Skye Alexander

Sample Sunday

2012-02-26T11:00:00.007-08:00

Excerpt from my novel Confessions of an Aging American Playboy for "Sample Sunday"

I landed in Rockport again shortly before 9/11. After eighteen years in Hawaii, I’d had my fill of isolation, surfers, Japanese greed, and native hostility. I returned to Massachusetts with a woman I’d lived with for five years but didn’t love to take a job I hated. Shortly after we arrived, she dumped me––for a woman. Just goes to show I’ll never understand chicks.

It didn’t take me long to locate Dee Dee. One evening after work I climbed three flights of narrow steps to her garret studio with its paint-splattered floors, exposed beams, and precious north-facing view of the ocean. Frames of all sizes and paintings in various stages of completion cluttered the small room. An old baker’s rack held pads of paper, canvases, baskets overflowing with tubes of paint, and jars stuffed with brushes. Even though it was still a couple hours until sunset, a spotlight illuminated a small platform in one corner of the studio.

Dee Dee was cleaning brushes in the sink with her back to me when I entered. Without turning around she ordered, “Strip and take the stand.”

I chuckled. “I’m afraid my modeling days are over.”

She spun around and stared at me a while before she spoke. “Well, it’s about time. I’ve been waiting twenty-nine years for you.”

Her short blonde hair stuck up in spikes, like a sunburst around her head. Her blue eyes were still too big for her face. She wore a man’s white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows and a pair of ragged jeans, both of them so covered with paint it looked like she’d had a run-in with Jackson Pollock. Yellow and orange splotches dappled her left cheek. Her fingernails were green. She looked adorable.

“You don’t seem glad to see me,” I said. “You’re not still mad at me after all this time, are you?”

Dee Dee sighed and wiped her hands on her jeans. She opened a cabinet above the sink, took out a bottle of cheap Chianti and two glasses, and handed them to me. While she cleared a place for us to sit, I poured the wine.

“I’d hoped when you came back you’d be fat and bald,” she said uncharitably.

“Yeah, well, I’ve put on a few pounds and my golden locks have gone completely white, as you can see.”

“Damn it, Max, you’re still the handsomest man I’ve ever known.” She didn’t make it sound like a compliment.

I flashed her one of my best smiles. “You turned out pretty cute yourself, Squirt.”

“Oh please. I’m forty years old, for chrissake. Don’t call me Squirt.”

“Whoops. Sorry. I guess you are all grown up at that.” I winked and she blushed.

She gulped her wine and held out her glass for a refill. “What brings you to our fair isle again after all this time?”

“Work. I got transferred to the New England office.”

“Still keeping the skies safe?”

I nodded. “I’m not in the tower anymore, though, I’m the boss man now. Between you and me, it sucks. I’d rather be back on the radar scope directing planes––at least I’d feel I was doing something constructive.”

“So fill me in on your life.”

“You want the complete version or the abridged one?”

“High-concept it for me,” she said. “Otherwise we’ll be here for another twenty-nine years.”

“San Francisco, Honolulu. No wife, no kids.”

“And your brother?”

“He died. Fourteen years ago.”

“I’m sorry. He lived a lot longer than you expected, though.”

“Yeah.” I shrugged. Even after all this time, I still hadn’t come to grips with his death. “How ’bout you?”

“Three marriages, three divorces. No kids either––at least I got that part right.”

“This part looks pretty good too.” I gestured at the artwork on the walls of the studio. “You’ve got talent.”

“I guess. It keeps me alive anyway.”

I thought she meant she earned a living painting. Later I came to understand that she meant it literally. Art was her solace and her salvation, the only reason she hadn’t killed herself a dozen times in the past dozen years.

How Can Feng Shui Help You?

2012-02-20T11:38:00.000-08:00

If you happen to be in the Kerrville, TX area on Wednesday, March 22, 2012, and want to learn more about feng shui, please stop by Unity Church on Lois Street at noon. I'll be talking about the ancient art of feng shui and how it can help you.

When the entertainment giant Disney built a 310-acre, $3.5 billion theme park in Hong Kong, they consulted with a feng shui master to make sure everything from the opening date to the positions of the park’s doorways were correct. Designed to be “the most harmonious place on earth,” Hong Kong Disneyland is even sited in a location that’s considered fortunate according to feng shui.

Feng shui’s principles were a consideration for internationally renowned architect I. M. Pei, too, when he designed the Bank of China’s tower in Hong Kong. Real estate tycoon Donald Trump says he uses feng shui “because it makes me money.”

In recent years, many celebrities including Oprah and Spielberg, have discovered the benefits of feng shui. So have some of the world’s largest corporations––Coca-Cola, Sony, Shell, Proctor and Gamble among them––who used it to boost profits, reduce employee turnover, and increase harmony within their companies.

If some of the richest and most famous people on the planet are turning to this ancient philosophy to enhance their success, there must be something to it. Shouldn’t you find out if feng shui can help you, too?

What, Exactly, Is Feng Shui Anyway?

Feng shui (pronounced fung shway) has been practiced in the East for more than two thousand years. Rooted in the Chinese spiritual tradition Taoism and the teachings of Confucius, it literally means “wind” and “water.” The goal is to direct chi––the vital energy that the Chinese believe animates all life on earth––through your environment so that its movement resembles a gently flowing stream or a pleasant breeze.

That’s a very simple explanation for a complex and multi-layered system, which contains many diverse schools of thought and a wide range of practices, both practical and mystical. But underlying all of feng shui is a single, fundamental objective: to create harmony and balance in our environments and, by extension, in our lives. Properly utilized, feng shui lets us attract what the Chinese call the Three Great Blessings: health, wealth, and happiness.

Also known as the art of placement, feng shui gives us a formula for designing, arranging, organizing, and maintaining our homes and workplaces so they nurture us. Few environments are inherently ideal, but virtually all can be improved. Feng shui practitioners accomplish this by applying a variety of physical and psychological “cures,” which I’ll discuss more fully in chapter 3 and in Part Two. (In my earlier books 10-Minute Feng Shui, 10-Minute Clutter Control, and 10-Minute Clutter Control Room by Room, I also offer hundreds of simple feng shui cures you can do yourself to improve every area of your life.)

You don’t have to be a master in this ancient art to experience its effects. To begin, all you need to do is pay attention to your feelings when you enter a space you’ve never been in before. A building that has “good feng shui” will make you feel welcome, comfortable, safe, at peace. One with “bad feng shui” will stir up all sorts of unpleasant feelings––uneasiness, agitation, lethargy, apprehension, or discomfort.

As you learn more about feng shui, you’ll start to notice even subtle disturbances in the homes, offices, and retail environments you frequent. You’ll also start to see how to rectify those problems. “Once you begin to apply feng shui principles, you’ll be able to flow smoothly with the river of life, rather than having to swim against the current,” says New York feng shui consultant Benjamin Huntington.

Why Feng Shui Works

If you’ve ever studied the psychology of dreams, you know that the house is a symbol for your life. It’s no surprise, then, that your physical home speaks volumes about you and serves as a mirror that reflects back images of the many facets of your daily existence. A feng shui master can look at your home and immediately see which parts of your life are operating smoothly as well as those that are causing you problems.

The Chinese believe that all life is interconnected––our environments influence us and we influence our environments. It’s easy to understand how our environments affect us. We’ve all experienced the sense of serenity that comes from walking in a peaceful park or along the ocean. And, we’ve all witnessed the impact humans have had on our natural landscapes. Feng shui, however, looks more closely at this interplay by examining every detail of our living and work spaces and their relationship to our daily lives.

Each section of your home or workplace represents a part of your life. The condition of the various sectors, as well as the colors, furnishings, architectural elements, even what’s in the closets will influence your health, career, relationships, family interactions, etc. In chapter 2, I’ll discuss this in more detail and show you how to analyze the different parts of your immediate, personal environment.

Although the practice of feng shui involves ancient Chinese spirituality and some esoteric concepts, much of it is simply good, practical interior design. Long before most Westerners had even heard about feng shui, many successful designers were already using it subconsciously––because it makes sense. Here’s an example. If you walked into an office and the person you’d come to see was sitting at her desk with her back to you, both of you could experience discomfort. You might feel unwelcome and the person at the desk might be startled by your presence. Feng shui recommends positioning a desk so that the person seated at it faces the entrance.

Feng shui also incorporates such fields as aromatherapy and the psychology of color––all with the intention of creating harmony and balance. As this ancient art continues to expand in the West, its practitioners will undoubtedly bring other ideas, philosophies, and disciplines into the mix and increase feng shui’s effectiveness in our modern world.

(Excerpted from my book 10-Minute Feng Shui Room by Room)

Brigid's Day

2012-01-29T09:23:00.000-08:00

For most Americans February 2 is Groundhog's Day, but for Pagans this is Brigid's Day (also known as Imbolc and Candlemas), the holiday or sabbat that honors the Celtic goddess of poetry, healing, and smithcraft. So beloved was Brigid that the early Celtic Pagans refused to abandon her when Christianity became widespread in Ireland and the British Isles––the Church responded by naming her a saint.

This fiery goddess is often depicted with flaming red hair, tending a bubbling cauldron over a blazing fire. This image symbolizes inspiration and creativity, which are Brigid's gifts to humanity. Imbolc means "in the belly" and the cauldron, representing the womb where creativity is nurtured, is one of her tools.

Pagan sabbats follow solar cycles and Imbolc is the first one celebrated after the Winter Solstice (the shortest day of the year). Some Pagans mark Brigid’s Day around February 5, when the sun reaches 15 degrees of Aquarius. Daylight is increasing now in the northern hemisphere, winter is on the wane, and spring's renewal is promised. Thus, Imbolc is a reaffirmation of life and a time for planting "seeds" that you want to ripen as the year matures.

Celebrating Brigid's Day

Fire is the central feature at Imbolc and a ritual celebration often includes lighting a sacred fire. In Celtic Pagan tradition, this fire burns the wood of seven of the trees considered to be sacred––ash, oak, holly, yew, alder, hawthorn, elder, rowan, and pine. If you are celebrating the holiday with other people, give each person a candle. Form a circle around the fire (or a large pillar candle set on an altar if building a fire isn't practical). Also place a cauldron filled with sand or earth on the altar.

Each person in turn lights his/her candle from the central flame. When all are lit, one person begins by stating a "seed" wish for the coming year. Go around the circle, letting everyone affirm for what s/he wants the year to bring. As smoke from the candle flames rises toward the heavens, it carries these requests to Brigid. Songs or prayers of thanks may also be offered at this time. You may wish to read poems written by the members of the group. When you are ready to open the circle, place the candles upright in the cauldron and allow them to burn down completely.

Because Brigid is the goddess of inspiration and creativity, you honor her by firing your imagination. I always spend her day engaged in some form of artistic activity, usually writing or painting. Some friends of mine bake, some play music, others fashion wreaths of greenery and pinecones. If you possess smithing skills or healing powers, this is the perfect opportunity to use them. Even if you don't consider yourself an artist, Brigid's Day is a time to give your imagination free rein, to share your ideas and vision with others, and to lay plans that you want to materialize during the year.

(from my book Magickal Astrology, published by New Page Books/Career Press)

Sex & Spirit: Part Two

2012-01-13T09:54:00.000-08:00

Part Two

Kathleen: Well, there seems to be a popular sentiment among a lot of people that the problem with contemporary sexuality is that, as they put it, we “forget our animal nature”. I've heard this argument from a lot of people and I find it ridiculous and an excuse for some very destructive and hurtful behavior but the attitude persists.

Your comments about my attempts at writing erotica reminded me of the story about how Anais Nin came to write Delta of Venus and Little Birds. A patron offered to pay her per page to crank out titillating prose and he instructed her to “leave out the poetry” but she couldn't.

