Dear Friends,
I imagine by now you have heard of Jeannine's passing. I am
slowly working on another longer piece called, "Apprentice to the
Goddess Parvati," but for now I just want to convey a bit about
being with Jeannine (JP) these last few months.

Quinn and Halley are amazingly devoted children. It has
been around two years since JP noticed she was ill and learned about
the Hep-C. They have been helping her consistently since then to
make the transition from full speed ahead, double Gemini, Moon in
Leo, to low energy, to not able to walk easily, to bed ridden, to
unable to talk, till now, and all the steps in between. Being
educated at home (and around the world) and somewhat sheltered,
Quinn and Halley have had a crash course in responsibility.

By the time it was possible for me to be more involved, JP
was already in bed most of the time. It was especially difficult for
her, being so self-reliant and proud, to need to ask for everything
that she needed, and since she continued for a long time to keep up
a full schedule of communication and management of the various
aspects of her many businesses, all of Jeannine's many helpers were
kept very busy all the time. Quinn and Halley were engaged all the
time and fortunately, several very capable assistants volunteered.

I only briefly met Sara (Bly?) from California, didn't meet Jane
Bernstein from Maine, and another woman I think called Rachel who
was an early caretaker. Audrey Spach from California and Robin
(last name?) were here at the same time I was, as was Rachel Kellum
from Colorado, and Mia Dorothea Tortilla from Cali.
Clara Scropetta came all the way from Italy with her husband
Yann Vai from France and their 2 children (and one on the way).
They had originally come to apprentice with Jeannine but became
dedicated helpers for several months. The baby that Clara was
carrying while JP was declining was born in France the day after
Jeannine died!

Cindra Thompson from Washington also stayed for a good bit
of time with her twins in tow. Audrey has the distinction of returning
for a second period of compassionate service in November.
We heard about Babz Covington from Gloria Lemay and she came
from South Carolina to be a midwife for Jeannine's last days, and
was an angel sent as an answer to prayers.

There were visitors for shorter periods of time including
Jeannine's children and grandchild, Loi and Wynn, Oceana and
Cheyenne, and Gannon, and a very helpful visit by Deb Puterbaugh and
Nan Koehler from California, Rosemary Gladstar from Vermont and
Steve Scott from Salt Lake City. Deb is JP's first graduate of
Hygieia College, and with Nan were major coordinators of the
California support team, which also included Marilyn Milos, Mohini,
and Mark Smith. Steve Scott helped by putting folks up at his place
in Salt Lake City and transporting them back and forth from the
airport. Margie and Judith helped manage the circle of support web
site.

If we include all the folks who visited, wrote letters and
sent ideas, supplements, donations, food, email, etc., etc., then
the list would be in the hundreds or thousands -- a tribute to
Jeannine and the number of folks she has touched with her word
medicine.

I know that I am forgetting some folks so please forgive me
and let me know, so that I can make the corrections. There were
many others from the local area who helped a bunch and of course the
Hospice team was very dedicated. So as you can see, JP had amazing
assistance and from all over the U.S., Canada, Australia, and
Europe. In fact the Hospice director said that JP only lasted as
long as she did due to all the forms of help she received.
Although it was very hard to watch her suffer so much, I
think that the extended time served her and all of us by giving us
the time to make the huge transition and say meaningful goodbyes.

Jeannine and I were able to do some very good healing during this
time. I actually got this double Gemini butterfly to land in one
place long enough to do some serious (and playful) talking. Ha!
Jeannine endured all the three kinds of suffering the
Buddhists describe: all-pervading pain, such as in accidents,
sickness, etc.; the pain of alternation, or the mental anguish that
we add from worrying; and the pain of pain, which is another level
of anguish when we judge the whole affair. It is perhaps even harder
for someone like JP who is very knowledgeable about all this, because when
she would be grumpy or critical or negative, she would also add
the pain of embarrassment and remorse.

I asked her at one point, what it was now that made it
worthwhile living and she said, "making things more beautiful, love,
and helping others." She was very dedicated to these values, trying
to help others on the phone, mailing gifts to everyone she could
think of, and create as much beauty as possible from her bedside
command post.

It was heartbreaking to watch a person who was so capable
try to maintain her patterns of very involved communication, with
the resulting frustration and sadness. At times she would ask for
help with dying sooner, but the last few weeks she seemed to
surrender more to the process, while alternating between wanting
less pain medication so she could be more alert, to wanting more
medication so she could sleep.

