tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28090099100184885662024-03-12T19:54:06.478-07:00Goddess of the Stars and the SeaAN EXPERIENCE OF THE DIVINE FEMININE THROUGH VISIONARY FICTIONJodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.comBlogger110125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-33508703957586275382021-04-30T09:59:00.000-07:002021-04-30T09:59:18.063-07:00May 1st - Happy Beltaine!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eKcW7gEdHFw/YIw2yjvnKYI/AAAAAAAAClo/OvGYeEwKR9wzhx_aPtvi7bEdHUwB3kZ5wCLcBGAsYHQ/s550/hawthorn.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="335" data-original-width="550" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eKcW7gEdHFw/YIw2yjvnKYI/AAAAAAAAClo/OvGYeEwKR9wzhx_aPtvi7bEdHUwB3kZ5wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/hawthorn.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />This Beltaine message comes from the Celtic Spirituality Tradition practitioner, a wonderful British woman named Mara Freeman. <p></p><p>Mara's message is about the realm of Faery. Not the sort of Tinkerbell caricature from Disneyland, but an actual cousin race, real beings of light and energy.</p><p>When I wrote my latest novel, "The Hidden Abbey," I had an experience authors often have - something I hadn't planned on, something I thought only had a minimal role in my story, came into full bloom, wanting to be more involved in my story. It was the race of Faery. In particular a half-Faery, half-human character named Shayla, and the Hawthorn tree guardian Faery male named Folimot, inserted themselves by wanting a bigger role in my novel than I had originally anticipated or planned for. So, my interest in Faery was piqued.</p><p>From Mara:</p><p>The Celtic Faery Faith and Beltaine</p><p>On the First of May we stand on the threshold to Beltaine, the Celtic festival of summer, when all the Green World is charged with new life beneath the light of the growing sun. In Ireland, Beltaine was a time when the faeries rode out of their dwelling places in the Hollow Hills within the Earth into the human world. </p><p>Until quite recently, many people had encounters with faeries and lived side by side with them in quite a natural way. Some of these faery seers were descended from generations of country-dwellers who had kept the old beliefs intact; others were visionaries, poets and artists, who refused to be influenced by the modern materialistic world-view.</p><p>The Nature of Faeries</p><p>Faeries can range from a tall, beautiful, noble race to the diminutive imps we call the ‘little people.’ One of the best explanations as to what they are comes from the unlikely source of a 17th century minister of the Church of Scotland, the Reverend Robert Kirk, who defined them as being “of a middle nature betwixt Man and Angel.” For they are creatures of light and energy, of ‘force’ rather than ‘form,’ who can shift their shape as they please, not being bound by the laws of the physical world. </p><p>The Faeries’ Return</p><p>Today, a new awareness of faeries is returning as people are awakening to the reality of worlds not normally apparent to the five senses. It seems that, with the current crisis on Earth, we are being called to reconnect with those Beings of Light with whom we once consciously shared our planet home. When we pollute, degrade and lay waste to the land, sea and skies, we are destroying their world, too. We tear apart the exquisitely woven tapestry of all creation. And so faeries are bringing messages from the Earth urging us to change our ways from living in separateness to an awareness of our interconnectedness with all beings, visible and invisible, in the great Web of Life. </p><p>Connecting with faeries is not as difficult as you may think – you do not need special psychic powers to do so, just the willingness to open your mind and, especially, your heart, as a child might do. Speaking of how to see tree faeries, Ella Young, in a rare interview on KPFA radio, Berkeley, in 1952, said: “You have to be content to know that you love that tree, and you want to love it more, and you know it’s alive and you want to come closer to it.”</p><p>Here is a simple way to connect with the faery kingdom:</p><p>This Beltaine season, take a faery walk in Nature, preferably where there are trees and plants. Find a place to sit and begin taking some deep breaths:</p><p>1. Inhale and imagine a wave of green light rising from the land beneath you, rising up your body to connect you with the Earth below. Exhale and sense a wave of golden light flowing down from the heavens through your body, connecting you with the Sun and Stars. Do this several times until you feel relaxed and charged with the energy of Earth and Sky.</p><p>2. Notice three natural things around you and send a line of light from your heart to connect with each one.</p><p>3. Now extend connection to everything around you. Rest and be at peace in this feeling of oneness.</p><p>4. Ask for a message from the Faery realm and open to receive impressions that may come to you. The response may come through feeling a light, sparkling, joyful energy; or it may come as words or images in your mind’s eye. Watch out also for signs of animal or bird movements or calls that may carry a message for you.</p><p>*********</p><p>Have you had the experience of an element or character in your novel wanting a larger role?</p><p>Have you ever had an experience of Faery? It's okay to admit it. I have cultivated a connection. You?</p><p>*********</p><p>Photo: Hawthorn blooms. Hawthorn is a magical tree associated with Faery.</p><div><br /></div>Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-28682184978846000862021-02-05T10:30:00.006-08:002021-02-05T10:30:02.258-08:00Holding a Cup of Coffee<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LVblAyg917U/YBysrq0DLdI/AAAAAAAACfA/xU8gbAsEFngpTbA1bjTpowACkL_B6aFfgCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Nataraj%2BVR.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="940" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LVblAyg917U/YBysrq0DLdI/AAAAAAAACfA/xU8gbAsEFngpTbA1bjTpowACkL_B6aFfgCLcBGAsYHQ/w391-h400/Nataraj%2BVR.jpg" width="391" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">~ Nataraj VR</div><p></p><div><br /></div><div>What is in your coffee cup?</div><div><br /></div><div><div>I invite you to consider this: Now is the time to look at what spills out, and if it needs healing and transformation, attend to that.</div><div><br /></div><div>When you heal and transform it ripples out and helps all. Our transition into this new golden 'Age of Aquarius' requires this healing.</div><div><br /></div><div>The old needs to break down to make way for the new. Death and rebirth. Take heart. </div></div><div><br /></div>Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-33670864093927553612021-02-04T08:52:00.000-08:002021-02-04T08:52:12.865-08:00You're Invited to my Author Day <p><span style="font-family: times;">My Author Day is Thursday, February 4th. Today!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;">10AM-12Noon Pacific Time. 1PM - 3PM EST</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;">Come by and ask questions of me, comment, maybe even win a prize! (E-book of <i>Carry on the Flame: Destiny’s Call</i>)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;">Would love to have you drop by and visit. Hosted by fellow Visionary Fiction author Mary Woldering.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;">Here is the link:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times;">https://www.facebook.com/groups/childrenofstonebooks/</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CU7560eiejI/YBwmBXbhAoI/AAAAAAAACe0/xNNuurt_QCQd1ohIAwqq9FVcN2L3uFs6wCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DestinysCall%2Be%2Bbook%2Bcover%2Bcopy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CU7560eiejI/YBwmBXbhAoI/AAAAAAAACe0/xNNuurt_QCQd1ohIAwqq9FVcN2L3uFs6wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/DestinysCall%2Be%2Bbook%2Bcover%2Bcopy.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"></div>Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-2648926692330770632021-01-29T10:30:00.001-08:002021-01-29T10:30:02.955-08:00 What Function does Story Serve?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HE3UnSu2uEE/YBNFtYVGWYI/AAAAAAAACdg/qc5y2_-5bq8eOgby3BSBJ40nS8R5-EG6ACLcBGAsYHQ/s900/celtic-bard-tania-crossingham.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="653" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HE3UnSu2uEE/YBNFtYVGWYI/AAAAAAAACdg/qc5y2_-5bq8eOgby3BSBJ40nS8R5-EG6ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/celtic-bard-tania-crossingham.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>The Celts were master storytellers, reciting orally and from memory rather than the written word. They treasured their oral traditions as a source of entertainment, inspiration, and historical account.</p><p>In the ancestral Celtic cultures, the trained storyteller was called a Bard. Bards also functioned as a minstrel poet and verse-maker, music composer, and genealogist. Bards were one of the three skilled classes of the Druid Earth religion.</p><p>In this <a href=" https://youtu.be/1oJgCEctkFQ" target="_blank">video</a>, a native Irish author and modern-day Bard, Scealai Beag, talks about the importance of storytelling. (Enjoy his accent!)</p><p>In what ways do you think Visionary Fiction is a bardic art? </p><p>***</p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">art credit: Tania Crossingham</span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-39496644899604091162021-01-22T10:30:00.001-08:002021-01-22T10:30:04.019-08:00<p>Author Toni Morrison spoke about the power of words, saying “that is how civilizations heal.” We had a stunning example of that in poetess Amanda Gorman’s Inauguration poem on Wednesday. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6VGeKIqn16c/YAoRAHyIWwI/AAAAAAAACck/3VxE3lgYuK4xO6yJbknnUmj0SZdnpMpGgCLcBGAsYHQ/s275/amanda%2Bgordon.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6VGeKIqn16c/YAoRAHyIWwI/AAAAAAAACck/3VxE3lgYuK4xO6yJbknnUmj0SZdnpMpGgCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h213/amanda%2Bgordon.jpeg" title="Amanda Gorman" width="320" /></a></div><br />The youngest poet Laureate is 22 years old and delivered an impassioned, inspiring, embodied recital of her poem, “The Hill We Climb.” The text is below. The link to hear her performance is <a href="https://bit.ly/39OB9cq" target="_blank">here</a>.<p></p><p>If Amanda and her poem are an example of the character, intentions, and vision of what is emerging in this tumultuous time, then we are truly walking the prophesied transformative path.</p><p>*************</p><p><b><u>The Hill We Climb</u></b></p><p>When day comes we ask ourselves,</p><p>where can we find light in this never-ending shade?</p><p>The loss we carry,</p><p>a sea we must wade</p><p>We've braved the belly of the beast</p><p>We've learned that quiet isn't always peace</p><p>And the norms and notions</p><p>of what just is</p><p>Isn't always just-ice</p><p>And yet the dawn is ours</p><p>before we knew it</p><p>Somehow we do it</p><p>Somehow we've weathered and witnessed</p><p>a nation that isn't broken</p><p>but simply unfinished</p><p>We the successors of a country and a time</p><p>Where a skinny Black girl</p><p>descended from slaves and raised by a single mother</p><p>can dream of becoming president</p><p>only to find herself reciting for one</p><p>And yes we are far from polished</p><p>far from pristine</p><p>but that doesn't mean we are</p><p>striving to form a union that is perfect</p><p>We are striving to forge a union with purpose</p><p>To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and</p><p>conditions of man</p><p>And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us</p><p>but what stands before us</p><p>We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,</p><p>we must first put our differences aside</p><p>We lay down our arms</p><p>so we can reach out our arms</p><p>to one another</p><p>We seek harm to none and harmony for all</p><p>Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:</p><p>That even as we grieved, we grew</p><p>That even as we hurt, we hoped</p><p>That even as we tired, we tried</p><p>That we'll forever be tied together, victorious</p><p>Not because we will never again know defeat</p><p>but because we will never again sow division</p><p>Scripture tells us to envision</p><p>that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree</p><p>And no one shall make them afraid</p><p>If we're to live up to our own time</p><p>Then victory won't lie in the blade</p><p>But in all the bridges we've made</p><p>That is the promise to glade</p><p>The hill we climb</p><p>If only we dare</p><p>It's because being American is more than a pride we inherit,</p><p>it's the past we step into</p><p>and how we repair it</p><p>We've seen a force that would shatter our nation</p><p>rather than share it</p><p>Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy</p><p>And this effort very nearly succeeded</p><p>But while democracy can be periodically delayed</p><p>it can never be permanently defeated</p><p>In this truth</p><p>in this faith we trust</p><p>For while we have our eyes on the future</p><p>history has its eyes on us</p><p>This is the era of just redemption</p><p>We feared at its inception</p><p>We did not feel prepared to be the heirs</p><p>of such a terrifying hour</p><p>but within it we found the power</p><p>to author a new chapter</p><p>To offer hope and laughter to ourselves</p><p>So while once we asked,</p><p>how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?</p><p>Now we assert</p><p>How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?