Kristina N. Terzieva, founder of Astraea Healing Connection, has a long-standing interest in energy medicine and Hermetic philosophy. She considers Reiki to be her guiding light and a "universal medicine" in its own right. Kristina recognizes and appreciates Reiki as a holistic medicine in the broadest sense. Her profound connection with Reiki, which she understands as Buddha’s Light, motivated her to become a Reiki Master Teacher, after 20 years of having worked with this energy on different levels. In addition, Kristina has dedicated significant time and resources into sound healing and voice spectrum analysis. For Kristina, sound healing has proven to be another type of "universal medicine" and a potent tool for inter-dimensional healing.
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Kristina N. Terzieva, Reiki Master Teacher
Introduce yourself! Please tell us about you and your life, so we can get to know you better.
In addition to being a holistic health healer, which I consider my primary calling, currently I work as a public service professional for a Federal agency in the Washington, D.C. area. More specifically, I am part of a team that prepares the agency’s annual budget for submission to the U.S. Congress. My life has had many twists and turns and so has my career, which incorporates experience in the legal field, as well as in the field of international affairs. My present day-time job, so to speak, allows me to stay focused on current affairs, domestically, and affords me the opportunity to expand my horizon in other areas in my free time. For several years now, I have chosen to consciously transform my reality by realigning my worldly path to match more closely what I intuitively feel to be my divine path for this Earthly walk. This has been an ongoing process and, a couple of years ago, it culminated in the establishment of Astraea Healing Connection.
Aside from energy healing, I have a passion for the performing arts. At some point in my life, I even considered becoming an actress, but stage fright really dealt a blow to that endeavor. Nevertheless, I enrolled in a puppetry course, while in college. The instructor, who led the course – Nikki Tilroe – was an artist in residence. Being a preeminent name in the field, Nikki had worked alongside beloved and iconic TV hosts such as Jim Hanson and Shari Lewis, appearing in a number of children’s shows, including: Fraggle Rock and Charlie Horse Music Pizza. Nikki first introduced me to energy healing through Reiki. She was herself a Reiki Level II practitioner, and sensed my affinity for working with energy for the purpose of healing, broadly defined. She, then, recommended a local Reiki Master – Mary Sturtevant – who, in essence, “initiated” me in this type of work by attuning me to Reiki I and Reiki II. Coincidentally, Mary was also a Tai Chi instructor, at the time, and I took classes with her, which further strengthened my understanding of the energy flow within the body.
What inspired you to start Astraea Healing Connection, and what does the name "Astraea" signify in the context of your business?
Astraea Healing Connection was born out of a profound desire to embody my true self. In my late teens I became interested in Hermetic philosophy. While I still lived in Bulgaria, an energy healer suggested that I take a look at a few books on the subject, namely “Stellar Man” and “HypsoConsciousness” by John Baines. I took the advice, and, having gone through the recommended texts, I found myself interpreting the world through the principles of Hermetic philosophy. One of these tenets – As above, so below – stood out to me the most, and, in retrospect, I would say that it has somehow defined my lifepath and life choices. On a more mundane level, I have come to understand astrology as the connection between the "above and the below.” Thus, in my quest for self-discovery, I often reach to astrology for answers to questions or life’s dilemmas. At one stage, about two years ago, I felt the need to go beyond the ordinary astrology charts, which offer planetary positions, and got an asteroids chart showing the positions of approximately 17 asteroids at the time of my birth.
The main belt asteroid 5 Astraea, named after the ancient Greek virgin Goddess of justice, innocence, purity and precision, happens to be conjunct with my North Node which, combined with the focus on holistic health, gave rise to the name: Astraea Healing Connection. I would like to take a moment to explain briefly why this alignment matters. In most simple terms, the North Node in an astrological chart represents the direction, in which we are going. On some level, it defines our life path. My North Node lies in Virgo and the asteroid Astraea, being conjunct with the North Node, is also in Virgo. In addition, Astraea is “at home” in Virgo, that is her constellation. Therefore, to me it naturally made sense, from the perspective of the principle: As above, so below, to choose Astraea as the patron of my holistic health practice and to name the business after her.