Her body was extremely thin and in the last couple weeks,
even with extra cushioning, she started to develop bed sores that
added to her pain and discomfort. We got to a schedule of turning
her every couple hours and this was very painful for her too.
The last few days, and with the old moon in Scorpio, she
became very withdrawn into herself and would only say an
occasional "yes" or "no," smile or raise an eyebrow.

On the morning of December first, Babz came to get me early
as JP was agitated and moving around a lot. She quieted down a bit
as I held her hand and told her that it was OK to go now. The
Hospice nurses came first thing in the morning and gave her a sponge
bath and washed her hair. Jeannine settled down some but was still
moving her eyes around as in a dream and her breath became more
irregular as if gulping her air. She tightened her jaw, a faint smile
came over her face and that was her last breath. Babz went to get Quinn
and Halley. Her Hospice counselor, John Bagley, was sitting nearby.
"I think that was her last breath"
"Yes, I think so"
Babz came back with the kids and checked her heart.
"Still beating"
Halley and Quinn are crying. Jeannine's hand is tight around my
finger.
"There is no more heart beat"
We look at the clock, it is 11:11 am.
Born 6/1, died 12/1
Just a few hours past the new Moon, Sagittarius Moon was at
11 degrees 22 minutes.

Although we had to overcome some local resistance to do so,
Jeannine's body remained in her bedroom for another day and a half.
I spoke into her ear often something like this:
"Jeannine, you do not need to worry about your children, I am here,
your projects will be cared for also. You have helped many, many
folks have a better life and your karma is good so ride on this to
the Ocean of Light. From this realm of the Clear Light you can
recognize the true ephemeral nature of the phenomenal world. It is
like the waves on this Ocean of Light and your true nature is the
totality of this vast Ocean. You can go there now and realize your
unity with this Vastness. Stay to your spiritual purpose of
remaining with this Clear Light realm or being reborn in a way to
continue your work of Love, Service, and Beautification. Do not be
distracted by fearful or seductive images, they are empty remainders
of old patterns like dream fragments. You are free. Go to the
Light. There are so many who love you and are praying for your
joyous passage. Recognize the stages of the grosser elements
dissolving into the finer and finer stages of mind until you reach
absolute Clarity. This is You, stay with this Clarity."

Jeannine's body was transported to the mortuary in nearby
Richfield Friday evening and stayed undisturbed there. On Saturday,
when Mohini and Claudia from California arrived, we went to visit
her in the mortuary, bringing more flowers and singing to her. On
Sunday the body was taken to Salt Lake City and cremated. Mohini,
Claudia, and I went again to pick up the ashes. We created an altar
in her room and did a ceremony/meditation that evening.
Since that time, Babz has left, Nan has come and gone and
Gannon is here. We are adjusting to the absence of such strong life
force. Even though I regularly sit by her altar or visualize her in
meditation, my mind still goes to the automatic response of thinking
of her physical needs since it was such an intensive care situation
the last few weeks of her life. The abrupt end to that regular
intensity is a deadly silent void . . .

Jeannine left a very indelible mark with her words and
actions. She may have been the first to use the word "Prenatal
Yoga," which is now so commonplace. Her book PRENATAL YOGA AND
NATURAL BIRTH, was certainly one of the first in this era. In
remote places like Tasmania, folks would tell us that they used that
book in their pregnancy and passed it on to their friends and
children. HYGIEIA: A WOMAN'S HERBAL, was one of the first to meld
archetypal psychology, feminism, and plants as living allies. It
was meant to be her Master's thesis in psychology at Sonoma State,
but by accident was sent to the Biology department where it was not
understood. Consequently, Jeannine never quite got her master's
degree, but as was her style, just shrugged and said, "I do not need
the credentials anyway, my work will stand on its own merit." She
refused to pursue it further.

CONSCIOUS CONCEPTION: ELEMENTAL JOURNEY THROUGH THE LABYRINTH OF SEXUALITY, her third book, was ahead of its time, but has continued to be valued by a
dedicated group of a folks. Almost a cult classic, we have heard of couples
carrying the book around who want to get pregnant! Conscious conception as
an idea helped usher in the now popularly accepted era of prenatal
consciousness and sensitivity. Twenty years ago when it was first published
and the 20 years before that when it was being conceived and written, the
idea of conscious conception and prenatal education was largely unheard of.