</p><p>We will not march back to what was</p><p>but move to what shall be</p><p>A country that is bruised but whole,</p><p>benevolent but bold,</p><p>fierce and free</p><p>We will not be turned around</p><p>or interrupted by intimidation</p><p>because we know our inaction and inertia</p><p>will be the inheritance of the next generation</p><p>Our blunders become their burdens</p><p>But one thing is certain:</p><p>If we merge mercy with might,</p><p>and might with right,</p><p>then love becomes our legacy</p><p>and change our children's birthright</p><p>So let us leave behind a country</p><p>better than the one we were left with</p><p>Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,</p><p>we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one</p><p>We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west,</p><p>we will rise from the windswept northeast</p><p>where our forefathers first realized revolution</p><p>We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states,</p><p>we will rise from the sunbaked south</p><p>We will rebuild, reconcile and recover</p><p>and every known nook of our nation and</p><p>every corner called our country,</p><p>our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,</p><p>battered and beautiful</p><p>When day comes we step out of the shade,</p><p>aflame and unafraid</p><p>The new dawn blooms as we free it</p><p>For there is always light,</p><p>if only we're brave enough to see it</p><p>If only we're brave enough to be it</p>Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-37427399360048063952021-01-08T10:30:00.001-08:002021-01-08T10:30:05.993-08:00New Year, New World…What Now?<p><i> “We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned so as to accept the life that is waiting for us.” </i>~Joseph Campbell</p><p><br /></p><p>The Grand Conjunction commenced on December 20th. We have stepped through the portal of the portended ‘Age of Aquarius.’ What is next? </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QD1hniZUpww/X_dilaYUezI/AAAAAAAACaw/ZELTUJP_v-00lbcQUbaxxpicwBKCqcAmACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/AdobeStock_69917086%2Bcopy.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QD1hniZUpww/X_dilaYUezI/AAAAAAAACaw/ZELTUJP_v-00lbcQUbaxxpicwBKCqcAmACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/AdobeStock_69917086%2Bcopy.jpeg" /></a></div><div><br /></div>We are in what is called the liminal space. The liminal space is the transitional phase where the old world is falling apart and the new one is being created. It is a sacred place, ripe and potent, even terrifying because we face the unknown. Yet this space is full of possibilities. In this liminal space we simply do not yet know the details of our envisioned better world. This hallowed place of transforming ‘what is no longer acceptable’ into ‘what is next’ is where the real magic happens. <p></p><p>You may feel heightened intensity during this liminal period of change. You may find you vacillate between fear and conviction and all that is in-between. I still feel fear amidst my strong convictions. Our shadowy wounds in need of healing are being stirred up and emerge to be transmuted. Collectively and personally. This is normal, especially when undergoing such global massive change. Death to old paradigms allows the rebirthing of new ones. Any regeneration into something new is always preceded by turbulence, as old structures fall to make way for the new. That is precisely how rebirth and regeneration work.</p><p>In this liminal space, humankind has the opportunity to begin morphing into the embodied love we are to become. </p><p>I invite us all to acknowledge and embrace this liminal space and process of regeneration. </p><p>How? </p><p>~ Open our hearts and intuition. </p><p>~ ‘Pay exquisite attention’ as Christine McDougell says. </p><p>~ Recognize meaningful coincidences or synchronicities. </p><p>~ Access your creativity in whatever form it takes and let it flow. </p><p>~ Clarify and then assume your role and purpose in visioning and creating this new world. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4Xk5Fzim0XM/X_djKNy3feI/AAAAAAAACa8/KJi3w0ARAtMcRarJPI1lXrS5-_onNF7lACPcBGAYYCw/s1024/liminal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="591" data-original-width="1024" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4Xk5Fzim0XM/X_djKNy3feI/AAAAAAAACa8/KJi3w0ARAtMcRarJPI1lXrS5-_onNF7lACPcBGAYYCw/s320/liminal.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>We are being called to be empowered, to be resilient, to be love embodied. This healing process is essential medicine for the Earth and humankind at this powerful time in our history. </p><div><p></p><p>So, embrace the initiation that is taking place in the liminal space. Remember the vital role we can play, and the torch we bear as we move forward into paving different pathways of being and living and loving.</p><p>We will collectively contribute to the creation of what a golden era looks like. Necessary work awaits us. And while it does indeed require work, we are powerfully upheld and supported by the energies of this new dawn. </p><p>In my novel <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019RYLFEY?notRedirectToSDP=1&ref_=dbs_mng_calw_0&storeType=ebooks" target="_blank">Carry on the Flame: Destiny’s Call</a></i>, Sharay exemplifies the process of transformation. Her jealous Aunt Phoebe commits her to a psychiatric ward and falsely accuses her of murdering her uncle. Phoebe uses black magic to steal Sharay’s fortune and magical power. Sharay struggles with the temptation to fight Phoebe’s dark powers with her own dark side. She must transform her fear of loss, her hatred for her aunt and thirst for revenge in order to uncover the mystery held deep within her cells that will allow her to fulfill her destiny–embodied love, the ultimate magic.</p><p>*************</p><p>What do you need to face, to embrace, to heal and transform, in order to help bring to fruition the shift of consciousness available to us now in this new dawn?</p><div><br /></div></div>Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-51478091450008410342020-12-31T09:00:00.007-08:002020-12-31T09:00:01.211-08:00Happy New Year, Happy New World<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0YJ2Vmz5y-o/X-o0h7PtR6I/AAAAAAAACZw/Cph-QZBcP84M58Z7t7LBwc9ekguIRhT4gCLcBGAsYHQ/s435/Deep%2BPeace%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="359" data-original-width="435" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0YJ2Vmz5y-o/X-o0h7PtR6I/AAAAAAAACZw/Cph-QZBcP84M58Z7t7LBwc9ekguIRhT4gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Deep%2BPeace%2B2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><div><u>Deep Peace by Donovan</u></div><div><br /></div><div>Deep peace of the running wave to you;</div><div>Deep peace of the flowing air to you;</div><div>Deep peace of the quiet earth to you;</div><div>Deep peace of the shining stars to you.</div><div>Deep peace of the gentle night to you;</div><div>Moon and stars pour their healing light on you;</div><div>Deep peace to you.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rCb4U3XeOHc" width="320" youtube-src-id="rCb4U3XeOHc"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>*************</div><div><br /></div><div>What are YOU envisioning for the New Year, the new dawn?</div><div><br /></div>Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-84858962462646611912020-12-22T10:11:00.004-08:002020-12-22T10:11:00.167-08:00Birthing a New World<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-idUUuvNeepM/X9_K-XlkbaI/AAAAAAAACYk/pqFIXoeAUoIkwMXUNB1I9un4GHZD3ad2gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1440/Edveeje.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1440" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-idUUuvNeepM/X9_K-XlkbaI/AAAAAAAACYk/pqFIXoeAUoIkwMXUNB1I9un4GHZD3ad2gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Edveeje.jpg" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>The Grand Conjunction of December 21, 2020 carries the blueprint of our world for the next 20 years. The Collective Spirit of Change.</p><p>These potent energies are the doorway into a golden age and a more loving world. It’s time to Evolve.</p><p>The arts, including writing, will revive in a special way, as we are entering a new Renaissance. A Renaissance emphasizes the arts as agents of change. Artists have a special ability to engage their creativity to go into the quantum field and manifest in the physical world. Visionary Fiction writers do so by catalyzing a transformation of consciousness with their stories.</p><p>St Francis of Assisi explains the creative process this way: “<i>The woman who works with her hands is a laborer; the woman who works with her hands and her head is a craftswoman; the woman who works with her hands, and her heart is an artist.”</i></p><p>“May the artist within each of us rise up and create!” ~ Cathy Pagano</p><p>Loving, warm blessings for this magical and potent Solstice and Grand Conjunction.</p><p>*************</p><p>What New World are you birthing?</p><div><br /></div>Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-3889530206075221452020-12-21T12:33:00.005-08:002020-12-21T12:33:44.905-08:00Happy Winter Solstice and Grand Conjunction!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VpVyBy1B6MM/X-EGM88KJiI/AAAAAAAACY0/aCaPLbCJtU8ETsKvm5dZL-xIzB06dqCFQCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Michael%2BAlexander%2BLaw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VpVyBy1B6MM/X-EGM88KJiI/AAAAAAAACY0/aCaPLbCJtU8ETsKvm5dZL-xIzB06dqCFQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Michael%2BAlexander%2BLaw.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><div>Happy Winter Solstice and Grand Conjunction! What a powerfully significant day!</div><div><br /></div><div>This photo of Chalice Well in Glastonbury, England, is decorated beautifully for the Winter Solstice. The Chalice Well is one of my favorite spots on earth and a source of deep peace and inspiration to me. It is central to each one of my Visionary Fiction novels as well. </div><div><br /></div><div>Today, the Winter Solstice brings us the longest night and subsequent return to the Light. Astrologically, today also heralds the long-awaited Grand Conjunction, the threshold into the golden Age of Aquarius. A time of being the best we can envision. A time of embodied love, peace, collaboration, and cooperation for our collective humanity. </div><div><br /></div><div>You will see the planets Jupiter and Saturn close together (Grand Conjunction), shining as one, in the south-western sky after sunset.</div><div><br /></div><div>What will you envision into being during this potent new era?</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">(photo courtesy of Michael Alexander Law)</span></div></div><div><br /></div>Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-9887899502874745862020-12-18T10:30:00.013-08:002020-12-18T13:45:23.394-08:00The Age of Aquarius<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PXARzGdhx_Q" width="320" youtube-src-id="PXARzGdhx_Q"></iframe></div><br /> <p></p><div style="text-align: left;">‘When the moon is in the Seventh House <br />And Jupiter aligns with Mars <br />Then peace will guide the planets <br />And love will steer the stars <br />This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius <br />Age of Aquarius </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Harmony and understanding <br />Sympathy and trust abounding <br />No more falsehoods or derisions <br />Golden living dreams of visions <br />Mystic crystal revelation <br />And the mind's true liberation Aquarius </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in, the sunshine in.’ </div><p>~ sung by the ensemble group ‘The Fifth Dimension’</p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Do you remember the song “The Age of Aquarius” released in 1968? I was a very young teenager and I saw them perform it live on stage at, of all places, the Michigan State Fair. The song captured the hearts and imaginations of millions, promising a golden new age to come.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I am in no way an astrologer. But I do know, from many sources, that what is called The Grand Conjunction in the sign of Aquarius (the sign of the collective mindset and consciousness) </span><span style="font-family: arial;">is occurring on Monday December 21, 2020. This is what the ensemble group The Fifth Dimension sang about. You will be able to gaze upon the stars and see a juxtaposition of Saturn and Jupiter, their shining bodies nearly touching in the night sky, forming a luminous orb of light </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">This promising astrological conjunction occurs the same day as the Winter Solstice. Both of these events herald the dark night opening out and letting the light in. The light of peace, harmony, and understanding. No more illusions, a time for the way of the heart, the song and the astrologers tell us.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Visionary Fiction authors write about shifts in consciousness. A profound shift of consciousness will be happening in ‘real’ life during this Conjunction/Solstice. It will not happen overnight of course, but the portal will be opened, the threshold inviting us to cross into a new way of being. I, for one, will celebrate this potent event with meditation, prayer, and ritual honoring my vision of the new dawn. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">My vision of a new dawn is one of the evolutionary force of embodied love. The sacred feminine divine heart emerging and made manifest. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">What is your vision of the Age of Aquarius? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">"Your dreams are potent medicine. Your gifts are essential." ~Edveeje</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">*********</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Here is a video describing the Grand Conjunction: https://youtu.be/0FnfUve-Qz0</span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-51126573606549055072020-11-03T10:30:00.006-08:002020-11-03T10:30:02.461-08:00Celebrate Indie Author Day – Virtually <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2SJ9_PZcLlQ/X6CQEuTzTkI/AAAAAAAACUY/w4fXpPRCdyYFP-FbbKM7FE-ye7XfjMihQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1200/ShowcasePost3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2SJ9_PZcLlQ/X6CQEuTzTkI/AAAAAAAACUY/w4fXpPRCdyYFP-FbbKM7FE-ye7XfjMihQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/ShowcasePost3.jpg" /></a></div><p><br /></p>Each year in celebration of Indie Author Day, libraries and organizations around the world welcome local indie authors and their communities for a day of education, networking, resources, workshop videos, mingling, writing, panels, and so much more. All activities are digitally hosted online this year. Registration is free. The link is in the comment section of this post.