Toward the end of The Old Mermaid's Tale there is a scene between Clair, who is a senior in college and is struggling with her overwhelming desire for the man she loves and the need for both of them to move forward with their lives. She is talking to her advisor who has just returned from India and brought with her some small statues of apsaras, the beautiful little Hindu nymphs that represent “unrealized potential”. Clair's advisor tells her that the Hindus believe that not everything we imagine is meant to be and that the apsaras honor the erotic longings of the human heart. I found that deeply moving and highly instructive. I think we in the west have the attitude that we should be able to have everything we want but we don't always understand that sometimes those energies need to be channeled in other directions. For me personally, creativity, and especially writing is a form of divine communion – a form of sex, if you will. Maybe that's why I hate to see it profaned through careless sexuality that is all sensation with very little emotion.

I wrote a short story called My Last Romance in which a woman turning sixty suddenly encounters a reminder of a man she had an incredibly passionate affair with when she was young. The affair ended abruptly and she eventually went back to the man she was with before she met her wild, impetuous lover. Now, decades later, all those feelings come flooding back and she comes face-to-face with what really happened. I still find that story can make me weepy because I think a lot of us spend much of our lives longing for something that would have been a disaster if we had actually acquired it.

Skye: I'm intrigued by the concept of apsaras––which I’d never heard of before you discussed it––and the idea that they “honor the erotic longings of the human heart.” Sex magic would say that we can have anything we want, but we must be able to envision what we want, open ourselves to it without reservation, believe we’re worthy of it, and direct our creative (sexual) energy toward attracting our desires. That’s a fairly simplistic explanation, and admittedly it’s easier said than done. But to honor our longings…to me seems to show compassion toward ourselves (and others) when we fall short of accomplishing what we aim for––and that in itself might be an act of forgiveness, which as I understand it, has the power to bring peace, healing, and balance to the world.

But back to the idea of spirit as an essential component of sex, I want to relate an experience I had a few weeks ago. I spent a day with two people (one man, one woman) who by their own admission had each had sex with more than 1,000 partners. But by age 50, they were so bored and disillusioned that they’d basically given up on sex altogether. I felt incredibly sad for both of them. They’d spent decades searching for meaning and connection––the transcendent experience we’ve been talking about that exists in sacred sex––but erroneously sought it in new lovers, new sex toys, new kinks. Interestingly, both had been brought up in strict religious environments they’d rejected––he as a Catholic, she as a Mormon––and refused to see the connection between sex and spirit.

In my way of thinking, the so-called “sexual revolution” that began when you and I were young women was well-intended, but it destroyed the mystery. It took the bubbles out of the champagne. Giving yourself permission to have sex with anyone who piques your interest at the moment may be “liberated” but it’s not likely to lead to a genuine, fulfilling, meaningful, loving, and truly erotic experience. Passion, joy, and magic are inherent in sex––why else has sex fascinated us for millennia? Even our most enduring symbols, including the cross and the Star of David depict the union of masculine and feminine forces (a topic too lengthy and involved to discuss here, but perhaps in the future).

You mentioned the idea that contemporary people “forget our animal nature” when it comes to sex. We’ve all seen those National Geographic animal programs on TV that show animals copulating, and frankly it’s pretty perfunctory––I doubt most of us would choose the wham-bam type of sex lions engage in. “Animal nature” may include sacred dimensions, if you accept that all life is sacred. But I can’t help recalling the line from one of my favorite movies, The African Queen, when Katherine Hepburn says “Nature is what we were put on earth to rise above.”

I believe that viewing sex as a sacred experience allows you to see yourself and your partner(s) as embodiments of the Divine. In so doing, you perceive the glorious truth of yourself. You aren’t separate, you’re one––with your partner and with All That Is.

Kathleen: Yes, I definitely see “honoring our longings” as an act of forgiveness and also an act of compassion for self. Especially as I'm getting older I'm seeing that there are things I always thought I wanted that I now know are just not going to happen – for me it has

become about priorities. There aren't enough hours in the day, or days in the year, for some of the things I once longed for but I still want to honor the part of myself that once loved longing for those things.

I totally agree with you about how our sexual liberation contributed to destroying the mystery, mostly because people didn't understand the connection between body and spirit. I vividly remember guys who took advantage of that by telling young women they were attempting to seduce that they were “up-tight” or “hung-up” if they didn't want to have sex. I think a lot of people of both sexes went along with swinging and multiple partners because they didn't know how to say “no.” We lost so much of our spirit by letting ourselves be bullied into sexual acts we thought we were supposed to want but didn't really. It's still going on for a lot of young people who have been seduced by the “hooking up” mentality. I'm still hoping that people will start honoring their spirit and reclaim their sexuality. When I was creating the priest Father Black for Each Angel Burns I read a lot of writing by some of the great Catholic mystics and I became quite enthralled by their concept of “erotic celibacy.” Much as we all know how wonderful sex can be, there is a lot to be said for reclaiming your sexuality, and channeling that energy into creativity and communion with the Divine. Personally, I cannot ever imagine being in a sexual relationship with someone who was only interested in the sensation of sex but who ignored the spirit. If that means being celibate, I'm fine with that.

By the way, Skye, yesterday I bought your book Angels Among Us. It's a beautiful book and I enjoyed what I read last night. I understand you have a book on mermaids coming soon. We should have another conversation about the angels and mermaids since we have both written about them.

Skye: Thanks for buying my book, Kathleen. Yes, I’m quite pleased with the production quality. I’m glad you liked it, too. Did you notice that I included an inspiring story of yours and an amazing photo in it? I felt so touched by that and by the stories and angel photos other people contributed to the book.

I love your priest Peter Black in Each Angel Burns. I especially like the way you cast him as a handsome stud, before he took his vows. People often think of priests as either nerds, mama’s boys, or pedophiles. Father Black’s pre-priest experience gives him greater depth and takes him out of the realm of stereotype. Ecstasy and eroticism can certainly be experienced in sex (and hopefully will be), but that’s not the only venue, as you discovered while reading the writings of mystics. And, as you and I have both lamented, ecstasy and eroticism are too often absent from our sexual experiences.

Margo Anand, in her book The Art of Sexual Ecstasy, writes, “When the sacredness of sexual union is felt, it is possible to experience your connection to the life force itself, the source of creation. This connection lifts your consciousness beyond the physical plane into a field of power and energy much greater than your own.” As a sex magician, I’d say that from this place of power anything and everything is possible.

That’s not to devalue the sensory pleasure of sex––quite the opposite. As we’ve been discussing, physical delights are heightened by the infusion of spirit. When I was doing research for Sex Magic for Beginners, I was intrigued by the writings of an eighteenth-century Hasidic master named Reb Hayim Haikel. He proposed a different way of viewing sex and spirit, and suggested, “Creation was for the purpose of lovemaking. As long as there was only one-ness, there was no delight.” In other words, we emerged out of the realm of spirit into our physical bodies precisely so we could enjoy sex. An interesting thought …

Kathleen, this has been a most enjoyable and inspiring conversation––thanks so much for proposing it. I hope other people who read this will share their thoughts about the ideas we’ve posed. And we will definitely have a conversation about angels in the near future––and one about mermaids after my new mermaid book comes out in the spring (don’t know the final title or pub date yet). If other writers are interested in participating in these conversations, perhaps we can make this an ongoing forum.

Kathleen: Your Haikel quote reminded me of the Rumi quote I used at the beginning of Each Angel Burns, “At night we fall into each other with such grace. When it’s light, you throw me back like you do your hair. Your eyes now drunk with God, mine with looking at you, one drunkard takes care of another.” I think that about sums it up – finding God or Spirit or Universal Oneness by taking care of one another. This has been great, Skye. I look forward to our next discussion and I, too, would like to invite other writers to join us.

Skye Alexander is the author of more than thirty fiction and nonfiction books, which have been translated into a dozen languages, and is best known for her work in the body-mind-spirit field. Her stories have been published in numerous anthologies internationally. Her web site is SkyeAlexander.com. Kathleen Valentine is the author of three novels, many novelettes and short stories, as well as books on knitting lace and a cookbook/memoir of growing up Pennsylvania Dutch. Her web site is KathleenValentine.com.

Sex & Spirit

2012-01-12T09:41:00.000-08:00

This is the first in an ongoing series of conversations between writers.

Part One

Kathleen: Skye, you and I have known each other for quite a few years now and, though what we write about is very different,

we deal with a lot of the same themes. I recently read your book Sex Magic for Beginners and, even though I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the subject, I was struck by the way you link the power of sexuality with the spiritual. I don't mind telling you I've gotten a lot of criticism over the strong sexual and spiritual themes in my novel Each Angel Burns. There are a lot of people who find strong sexual and spiritual themes incompatible.

Skye: Over the centuries, sex-negative religious forces have tried to separate body and spirit. In the process sex was robbed of its sanctity. But this wasn’t always the accepted view. Tantra, which began in India some 6,000 years ago, is the mystical path of ecstasy and its rituals glorify sex as the union of the Hindu deities Shiva and Shakti. The ancient Egyptians, Sumerians, Celts, and many other cultures also incorporated sex into their spiritual practices.

Sex magic, as I discuss in my new book, merges mind, body, and spirit. Although people perform sex magic for a variety of purposes, one reason is to assist spiritual enlightenment. It’s my opinion that our sense of isolation and our longing to reunite with Spirit is the root of human pain and suffering. During sex, we reconnect for a short time with the cosmic pulse of life. We glimpse our divine nature and our union with all that exists in the universe.

Kathleen: I think those are beautiful ideas but I often wonder how many people are in the kind of relationship that can support that. I know you have a section in your book on solo sex but for people already in a relationship, how do they deal with this if their partner isn't interested? In my experience the biggest problem where sex is concerned is the all-too-human desir

e for emotional connection with the partner and an on-going relationship. In my novel The Old Mermaid's Tale one of the characters, an older woman, tells a younger woman, “Never give your body to anyone who doesn't love you with all his heart. It kills the soul and robs you of your beauty and your dreams.” I think that is especially important to consider now in the era of “hooking up” and “casual sex.”

Is it possible to “glimpse our divine nature,” as you put it, when sex is so loaded with emotion and fraught with worries?

Skye: I agree with your character in The Old Mermaid’s Tale, which BTW I think is a terrific book and one I hope we can discuss in future conversations. In my opinion, the difference between casual sex and sacred sex is like the difference between a McDonald’s hamburger and a chateaubriand. I’ve never eaten a fast-food burger and I’ve never had a one-nighter. Unfortunately, most people opt for quick-and-easy rather than quality, and settle for far less than they could have. Our contemporary, blasé attitude toward sex renders meaningless the most potentially powerful and magical experience human beings can know. Casual sex is just as destructive as the Victorian era’s restrictiveness. Both squeeze spirit out of the picture, and prevent the possibility of genuine intimacy, joy, and transcendence.

From a magical perspective, the drawbacks are even worse. Keep in mind that sex is inherently a creative force. Sex magicians believe that with each orgasm you create a “magical child” in the etheric world, whether or not a flesh-and-blood baby results. The thoughts and emotions you hold at the moment of orgasm plant a “seed” in the cosmic womb, and that seed materializes based on your thoughts and feelings at the time. What were you thinking/feeling the last time you had sex? What kind of “child” would result from that?

There is a scene toward the end of Each Angel Burns where the two lovers, both of whom are in their fifties, have a highly intimate encounter, that brought down the wrath of quite a few reviewers! I got a scathing review on Amazon over it and one popular Christian reviewer said it was appalling that I spoke of sex “in sacramental terms.” I wonder how you view non-explicit love scenes that are infused with the sacred and how they compare or contrast to most popular erotica.Kathleen, you’re right that many of us aren’t in relationships that support the sacred nature sex––our partners may not even realize such a thing exists. We’ve been taught that love, intimacy, and vulnerability equate with weakness and we’ve learned to hide our feelings. Many men, especially, have also been trained to see sex as conquest, a mark of their prowess, but that sense of one-upsmanship prevents the balance that’s inherent in union. Opening ourselves to true intimacy––not only with our partners, but with ourselves and with the Divine––is essential to fulfillment.

