The night of 12.12.12. Rachel began her last artwork called Distance Becomes Sky as she recounted to me while she was in the hospital, “The book was channeled from inside my heart like the visions of radiance. A story woven from the wholeness of all life.”

During the night I would hear her scribbling and pieces of paper rustling under the covers of our bed. Sometimes I would wake to see a glow of light from a flash light with the now familiar scratching sounds of her writing. Most of the writing came in a meditative state and written in the dark in tiny booklets she made just for this purpose. 

During the day she would transcribe the night time work into something legible that I could read and then type into our laptop. Her work went on for over a year and a half, day and night. I knew it was taking her life force but I’m an artist too and I know when a work of vision is in process and you have to allow it to arrive and honor it. She was literally running her last mile to complete this important story of sacred Earth.

After the book was published I was hopeful that Rachel’s energy would return thinking that she was suffering from exhaustion. One day shortly before going to the emergency room Rachel and I were sitting looking out on to  the deck with the surrounding woods and a flicker came and landed in front of us. It was certainly aware of us as it looked us up and down for over fifteen minutes, finally it flew straight up into the sky and over a tall oak tree. We knew a major change was coming, a major sign, a spiritual directive. Later that day we were making offerings in the woods nearby when I turned and saw that a lizard was on Rachel’s bill cap perfectly align from the crown chakra with its curled tail to the edge of the bill, the tip of its head at her third eye. Stunned with another sign and directive of change and fulfillment we were aware of something major shifting in our lives. Rachel more than me.

When you become blended with the Earth’s rhythms, the Earth will speak to you, communicate essential knowing. But even though you have visionary experience, visionary knowledge of future events, you may not know exactly how it will manifest. It came as a surprise to me, for I did not want to look at the signs clearly, I did not want to lose my spiritual friend and lover.

I had been caring for Rachel during the dying process which had only been going on for less than two weeks. On the last night, I was awake all night tending her. Then around 6:30 am I felt strongly compelled to finish formatting the “In the memory of” email Rachel had wanted me to post after her death. After finishing the email, I stood to check on Rachel and her breathing immediately changed to the last stage before death. I got to the chair beside her bed and light poured from her crown chakra blending with the light above. In an instant she was gone. I then looked out the window behind me and the sky was shimmering with rainbow colors. When I again turned back, Rachel was smiling!

I hope this short description of the last days of an amazing artist and spiritual being will give you all a sense of what this book means, and how important this work was to Rachel, to the Earth, and to the future of humanity.