<p></p><p>I am taking part in this local authors week in my local community, November 4th-7th. I have a virtual book booth in the Virtual Exhibit Hall that features the participating authors. </p><p>The purpose of the showcase is to link local authors with their audience and celebrate the wealth of writing talent in your region in the USA. The event in my community culminates with the talented Molly Fisk giving a keynote speech on the last day.</p><p>I invite you to check it out and honor your favorite local, or national, Indie Author!</p><p>Check it out here: https://indieauthorday.com/<br /></p><p>Here is my virtual author booth: </p><p>https://sites.google.com/view/local-author-showcase/exhibit-hall/jodine-turner?fbclid=IwAR2vcAJny39UACkGJiCkeeL_k574UcG_LdK46vhM2PvfVQEcBmzgSU7_OJ8</p><p> </p>Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-82745826184413174712020-10-09T10:30:00.000-07:002020-10-09T10:30:01.225-07:00Inspiring Example of Visionary Fiction<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5grpcDLyJk8/X3uRfdM4YgI/AAAAAAAACRU/Vie0blyg8h4K4R3Zc28jXM2G0d4bOE-KQCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Lord%2Bof%2Bthe%2BRings%2Bby%2B%2BJRR%2BTolkein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="907" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5grpcDLyJk8/X3uRfdM4YgI/AAAAAAAACRU/Vie0blyg8h4K4R3Zc28jXM2G0d4bOE-KQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Lord%2Bof%2Bthe%2BRings%2Bby%2B%2BJRR%2BTolkein.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p>Visionary Fiction inspires, catalyzes, and expands consciousness. One classic example of this reading experience can be found in an excerpt from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings.” (above excerpt image). Years and worlds apart from our current times, these are such relevant words of inspiring wisdom. They moved me when I read them. Such scenes remind us how ordinary people are called upon to do extra-ordinary things during crises.</p><p>My ‘Goddess of the Stars and the Sea’ novels all take place during critical junctures in human history where the main character, a priestess, is called to assist humankind move through fearful and bleak times—the demise of Atlantis, the Dark Age's suppression of the feminine, and today's turbulent world. </p><p>In the Prologue from my second novel, “The Keys to Remember,” the main character, Rhianna, will be called upon by the Goddess to once more to assist during a time of crisis for humanity.</p><p><span style="text-align: center;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>***</span></p><p>The Stars Awaken Me from My dreamtime.</p><p>“Am I needed?” I murmur sleepily.</p><p>I hear their silver response and feel the angels gather round me.</p><p>“Ah. Again humankind calls to me.”</p><p>I, the Goddess of the Stars and the Sea, look down upon the earth, gaze deeply into the affairs of men. The consciousness of humanity is ready to take its next step.</p><p>“Is the one named Geodran prepared to assist Me?”</p><p>The angels smile brightly. “She is called Rhianna in this life. She has returned to help you. But she is young and remembers little of you.”</p><p>“As it should be. She will know Me as the calling grows stronger.”</p><p>Again, I peer into the hearts of men. “I hope I am not too late.”</p><p>*************</p><p><br /></p><p>What do you feel called upon to contribute during our current tumultuous times?</p><p><br /></p>Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-21592780921334418482020-09-25T10:30:00.001-07:002020-09-25T10:30:13.227-07:00 Ruth Bader Ginsburg<p class="p1" style="color: #050505; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="color: #050505; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #050505; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c-9xbhR3TTk/X2zwez78oCI/AAAAAAAACQI/-0dd9fIVZqodAOiB21wtuGqRyMT75G3qACLcBGAsYHQ/s960/necklace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c-9xbhR3TTk/X2zwez78oCI/AAAAAAAACQI/-0dd9fIVZqodAOiB21wtuGqRyMT75G3qACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/necklace.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p class="p1" style="color: #050505; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="color: #050505; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We define Visionary Fiction as stories about shifting, changing, and transforming consciousness. If there was a real-life person whose life exemplified these characteristics of Visionary Fiction, it would be the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. </p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We’re all familiar with, and have read about her accomplishments, especially regarding women’s rights, universal justice, and fairness for all. She embodies integrity, justice, and compassion, crucial qualities in today’s turbulent world. In addition to the long list of achievements and virtues from her inspirational life, I wanted to share the more personal story fellow Visionary Fiction author, Alissa Lukara, tells about Ruth Bader Ginsberg (note the photo of Ruth Bader Ginsberg wearing an ornate neck piece):</p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“I wanted to mention that this particular ornate necklace came to RBG from my dear departed friend, Suzanna Solomon. Suzanna had a collection of necklaces and artifacts from when she was a child in South Africa and her mother took Suzanna and her sister to the tribal villages to participate in ceremonies and purchase art. She had put some of the pieces on Etsy to sell and Ruth's good friend had bought one for Ruth as a birthday present some years ago. Ruth wore it (and other jabots with significance) with her robes in court and at State of the Union gatherings.” ~ Visionary Fiction author Alissa Lukara</p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">*************</p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> May Her Memory Be a Revolution.</p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.” </p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg</p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“If you want to be a true professional, you will do something outside yourself. Something to repair tears in your community. Something to make life a little better for people less fortunate than you. That’s what I think a meaningful life is—living not for oneself, but for one’s community.” </p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg</p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">“Reading is the key that opens doors to many good things in life. Reading shaped my dreams, and more reading helped me make my dreams come true."</p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg</p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">*************</p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What meaningful legacy do want to exemplify in your life right now?</p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">What meaningful message do you want to impart to your Visionary Fiction readers?</p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p>Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-40990882335371151012020-09-22T10:30:00.003-07:002020-09-22T10:30:00.122-07:00Autumn Equinox - Balance and Equilibrium<p><span style="font-size: 12px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6P1WzhNepvs/X2jXwbcLZKI/AAAAAAAACPc/okN71WoJ0dI748NEJxbgZlRGRxZtXaazQCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Orchard%2Bby%2BFranz%2BDvorak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="646" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6P1WzhNepvs/X2jXwbcLZKI/AAAAAAAACPc/okN71WoJ0dI748NEJxbgZlRGRxZtXaazQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Orchard%2Bby%2BFranz%2BDvorak.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: 12px;">Autumn Equinox is the perfect balance between day and night, light and dark. Shadows lengthen, colors turn, and the smell of fallen leaves and moist earth are underfoot. Looking to the sky above, we see birds migrate. Summer’s harvest has been gathered.</span><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Many earth and land-based spirituality and wisdom traditions, such as the practices of the ancient Celtic people, celebrated the ‘Wheel of the Year.’ The Wheel of the Year acknowledges the annual cycles of the seasons and the natural rhythm of the earth. Recognizing our connection with earth cycles is key to developing embodied love. And embodied love is critical in these tumultuous times.</p><p class="p2" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Our ancestors experienced their lives intricately woven with earth’s seasons and tides. They held awareness for the everyday ebb and flow such as night and day, dusk and dawn. And they aligned with the slower change of the seasons; verdant summer into fall’s harvest, fall into winter’s regeneration, winter into spring’s germination, and spring’s expansion into summer once more. These turning points were considered strong magical portals. Such gateways are opportunities to align with the energies of nature and augment those energies mirrored within ourselves.</p><p class="p1" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">These natural crossroads, the ‘in between<b>’ </b>periods, were celebrated with rituals, storytelling, songs, music, </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UMN49BSe1Ow/X2jX5B0vXXI/AAAAAAAACPo/QyVPFtKp2hgkukXtyye1nDgCuHWsjei5QCPcBGAYYCw/s1334/autumn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UMN49BSe1Ow/X2jX5B0vXXI/AAAAAAAACPo/QyVPFtKp2hgkukXtyye1nDgCuHWsjei5QCPcBGAYYCw/s320/autumn.jpg" /></a></div>and special seasonal foods. The wisdom of the Wheel of the Year frees us from our more modern linear, driven focus, and reminds us to treasure the physicality of our bodies and the rich sensual gifts of the earth. The Wheel of the Year invites us to pay heed to the unhurried energy of our bodies, and to honor them as the divine within matter, for that is where the Divine Feminine resides. By participating in these natural cycles, we can attune ourselves to the creative forces that flow through us, and learn how to harmonize them with the Earth.<p></p><p class="p1" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The upcoming seasonal change of the Autumn Equinox occurs today, September 22nd<sup> </sup>at 6:31 am PDT. The Autumn Equinox is also called the festival of Mabon, named for the ancient Celtic god, the child of light. This is an early Thanksgiving where we can offer appreciation and enjoy the fruits of our labors. It represents a time to consider which aspects of our life we wish to preserve, and which we would prefer to transform. A perfect contemplation for envisioning a better, more loving future.</p><p class="p2" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Water is the element of Autumn. Water indicates the realm of emotions and relationships. Autumn Equinox and its element of water urge us to go deeper and embrace our emotions and the nourishing dark of our psyche with its mysterious teachings. Autumn asks us to prepare by honoring the strengths that will sustain us through the cold winter months. During this time in our human history, it encourages us to take a lesson from autumn’s beautiful falling leaves and find the transformation in letting go of what no longer serves.</p><p class="p2" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>Suggestions for how to celebrate the Autumn Equinox:</b></p><p class="p2" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>You can commemorate the Autumn Equinox in small ways:</i></p><p class="p2" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p3" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: -18px;">1.<span class="s1" style="font-size: 7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Enjoy seasonal fruits like pears and apples. Roast the fruits whole in a baking pan for 45 minutes at 350 degrees for a delicious autumn treat.</p><p class="p2" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p3" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: -18px;">2.<span class="s1" style="font-size: 7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Peel an apple and sprinkle the peel with the balancing herb, thyme. Roll the peel up after you sprinkle the thyme. Bake in a warm oven of 250 degrees for an hour or so, making sure to breathe in the combination of the sweet apple and the fresh, pungent thyme - it will help bring balance to your home and those who live there. Once dried, the peel can be kept to hold in your hand whenever you need a little balance.</p><p class="p2" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">(from Cait Johnson, ‘<i>Witch in the Kitchen’</i>)</p><p class="p2" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Autumn Equinox Ritual:</i></p><p class="p2" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p3" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-indent: -18px;">3.<span class="s1" style="font-size: 7px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Fill a small bowl with water as a way to connect with autumn’s element. Set it on your kitchen counter or on your altar. Gather colorful autumn leaves and surround your bowl with the leaves. Hold your bowl of water and name 3 people you are thankful for in your life. Pick up one of the brightly colored fall leaves, and as you float it in the water, name one thing you have learned or transformed in 2020 that has become a strength within you which will sustain you during the winter months ahead.</p><p class="p4" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p5" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><b><i>Happy Autumn Equinox!</i></b></p><p class="p5" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span face="system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-size: x-small; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span face="system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-size: x-small; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: xx-small;">Art credit: Orchard by Franz Dvorak</span></span></p>Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-90270487776185715132020-09-15T10:30:00.001-07:002020-09-15T10:30:00.500-07:00Marriage of the Muse and the Mess<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tJ2IK86pBWk/X1UTsm6k-GI/AAAAAAAACNg/Sd6uiDihw_wXC64aDWJswrIpvzSE6zdaACPcBGAYYCw/s800/union2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="562" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tJ2IK86pBWk/X1UTsm6k-GI/AAAAAAAACNg/Sd6uiDihw_wXC64aDWJswrIpvzSE6zdaACPcBGAYYCw/s320/union2.jpg" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><br />I was in a writing group for 14 years. They were my first line readers. I truly appreciate</span><span>d how their frank critiques helped my manuscripts grow into their best versi</span><span>ons.