NEEDLES AND MISTLETOE

You may think it sacrilege but as much as Christmas is an infusion of hope to humanity, these needles are liquid doses of life to me.

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I couldn’t bring myself to dispose of this evidence of what the body can endure, so instead I nested them in the hand painted jar perched atop the vintage cabinet where no one would ever know but me.

Counting out 460, these [used] needles represent the miraculous, breathtaking art of living—

In all its forms,

Through every grueling and glorious detail.

Between hanging the lights on the long-needled branches and buying little stuffed ornaments for Archie to hang on the tree, I take a two minutes pause for this three-times weekly ritual of filling the syringe and injecting my belly with Mistletoe—

different than the one we kiss under, but still life-giving and affirming in every possible way.

Everything seems intricately connected these days. I stay open to the messages, sensing that imbedded in the little things we dismiss, are so many of the answers we crave.

What hard thing do you regard as unsavory and unlovely?

Look closer. The prickliest of moments could contain your remedy—

There is revelation in the new thing, the unexpected thing and unwanted thing.

Even a king was unafraid to fuse this uncommon pairing of contrasting ideas—Fearfully and wonderfully made—He understood that while we breathe, every experience we go through must be regarded as Holy.

What does this even mean? Perhaps that our most unsightly moments can be redeemed—

Take for instance a homely little fungus,

hung above a threshold to celebrate love,

then as remedy poured into our veins.

Be careful what we disregard, despise, and throw away.

“With ALL creation I sing praise to the King of Kings.”

Not simply a beautiful line in some well-penned melody,

But the revelation of the day. That this mystery of creation [Mistletoe in this case] is intended not only for our comfort and enjoyment but to quell our suffering and to heal.

HE is in the business of healing and restoration.

The Artist whose brushstroke paints in the colors of infinity, not in black and white.

When we view our lives as one thing or another, when we divide our experiences into little boxes of emotion—

Fear. Anger. Resentment. Happiness. Love. Surprise—

We fail to acknowledge the complexity of our humanness,

And miss how truly fearfully and wonderfully made we are.

I uncap the tiny vial of golden liquid, fill the syringe and tap the bubbles away.

Without overstating, this moment is sacred.

Mistletoe and needles at Christmas.

At least that’s what it is to me.

NOTES:

I began my journey with Mistletoe three years ago when my profoundly wise Integrative doctor encouraged me to add it to my complex cancer-fighting regime.

“To beat this we must create a hostile environment where cancer cannot thrive.”

How breathtaking that in this case, Hostility means a new level of Purity—

In the thoughts that I entertain.
In the foods that I eat.
In the conversations I enter into.
In the words that I speak.

My lifelong quest is to take every thought captive, to fill every room with the mystical quality of a kind of goodness that must be lived not simply named.

You will be reading and hearing more and more about Mistletoe in the coming months as mainstream Western medicine begins to better understand and acknowledge its extraordinary benefits to those who are living [even thriving] with cancer, like me.

If you would like to know more about the specifics of my Mistletoe journey, reach out at jkraft@sanctuaryliving.life . I will do my best to come alongside you, to be a loving and responsible resource, even guide.   

ABOUT VISCUM MALI—Mistletoe is a semiparasitic plant that grows on many types of trees, including apple, oak, maple, elm, pine, and poplar. It has been used for hundreds of years to treat medical conditions and is one of the most widely studied complementary and alternative medicine therapies for cancer. In Europe, mistletoe extracts are among the most prescribed therapies for cancer patients, providing markedly reduced effects of chemotherapy. Recent studies demonstrate promising results in the reduction of tumor activity.

Though a different variety, mistletoe has also been considered, since ancient Greece, to be a symbol of fertility. Nordic myth decrees that anyone who stands under the mistletoe tree deserves not only protection from death, but also a kiss.

NEEDLES ON THE TREE— It took three hours to tie 480 ribbons on the needles I’ve saved from my therapies. In the end, the images below demonstrate that what started as a labor of love, evolved into more of an art installation depicting the beauty of the body’s ability to heal. It is my hope that these images will inspire a new way of seeing beauty in every situation.

Psalm 139:14~I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully. made; your works are wonderful, my soul knows this well.