Hi, World Travelers, Beach Go-ers, Mountain Climbers and all of my talented friends and family!

I hope you've shaken the sand out of your shoes, had a wonderful summer, and are ready  for anything this topsy-turvy world might throw at us.

I've been promising myself to make 'blog-contact' with you since the summer began but I've failed dismally. I make no excuses  - well, maybe just one - I've been busy penning book # 3.

Hopefully, today, I've found you at home relaxing after a summer full of travel, company and good things. Mine's been that way, other than the times I felt I needed to hand cuff myself to my desk and get on with the business of writing. It's a serious discipline, and when the sun's out and I can hear boats on the lake, children in the water, the ice cream boat in the distance - discipline tends to leave the building. Compound that with being MIA on the blog and the website and the inky tendrils of Guilt take over and I have to make a run for it - towards the ice cream boat and the water.

But hidden in the unruliness, I'm happy to say that # 3 is taking shape. It's working title is "Love Lines to Heaven" and it's all about the mystical, magical world of children and specifically, what they can tell us about where they've come from, (no storks involved) what did it feel like to be born and who are the invisible friends they talk to. They know so much. And if there's something you don't understand about the afterlife or pre-existence, Ask A Child!

These little humans, our newest earthlings, are still so close to Heaven, that their memories of that other place are still in tact, to one degree or another. Some are clearer than others, and some are more communicative but none of them are in any doubt about what they know.

It's been quite a journey, researching and gathering material for the book, talking to young children, talking to their parents, grandparents or teachers, and writing down their stories. My grand daughter Becca first gave me the idea when at the age of two she saw, and was able to describe, a long-deceased great-grandfather standing on their kitchen stairs. I had to wait a couple of years for her language skills to develop but when, at the age of four, I asked her,

"Boo, where were you before you came here? " 
She replied, "A place."
"Will you tell me about it?" I asked.
"Yup!"

For the next fifteen minutes or so, she bubbled over with stories of the light that's different to ours, and the colors and the people who were with her in that previous existence. Many of whom, now share this existence with her. When I asked her why she came to live in Richmond with her family, she told me that her great-grandfather had told her to. A man she'd never met, because he died over ten years before she was born.

So, the stories are documented and set, and the process of editing has begun. I'll tell you more as it goes along.

In the meantime, if you have a chatty 3 or 4 year old in your circle of small humans, and you feel comfortable doing this, ask a question - I think you'll be surprised.

And get out and enjoy the sun. Our bright and beautiful autumn will soon be here and the warmth will be leaving. So, get out and Have Fun!

Ginny

Ellen

I have a picture in my mind of Ellen, late one afternoon, sitting in deep discussion with the Spook Group, saying, "There's one thing I really want to do before I die, and that is to learn to FLY!"

She was Harry Potter's #1 fan, the Vampire guys too, (I think she went to Washington State to find them) and numerous fairies and elves and gnomes - so this didn't surprise any of us. She believed she could fly, and who were we to argue?

Well, Ellen died this week, and I'm not sure whether or not she ever figured out the flying thing, but nothing is impossible. If it could be done, Ellen would find a way.

She was a teacher. A teacher of science - how much fun that must have been for the kids she taught! She was pilot and a flight instructor. She was also an architect, designer and builder of houses. Her own, and small, mossy, woody little houses with pebbled pathways, smoking chimneys, and tiny flowers for the fairies she knew who lived in her garden.  

I think Ellen was preparing for the world she's in now. I know it's a world full of magic. Full of wizards, fairies, leprechauns and enchantment. There'll be a stream at the bottom of her new garden. A tumbling stream, full of mossy rocks and tiny water nymphs. She'll make friends with the frogs and whatever other life forms reside there. I can see a string of fairies flying around her, showing her where things are. The blue bird nest outside the window of her new house, a flowering shrub of heavenly blue plumbago, and the  nests of baby rabbits, Eaglets and young elves. Do elves live in nests? I wouldn't be surprised.

This  would be Ellen's Heaven. There'll be mountains, so high they almost touch the clear blue sky. There'll be sunsets that set her world on fire, and stars she can reach for when she sets out on her first solo flight in Heaven.

And when she gets home, Paul will be waiting, Holding in his arms, her cats, and a cushion full of kittens.

Have Fun, my friend! Think of us down here, and please be there to meet us when it's our turn to cross the great divide.