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">During one writer's meeting, we pondered the question, "Who writes?" When we sit down at the computer, who is it that comes forward to communicate the storyconcept, to express the dialogue and scenes, the story, the creative wealth, as well as the consciousness transformational experience so necessary in Visionary Fiction?</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />After considering what happens when I write, I arrived at an answer to "Who writes?" Simply yet profoundly—the whole of me. Not only the transcendent witnessof my life, outside of me, up there, out of body. And not only my creative muse, or divine guidance and inspiration. These are part of the equation, but they are not the whole. These aspects are disconnected without considering my oftentimes messy human self - my painful grief, raging anger, bottomless despair and struggle. Without my experiences of felt emotion, none of my writing could touch the hearts or souls of my readers. My stories would be void and sterile, written 'about' rather than written to intimately engage.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It is so important to feel—to physically sense, allow, accept, digest and metabolize all of our emotions. The lack of doing so can create writer’s block (among a host of other unpleasant things). While penning <i>“Carry on the Flame: Destiny’s Call”</i> I was stopped short for a few months. Unable to continue writing about my character Sharay’s gut wrenching experiences of loss and injustice until I created the space in my body to process my own personal loss and grief.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;">We can all turn the dross of our life experience into gold. Integrating my beautifully messy human self with my muse, my passion, my divine guidance and inspiration—now that is where the spark of creativity truly ignites. In that integration, the compost of the stuff of life is brought to perfected alchemy. Passions flows freely, I express my truth in writing, sentences shine, plot is engaging, characters have sensory depth and they grow from their conflict and tension. Readers feel emotions and experiences alongside the characters. This can only be created from the union of the mess and the muse.<br /><br />As writers, this alchemical union of mess and muse is much like the process of how characters achieve their goals through their transformational arc within a story. Characters don't start out without flaws. There would be no story there. Characters start their stories with conflicts and obstacles to what they desire. If that is not part of their experience there's not much point in telling the story, now is there? Readers would lose interest.<br /><br />The muse without the compost of the mess is barren. </span><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />*************<br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If you write (and we all do in some form or another), how would you answer the question, "Who writes?"</span></p>Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-1940142785960064262020-09-08T10:30:00.008-07:002020-09-08T10:30:01.488-07:00No More Band-Aids: A Visionary Fiction Author’s Rant.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E7LqQW80C00/X1el1zKwe2I/AAAAAAAACN8/SJhazgqtwwg67U4K8W76YHOxmjqckABKACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/beyondthesky1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E7LqQW80C00/X1el1zKwe2I/AAAAAAAACN8/SJhazgqtwwg67U4K8W76YHOxmjqckABKACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/beyondthesky1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">(warning: the good, the bad, and the ugly)</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>“Life feels shitty right now. Life is leading us to a new and better way of living. I hate not seeing loved ones. I am so grateful for what I do have. I miss (fill in the blank).”</i></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I started out this era of Covid feeling concerned, yet calm, philosophical, better future oriented. I still feel that way.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Then the wildfires started here in California. Terrifying destruction. Anxious evacuations. Two friends’ homes burnt to the ground. Orange, smoky skies, and unhealthy air accompanied by extreme heat waves with temperatures up to 120 degrees. Electrical rolling blackouts to save power. Followed by the pre-planned blackouts, days long blackouts, instigated to protect us when wind and temperature make conditions favorable for more wildfires. These record-breaking raging infernos are the offspring of global warming.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">When we got the call yesterday for the electrical outage possibilities in our area I crumbled. Cried. It pushed my mettle. What happens to my expensive refrigerated medicine? What happens to those who suffer with illnesses that over-whelming heat would exacerbate? Like me. Or my neighbor. Or the elderly folks from my Unity community.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">All of this atop the usual everyday stressors in our personal lives we all face. Mix in the political chaos, the social unrest, the exposed injustices of our world.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So, the thoughts and feelings I expressed at the opening of my post teeter between acute stress and far vision, between over-whelming anxiety and transpersonal perspective. Between destruction and regeneration. This is normal and common for most everyone nowadays in the era of Covid.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Enough!</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you’re thinking I’m painting a picture of doom and gloom, I am. If you’re thinking I am focusing on negative thoughts – well, that is only a superficial and not helpful platitude.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">We ARE in the phase of destruction. We are in the midst of deaths large and small. It is hellish. And it is a herald. Big changes are coming.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It is time to rip off the band-aids. No more surface healing. It is time for surgery. Heart surgery, gut surgery, psychic surgery, the type of surgery that roots out the underbelly evils. This is the time for exposing, questioning, introspection, contemplation, seeing what we truly want to be real, and healing at the deepest, most secret, most hidden possible levels.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In the place of what does not serve us, what does not serve love, it is time to plant kindness, and hope. And most of all love.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It is time to embody this love, to take it into our everyday living. To choose it again and again. It is a choice. In order to build a new reality, it is a minute by minute choice. Choose love. It is Love that will meet us, hold us, give us clarity.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">One step at a time, we move forward. Our anxiety, fears, and grief can, and will, accompany us. We are human and it is a normal response. Do not shove these emotions aside and under the rug, forcing them to root deep in our bodies in shadowy corners to then ultimately express in unhealthy ways. Welcome all emotions, even uncomfortable ones. Hold them in your heart. And keep going.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Keep going sometimes looks like hiding in bed or on the couch or in Netflix. Or it means being still and silent, letting heart wisdom emerge. Or helping another. Any and all sorts of fulfilling and rejuvenating actions that work for you.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Feel the gratitude in your heart for what blessings you have, and for the love in your life. Compassion for those who have lost so much; jobs, homes, loved ones, and for those who are victims of injustice. Act and be an activist if this calls to you.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Embrace the greening and restoration of nature. Sleep well. Eat well.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Why? Because we are heading for the rebirth. A new way and better way of living awaits us. We are invited to dive deep and come up with better ways of being and of doing. New ways of rebuilding. New ways of rectifying. New ways of justice.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Visionary Fiction stories offer hope and suggestions for times like these. When I visualized the concepts of my <i>Goddess of the Stars and the Sea</i> series over 25 years ago, I said they were written for those critical junctures in human history, those times of tumult and chaos for humankind. I wrote about past critical junctures such as the demise of Atlantis and the suppression of the Divine Feminine in the Dark Ages (through to now). And today’s world, with my latest publication in January 2020 before I knew what Covid even was. Still, I never imagined the specifics of today’s hellish scenarios. But I knew these kind of times were coming.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Several ancient traditions told us these times were coming, heralding a new golden civilization. My visions told me this. My books wrote about this.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Now is the time to read Visionary Fiction. Glean and gather the hope and suggestions offered through the character’s experiences in Visionary Fiction. We are all being initiated into the new future. Covid is a portal. Wildfires are a portal. Hurricanes are a portal. Grief and fear are a portal and an initiation. Treat these powerful, ever important initiations with love and respect. Treat yourself with love, kindness, and respect. And treat others with love, kindness, and respect.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">No more band-aids. Go deep. Be love. We are on the threshold. We are moving all together toward this new world, this new vision.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.5px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br /></p>Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-89898965814926600442020-09-01T10:30:00.004-07:002020-09-01T10:30:00.817-07:0010 Free Ways to Show Gratitude to the Writers You Love <p><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: xx-small;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: xx-small;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KJfLg5Aj7Mw/X00aB6XmnqI/AAAAAAAACMY/DmPQ-lD9Sho50Muj11TWw7phBycekX9wQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/book%2Blove.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1439" data-original-width="1920" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KJfLg5Aj7Mw/X00aB6XmnqI/AAAAAAAACMY/DmPQ-lD9Sho50Muj11TWw7phBycekX9wQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/book%2Blove.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: xx-small;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: xx-small;">Authors write in isolation. It is a solitary craft. Perhaps we eventually go on to share our manuscript with trusted friends or family, or perhaps we bring our rough drafts to a critique group or editor. But writing is a basically autonomous craft, and as such, a writer’s life leads us to especially appreciate feedback. In the form of reviews, or contests, or personal correspondences of thanks for our work, as just some examples. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: x-small;">I was recently notified of two more book awards to add to my credits for “The Hidden Abbey.” I was awarded the Bronze Medal from the Global E-Book awards and Finalist in the American Fiction Awards Contest. I felt that flutter of thrill in my chest to learn my work was validated and appreciated.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Author Andi Cumbo-Floyd wrote a blog in April 2019 about her poignant experience in receiving gratitude from readers. Andi spoke about a year of experiencing dark days, with family deaths and a host of other misfortunes. She went on to say how a new favorite novel captured her heart and saved her from deep despair.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: xx-small;">She sent a quick email to the author to say thank you for the book, to tell her how much of a comfort it was in her hard days. The author wrote back to say that was the kindest note she’d ever received. Andi was teary thinking that a note that took one minute to write could be so meaningful to someone whose novel’s words had helped her to heal. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: xx-small;">The kindness and appreciation we can give our fellow writers is not to be underestimated!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: xx-small;">Here is Andi’s list of 10 ways you can easily show kindness and love to the writers whose works have mattered to you.</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><b><i>10 FREE Ways to Show Gratitude to the Writers You Love<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i></b></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><b><i><br /><span class="Apple-converted-space"></span></i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><i><span class="Apple-converted-space"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u9bor0ngbb8/X00aRtDI_bI/AAAAAAAACMc/oB5JnyeV3VoxkJ5bF0-LQToBjl6CbCr2QCLcBGAsYHQ/s425/GratitudeJournal-esolla.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="282" data-original-width="425" height="212" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u9bor0ngbb8/X00aRtDI_bI/AAAAAAAACMc/oB5JnyeV3VoxkJ5bF0-LQToBjl6CbCr2QCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h212/GratitudeJournal-esolla.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></i></b></div><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Write them a note. Say thank you. Tell them what their work meant to you. </b>You can find most people’s email addresses or contact forms on their websites, or you can message them through social media.</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Follow them on Amazon or BookBub or Goodreads.