🌕 My Full Moon Emergency, the Heroine’s Descent & the Unexpected Magic of Room 4

Eleftheria Kakambouras
Dec 5
13 min read

(A long read — bring tea, chocolate, a blanket, and maybe a soft place to land.)

Before I begin, allow me to open this with a wholehearted, humbled thank you.Your messages, your prayers, your healing energy, your love — I felt every single one of them as I recovered from my recent emergency hospital adventure. Every blessing, every whispered intention, every emoji heart landed in my body like medicine.

Thank you for your kindness as I postponed sessions. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for staying connected while I slowly made my way back.

Thank YOU, for being You.To this extraordinary community of women who lead from Love — my heart bows deeply to you.

This experience taught me so much about intuitive wisdom, presence, healing, human kindness, and the unseen threads guiding us.

Today, I feel called to share my story… the one that unfolded over these past wild, mystical, slightly ridiculous (and very human) weeks.

My intention is to leave you with a spark of inspiration, a reminder of the power of presence, a little laughter, and a renewed trust in your own unfolding journey.

So, dear Heart… grab a cuppa, a snack, or earmark this for later — because this one is a ride.

😉

🌒 The Intuitive Signs: Purple Pants, a Pressure Cooker & a Very Disturbing Dream

About three months ago, I felt a shift arriving for Terra Ziva — a deep inner call that 2025 would be a year of Inner Alchemy and 2026 would be the year of Embodied Expression.

I began clearing my calendar for November and December for stillness, listening, and preparation.

And then suddenly…I became obsessed with buying winter tracksuit pants (purple of course 💜) and a large pressure cooker. I don't wear tracksuit pants, and I don’t batch-cook large quantities of stew… but apparently my soul knew something I didn’t.

Then came the dream — the Stephen King level — In order to receive an “answer,” I had to eat human organs — a liver, a gallbladder, and something else I refuse to name.

In the dream I was thinking, “WT(actual)F is happening?”

Carl Jung's dream theory was that there is no such thing as a nightmare, it is merely your subconscious mind making sure you will remember it.

Well… message received, Jung.

My subconscious mind wanted to ace this assignment!

I couldn't make any sense of this dream, the pants or the instant pot, at the time... until...

…

🌕 Full Moon: 3 a.m. Pain, Fever & the Inanna Descent Begins

One full moon cycle ago, at 3 a.m., I woke with excruciating pain in my solar plexus and heart. Then came the fever.

I thought I could manage it, but had to cancel my Root to Rise Circle Facilitator class, which really bummed me out - we were just about to start my favourite module: Sacred Feminine Resilience, and the first lesson explores the 6000 year old myth of Inanna's Descent to the underworld.

It's not lost on me, that I was living the timeless wisdom of this myth - another deep dive into the Heroine's Journey of this adventure called life.

Knowing the map, truly helps us navigate anything we encounter.

Oh the irony.

The poetry.

The timing.

I wasn’t teaching the descent — I was living it.

Twenty-four hours later, a clear voice finally broke through:“You need to go to the doctor.”

I'm a little allergic to hospitals, (more on this later), but ultimately I believe in integrated healthcare - the balance of both modern and holistic medicine.

The clinic doctor took one look at my tests, my increasingly yellow skin tone, and sent me straight to Emergency in Celje.

I was also starting to turn yellow — a chic look for sunflowers, less ideal for humans.

🌑 Emergency Room: and a touch of Greek dramatic flair

Navigating a health-care system you don't know, in a new country, with the obvious language barrier can be daunting, but luckily the pain and fever level drowned out any drama my primal brain could creatively conjure up.

Waiting in the well organised, efficient emergency room, I suddenly thought... could this be stones in my gallbladder?

An ultrasound confirmed it: Acute Cholecystitis with Gallstones.

But my Greek heritage decided to make things interesting — one stone had escaped the gallbladder and lodged itself in a duct, causing a serious infection. The ultrasound doctor told me that this would need immediate surgery, and that I was "lucky" because some people wait 1-2 years for this operation.

Okay, Immediate surgery then.

No time to overthink.