Even if you’re in a relationship that doesn’t recognize the spiritual dimensions of sexuality, you can personally approach sex as a sacred, ecstatic, transcendent, loving, and joyful experience for yourself. Or, you can find another partner who shares your perspective. Solo sex can generate magical results, just as any sex act can, but it won’t keep you warm at night. Sometimes you can encourage or entice a lover to follow your direction, but be aware that fear of letting go, of trusting the unknown, and of being vulnerable may intrude and block your efforts. The choice is really up to each individual.

Kathleen: Sex is such a loaded issue for most people. Even people who profess not to follow a particular religion or spiritual path have a lot of trouble dealing with it. I know that you write erotica, I've read parts of your Tarotica book, and, as you know, I've tried writing erotica but I just have no gift for it. I think it is because I do regard sex as a sacred and powerful force that I find most erotica to be counterproductive to that. I struggle with it because I love writing sexy, romantic scenes––I've had people tell me the scene between Clair and Pio in the backseat of the Thunderbird (in The Old Mermaid's Tale) is one of the hottest scenes they've ever read. But it's not explicit. It's more about what the two people are experiencing than putting Tab A in Slot B, so to speak.

Skye: I think one of the reasons sex is such a loaded issue for most people is that it touches on what’s real and profound and, yes, sacred in all of us. It brings us into dimensions beyond what we normally confront. It connects us with our vulnerability and our power––two sides of the same coin––and that can scare us silly. Sex, if you let it, takes you out of the mundane world and catapults you into the mystical realm––and that can be unnerving for many people. Sacred sex brings you up close and personal with the real deal, and it truly does rock your world.

Kathleen, I love that scene in your book Each Angel Burns, for several reasons. First, it shows that sex and passion don’t end in middle age––in fact, they can become more joyful, genuine, and intense later in life. I’ve always admired your ability to express these sentiments through your characters. Second, I think it’s more erotic if the writer doesn’t tell all and instead allows the reader to project his/her own emotions and fantasies into a situation. Holding back can heighten the experience. Remember that beautiful erotic scene in The Age of Innocence where Newland Archer kisses the wrist of the Countess Olenska? Within the strict confines of their Victorian culture, this daring foray is far more sensual than any X-rated film today.

I don’t know if I can speak intelligently about popular erotica today––it’s such a broad topic, and in the publishing world it has a multiplicity of subsets. I don’t agree that you have no talent for erotica––quite the contrary. I’ve read some of your erotic literature, including “Gone Fishing” which was published in Ravenous Romance’s Green Love Anthology––a highly underrated collection of erotic fiction––and found the story sensitive, sexy, and real. Our ideas about erotica are highly personal, and they keep evolving. Today’s erotica is yesterday’s hard-core porn. An old question asks what’s the difference between erotica and pornography? Answer: Erotica is something you find sexually enticing. Pornography is something another person finds sexually enticing, but you find disgusting. It’s all personal perspective.

But to answer your question, I think most popular erotic literature lacks the sacred dimension, and for me, that leaves it flat and mechanical. Sex is inherently magical. Sex is a sacrament, perhaps the holiest of all acts. Without it, none of us would exist. Maybe it’s no surprise that your reviewer missed this, but our ancestors were very aware of the sacred power of sex and they honored it in multiple ways. We can still do this today. I hope we will.

To be continued...

What Can We Expect in 2012?

2011-12-26T10:16:00.001-08:00

You’ve heard the dire predictions for 2012, supposedly based on the Mayan calendar which doomsayers tell us predicts the end of the world on the next winter solstice. But how accurate are they? What can we really expect in the coming year?

First of all, astrologers don’t believe the Maya meant that the world would end on December 21, 2012. Instead, their ancient calendar pointed to the end of an astrological age. Each age, according to their calculations, lasted about 25,500 years. This corresponds to what astrologers call the precession of the equinoxes, meaning the amount of time it takes the spring equinoctial sun to move backward through the zodiac and arrive again at the same point from which it started. (Of course, the sun doesn’t really move, but that’s how it appears to us from our vantage point here on Earth.) Thus, 12/21/2012 signals the true beginning of a new age: the Age of Aquarius.

The Number 11

It’s interesting to note that 12/21/2012, from the perspective of numerology, is an “11” day––the number of Aquarius. Aquarius, as you may know, is the eleventh sign of the zodiac, but there’s more to it than that. When you add the digits of the date (1+2+2+1+2+0+1+2) you get a sum of 11. Numerologists consider 11 to be a “master number.” Master numbers resonate with intensity. They offer increased possibilities for growth, awakening, and accomplishment. They demand more from you and require you to function at a higher level of awareness.

Eleven is the number of the visionary, the avatar, the inventor, the person who leads by offering a positive example. It’s also linked with humanitarianism, equality, balance, truth, and integrity. In the Tarot's major arcana, the Justice card is number 11.

When we’re under the influence of the number 11, we may experience lightning-like bursts of insight or situations that propel us to act quickly, drawing on intuition as well as intellect. The repetition of 11s, as in 11:11 or 11/11/11 (a date we experienced last month), can be seen as a portal into other worlds or realms of consciousness.

What all this suggests is that in the coming year we’re likely to witness conditions that will require us to think outside the box and to address problems with a more elevated and expanded vision. We’ll have to be more honest with ourselves and others, and behave with greater integrity. We’ll be called to make changes that benefit humanity and take into account the good of all, not just a few. We’ll see continued efforts to right wrongs and establish more balance between the haves and the have-nots. In short, 2012 sounds a wake-up call for all of us and offers us an opportunity to usher in the long-awaited Age of Aquarius.

E-books for $.99

2011-12-15T10:23:00.000-08:00

By now, many of you have heard of Amanda Hocking, the 26-year-old who self-published her e-books on Amazon and soon became a bestselling author. In January 2011, she sold nearly half a million books! Like many writers, Hocking tired of the long, discouraging process of trying to find a traditional print publisher to take on her novels. So she did it herself––like many writers before her, including Benjamin Franklin, Gertrude Stein, Henry David Thoreau, Leo Tolstoy, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, Virginia Woolf and, more recently, Stephen King, Deepak Chopra, and John Grisham.

E-books and Amazon’s Kindle program let writers of all types speak directly to readers, without going through the middleman. In 2010, 20 million people read e-books. Not only are e-books convenient, cheaper than print books, and instantly available, they’re environmentally friendly, saving trees and waste.

One of Hocking’s keys to success was her price point. By selling her books for $.99 to $2.99, she encouraged readers to take a look. She’s not the only author to utilize this method––or the only one to succeed. When you sell your e-book on Amazon for $.99 you only receive $.35 in royalties per sale. That’s not much, but if you sell 500,000 copies it adds up to big bucks. And in case you’re wondering, many authors only get about that much from the sale of a traditionally published paperback.

So, I decided to give it a try. My mystery Hidden Agenda, which in print form won the Kiss of Death Award (given by the Romance Writers of America’s mystery chapter), is now available as an Amazon e-book for $.99. A colorful mix of murder, magic, astrology, and romance, the novel has gotten great reviews, both online and in the print media. I hope you’ll choose to read it. Please share your thoughts with me if you care to do so. And please consider writing a review on Amazon.com if you feel inspired.

By the way, you can still purchase signed, first edition trade paperbacks from my website for $9.99 (quantities limited) if you prefer.

Erotica or Pornography?

2011-12-09T19:45:00.001-08:00

What's the difference between erotica and pornography? One definition says that erotica is something you find sexually stimulating, whereas pornography is something another person finds sexually stimulating and you find disgusting. Truly, it's in the eye of the beholder. And our perspectives change over time. What would have been considered "hard core" only a decade ago is lunch-time fare for many modern readers.

Still, many writers of erotic literature still publish under pseudonyms. Some of us don't want our bosses, kids, parents, and neighbors to know we get into this sort of thing. Other authors who write various types of books find it avoids confusion if they publish nonfiction titles under one name and erotic fiction under another. That was my reason for publishing my erotic mystery "Tarotica" under the pen name Amber Austin, because I'm best known for my nonfiction books in the fields of holistic health, self-help, and metaphysics.

I'm pleased to announce that "Tarotica"––originally published as an e-book by Ravenous Romance (and still available in that format)––is now available in print through Amazon.com. This unique X-rated thriller is both a risky and risqué road trip across the US and an esoteric journey through the major arcana of the Tarot. Coffee Time Romance reviewed it as "one of the hottest books I've ever read." Crave More Romance praised it as a "five-star mix of magic and real world."

If you're interested in the Tarot, mysteries, sex, and/or erotic romance, I hope you'll enjoy this original and colorful interpretation of the Tarot's major arcana. Each chapter relates to one card and contains plenty of steamy sex. I've worked with the Tarot for many years and written several nonfiction books on the subject, including "The Everything Tarot Book," "The Only Tarot Book You'll Ever Need," and "10-Minute Tarot." Interpreting the ancient oracle into a lusty thriller was a lot of fun, and I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

The Secret of Sex Magic

2011-11-23T09:16:00.000-08:00

What would you think if I said you can have everything you want? What if I said you already have everything you think? Once you understand that both are true, you’re on your way to becoming a magician.

Now, what if I told you that you don’t need to work long and hard in order to attract the good things in life? Money, success, love––anything you choose––are yours for the asking. All you have to do is make mad, passionate love as often as possible. That may sound too good to be true, but magicians around the world have known this secret for thousands of years, and they’ve used their sexual energy to reap all sorts of benefits. You can, too.

Most people want to lead better lives. We want to be happier, healthier, wealthier, or whatever. We’d like to take control of what happens to us, instead of being at the mercy of chance, fate, or other people’s agendas. That’s why most magicians do spells in the first place. Magic enables you to harness the raw energy in the universe and direct it to produce the outcomes you choose. Magic lets you attract what you desire in life and protect yourself from pitfalls. Although you can do this with any type of magic, sex magic is an especially effective way to accomplish your objectives.

Maybe you’re saying to yourself, my sex life is pretty good. But I’m still in debt and struggling to make ends meet. What’s the deal? The simple answer is, you’re not doing it right. No, I’m not talking about what goes where. I’m sure you know how to fit tab A into slot B. What I mean is, you think sex is just something that feels good and makes babies––and that mindset is limiting your possibilities. You don’t realize sex has much more to offer you. You haven’t yet learned to mobilize this powerful attracting force that abides within you and utilize it to shape your world. My new book Sex Magic for Beginners, just published by Llewellyn tells you everything you need to know to change your life and start attracting whatever you desire.

Have You Always Wanted to Be a Writer?

2011-11-06T19:26:00.000-08:00

Are you an aspiring writer or someone who’s interested in literature? If so, and you’re in the Kerrville, Texas area on November 12, I invite you to stop by the Dietert Center, 451 Guadalupe Street, between 1:00 and 3:00 pm. Ten published writers––novelists, poets, journalists, memoirists, authors of nonfiction and children’s books––will be on hand to discuss the ins and outs of the creative process, from conception to publication.

Eighty percent of people say they want to write a book, but few ever do. Twenty-four million adults in the U.S. consider themselves creative writers, but less than 5 percent have ever published anything. Some believe they don’t have time, others think the process is too daunting. Kerrville’s published authors insist that’s not the case––and they’ll share their secrets of success with you at this event.

You’re never too young or too old to start writing. Kerrville’s Robert Norris, a Delta pilot who retired 15 years ago, recently published his first novel The Barrett Solution with Arctic Wolf Publishing. A page-turning thriller, Norris’s book gets a 5-star rating on Amazon. Norris’s advice to aspiring writers? “Don’t give up.”

Mike Bradley opted to go the time-honored route of self-publishing––like Benjamin Franklin, Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau, Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, John Grisham, and Stephen King. Bradley decided to self-published his memoir Big Mike and his rollicking novel of New Orleans, Street, because he felt the big New York publishers wouldn’t consider a new author. For him, “The process has provided a real sense of accomplishment.”

