Autumn Equinox - Balance and Equilibrium

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.

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.

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.

These natural crossroads, the ‘in between’ periods, were celebrated with rituals, storytelling, songs, music,

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.

The upcoming seasonal change of the Autumn Equinox occurs today, September 22nd 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.

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.

Suggestions for how to celebrate the Autumn Equinox:

You can commemorate the Autumn Equinox in small ways:

1.     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.

2.     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.

(from Cait Johnson, ‘Witch in the Kitchen’)

Autumn Equinox Ritual:

3.     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.

Happy Autumn Equinox!

Art credit: Orchard by Franz Dvorak

Summer Solstice and the Visionary Fiction novel, The Hidden Abbey

It is the Summer Solstice. High summer and the longest day. A time of flowers and blossoms (can you smell them?!), bountiful fruits and vines, abundant fertility, vitality, and the greening of the fecund earth.

This is the time to celebrate this lush season!

What is coming to fruition in your life?

What do you think is coming alive, coming to fruition, in the world?

*************

In my Visionary Fiction novel, The Hidden Abbey, we see what the Summer Solstice meant to the young priestess, Marissa:

Ringed in a semi-circle behind the three young women sat a group of younger students. Marissa listened as they giggled and whispered amongst themselves in their excitement to observe the day’s lesson. The Elders, Alianore and Vanora, sat in front of the group and clapped their hands lightly, bringing them all to attention.

Vanora spoke first. “Today we will talk about the upcoming Summer Solstice Celebrations. Summer is a time of fecundity both in nature and in the bodies of the young women who have started their bleeding cycles.” She pointed to the younger girls. “You are here to begin learning about your role as a priestess in the ritual. For the future, when you are eighteen summers old, like these three.” She pointed at Marissa and Ciara and their halfling friend. “And you three, as newly initiated priestesses, can help us teach today.”

The younger girls, none of whom had experienced their first blood flow yet, tittered and looked around shyly. Marissa had heard these lessons since she was a young girl, like the ones who sat behind her, and could recite the teachings by memory. She 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.

At the head of the well, a gnarled hawthorn tree and an apple tree shaded them all from the noonday summer sun. Marissa breathed in the scent of their perpetually blooming white and pink blossoms, feeling the vibrancy of nature’s fertility stirring her belly and blood—perfect for rousing the desire needed for the upcoming Solstice Ritual, when young men and women celebrated the mating rites of summer. Too bad her mind and heart weren’t aligned with the greening vitality all around her. She’d always looked forward to participating in the mating rites for the first time, but they wouldn’t be the same with anyone but Michael. And he wasn’t here to participate. She looked down, fighting the longing that had only grown since he’d left Avalon, taking her heart with him. Now she shielded her sorrow with a veneer of prickly brusqueness. She couldn’t help it. It was the best way she knew to protect her broken heart.

Readers' Favorite Review

I am so pleased and honored by this 5 star rating and review from Readers' Favorite for my new novel, The Hidden Abbey. 

___________________________
Review Rating: 5 Stars - 

Reviewed By Romuald Dzemo for Readers’ Favorite

The Hidden Abbey by Jodine Turner is both 
fantasy and visionary fiction, with a 
historical setting in the worlds of Avalon 
and Glastonbury Abbey, split between 
two separate timelines and skillfully 
developed to explore two lovers from a 
distant past reborn into modern day for 
a second chance. The reader is immersed 
into a world of magic and esoteric 
practices, with the Christian perception 
of life merging with 
the pagan.

In sixteenth-century Avalon, Marissa is 
the legendary priestess of the Isle of 
Avalon, an impulsive and spirited, 
beautiful young woman who must 
learn the science of becoming the 
High Priestess. But she has a secret love 
affair with a monk called Michael, the 
same who saved her from drowning as
a child. Marissa and Michael are tasked 
to safeguard the Creation Bowl—the 
sacred vessel containing the wisdom 
of the ancient Goddess tradition that 
has the power to heal the world. But 
when King Henry VIII destroys all the 
abbeys, the treasure is at great risk 
and the struggle to protect it leads to 
the separation of the lovers. 

