How To Survive Lung Cancer 2026. Step One: Determination.

So I got the biopsy results today, and the cancer has returned.  I guess it didn't get enough of me last time and so is back for more. That's a joke, but cancer isn't. The whole key to defeating cancer is the same secret to everything else in life: determination and confidence. Yes, those two most important ingredients in my life I never had.  

Fortunately, I'm still alive and so have the opportunity to find these skills now; it's the thing all successful people know: we manifest what's in our mind. I know this now through my Buddhist practice which has taught me I am the power to be. It's what we call the Mystic Law, or Law of Life if you will. From now on I'll just call it "the law."  

So I'm at this crossroad with this illness where I have to decide if I will give my all to defeat this cancer, or, let the chips fall where they will and hope for the best. 

That's how I handled it five years ago, the first time they told me I had cancer.  I've documented how I chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo back then and the cards fell into place for me to have the cancer cut out of my lung without needing chemo.  I chanted with hope back then, and got lucky.  This time, hope won't be enough, my determination will be the ingredient necessary to win.  I share this with you now, because no matter what you are attempting in life, your determination will determine the outcome.  Simply stated, don't give up, keep trying and you will succeed; that is, if you have the determination within you. If you are just going through the motions, you'll fail.  

In my last post I talked about signs from the heavens, and said that if I got the biopsy results on the 26th of August, it would be good news for there was a rare "Finger of God" celestial-alignment happening.  I also told you if I got the results on the 27th of August, Mercury was in Virgo and the fight was on. Neither happened, and so I woke up early this morning and saw a full moon from my living-room window, and knew it was a sign. It was what they call a Sturgeon Moon, or Harvest moon, and I caught it just as it was descending on the horizon of buildings outside my window. Yes, a setting moon, which, might sound bad when compared to the obvious meaning of a "setting sun," but the moon is different, and I knew I had to research it. 

In previous post on EsotericDaily.com I wrote about the Harvest Moon, the Blood Moon, the Black Moon, the Blue Moon, the Super Moon, and so forth, but this Sturgeon Moon was knew.  

Research showed me that the Algonquian peoples named the Sturgeon Moon after the Sturgeon fish, a fish that can live to be 400 years old; a fish that spends most of its life dwelling at the bottom of a lake until it comes to the top to feed in the autumn months. 

Pow, right between the eyes, that was me, a deep dweller coming up for air. 

On my favorite pagan website, pagangrimoire.com, I read that the Sturgeon Moon signals "Resilience, Power, Strength, Release, Breaking through, and Flourishing."

And that was the message the Sturgeon Moon had for me this morning. 

In my Buddhist faith, we chant to a mandala that was scribed by a Japanese priest in the 13th century.  On this mandala he wrote the figures of the heavenly deities who would protect those of us with faith in the Lotus Sutra. One of the gods on this mandala is the Moon God (Dai Gattenno 大月天王), unlike the Sun God who provokes energy, the Moon God is contemplative, rejuvenating, and as I have already said, Resilience, Strong, Determined, yes, all those ingredients I will now muster to defeat my cancer. 

So now, I will see what medical options I must pursue in this fight.  Stay tuned -- hint: subscribe. 

~~ Eso Terry 

Waiting on my Cancer Biopsy Reading the Signs

So I had my biopsy a few days ago.  Now I'm waiting for the results.  Results don't matter though because I'm ready to fight.  You see, this cancer shit isn't for sissies.  What it does is it attaches itself to you, and puts you under its grime reaper curse.  If you don't shake it off, you die, shake it off, you go on until its next attempt.  Simple stuff really. 

Enough cancer talk, today, today I'll be talking about signs, for they are everywhere if we pause to see them and connect the dots. 

When I got in the car to go to the hospital for my biopsy last week,  as soon as the engine started, the Tom Petty song "Free Falling" began playing.  I listened to that Tom Petty's song, and remembered how I had decided to buy tickets for his show two weeks before the event the year that song came out, and my girlfriend had laughed and said, "Two weeks before the concert, why bother?  He'll be back in a year." 