Love, hugs and Happy Landings!

Hi Mom!

That's the way my son Drew answered the phone whenever I called him or he called me. 'Hi Mom!' Or, when he was being sassy, it was, 'Hello darling!'  (A clear imitation of me.) In fact, all three of them do that. Karen might answer, 'Hello Mumsie.' and Michael will  pipe up with the 'Hello Darling,' theme. And now his son, my grandson, does it too. This seems to have evolved into a family affair.

Obviously there was something wrong with my parenting. Perhaps I should have lowered the boom on the 'respect' issue. Perhaps I should have demanded that the person who gave birth to each of them (in agony, of course) be addressed in fitting fashion with something like, 'Good Morning, Mother dear!' Or maybe not. At least not until after my first cup of coffee.

What's done is done, I've decided and I'm not going to wring my hands about any of it, because, it seems to me that in spite of all the mistakes I made, in spite of all the things I could've should've done better, they all still seem to love me. And I wouldn't change that for all the stars above.

So, let me ask you, were you a perfect mother? Of course you were - at times. So was I. Did we crash and burn sometimes making executive proclamations that were way off the mark, and definitely not in accordance with any of the 'how to' manuals we kept on our coffee tables? Did we say irrational things that were guaranteed to stunt even the most compliant child? Of course we did. Are we human beings? Of course we are.

And what's more, in spite of all the handicaps that come with the human condition, we mostly did a bang up job! Did you ever feel sad all morning having packed your 10 year old off to school after a fight over what she should be wearing? Probably. And did you show up at school at lunchtime with a treat to make up for one of those faulty proclamations? Probably. And did she screw up her face and say, 'What's that?' Because she's already forgotten the morning row.

Kids are like that. They are so much better than we are; they forgive and forget easily, and that's a very good thing. After all - childbirth is often a surprise, and always comes without a comprehensive book of instruction.

How could it? Just when you think you've got this parenting thing down pat, another baby come along, and guess what? He or she is absolutely nothing like the other one, two or three you've raised reasonably successfully. This one is a whole new ball game. It doesn't matter that it has the same set of parents with their sometimes good, sometimes quirky ideas, it comes with a mind and personality all it's own, and we rack our brains trying to figure out how that could have happened, staring at it as if it was a new species or something. It's not a new species, it just has a thriving free will. How great is that? That something this small could end up ruling the roost unless you make a few of those unguided proclamations.

And then there comes an evening when you're watching this same tyke perform in his first school Christmas Pageant. He's the fluffy sheep standing beside the manger scratching his head, and your heart fills with pride. He's not so bad - your face breaks into a grin. In fact he's doing so well he may be Hollywood bound. . .

Then comes graduation - it doesn't matter which one - you can hardly contain yourself as you watch your little girl, all grown up, walk across the stage and receive her diploma. Her eyes sparkle, full of excitement, as she reaches up to hold her cap steady and wave to you. Her dad's mopping his eyes, and you share the look that says, 'We did it right.'

Time goes so fast. It won't be long before it's your turn to mop your eyes as you watch your grown up son lead his new bride onto the dance floor for the first waltz of their new life together. You think about the small things that tumbled through the years; his first scraped knee, his first day at school when you held hands up until the very last minute before you had to turn him over to a brand new experience, his first touchdown on the football field  - his first broken heart.

And as the memories play out across your mind, you feel a hand on your arm and his voice at your side saying, "Hello darling! Shall we dance?"

You smile at his father. That same smile that says, 'We did okay, didn't we.'  

And that tyke when he grew up? Well, Drew won his company's highest accolade. Their 5 Star Employee of the Year. We did okay.

Yes, you did. We all did okay. We took on the hardest job of all, and by George, we did it!

To all the moms I know, 'Well Done!' Happy Mother's Day - You're the best!

Make a Wish

Hi, Everyone,

Have you ever wished you were someone else? Ever wished you had a better personality or a more appealing demeanor? Or wished you were somewhere else? Wished for better legs, a better nose or better hair? Or a bigger house, a smaller house, a huge car?

It's a fact that most of us, at one time or another, have wished for a lot of those things - plus 10,000 more seemingly unattainable acquisitions. And it's also true that most of us can't seem to find the handle that will open that door to allow them in - to shower us with joy, happiness and unspeakable superiority.

How about Good health? Happiness. Surely that's not too much to wish for  . . .