Just surrender.

As I waited for the decision of where I’d be operated on, in Celje or transported to the capital city of Ljubljana, a nurse changed my drip and said: “Out with the old, in with the new.”

Poetry in IV form.

Next up was a contrast CTScan.

The doctor, who couldn't speak English, was so sweet, and spoke to me slowly in Slovene with hand gestures. I don't know if it was shock, the drugs or telepathy, but I understood everything.

I even got a "bravo" after each following through with each instruction.

Whilst feeling like Icarus flying to close to the sun, I thought about all my cancer thriver clients, their courage, bravery and resilience in navigating these tests in their respective journeys. I had admired their strength before, but this moment deepened my respect on a whole new level.

I was grateful to hear, that I would stay in Celje - close to home.

🌀 Room 4: The Goddess Nurse, the Mythologist Nurse & an Operation

The kind porter guides Barry, me and my IV on the bed to the 4th floor, into room 4 — because of course I was — the first nurse we meet is the radiant goddess Svetlana, her reassuring smile, calm comforting voice and clear english was a great comfort.

She translated, explained, soothed. Her tattoos — herbs and flowers — felt like a message from the universe: Nature is here too.

She told me the surgeon has already called the anaesthetist, which we were waiting for.

A doctor enters the room with the most clear blue eyes, whose presence felt like safety.

After answering his questions, I ask: "Are you going to operate on me?"

I see Svetlana behind him nod her head & give me a thumbs up - at this point I am completely surrendered, as I left my recovering control freak somewhere between the pain and the undeniable magic unfolding.

Then came Gašper, a nurse whose joyful heart could light up an entire ward. His positive energy radiates from his heart through his smile, as he starts explaining every step of the preparation for the surgery. He rolled me into a prep room, walking me through every step with humour and warmth.

Here I was, half-naked (like Inanna -stripped bare and vulnerable) being shaved and sterilised from bikini to bra line, laughing about the impromptu bikini shave (yes, the Heroine’s Journey is glamorous), and noticed my Celtic tattoo, sparking a full mythology conversation and Nordic legends. A scene for the ages.

Before wheeling me in he told the surgical team:“Angelsko.”(A gentle warning that my Slovene was kindergarten level.)

Then the anesthetic hit.

Then — nothing.

I awoke back in Room 4 to Svetlana saying,

“Kakambouras.”

(Which felt both like a roll call and a blessing.)

🌿 Nurses, Immigrant Stories & Turning Armour Into Softness

The following days were a blur of antibiotics, pain meds, and drains.

I gained a deep respect for nurses — dealing with people in pain who are operating from their limbic reactivity, some filled with fear and no doubt their own stories of facing death - can be demanding to say the least…

but in room 4 we kept the journey of connection and grace flowing - even with the odd rude nurse who was “immigrant averse”, and it only took me a few days of consist appreciation & love to turn one grumpy nurse into a smiling one.

The topic of immigrants are a hot one right now, and soon the word spread that I was from “Africa” which brings both curiosity and prejudice.

I was reminded to not take anything personally, and to simply focus on my healing whilst continuing to stay authentically myself.

A lesson I learnt early on in my life, is that generally, it is very difficult for people to uphold their armour if you stay consistently in the embodiment of Love.

People cannot hold armour when someone stays anchored in Love.

And then there was the “Magic Healing Team” of nurses — the ones who played music, laughed, brought sunshine into the ward, and created genuine psychological safety.

The environment shifted when they walked in.

This is feminine leadership at work — tender, powerful, disarming.

✨ Music playing at shift-change (a great playlist (so I didn’t miss out on our Full Moon Conscious Dance after all ;), nurses who led with heart, and the creation of unexpected pockets of psychological safety in a sterile medical environment. I simply thanked them for this energy which brings the psychological safety into the healing the space, and what a profound impact it can make in one’s recovery.

👵 My Roommates, A Granddaughter’s Tears & The Circle Within Room 4

Room 4 became a circle of its own.

My room mates were fascinating women, I even made a new friend.

One woman entered — from the same rural area like me — and I assumed she didn’t speak English. Wrong.