Whether you choose to work with a traditional print publisher, self-publish, or make your book available as an e-book, the publishing world is changing rapidly and writers today have more opportunities than every before. This event gives you a chance to get up close and personal with authors who’ve succeeded in making their dreams come true––and to learn how they did it. Autographed copies of authors’ books will be available for sale at the event.

New Mystery Novel Available on Kindle

2011-05-25T12:02:00.001-07:00

I’ve just finished my first experiment with putting a book on Kindle. My first published novel HIDDEN AGENDA should be available to download by Friday, May 27, 2011. The Romance Writers of America’s mystery chapter gave this unique mystery the “Kiss of Death Award” for Best Book of Romantic Suspense––it features an astrologer sleuth, along with a cast of colorful characters. Lots of people have asked where they could get copies, because it’s been out of print for a while, so I’m excited to bring HIDDEN AGENDA out again in this new format. The original print edition got some great reviews (see a few on Amazon.com), and I hope you’ll enjoy reading it, too. I’ve priced the slightly revised and updated Kindle version at $5.99, but you can still purchase signed, first edition trade paperbacks from my website for $9.99 (quantities limited).

Fellow writers, if you’re considering putting your books on Kindle, the process involves some work and a little savvy, but not as much as I’d expected. If I can do it, so can you. It’s a great way to give new life to your books. Amazon.com’s program walks you through the necessary steps. During the first quarter of this year, industry reports showed that sales of e-books topped print paperbacks for the first time in history, so the market is definitely expanding.

Other reasons to buy e-books? You can store dozens of them on a computer/reading device, so it’s easier to travel with e-books than print books. Plus they’re “green”––no trees get sacrificed, no ink pollutes the earth, no used or unsold books end up in landfills.

Please share your thoughts with me if you care to do so. And please consider writing a review on Amazon.com if you feel inspired. You might even encourage me to finish the next book in the series.

Book Stew

2011-04-19T14:42:00.000-07:00

Many of you writers may be unfamiliar with the word “Repurposing.” In the publishing biz, it’s like making a stew by reworking an earlier meal––or even several people’s meals. In these days of declining book sales, publishers are attempting to get more mileage out of products they already own, and who can blame them?

One way to do this is to rework content from an existing book into another book with a different title. Sometimes the “new” book is an abridged version of an older, longer one. Sometimes the new book has been reworked slightly, using a different angle, to target a different audience. And sometimes the new book is a medley of material derived from several books. New content may or may not be added to repurposed books. (This generally applies only to nonfiction titles, although of course abridged novels are nothing new––Reader’s Digest started marketing condensed books in 1950.) For publishers, this can be a quicker and less expensive way to produce a book than starting from scratch. Those of us involved in the publishing field who are worried about the health of the industry can see the merits in this.

For writers, it may or may not be a good thing. If your publisher decides to bring out another version of your previous book with a different title, you essentially have a new book in print. This increases your visibility and alerts readers to your previous book(s). More people will read what you’ve written and benefit from it. Your book sales ostensibly increase and so does your fan base. This might even help you land new book contracts, speaking engagements, or clients.

Depending on your contract, however, you may not receive any additional money for the repurposed book. If content from your book is chosen for inclusion in another book that also contains content from other authors’ books, you might not receive credit for it. Furthermore, you may not have anything to say about how your material is reconstituted. It may even be published under another author’s name. The copyright page will usually list previously published books from which material was derived, however.

Of course, repurposing can only be done if the publisher owns your book’s copyright. This practice is becoming more common in the publishing industry. In this case, your book is considered a “work for hire” and you sign away your copyright along with all other rights to the book’s future. Usually, you are paid a flat fee for the book and will receive no additional payments or royalties. In some instances, the fee you receive could actually be more than you would have gotten if you’d gone the royalty route, and you’ll be paid before the book is published instead of over a period of time. However, if your book is a big success, you won’t profit from foreign editions, book club sales, e-book or audio book versions, etc.

“Work for hire” books are generally conceptualized by the publisher, who then finds a writer to pull it all together. That’s the publisher’s reason for copyrighting the book in its name. In some instances, though, you may be able to keep the copyright––do so if at all possible. But if the only way you’re going to get your book into the marketplace (other than publishing it yourself) is to accept a work for hire contract, you might decide it’s worth doing––especially if you are a beginning writer and/or the price is right. Read your contract carefully. Understand the terms. Know which rights you retain and which you are giving away.

Spring Equinox or Ostara

2011-03-20T15:40:00.000-07:00

Pagans and witches celebrate Ostara (also known as Eostre) when the sun enters 0 degrees of Aries, around March 21. In the Northern Hemisphere, the Spring Equinox ushers in warmer weather, days that are longer than nights, and the advent of new life. Christianity adopted this joyful period of the year for the celebration of Easter (which usually falls near the Spring Equinox). Ostara gets its name from the German fertility goddess Ostare; the word Easter derives from the same root. Both holidays celebrate the triumph of life over death.

The Holiday’s Significance

The Sun King’s chariot continues climbing higher in the sky, reaching the point at which day and night are of equal length on Ostara. Therefore, this sabbat is associated with balance, equality, and harmony.

The Spring Equinox marks the first day of spring and the start of the busy planting season in agrarian cultures. Farmers till their fields and sow seeds. Trees begin to bud, spring flowers blossom, and baby animals are born. Ostara, therefore, is one of the fertility holidays and a time for planting seeds—literally or figuratively.

Ways to Celebrate

On Ostara, sow seeds that you want to bear fruit in the coming months. This is an ideal time to launch new career ventures, move to a new home, or begin a new relationship. If you’re a gardener, you’ll start preparing the soil and planting flowers, herbs, and/or vegetables now. Consider the magickal properties of botanicals and choose plants that represent your intentions. Even if you aren’t a gardener, you could plant seeds in a flowerpot to symbolize wishes you hope will grow to fruition in the coming months.

Witches connect each plant—herb, flower, and tree—with specific magickal properties. Sage, for example, is used for purification rituals. Mint and parsley can be added to prosperity talismans to attract wealth. White snapdragons insure protection and roses play an important role in love magick.

Ostara Symbolism

In an old German story, a rabbit laid some sacred eggs and decorated them as a gift for the fertility goddess Ostara. Ostara liked the beautiful eggs so much that she asked the rabbit to share the eggs with everyone throughout the world.

Some popular Easter customs have their roots in Ostara’s symbolism. Eggs represent the promise of new life, and painting them bright colors engages the creative aspect of the sabbat. You might enjoy decorating eggs with magickal symbols, such as pentagrams and spirals. And rabbits, of course, have long been linked with fertility.

The Unexpected Perks of Being a Writer

2011-03-08T20:58:00.000-08:00

Recently I had the pleasure of editing author Judy Hall’s new book, 101 Power Crystals. Judy is one of the world’s most respected crystal workers and authors, so you may be familiar with her best-selling books, including The Crystal Bible and The Encyclopedia of Crystals. Along the way, Judy mentioned she wanted to acquire specimens of a unique stone known as Llanite and a particular pink-colored granite that she’d seen years ago while visiting the Gulf Coast of Texas. Now Judy lives in England’s beautiful Dorset––but neither of these stones do. As synchonicity would have it, however, both Llanite and Texas Pink can be found in Llano, Texas, about sixty miles from where I live.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Llanite (and hey, who outside Texas is?), here’s what Judy has to say about it: “With this stone, you truly create your own reality.” Pretty powerful stuff, right? (She discusses it more fully, but you’ll have to get her new book to discover all its properties.)

Immediately I thought: Road trip. So in the name of publishing excellence and disseminating knowledge, I coerced two girlfriends into taking the day off to come rock-hunting with me. On a gorgeous, sunny March day, we drove to lovely Llano in the heart of the Texas Hill Country and like prospectors of old, began our search along the Llano River.

Before long, we’d filled our bucket with dozens of pieces of rose-colored Texas Pink, but alas, no Llanite. So we stopped at a local granite company that specializes in tombstones––ironically called Living Granite––where we were gifted with a chunk of Llanite and a polished slice of Texas Pink. Then we visited Enchanted Rocks and Jewelry, a local gem shop, to have a look around. (Actually, we’d tried twice before, and finally on the third attempt caught proprietor Frank Rowell in residence.) There we found lots of smooth, tumbled pieces of Llanite––even a Llanite lazy susan––along with other assorted crystals, gemstones, and jewelry.

At the end of an altogether delightful day, we came home with a trunk full of rocks and a treasure trove of happy memories, which included meeting lots of friendly and generous people, a private tour of the local nineteenth-century jail conducted by Frank and his friend Steve Roberts, and a delicious lunch of barbecued ribs at Cooper’s. Such are the myriad joys of being a writer! Seek and ye shall find.

Authentic Writing

2011-03-01T18:25:00.000-08:00

Recently I started writing a novel set in the Jazz Age, 1925. Doing so has required me to get up close and personal with the period––not just familiarizing myself with history-book facts, but also the day-to-day details of ordinary life at that time. What did people wear, eat, read? What jobs did they perform and how did they entertain themselves in their leisure hours? What art did they enjoy, what music did they listen to? How did they travel and communicate with one another? And what words did they use to express themselves?

In a writing class I teach, several of my students are also writing period pieces. One person’s novel is set in the 1600s, another in the mid-1700s, and another in the early 1950s. Each presents the same set of challenges: how to write with authenticity and colorfully depict the era, while avoiding embarrassing goofs. Authentic writing means you don’t make assumptions. You don’t just guess and think your readers won’t realize you’re “all wet” (a Jazz Age term). I can promise you they will. For example, if you’re writing a story set in New England in 1879, don’t show your characters drinking orange juice for breakfast––oranges don’t grow in New England, and transporting them there wasn’t feasible at the time.

Just today, in fact, one of my students read a section from her book, set in the mid-1950s, and mentioned Wal-Mart. The problem is, Wal-Mart didn’t open its doors until 1962. The word “groovy” was another gaff, because as all you old hippies recall, the term became popular during the mid-1960s. But it’s not just amateur authors who make these sorts of mistakes. Stephen King once called a particular type of pistol a revolver when in fact, it wasn’t––and he heard about it from his readers.

So what’s a writer to do? The answer, in a word, is: research. Today, the Internet makes it incredibly easy to gather data of all sorts about any time period that interests you. Want to find out how people washed their clothes in ancient Greece? Or how stained glass windows were made in the Middle Ages? Or how the early American colonists furnished their homes? Google it. It’s all there, anything you want to know.

Here are some other tips:

• Visit museums and historical sites to see what sorts of utensils, clothing, furnishings, tools, etc. people used at different times.

• Read books written during the time period you’re writing about––you’ll learn about social customs and mores, language patterns, political and religious viewpoints, and a whole lot more.

• Peruse old magazines, newspapers, and catalogs. The Sears catalog is a terrific resource. Some of these publications can be found at libraries, others may be available through dealers of vintage literature.

• If possible, interview people who lived during that time. I had the good fortune to talk to a woman who was in her teens during the period in which my novel is set. I was able to ask her intimate details about women’s life at the time, things you won’t find in history books, such as what sort of sanitary materials did menstruating women use then, before the advent of tampons?

Lest you think research is a boring waste of time, I wish to suggest that researching your time period will immerse you more deeply and richly in your story, bring your characters to life, open your eyes to a world you couldn’t possibly have imagined, and inspire you to write better. Honestly, it’s a lot of fun, too. And when you find yourself in one of those “blocked” stages, research is the best way I know to jump-start your creativity.

Do You Believe in Angels?

2011-02-06T09:58:00.000-08:00

We seem to have an innate need to believe in benevolent beings and a mystical realm beyond what we experience in our everyday lives here on earth. For thousands of years, people around the globe, from myriad cultures and belief systems, have sought and received assistance from heavenly helpers. Today, when so much of our world seems baffling, overwhelming, or totally out of control, perhaps it’s no coincidence that angels seem to be showing up in large numbers to guide us on life’s perilous journey.