Still, I decided to buy the tickets, and this is where good fortune comes in, for as I was ordering the tickets on the phone, the agent said, "Wow, these are second row center, someone must have had them on hold and returned them" -- yes, things like that were very rare, but possible in the informational dark ages of 1989. 

And so we watched Tom Petty from the second row that summer.  Great fortune had hit me smack between the eyes, and my girlfriend thought I had scored the tickets from a mob connection I still had back in Detroit. "Be honest," she said at the show, "no one gets seats like these two weeks before a show."

Getting back to my drive to the hospital for my biopsy:  as that Tom Petty song was playing, I knew good fortune was guiding me, and the biopsy would be a smooth procedure; and sure enough, it was, and I should get the results today or tomorrow. 

Conversely, I've prayed for a miracle healing, but suspect that it's cancer.  And if it is the big C, I'm ready to go again.  I'm ready to fight lung cancer 2.0 in 2026 and claim victory over it as I did back in 2019.  I mean, all good things come in three, right?

If I get the results today, it will be good news, because today is August 26th, which is a rare celestial configuration known as the "Finger of God."  It happens from the Sun being in Virgo while it aligns in a complex angle with Pluto... did I mention I am a Scorpio, and we used to be guided by the planet Pluto before they degraded it to a floating hunk of ice. Which makes perfect sense to me, for my life has always been a dream within a dream floating on a thin layer of ice. 

If I get the results tomorrow, the battle is on, for tomorrow is August 27, which features a rare Mercury Cazimi in Virgo. Yes! Mercury, that swift Roman messenger god of old, will give me the news as we prepare to go into battle, side by side, just like ancient times. 

~~ Eso Terry  

 

Cancer Update, and the Otsukimi or Harvest Moon Festival tonight.

My cancer saga continues. As soon as I had ended my last post and pushed "Publish," I got the call to schedule my biopsy procedure; of which, I know little today, but will be sure to give you the poop on when it arrives -- yes, I've been in Texas too long.

So today I consulted with AI, I asked AI, "Can they remove another lung lobe after I've already had one removed?" And AI said they could, so, maybe it's that again. Who knows? I wouldn't even attempt to ask AI about other cancer treatments, because I know there are way too many.

The funny thing about cancer, is it was one of two things I worried about as a youth after seeing my grandmother die of lung cancer. The other was nuclear war. And I'll be goddamned -- to quote from my grandfathers favorite curse lexicon -- if both aren't a threat to me at this moment -- sorry conservative brothers and sisters, but you've unleashed a Donald Trump Frankenstein monster we can only watch now as he grunts his way through the village.

Cancer is not my focus today, my focus today is on tonight's August New Moon, which begins at 12:36pm here in Dallas. And this is not any-old new moon, this is the August New Moon, more precisely, what we Japanese -- wait, I'm not Japanese, I'm Nichiren Buddhist, same thing -- call the Otsukimi or Harvest New Moon.

Japan is rich with legends surrounding the moon. The most famous of these is the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (竹取物語), one of Japan’s oldest folktales. In this story, a radiant princess named Kaguya-Hime is discovered in a bamboo stalk and eventually returns to her home on the moon. This tale speaks to the mysterious allure of the moon and has inspired countless adaptations in literature, art, and film.

The harvest moon in most cultures is an important moon, and many festivals such as the Japanese Otsukimi. (or Tsukimi), will be happening tonight. In some areas there will be Pagans dancing, calling forth the moons energy to dance in unison, others will be casting spells -- most benevalent, I hope. Me, I'll show gratitude for the harvest I have, such as my three regular viewers, where would I be without you.  Also, I'll chant for the happiness and protection of everyone under the moonlight, for years to come. And finally, I'll hedge my bets on this cancer, why not. 

Pagan Moon Fun

Seriously, and most importantly, in Nichiren Buddhism, the moon is a frequent metaphor for truth, enlightenment, and the reflection of the Buddha's compassionate life in the human heart.  This will be my main focus tonight.  See you there. Let's dance. 

