I receive some of my mail every few months or so, and just found out through the April Ortho-Bionomy Newsletter of Tara's moving on.

I first met Tara when I was taking a class from Flash at their house in 1996. I was attending the Florida School of Massage at the time and was curious about Tarot cards. I remember Tara blowing through the front door like a huge wind and saying hello to us all as she flew into the kitchen--not to be seen again by me that night. I had seen her many more times after that through Ortho-Bionomy and the massage school--the last time was at a one-week residential in Florida just after the Wise Woman Tarot was published, oh, she was so excited! Tara always seemed to be so magical, and after reading her memorials, I know now that she really was.

I had no idea how many things Tara was involved with, and how very many lives she has (and continues to) touched.

Thank you so much for this wonderful website and beautiful pictures. What an incredible spirit, what an incredible life. Thank you Tara.

As the 11th of June approaches I remember all the birthdays that Tara and I celebrated together. It seems incomprehensible that I will have to go through this day without her.June 27 was our wedding anniversary when we took our vows at 11:11 exactly so that we could open that gateway of love and understanding that would be eternal and last beyond the human constructs of marriage. I only hope that I can begin to experience some of the peace that her transcendance affords her. For me, the missing is still too real. Blessings Flash

Thank you Towne for sending me to your beloved sisters memorial site. I'm getting all choked up reading all these beautiful testimonials to your sisters charmed life. My hopes and prayers are with you and your family.

Blessed Be, dear Flash,

i only found out about the passing of your dear Tara this past week, or i would have written to you sooner. i have been hoping that the Muse would bless me with "Wise Words of Wisdom", but truly, i still feel quite speechless...
i will say that my heart is filled with grateful appreciation that such a special soul walked upon our dear Mother Earth, and that she touched so many lives with her special brand of magic.
i cried and was touched deeply,when i read in the handbook of the Wise Womans Tarot, the story of her mother's passing in the auto accident that Tara lived through in 2000. Very intense Karma, that. Now, Tara is free of her body and is smiling in the stars and throwing kisses to the moon and the sun. She is dancing in bliss on the waves of Isis' Love.
i never "met" her while she was in her human form, but i was touched by her soul. Thank-you beloved Muse for helping me type out the flutterings of my heart.
Your spirit sister,
Amber [Muktimaa}

Thinking of Tucky instantly evokes a person of such great vitality and engagement with life that the very thought of her defies the fact of her death. And what a wonderfully big-hearted, giving, and articulate person!

In the summer of 2004 I renewed my friendship with her at a reunion at the Colorado Rocky Mtn. School. From a talk she gave at the School some years before, I remembered amazing tales of her travels and experiences in China, Afghanistan, Tibet. In each country she was fully involved with the people, learning from them and working with them. Of course, before those adventures she had already developed an interest in foreign places and with her father and then on her own spent a lot of time in Ecuador and Mexico. During this past year when we saw Tucky and had frequent contact with her, she would speak lovingly of her Mexican family, la familia Vega, whose eloquent tribute to her is expressed below (Espiritu Aventurero)

At the end of alumni festivities at the School in 2004, Tucky, with little more than an afternoon remaining before she had to catch a plane, drove 200 miles to see my aged mother, a teacher in the early years at the School whom Tucky had known and admired. Tucky beamed with pleasure to make contact with her old mentor, whose memory was shaky but whose spirit responded warmly and enthusiastically. On that afternoon, my wife and I had a meal and a fine conversation with Tuck at our homeand we remained in fairly regular contact until the day before she last flew to Ecuador.

During this last summer we had another good visit from Tucky. And at my requestover the next few months - in the midst of so many other concerns and projects dear to her - she unstintingly participated in an effort to resolve a controversy involving native american issues and public art. Tucky's approach - which perhaps may show the way - was wonderfully resourceful and disarmingly generous -- qualities that served well this loving and much-loved adventurous spirit.

Thank you to Towne and Linda for your openness to talking about Tara and sharing some of your multitude of memories at her memorial. I wanted to osmose Tara back into my reality through you. I couldn't hear enough about her. Thank you to Michael for your willingness to share, after the memorial, some of your own, many memories of Tara and her omnipresence in your life. I will always associate your smiling face with hers.

I've not been able to write some of my own, life-is-in-the-small-things memories of Tara, but I will soon, not because they are so grandiose, but rather because they are so important to me to remember. She made an indelible impact on my life and I want to remember some of the details.