In 2008, the Washington Post conducted a poll of 36,000 adults from various religious and nonreligious backgrounds. It found that most Americans think angels actively participate in our lives, and more than 80 percent believe miracles occur.

Angels, it seems, can and do appear to all sorts of people––even nonbelievers. In fact, they may be present in our lives all the time, holding our hands, watching our backs, and whispering in our ears. If F. Forrester Church, author of Entertaining Angels, is right, “Every moment of every day is riddled by their traces.”

In my forthcoming book, The Angels Among Us, nearly 100 people contributed stories of their personal experiences with angels. Not only that, they took astonishing and beautiful photographs of the angels, which are included in my book. Seeing angels, they say, strengthened their faith––and in some cases changed their lives forever.

Thousands of people around the world have photographed what they think are angels––the website www.angelsghosts.com is a great place to see lots of amazing and thought-provoking pictures. Countless other people say they’ve experienced angelic contacts of some kind. You, too, may have encountered an angel, you just didn’t realize it at the time. Perhaps an angel is hovering beside you at this very moment. (Excerpted from my book The Angels Among Us, soon to be published by David & Charles Publishers, Ltd.)

Meditate for Health and Happiness

2011-01-03T14:02:00.000-08:00

While you’re making New Year’s resolutions, you may want to consider adding daily meditation to your to-do list. Meditation could be the single best thing you can do for yourself. It’s easy and pleasant, anyone can do it, and it’s absolutely free. During the last four decades, more than 600 studies conducted at 250 universities and medical schools worldwide have verified meditation’s efficacy. More than 350 scientific and medical journals have published research showing the benefits of meditation for conditions including diabetes, coronary disease, cancer, chronic pain, and more. You’ll see positive results even if you just ten minutes a day.

This spring, my new book “The Best Meditations on the Planet” co-authored with Dr. Martin Hart, will be published by Fair Winds Press/Quayside Publishing Group. In it you’ll find 100 mediations of various types for relaxation, physical and emotional healing, enhancing success, improving intelligence and creativity, longevity, and lots more––something for everyone. The meditation given below isn’t included in the book, but you can try it yourself if you like––and check out the wonderful quartz crystal bowls from Crystal Tones, too.

Play a Singing Bowl to Soothe Stress

You’ve heard the saying “music soothes the savage beast,” and indeed, research indicates that listening to certain sounds can encourage relaxation and promote healing. As Mitchell Gaynor, M.D. explains in his book Sounds of Healing, "Music can have a powerful salutary effect on our cardio-vascular, immune, and nervous systems, not to mention our emotional

and spiritual selves." So it’s no surprise that many people find music or musical tones, such as those produced by singing bowls, increase the benefits of meditation.

In the East, singing bowls are a traditional tool used by monks to deepen meditation and induce healing. Singing bowls reduce stress by letting us “tune” ourselves, bringing our personal energies into balance. Usually made of metal or crystal, these bowls can be struck with a soft mallet to produce a ringing tone, like a bell. When you rub the mallet around the bowl’s lip, the bowl’s “voice” opens and it sings a harmonic chord.

Set a singing bowl on a firm cushion or folded towel. Your bowl may come with a rubber ring on which to position it securely.
Stand or sit facing the bowl. Position yourself so you feel comfortable.
Take a few slow, deep breaths and begin to relax.
With a soft mallet, gently strike the rim or side of the bowl to produce a ringing sound, like a chime.
Focus your attention on the pleasing sound. Listen to it reverberate, and gradually fade away.
Strike the bowl again and feel the sound waves vibrating in your body. You may notice the resonance is stronger in one particular section of your body.
Slowly run the mallet around the rim of the bowl to make it “sing.”
As you continue circling the rim of the bowl with the mallet, focus on how the singing grows louder and clearer.
Allow the waves of sound to wash over you and through you, dissolving the stress from your mind and body.
Circle the rim of the bowl until it sings, then strike the side of the bowl so the two sounds reverberate together. Listen to their harmonious interaction.
Feel the soothing sounds resonate through your body––not just your ears, but your head, heart, solar plexus, all the way down to your feet––gently melting your stress.
If you wish, you can lie down and place the bowl on a part of your body, such as your chest or abdomen, where tension seems greatest. Strike the bowl and feel the sound waves ripple through you, easing stress.
Continue playing the singing bowl for as long as you like.

Play your singing bowl as often as you wish, whenever you feel a need to soothe stress and restore balance to your body, mind, and spirit. Singing bowls come in various sizes, tuned to different notes on the musical scale. Each note produces a unique resonance that harmonizes with a particular energy center (or chakra) in your body. You may wish to play two or more bowls in combination to reduce stress in various parts of your body.

The Secret of Abundance

2010-10-24T09:43:00.000-07:00

“Be content with what you have;

Rejoice in the way things are.

When you realize there is nothing lacking,

The whole world belongs to you.” – Lao Tzu

This quote seems to sum up the secret of abundance, in the simple and elegant way of Eastern mysticism and philosophy. Those of you who are familiar with the Law of Attraction know you attract whatever you think about. When you focus on the blessings in your life, you attract more blessings. But when you constantly worry about what you lack, you’ll create more lack. Easier said than done, I know, but true.

The great sage reminds us that the universe offers unlimited bounty and joy––it lacks nothing. All we have to do is open our eyes to it. By appreciating the goodness you already have, you tune your personal resonance to a vibration of acceptance and receptivity. From this place, all things become possible.

I find making “vision cards” like the one shown here helps me focus. I use these cards as meditation/visualization tools to attract whatever I desire. Vision boards overwhelm me with too many ideas and images––the small scale of a single card (4” X 6”) also enables me to carry the card with me. You may want to try it to see if it works for you, too.

New Aromatherapy Card Deck

2010-06-13T09:22:00.000-07:00

I'd like to let you know about my new Aromatherapy Card Deck, published by Fair Winds Press. This is the third in my series of holistic healing decks, and it's beautifully produced. The boxed set contains fifty full-color cards that describe various therapeutic uses for aromatic plants, along with striking images of each plant.

For thousands of years fragrant oils, gums, and resins have been used for both medicinal and cosmetic purposes. Ancient Chinese and Indian texts describe the therapeutic, philosophical, and spiritual properties of aromatics. The Egyptians employed them in all areas of life, from seduction to embalming. The Bible discusses special oils for anointing and healing; aromatics were so highly prized that the "wise men" gave them to Jesus at his birth.

French chemist and perfumer René-Maurice Gattefosse coined the term "aromatherapy" in 1928 when he discovered, quite by accident, that lavender oil helped heal a burn on his hand and prevented scarring.

Essential oils are extracted, usually by distillation, from the flowers, leaves, bark, or roots of aromatic plants. Some essential oils can be rubbed directly on the skin to provide therapeutic benefits. Others may be ingested. When inhaled, scents affect the limbic system of the brain, causing shifts in brain wave function that can trigger emotional and/or physical reactions. Here are some popular ways to use aromatic oils:

Put a few drops of oil in a diffuser or vaporizer and inhale the steam.
Add several drops of oil plus a half-cup of milk to bathwater.
Make a massage oil by blending 10–15 drops of essential oil into an ounce of a “carrier” oil, such as almond, grape seed, olive, or jojoba.
Combine 1 teaspoon of oil, 8 ounces of distilled water, and 1 ounce of isopropyl alcohol in a spray bottle and mist the room with it.

Only pure essential oils offer therapeutic properties––synthetic concoctions lack the plants’ natural vital energy. Some essential oils should not be ingested and some can be irritating to the skin––don’t them full-strength. Citrus oils can cause sensitivity to sunlight. Pregnant women, children, and the elderly, in particular, should exercise caution when using essential oils. Because essential oils are highly volatile, store them in dark, glass bottles in a cool place. Aromatherapy should be considered a complementary therapy, not a substitute for professional medical care.

New Acupressure Card Deck

2010-06-01T07:26:00.000-07:00

I'd like to introduce my new full-color illustrated Acupressure Card Deck, which I hope you'll find interesting and helpful--it's now available from Fair Winds Press. One of the world’s oldest healing modalities, acupressure has been used in Asia for thousands of years to relieve a wide range of common ailments. Chinese medical texts dating back to 300 B.C.E. describe the practice of acupressure. Although virtually unknown in the West until the middle of the 20^th century, acupressure is becoming increasingly popular as a self-help and first aid treatment that supports the body’s natural healing ability.

Acupressure, it’s sometimes said, is acupuncture without the needles. This gentle and effective form of therapeutic touch follows the same general principles as acupuncture, but it’s less invasive. Instead of inserting needles into certain points on the body, you apply pressure with the thumbs and fingertips to stimulate the flow of life energy––or Qi, as it’s called in China––to the affected area(s).

According to Chinese medicine, disease results from imbalances in the body’s Qi. Acupressure facilitates the smooth, harmonious flow of Qi through a system of invisible channels known as meridians that run through the body. Hundreds of acupressure points lie along these meridians, like stations along a train route. Usually they are designated by the meridian name (abbreviated) plus a number to indicate their positions. They’re also called by colorful names, such as Sea of Tranquility or Three Yin Crossing, that describe their benefits or locations.

Using acupressure to treat common complaints

Acupressure is safe, easy, and virtually painless. You can use it to treat yourself or someone else, for all sorts of common problems––psychological as well as physical. Indeed, holistic healers generally believe that most physical ailments are linked with psychological issues. Therefore, it’s no surprise that a single acupressure point might benefit various disorders. “Heavenly Pillar” (B 10), for example, eases stress and helps heal acne––two conditions that often are connected.

Pressing a point can relieve discomfort locally––that is, at the place where the point exists––and/or in another part of the body that may be quite some distance from the point’s actual position. That’s because activating a particular point affects the flow of Qi through a meridian, generating healing along the way. For best results, you may want to stimulate several points together, as the cards in this deck suggest. Pressing both “Big Mound” and “Outer Gate,” for instance, can ease tendonitis in the wrist and arm.

Use your fingertips or thumbs––or both––to apply steady, gentle pressure to a specific point. Don’t tap or pump a point. Don’t grip it so hard you cause pain. If you wish, make small circles with your finger on the point. In most cases, you should hold a point for at least 30 seconds to a minute or more at a time. It may be necessary to activate a particular point several times a day to produce continued results.

Many people experience acupressure’s benefits quite quickly. For example, applying pressure to “Intermediary” (P 5) quells motion sickness almost immediately. Some problems, however, require regular, repeated attention over a period of time. Daily treatment can produce long-term benefits and even help alleviate chronic conditions. (copyright 2010 by Skye Alexander)

I hope you'll check out my other colorful healing card decks, too: The Reflexology Card Deck and The Aromatherapy Card Deck.

The Sixth Sense

2010-04-04T09:25:00.000-07:00

Psychic activity can occur when you are awake, asleep, or in between. Everyone experiences it differently. Some people have visions, some hear sounds or voices. Others feel distinct bodily sensations such as chills, twitches, or a tingling in the spine. Many just know something without understanding how they know it.

Psychic experiences fall into several categories. Clairvoyance (literally “clear seeing”) is the ability to see things beyond the range of ordinary physical perception, including events that have not happened yet. Psychic visions often come to us in dreams, but they can also appear in a shiny surface –– a crystal ball, pool of water, or the hood of a well-waxed automobile. Sometimes visions of nonphysical beings –– saints, angels, fairies, ghosts, elementals –– or even entire scenes emerge unbidden, seemingly out of nowhere, right before the eyes of the startled beholder.

Painter Marc Chagall was inspired to paint angels by a vision he had when he was a young man. Living in poverty and questioning his artistic calling, Chagall one night saw a huge, brilliant blue angel on the ceiling of his room. The angel, he believed, had come to give him the encouragement and confidence he needed to continue with his work.

Clairaudience means hearing things that don’t actually resonate with our ordinary auditory mechanism. This includes sounds too distant to be picked up by the physical ear, such as a mother hearing her child’s cries of distress from miles away. Hearing things that have no physical source also falls into this category.