And have you felt the frustration that comes when you wonder if all of those wishes you've floated out into the Universal stream of consciousness, appear to have gotten lost, drowned in some sea of other people's wishes, or just plain disappeared?

Me too. Wherever they are, there doesn't seem to be any Great Wish Wizard floating around out there waiting to pounce on mine, wave a wand and bring forth a golden carriage full of realized wishes. Not happening.

So, you'll hear: Why don't you pray more? Find a sugar daddy or a rich widow. Meditate, stupid! Well, prayers may work for other people, you think, the sugar daddy's are probably deaf, the rich widows have other ideas, and meditation - really?

The only thing I've found that really works is the wish for Peace.

Wishing for Peace means sitting beside the ocean, a flower bed, or walking through a meadow. When you're comfortable, take all those wishes out of their sack and re-introduce yourself to them as if meeting them all for the first time. Then, after a meaningful conversation with each of them, you might begin to decide  how many of them you really want to keep as friends.

I mean, do you really want to be "someone else"? What if you got that wish and suddenly realized that you had inherited not only the things you envy about that person's personality - but a number of things you'd never thought of, as well. Things that really irritate you. Helloooo. Ditto with that "somewhere else" wish.

Legs, noses and hair can all be fixed, so get busy fixing, once you decide that's what you really want.  Bigger cars, bigger houses too. Or you might decide that these wishes really aren't the "friends" you thought they were. (Who knew that new hair cut would make you look like a pink toilet brush? ) And now you know the reason they call Big Cars gas guzzlers ...

Health is a biggie. You work with it or without it any way you can. Good health is always a good friend to be with. And you know that good friends can almost always be better friends when met with good attitudes. Acceptance is a friend that is sometimes hard to accept, but worth the effort. And what friend can resist the feeling of being accepted?

On the bright side, there are ways, I've found, that can make sure that a lot of wishes do come true. Tomorrow morning, before my eyes are even open, I will float the affirmation, (not simply the 'wish') to be a better person than I was yesterday.

And if that works, that's good, but tonight before I fall asleep, I may get more specific about the things that didn't work so well. I will repeat the word "Patience" over and over and over again until my subconscious gets it!
I might add to that, "Tolerance", Yeah. That's a good one. I might also look into "choosing my words with care." And just as my sub-conscious is close to over-load and breaking point, I'll fall asleep. The next morning, when all consciousness is rested, I will ask to be a better person, with all these attributes inserted. Then, I will offer it all up to God, if you wish, and Universe to deal with. And it will be done.

The next night, right before I go to sleep, I'll do it all over again. Maybe I'll add to it. It never hurts to throw in a little wealth and true love.

I know that none of you were born yesterday, and that you may already be practicing all this. So, how's it working for you? (Asks Dr. Phil.) I also know that you've probably added all the things you, specifically, want to attain or become: Attitudes and attributes that will make you a better person than you were yesterday. And if you have been practicing all this, you know by now that you are becoming that person you want to be. It may at first be imperceptible, but it's happening every day.

You can't miss. Your skin begins to glow, your smile is brighter, and you know how that affects people - they smile back. That makes you happy. It makes you want to reach out and touch others. And that makes them happy. It especially makes the people you love happy - and the really great part about it is that it's contagious.

Hold on to that, my friends, inhale that feeling and nurture it. What a happy place :) And guess what? You've changed, you're still you, not someone else, but the essential you that you wanted to be.

One big wish came true. And in the wake of that new you - who knows what else can happen. Expect miracles. Build them, affirm them and they will come.

Take care and have a beautiful day!



      

Does it Snow in Heaven?

I wonder - does it snow in Heaven? I hope so. Is there anything more lovely than falling snow? White puffs of snow, like fresh picked cotton, drifting through the trees . . .  carpeting fields in white satin; waiting for tomorrow's sunshine to set it on fire, to lift it's sparkle, to reflect the sky.

Having said that, I can almost feel the volley of hard-packed snow balls headed my way - launched by friends and foe alike, who, like me, are currently snowbound.

'Is she nuts?' I hear. (Grinding your teeth doesn't help, by the way. It shortens them. Lopsidedly.)

Maybe I am nuts. Especially when I consider the fact that, like you, I may not be able to get out of my driveway until the Lilacs bloom.