We spent the day conversing in hybrid Slovene-English-Google Translate.

At visitation I witnessed her whole family surrounding her, a close, loving family and her granddaughter was very emotional and needing her encouragement of knowing all will be well.

In witnessing this closeness of granddaughter and grandmother, I felt mixed emotions rise within me - I was very close with my Grandmother, she made her exit in hospital during surgery, just before my 6th birthday.

Rising from my roots, I felt a well of both gratitude, appreciation and grief rise to the surface to be witnessed, held, and then released.

Like most women, I observed her being strong for her family, especially her emotional granddaughter at visitation.

But in the quieter moments, her fears surfaced.

It is in these moments, we as facilitators can offer someone a witnessing space, so I waited for that pause, and we had a chat about her fears surrounding her surgery which would aftercare required intensive care.

We grounded together.

I asked her what she believed. We tapped into her own wisdom- to find a sense of reassurance. I told her I would hold positive thoughts and prayers for her surgery too. When she was wheeled to surgery, we both reached out our hands and smiled - a full conversation without words.

Her surgery was a success.

These are the moments that remind me: We are wired for connection. We are here to witness each other home to ourselves.

🌘 The Long Night of the Soul & Inner Child Healing

The next day was a deep dive into the underworld for me.

I was hoping to go home, as all the other “Žolič”patients were already set free to recover in the comfort of their own homes.

The doctor’s visit in the morning wasn’t what I expected - My blood results were still not stable, and the doctor wanted to do another ultrasound to make sure all was okay.

Later that morning, a group of doctors make the rounds again. This is the first time I see my surgeon’s face again. In the meantime I inquired about his name: Dr Matej Štante, I make eye contact with him, and silently say: “Thank you.”

After the doctors were finished at my chart, he walks over to my bed, holds my hand and I can say Thank you and Hvala Lepa out loud.

He reassures me, that we were just awaiting the ultrasound test results before I can be released.

The ultrasound section was fully booked, and so I needed to stay another night.

I plummeted.

The beeping, the exhaustion, the no-shower situation, the aesthetics… everything collapsed into frustration. Now all starting to take it's mental toll.

In the midst of pain and IV drips, I was reminded of the extraordinary courage of my cancer-thriver clients — the tests, the waiting, courageously dealing with ports, chemo, the hospital environment*, the continuous journey of the reclamation of sovereignty. Their strength became my strength.

I was thinking about Natalie, and in awe of her bravery, her spirit, her conscientiousness of others - as my mind was reminiscing I remembered that this day was her Birthday. I also remembered the medicine I offered her, and decided to drink from the same cup.

I was in struggle - and decided to stop playing out the old pattern of “Lone Wolf -I can do it by myself-and I don’t want to worry anyone-I will just continue to give myself Sekhem and the metaphysical healing practices I know” - so I reached out to the beautiful women in our community.

The first was my dear friend and Healer, Thespina, she quickly confirmed something which came up for me ( to hold a cross -which I resisted) and she helped me reground myself into my body - something which often happens after anaesthetic. She received the same message, to hold a crucifix.

(We didn’t understand this at the same, but it all made sense a few week later, when we connected it to my Mother's prayers and the wounds which look like crosses across my abdomen.)

I trusted my intuition and hers, and followed the guidance. I also reached out to one of our Root to Rise Circle Facilitator Graduates-Alicia, who facilitates a healing circle based on the Da Silva method. Of course, the timing was Divine, and she was leading one within a few hours of my request. I could tangibly feel being held and supportive energy healing being available to me.

The new patient beside me had the same cancer my mother had. The smell, the sound, the memory…

Another layer to unravel.

I felt frustrated, stuck, I wanted to go home to continue my healing, I was exhausted, my control freak was back rebelling against the system…

So I paused.

I leaned in.

I went inward to the root.

Listened to my body's wisdom.

And There it was:

Unexpressed grief.

Disappointment. Hurt.

Unfathomable disbelief

The weight of protective responsibility which wasn’t mine. Crystallised betrayal.

Disillusionment.

