker and worsened all of the many symptoms. I became utterly disabled, a prisoner in my own body. At times I was too weak to get myself fed and would lay in bed hungry until a friend could come over and help me.

Symptoms included pain all over my body, excruciating headaches and muscle tightening, as the adjacent condition Fibromyalgia had also developed. My nervous system would get very hyped up and I’d lie awake at night unable to sleep with my heartbeat pounding through my abdominal aorta. When I did fall asleep I woke up often, and if I did manage to sleep through the night I still awoke feeling unrested. I became reactive to car exhaust fumes, cleaners, and fragrances, having developed Environmental Illness (EI) also known as Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), which is not uncommon for people with CFS to also develop¹. My face would become red and burn as my immune system mounted a histamine response that would leave my skin feeling raw and painful like a sunburn. If the exposure was prolonged my lips, eyes and cheeks could swell, but even worse was that these exposures aggravated many other symptoms including the weighted exhaustion, extremely fitful sleep, a hard pounding heart beat, muscle spasms, night sweats and intensely stressful dreams, similar to when one has a high fever. Exertion could also produce the same terrible after effects. The disease involves systemic and chronic inflammation which can be dangerous especially within the nervous system and the brain. I usually felt hot. Exertion and exposures to heat as well as chemicals, inflamed me even more. I experienced cognitive impairment and mental fog so bad that I’d say incorrect words, and I’d forget my way to locations I knew well, such as my own apartment. When I went from sitting to standing my blood pressure would drop causing my heart to race and palpitate and I had other heart arrhythmias including Atrial Fibrillation, which at times caused me to faint. I developed a wasting syndrome and lost weight. Eating certain foods caused violent allergic type reactions where my heart would pound and race, my throat would swell, sharp pinprick sensations cascaded all over my body and I’d have light headedness, cognitive impairment and physical exhaustion. The day after such an episode I’d experience increased systemic infIammation and whole body pain and be so depleted and weak I wouldn’t have the strength to get up from bed. I learned from trial and error what my body could tolerate. Noise penetrated me like I had no skin, light was always too bright. I was unable to care for myself let alone enjoy the life I had lived before where I rode my bicycle to school, saw live music shows, danced, and worked in the darkroom. I could no longer do any of those things.

Although there were people in the upper hundreds of thousands contracting the disease, it remained largely ignored by the medical establishment, eclipsed by the AIDS crisis. The treatment options offered by the holistic physician that diagnosed me were too expensive for me to keep up with, still I was fortunate that he knew enough about the illness process to be able to validate what I was experiencing. It was far more common that medical professionals would proclaim that it was ‘all in my head’, having received no education about the disease. Sadly this continues today. It wasn’t until 23 years after I had developed CFS/ME that it was finally federally recognized, and federal funds were allocated for its research. That was just 5 years ago, and just last year in 2019 a test was finally developed by a Standford research team which has proven that CFS/ME is a physical disease. The Stanford team is working to make it cost effective and available to doctors and hospitals everywhere.⁴

Most health care professionals practicing today do not know about this latest research, and have already been misinformed about the disease during their education, and do not know how to diagnose nor treat CFS/ME. The public has also remained largely ignorant. At the time I contracted it, my family and other’s in my life did not support me through the shock and loss I was experiencing. They, just like many of the doctors I consulted with, were not able to understand how ill I had become. This added greatly to the burden of having become disabled and has cultivated within me a deep desire to help and be an advocate for others experiencing similar circumstances.

The new research is being lead by Dr. Ron Davis, a renowned genetic researcher at Stanford University School of Medicine²whose son has an extremely severe case of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (as severe as mine became, which I’ll get into below). His son has been ill for over 10 years and has spent the last 6 years bedridden. The last 3 years he’s been unable to speak and is too weak to digest and so has to be fed through a tube. He has been generally declining into “a living death”, to use his own written words.³It is Dr. Davis and researchers at U.C. Irvine who as of April 2019 have developed the way for doctors to to confirm a diagnosis of the disease with a blood test that tracks immune cell responses to a particular stressor.⁴This will eventually help sufferers to at least be taken seriously, but the test has not yet been made readily available.

In my view the disease affects so many different systems of the body, from the nervous system, to the brain, cardio-vascular and endocrine, etc., its very symptomatology goes against the grain of the mainstream non-holistic medical establishment which seeks to separate parts from the whole. The opposite approach of treating the whole body, which is a holistic approach, is helpful to properly manage the many systems of the body effected by this condition. I believe this bias about separating body parts, contrasted with the way the disease affects the whole body is part of why it was dismissed. It just throws a wrench so to speak, in the way that mainstream doctors view and treat the body, and illness. However, I look forward to any discoveries which these heroic and innovative researchers may now find that can help people with this life robbing malady.

Through my ordeal I had many first hand experiences which exposed the shortcomings of the American medical system (which now ranks 27th in the developing world⁵) from the problematic practice of treating symptoms vs the causes of illness, to the tendency to dismiss what female patients say. The latter happened to me often and I came to understand this as a symptom of institutionalized misogyny. CFS affects women disproportionately to men at a ratio of 4:1⁶ which can also account for part of its mainstream dismissal, and it is interesting to note that the above mentioned high profile case which is getting so much press and validation, involves a male sufferer.