Miss Kitty is not amused. Especially since I aired the picture of her makeshift bathroom on face book. Crass, Ginny. Crass. And unfeeling. Politically incorrect. Apparently, when she decided to scrape a place in the snow on my lower deck, her paws got cold, her nose froze and her behind accidently touched the snow.

I don't get it. Your ancestors were Norwegian Forest cats, my dear Miss Kitty. You've got tufts of fur between your toes and around your pads, and a downy undercoat to keep you warm . . . your ears are tufted inside and out and you've got a fur coat that some people around here would kill for. Don't look at me like that . . . And why don't you use your litter box?

Don't you get it? I'm a Norwegian Forest cat! We prefer the outdoors.

Yup. "Have a cookie, Pussy Cat."

Speaking of cookies - that makes me think of hot chocolate . . . Now, there's a thought. And marshmallows. Hmmm. What else is there to do on a snowy day? Bake cookies? June Cleaver would. I'll get a roll of Pillsbury cookie dough out of the freezer. Come to think of it, I could combine all of the above (substituting the cookie dough with a Duncan Hinds cake mix) and mix up a chocolate marshmallow cream cake. Hmm. Snowbound is okay.
It holds all kinds of possibilities.  Afterall, we all need an extra layer of fat to combat the icy cold. Don't we? We'll go to Zumba when the sun comes out.

But back to my original thought - I think they do have snow in Heaven. A lot of people love the snow. Skiers, snow boarders, Apres skiers . . .  Pandas and  Labradors. Snow bunnies. A Heaven with no snow? Never.

So, relax. It'll stop snowing when it's time for it to stop. In the meantime, we'll think of spring and sip hot chocolate. And, look on the bright side -  if this icy business goes on too long, we can break out the caramel whisky eggnog. Cheers, everyone!

The Full Leo Moon

Last night, I watched the full moon rising, it's light, liquid and platinum, filtering through the trees, silvering the brown grass of winter, casting it's spell on the night.

I've heard that if you want to find joy, focus on the things you love. So, early this morning, long before it was light, I poured my first cup of coffee, opened my bedroom shutters, went back to bed, and by the light of a tangerine candle I watched the moon set.

It descended slowly, just as it had risen, through the bare, black limbs of the trees, making them shimmer with an illusion of warmth in the icy morning. Moonlight beamed down on my cove, sending it's sparkle across the sheet of ice that covered the water from shore to shore, it's light, brushing the frozen ripples of its surface, inking in the cracks, delineating the swirls created by the ebb and flow of the water's currents. A ghostly paintbrush moving black and silver paint across my world.

My world, and the world that belongs to all of us. I thought of friends and family, hundreds and thousands of miles away, who share this moon with me; who may be watching it's splendor, high in the sky, or sinking in a far away early morning somewhere. From every hemisphere. And, in this moment of peaceful beauty, in the glow of my tangerine candle, I fall in love with the world and everyone in it.

When I was young, I would lie awake at night and sometimes, on the outskirts of the city, I could hear the distant roar of lion. Perhaps a full-bodied black-maned cat - filling the night with its rumble. And I wonder if perhaps on those nights, like tonight, here in Virginia, there was a full Leo moon lighting the pale grasslands plains he roamed.

I think of pilots, 30,000 feet above the world, criss-crossing the atmosphere with the light of this moon glancing off silver wings, and feeling its beauty. I think of sailors on the night time watch, perhaps thinking of ancient mariner's who travelled these same waterways, guided by the lights of the firmament, I think of a Bedouin traveler, deep in the desert, smoking outside his tent, watching the sharp silhouette of his camels in the moon light, and I am in awe of the power of the Universe and its ability to bring us all together in its magnificence.

I hope its a good and peaceful day for you, my friends, and everyone everywhere. And tonight, I hope you feel that magnificence as the moon comes up, aligning with Jupiter and calming Uranus. It's bound to be a perfect night. 

What is a Spirit? A Soul? And Who the Heck am I?

The questions up above can give you a headache if you're not careful. And you might just scratch your head and say, "I can't think about this - look at this Christmas list! I've got enough headaches, thank you! Can we talk shopping and solid things that I can get my head around? And what the heck do I get Uncle Jack who's just bought himself a Mazzarati? His wife says it's male menopause." I wouldn't know.

Sure. Here's something solid - me. Solid as a plum pudding, since I ate three pieces of pie and a mound of mashed potato and gravy last week - and shoved that inner voice into the basement. The voice that trilled, "You're going to regret this!"  Yup.