</b> That little follow means you’ll get notifications about their new work – win for you – but it also helps boost their standing and opportunities on those platforms.</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>3.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Review their books. </b>Reviews matter. They help other readers decide if they want to pick up those books, and they help authors, especially authors who are just starting out, to be able to get other promotional opportunities. You can post a review to Goodreads and then just copy and paste it anywhere that author’s books are sold.</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>4.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Recommend their books to your local public and schools libraries.</b> Many libraries have forms you can fill out to recommend a book. It’ll take you two minutes, but it’ll mean a whole lot to an author.</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>5.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Suggest podcasters you know interview them. </b>If you listen to a podcast that is thematically appropriate for a writer whose work you love, drop that podcaster a line and suggest they check out the book and the author.</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>6.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Share your copies of books. </b>When you tell a friend you loved a book, it makes it more likely that they’ll read it. And more readers means more fans, overall.</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>7.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Post about what you read on social media. </b>Do a quick Instagram story about what you read. Post a link on FB or Twitter. Tag in the writer if you can.</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>8.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Join their launch team. </b>Many writers have launch teams to help spread the word about their new books. It’s easy, and often you get to read the book early.</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>9.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Sign-up for their email list. </b>Sign-ups matter to an author because of future book contracts and marketing opportunities, but they also give you behind-the-scenes access to the author and sometimes special deals on books.</p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>10.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Go to their readings. </b>Just be there. Listen. Ask questions. It means the world to see the faces of readers in the flesh.</p><div><p class="p2" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">*************</p></div><p class="p2" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>What forms of support have you most appreciated as an author? </b></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b>Perhaps you can thank 30 writers for the next 30 days. Or 5 writers in the next week. Or even your favorite one today. Leave me a comment below and let me know if you plan to do this! </b></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://www.andilit.com" style="color: #954f72;"><span face="">www.andilit.com</span></a><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></p>Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-34101478830322431952020-08-25T10:30:00.001-07:002020-08-25T10:30:00.131-07:00The origins of the name Goddess of the Stars and the Sea<p>My five novels are dedicated to, and are part of a collection called, ‘The Goddess of the Stars and the Sea’ series. This ancient Goddess carries the evolutionary force of embodied love. She calls upon a young priestess to assist humankind in their evolutionary transitions through several reincarnations, starting from Atlantis, through to the Dark Ages, and into today’s world.</p><p>The Goddess of the Stars and the Sea’s name has early roots, legends and historical correlates. </p><p>The word ‘sea’ has several language origins. Mar, mer, and mari all mean the sea. In Latin, the word mare means the sea. There are many modern words derived from this source word - mermaid, marina, marine, to name a few. </p><p>Mari is one of the most ancient names of the Goddess. It means Mother Sea.</p><p>Stella Maria means Star of the Sea. It is the epithet of the goddesses Isis, Ishtar, Aphrodite, Venus, Mari-Anna, and Mother Mary.</p><p>In legend, Stella Maria's star was Venus or Sirius (I have also seen it as listed as the Pleiades, and that is the star formation featured in my novels.)</p><p>Stella Maria is often depicted as dressing in a blue robe with pearly foam edging. (see picture below.)</p><p>Mari-Anna also means Sea Goddess, and Ishtar.</p><p>Stella Maris is the title that first belonged to Ishtar. She was known as the Goddess of the Sea, Lady of Compassion, Provider, Protector, Regeneratrix, Keeper of the Mysteries, and the one who manifested as the Magdalene.</p><p>Mari-Ishtar anointed, or christened, her doomed consort god Tammuz when he went to the underworld whereupon he would rise again at her bidding. That is to say, she made him a Christed one. Anointing is symbolic of the alchemical Sacred Marriage.</p><p>The ancient title of the North Star was Stella Maris, Star of the sea, Star of love, Star of Compassion. </p><p>The root of the name Mary means love, compassion, giving, flowing, and also sea.</p><p>The Tarot card the ‘Star’ depicts stars that pour out the water of Life, revering the earth.</p><p>Tara means star (White Tara, Irish Tara)</p><p>These early etymological beginnings, the derivations for the name the ‘Goddess of the Stars and the Sea,’ all contain the roots for the Mother sea of love and compassion. This is our way forward during these tumultuous times!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vO6ecBI0ROo/X0GB6Ry5nWI/AAAAAAAACLU/r8kiHvfEURkCuEiVyPvwEuP_Yb_2_0E2QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1277/The%2BKeys%2Bto%2BRemember%2Bbook%2Bcover%2Bjpg%2Bcopy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1277" data-original-width="827" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vO6ecBI0ROo/X0GB6Ry5nWI/AAAAAAAACLU/r8kiHvfEURkCuEiVyPvwEuP_Yb_2_0E2QCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/The%2BKeys%2Bto%2BRemember%2Bbook%2Bcover%2Bjpg%2Bcopy.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Goddess of the Stars and the Sea </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">from the book cover of ‘The Keys to Remember’ by Jodine Turner</div><p style="text-align: center;">Christal Banister artist</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RYlEu4h4hCQ/X0GBoG4yFjI/AAAAAAAACLM/6uHA1JKzG5kMpkpZGa8bYAIYifte9PFRgCLcBGAsYHQ/s648/Stella%2BMaris%2BBernadette%2BCarstensen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="648" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RYlEu4h4hCQ/X0GBoG4yFjI/AAAAAAAACLM/6uHA1JKzG5kMpkpZGa8bYAIYifte9PFRgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h400/Stella%2BMaris%2BBernadette%2BCarstensen.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p style="text-align: center;">Photo credit: 'Stella Maris' by Bernadette Carstensen</p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-77933412164738643872020-08-21T12:41:00.000-07:002020-08-21T12:41:15.022-07:00Visionary Fiction and Nature<p> <i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></i></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><i>In wilderness lies the hope of the world</i>.</p><p class="p1" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><i>Between every two pines there is a doorway to a new world.</i></p><p class="p1" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">~John Muir</p><p class="p2" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #eeeeee;"><i></i><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #eeeeee;">I have published articles about the Corona virus and the role of Visionary Fiction in catalyzing sacred and transformational visions. Our visions serve to “imagine a world as we can dream it to be.” There are many paths to bring our visions to life through this Corona virus portal. Each of us carries a unique piece for the new creation.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #eeeeee;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #eeeeee;">Working with nature is one essential method in moving forward.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #eeeeee;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #eeeeee;">The Native American elders and grandmothers, those indigenous peoples such as the Hopi and Lakota, as well as numerous other ancients such as the Mayans, have prophesied a golden age for humanity. They say our connection with nature is a vital part of that change. They warn that we can’t ignore nature, and how if we do so, it is at our own peril. We and the earth—nature and the land we live upon—are one.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="color: #eeeeee;"><br /></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #eeeeee;">Collaborating with nature can be a source of wisdom, earth magic, and deep guidance in how to transition into a new and better reality. Taking walks in a forest cathedral, sitting beside the murmuring ocean, being still and receptive amidst the flowers and plants in your own garden, and moon-bathing, can all be ways of tuning into the nature that we are all a part of and that provides sagacious guidance.</span></p><p class="p4" style="color: #030303; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p6" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 5px 0px;">The VFA claims that <i>“Visionary Fiction emphasizes the future and envisions humanity’s transition into evolved consciousness.” </i>My <i>Goddess of the Stars and the Sea </i>series feature a young priestess who is reincarnated in four different lifetimes, during critical junctions in human history, to help the transition into the next phase of human evolution. One of the things all the novels have in common are storylines that show us how to work with nature and the land we live upon.</p><p class="p7" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>There are the languages of root and leaf, of field and stone, of seaweed and salt. These are words whispered in our ears by the land as if by a lover, the languages which tell us that we and the land are one.</i> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p7" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">~Sharon Blackie</p><p class="p7" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p6" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 5px 0px;">My first novel, <i>The Awakening: Rebirth of Atlantis</i>, takes place during the demise of Atlantis that occurred through the misuse and disrespect of the earth’s magnetic energies. Our young priestess was one of six star races who subsequently and courageously carried of the seeds of Atlantis wisdom to all corners of the planet. Her corner was the misty, magical Isle of Avalon.</p><p class="p6" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 5px 0px;">In <i>The Keys to Remember</i>, we see how this same young priestess, reborn, helps us move through the dark ages where the wisdom, nurturance, and power of the feminine who works with the mysteries of nature, was vilified, demonized, and suppressed. This priestess’s most potent inspirations come when she communes with the earth during the sacred celebrations of seasonal changes called the turning of the ‘Wheel of the Year’—specifically for her, the early summer fertile festival of Beltaine.</p><p class="p6" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 5px 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p6" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 5px 0px;">In <i>The Hidden Abbey</i>, this same priestess is reincarnated in the 1600s during religious and social revolutions, and then is reborn again in today’s turbulent world. Her priestess initiations occur during moments of celebrating the Summer Solstice in the ‘Wheel of the Year.’ The Hawthorn tree features as a mystical pathway of communion and wisdom with the spirits of nature. The high Faery folk, our cousins in a realm parallel to ours, have a prominent role in showing us the redemptive wisdom of the land through their close connection with nature.</p><p class="p6" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 5px 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p6" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 5px 0px;">Messages of wisdom and hope, and practical tips in how to move through the dark and bleak times humanity faces, are embedded throughout my other novels as well, <i>Carry on the Flame: Destiny’s Call, Carry on the Flame: Ultimate Magic.</i> The festivals of Beltaine (early summer) and Imbolc (late winter), white flowered hawthorn blossoms, magical apple orchards, the misty land of Avalon, all initiate our young priestess into her true empowerment.</p><p class="p6" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 5px 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Even the most brilliant scientists of our time knew nature was our powerful ally and carrier of redemption. Albert Einstein said, “<i>Look deeper into nature and you will understand everything better.”</i></p><p class="p5" style="color: #030303; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p4" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #eeeeee;">The late, talented John Denver composed and sang a most incredible song for our world called <i>'Healing time on Earth.'</i> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://youtu.be/8ysnFOqUNto"><span class="s1">https://youtu.be/8ysnFOqUNto</span></a></span></p><p class="p3" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p4" style="color: #030303; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">In what ways do you work with nature to create a new and better reality?</p><p class="p3" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">*************</p><p class="p3" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><i></i><br /></p><p class="p7" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Hearing the voices of trees puts life into perspective. Knowing the rhythm of a stone helps me slow down and tune into a Deeper Wisdom that guides me through my life.