In the twenty-first century, Marissa and 
Michael are given a second chance. Can 
they rekindle the flame of the love they 
once experienced and lost and also 
bring back the power of the Creation 
Bowl to a world badly in need of it?

A work of great imagination and 
creative genius, The Hidden Abbey is 
a tantalizing narrative with great 
potential to entertain a wide audience.
It contains hints of the historical, 
mystical, and the supernatural. The 
author paints a vivid setting and pulls 
readers in with the power of imagery. 
The characters are elaborately 
developed and filled with depth; 
they are relatable and it is interesting 
how they evolve through the narrative. 

The author creates a powerful 
dialogue between the Christian 
religion and the ancient mysticism 
of the pagan world and weaves a 
narrative that is both uplifting and 
heartwarming. It is a beautifully 
crafted story with powerful 
plotlines, merging the past and
the present in an adventure that is 
exhilarating.

Visionary Fiction Reader's Pass Program

Introducing the Visionary Fiction's Readers Pass Program that allows you, readers and fans, to access an ever-evolving library of exciting Visionary Fiction by today's best Visionary Fiction authors!

All for one low monthly subscription $4.95!
Price will increase soon, so you may want to get your pass before May1st.

Watch the short video here: https://youtu.be/MDy3ZFcOgYo

$100 Reader Giveaway

Your chance to win a $100 Amazon eGift Card. Enter everyday if you'd like through April 26th, 2020.

While entering, check out the 13 top-rated, award-winning e-books by authors who have sponsored this contest. My visionary fiction novel, Carry on the Flame: Destiny's Call is one of those featured.

Supporting the authors who have teamed up with this Amazon e-Card giveaway will add 5 entry points each day.

You can support the author's by scrolling through the 13 featured books and follow the authors that write the kind of books you enjoy. Maybe even buy a book!

Enter here:  http://ow.ly/xVxj50zihb7   Enter today.

Giveaway ends April 26th.

Carry on the Flame: Destiny's Call

Humanity is in the midst of the greatest crisis in their evolution. Sharay is the one chosen to show the way forward and help humankind move through the fear and dark times of today's world. 

Born into a lineage of priestesses in modern day Glastonbury, England, Sharay's way 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. 

Through the ancient Celtic ceremony of Beltaine, Sharay experiences profound sacred union with the Welshman Guethyn, who shows her how to open her heart. But Sharay must learn to transform her hatred for her aunt 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.

Amazon $100 Reader Giveaway - and Carry on the Flame: Destiny's Call

Your chance to win a $100 Amazon eGift card.
Enter (everyday if you want) through April 26th.

My Visionary Fiction novel Carry on the Flame: Destiny's Call (award-winning and best-selling) is one of 13 books offered.

Enter here   http://ow.ly/xVxj50zihb7

If you like The Mists of Avalon, you'll love Carry on the Flame: Destiny's Call.

Humanity is in the midst of the greatest crisis in their evolution. Sharay is the one chosen to show the way forward and help humankind move through the fear and dark times of today's world. Born into a lineage of priestesses in modern day Glastonbury, England, Sharay's way 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. Through the ancient Celtic ceremony of Beltaine, Sharay experiences profound sacred union with the Welshman Guethyn, who shows her how to open her heart. But Sharay must learn to transform her hatred for her aunt 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.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Hidden Abbey

by Jodine Turner

Giveaway ends April 20, 2020.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Interview with Author Jodine Turner, Ph.D - Visionary Fiction and its Importance Today

I was interviewed by Write on Purpose Coach and author Brad Swift about the importance of Visionary Fiction.

How Visionary Fiction raises awareness and ushers in new consciousness. 

You can listen here: https://bit.ly/2WScIpx

Self Isolating, Imagining a New World, and the Role of Visionary Fiction

I am self isolating, staying at home with my husband and our cats.

I am isolated at home but feeling a deep connection with every other person in our world going through the pandemic, having their own experience, their own struggles, their own fears, maybe even points of joy and love and rediscovery.

We are in this together. Maybe this will be a changing point for a shift in consciousness. Just like in Visionary Fiction novels' stories.

I am a Visionary Fiction author. We are all now living and experiencing what the philosophy of Visionary Fiction is all about. It is about transforming awareness and consciousness. Hopefully, like Visionary Fiction, we are envisioning a world as we dream it could be.