Mainstream medicine also does not test for toxic contamination and it wasn’t until 7 years into my illness that a test was ordered by a holistic physician which revealed that I had extremely high levels of Mercury and Arsenic poisoning my body. The land and waterways in Nevada City are highly contaminated with these substances and Cadmium too, all left over from Gold Rush era mining operations. ^7,8,9,10Once in the body they put a great strain on the immune system, especially Mercury. In the area of the county where I am from we have large numbers of very ill individuals with varying autoimmune and fatigue symptom patterns, and we have abnormally high rates of cancer. Research is just starting to be done on how these toxic deposits are affecting human health in the area. I have been talking about it for years. Sadly toxic environmental contamination is effecting human health all over the world, so it is important to have a toxic panel done, when one is experiencing unexplainable medical symptoms.

Lyme disease is also a very common local problem, as it is in many areas, and can be easy to miss by the standard Western Blot test. A specialized type of biofeedback assessment called Electro Dermal Testing (EDT) showed I had it, plus I had all the symptoms. My Western Blot test however showed some titers, but not quite enough for a positive diagnosis so my test result was inconclusive. My functional medicine and holistic doctor’s opinion was that I wouldn’t have had so many titers show up if I hadn’t been exposed to Lyme. They explained that if the Western Blot test is performed many years after one is bitten by a tick, as was the case with me, the test is less accurate. They theorized that my immune system may have been successfully keeping the Lyme spirochetes in check for years, until I became ill with CFS and could no longer fight them off. Then the painful Fibromyalgia and other symptoms ensued. I had severe allergic responses to every antibiotic I tried, so my Lyme was treated with many different natural medicines for years. Today my EDT and Western Blot tests are both negative, so I have beaten Lyme disease.

I also learned to navigate the positives of mainstream medicine like high tech testing equipment, but at the time because it offered no viable solutions for me to get better I had to seek out alternatives and find ways to get better myself.

Illness

However my completion of the MFA program was cut short because I had become seriously ill with a neuro-immune disease that had a dizzying array of disabling symptoms. My doctor told me that it was named Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) in England, and shockingly there was no known cure. He did say that some sufferers improved over time with the right holistic support and rest, but some stayed the same or even got progressively worse. I unfortunately became part of the latter group. The disease is now also being referred to as Exertion Intolerance Disease, a name that more aptly describes its main trait, which is an exertion intolerance that is devastating. I was barely able to walk across the room without being short of breath, and lifting a plate of food fatigued me to the point where I needed bed rest for hours afterwards. In order to make it to my doctor’s appointments I needed to be pushed in a wheelchair. Conversing even wore me out. Exertion, both physical and mental, made me weaker and worsened all of the many symptoms. I became utterly disabled, a prisoner in my own body. At times I was too weak to get myself fed and would lay in bed hungry until a friend could come over and help me.

Symptoms included pain all over my body, excruciating headaches and muscle tightening, as the adjacent condition Fibromyalgia had also developed. My nervous system would get very hyped up and I’d lie awake at night unable to sleep with my heartbeat pounding through my abdominal aorta. When I did fall asleep I woke up often, and if I did manage to sleep through the night I still awoke feeling unrested. I became reactive to car exhaust fumes, cleaners, and fragrances, having developed Environmental Illness (EI) also known as Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), which is not uncommon for people with CFS to also develop¹. My face would become red and burn as my immune system mounted a histamine response that would leave my skin feeling raw and painful like a sunburn. If the exposure was prolonged my lips, eyes and cheeks could swell, but even worse was that these exposures aggravated many other symptoms including the weighted exhaustion, extremely fitful sleep, a hard pounding heart beat, muscle spasms, night sweats and intensely stressful dreams, similar to when one has a high fever. Exertion could also produce the same terrible after effects. The disease involves systemic and chronic inflammation which can be dangerous especially within the nervous system and the brain. I usually felt hot. Exertion and exposures to heat as well as chemicals, inflamed me even more. I experienced cognitive impairment and mental fog so bad that I’d say incorrect words, and I’d forget my way to locations I knew well, such as my own apartment. When I went from sitting to standing my blood pressure would drop causing my heart to race and palpitate and I had other heart arrhythmias including Atrial Fibrillation, which at times caused me to faint. I developed a wasting syndrome and lost weight. Eating certain foods caused violent allergic type reactions where my heart would pound and race, my throat would swell, sharp pinprick sensations cascaded all over my body and I’d have lightheadedness, cognitive impairment and physical exhaustion. The day after such an episode I’d experience increased systemic infIammation and whole body pain and be so depleted and weak I wouldn’t have the strength to get up from bed. I learned from trial and error what my body could tolerate. Noise penetrated me like I had no skin, light was always too bright. I was unable to care for myself let alone enjoy the life I had lived before where I rode my bicycle to school, saw live music shows, danced, and worked in the darkroom. I could no longer do any of those things.