Can you share more about the range of healing modalities and services offered on your platform, and how you ensure they are accessible and beneficial to diverse individuals?
The mission of Astraea Healing Connection derives from the tenets of Hermetic philosophy: “As above, so below, as within, so without, as the universe, so the soul…” and lies in improving the connection among body, mind, and soul. The ultimate goal being to bring balance on every level. Thus, the services incorporate several energy healing modalities aimed at balancing body, mind, and spirit. More specifically, Astraea Healing Connection offers Reiki training and Reiki healing in the traditional Usui system, as well as sound healing and voice spectrum analysis. All healing and training sessions are conducted virtually via Zoom and run on US Eastern Standard Time (EST).
In addition, Astraea Healing Connection provides free Reiki training and voice analysis consultations, as well as monthly specials for the following services: Reiki healing and sound healing. All of these offers are easily accessible via the website. Clients may view the offers and book a free consultation or a free healing session directly from the website – on first-come, first-served basis. As with the regular services, the monthly specials are conducted via Zoom and run on US EST. Typically, consultations and sessions last approximately 30 minutes.
A free Reiki training consultation includes a brief overview of what Reiki is, how the attunement process works, and what materials are provided during the actual training. A voice spectrum analysis consultation provides a short introduction to the voice analysis system used by Astraea Healing Connection, as well as an overview of how a voice analysis session is conducted and what feedback and materials the client will receive following the session.
Free Reiki distance healing sessions may be scheduled three times per month – on the 3rd, the 9th, and the 18th of the month, while free sound healing sessions may be scheduled on the 5th, the 15th, and the 20th of the month. These free sessions typically last about 30 minutes.
How do you maintain a sense of community and support among your clients and practitioners, especially in an increasingly digital world?
I believe that in an ever-evolving digital world, staying connected through social media platforms, or other forms of online communication remains a key aspect of maintaining a sense of community. The “global village” these days seems to be held together by digital media primarily, therefore, providing timely and relevant updates in terms of content or online communication constitutes a major support mechanism. Personally, I keep in touch, mostly via social media, with fellow Reiki and sound healing practitioners and make sure to respond to questions from the community – be it from clients or energy healers – in a timely manner. I occasionally run social media ad campaigns, mainly via Instagram, aimed at gaining a better idea of who my audience is and how I can best meet their needs. These ads have generated a good amount of interest and have sparked discussions with clients about my services, as well as other topics in the field of energy healing. While such endeavors don’t often translate into bookings, I value the experience of interacting with my audience and potential clients. To me outreach through digital communication remains top priority and my goal has been to make information about my services as easily accessible as possible for the benefit of practitioners and prospective clients alike.
Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today.
Coming across the Mantra of Light has had a transformative impact on my life path overall. I “discovered” the Mantra of Light – known as Vairocana in Sanskrit or Komyo Shingon in Japanese – quite unexpectedly, while browsing for images of the Japanese Kanji characters for Reiki. About three years ago, I took an amateur interest in Japanese calligraphy, which I had turned into an artsy hobby. As I browsed through various online resources, I accidentally came across a piece by Frans Stiene and Bronwen Stiene – “The Great Bright Light” – discussing the origins of the Reiki Master symbol: Dai Ko Myo. I found this article fascinating and continued to research materials that discuss in greater depth the benefits and uses of the Mantra of Light. I also started chanting it daily and, in hind sight, I could tell that it had a profound, transformational effect on my life.
One of the ways the mantra had assisted me in my spiritual growth was to aid in connecting with the “other side” – beyond the veil – where one could “meet” and communicate with loved ones, who have passed. Based on my research, I discovered that one could chant the mantra 108 times for someone, who has crossed over, in order to assist the soul in its path beyond the realm of the physical. While this is typically done on the day of the funeral, or shortly thereafter, I thought that it would be applicable outside of time. My thoughts traveled back to my teenage years, when my maternal grandmother passed away. She had, and still has, strong influence on my spiritual growth. Thus, without hesitation, I chanted the Mantra of Light 108 times, holding her in my thoughts.
Following this experience, I embarked on an accelerated path of spiritual growth, which gave me much needed direction and led me to discover more of my potential as an energy healing practitioner.
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