</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p7" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">~Clea Danaan</p><p class="p3" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>The earth has music for those who listen.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></i></p><p class="p7" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>~</i>William Shakespeare</p><p class="p3" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p7" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i>Trees are my temples and forests are my cathedrals.</i></p><p class="p7" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">~Mikhail Gorbachev<i> </i></p>Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-25776994217975888182020-08-11T07:37:00.003-07:002020-08-11T08:11:42.479-07:00 Visionary Fiction and the Global Pandemic<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; text-align: center;">"</span><i style="font-family: arial; text-align: center;">This is precisely the time when artists go to work… We speak, we write, we do language. </i><i style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">That is how civilizations heal."</span></i></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">~Toni Morrison, author</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rxFJ8eQRto4/XzIIXnBuQrI/AAAAAAAACH8/jVoL581ZlMAwAlKbQOaEDwbEYGl2dnJIwCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/doorway.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rxFJ8eQRto4/XzIIXnBuQrI/AAAAAAAACH8/jVoL581ZlMAwAlKbQOaEDwbEYGl2dnJIwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/doorway.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">During this turbulent era of the coronavirus, I am sheltering in place, staying at home with my husband and our cats. The situation may or may not have changed by the time you read this.</span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">For now, I shelter in place but feel a profound connection with every other person in our world going through the pandemic, having their own experience, their own struggles, their own fears, horror, sacrifices, and maybe even moments of joy and love and rediscovery.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We’ve catapulted into isolation. Thankfully, modern technology allows many of us a semblance of contact. Still, uncertainty and stress barrage our thoughts. Anxiety floods our emotions and trembles through our bodies. We heave a collective lament of shock, of grief, of mourning. We isolate from each other for all-around safety yet are entrenched in this together. Forced to slow down while life as we knew it changes.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I hope this will prove to be a crossroads that activates a global shift in consciousness. Just like in Visionary Fiction stories.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As a Visionary Fiction author in this time of extremes, I see that we are currently living what the philosophy of Visionary Fiction is all about. This is the genre of transforming consciousness. It ushers in the evolutionary power to ignite our personal and combined potential.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">What exactly is Visionary Fiction?</span></b></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Visionary Fiction stories quicken a growth in human awakening, both for the characters in the stories and for us in our lives. I am a founder of the Visionary Fiction Alliance, a website where authors and readers of this genre connect, united in their appreciation for tales about expanding awareness. </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">With that intention in mind, the Alliance defines the genre in this way:</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“<i>Visionary Fiction embraces spiritual and esoteric wisdom, often from ancient sources, and makes it relevant for our modern life. Gems of this spiritual wisdom are brought forth in story form so that readers can experience the wisdom from within themselves. Visionary Fiction emphasizes the future and envisions humanity’s transition into evolved consciousness.”</i></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></i></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Based on the premise that Visionary Fiction readers can inspire their own deep soul wisdom through a story’s character, the description continues:</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;">“As the world evolves away from the Newtonian model of the five senses to the more evolved quantum model that includes the sense of spirit so resurgent today, Visionary Fiction is rapidly becoming the genre of choice to express that evolution and predict the breath-taking future that might follow the anticipated leaps.”</span></i></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></i></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I can’t help but wonder, in what ways could our current world crises stimulate such evolutionary leaps? What transformations are possible? What new paradigms might emerge?</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Visionary Fiction Alliance goes on to say this regarding the genre: <i>“The emphasis is on our limitless human potential, where transformation and evolution are entirely possible. Growth in consciousness is the central theme of the story and drives the protagonist and/or other important characters. The plot, or story, is universal in its worldview and scope.”</i></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></i></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Visionary Fiction takes the reader on a quest, an initiation into the deeper mysteries of existence in story form. It plays an extraordinary role in today’s tumultuous world as a catalyst and facilitator of rebirth.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></i></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Examples of Visionary Fiction</span></b></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Three top-rated Visionary Fiction novels illustrate the genre.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The first example is from Margaret Duarte’s ‘Enter the Between Series,’ the novel <i>Between Now and Forever</i>:</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Medicate or nurture; reform or set free. These are quandaries rookie teacher Marjorie Veil faces when she takes on an after-school class for thirteen-year-olds labeled as troublemakers, unteachable, and hopeless. Faculty skeptics warn that all these kids need is prescribed medication for focus and impulse control. But as Marjorie soon discovers, behind their anti-conformist exteriors are gifted teens, who are sensitive, empathetic, and wise beyond their youth. They also happen to have psychic abilities, which they have kept hidden until now. Can Marjorie help them do what she has failed to do for herself: fight for their spiritual and emotional freedom?</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A second sample is the novel <i>The Anathemas</i> by Victor Smith:</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This novel weaves the religious controversy about reincarnation into a multi-lifetime saga of conspiracy, redemption and love. A novel, yet a story firmly based on history, notably Procopius's Secret History and Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. With the pace of a thriller, it portrays the spiritual adventure of man and woman coming face-to-face with the life-and-death experience. Reincarnation... heretical but inevitable.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The final example from my ‘Goddess of the Stars and the Sea Series,’<i> </i>is my novel, <i>Carry on the Flame: Destiny’s Call</i>:</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Humanity is in the midst of one of the greatest crises in their evolution. Sharay struggles with a deep soul-calling asking her to help show the way forward, to help humankind move through the fear, chaos, and bleak times of today's world. Born into a lineage of priestesses in modern day Glastonbury, England, Sharay's path is blocked by her jealous Aunt Phoebe, who uses black magic against her to steal her fortune and magical power. When Phoebe commits Sharay to a psychiatric ward and accuses her of murder, Sharay struggles with the temptation to fight Phoebe's vengeance with her own. But Sharay must learn to transform her hatred for her aunt. She must face her grief, loss, and her own dark side in order to claim the mystery held deep within her cells that will allow her to fulfill her destiny and prove that the ultimate magic is the power of love.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Visionary Fiction and the Global Pandemic</span></b></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></i></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We are, of course, worried about the coronavirus and the impact it has, in ways most of us never thought possible—medically, socially, emotionally, and economically. Yet tumult always precedes rebirth. A new paradigm is conceiving itself in our hearts, birthing possibilities for a new and better world. Visionary Fiction is in a unique position to contribute to that. We need these stories that fuel metamorphosis, cultivate empowerment, and bring readers a beacon of hope.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-family: arial;">Visionary Fiction offers a vision of humanity as we dream it could be.</span></i></b></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Hopefully, as in Visionary Fiction, we are now envisioning a world of our brightest imaginings. During times of crisis, the mists between the current chaos and the imagined world of possibilities are like thin, gauzy veils. When we draw them aside, we get to explore - in our imaginal realms - that normally unseen place where our soul is limitless, and where magic, mystery, and hope thrive. Visionary Fiction parts that veil to glimpse the soul that is inherent all around and within us, those unseen realms that parallel ours and fuel our visions. And from that soul-filled place, we can listen, envision, and act.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Without vision, we endanger our humanity and jeopardize the capacity for our civilization to heal.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Regeneration through Embodied Love</span></b></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">My vision is one of global cooperation and collaboration, in respect and love. That is what embodied love entails. Living it in our daily life, walking through the trenches of suffering, pain, and fear, yet still embodying love amidst it all. That is the central theme of each of my Visionary Fiction novels. The alchemy of embodied love, the greatest healer and ultimate magic.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Today’s world is turbulent. What do <i>you</i> read that invokes your vision of a new world?</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What do <i>you </i>envision the world could become?</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EiSijmZq8WI/XzK1Hn9IX0I/AAAAAAAACII/DlAjO2_IMfQEQq34NvHyJJc_xsKKROsWQCLcBGAsYHQ/s300/VFA-member%2Bbanner%2Bcopy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="220" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EiSijmZq8WI/XzK1Hn9IX0I/AAAAAAAACII/DlAjO2_IMfQEQq34NvHyJJc_xsKKROsWQCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/VFA-member%2Bbanner%2Bcopy.png" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p align="center" style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 4.5pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: transparent; text-align: left;"> </span><span style="color: #333333; text-align: left;"> </span></span></p></div>Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-41311609979314338472020-07-31T17:21:00.000-07:002020-07-31T17:21:14.543-07:00Lughnasadh <p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 4.5pt 0in;"><span style="background-color: #0c343d; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><font color="#f3f3f3"></font></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><font color="#f3f3f3"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cXRJqbEEULg/XyS0lnPiLGI/AAAAAAAACG8/QOylPybhWfsShGWclWCBXbhtx11gn6x5gCLcBGAsYHQ/s650/lughnasadhfromOwlsdaughter.com.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="458" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cXRJqbEEULg/XyS0lnPiLGI/AAAAAAAACG8/QOylPybhWfsShGWclWCBXbhtx11gn6x5gCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/lughnasadhfromOwlsdaughter.com.png" /></a></font></div><font color="#f3f3f3">This is the name of the ancient Celtic festival of the Harvest, observed tomorrow, August 1st. The name is derived from Lugh (pronounced 'loo'), a Celtic deity of light and wisdom.<o:p></o:p></font><p></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 4.5pt 0in;"><span style="background-color: #0c343d; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><font color="#f3f3f3"><br /></font></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 4.5pt 0in;"><span style="background-color: #0c343d; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><font color="#f3f3f3">Lughnasadh celebrates the season for gathering the fruits of one's labors. For the ancient Celts, this was the corn, oats, and grains, and the planted summer bounty. The earth was honored for giving birth to her first harvest fruits so that her children might live. For our modern world, this can also be a time for appreciating what has come to fruition to nourish and sustain you. Lughnasadh is an invitation to reflect on what we love about our lives, who we are, and who we are becoming. A very relevant contemplation for the current times.<o:p></o:p></font></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 4.5pt 0in;"><span style="background-color: #0c343d; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><font color="#f3f3f3"><br /></font></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 4.5pt 0in;"><span style="background-color: #0c343d; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><font color="#f3f3f3">In later centuries, the festival of Lughnasadh was Christianized as Lammas, from the Anglo-Saxon, hlaf-mas, "Loaf-Mass." At Lughnasadh, bread baked from the first harvest was eaten in thanks. Baking, sharing, and eating bread is a wonderful way to celebrate this holiday.