Recovery (Training Through Fire)

This commenced an intensive 14 year recovery process which focused my training as a spiritual healer. I trained for 3 years at the psychic school Psychic Horizons in San Francisco. I trained in etheric body healing, studied mudras, practiced chi-kung, utilized EMDR, chanted mantras, and learned to self administer Reiki and send it long distance to others. I underwent Renzoku Reiki (Reiki Marathon) where for 12 hours Reiki masters from all over the world worked on me simultaneously with long distance Reiki along with a room full of practitioners administering in person. I did affirmations work including studying the classic book of Louise L. Hay’s Heal Your Body. I studied the work of many authors including Caroline Myss’ tape series Energy Anatomy. I attended seminars for Bio Energetic Synchronization Technique (B.E.S.T.) chiropractors, a mind/body medical practice accessed through the nervous system. I became a student of Tibetan Buddhism and received transmissions from Tibetan teachers and regularly practiced pujas, meditation and Tonglen, which began to open and heal my heart chakra. I learned techniques from the Heart Math Institute, and did breathwork with a female Hindu avatar. I gained knowledge from the healthcare professionals whom I consulted with and learned to manage my health through my nervous system, adrenal gland support, detoxification, and diet. I studied herbs, supplements, and medicinal Cannabis, detoxifying baths, alkalizing diets, super foods nutrition, and cooling diets to combat inflammation, and more. The types of practitioners I worked with included: a Holistic MD, Tibetan doctors, acupuncturists, a rebirther, my LCSW and MFT therapist, nutritional consultants, medical intuitives, dousers, homeopathic practitioners, a plant spirit medicine practitioner, a myo-therapist, an Osteopath who did cranial sacral work and more.

Then I went through the most challenging period of my recovery, an intensive 4 year experience which served to greatly potentize and refined my skills of inner sight and energetic healing. I had become completely bedridden and emaciated as my condition continued to deteriorate. At several junctures I was near death, unable to lift my limbs or speak, and like Dr. Don Davis’ son, my exertion intolerance had gotten so bad that even digesting food took more energy than I could produce without the Post-exertional crash¹¹afterwards making me more ill and more weak. At first I was hospitalized for a time needing to be intravenously fed. The doctor assigned to me typified the medical establishments ignorance about the disease and after only 5 minutes of questioning me she announced that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome “is a syndrome, not a disease and is psychosomatic”. She proceeded to tell me that I had an eating disorder and that she was recommending that I be committed to a mental institution. I was stunned, and alarmed. I told her I had already been found legally disabled with the diagnosis Chronic Fatigue Syndrome by a court of law and was receiving Social Security Disability for it, which had taken 3 years and several hearings to prove and had a doctor treating me for it. However she was firm in her proclamation. She told me that I was lying when I expressed how worried I was about being so emaciated and thin, and that I had never in my life worried about being fat. She dismissed the fact that I already had a long time therapist who did not agree with her diagnosis. This was prior to finding out that I had Arsenic and Mercury poisoning, so I couldn’t point to these, but I’m not sure it would have made much difference anyway. This hospital is in the same county where the mining contamination and auto-immune illnesses are so prevalent, however she knew nothing about any of that.

Since Dr. Don Davis has made his son’s plight public there is now another well documented case which corroborates my own, with the same markers of advanced CFS/ME that I endured including wasting and becoming so weak that even the exertion of an automatic function like digesting is a problem. They are also seriously looking at the role which Mercury contamination plays in the disease and how it effects the mitochondria and contributes to the extreme fatigue. These symptoms of advanced CFS/ME have now been validated by these high profile researchers, unlike when I was hospitalized 18 years ago. There is also now the case of Merryn Croft the 21 year old who died of ME/CFS in the UK in 2017 and the work her family has done to gain national attention there for the disease to help raise awareness.¹² I spoke to my same therapist who I’ve now had a relationship with for 23 years, regarding my concerns about going public with the hospital’s misdiagnosis of my CFS/ME, as there is still widespread ignorance and stigma. Her reply was to point out that I got better and that she never treated me for Anorexia which in itself proves the treating physician at the hospital had it all wrong, because she explained that Anorexia does not get better unless it is specifically treated. I had never thought about it that way.

