Good Morning- I’m Thea Sagen and I’m a textile artist who made that newly installed ‘heart-work’ hanging there in the back of the sanctuary; the angel with her arms encircling the Earth. I appreciate this opportunity to share her story and symbolism with you.

In the Spring of 2007, I was one of two dozen local artists who volunteered to create an angel to be auctioned later that fall. Proceeds would benefit the Monterey Cultural Council’s restoration of the original Erica Franke painted angels commissioned by the City of Monterey in the 1950’s. You may remember seeing them decorating the adobes and lamp-posts downtown every Christmas since then.

When the blank plywood cutout arrived at my door it was shortly after I had received cancer treatmentat Stanford Hospital. We would not know how well it worked for 3 long months, so it was such a blessing to have this project to focus on while I was recuperating. I was weak and not at all sure that I would finish it, but I needed to try to express something that was stirring inside me.

I knew that the ‘heart space’ of the angel had to be the Apollo 17 NASA photograph of Earth from outer space. The one Rick talked about today. This photograph is my most favorite image. It moves me. Many people believe that it is the single most important image of our time.

Why? Obviously it shows us an Earth that is beautiful- mostly blue with white swirling clouds and an occasional brownish land mass. That’s why I made the angel in shades of blue. More importantly, it helps us to see and comprehend the earth as a single living organism. It is the perfect visual for Gaia, the ancient Greek word for Mother Earth. And it reveals not only her beauty, but also her vulnerability. Out there in the infinite blackness of space like a small blue marble, it’s apparent how finite and fragile our Earth really is. Just yesterday I read that this photo depicting a circle within a square is in the form of a mandalaa Sanskrit word for the form used in all Tibetan sacred paintings: a circle within a square. And according to Carl Jung, this form is a symbol for the Self, the archetype of meaning that we might call God or Goddess. In choosing this image, I now see that I was unconsciously making the connection between my self and the power of the Goddess Gaia and the healing we each needed.

Today, almost 40 years since the photo was taken, scientists now agree that the use of fossil fuels, and the resulting green-house gasses have triggered a global climate change that threatens our biosphere and all living things within it, including us. Add to that the chemical pollution of our rivers and oceans, the depletion of resources such as topsoil, fisheries, and forests and it’s no wonder that the balance of natural processes within Gaia have been disturbed.

I think that this threat to our planet’s environment is similar to having cancer. Both involve a loss of homeostasis. The ‘Gaia Hypothesis’ formulated in the mid-60’s proposed that the Earth is alive and that it functions much as our bodies do to maintain homeostasis. Once that balance was lost for me, I knew I had to act decisively. But in order to act, I needed hope. There were times when I just wanted to pull the covers over my head and hide. Then I’d think about Jerome Groopman’s definition of HOPE from his book, The Anatomy of Hope- How People Prevail in the Face of Illness. He says HOPE is “the elevating feeling we experience when we see, in the mind’s eye, a path to a better future. Hope acknowledges the significantobstacles and deep pitfalls along the path. True hope has no room for delusion.”

As a cancer survivor, I’ve learned that there’s really no such thing as ‘false hope’. I have visualized and created my path to a healthy future while simultaneously acknowledging the tough odds and navigating through the valley of death. All along the way, HOPE has sustained me. As I worked on the angel, I was seeing in my mind’s eye, a path to a better future both personally and globally. This seems to me to be the best way to approach the overwhelming environmental changes that threaten our collective survival. We can’t deny what is happening. That’s why Gaia is in the arms of a higher power. I envisioned a benevolent yet mighty Guardian to inspire and champion the changes needed to protect her.

And so I named the angel Gaia’s Guardian. She represents the power of sacred intention, a fervent prayer for homeostasis, the promise and beauty of abundant life, and the enduring and invincible power of love.

Like the mandala, I see myself in the arms of a greater Creativepower. This has given me the wherewithal to face personal adversity and immobilizing fear and still have hope. By the time my angel was completed, my strength had returned and the cancer had diminished.

Then, on the afternoon of the auction I got a phone call from Barb Lotz, a member of this Chapel, who was very excited about an inspiration that hadcome to her. She wanted to make a very generous donation to a non-profit. She read about the Angel Auction and had seen the photo of me with Gaia’s Guardian in the local paper. Barb had decided to bid on it and gift it back to me so that I could decide where it would go. I was stunned by her sensitivity and generosity. (Chapel members George and Ann Wilson also bid that night hoping to purchase the angel for the Chapel, but Barb outbid them.)

Here’s what Barb e-mailed me: “the Gaia Angel you opened to create is so powerful and so beautiful, so creative and so very, verytimely, and energetically so needed. She is protecting you as you wish to protect the earth. Her wings are clean energy power boosters, (I liked that) her ‘being’ is open…no separation between earth and sky at her core, and she is grounded in beauty, in multi dimensions, and is the softest strength. When I see the energy of you two together, there was no question in my mind or heart that she needed to stay and be with you in her original form”.

During the intervening months, Barb and I e-mailed back and forth about possible projects using photos of this and two other angels we alsobid on as a surprise for her. We wanted to raise money to benefit a worthy cause but medical limitations got in our way. Last Sunday those two angels that Barb so enjoyed in her home, stood at her memorial service, flanking the beautiful photos of her amidst the flowers.

Kit and I installed Gaia’s Guardian on Earth Day last week. It is agift to the Chapel from both Barb and me. I would like to dedicate it to the memory of her unbelievably generous heart and her deeply creative soul. If she could have been here today, I know she would have written a beautiful piece of music to go with it.

I will close with two quotes that I wrote onto the back of Gaia’s Guardian for her future owner to read: