Reiki

Kristine Rasmussen, a Reiki practitioner and an artist, died of cancer Saturday at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The North Baltimore resident was 53. Born and raised in Kingston, N.Y., Ms. Rasmussen attended the Art Institute of Chicago and earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts from Swarthmore College in 1979, the year she moved to Baltimore. She had worked as a freelance illustrator of science textbooks and was a master practitioner and teacher of Reiki, a traditional Japanese healing technique.

It all started with a bottle of hair dye. When nothing from veterinary medicine to acupuncture to herbal remedies could address her cat Victor's refusal to use his litter box anymore, an increasingly desperate Terri Diener contacted an animal communicator and was promptly asked if she colored her hair. She did, and it turned out the product she used was giving the cat severe headaches and depression - no wonder he wouldn't enter the bathroom where his facilities also were kept.

South County center plans October events South County Senior Center will be offering the following activities next month: Tuesday, 10 a.m., Garden Club will be making scarecrows. Rain date is Oct. 25. Tuesday, 9:30 a.m., Advisory Council meeting. Tuesday, 1 p.m., New Kids On the Block meeting for new members of the center. Oct. 5, 10 a.m., information on Medicare prescription drug benefit program. Oct. 5, 12:30 p.m., movie-and-popcorn showing of Finding Neverland. Oct. 12, 8:30 a.m. 10 a.m., free breakfast to "Celebrate Your Membership," at the center.

The Rev. Laura Cannon specializes in two words: I do. And those two words have taken her all over the mid-Atlantic, from hotels and historic mansions to sandy beaches, museums and restaurants to the intimacy of a couple's home - even surprise nuptials at an annual chili feast. But Cannon didn't set out to become a wedding officiant. It's something the 31-year-old Ellicott City resident stumbled into, and it clicked. "For me, the greatest joy is being part of someone's most special day," she says.

THOSE SEEKING RELIEF from life's emotional or physical pains might find help at the "Introduction to Reiki" workshop, sponsored by the Women's Place, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Feb. 7 at Carroll County General Hospital. Reiki (pronounced ray-key) is a Japanese healing technique devised in the late 1800s by Dr. Mikao Usui. According to practitioners, reiki taps into the universal life force that surrounds all living things. Channeling this force into the body can enhance the effectiveness of medical treatments or ease emotional distress.

Kim Holland's biker-chick days were over not long after they began, with the 46-year-old smashed between her Harley and a guardrail in Elkridge, and a bystander saving her right leg by taking off his belt and making it into a tourniquet before paramedics rushed her to the hospital. A week after she arrived at the University of Maryland's Shock Trauma Center - a week filled with operations and skin grafts, narcotics by pill and by pump - she lay in bed. The lights down low, soft music playing to drown out the buzzing and beeping and ringing that make up a hospital's soundtrack, two women slowly waved their arms over Holland's broken body, as if trying to push away the pain.

Joan Meekins first tried reiki a year ago, to relieve the side effects of chemotherapy.Now the Carroll County woman is a certified practitioner of reiki, or touch therapy."

St. Andrews holds weekly soup sale St. Andrew's United Methodist Church, 4 Wallace Manor Road, Edgewater, will hold its weekly soup sale and indoor flea market from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. tomorrow. Soup will be sold by the quart or gallon, and preorders will be accepted. Space at the flea market is available for $15 for a 10-by-10 foot space and tables are $5. Food concessions will be available. Information: 410-269-7671. `Burning bowl' ceremony set Unity by the Bay Church, suite 18 at 836 Ritchie Highway in Severna Park, will hold a "burning bowl" ceremony at 10:30 a.m. Sunday.

It all started with a bottle of hair dye. When nothing from veterinary medicine to acupuncture to herbal remedies could address her cat Victor's refusal to use his litter box anymore, an increasingly desperate Terri Diener contacted an animal communicator and was promptly asked if she colored her hair. She did, and it turned out the product she used was giving the cat severe headaches and depression - no wonder he wouldn't enter the bathroom where his facilities also were kept.

Linda Gray's patients don't mind if she needles them a bit. That's part of her job.Dr. Gray, who lives in Woodbine, is a holistic veterinarian who practices a combination of Eastern and Western medicines. She said she finds that a little natural medicine can go a long way toward healing pets and their owners.Dr. Gray's interest in natural medicine began after nearly a decade spent in immunologic research. After earning graduate diplomas in immunology at the Johns Hopkins University and in chemistry and microbiology at the University of Maryland, Dr. Gray went back to school -- at what she calls "an advanced age" -- to study for her veterinary degree at Tufts University.

St. Andrews holds weekly soup sale St. Andrew's United Methodist Church, 4 Wallace Manor Road, Edgewater, will hold its weekly soup sale and indoor flea market from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. tomorrow. Soup will be sold by the quart or gallon, and preorders will be accepted. Space at the flea market is available for $15 for a 10-by-10 foot space and tables are $5. Food concessions will be available. Information: 410-269-7671. `Burning bowl' ceremony set Unity by the Bay Church, suite 18 at 836 Ritchie Highway in Severna Park, will hold a "burning bowl" ceremony at 10:30 a.m. Sunday.

Kim Holland's biker-chick days were over not long after they began, with the 46-year-old smashed between her Harley and a guardrail in Elkridge, and a bystander saving her right leg by taking off his belt and making it into a tourniquet before paramedics rushed her to the hospital. A week after she arrived at the University of Maryland's Shock Trauma Center - a week filled with operations and skin grafts, narcotics by pill and by pump - she lay in bed. The lights down low, soft music playing to drown out the buzzing and beeping and ringing that make up a hospital's soundtrack, two women slowly waved their arms over Holland's broken body, as if trying to push away the pain.

A Wicca devotee and small businessman from Dundalk came forward yesterday with a photocopy of a lottery ticket showing the winning numbers to Friday's Mega Millions drawing and claimed a share of the estimated $330 million jackpot, though lottery officials have yet to verify his assertion. "I kind of screamed, and then I kind of cried," said Elwood "Bunky" Bartlett, 40, retelling the story of how he and his wife, Denise, greeted the news yesterday morning. Maryland State Lottery officials said they had yet to see the ticket and confirm it was a winner, but planned to meet with Bartlett, a bookkeeping service operator and father of two, on Tuesday.

Kristine Rasmussen, a Reiki practitioner and an artist, died of cancer Saturday at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The North Baltimore resident was 53. Born and raised in Kingston, N.Y., Ms. Rasmussen attended the Art Institute of Chicago and earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts from Swarthmore College in 1979, the year she moved to Baltimore. She had worked as a freelance illustrator of science textbooks and was a master practitioner and teacher of Reiki, a traditional Japanese healing technique.

South County center plans October events South County Senior Center will be offering these activities this month: Friday, 9:30 a.m., nine-ball partners tournament. Partners will be drawn at 9:30 a.m., with start at 9:45 a.m. Monday, 1 p.m., session on "What's This Thing Called Reiki?" Tuesday, 10 a.m., the Garden Club will visit Bittersweet Nursery in Davidsonville. Oct. 19, 9 a.m. to noon, annual craft sale. Oct. 24, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., reiki masters will offer a reiki clinic with 20-minute sessions.

Hospital garage to use new entrance during construction The entrance and exit to the parking garage at North Arundel Hospital has been moved to the east side of the garage, near the hospital's west lobby and flag poles, because of construction at the hospital's new cancer center. The driveway to the garage has been marked with signs to aid patients and visitors. Flagmen will direct traffic. Visitors are asked to use caution when entering and exiting the parking garage. Although construction has reduced visitor parking in front of the hospital, free parking is available in the garage.