Augusta was born in 1922 in Arnhem, The Netherlands, where part of her childhood was overshadowed by the Nazi occupation. She moved to the United States at age 21, and the San Francisco Bay area became her new home. Always an artist, Augusta received her MA in Design from the University California, Berkeley, and along with engaging in her own varied and unique creations, she worked as a teacher of young children and as a scientific illustrator at UC Berkeley. In her thirties she entered the Peace Corps and spent three deeply fulfilling years in Africa, in both Ivory Coast and Niger. On returning to California, she continued her creative work, including doing art therapy with hospice patients at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland. At age 77, Augusta moved to Ashland, Oregon, where with the support and encouragement of her brother Sypko Andreae and her sister-in-law Carolyn Shaffer, she was able to devote her time to her favorite art, creating visionary mandalas. She also shared her love for this artistic form by teaching mandala workshops, exhibiting her work in multiple venues, and creating handmade greeting cards. Augusta was a deeply-engaged member of a local women's choir dedicated to singing for those facing life transitions and at the bedside of the dying, bringing together her love of music with her deep understanding of critical life passages. In the last two years of her life, participating in a beloved writing group inspired her to write much of the poetry in this collection. Despite increasing physical challenges, Augusta continued, even into her final days, creating mandalas and writing with compassion about the pain of the world while also celebrating with deep love the beauty of all life on Earth.