I would like to have been at Flash's for a greater part of Tara's memorial there. When I arrived, it was in the closing portion. It was clearly a beautiful tribute to the many aspects of Tara's life and spirit. However, my time in conversation with Michael, Towne, and Linda was important, too. If only the timeframes for the memorials had been mutually exclusive; yet, the photographs from Flash's speak volumes.

Love,
Elizabeth

My very first memory of Tucky comes from September, 1958 or 1959 at the Colorado Rocky Mountain School near Carbondale, Colorado.

She was striding down the dirt path to the dorm, a tall and lanky girl with long hair, and a light and a smile in her eyes. A girl in jeans, a tomboy who could do anything. A girl with a daring mind, a big heart, and a robust voice.

As I watched her stride purposefully down the path, I marveled silently: "WHO is THAT!!??" She was outstanding even then.

As students there we shared some good laughs and conversations, and many years later, shortly after the death of my partner in the spring of 1996, we spent a few hours talking together in San Francisco. It was wonderful to spend time with her again, she was just the same, but even better. It felt good to be able to speak freely together.

She was always so down to earth, so REAL, and simply awesome at the same time.

What a spirit!

PS Now I'm not so sure about the year I encountered Tuck again after all those years in high school. It was somewhere in the '90's, but may have been earlier than I originally thought. Sorry! She was just on the verge of starting out on the art therapy path at that time.

I pass by Brown's fruit stand here in Melrose and remember how much Tara loved to make jam with whatever fruit was in season.
No jelly or jam this year, not the strawberries, blueberries or calamundens she so loved. So many missing pieces emerge as I try to move forward without my dearest friend. Too many empty spaces that her light and love filled. too many places where we were together places where her spirit so deeply imprinted my own. This is the hard part, the burning loss that only time may hope to heal. Blessings Flash

This week, a card seemed to almost jump off my desk in my office, and out tumbled a picture of Tara and me at my birthday party, Oct 2004.
This celebratory gathering was held right before I was to have heart surgery that would be tricky--a bigtime gamble, with no guarantees. Tara wished me well.
It was the inscription on the card Tara
sent, that was so telling:
"ALWAYS BE JOYFUL AND NEVER STOP PRAYING.
WHATEVER HAPPENS, KEEP THANKING GOD."

Ah, Tara, the words you shared became the words you lived by;

"ALWAYS BE JOYFUL AND NEVER STOP PRAYING.
WHATEVER HAPPENS, KEEP THANKING GOD."

The way that card " just happened" to float off my desk,
may well have been your present-day message to me, saying,
"This what I have believed, and I Have 'Walked My Talk'."

Dear Tara, as indefatiguable as you've been,
I do not expect you to "REST in Peace".
But you CAN make me a nice Waterfall, or a rainbow, if you get the chance!
Merry Meet and Merry Part and Merry Meet Again.
The Circle Is Open and Never Broken.

Woman of the Wild Wind ...a song for Tara

I
Free bird in the mountain you fly so high
Peaceful and serene you glide by
Soaring soaring far above these human woes
Your spirit flows into all you love

Chorus
No one could tame you you woman of the wild winds
No one could blame you for wanting to see all that is all that is

II
Loving heart you reached so far into the sun
Now this life is done
I only hope you found what you were looking for
When you went through that door
Deep peace... once... more

---
all blessings to you my dearest friend and ex- wife

IF... only I knew her she sounds wounderful . I recently lost a loved one P . S . I know she was loved dearly @

I never met Tara. Becoming acquainted with her posthumously through the recollections and memories of others and the beautiful pictures of her life evoked thoughts that I had missed knowing a very special person and feelings of that loss in my own life. The peace and joy that radiated from her is a sensation that death can never quell. I have known Towne and LInda for many years and can only now fully appreciate the magnitude of their loss. Our eartly sphere is better for having had her passage through it. Thank those of you who have created this site. Namaste, Arlene T.

Espiritu aventurero

Con espiritu aventurero nacio,
Con ansias de conocer tierras lejanas, crecio
Cuando el momento llego; su hogar dejo.
Para realizar ese sueño que la llamaba.

Con ese espiritu, llego a esta tierra mexicana.
La conocio, le gusto y un rato en ella se quedo.
Una familia conocio, que con ella se encariño y la adopto.
Por un tiempo, su vida con ellos compartio, convivio.
Hasta que su espiritu a otras tierras la llevo.