That inner voice can really toss a glass of cold water on holiday dinners, and snacks, and boxes of chocolates and bottles of wine ... and third helpings. But did you know it will stop if you ask it to?

Because, you see, I believe that silent, inner voice is you. You can call it your conscience, and it is that, or it could be your spirit - often known as 'the soul' - giving you a tweak. Anyway you look at it, it is You. Look at it this way, your 'human you' wouldn't be bellying up to the table (and the bar) if the spirit you hadn't brought it here. The spirit that is you - you're one and the same.

There have been a few times in this lifetime when I've asked myself, "Who am I really?" And, "What am I doing here?"  Ask that Inner Voice. I've found out that it has the answers to all of the above questions.

It has the answers to everything, I've learned, and I think that's because it has a much better view of the picture of my miniscule life than I have. It is part of that infinite mass of Universal energy, and privy to all of knowledge there is out there. You might say it has an infinite view. It can see forever. My own, in comparison, is like looking through the eye of a needle. But if you try, you can get to know that spirit, recognize the oneness you share with it, and become privy to everything it knows. It's like having a BBF who knows everything and all the answers - only not quite so irritating, because, after all - it is you we're talking about, not someone who is separate from you. And you couldn't possibly be irritating, could you.

I don't believe that a bunch of uninvolved, mindless cells clumped together and formed me. Bang! Bibitty bobbity Boo! Although, I have to admit that when I've had a particularly, ill-informed, bad idea, I've wondered. But not for long.

My belief is that the spirit me chose to incarnate on earth at this particular time, and chose it's human body, it's parents, and other fellow spirits to make this earth journey with. "Why on earth would I have chosen her  as a mother/friend/sister/cousin?" Someone might ask. "She's a real piece of work! Mean, vindictive, cruel and generally awful!" Well we're taught that she may well be of your greatest teachers while you're here. "WHAT!" It's true. Perhaps this person is teaching you compassion - for yourself, the people around you, others who have been mistreated. Perhaps she's opened your eyes to a multitude of injustices you might never have noticed, making you a much kinder, gentler soul than you might have been? Think so? And perhaps, by becoming that, your perspective towards her could change and that kindness might just reach her and make her think. Or not. But, I think we come into this life to teach, and to be taught the spiritual lessons we need to evolve both as human beings and spirits. It's a difficult school we've chosen. But there are opportunities everywhere.

One of the best opportunities we have is the ability to tap into that spirit that is you and ask for answers. Listen carefully to that inner voice and it will become clearer and clearer. Who know? It might even give you an idea for Jack!  Experiment with those questions and see how it works.

Happy shopping everyone. I'm getting another piece of that pecan pie before I go. To ward off the headaches :) Strictly medicinal. Where's that inner vice when I need it. I hope it's not going to be a scrooge about the pie.

Take care and stay calm in the midst of chaos.


 

Is it a Ghost?

Did you know, they have a paranormal camera on Spirit - NASA's Mars Rover? I don't know what a 'paranormal camera' is but it's intriguing, isn't it.

This confirms to me that steadfast, solid institutions like NASA pay plenty of attention to the fact that 'anything is possible'. It's the mark of great explorers.

There is a picture online today of a rock that has raised a lot of conjecture about whether it is an old skull or merely a rock. NASA's picture is solid and unadorned and one could speculate one way or another. And it's fun to imagine - what brought it there? Who is it? Is it dangerous? Or is it just a lump of minerals.

However, a group calling itself the Paranormal Crucible has posted their own edition of the picture and have apparently altered it to look more like a skull. I haven't seen it, but it smacks of alarmism and sensationalism to me. A manipulation of what is.

It's like the crop of paranormal stories that have been showing up on TV in recent years. All of them full of dark light, shadows, muffled screams,  rattling sounds and moans - and fear. Well, they scare the heck out of me. I watch them from behind a pillow. All of them are designed to titillate, frighten, and bring in a ton of money for their producers. Selling horror and fear in every way they can.

This is fine, I suppose, as entertainment. The problem I have with it is that the truth gets distorted and unsuspecting people believe such stories. Ghosts/Spirits are not frightening, people. They cannot hurt you, and they do not threaten. They are spiritual beings simply trying to make contact. That's been my experience, and I don't expect it to change. The other problem I have with it is that these productions are the product of someone's imagination, and threaten the authenticity of those of us trying to tell the truth about the very real worlds of other dimensions and spiritual beings that sometimes seep into our own.

