My newest Tarot Card is up on my website: the Bellydance Tarot Sun. See and read about it on the
HREF="http://LunaRivera.tripod.com/TarotMajors.html">
 Tarot Majors Page.

The original is already up for auction on eBay, and will end Thursday evening, June 28. I am feeling pretty good and making art right along steady now, also walking, doing yoga, and I have started mountain biking again. This is probably odd to some of you in light of my new cancer diagnosis that I wrote about last week. But what has happened is; while yes, I still have cancer, what it is down to now is a couple small spots that hardly cause any symptoms and we are right on top of this: I am on a new gentle chemotherapy now called topoteecan (Hycamtin), and next week I begin a 2-week course of radiation. I basically have 2 small spots of cancer that are new metastases: one on the L2 vertebra of my spine, and one on the plueral lining of my right lung. The radiation is going to be tightly targeted on the spinal spot, and it looks good that they can kill that one off. The chemo is to enhance the radiation effect and to knock out the lung spot. What scares everybody else quite a bit more than it does me is that now I do have a new diagnosis of 'incurable cancer'. It is called 'Metatastic Ovarian Cancer', and I will probably always get new spots in new places from time to time. I will be closely monitored and treated as needed. With this regimen the doctors tell me I can live for years and years, and of course with all the advances coming out in cancer treatment who knows when something new will come down the pike that will cure me? Could be anytime! This is a diagnosis I can live with, literally, and I wish that many of you wouldn't be as upset about it as you seem to be!

Am I disappointed that I cannot take up the new career path I had planned on? Certainly I am, and yet I see a blessing here too - I am an artist, and I always carry that with me. I have that for my life. Perhaps I took a wrong turning with the earlier plans I made. I intend to help animals, and I intend to make my way to the shore and help the pelicans, and live close to or among them if I can. But I can use my art as a vehicle to make these things happen - aren't I lucky that I have this second route I can take to reach my goals! I feel very lucky indeed, and my art has had a whole new lease-on-life now.

I have already mentioned that I will be working somewhat differently than I have in the past and that's true. You won't see so many small things from me. I won't make many more ACEOs, although I will finish the 'Zodiac Cats' series in that size. I will be finishing my Cat Tarot in the ATC (3"x4.5") size. I have 2 more Majors (Judgement and The World) left in that and then will begin on the Cat Minors straight away. I also have the same 2 Majors to finish in the Bellydance Tarot, and then I will put that aside: it has not generated the interest the Cats deck has, and so it will exist as a Majors set only. Once these Majors sets are complete, I will have a selling point set up here on the website where you can buy complete sets of either the Cat or Dancer Majors.  I'll only be offering the individual prints in my eBay store. Since my time will be freed up by doing only one set of Minors (the Cats), I will begin doing some larger paintings on canvas that I think you'll like to see: Egyptian themes, Goddesses, Dream-Inspired stuff. This is what I've missed doing for a long time now and I look forward to doing that kind of work again.

So - this is where I'm at right now. I honestly feel pretty well and excited about my life. I've always preferred looking forward to back, so onward I go...