Asi pasaron meses, años,
De pais, en pais; de tierra en tierra,
Aprendiendo de costumbres y culturas ajenas,
Supo de sus necesidades y carencias;
Conocio de cada tierra su sencillez, su belleza y grandeza
Y de esas tierras lejanas, tambien se encariño.
De cada tierra aprendio, valoro
En ninguna arraigo, pero muchas semillas de amistad, sembro.
De aquella familia mexicana que la adopto, nunca se olvido.
Tiempo se daba para visitarla
Compartiendo sus experiencias, sus anecdotas, con ella.
Y nuevamente hasta, pronto, la despedida
Deseandole suerte en su nueva aventura.

el tiempo no perdona,
su energia nermo, su cuerpo se canso,
a su tierra regreso y por fin arraigo
de vez en vez, su espiritu aventurero, se daba sus escapadas.

inquieta por naturaleza, nunca se apaciguo.
Siguio luchando, trabajando, lo que la vida le enseño,
Lo que de ella aprendio, defendiendo con gran pasion.

Hoy, su espiritu aventurero de nuevo se la llevo,
Pero su cuerpo cansado aquí dejo, la muerte la invito
Quizas para continuar viajando en otra dimension
O tal vez a descansar satisfecha y en paz
De lo que hizo y la huella que dejo.

Sin ser perfecta;
Fue una gran amiga y gran ser humano.
Amigos y familiares, nunca la olvidaremos.
Donde quiera que estes,
Descansa en paz, Emily, hermana.

En memoria de Emily, con cariño y respeto
De su familia mexicana.

Desde Mexico, desde aquí.
Para ti, Tuck; solo un gracias.
Gracias por tus gentilezas,
Por tus atenciones y detalles;
Por tu cariño y respeto.
Porque aun en la distancia,
tiempo te dabas, para tenernos presente.
Una oracion por el descanso
de tu cuerpo, de tu alma.
Donde quiera que estes, sabemos que estas bien,
Porque fuiste buena amiga, buena hermana.
Dejando raices bien arraigadas.
En nuestro corazon y mente, siempre estaras presente.
Nada borrara los momentos compartidos, convividos.
Gracias; amiga, hermana.
descansa en paz.

Tus hermanos, sobrinos y amigos de Mexico.

I first encountered Tara when she requested that I supervise her Master's degree internship..

After our two semesters of supervisory relationship, Tara and I became friends, and she, subsequently, became part of an "Asclepian" group (of healers) from the Greater Volusia area.

After Tara moved to the Gainesville area, we had less frequent contact, but we stayed in contact through infrequent phone calls, and e-mails.

Tara lived her life "full tilt," and she experienced life deeply ..

She contributed to, and greatly enriched the lives of almost everyone she encountered. She will be, deeply, missed.

I knew Tara only through the Tarot deck that I own, which is lovely. The pictures reveal a radiant spirit.
May she continue in peace.

I never met Tara, but she supported the work of a non profit of which I am a representative, Dogs Deserve Better. After reading the other notes posted here, I realize she was a very compassionate person. I am sure she will be missed.

Aieee, I got the news about my dear Tara many days after her death. What a shock! and yet, and yet, when I spoke with her a bit before her trip, she was smiling and philosophical about whatever would be. I got the feeling, then, that she was prepared to leave the planet. As many have said, it is a better place for her having been here. She gave more of her spirit, talent, resources in her 63 years than most of us could offer in two lifetimes.

Vignettes: meeting her over twenty years ago at a Mindell process-work seminar. Immediately, we did some work together that was profound, intense, open-hearted, full of presence. We "fell in love" and have had a connection all through the years./ I encouraged her to go to Lesley for an Expressive Arts Therapy degree. She shared her thesis with me in the form of an amazing video in which she dances, speaks, goes through family relationships and her own creative journey into the labyrinth of her being. / When she produced the Wise Woman Tarot with her dear Flash, she brought me a bunch of copies in those silk bags that she had arranged to have made by women in Afghanistan. I have introduced this deck to many people in the Boston area and it is a favorite among the women I know./

The last time she visited, last year, we sat at my kitchen table drinking tea and she caught me up on all her environmental work in many forms and her happiness about her new love, Michael. Suddenly, she asked me if I would cut her hair, that 70's hair she had had the whole time I knew her. I said, "Sure!" and when we were done, she was delighted with the transformation from her look to that of a modern woman. But her beauty knew no bounds and I am so honored to have had her in my life in so many ways.

Blessings and solace to all who knew and loved her.