All waiting for release.

One by one I lay them down on the alter of alchemical forgiveness.

And then…The oldest memory surfaced.

My "allergy" for hospitals.

At 8 months I had tonsillitis, and after the removal surgery (it was the 70’s) I was still experiencing very high fever.

The paediatrician was giving 3 penicillin injections a day to break the fever, but after 2 weeks, the temperature kept rising. I was in an oxygen tank, with pipes in my brain, and the doctor told my mother :

“Say goodbye to your child, she won’t make it through the night”.

This was my first encounter with the Light.

My mother decided to take me out of hospital the next morning, with the Doctor frantically threatening her with legal responsibility for my death if anything happened to me.

I got home.

The fever broke.

I started healing.

Months later, we discovered that I was allergic to penicillin.

Over the years, I’ve done layers of trauma therapy and the co-dependency of the Mother-daughter wound which was co-created in this life defining moment.

But that night in Room 4…

I visited that baby girl again —

only this time I returned to this memory from another perspective....

- and suddenly I felt the flood of Mother prayers for vitality, life, protection, healing and thriving flowing through my DNA as if encoded by Divine design.

The tears came. The healing came.

A stream of tears rolled down my cheeks as I started appreciating this uncomfortable, triggering night - which without, I would not have had the opportunity to dive this deep.

I also reclaimed my right to release myself from hospital.

And a decision came:

I’m going home tomorrow. Permission or not.

The next morning, the doctor comes to check in and tell me that my ultrasound was scheduled.

I sit up and bed and thank him for all the care they have given me.

I continue to say, "Doctor, physically I’m doing better, but my mental health is taking strain and I needed to go home TODAY."

He just said with a gentle voice : "I know, but we have to do this precautionary ultrasound, and then we’ll talk okay?"

Bless, this doctor who is obviously not used to patients being this frank about emotions or authority on their bodies.

I could see him not knowing how to process this as he was scribbling away in my chart, he compassionately says: “It’ll be okay.” Before shifting walking to the next patient.

Soon after, they taxi me in a wheelchair down to the Ultrasound room. I’m gelled up like a seal on a spa day when the doctor murmurs to his trainee, “Nič.” I lift my head and say, “That sounds like good news.” He smiles, turns the screen toward me, and shows me — all the organs are clear. YES. In that moment, I knew: I’m going home.

I was packed before the results even reached the ward.

Barry arrived like a knight, whisking me home to:

my own bed, my little lioness Syrah’s purring healing, the howling hello’s of our elder bear-dog Scamp and the goddess green juice smoothie my body was craving!

Room 4 had served its purpose.

*I dream of a world where the health care environment is a holistic space, where western medicine meet ancient Asklepsia nutrition, dream interpretation and a healing environment surrounded by nature. Ward 4 in Celje hospital, already has 3 of the elements - a health care team which leads with heart, the visitation room was abundantly filled with plants, and I was sustained with camomile tea.

🌘 The Symbols

I needed the purple pants, because my abdomen was swollen for weeks, and my yoga pants would not have supported my healing.

I needed the Instapot - because my diet consists of soups and stews.

I needed to stay two more days to do a deep dive!

🐍 The Ascent -

Recovery, the Snake Year & the Medicine of Kairos

In recovery, in between short deep sleeps from exhaustion and medication, my very scarce insta-scroll unveils this Feng Shui resonance :

"The Snake Year (2025) was a time of rooting and renewal. As a wood element year, it invited continual growth - tending the inner soul so that new life could rise.

This was the season to nurture steady expansion, supported by the grounding force of Earth. It asked us to slow down, to shed old skins, to release identities, break patterns and fears that no longer fit.

Its' shedding is not destruction. Each layer released made space for a truer version of ourselves to emerge. 2025 Snake year deepened our capacity to let go, preparing us to hold greater light, awareness and power. "

On this full moon in December, I am happy to report that after my check-up I’ve been given the green light.

All is well.

I have been given the green light at my check-up.

And because I’d intuitively planned to rest during the holidays, I have a full month to heal before we co-create big-hearted magic in 2026.