Here is how I met Agata. John Fox, the father of Poetic Medicine, was giving a program at The Wellness Community. This was 2010 and my first book, “Life with a Hole in It” had just come out. Agata was sitting to my left and when we chatted briefly, she mentioned that she was a shaman. “Oh, I wonder if you would bless my book?” I took it out of my purse and she put both hands on it, bowed her head and held the book silently for about a minute.

“Thank you so much,” I said, moved by her quiet presence. She was tall, with long brown hair. I learned that she was from Poland and had moved to the U.S. ten or twelve years ago. She was married with two boys and her husband was a professor.

I saw her again at another of John Fox’s visits to Atlanta. She read one of her poems that day. I wish I had a copy of it; it was sheer beauty. I don’t think we talked much.

John called me on one of his visits to Atlanta and asked if Rob and I would like to join him and Agata for dinner before he gave his presentation. The four of us had a lovely meal. Both Rob and Agata had gone on a trip with John to Canyon de Chelle in Arizona. In the rugged canyon they wrote poems, camped out and had a very mystical time. John is a master teacher.

The next year the four of us did the same thing. We shared a meal and then attended John’s program at Decatur Healing Arts, where he had spoken the last time. John was staying at Agata’s home and she helped him get set up for the program.

I was surprised and delighted when I got an email from her inviting me to book a session with her teacher, Theo. Rob drove me to her house and there I met the man who would lift a major portion of my grief in just an hour. Theo!

I wanted to see Theo when he returned in six months so I emailed Agata asking her when he would be in town. I got no answer from her. I finally went to her Facebook page. It had become a memorial to her. I sat there in instant grief, the tears falling onto my keyboard. She had died of a sudden stomach cancer. The family had told no one. She fell ill in December and died in February.

No one could wrap their minds around the death of such a vibrant woman in her late forties. I only saw her five times in my life.

Next month, both Theo and John Fox will be at Decatur Healing Arts to do what they do best. John will hold a poetry circle and Theo will give energy healings. I hope they get to spend a bit of time together since Agata helped both of them when they visited. They stayed in her home and had the privilege of being in her wise and calm presence.

If you are still reading this, the point is this. The soul knows when it meets pivotal people. Patrice Dickey and Agata Dichev were two of those people for me. Their deaths hit home the message that it is not the length of life that is important. Some people are gateways. These women were and I am so grateful they both lit a spark in me that cannot die.

For Agata

Some souls are so bright
they become light for others
and in so doing become
a greater light.


Some souls are so loving
they become love for others
and in so doing
become a greater love.


Some souls are so bright
that in their darkness
and suffering they pierce
the veil of suffering for others
and lead them right into the heart of God.

~
Vicki Woodyard