Thanks so much to all the friends and family who helped create a beautiful and elevating send off for Tara underneath the arms of the Grandmother Tree @ Moonhaven this past Sunday. It was an excrutiatingly hard day for me and the love and supporrt i received really healped me get through it. I have had virually little sleep since hearing the news Thurs . Jan 26. Now that the memorial is over I will also rest and heal and continue to do the work healing and protecting the animals that was part of the love Tara and I shared with them Blessings Flash

Tucky, even as we grieve you bless us.
YOU know ,now, how deeply we are touched

without saying... you know

Candles lit, Cushions facing East
Carol and I sat for hours
when we heard you had passed
tears flowed ..incense burned
the sun set..
resounding cry of your pain rang out and you giggled over and over in consciousness...that BEAUTIFUL giggle..
.you stretched out..as only you could..
full length
and took up residence..fully present in the celebration in Maine
while Stephanie was following your instructions and reading from the Tibetan Book of the Dead in Sebastian.
Even now... drawing us together,
Orchestrating , seductive and alive in our hearts
authentic and pressing us forward, stirring us up...outrageous, perky and playful
THANKYOU for drawing close.
Allowing me to be real with you, acceptable to you...for bringing beloved Michael to meet Charles and me
I bow down with thanksgiving for your spirit
with reverence ..feeling you surprisingly close..but you always were surprising us

Sandy

Tara dear was a member of my Diamond Heart group in Houston for a number of years and stayed in my home with me whenever she came to Houston. I loved and enjoyed her so--we had many plans for the future-I was looking forward to doing some traveling with her--etc etc. I basked in her fresh creative view and my heart expanded in her presence--I have kept her 2003 New Year's card on my desk and see it daily-I spoke with and corresponded with her often -especailly since the breast cancer diagnois --she was a vital friend to me and my dear sister Elizabeth while E was going through her 4 year colon cancer ordeal which ended on Oct 16,2005 when she made her transition--I hope they are together now --on several occasions I have read the 2003 card to Tara and to others as it shores up my heart and soul--so here it is from her to us---Help us, Lord to be the master of ourselves that we may become the servants of others. Take our lips and speak through them, our minds and think through them, and take our hearts and set them on fire.
Amen dear dear Tara--Amen---Love Donna

moments of bliss.
a child comes to the mother.
the mother reaches back and holds the child with arms like a woven nest with down feathers.
moments of faith.
a child comes to the mother
the mother reaches back with words that soothe, and support--though encourage to take the leaps to live in ones body and stand in ones truth.
moments of safety.
the child comes to the mother.
the mother reaches back with strength to pull one deep into the surrounds of her spirit and courage making herself large, and loud like the lion to protect.
moments of love.
a child comes to the mother.
the mother lets go, smiles with warmth, and pride for the independence, and the knowledge that the child has learned to stand on their own two feet.
moments of knowing.
this mother stays in the heart, in the very soul--the awareness that they are always there--in words, in dreams, in images of what they have passed along.

Tara, thank you for what you gave to me. I hope I will be able to hear your voice with me always, and to always remember the courage you helped me to find within myself. Peacefully and with grace.

How long it had been since I last spoke to or saw Tara I cannot say. Then, as usual, she leaves a message on the answering machine "I'll be in town on.....Card to follow." as if we had been in contact yesterday:

She arrives at dusk.
Time stops for Just Passing Through.
All is said and done.

The following is an email I sent Tara after Thanksgiving, the day we learned of her cancer. Tara said she loved this email and cried when she read it because it "touched exactly where I need to be right now."


Beloved Tara and Michael,

Join us for a minute out here in the Universe,
above the world,
where earthly lives are just soap bubbles
short lived and of little importance
other than providing an occasional flash of beauty and lingering memories.

Where physical and mental realities
are not real at all
and bodies are just temporary fragile shelters for the spirit.


Out here in the Universe all that matters
is a sense of awe and a remembered sense of earthly bonding,
(living beings with other living beings,
and with inanimate "beings"
such as a favorite crystal or rock)
during the Waltz of Life.

Out here faces, places, dates, phone numbers
self identities and words melt away.
But we DO remember feelings, such as the bonding we experienced
on a special moment in time
with two very special beings
who spoke the Universal language rather than the
English tribal language
and who took in
Universal nourishment rather than American foods
and in whose eyes we saw not the here and now but Eternity.

Thank you for those sensations,
which are lasting and important
and which, we believe, will go forward with us after our lives on earth have ended.

Thank you for waltzing with us on a very special Thanksgiving
marked by nourishment for the soul and deep healing.