<o:p></o:p></font></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 4.5pt 0in;"><span style="background-color: #0c343d; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><font color="#f3f3f3"><br /></font></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 4.5pt 0in;"><span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">*************</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 4.5pt 0in;"><span style="background-color: #0c343d; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><font color="#f3f3f3">Here is a lovely Lughnasadh song to entertain and inspire you:<br /><a data-ft="{"tn":"-U"}" data-lynx-mode="async" href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2FlENBM9vKkVM%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR1PUowFAuK1Rzrr3-ef4ZSZPuyX2NCfT-t_B-RbQlrdVNt3C90IO8uBFa4&h=AT24xJ18tCLMLHVXJ-dTahBs_-3u92Q7I_eeYBDi99GbJZ08iZshQMRvYAcnh1lshSLTx72XPOSSU1O9xMQocle2QRtpEjeKuZBJCD4Bdt3P7_ybgOKR_uoHjg5hcTsiV0wehLaVXkmeWqDz1BCGFCw6ZWVsLU1jWbG01MLm2X-coOSqSVGbq4R2ngx3NDu-7pQx4RcQdWiMLQMBFITV7r5303v-kPDVXp8P_X4j6fJw9xIGjQM2Rr9RDTLXslUiaxhk72PDJWtuJACLp9sV6ObKB9zF5hoN-yo-Av_4jsJdKiln1TFT7UZy56044W-N1JUnTHl_xjTzEPj9X5EG-S6fnuufb_voLiUwz9gnMYy5I3dnlfiC-q5aJlGBziJKMXCxUr4MHRnXGj1wo-aZNjdGuvven4JbvOJyvFtvx1DL4Yc2Rwrz8TKRmXjm-pzKFgVNptUEtPf-SfW_7dTG-L4YCGzjWY_r47FnbOcSyKY2f7XpLMAH3qhJE4g8ksa6XVXwuMIc_ZnO4Y6uUch3eBR1h0ODgcZXEn6n3pXvQu-5idyJ4BIRz40jioL_FWTE5UnaccGWBFFEtEPQwX-Wm_ywUFzVEaLPxGLTnZIfRel0-HePDsif-fFF_xWVgvcit_W45fI" style="cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration-line: none;">https://youtu.be/lENBM9vKkVM</span></a><o:p></o:p></font></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 4.5pt 0in;"><span style="background-color: #0c343d; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><font color="#f3f3f3">*************<o:p></o:p></font></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 4.5pt 0in;"><span style="background-color: #0c343d; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><font color="#f3f3f3">And here is a Lughnasadh poem written by the prolific author and ceremonialist, Caitlin Mathews from her ‘The Celtic Devotional: Daily Prayers and Blessings.’<o:p></o:p></font></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 4.5pt 0in;"><span style="background-color: #0c343d; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><font color="#f3f3f3"><br /></font></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 4.5pt 0in;"></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i>The Song of Lughnasadh</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div><span style="background-color: #0c343d; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><font color="#f3f3f3"><i>I am the sovereign splendor of creation,<br />I am the fountain in the courts of bliss,<br />I am the bright surrender of the willpower,<br />I am the watchful guardian and the kiss.<br />I am the many-colored landscape,<br />I am the transmigration of the geese,<br />I am the burnished glory of the breastplate,<br />I am the harbor where all strivings cease.</i><o:p></o:p></font></span><p></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 4.5pt 0in;"><span style="background-color: #0c343d; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><font color="#f3f3f3">*************<o:p></o:p></font></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 4.5pt 0in;"><span style="background-color: #0c343d; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><font color="#f3f3f3"><br /></font></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 4.5pt 0in;"><span style="background-color: #0c343d; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><font color="#f3f3f3">Lughnasadh gives us an opportunity to take ancient esoteric wisdom and make it relevant for today’s world. The genre of storytelling I write, Visionary Fiction, does the same thing, in the hopes of inspiring and expanding human consciousness. You might take this day to consider what seeds of wisdom, hope, and love you may be called to protect and pass on to those who come after you. Especially as we rebuild a new world out of the Covid crises portal.<o:p></o:p></font></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 4.5pt 0in;"><span style="background-color: #0c343d; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><font color="#f3f3f3">What seeds of wisdom, hope, and love would you like to bring forward?<span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 4.5pt 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: #0c343d; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><font color="#f3f3f3">*************<br />Photo image from <a data-ft="{"tn":"-U"}" data-lynx-mode="async" href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fowlsdaughter.com%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3ckcxE1uv-XlOQ-LwGeU2q8665rrWYWA0KU5LeaDF1jAbL5jK1Ep8lqDA&h=AT3zE-qsIheVrppAHn2hkmim24Lel9oQmbLYaV2COFC_qkPhmmQ8Z4v58OT0Wful5b5qbAZAfOuwgPgIEGQ3S9HaKNIiyTHzpzkEQBxNf5tz2X1lEdS_eL1GDP_eYPAfzAvxV8TQdmszB8rA9SMxxNuO78AuGDa9r5WOiJ2XmHqTKoJvSV-R_LGm-mQBqVi8Yb1-BFtB94oR4a_9xQezwPHP9wr7Yq0lkZQ9M61Ck_AS4pObl-2Js8pWpkZ6eVz6Rx7RuIP_8iplbM7vupZzkA-5Q1KiUB09c9TYjIkLwfMku3bYG4WGBeoAMByayd9nBuGaxaGRMoJBrsuvqcA7dG--D5f_KIjsQXK8jsz7krBCcA_ID3fVKpXkYbI9SO__AnOOeLPgdSH5GiYvuoD6bOSPvK61M9v32gR8Y6P5nHyXV1h0CFrYNx0_X1JYxaDqLMMk14tK0_Q9EVN_uB7d3Vvr3Juf382zBnmi074c5DvMi5KkpNETUXTXJvssOVJMW0180wCqOknQHrL7rqnuP3xOceBh3V2ehzg2vI10twlHVAZytO0c5kGqsDaFbuvqsrnsCIWPEYMOvKOywi_iUKGntl5Qn3nQ-I907rCMO6e77nZ8ylqrZTTP-wrKyqe39IqBSik" style="cursor: pointer;" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration-line: none;">owlsdaughter.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: #0c343d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><font color="#f3f3f3"> </font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: #0c343d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><font color="#f3f3f3"> </font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: #0c343d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><font color="#f3f3f3"> </font></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 0px;"></p>Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-19503135691401926722020-07-24T09:17:00.001-07:002020-07-24T09:17:54.210-07:00The Writer's Life and my Newest Award<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fzt7YPWdpVI/XxsGlxvrbvI/AAAAAAAACF8/OJDZxWQPIiInwOOqeynbceWJcrnsABoeQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/writer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="1024" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fzt7YPWdpVI/XxsGlxvrbvI/AAAAAAAACF8/OJDZxWQPIiInwOOqeynbceWJcrnsABoeQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/writer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394; border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">“You simply sit down at the typewriter, open your veins, and bleed.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;">~sports columnist Walter Wellesley “Red” Smith, 1949.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">"I think all writing is a disease. You can’t stop it.”</span><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">~William Carlos Williams</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #0b5394; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Words come from an author “drop by drop.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #0b5394; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">~Reverend Sydney Smith, 1855<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #0b5394; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">“All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #0b5394; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">~F. Scott Fitzgerald<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;">“Of all that is written I love only what a man has written with his blood. <span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">Write with blood, and you will experience that blood is spirit. Whoever writes in blood and aphorisms</span> does not want to be read but to be learned by heart.”<span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;">~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, 1880s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">“Writing is simple,</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> Muffy,” says Jeff MacNelly’s Perfesser in the comic strip Shoe. “First, you have to make sure you have plenty of paper. . . sharp pencils. . . typewriter ribbon. Then put your belly up to your desk. . . <span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;">roll a sheet of paper into the typewriter. . . and stare at it until beads of blood appear on your forehead.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;">*************<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;">Yes, the life of a writer. We are familiar with how we sequester ourselves in our office equipped with our computer or even pen and paper. Our companions are our creativity, inspiration, dreams, visions, and our muse sitting on our shoulder. Oftentimes our cat or our dog sit at our feet (or walk across our keyboards)!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;">When I wrote my first novel, “The Awakening: Rebirth of Atlantis” I told my husband not to open the door to my office where I was writing unless it was a dire emergency. I had to occasionally remind him that the question, “Where do we keep the peanut butter?” doesn’t count as an emergency.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;">I penned that first book in 6 weeks. Revising and editing were another matter. Years, actually. My other novels also took years to write.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2f04ur8jE7M/XxsI-5yluwI/AAAAAAAACGQ/tzHQptGBK781yWP2VgIuK_s-92FEX-lngCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/NIEA%2BAwards.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="185" data-original-width="184" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2f04ur8jE7M/XxsI-5yluwI/AAAAAAAACGQ/tzHQptGBK781yWP2VgIuK_s-92FEX-lngCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/NIEA%2BAwards.webp" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;">That is why when we, as authors, receive accolades, good reviews, or letters telling us how our novel changed someone’s life, we rejoice. So, today I rejoice. I was just notified that my latest novel, "The Hidden Abbey" is a finalist in the NIEA (Annual National Indie Excellence Awards) 2020 in the Visionary Fiction category.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;">A good thing for me to celebrate, especially with my novel's timely visionary message aimed at today's turbulent world: embodied love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: #0b5394;">Excerpt from the 14th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards (NIEA) Press Release:<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<i style="background-color: #0b5394;">“Winners and Finalists are determined on the basis of superior written matter coupled with excellent presentation in every facet of the final published product. Indie Excellence proudly celebrates the talent, dedication and love authors put into the book product."<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;">Talent, dedication and love. That’s a sure recipe for writing a novel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;">What is your sure recipe for writing a novel?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;">Which of the quotes mentioned here, above and below, is your favorite?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;">“You write in order to change the world…if you alter, even by a millimeter, the way people look at reality, then you can change it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;">~James Baldwin<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #0b5394; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">“Write what should not be forgotten.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #0b5394; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">~Isabel Allende<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">“Because this business of becoming conscious, of being a writer, is ultimately about asking yourself, How alive am I willing to be?”</span><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">~ </span><span class="authorortitle"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Anne Lamott</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is … the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”</span><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">~Mark Twain</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">“I don’t need an alarm clock. My ideas wake me.”</span><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">~Ray Bradbury, WD<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #0b5394; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">“To gain your own voice, you have to forget about having it heard.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #0b5394; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">~ Allen Ginsburg<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">“I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that before developing his talent he would be wise to develop a thick hide.”</span><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">—Harper Lee, WD<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">“Life is like a recycling center, where all the concerns and dramas of humankind get recycled back and forth across the universe. But what you have to offer is your own sensibility, maybe your own sense of humor or insider pathos or meaning. All of us can sing the same song, and there will still be four billion different renditions.”