Clairsentience or “clear sensing” is the term used for those inexplicable feelings we get when we know something without having seen, heard, smelled, tasted, or touched it. Sometimes clairsentience may be accompanied by a physical sensation, such as a tingling, prickling, burning, or chill, but the actual awareness arrives via a “sixth sense” instead of being received through one of our five physical senses.

Precognition or premonitions about the future, telepathy or mind reading, communicating with entities in other planes of existence (also known as mediumship or channeling), psychic healing, intuitive medical diagnosis, psychokinesis (moving physical objects with your mind), psychometry (picking up psychic vibrations from an object), near death experiences, and past-life recall all fall under the “psychic” heading.

These forms of enhanced awareness are often referred to as extrasensory perception or ESP. However, this implies that psychic ability is something “extra” when in truth it is as common as the senses of hearing, sight, and taste.

(Excerpted from 10-Minute Crystal Ball, by Skye Alexander, published by Fair Winds Press. Copyrighted material.)

Welcome the Spring Equinox or Ostara

2010-03-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

Pagans and witches celebrate Ostara (also known as Eostre) when the sun enters 0 degrees of Aries, which this year occurs on March 20. In the Northern Hemisphere, the Spring Equinox ushers in warmer weather, days that are longer than nights, and the advent of new life. Christianity adopted this joyful period of the year for the celebration of Easter (which usually falls near the Spring Equinox). Ostara gets its name from the German fertility goddess Ostare; the word Easter derives from the same root. Both holidays celebrate the triumph of life over death.

In an old German story, a rabbit laid some sacred eggs and decorated them as a gift for the fertility goddess Ostare. Ostare liked the beautiful eggs so much that she asked the rabbit to share the eggs with everyone throughout the world.

The Holiday’s Significance

Ways to Celebrate

Excerpted from my book The Everything Wicca and Witchcraft Book, published by Adams Media (see Skye’s Books). Copyrighted material.

Writing Contest––Call for Submissions

2010-02-17T16:03:00.001-08:00

Twenty-first century humans have become entirely too serioso. We just don’t laugh enough. So Lyndsey Powers, my writing partner and blog-mate at The 3:15 Club, and I have decided to help make Planet Earth a funnier place. We're launching a contest––and hopefully an anthology––about absurdly humorous work-related experiences. We're looking for true tales of bizarre tasks, wacky work environments, and ludicrous predicaments you've gotten into while trying to earn your daily bread. We're so eager for a riotous, side-splitting laugh that we'll even award cash prizes for the three best tales we receive. Please view our new blog LaughAtLifeBooks.blogspot.com for more information about entering.

Love Alchemy

2010-02-09T16:42:00.001-08:00

Love is the ultimate alchemical substance that transforms fear into peace, judgment into acceptance, and pain into joy. The Beatles were right when they sang, “Love is all you need.”

At any moment, in any situation, regardless of how things appear on the outside, we can choose to respond with love or fear. When other people reject, insult, or attack us with their fear, we can either draw our swords or let the offense pass through us like arrows through smoke. We can decide whether to listen to the voice of Spirit or the voice of ego.

"Keep knocking, and the joy inside will eventually open a window and look to see who's there." – Rumi

Every day we are presented with opportunities to express love instead of fear. Harried store clerks might behave rudely toward us; impatient drivers may cut in front of us on the highway. If we bless rather than condemn, we will change not only our reactions but the circumstances themselves.

“Love is the total absence of fear.” – Gerald G. Jampolsky, M.D.

Aromatherapy for Colds and Flu

2010-02-09T16:19:00.000-08:00

Many people suffer from colds, flu, coughs, and other respiratory ailments during the winter season. Aromatherapy is the natural solution for the respiratory problems associated colds in the head, sinuses, nasal passages, and lungs because essential oils are inhaled. They go to work immediately on the affected parts, offering fast, gentle, soothing relief. In fact, essential oils actually get into the blood stream faster when they're inhaled than when they are taken orally and absorbed through the stomach lining.

For many people, aromatherapy is superior in every way to decongestants, shots, and other cold medicines, not only because they are fast-acting, but because they rarely cause unwanted side effects when used properly. Children and the elderly, who are often quite sensitive to medications, can derive wonderful healing benefits from the use of aromatic oils.

Inhaling the cool, stimulating aroma of eucalyptus, spearmint, or peppermint will instantly relieve stuffy nose and sinus congestion without drying out your nasal passages or causing drowsiness. Frankincense, balsam, sweet marjoram, and lemon balm can also be beneficial in treating congestion, coughing, and irritation in the head, nose, throat, and lungs. Pine, fennel, myrrh, and eucalyptus can help bronchitis and sinusitis; cedar wood, bergamot, hyssop, and cypress are effective in treating colic, asthma, and dry coughs. Tea tree oil is soothing to sore throats and can also relieve sores in the mouth and gingivitis.

Tea tree oil, peppermint, and eucalyptus are sometimes available in inhalant sticks, but you can also simply inhale the fumes of these essential oils directly from an open bottle. Tiny "pillows" or "sachets" of some aromatic herbs are available in health food stores and can be placed on your bedside table or pillow at night to help you breathe freely while you sleep. Or, you can simply put a few drops of one of these oils on a handkerchief and keep it close enough to inhale the healing fumes. Aromatic salves can be rubbed directly on the chest, much like Vicks, to break up congestion in the chest and head.

Some essential oils should not be ingested and some can be irritating to the skin if rubbed on full-strength. (Make sure you read the label before using any essential oil to avoid problems.) In this case, you can put several drops in a vaporizer or humidifier to fill your room with refreshing, healing scent. Or, add essential oils to your tub water and enjoy a soothing, healthful bath that will make you feel wonderful inside and out.

Brigid’s Day, Imbolc, or Candlemas

2010-02-01T10:05:00.000-08:00

This sabbat honors Brigid, the beloved Celtic goddess of healing, smithcraft, and poetry. A favorite of the Irish people, Brigid was adopted by the Church and canonized as Saint Brigid when Christianity moved into Ireland. Her holiday is celebrated either on February 1 or around February 5, when the sun reaches 15 degrees of Aquarius. In the Northern Hemisphere, daylight is increasing and the promise of spring is in the air. Therefore, Imbolc is celebrated as a time of hope and renewal.

The Holiday’s Significance

Brigid is one of the fertility goddesses, and Imbolc means “in the belly.” This holiday honors all forms of creativity, of the mind as well as the body. Illustrations of Brigid sometimes show her stirring a great cauldron, the witch’s magick tool that symbolizes the womb and the receptive, fertile nature of the Divine Feminine. As goddess of inspiration, Brigid encourages everyone, regardless of gender, to stir the inner cauldron of creativity that exists within.

Brigid goes by many names, including Lady of the Flame, Goddess of the Hearth, and Bright One. Her feast day is sometimes called Candlemas due to her association with fire. In magickal thinking, the fire element is believed to fuel inspiration and creativity.

Although Brigid is an aspect of the Divine Feminine, her day falls under the zodiac sign Aquarius, a masculine air sign in astrology. Her blazing hearth is both the metalsmith’s forge and the homemaker’s cook fire. Thus, she represents mind and body, a blend of yin and yang energies, and the union of polarities that is necessary for creation.

Ways to Celebrate

On Imbolc, the Sun King’s chariot ascends in the sky; the sun’s rays grow stronger and days grow longer. Witches celebrate this spoke in the Wheel of the Year as a reaffirmation of life and a time to plant “seeds” for the future. You may wish to build a fire in a magick cauldron to honor Brigid. On a piece of paper, write wishes you want to materialize during the year, then drop the paper into the cauldron. As the paper burns, the smoke rises toward the heavens carrying your requests to Brigid.

In keeping with the holiday’s theme of fire, many people light candles to honor the Goddess. Candles are the most common tool in the witch’s magickal toolbox, used in all sorts of spells and rituals. Engrave words that represent your wishes—love, prosperity, health, etc.—into the candle’s wax. Then light the candle and focus your attention on its flame, while you envision your wishes coming true.

Your Sun Sign and Your Dharma, Part II

2010-01-25T10:31:00.000-08:00

Aries: You are the pioneer, the explorer, the adventurer who forges ahead into uncharted territory. Because your dharma is to break new ground, you must separate yourself from traditions, social conventions, and accepted norms as you charge down the road less traveled.

Taurus: Your role in life is to help bring the dreams of others to fruition. A lover of art, music, and sensual delights, your dharma is to create forms and make beauty manifest in the physical world.

Gemini: With your many interests and curiosity, your role in life is to gather information of all kinds. A natural teacher, your dharmais not only to acquire knowledge, but to share what you learn with the world.

Cancer: Your role is to nurture and protect your loved ones. Your dharma is to use your sensitivity to care for the needs of others and to build a safe, stable environment where other people's children as well as your own can thrive.

Leo: Your role in life is to express yourself in some distinctive way and to inspire others. A natural leader, your dharma is to rule not only courageously, but also fairly, whether you are head of state or head of a business.

Virgo: Your role is to help others to help themselves. Hard-working, meticulous, cautious, and analytical, you're the person who keeps things running smoothly. Your dharma might go something like the "Serenity Prayer"––perfect what you can, accept what you can't improve, and learn to distinguish between the two.

Libra: You seek to maintain balance in all areas of life. Your dharma is to be the peacemaker who weighs issues dispassionately, mediates disputes, and brings harmony out of chaos. Your challenge is to compromise and cooperate without sacrificing yourself or your principles in the process.

Scorpio: Your role is to probe beneath the surface and uncover what lies hidden from view––whether you're adetective investigating a crime, a psychotherapist probing a patient's unconscious, or a miner searching for gold. Your dharma is to use your power toward constructive, rather than destructive ends.

Sagittarius: Immensely curious, you desire to learn a little bit about everything and to expand your horizons in every direction. Your dharma might be to use your vision and enthusiasm to explore the great beyond, without forgetting your responsibilities in the here-and-now.

Capricorn: You possess managerial skills, common sense, financial acumen, and organizational ability.Your dharma is to confront life's obstacles, learn from them, and overcome them, without letting them limit you. Work hard and accept your responsibilities, but don't sacrifice joy in the process.

Aquarius: Progressive and unconventional, you are usually ahead of your time and can awaken other people to new discoveries. Often you can be found on the cutting edge of technology or in the vanguard of social change. Your dharma is to implement constructive changes, without rejecting the wisdom of the past in the process.

Pisces: Many of you are artistic and seem to hear "the music of the spheres." Your concerns are of a higher nature and you may overlook the mundane world around you. Your dharma is to bring the wonders of the spiritual realm to earth. One of your challenges in this lifetime is to learn to give of yourself without giving yourself away.

Your Sun Sign and Your Dharma

2010-01-14T09:46:00.000-08:00

When someone asks “What’s your sign?” what he really means is “What zodiac sign was the Sun positioned in at the time of your birth?” Most of us know our Sun signs, but what does this really mean?

The Sun, Moon, and planets all embody certain qualities, and each one influences certain facets of your life. These heavenly bodies continually move through the twelve signs of the zodiac (well, of course, the Sun doesn’t move, it only appears that way to us from our vantage point here on Earth).

When an astrologer looks at your birth chart, she examines the placements of not only the Sun, but also the Moon, planets, and maybe some asteroids, stars, sensitive points, and other things as well. Most astrologers, however, consider the Sun the most important feature in your birth chart and its sign position reveals a great deal about you.

I like to think of the Sun as the symbol of the "present you," the person you are right now, in this lifetime. You could also view the Sun as representing your dharma, or your "role" in life. (Dharma is a Buddhist concept that means your divine duty.) Your Sun sign describes the essential and distinctly unique part of yourself that you aspire toward, the part you are striving to express and fulfill, the part for which you want to be recognized. It is your kernel of selfhood.

In fact, if someone were to ask you what you want to be (not do) in life, or how you want others to view you, you might quickly describe yourself in terms of your Sun sign. An individual with the Sun in Leo, for example, might say he wants to be a leader, a figure who commands authority and respect. Someone with Sun in Pisces might say she wants to be a compassionate, caring, creative person. The Sun also shows the part of yourself that you generally like and accept––flaws and all.