Good Journey, beloved fellow travelers,
Robin and Dan

I will never forget the instant I met Tara. She literally burst through the door of the mountaintop hotel where I was about to begin the three day festivities for my wedding (my first wedding, at age 60) with her arms full of abundance...bright colored flowers, balloons, enormous white bows, wine and presents. She approached me at what seemed to be 50 mph, thrust all these gifts into my arms, gave me an intimate hug and announced, "I'm Tara. I'm here to help with your wedding. What shall we do first." Her eyes were ancient and wise and they locked with my own. A million words were spoken in silence. Her eyes held all the pain of the ages and yet beneath that pain was a joy of life that mirrored my own. Who was this beautiful, enthusiastic, other worldly wedding planner? She was a soul sister, one of those women whose presence is necessary to your life, someone you can't imagine NOT meeting, one of those women who put a dividing line in your life, as in "Before I met Tara" and "After I met Tara." But where had she come from? I looked over her shoulder and saw Michael, always a bearer of gifts, a man who had given abundantly to me both of his time and his healing wisdom. Michael had spent the last year helping with my self help book for people recently diagnosed with a life altering illness. Now he was beaming as if to say, "This woman is my wedding present to you." And what a gift! She splashed without hesitation into a mountain stream to gather pure water for our mountaintop ceremony. She invented prayers that were perfect representations of what we felt. She helped me into my wedding dress when none of the bridesmaids thought to do so. She was at my side during the entire event giving love, encouragement and beaming that special wise smile. And those eyes......

It was love at first sight.

A few weeks after the wedding Tara asked about my non-profit, which helps mentally and physically disabled individuals in North Central Florida overcome various barriers and re-enter the job market. Her eyes probed through my own eyes and scanned my mind for details. It was almost like a Vulcan Mind Meld. A few weeks later she presented me with a check that enabled us to expand our work into three new counties. It was the single most unexpected and generous gift I ever received. A tremendous amount of good has come from that gift. In 2005 we were able to guide twice as many disabled people back on track and into jobs as in 2004.

During the last months of her life, Tara and I visited, spoke and wrote emails both about her medical condition and about Ultimate Reality. We discussed the fact that people are never "gone." They are right here loving us as always, but our five human senses are so limited that we cannot perceive them. We spoke of a giant flaming infinity sign and our souls tracing "infinite" infinity signs as we pass the crossing point (point of birth and death) again and again. I am going to attach one of the emails I sent Tara in another posting. She said she cried with joy when she read it.

I am convinced that Tara knew she was not going to be with us in human form for very long. On two occasions, speaking of future events in 2006 she burst into tears and said "I don't think the Universe intends me to be here for that." At the time, I thought this was simply fear of the breast cancer talking (although I could not imagine Tara being afraid) and comforted her as best I could. I told her of many friends who survived breast cancer, many happy endings. I now realize I was off base and comforting her about the wrong thing. She was not afraid of cancer. She had something else on her mind. Tara would not be comforted at these times, and she continued to profess that she would not be here when it was time for the activities I suggested. When I asked if she would be President of my non profit, thinking it might raise her spirits to have a new challenge to look forward to, she replied, "I can't accept. The Unverse has other plans for me." I now believe that she knew for a fact that she would only be in human form for a few more weeks.

During the last few precious days I have felt Tara hovering very close.. almost constantly. It feels as if she is only a foot or so above me. I can almost smell her hair. I realize that I only knew her a year and a half and that I was not in her "inner circle" but for some reason she is almost tangibly here with me. I feel honored by her presence. I find myself whispering "Thank you, thank you, thank you." I have heard from others that they feel her incredibly close as well. There is perhaps an explanation for this: there is simply so MUCH of Tara that she can easily be with all of us at once.

Thank you Tara for enriching the lives of everyone you touched.
Thank you Flash for making Tara happy for so many years,
All women are sisters under God,
and Tara's eyes are watching us, watching us....

January 28, 2005

Tuck:
Doy gracias a Dios por el tiempo que te permitio estar aqui en la tierra y sembrar el cariño y admiracion en cada ser humano que te conocio, en mi vida fuiste una hermana que me ayudo en tiempos dificiles al estar al lado de mi familia al faltar mi madre y apoyarnos espiritual y emocionalmente y continuar a nuestro lado por un largo año mi padre ausente tambien te estara dando las infinitas gracias por tu apoyo y ayuda invaluable personalmente en el cielo, gracias infinitas por haber sido como una hermana en tiempo de angustia, fuiste una bendicion a mi y ami familia te recordare siempre con tu hermosa sonrisa que te caracterizaba, Jehova te bendiga y te guarde, Jehova haga resplandecer su rostro sobre ti y tenga de ti misericordia, Jehova alce sobre ti su rostro y ponga en ti paz. Tu Hermana Rocio Vega G. Te quiero.