My wish is that by telling my whole story, people will start to understand the serious problems which CFS/ME sufferers face because of biases within mainstream medicine, as well as the deficit of research there is for the illness. This part of the story is also an important piece of my training, because it resulted in my deep cognizance for the intense and oppressive circumstances that people sometimes find themselves in. During my worst moments I often drew strength from the story of Nelson Mandela, a man who endured an entirely different set of oppressive forces of course, but whose story I can relate to. Back in 2001 in the hospital, every day for 2 1/2 weeks they tried to get me to sign papers to commit myself to the mental hospital where they treated Anorexics. Then they brought in an outside psychiatrist who started threatening me that they were going issue a 5150 which would force me to go against my will! He said they were prepared to airlift me there. I told them I was so weak this would probably kill me. My holistic physician had no hospital privileges and couldn’t advocate for me. My father like most people, had no knowledge of the CFS/ME disease process and had also incorrectly assumed that the illness was not as serious as it was and that my issues were mostly psychological. When he was contacted by the hospital and social workers about the prospect of a mental hospital, he pushed for me to be put there. My therapist however, worked tirelessly on my behalf writing letters and having meetings with the psychiatrist and the doctor explaining that I did not have the hallmarks of a diagnosis of Anorexia, but clearly did for CFS/ME. She knew that forced placement in such a facility under this wrong diagnosis, coupled with the weak condition I was in could very well cost me my life, and that the pressure of this prospect was certainly making my condition much worse in the present. The doctor assigned to me also had the nurses coming in daily to push me to get up and overexert myself not understanding how detrimental this was to my condition, due to the basics of the crash or Post-exertional malaise of CFS.¹¹ I was fighting for my life at the same time that I was fighting for my liberty. I had to have my home care providers bring me sheets that were not laundered in fragrance and put signs on my hospital room door not to mop or spray cleaners in my room due to my severe EI/MCS, all of which the staff scoffed at. It took all of the discipline, healing tools, and skill I could muster to get through the stress. Then I was told I was going to be released after all, but this wasn’t without a warning from the psychiatrist. He told me clearly that they didn’t want to see me there again and that if I came back they would 5150 me against my will to the mental hospital for an eating disorder which I did not have.

I suppose he figured he was doing me a favor by suggesting I wouldn’t have a safe place at the hospital, in an effort to try to push me to seek treatment for the diagnosis which they had incorrectly assigned to my situation. However, when I became so much worse a year later that I couldn’t even lift my arms and legs or speak; and I was so weak I had to have all my food blended too so I could digest it without the Post-exertional crash of CFS; and be spoon fed; and lay in bed at night in my home all alone with no family standing by me while I was burning up with inflammation; and received no medical attention nor intravenous support that I desperately needed, the last place I knew I could go to for help was the hospital. That is an outrage, but it is what people with advanced CFS can face. My story is not uncommon. Luckily I had training and many self healing, spiritual and nutritional tools, and although my doctors thought I would die I made it through.

After I was discharged from the hospital a wonderful thing happened, which is a large part of why I was able to keep myself alive and survived. A family friend who I’d known since I was a baby and who runs a CORE shamanic healing center, came to my bedside at my home for a month to teach me how to engage in shamanic journeys. Within this neo-shamanic practice one just uses a drum track to enter a trancelike psychedelic state, and from there you navigate a waking dream, accessing the subconscious mind consciously. This initiated my entry into an absolutely luminous, awe inspiring and powerful visual and energetic world! I molded this non-traditional shamanic method into my own multi-cultural spiritual and energetic self healing practice. Within its structure I combined many of the healing modalities and spiritual practices I was already onto such as Tibetan Buddhist meditation and pujas, forgiveness work, Yogic breath-work, Reiki and much more. Through it I learned new practices as allies appeared in the spiritual realm. My main guide was the potent Orisha Yemaya, and later the Goddess Pele after a dear Samoan friend of mine came from Hawaii to help care for me for a time and brought with him objects to connect me to this Hawaiian goddess and spirit of the volcano. I engaged daily in a form of Chi-Kung where one receives chi through the palms of one’s hands, and I would see Pele in the journeys adding to the chi I received and I would physically feel my palms buzzing. The buzzing would then move up my arms and into my body till my whole body was vibrating. This would sustain for about and hour then suddenly quit, and it always left me feeling stronger.

I practiced the shamanic method daily, often in lengthly 6 hour sessions and I found its foundational elements extremely useful for working through my many physical symptoms and my emotional states which I began to understand were all just concentrations of energy. Within the journeys I healed traumas from my past and my present, and I used it as a tool for manifesting my future like mapping out a solo show which I then exhibited years later. In journeys I would see myself in different environments. Years later there were many moments where I’d realize that everything was just like a journey I had had. During sessions I began to experience access to what is known in Hinduism as superconsciousness. Through this marvelous practice even within a terribly weak body, I was able to stay incredibly productive and my inner skills grew exponentially.

I would also build up my physical strength by visualizing myself doing things which I loved to do, such as dancing. I would consciously charge up my energy system with the positive emotions that this would create. In contrast, if I entertained negative states such as terror regarding my predicament or resentments, I’d notice an immediate and rapid deterioration in my condition, because I was so physically weak. With the help of my home care providers I continued to make performative and conceptual self portrait photographs with a small polaroid which gave me a sense of mischief and amusement. I had also done this during my hospital stay, with the staff (much to their dismay). The images helped me to keep perspective and be creatively productive. They would give me a little boost of serotonin and years later when I was better, I exhibited the works. From all of these direct experiences I came to understand the power of positive thinking and just how profoundly thoughts and emotions impact the physical body.

Since early on in my diagnosis I’ve stayed on the various herbal, homeopathic and nutritional programs prescribed by the health care professionals I’ve consulted with. These have worked to strengthen, balance and repair various systems of my body, detoxify, clear pathogens, balance my immune system function, and much more. I ate only organic, completely eliminated sugar, and worked very closely with my diet to build back my health. As the years went by I had tried many approaches which over time had improved my various symptom patterns, and so I’ve learned to manage a whole array of physical problems with natural medicines.