Book Writing and Publishing Workshop

2010-01-05T14:59:00.000-08:00

Do you have a story to tell? Would writing a book help your business?Want to preserve family memories for your children and grandchildren?

If you're in the Texas Hill Country, please join me on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 from 7:00 to 9:00 P.M. to learn more about writing your book and getting it into print––everything you need to take your book from the idea stage to the printed page.

We'll meet at the Healing Arts Center, 144 Fairway Drive, Suite A, just south of downtown Kerrville, TX, off Rte. 16. Fee: $20. For more information, email magick@ktc.com or call 830-896-1275.

Out with the Old: Clutter Clearing Tips for the New Year

2009-12-26T08:47:00.000-08:00

“Out with the old…” This New Year’s slogan is a good one to keep in mind when tackling clutter in your home. Most of us realize we have too much stuff, but acquiring things is often easier than getting rid of them. Once clutter gains a foothold in your home, it tends to spread like kudzu, rapidly taking over your living space until, pretty soon, the process of eliminating it seems overwhelming.

Clearing clutter in your home is like weeding a garden so the flowers have room to thrive. If your dining table is littered with newspapers, magazines, and junk mail, you won’t be able to enjoy an attractive centerpiece. Piles of clothing draped over a Victorian boudoir chair will completely obscure its graceful lines.

Clutter also makes it harder to keep your home clean –– you have to shuffle mounds of stuff around in order to dust, vacuum, or wipe down a countertop. Disorder and dirt continue to build on one another and the cycle keeps expanding until housekeeping becomes an insurmountable task.

Deciding what to save and what to toss is a personal matter, and each of us will make different choices. In my opinion, the advice of English designer William Morris provides wonderful guidelines for paring down clutter: “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”

Clutter Clearing Styles

There’s no “right” or “wrong” way to clear clutter from your home. Some people prefer to dive right into the deep water, so to speak, and start with a heavy-clutter area such as a basement or attic. They blaze through the accumulation as if they were hacking through a jungle with a machete. One of the satisfactions of this “take no prisoners” style is that it allows you to see dramatic results at the end of the day. Other folks are more comfortable wading in slowly –– say, organizing a spice rack or medicine cabinet –– gradually working up to the really big jobs.

An approach that works for many people is to start in the room where you spend the most time. Focus on one room or one section at a time, rather than doing a little clearing here and a little there –– you’ll notice greater results. The sense of satisfaction you’ll derive from finishing this job will help inspire you to tackle clutter in other parts of your home.

Often it’s easier to do a little at a time, every day. If you spend only ten minutes a day picking up clutter, you’ll make progress. This “easy does it” approach prevents burn out and helps you establish a regular clutter-clearing routine. Find your own comfort zone and proceed in whatever manner works for you. The important thing is to keep at it. As you clear away your clutter, remember the Buddhist saying: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”

Here are some things you can do right away to cut down clutter in your home.

Throw out everything that’s really useless.

Do you have a drawer full of expired coupons? Warranties to products you no longer own? Plastic containers with no lids? Single socks? Start by trashing all this trash. You’ll immediately see progress and free up space.

Get rid of the biggest stuff first.

Eliminate the biggest pieces first –– the exercise bike no one rides or the giant panda you won four years ago at the fair. Making a noticeable dent in your clutter can help motivate you to continue with your task.

Return borrowed stuff.

One of the easiest and least painful ways to reduce clutter is to return all the stuff lying around your home that belongs to someone else. Other people’s books, housewares, CDs, videos, clothes, toys, tools, etc. can add to your own clutter. Make a point of returning things you’ve borrowed as soon as you finish using them.

Gather up newspapers, magazines, catalogs, etc.

Newspapers, magazines, and other reading materials scattered about can really make your home look messy. Recycle or toss those you’ve finished reading and shelve the rest. If you don’t have time to sort through them immediately, collect them in a basket or box until you can organize them properly.

Go through your closet and get rid of 10 things you haven’t worn lately.

Most people wear 20 percent of their clothing 80 percent of the time. How much of what’s hanging in your closet is just taking up space? Collect ten garments you haven’t worn in the past year and take them to a consignment shop or donate them to charity.

Pick stuff up off the floor.

If you don’t have time right away to do a thorough pick up, at least collect the stuff that’s scattered on the floor. Stash everything in a laundry basket or large box until you can deal with it properly. Your home will look neater instantly.

Toss or fix broken stuff.

Are you holding on to broken articles that you keep meaning to repair, but never seem to get around to it? If something has languished in its broken state in a closet, basement, or garage for more than a few months, either fix it or throw it away.

Every time you acquire something new, get rid of something old.

This rule applies to everything –– clothes, toys, books, CDs, etc. If you throw out, recycle, or give away something each time you get something new, mathematics shows that your clutter can’t increase.

To purchase Skye's books 10-MINUTE CLUTTER CONTROL and 10-MINUTE CLUTTER CONTROL ROOM BY ROOM, click on the link to Skye Alexander's Website then Skye's Books and use your credit card or PayPal to order copies.

The Winter Solstice

2009-12-16T13:52:00.000-08:00

The Winter Solstice marks the sun ingress into the first degree of the zodiac sign Capricorn, the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. This year the Winter Solstice occurs on December 21 (although it can vary a day or so from year to year).

In pre-Christian Europe, Britain, and Ireland the Winter Solstice celebrated the birth of the Sun God. This holiday of good cheer and festivities, also known as Yule, commemorates life over death and the return of the sun. The turning point in the year, it heralds increasing sunlight as the days grow steadily longer for six months. The holiday was so important to Pagan cultures that Christianity adopted this joyful season to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Like the Sun God, Jesus is said to bring light into the world during the darkest time of the year.

A Pagan custom was to build a fire from wood of the nine sacred trees (some people say seven) as part of the Winter Solstice ritual. An oak log, known as a Yule log, served as the fire’s centerpiece and represented the ascendancy of the Oak King, who would rule until the Summer Solstice. (A small piece of the Yule log was saved for next year’s fire.)

After the fire burned down, anyone who wished took ashes from the ritual fire and wrapped them in a piece of cloth, along with a pine cone. Then they placed their packages under their bed pillows to solicit nightly guidance and angelic advice about the coming year.

The Ancient "Roots" of Holiday Plants

2009-12-05T10:51:00.000-08:00

The tradition of decking the halls with greenery at Christmastime originates in the Pagan winter solstice festivals of northern Europe and the British Isles. Because the evergreen tree keeps its needles even during the coldest months, when other plants die or lose their foliage, our ancestors viewed it a symbol of everlasting life. (Christmas trees didn’t become popular in the U.S. until the late nineteenth century.)

Trees of all kinds were sacred to the Druids. According to Celtic mythology, holly bushes provided shelter for the faeries and nature spirits during the winter. The holiday custom of hanging it on doorways and in our homes stems from an ancient belief in holly’s protective powers.

The Druids also valued mistletoe, and considered it an herb of fertility and immortality. Used in talismans as an aphrodesiac, mistletoe was thought to enhance creativity of all kinds––perhaps that’s why we kiss beneath it today.

From the perspective of aromatherapy, the fresh scent of pine, balsam, and spruce offers cleansing properties. These evergreens help to clear the air during the winter months, when we close up our homes to keep out the cold. When inhaled, the essential oils extracted from these trees can also provide relief from winter colds and flu.

Light up the Night

2009-11-30T15:17:00.001-08:00

Candles play a role in many holiday celebrations and traditions, especially at this time of the year when daylight hours in the Northern Hemisphere are short. According to Greek mythology, we are indebted to Prometheus for the gift of fire, which he stole from the gods. Archeology shows that ancient people may have soaked plant stalks in animal fat to form primitive candles and torches. It’s even possible that these crude, smoky illumination devices may have caused the soot on the illustrated walls of caves in southern France as Paleolithic artists painted by candlelight.

Five thousand years ago, the Egyptians formed beeswax into candles similar to the ones we use today. Beeswax candles with reed wicks have been discovered in the tombs of Egyptian rulers, placed there, perhaps, to light their journey into the realm beyond. About the same time, the ancient Romans fashioned candere, a Latin word meaning “to shine,” from olive oil, animal fat, and beeswax to which they added a flax wick that enabled the candles to burn more effectively.

Plant oils were the material of choice for many early Asian candlemakers, especially in India where Hindu laws forbade the burning of animal products in temples. The ancient Chinese pressed oils from the seeds of the tallow tree for their candles. In the Americas, native people extracted oils from nuts and various plants including bayberries, which yielded an aromatic, flammable wax, a practice the Colonial settlers adopted.

As the whaling industry developed during the early 1700s, New England candlemakers began using the oil of the sperm whale in their products. The following century, stearin was added to candles to harden the animal fat, increase the burn time, and reduce the odor. Stearin, a combination of palm oil and stearic acid, is still used in some candles today. In 1850, the discovery of paraffin revolutionized the candle industry. Distilled from petroleum by-products, paraffin produced less smoke than animal fat and emitted no unpleasant odor. Paraffin candles were also cheaper than those made from plant substances –– even today, paraffin wax is still the most widely used material in commercial candles.

In recent years, however, environmental- and health-conscious candlemakers arereturning to the age-old tradition of forming candles from beeswax and plant oils. A scientific study done by the University of Michigan in 1999 revealed the dark side of paraffin candles –– they contain nearly a dozen documented toxins, some of them carcinogenic. To make matters worse, metallic wicks often include lead, which is released into the air when the candles burn.

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, “burning candles with lead-containing wicks may cause lead poisoning” and the American Lung Association has issued a warning that petroleum-based candles can contaminate the air in our homes. Leaded candles have been banned in Australia, and some health advocates and environmental scientists are recommending a similar action in this country.

Candles made from pure soy, palm, cottonseed, olive oil, and other plant-based materials with all-cotton wicks produce no toxic residue. Nor do they emit the smoke associated with paraffin candles, which can leave a sooty residue on walls and furnishings. These environmentally friendly candles also take advantage of plentiful, renewable, biodegradable resources.

Saturn Return: The Twenty-Ninth Year

2009-11-22T09:39:00.000-08:00

Many of us approach our thirtieth birthdays with anxiety, even dread. We start looking for gray hairs and paying attention to ads for wrinkle creams. We question whether we are climbing the career ladder quickly enough. We hear the biological clock ticking loudly and worry that soon we will be too old to bear children.

Astrologers call the period between ages twenty-eight and thirty "Saturn Return." That's because it's the first time the planet Saturn completes its cycle through your birth chart and returns to the spot it occupied when you were born. Internationally respected astrologer Rob Hand calls Saturn Return "one of the most important times in your life . . . a time of endings and new beginnings."

For most of us, ending a phase of life that is familiar and embarking on one that is new and untried is unsettling, even painful. Few people describe Saturn Return as a pleasant period. While undergoing your Saturn Return you may find yourself turning inward and reflecting on your individual destiny. You examine your true needs and desires and the role you want to play on the world's stage. You may feel lonely and alienated from those around you, while family and friends think you are shutting them out. But this is a necessary period of consolidation, when you must retreat from the distractions of the outer world and focus on yourself at your most fundamental level. The Saturn Return is every individual's search for the Holy Grail.

Coming of Age

The first Saturn Return marks the end of youth and the beginning of the productive adult years. It is now that you truly become an adult––not at eighteen or twenty-one. You realize your need to define yourself as an individual within society and to demonstrate what you've learned. Newswoman Jane Pauley described turning thirty as having grown into womanhood. German film director Werner Herzog compared this period in his life with a maiden's loss of virginity, a line drawn across his path marking the end of his youth.

This transition into adulthood is often accompanied by a sense of urgency, a feeling that you must try to accomplish everything you've ever wanted or planned to do now. Goals start to come sharply into focus. If you have not settled into a definite career, or have been pursuing one that is inappropriate for you, you'll experience a strong push to establish yourself in a more fulfilling occupation. Sometimes this means a complete change. During his first Saturn Return, Vincent Van Gogh decided to be a painter rather than a minister. More frequently it means a new direction or specialization within your chosen field.