Jeannine helped popularize Lotus Birth and the alternative
culture version of the "Blessingway" as a form of birth preparation
ritual. She would closely watch the birthing couple during the
ceremony to detect early signs of patterns that might interfere with
giving birth. She and I labored hard to get the idea of the "holy
trinity" of mother/father/child as primary birthing unit
appreciated, assisting the evolution from home birth with midwife to
permitting the father's full acceptance in the delivery to
eventually, after the unassisted home and underwater birth of our
three children, to primarily focusing on helping other families to
celebrate "freebirth." another of Jeannine's neologisms. Freebirth
being ideally the conscious preparation, birthing and early
childhood, retaining and maximizing the sanctity of the holy trinity
without the need for experts to dilute the love bonding of this
sacred and pivotal time.

Following out the natural progression, Jeannine was a
dedicated advocate for home education and against the childhood
sexual mutilation called circumcision. Bringing it all back home,
she was a tireless worker to protect the environment and promote
family health. Locally she was instrumental in blocking a proposed
asbestos dump site that was poorly designed, fought for years to
curtail the aerial spraying of malathion for mosquitos, and from her
deathbed worked to block a coal-fired power plant.

Jeannine's "Book of the Moon Club" and "Hygieia College
Correspondence Course" touched the lives of literally thousands
around the world with its curriculum of "womancraft," which included
herbs, midwifery, astrology, archetypal psychology and maiutic
healing. (Socrates called his method of doing philosophy the
maiutic method, meaning in the method of the midwife, to talk with
his students, letting the questions draw out their own natural
knowing). As Jeannine would say, "the wound reveals the cure." She
would ask questions that often led the questioner to the deeper
meaning of their own particular dis-ease.

Which perhaps leads us to ask about the meaning of Jeannine's liver
disease called HCV. She certainly turned her questions inward to look
more closely at her own wound and cure. As for the "cause," it probably
will not be know for sure, she liked to say that it was caused by a
Rhogam shot, which is possible, but she also liked to say, in true
Gemini/Leo fashion, that she, "never let the facts get in the way of a
good story," and that, "proof shows a lack of imagination." It is probably
more likely that the many years as midwife and never using gloves was
involved in her infection.

The progression of the disease was quite mysterious in that
it did not follow the usual profile expected from her blood tests.
Her liver was way too healthy to even be considered for a transplant
even though it was clear that she was extremely ill and in the last
stages actually dying. But then Jeannine was not one for following
the usual profiles!

Personally, I feel that she helped prepare me for the final
transition by helping me to become a fledgling midwife or
midhusband, assisted me in getting some distance by divorcing me
(She even had a "Conscious Divorce" party, but didn't invite me, ha!)
and then let me back in very fully to be the primary care
person at her home death. Although she had several opportunities to
learn more about her condition by undergoing testing in the
hospital, she was very clear at the end that she did not want to
take the chance of dying in the hospital. Viewed from the overall
perspective of her life as a dedicated teacher of expert-free rites
of passage, this seems very appropriate, although frustrating at
times for some of her caregivers.

Jeannine is missed greatly by many. For me, we could talk
using the language of astrology, yoga, Buddhism, shamanism,
midwifery, archetypal psychology, Tantra and pre-found humor,
developed over 25 years into a grammar of signs and phrases that
conveyed years and paragraphs. Near the end, but while she still
had a good deal of clarity, we surfed this Sea of Logos again
together to our great pleasure.

It was not always easy being with such a dedicated teacher,
we would have our "dharma battles" as we called them, but I consider
it a huge blessing to have been escorted over so many thresholds by
this wonder-full woman, not the least of which involved the rigorous
final exam of her grand exit.

Today, as the moon is waxing towards its fullness in Jeannine's beloved
sign of the Twins, it is the 13th day after her last breath and folks
around the world will be giving thanks and holding the image of her joyous
passage. In the yoga/Hindu tradition this 13th day is a time of ceremony for
the Soul. Baba Hari Dass, her yoga teacher, who is perhaps not by mere
co-incidence in seclusion, has said that it is good that the Moon has been
waxing so that its light can now help propel her Soul free of the earth plane.

In closing, I would like to say that the non-profit
educational and charitable foundation that we created together, The
Six Directions Foundation, will now be dedicated to continuing
Jeannine's work and favorite projects, and in supporting her
children as appropriate. There are several fundraising projects
proposed, a biography begun, and a documentary film underway. If
you or anyone you know has photos, videos, tape recordings, stories,
etc., of Jeannine and would be willing to share them, please let me
know. Thank You!

Oh, one more image/idea. Re-mind everyone you know, especially
pregnant and pre-pregnant folks, that Jeannine might be reincarnating,
so lets treat all the babies with this possibility and give them the very
best treatment, you-all know, the kind that Jeannine would want and deserve.
She has been preparing the way --picking up as many stones in the path as
she could in her amazing life.

For All Our Relations . . .
Love and namaste, Rico