Whether it's Science, involving our own earth and the known universes, or energies we don't yet understand, some from way beyond our known universes, it needs careful consideration and discernment.

It's very easy to take something that is almost unbelievable and make up fantastical and hysterical stories about it. Even people who have genuinely experienced a paranormal or spiritual event, can get carried away on a wave of enthusiasm and begin to exaggerate the essence of what they actually  saw or heard. And by the time the story has been re-told a dozen times, even the shadow of truth has vanished. It's very easy to misinterpret these events, which makes it very important to stop and discern them, write them down before you share them.

The existence of other dimensions and beings is a simple truth, exact in its simplicity, and ideally, simple truth should remain unadorned and should be accepted in it's essence. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all be that accepting.

But we're thinking beings. We want to see and touch and feel, and find out everything we can about something so 'unreal'. Including the mysteries of outer space. And it's essential that we  do that. You can't touch a star, but you can land on the moon, bring back rocks and examine them. By the same token, you can sense a spirit - then feel it. And photograph it. You can probably even pat a ghost, or poke it ... to see if it's real. And you may hear it laugh.

We should encourage the explorers, and embark on our own explorations. Delve into every facet of the subject and maintain a healthy skepticism. You won't be able to prove everything, there is a certain amount of faith involved. But there is also something called 'knowingness'. When you just KNOW something is right. And that 'knowingness' is part of that energy in ourselves we don't yet fully understand. It just is. Take for instance, a doctor diagnosing a patient; long before the tests are in, that doctor has a feeling, a knowingness, a sureness of what it is he or she is looking at.

So while the skull rock on Mars is fun, discern it, question everything, and  keep an open mind.

Have a beautiful sunny day! Which is also deceptive. With this much sunshine, it should be warm! But we're a long way from warm. Can you imagine how cold it is on Mars today? No wonder all we can find are rocky skulls. Bundle up!

November Mornings.

November is a time for reminiscing, for me. The brilliant colors of fall have crumbled brown and dusty to the ground and the mornings are frosty around the edges. The geese in the cove are thinking of moving on and I'm thinking that soon the lake will be getting frosty around the edges and they'll be gone.

It's a time for remembering, and some of those memories are warm and some  make you  pull your sweater closer, light the fire and pour a cup of tea. And that makes me think of my mother and father.

Long gone now, I find it interesting that the older I get, the more I find myself wishing they were around to talk to. To be able to pick up a phone and say, "What do you think"?  about this or that. Or to draw on their memories, perhaps to shore up my own memories, or to remember others I've forgotten. To sit beside my mother and say, "I worry about this or that, do you think it'll be alright?" I miss their warmth, and their thoughts about things that matter.

It's not that they were perfect parents. If they had been perfect they would have had a perfect child - and that didn't happen. In fact, if they had been perfect, I would probably have picked up my back pack and left home before I was ten. I think perfection would be very hard to live with. I think perfection by it's very definition is imperfect. But that's another thought.

My mother and father were present. Whenever I needed them, and sometimes when I was sure I didn't, they were there. They seemed to have the right answers at the time, and although some of them probably weren't, they ultimately worked for me. I could rely on them to never consciously let me down, and I know now that whatever decisions they made for me and my sibling they were made with the best of intentions - right or wrong. And, in retrospect, they were mostly right. Although being imperfect, like me, some of them would probably raise a few eyebrows in the 21st. Century Manual of Parenting.

"They meant well." Sounds trite, but it actually has great depth, in fact. It won't fly in many circles, but in mine it does. Everything they did for us, for better or for worse, was done from their own toolboxes of ancestral experience, and done with the right intentions. They never meant any harm to come to any of us. And isn't that what it's all about?

That thought stayed with me as I was raising my own children - imperfectly, but with the very best of intentions, always. It's made it easier to forgive myself when things didn't turn out the way I had intended, or hoped. And I thank them for that.

So, on a cold November evening, it's the memories of my mother dancing until dawn with my father in his military uniform -  the smell of her Blue Grass perfume, or his Old Spice, that color my memories, filling me still with childish adoration. It's the memories of my father's WW2 stories, the sinking of the HMS Birmingham, and the Red Cross ship full of nurses they were escorting, helping to shape my thoughts in the realms of right and wrong, my mother chasing me with a hairbrush to enforce a little discipline with a splat! whop! on my behind, and her vague opinions about the latest boy-flame in my life - always right.