Towards the end of this period, I was visited by a Tibetan Geshe-la traveling from India. After some hours sitting in silence he told me, through a translator, that he was able to see all the work I had been doing. This pleased me immensely, because most people looking in on me bedridden day after day could only see a still emaciated body and not how hard I was fighting to stay alive and get better. He called me a “spiritual warrior” and gave me great news. He said that I had burned off so much negative karma that I was about to get well. He threw rice in the air and everyone in the room rejoiced!

Soon after I met a psychic hands on healer whose work on me helped me turn a big corner in my recovery. My mother had heard him speak on our local radio before, but on this occasion she was able to get through on the line when it was opened for people to call in. She said she could barely get the words out about her daughter before he was accurately describing my symptoms and condition. He told her to bring me into his healing seminar that night. I was literally carried to see him, and his work on me strengthened me to the point that I was able to sit up unaided that night. He prescribed homeopathic medicines and from a distance worked on me everyday for 2 weeks. Neither the dates nor the times of these sessions had been pre-arranged, however I had become so highly attuned to energy that I could feel it buzzing in my body when he would start, and each session left me noticeably stronger. This work combined with all of the work I had been doing for years, finally helped my body get the upper hand and I started to get better!

About a month later I saw a second hands on healer who finished his treatment by saying that he couldn’t make me completely better, but that he knew the healer who could. He advised me to travel to a Spiritism healing center in Brazil which I thought was absurd and funny, because I couldn’t even sit up unaided so traveling that far seemed farfetched. The next day I was strong enough to stand up and take a step! My leg muscles could barely support me, but I was amazed and encouraged by the progress as I didn’t get terribly worse from the exertion afterwards that night! The healer had also told me that I could connect with the center at a distance to receive help to become well enough to make the trip. Then the day after that a friend of mine stopped by with a blessed crystal from the same healing center in Brazil! I took it as a sign. In my bedridden state, in pain, and always mindful each day of how to ration the very little energy I had, lest I slide backwards into a worsened state, I felt compelled to clutch the object for hours. Throughout my entire experience I had been able to retain my sense of humor and I knew my crystal clutching was comical, but I still often fell asleep with it in my hands. In my shamanic journey work I could “see” this magnificent portal of healing energy pouring into the Brazilian center like an energetic Niagara Falls, and I sensed the healing potential waiting for me there. I continued my work to release myself from my bedridden bondage.

I made rapid and miraculous progress in my recovery surprising all of my health care team, even though my holistic physician had told me all along that my ascent back to health could suddenly happen very rapidly. When I first started seeing him he would explain how the anti-pathogenic and detoxification protocols and work to strengthen and balance my systems could culminate in my body finally gaining the upper hand and then doing what it is designed to do, which is heal. Later he admitted he had began to worry when my condition had continued to deteriorate, that I would lose my fight with the illness and lose my life. I turned that corner however and within 9 months I booked my ticket to Brazil.

My wish is that by telling my whole story, people will start to understand the serious problems which CFS/ME sufferers face because of biases within mainstream medicine, as well as the deficit of research there is for the illness. This part of the story is also an important piece of my training, because it resulted in my deep cognizance for the intense and oppressive circumstances that people sometimes find themselves in. During my worst moments I often drew strength from the story of Nelson Mandela, a man who endured an entirely different set of oppressive forces of course, but whose story I can relate to. Back in 2001 in the hospital, every day for 2 1/2 weeks they tried to get me to sign papers to commit myself to the mental hospital where they treated Anorexics. Then they brought in an outside psychiatrist who started threatening me that they were going issue a 5150 which would force me to go against my will! He said they were prepared to airlift me there. I told them I was so weak this would probably kill me. My holistic physician had no hospital privileges and couldn’t advocate for me. My father like most people, had no knowledge of the CFS/ME disease process, and also incorrectly assumed that the illness was not as serious as it was and that my issues were mostly psychological. When he was contacted by the hospital and social workers about the prospect of a mental hospital, he pushed for me to be put there. My therapist however, worked tirelessly on my behalf writing letters and having meetings with the psychiatrist and the doctor explaining that I did not have the hallmarks of a diagnosis of Anorexia, but clearly did for CFS/ME. She knew that forced placement in such a facility under this wrong diagnosis, coupled with the weak condition I was in could very well cost me my life, and that the pressure of this prospect was certainly making my condition much worse in the present. The doctor assigned to me also had the nurses coming in daily to push me to get up and overexert myself not understanding how detrimental this was to my condition, due to the basics of the crash or Post-exertional malaise of CFS.¹¹ I was fighting for my life at the same time that I was fighting for my liberty. I had to have my home care providers bring me sheets that were not laundered in fragrance and put signs on my hospital room door not to mop or spray cleaners in my room due to my severe EI/MCS, all of which the staff scoffed at. It took all of the discipline, healing tools, and skill I could muster to get through the stress. Then I was told I was going to be released after all, but this wasn’t without a warning from the psychiatrist. He told me clearly that they didn’t want to see me there again and that if I came back they would 5150 me against my will to the mental hospital for an eating disorder which I did not have.