</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #0b5394; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">~ Anne Lamott<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;"><br /><a href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/09/14/writing-bleed/">https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/09/14/writing-bleed/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0b5394;">https://www.indieexcellence.com/<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-67702288866763119022020-07-17T09:35:00.000-07:002020-07-17T09:35:02.392-07:00The Celtic Imram<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ancient Celts told epic stories of voyages across the seven seas in a boat. The destination—to travel uncharted waters, to go beyond the ninth wave, to the golden lands of the Otherworld. The travelers embarked on what they called an Imram. The Imram is an allegory for a soul quest, a spiritual journey, a vision quest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One famous Imram tale is the heroic legend of Bran the Blessed of Welsh mythology. Bran means Raven in Welsh, and his story is one of regeneration. He is known as the Guardian of Britain. <span style="color: #954f72;"><a href="https://bardmythologies.com/the-voyage-of-bran/" style="color: #954f72;">https://bardmythologies.com/the-voyage-of-bran/</a> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another Imram can be found in my novel, <i><a href="https://amzn.to/3fGshY1" target="_blank">Carry on the Flame: Destiny's Call</a>.</i> Sharay has been committed to a psychiatric hospital by her Aunt Phoebe who wants Sharay's fortune and her magical powers. In this scene, a mysterious elder mento, Dillon Emrys, describes the Imram for Sharay. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sharay hiccupped again, wiped her wet cheek on her sleeve.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“What am I to do, Dillon?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“About the hiccups?” The smile in Dillon’s twinkling eyes reached his lips, his mouth curving into a wide grin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sharay rolled her eyes. “No, silly. What am I to do about this?” she said, spreading her arms wide open to indicate the room, the psychiatric hospital.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Simple. You’re to go on an Imram.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“On a what?” She leaned back on her legs, and sat on the floor, her spine against the side of Dillon’s bed for support. She was exhausted, and Dillon was talking in riddles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“On an Imram. It’s an important journey. A physical journey navigated by your soul.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“My soul will navigate a journey?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Yes—it will be both an inner and an outer journey. The Imram is the outward form of an inner mystical journey. It’s much like a vision quest. You’ll travel the land, and as you do, you’ll visit the Inner Realms of your dreams and visions.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“But the doctors call my dreams and visions hallucinations.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“They know nothing.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sharay stared, wide-eyed. “I’m not hallucinating?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Of course not.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sharay noticed how his dimples burrowed deep within the crevices of his cheeks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“The Imram will be a splendid adventure. Just like it was for our ancestors, the Celts. They crossed the seas on mythic travels to foreign lands. They went on the Imram.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sharay imagined huge wooden boats, mermaids carved on the bow, sailing by star navigation across deep blue waters, heading far into the west. She shook her head. “I’m afraid I’m in no shape to go on a sea voyage. I don’t see how your Imram will help me.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dillon chuckled. “The Imram is not limited to the sea. It’s not about where you go but how you get there.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“So, how do I get there?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Trust the Imram. You’re in good hands with your soul as your navigator.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“How can I go on an Imram? I can’t even leave this hospital,” Sharay said desolately.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-indent: 0.5in;">image credit: boat prow, ocean, guiding star: Diana Morningstar digital arts</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span></div>
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Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-66564377698988043732020-06-30T09:10:00.000-07:002020-06-30T09:36:57.068-07:00Ancient Call of the Avalon Priestess<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Glastonbury, England, a.k.a. mystical Avalon, is my soul’s home. When I lived there, I visited the Chalice Well Gardens every day. The Well was a source of deep, mystical meditations and inspiration for me personally, and also for all of my Visionary Fiction novels. </span>In honor of Glastonbury, the Legendary Isle of Avalon I made a video called ‘Goddess Magic in Avalon: a Ritual of Re-membering.’</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Re-membering because I know deep in my bones that priestesses long ago gathered beside this well to honor the Goddess. I felt their presence at the Chalice Well. Feeling them, and getting a sense and vision of their poignant history, was an intensely profound and emotional experience for me, a spiritual awakening. On some deep inexplicable level, I recognized I was once one of their kind. And they are re-gathering, ‘re-<b><i>membering,</i></b>’ in today’s world. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So click on this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC1YjKRwBL4" target="_blank">YouTube link</a> for 'Goddess Magic in Avalon,' to invoke the magic of the sacred Chalice Well Garden in Glastonbury. Experience this enchanted garden through image and evocative music, accompanied by my published poem titled ancient call of the "Avalon Priestess."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2809009910018488566.post-85933546165220840332020-06-23T08:51:00.000-07:002020-06-23T08:51:57.985-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5s6V-U7E_V8/TsFjOeT4unI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/3XkvNacjSRkiL5rlS_G9Gvm2KVxs8XedgCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/CIMG0400.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5s6V-U7E_V8/TsFjOeT4unI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/3XkvNacjSRkiL5rlS_G9Gvm2KVxs8XedgCPcBGAYYCw/s320/CIMG0400.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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The Chalice Well in Glastonbury, England is the human world counterpart to what my Visionary Fiction novels call the Red Well in the mystical realm of Avalon. My novels center around this magical well, considered a sacred site in England. Many legends originate at this well: Arthurian (site of the Grail), Christian (hiding place of the Chalice from the Last Supper), and pagan (Goddess priestess culture holy site).<o:p></o:p></div>
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My novels focus on the well’s Goddess lore. The cool, burbling water is red tinged due to its high iron content. It is suggested to be the earthly blood of the Goddess in the land of Avalon. There are healing qualities attributed to the well for those who drink its satiating water. The White Spring, situated across the lane from the Chalice Well at the base of the 500 foot hill called the Tor, is considered the masculine energy correspondent to the Red Well.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The wellhead cover is wooden, topped with an iron crafted image of the Vesica Pisces. The Vesica Pisces symbol consists of two interlocking circles with a line (sword) through their center. The symbol represents the notion of duality; such as heaven and earth, masculine and feminine principles, light and dark, physical and spirit. The two interlocking circles form an almond shape at their intersection, portraying the center space of union. This almond shape is often regarded as the Yoni of Divine Feminine creation.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I have had many meditations, spiritual awakenings, and otherworld journeys sitting in the Chalice Well gardens beside these soothing waters. When I lived in Glastonbury for 13 months, I visited this well every day. It was a potent source of peace, ancient memory, and inspiration for me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We continue with <i>The Hidden Abbey</i> novel excerpt from last week’s post, where the acolyte priestess Marissa was describing the rituals of the Summer Solstice to the younger students. The scene resumes with Marissa’s experience of the Red Well:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro, serif; font-size: 11pt;">Marissa rolled onto her side and leaned over the spring, running her fingers through the iron-tinged water. The spring burbled, its flow continuous since time immemorial, and its waters cool and clean.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro, serif; font-size: 11pt;">“Why is the well water tinted red?” the High Priestess Alianore asked the group, her voice soft like the breeze that rose up and crested the mound where the small group was assembled. The lessons always began this way, with this question. A question meant to honor and remind them of their community’s source of wellbeing, the holy well they had revered since the first priestesses arrived in Avalon centuries ago, survivors of the demise of Atlantis.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro, serif; font-size: 11pt;">She repeated the question, her eyes resting on Marissa. “Marissa, will you tell us?”</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro, serif; font-size: 11pt;">Marissa had learned about the Red Well the hard way, when she was taking her first baby steps and nearly tumbled headfirst into the wellspring. It had been Ciara’s screams that alerted their mother, who’d turned her back for only an instant. It was Elder Vanora who’d promptly lifted the young Marissa up and out of danger.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro, serif; font-size: 11pt;">She answered the question by rote. “The red color is from the minerals. But in Avalon, it is the blood of the Mother, emerging from the underworld to nourish our body and soul.”</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro, serif; font-size: 11pt;">“And? What else?” Vanora piped in. Their tutor wasn’t really paying close attention. Her focus was on mending her dark blue, silken stole, the beaded one she wore during ceremonies.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro, serif; font-size: 11pt;">Marissa had an irrational urge to roll her eyes at the Elder, but she was eighteen summers old now, too old for that sort of behavior. Still, Vanora’s constant patronizing tone wore on her nerves. She knew her Elder had her best interests at heart, intending to properly groom her to one day fill Alianore’s shoes. But still. She sat up and rolled her head side to side to ease the ever-present tension that burrowed in her shoulders since Michael’s departure from Avalon. She reminded herself to focus. She must act responsibly and prove herself proficient in priestess lore, ready and eager to one day be a leader.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro, serif; font-size: 11pt;">She answered as was expected. “The water is used for healing, as well as for scrying so we can see into the future.”</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro, serif; font-size: 11pt;">Vanora looked up from her stitching. “Scrying is not only to see the future. It is to read the actions of others in the present as well.”</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro, serif; font-size: 11pt;">“Of course it is,” Marissa snapped.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro, serif; font-size: 11pt;">“Marissa, tame your temper when speaking to an Elder,” her mother scolded.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro, serif; font-size: 11pt;">“Yes, Mother. Forgive me, Vanora. I confess to feeling anxious about the upcoming Summer Solstice ceremony.” She offered her hands, palm up, to Vanora.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro, serif; font-size: 11pt;">Her tutor nodded acceptance to the apology. “What other magical underpinnings does our holy Red Well have? Shayla?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro, serif; font-size: 11pt;">Shayla’s head jerked up. <i>Preoccupied again</i>, Marissa thought. She’d never known another priestess to daydream as much as her halfling Faery friend.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro, serif; font-size: 11pt;">“Umm . . . all blood and all tears shed on earth flow into the Underworld River of blood and tears. We see them above ground as the red and white springs of Avalon.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro, serif; font-size: 11pt;">“Good . . .” Vanora said. Her voice droned on in further instruction about using the waters for scrying.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: GaramondPremrPro, serif; font-size: 11pt;">Marissa turned her attention back to thoughts of Michael. She certainly knew the purpose of scrying well, and not only because she had been formally initiated into the arts of seership one summer ago. How many times had she poured the holy water into her shell bowl and gazed into the shimmering fluid, setting her intent to learn of Michael’s whereabouts. She’d even knelt down on all fours next to the spring, scrutinizing its watery depths, begging the Goddess for some sign of his return. But in six years she had not been privy to any such information. No images appeared to show her where Michael was or how he was doing. It baffled her. It was almost as if something was blocking her watchful eye. Some sort of obstruction she couldn’t discern or move beyond.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bkNeXbolmz4/XvIj8srdzZI/AAAAAAAACC0/D8ePvf8HCr4w4frc3tfVa8WthBwPxFr2ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Rana%2527s%2Billustration.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="885" data-original-width="993" height="285" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bkNeXbolmz4/XvIj8srdzZI/AAAAAAAACC0/D8ePvf8HCr4w4frc3tfVa8WthBwPxFr2ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Rana%2527s%2Billustration.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">drawing by Rana</td></tr>
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Jodine Turnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06583269371871355740noreply@blogger.com0