And now, as a cold November moves towards the warmth of Thanksgiving Day, with it's candles, pies, roasted turkey and dressing, I feel very thankful for them. I'm glad they were here with me; and I feel at peace knowing that they're with Drew in Heaven.

I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving with all the people you love the best around you.    

Finding Spirit

I'm lovin' the workshops and super-enthusiastic study groups that are springing up from the public presentations of "Rainbow Rising", the book you asked for, following "By Morning's Light", which answers many of your questions about finding spirit.

Actually, spirit is looking for you. Not only your own spirit which is alive and well within, but all of those souls you loved so much when they were here on earth, and thought were lost, are doing everything they can to let you know they're still alive, living in another dimension, in another form.

I know this because I, and many, many others, have seen them, heard them and felt them.

This is where, if you come from a traditional religious background, you may begin to get twitchy. Don't. If you've ever thought or wondered if you felt a disincarnate soul around you - you probably have. It's the most natural thing on earth. Your sixth sense and intuition are part of who you are and when glimpses like this occur, it's just them kicking in and asking to be acknowledged. They are the way your own eternal spirit talks to you. Don't ever be afraid of acknowledging those tweaks of intuition, sensing another presence or listening to that inner voice. It's that eternal spirit you, (that organized religion has tried so hard to convince you of!) It wants you to know it's there ... but if you're like me, you probably won't believe all that until you can experience it for yourself.

And that takes an open mind, and a willingness to experience it. It also takes acknowledging the possibility that so many people can't be wrong, and allowing yourself to wonder, 'What if ...'  What if I can talk to my own spirit - or people who have passed on and are now in spirit?

You begin by reaching for something you cannot feel or sense with your physical senses. Impossible? Sounds like it, but it's not. To reach that something, you have to forcefully push those powerful physical senses out of the way to allow that extraordinarily powerful sixth sense to come forward.

It's done in many different ways: meditation is the most compelling way to get there, but, fear not, meditation comes in many forms. It doesn't necessarily mean forcing yourself not to think, to unclutter your mind, and go blank, which is very hard to do. To move those stubborn physical senses and brain clutter out of the way, try listening to soft music or go for a long walk and let yourself be acutely aware of every note, every step you take. That too is meditation. Sit beside the ocean and Listen. Or paddle a kayak.

There are plenty of people who get to a zone of altered consciousness with the use of drugs - not recommended by me. With natural meditation, you are in complete control. With drugs, maybe not so much. And you don't have to climb a distant mountain, scout out a rain forest or look for forgotten tribes or a hippie compound. You already have everything you need to make it happen.

Whatever you pick up in this zoned-out state, sounds, swirls  of color, maybe a sentence, maybe a laugh, maybe a face - or nothing at all at first, acknowledge it, discern it and keep practicing.  Keep going, knowing that spirit is high-fiving you all the way, loving your desire to make contact. Be aware that every step you take towards developing those 'super-natural' senses, makes it easier for them to contact you.

In a purely earthly sense, isn't it easier to communicate with someone who acknowledges your presence, than someone who ignores you or brushes you off?

If you're lucky, you'll find you're very sensitive to the energy around you and  you'll quickly get the hang of it. But usually it takes practice. Don't get discouraged, because one day, before long, it will pop right in, usually when you're least expecting it. Remember that road accident you missed by changing routes on your way to work one morning? How did you know you should go a different way that day?

Sitting at your computer one day you may hear a voice, sense a smile, a touch and have the feeling that that person you loved so much when you were together on earth, is right beside you. And then one night perhaps, in a dream during those wee, small hours, that same person will be sitting on the veranda with you holding a conversation, taking your hand, letting you know he or she is more alive than ever before.

Ahhh ... When that happens, the study and the journey will have been so worthwhile. You'll know. You'll just know. And with that knowledge, you can move into a completely different sort of relationship with yourself, or those you still love who have moved on.

You can even let that knowledge transfer to the people around you, people who are making this same earth journey with you. Knowing that there is nothing to fear, that we go on, that this is just one stage of the evolution of our souls, makes it so much easier to finish the race.

Keep on truckin!