Towards the end of this period, I was visited by a Tibetan Geshe-la traveling from India. After some hours sitting in silence he told me, through a translator, that he was able to see all the work I had been doing. This pleased me immensely, because most people looking in on me bedridden day after day, could only see a emaciated, still body and not how hard I was fighting to stay alive and get better. He called me a “spiritual warrior” and gave me great news. He said that I had burned off so much negative karma that I was about to get well. He threw rice in the air and everyone in the room rejoiced!

I made rapid and miraculous progress in my recovery surprising all of my health care team, even though my holistic physician had told me all along that my ascent back to health could suddenly happen very rapidly. When I first started seeing him he would explain how the anti-pathogenic and detoxification protocols and work to strengthen and balance my systems, could culminate in my body finally gaining the upper hand and then doing what it is designed to do, which is heal. Later he admitted he had began to worry when my condition had continued to deteriorate, that I would lose my fight with the illness and lose my life. I turned that corner however and within 9 months I booked my ticket to Brazil.

Ascent Towards Wellness…

At the airport still in my wheelchair and with a respirator mask on, I took the leap of faith that the exposures, stress and exhaustion of the trip would be worth it. Within the first couple days of getting settled into my accommodations in the town where the center was, I had a small accident and broke my cane seat, a cane that folds into a chair allowed me to sit when I tired from short walks. Then during my first visit to the healing center the healer demanded that I leave my wheelchair behind. He directed me to take a taxi to and from my posada (hotel) instead of being pushed in the wheelchair. I began to see how freeing this was, because despite still needing to be conveyed in a mode of transport with wheels, a taxi was not a reminder of my disability. With my two symbols of disability gone, I began to unwind my mind’s pattern of illness as well as my body’s. From this I learned that in order to heal from chronic illness it is equally as important to change one’s habitual beliefs which anticipate illness, as it is to heal the body, and that the tools and behaviors that at one time were helpful to manage one’s condition can later keep one stuck in the disease.

With the powerful help of the center and my dedication to my practice there, I stepped into a mindset of wellness and my body followed. Within my first 2-3 months of sitting in meditation in what was called the first ‘current’ room, 4 days a week and around 6-7 hours a day, the sessions would energize and balance me so much that I was often able to walk back, ever so slowly to my posada without the terrible crash of Post-exertional malaise. This was a 4-5 block distance. I had many marvelous experiences sitting in ‘current’. The energy of it would tingle in my palms and my whole body; I felt ecstatic states; I worked with mindfulness through many uncomfortable emotional and physical states; the current flowing through me would work to heal all coming into the center; and sometimes we’d be directed through guided visualizations to send healing to those in different parts of the world experiencing crises. I would take the taxi there in the morning, but then often walked back. Soon after that I was walking both ways, to and from the center. I attended the rosary at the center once a week at night, connecting with the sacred feminine energy of Mother Mary. I took crystal baths, and meditated on the veranda on off days. I felt buoyant. The new found freedom to walk again was exhilarating! Meeting many people from around the world who could understand my journey because they also suffered from illness, provided me with support I had been missing. I still had to follow my body’s process and rest often, sometimes for days at a time. I still overdid it at times and would slide backwards, but overall I moved forward. I thrived being out of the isolation which I had endured. Rounds of hearty laughter was the soundtrack accompanying all meals at the posada as we guests shared stories from their lives. I realized just how powerful a tool laughter is. It heals and transmutes negative and weighted energies. It is used as a tool in the psychic schools I’ve trained with, and its a habit I’ve kept. I felt like I had been reborn. I spent a dedicated year in the meditation ‘current’ rooms working my way up the levels of the healing center. Towards the end of my stay I was placed in the room where the psychic surgeries were performed with a group of other mediums. We would assist in holding the energy current for the patients. I learned many invaluable lessons from my time at the center including that faith/belief is the key which opens the door to infinite possibilities/miracles.

I spent the next 2 years building back my stamina and traveling internationally to visit friends I had met during my time in Brazil. With each passing month slowly but surely I was able to exert myself a little more without relapsing, as well as bounce back more quickly from the various chemicals I came into contact with. As long as I stayed on all of my nutritional and self healing protocols and my accommodations were mostly free of outgassing from chemicals, I could manage. I slowly started going to art events and thinking about exhibiting again.

Upon my return to the States I continued to train and continued my high nutritional uptake, using super foods and alkaline and cooling diets, juicing and supplements, and this continues to this day. Through this intensive dietary regime I cured myself of the severe osteoporosis in my hips and spine that I had developed (to the amazement of the DXA technician who last did my bone scan, remarking “this isn’t possible!”). Every few months I went to a public seminar of the the hands on psychic healer who had made such a big difference in my recovery and I’d raise up another level in my health. I attended weekly group classes for 5 years at a non-denominational metaphysical spiritual center in Beverly Hills presided over by a female Russian mystic and seer who interpreted the Bible metaphorically. I spent time annually with Sri Mata Amritanandamayi from India, also known as Amma the hugging saint during her public visits to California, and still do.