~~ Eso Terry 

My Cancer Diary: Waiting on Pet Scan thanking Nam-myoho-renge-kyo

Hi, thanks for checking in.   I got my pet scan yesterday, and am now waiting on the results.  I've been through this cancer stuff before, five years ago, now I'm a little bit wiser and less scared.  I live my life for today, and accept what there is to suffer, enjoy what there is to enjoy.  You've heard me talk about "Nam-myoho-renge-kyo" before, and it is the "myo" part that means we are all mystic.  Mystic not in a guru-magic sense, but in the interconnection with all things, all matter, all vibration, all love, hate, heaven, hell....

Two things are about to happen in my life, 

1. I get the call telling me that the cancer scares was nothing but an accident, a thing we can't explain, a miracle, it's gone.  Today, as I write, I expect this, for I have a mission in life, and have prayed for all the cancer cells in my body to go away, if it is within the divine law. 

2. I get the call telling me that they need to do a biopsy, the threat is real.

Either way, I'm set to go, rather excited to be honest. For how can we have growth without suffering?  Because, in the end, it is all Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, trust me on this one. 

~~ Eso Terry

Eso Terry talks about the bad Omen of the Nazca Plane Crash Leaving 13 dead.

 

Eso Terry Talks About Chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo

Kishimojin

Sometimes it happens quickly, but usually it takes over thirty minutes; most always before an hour. I'm talking about that moment after chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo for a time, and you know the universe is listening. It's that "being in the zone" moment to quote a sports analogy. It's that moment, for me, when I feel the walls around me as nothing more than thin air. The molecules in the furniture around me as floating dust.  Sometimes there is a trumpet, violin, or another instrument accompanying my vibrating body. Sometimes it is an undescribtive sound, the sound or sense of feeling of vibrating in key to the universe. 

Not all Nichiren Buddhist take Nichiren's "Heavenly Deities" serious, but I do. There is Brahma, Shakra, the four heavenly kings, and the gods of the sun and the moon. My favorite are the Ten Demon Daughters led by Kishimojin. This is probably because I was raised by a single mother and grandmother.  They were barely surviving on waitress wages, but protected me from a decaying city on the brink of ruins.  

Who are these protectors of believer in the Lotus Sutra?  Here are some basic definitions.

-The Four Heavenly Kings (Shitenno): Deities who protect the four cardinal directions. They include Vaishravana (North), Dhritarashtra (East), Virudhaka (South), and Virupaksha (West), along with their numerous retainers.

-The Gods of the Sun and Moon (Nitten and Gatten): The physical celestial bodies viewed as deities who provide light and sustain life on earth, actively safeguarding practitioners through the hours of day and night.

-The Ten Demon Daughters (Jurosetsuzen): Led by Mother of Demon Children (Kishimojin), these figures from the "Dharani" chapter of the Lotus Sutra transformed from harmful spirits into fierce guardians who vowed to punish anyone who troubles a practitioner of the Sutra.

It's a wonderful thing to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.  It's a wonderful thing to be heard by the universe, or as we call it, the Mystic Law. 

~~ Eso Terry 

Eso Terry Cancer Update - Love is so short, forgetting is so long.

Friday, July 3rd.  I had my lung-doc exam at the VA.  I spent a whole ten minutes with her.  She showed me the exam and said it looked "suspect" for cancer.  She then used her mouse to enlarge the tumor and it seemed to envelope the whole room. Note to you doctors and nurses out there, no enlarge the tumor in front of the patient, until now I thought it was itty-bitty not room size.

Still, I'm positive my faith will get me through this. Nichiren Daishonin wrote on this day in 1278: "Since the Lotus Sutra defines our body as the Dharma body of a Thus Come One, our mind as the reward body of a Thus Come One, and our actions as the manifested body of a Thus Come ONe, all who uphold and believe in even a single phrase or verse of this sutra will be endowed with the benefits of these three bodies," 

For me, this passage is a reminder that this is a Buddha body, a body I need to continue my mission of sharing my faith with others in hopes that they will find the happiness in life that I have, also, I want to support my family, friends, etc., no time to check out now. As the poet Neruda said, 'Love is so short, forgetting is so long."

~~ Eso Terry