My vision is one of connection and collaboration in respect and love. That is what embodied love is about. Living it in daily life, in the trenches of suffering and pain and fear, yet still embodying love amidst it all. That is the central theme of all of my Visionary Fiction novels. The magic and alchemy of embodied love.

Visionary Fiction stories can be a beacon of hope. What do you envision the world could be?

The Newly Upgraded VFA Website

Note: The following article was originally posted on VFA author Margaret M. Duarte's website, and slightly modified here for you, my readers. Thank you, Margaret! 

On March 2, 2020 we launched a new website for the Visionary Fiction Alliance. It is one of the largest and most complex sites, our website designer and developer, Aaron C. Yeagle, has ever built. 

The VFA aims to provide a home base and central clearing house for readers, writers, and researchers of visionary fiction.

WHAT IS VISIONARY FICTION?

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. While there is a strong spiritual theme, it in no way proselytizes or preaches.

Visionary is a tone as well as a genre. The ‘visionary’ element can technically be present in any genre and set in any time.

Characteristic Features of  Visionary Fiction:

• So in short, 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 story oftentimes uses reincarnation, dreams, visions, paranormal events, psychic abilities, and other metaphysical plot devices.
• The plot [or story] is universal in its worldview and scope.
• 
  

“Visionary Fiction speaks the language of the soul. It offers a vision of humanity as we dream it could be.”   ~ Jodine Turner

What is the VFA?

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. 

Under its broader umbrella are now gathering works previously classified as spiritual, metaphysical, or science fiction. 

The VFA aims to provide a home base and central clearing house for readers, writers, and researchers dedicated to this endeavor.

Join Us

So, come by and take a look at what may become one of your favorite genres. 

Our home page includes a video that will introduce you to a visionary point of view.

Check out our bookstore with over 100 titles. You may be surprised at the content and quality of our collection, including, of course, my novel, The Hidden Abbey. 

We’d love to hear from you via our Contact page. Let us know what you think.

Thank you and Blessings!

Kindle Book Review Features The Hidden Abbey

'The Hidden Abbey' is one of Kindle Book Review's Featured Books of the day.

It is also on Sale, today March 2.

https://www.thekindlebookreview.net/

New release - The Hidden Abbey

A fated love and a sacred destiny brought through time.

The Hidden Abbey interweaves the story of two lovers who must fulfill a fated mission that spans across centuries and two lifetimes. In sixteenth century England, Marissa is a headstrong apprentice priestess of the mystical and legendary Isle of Avalon. she must learn to be a wise and responsible leader if she is to one day inherit the title of High priestess. her secret lover, Michael, is a warrior from a noble lineage. The two are charged with a grand and momentous task--to safeguard the Creation Bowl, the sacred vessel of the ancient Goddess tradition, imbued with the power to help heal the world. When King Henry VIII confiscates and destroys all of England’s abbeys, the Bowl is endangered. As Marissa and Michael fight to protect it, they are irrevocably separated, and their quest is thwarted.

When they are reborn and meet again in the twenty-first century as Sophie and Daniel, they are given a second chance. The story follows their efforts to remember—each other and their shared destiny.

           ***************************************************

Ten years in the making. 

In 2010 I received guidance to return to Glastonbury, England. Specifically, to the Abbey ruins, as that location would be where my next novel took place. While there, I visited the Mary Chapel, the now open crypt housing an altar alcove and a long nave.

I had received many visions while meditating in this spot when I lived in Glastonbury years before. This time, as I had often done previously, I sat on one of the stone benches in front of the altar. As I meditated, I saw a monk in my mind's eye. Someone who had often visited my previous meditations. Unexpectedly, all the prior year's meditations integrated, giving me fresh clarity and a vision for this novel, The Hidden Abbey.

This is the monk's heretofore untold story of the mystical underpinnings of Glastonbury Abbey, the hidden Abbey. And the tale of the undying love between him and the Avalon priestess, Marissa.

*********

Book trailer

Dear readers,
Reviews are the best way to tell an author you enjoyed their book.  Would you please leave a review on Amazon? It can be short--"I liked it" is fine. Thank you, you are so appreciated!

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JodineTurner.com