I continue to follow my process with B.E.S.T. chiropractic and many other healing modalities, and I engage in a daily multi-cultural spiritual practice, and psychic practice. Occasionally this involves shamanic work. In an ongoing effort to improve my health and manage symptoms, I’ve continued to be curious and learn about alternative medical treatments and transformational techniques. Although I’ve made it out of that most debilitated state and am exhibiting my art works and have my life back, I still have to take extra care to stay well. I daily manage my health. I still experience Environmental Illness and exertion intolerance, but I can do far more than I used to. For the past year and a half I’ve been working with ozone, which is a highly effective option for many serious health conditions, more commonly used by mainstream doctors in Europe. I am now trained with the frequency machine AmpCoil, with its in depth series of protocols, also now available for my clients. I connect with Tibetan Buddhist teachers yearly through a public programs and private sessions organized by Sierra Friends of Tibet. I completed 4 years in private classes with teachers from the Southern California Psychic Institute, continuing to learn advanced tools in the same tradition as my earlier psychic school training. This reinforced the ethics and habit of neutrality, present time consciousness, boundaries, grounding and more for my readings work. I have joined classes attended by an international group of psychics, based in the same tradition. I attend retreats and meditation classes in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

Through gardening, all of my training, and the continued process of making my eco-feminist activist art works, my consciousness has expanded exponentially in my experience of the interconnectedness of all beings on planet Earth, plant, animal, insect and human, and I have grown in my commitment to be of service.

I access this wide training, experience and knowledge when addressing the unique needs of my clients. When I was bedridden I daily dedicated my healing and spiritual work to all beings, especially those coming up after me dealing with the same diseases. I’d recite a goal that I’d become of beacon of light for others. I seek to accomplish this now through the sharing of my story, working with clients, and in the making and exhibition of my artworks.

1. Functioning in individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome: increased impairment with co-occuring multiple chemical sensitivity and fibromyalgia, National Center for Biotechnology Information NCBI, US National Library of Medicine May, 2007 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1890280/
2.-3. The Puzzle Solver A Researcher Changes Course to Help His Son, Stanford Medicine, Spring 2016 https://stanmed.stanford.edu/2016spring/the-puzzle-solver.html
4. For Sufferers of a Disease that has Confounded Researches, a Glimmer of Hope, Mountain View Voice, June 1, 2019 https://www.mv-voice.com/news/2019/06/01/for-sufferers-of-a-disease-that-has-confounded-researchers-a-glimmer-of-hope
5. The US was once a leader for healthcare and education —now it ranks 27th in the world, Business Insider Sept. 27th, 2018 https://www.businessinsider.com/us-ranks-27th-for-healthcare-and-education-2018-9
6. ME Research in the UK. ME/CFS in Women and Men http://www.meresearch.org.uk/sex-differences-in-mecfs/
7. Nevada City, Sierra Streams Institute continue cleanup of abandoned mine sites, The Union 2016 https://www.theunion.com/news/local-news/nevada-city-sierra-streams-institute-continue-cleanup-of-abandoned-mine-sites/
8. CHIME Study: Community Health Impacts form Mining Exposure, 2014 https://reclaimingthesierra.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Taylor-CHIME-powerpoint.pdf
9. COLUMN ONE : A Lethal Relic of the Old West : Mercury and other substances used by 19th-Century miners have left a legacy of toxic waste at a dozen sites…, Los Angeles Times, 1992 https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-10-18-mn-1118-story.html
10. Testing for Toxic Elements: A focus on Arsenic, Cadmium, Lead and Mercury – Oxford University Press, 2011 http://academic.oup.com/labmed/article-pdf/42/12/735/…/labmed42-0735.pdf
11. Myalgic Encephalomylitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Treating the Most Disruptive Symptoms First and Preventing Worsening of Symptoms, Post-exertional malaise (PEM), CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention https://www.cdc.gov/me-cfs/healthcare-providers/clinical-care-patients-mecfs/treating-most-disruptive-symptoms.html
12. Mother releases pictures of daughter who died aged 21 weighing just six stone after wasting away from neurological disease ME that some experts still do not think is real, Daily Mail, April, 2018
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5569091/Woman-dies-aged-21-weighing-just-six-stone-wasting-away-ME.html?fbclid=IwAR1HQOMprzbzc-VnEvQwMcKcHQIynC5oabxu1eDvOL5zWEFByq_NBTvOjtI

Image key: self portrait 2015; poster for NOW, A Video Art Ritual a 10 screen performance/video installation and collaboration between Monet and John Sanborn, 2018; an image of Topanga Canyon in the 1970’s, Monet’s childhood home; production shot of NOW, A Video Art Ritual 2018; portrait from series, Espiritista in the Philippines, 1991; performances for still camera series Performance with Friends, 1993; the left side of the diptych Poisoning/Phoenix Performance Document #1, 2001; the left side of the diptych Poisoning/Phoenix Performance Document #4, 2001; snapshot of Monet in Brazil with a Brazilian girl and her gorgeous shoe, 2005; performance based collaged photograph Völva Saga Silenced, 2019; snapshot of Monet at the Nevada City Psychic Fair around 2015.

