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Heidi's Story
In Berkley, California, there is a remarkable artist and doll maker named Cassandra Light,
who has dedicated herself to assisting others in healing the pain of their lives by the slow, gentle,
art of constructing a doll. Her classes take an entire year to complete, and at the end of the year each
participant has created a doll that represents their life struggles.  There is an art event, held in a large art
gallery, which showcases the dolls created by the students. It is open to the public, and the event attracts
crowds every year. The Way of the Doll is the title of a book about her amazing healing workshops.
One of my dearest old friends, all the way back to sixth grade, took the doll class a
few years ago. Heidi was trying very hard, with her husband Scott, to have a child. They tried
every type of fertility technique and drug in the hopes they would conceive.
After several years, and exhausting all options, they resigned themselves to either adopting or
remaining childless. A very talented artist herself, Heidi enrolled in the year long class and started to
create a doll. Her creation was an old crone, or wise woman, who carried a sack full of broken eggshells on her back.
The crones face was deeply lined and filled with compassion and love. Her eyes gazed up at any who passed
by as if to say “I feel your sorrow.”
Each week as the class met to work on their dolls, they talked about the issues and pain that the doll represented.
Each week they all became co-creators of the healing taking place. The first class was to make feet, to stand
the rest of the world on. Heidi talked about the pain of failure to create life, of the way they had counted on having
a family together.
The next class concentrated on hands, maybe the hardest part. Heidi told horror stories of the fertility
treatments and the pain, both physical and emotional that she had endured. Then the faces, the bodies, and
entire scenes to position the dolls in followed, until by the end of the year a huge family of dolls in theatrical
scenes had been created.
By the end of the year, Heidi was pregnant. A miracle of healing and grace, she and
Scott are now the proud parents of a beautiful, artistic little girl named Olivia.
Your Story?
Do you know, or are you, someone who has taken a challenge
and transformed it into a pearl? If so, please send me your
story! It might be posted here online, and I might include
it in a new book I am editing.
Stories can be up to 500 words. Please include your name, address and phone, as well as your email address.
Email your stories to: PathofthePearl@aol.com
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