For more information about my art please visit: www.monetclark.com

Offerings

Introductory Rate for 25 minute reading

$40

For first time clients you can try out my services for just $40 which can then be applied to a regular length 1 hour 30 minute session, should you want to continue.

Psychic Reading and Energy Healing

$220

Focusing on the goals of your choice, these readings include an in depth 7 layer aura reading, chakra scan and healing. Sessions may include any number of focal points on the above lists, and always includes an energetic cleansing and the administering of healing energies.These sessions can be life changing and especially helpful when one is ready to make a major shift and leave old behavioral and/or physical patterns behind. above may be included in your session. They involve a lot of information so come ready to take notes. They greatly assist with leaps in personal growth and provide one with tools for continued progress.

Energetic Healing and Reading

1 hour 15 minutes – 1 hour 30 minutes

$220

These sessions focus on physical wellness, relaxation and balance and on energetic cleansing. They also include a reading. They are helpful when one is experiencing any difficult life passage, and needs nurturing. Energetic healing is wonderful for balancing the mental, emotional, energetic, and physical bodies, for rejuvenation, rest and radiance. This frees one from looped thinking, anxiety, fatigue and any physical, mental or emotional imbalance. Sessions release outdated, negative or disharmonious energies, they identify where you may be out of balance, where your strengths and weaknesses lie, and provide tools for self healing and continued maintenance.

Package
3 Follow Up 1 Hour Readings following either 1 Chakra Scan or 1 Radiant Energetic Healing and Reading ($110 savings)

$650

For changing long time patterns and for setting goals, weekly or monthly sessions can be very effective for making major shifts in one’s life. A series of sessions can also prepare you to be at your optimum for upcoming life events, career goals, and just for physical, mental, emotional, and energetic wellbeing.

Pet Reading and Healing
1 hour – 1 hour 15 minutes

$220

As an animal communicator and psychic these sessions can be used to address any behavioral issues, or physical health issues, for your pet or animal. Sessions assist you in understanding your pet’s needs and feelings, and involve a deep investigation of their history, personality, and soul journey. Sessions delve into a pet owner’s issues as well, which may need to be addressed in order to help shift a situation or condition with your pet. A healing for your pet or animal, and also a healing of the relationship between yourself and your pet are included.

Home or Building Cleansing

$400

A deep look at one’s house, apartment, or building with the goal to remove any negative energies, entities, past inhabitant energies, and the energies of any past events which may be causing discord. These sessions bring harmony, balance, positivity, and neutrality to a structure, and an alignment with your specific goals for the building. These sessions allow for you to create the ideal home environment, and/or other goals for a building, such as investment property etc.

Question Based Reading
30 minutes

$75

SPECIAL Existing clients who refer a friend for a session receive one free Psychic Reading/Energy Healing or Energetic Healing and Reading

Question Based Reading:
30 minutes

$90

Psychic Reading and Energy Healing:
1 hour 15 minutes – 1 hour 30 minutes

$220

An in depth 7 layer aura reading, chakra scan and healing. Includes an energetic cleansing and the administering of healing energies. Depending on the goals and needs of the client this can include any number of focal points on the above lists. These sessions involve a lot of information so come ready to take notes. They can be life changing and especially helpful when one is ready to make a major shift and leave old behavioral and/or physical patterns behind. They greatly assist with leaps in personal growth and provide one with tools for continued progress.

Radiant Energetic Healing and Reading:
1 hour 15 minutes – 1 hour 30 minutes

$220

These sessions are very helpful when one is experiencing any difficult life passage and when one needs to be nurtured. They are also wonderful anytime for achieving feelings of optimal wellness, and radiance in one’s mental, emotional, energetic, and physical bodies. These sessions are good when one just needs to receive, rest and feel balanced. They balance the emotional, mental, energetic, spiritual and physical layers of your body and auric field, your chakras and their attributes. They identify where you may be out of balance, where your strengths and weaknesses lie, and provide tools for self healing and continued balance and maintenance

Follow Up 1 Hour Reading:

$200

It is advisable to receive a follow up check in after your Chakra Scan, Psychic Reading and Healing, or your Radiant Energetic Healing and Reading, within around 1-2 months. This supports the continuation of one’s healing and progress.

Package
3 Follow Up 1 Hour Readings following either 1 Chakra Scan or 1 Radiant Energetic Healing and Reading ($110 savings):

$650

Price Per Minute
(for existing clients only):

$3.00

For issues that come up in life, the focus will be on whatever one chooses, for as short or as long one needs (schedule permitting).

Pet Reading and Healing:
1 hour – 1 hour 15 minutes

$200

Home Cleansing:

$400

Special Needs Rate
(documentation required):
30 minutes

$60

**SPECIAL** Existing clients who refer a friend for a session can receive a free 20 minute check in reading/healing

Book A Session

1(310) 694-0940

DomoniqueClark@outlook.com

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