If you have been building steadily toward a goal that's right for you, Saturn Return can be a time of achievement and rewards. Your labors bear fruit. Runner Bill Rodgers' Saturn Return marked the first of three consecutive Boston Marathon wins. William Faulkner published his first novel at age twenty-nine.

According to California astrologer Stephen Arroyo, author of Astrology, Karma and Transformation, "The quality of the entire experience and the extent to which it is felt to be a 'difficult' time depends entirely on how one has lived during the previous twenty-nine years." If you have been pursuing an unsuitable vocation or merely fulfilling someone else's expectations, Saturn can be relentless in prodding you to make adjustments.

Revising Worn Out Patterns

Saturn strips away illusions and points out limitations, allowing you to view yourself in a harsh, often unflattering light. At the same time, it endows you with prudence, practicality, and the perseverance to work hard toward achieving your purposes. Consequently, this is a good time to rearrange your career or lay the foundation for a new one.

Saturn Return almost always requires some major adjustments in lifestyle, attitudes, and relationships. Anything you have outgrown, or have tolerated but not found satisfying, must end now or be altered to meet your emerging needs. According to Hand, "Consciously or unconsciously, you are pruning your life of everything that is not relevant to what you really are as a human being."

Often interpersonal relationships are deeply affected by Saturn Return. Gail Sheehy wrote in Passages: Predictable Crises in Adult Life that during this period "Almost everyone who is married will question that commitment." The U.S. Census Bureau lists the peak divorce years as ages twenty-eight to thirty. Some people experience more subtle or private adjustments in their patterns of relating, such as shifts in responsibilities. Many couples decide to become parents, not only altering their relationships but their financial obligations and perhaps their vocations as well.

If a relationship is sound, based on mutual respect, honesty, and sharing, it will probably survive the test of Saturn Return and become even stronger. But a relationship begun before the partners knew what they really wanted is likely to fall apart. Relationships that start during this period may have a "fated" or "karmic" quality about them.

When Enough is Enough

"Saturn. . . is never easy to deal with because his function is that of promoting growth," explains astrologer Liz Greene, author of Saturn: A New Look at an Old Devil, "and it is only frustration and pain which at present are sufficient goads to get a human being moving." This frustration and pain have given Saturn a bad reputation. But the planet's often misunderstood value lies in its very ability to evoke pain. Like the pain of an illness, it warns that something is wrong. Saturn doesn't create the problems, it merely illuminates them.

Growth is often accompanied by trepidation and turmoil. As the old self is pushed aside to make room for the new, you may feel weak and vulnerable. You want to move ahead, yet are frustrated by a fear of doing so, torn between a compelling urge to throw off everything connected with your past and an equally frantic need to cling to the familiar rather than brave the great unknown.

Even if your external world seems to be in order, your internal structure may feel as though it's being assaulted with a battering ram. Nervous conditions, irritability, depression, insomnia, and feelings of insecurity are common. Most people go through some sort of identity crisis.

Although your Saturn Return may be disturbing, ultimately it reveals what you truly want and sweeps away the clutter that may have been impeding your progress. Your Saturn Return is a personal spring cleaning. No matter how difficult it seems to let go of inappropriate people and things, the first Saturn Return is the time to do it. For if lessons are not learned, the problems will come knocking again during your second Saturn Return at about age fifty-eight, when you are more set in your ways. Once the conflict is confronted, the tension usually subsides. You feel stronger and more capable of moving ahead.

Saturn Return is one of the most crucial turning points you ever experience, when you assume the greatest responsibility of all: responsibility for your own life.

Five Feng Shui Tips That Can Change Your Life

2009-11-15T10:56:00.000-08:00

Feng shui, the ancient Chinese art of placement, is thousands of years old, yet until recently few Americans knew about it. Its purpose is to create harmony and balance in your environment. Although feng shui (pronounced fung shway) employs numerous "cures" that may seem a bit like magic to Westerners, much of what it recommends isn't esoteric at all––it's common sense. Good feng shui is good interior design.

Feng shui practitioners believe that your home is a reflection of you. Conditions in your living space symbolize situations in your personal and/or professional life. If your home is cluttered, you may be experiencing messiness or confusion in your life. Inadequate lighting suggests lack of vitality or enthusiasm. Doors that stick represent obstacles, frustrations, or stagnation. By making changes in your home, you can improve your career, relationships, or health.

Here are some easy and inexpensive feng shui tips you can implement right now:

1. Reduce clutter. Get rid of things you aren't using and organize the rest neatly.

2. Turn on the lights. When you shine light into dark places in your home, you focus energy into the lack-luster areas of your life.

3. Fix broken windows, dripping faucets, and doors that stick so they don't hamper your well-being.

4. Position sofas and chairs so no one's back is to the room's entrance. Keep walkways unobstructed so people––and energy––can move easily through your home.

5. Keep your stove clean and in good repair. According to feng shui, the stove generates prosperity––a burner that doesn't work limits your wealth.

Although feng shui includes mystical and philosophical components as well as practical ones, you don't have to understand them to reap benefits. Feng shui may seem strange at first, but once you start using it you’ll see how sensible and effective it really is.

Aromatherapy for Colds and Flu

2009-11-08T11:01:00.000-08:00

As colder weather rolls in, many people suffer from colds, flu, coughs, and other respiratory ailments. Aromatherapy––healing with scent––is a natural solution for the respiratory problems associated colds in the head, sinuses, nasal passages, and lungs. When essential oils are inhaled, they immediately go to work on the affected parts, offering fast, gentle, soothing relief.

Inhaling the cool, stimulating aroma of eucalyptus, spearmint, or peppermint instantly relieves stuffy nose and sinus congestion without drying out nasal passages or causing drowsiness. Frankincense, balsam, sweet marjoram, and lemon balm can ease congestion, coughing, and irritation in the head, nose, throat, and lungs. Pine, fennel, myrrh, and eucalyptus can help bronchitis and sinusitis. Cedar, bergamot, hyssop, and cypress effectively treat colic, asthma, and dry coughs. Tea tree oil soothes sore throats; it can also aid sores in the mouth and gingivitis.

Aromatherapy can even be superior to decongestants, shots, and other cold medicines in some instances. Not only is it fast acting, aromatherapy rarely causes unwanted side effects when used properly. Children and the elderly, who may be sensitive to medications, can derive wonderful healing benefits from the use of aromatic oils.

Tea tree oil, peppermint, and eucalyptus are sometimes available in inhalant sticks, but you can simply inhale the fumes of these essential oils directly from an open bottle. Tiny "pillows" or "sachets" of some aromatic herbs are available in health food stores, and can be placed on your bedside table or pillow at night to help you breathe freely while you sleep. Or, you can simply put a few drops of one of these oils on a handkerchief and inhale the healing fragrant fumes periodically, as needed. To break up congestion in the chest and head, rub aromatic salves directly on the chest.

If you prefer, put several drops in a vaporizer or humidifier to fill your room with refreshing, healing scent. Or, add essential oils to bathtub water and enjoy a soothing, healthful bath that will make you feel wonderful inside and out.

Only pure essential oils derived from plants offer true aromatherapy benefits––synthetic concoctions lack the plants’ natural vital energy. Some essential oils should not be ingested and some can be irritating to the skin if rubbed on full-strength––make sure you read the label before using any essential oil to avoid problems.

Skye's Aromatherapy Card Deck will soon be available from Fair Winds Press.

Which Witch Is Which?

2009-10-26T08:46:00.000-07:00

Despite the ugly face that’s been put on witches, historically most have been concerned with helping individuals and communities. Of course, there are some “wicked witches” just as there are greedy evangelists and pedophile priests. It’s important, however, to remember that fear and misunderstanding underlie the misconceptions many people hold about witches. Once you get to know them, witches are pretty much like everyone else––the person who cuts your hair or repairs your car might even be a witch.

The word witch comes from the Anglo-Saxon term wicce meaning “to bend or shape.” The Old English word wiccacraeft meant witchcraft.

In the past, many witches learned their art as part of a family tradition in which they were carefully trained. Villages had their honored cunning folk to whom people turned for all kinds of help, from encouraging crops to grow to fixing a broken heart. Healing comprised a large part of the witch’s work, and many witches were herbalists and midwives. In exchange for services, the witch might have received a chicken, a measure of grain, or other necessities.

Witches learned their skills as a craft, just as someone might learn carpentry or masonry. Religious constructs weren’t linked with the practice of witchcraft itself, though individual witches may have followed the beliefs of their families or culture. Witches do not need to believe in divine beings in order to use magick, although many do recognize higher powers and attempt to work with them. Nor do witches need to adhere to a particular dogma in order to perform their work, just as computer programmers and auto mechanics don’t have to be members of a particular faith to do their jobs.

For the record, witches are not necessarily Wiccan. Witchcraft implies a methodology (for example, the use of magick), whereas the word Wiccan refers to a person who has adopted a specific spiritual philosophy. Wicca is a religion, one that even the U.S. military recognizes. Wiccans practice specific rituals and moral codes just as people of Christianity, Judaism, and other faiths do. Witches can follow any religion, or none.

However, the lack of an ethical or religious construct does not mean witches are without ethics or religion. The use of magick is simply a means to an end and is, in itself, morally neutral. Ethics get involved only in how magick is wielded.

By the way, a male witch is not called a warlock. He is a witch, too. Warlock derived from an Old English word for oath breaker; later, during the mid-1400s, the word came to mean liar (whether the person was male or female). To call a male witch a warlock is a nasty insult. The words wizard and sorcerer can be used for a man or a woman. Wizard derives from a term meaning “wise,” and sorcerer means “witch” or “diviner.”

The word magician is also appropriate for both sexes and refers to someone who practices magick, regardless of his/her religious beliefs. (The “k” at the end of the word magick differentiates it from stage magic or illusion). Many magicians are adept in astrology, sorcery, or other magickal arts. Magicians come from various cultures and ethic backgrounds, belief systems and schools of thought. Most witches and Wiccans practice some type of magick, but not all magicians are witches or Wiccans. Shamans, ceremonical magicians, feng shui masters, and many others engage in various forms of magick. According to Aleister Crowly, perhaps the most famous magician in modern times, “Every intentional act is a magickal act.”

If you choose to follow a magickal path, as a witch, Wiccan, wizard, sorcerer, or other practitioner of the magickal arts, you’ll notice that everyone you meet is your teacher. In turn, you’ll teach something to everyone you meet. You’ll also discover that magick exists everywhere, all the time, and that you are part of the magick.

(Excerpted from my book The Everything Wicca & Witchcraft Book. Magickal artwork comes from my deck of "I Am" vision cards. All material copyrighted.)

Halloween Facts and Fallacies

2009-10-13T19:06:00.000-07:00

As Halloween approaches, we are once again subjected to lots of misinformation and downright foolishness regarding witches, paganism, and the occult in general. Unfortunately, this ancient holiday's true meaning has become lost in a muddle of macabre sensationalism. Each year we read stories of children eating tainted candy and teens using Halloween as an excuse for bad behavior. In some places, conservative Christian groups try to get the holiday banned, believing erroneously that it has something to do with satanism.

Also known as All Hallows Eve, Hallowmass, and Samhain, Halloween is a holy day for witches and many other pagans. It is the witches' New Year, a time for reflecting on the past and looking ahead to the future. Originally, the custom of wearing costumes on Halloween was a way to visually demonstrate what you wanted to be in the coming year and to project that image out into the world. (No one who knew this would choose to dress up as a ghost, skeleton, goblin, or hobo!)

Samhain (what Wiccans, many pagans and witches call Halloween) is also a solemn time for remembering friends and relatives who have passed on––consequently its connection with death. However, the dead don't rise up out of their coffins and walk around as ghosts or zombies on this sacred holiday. Witches may enact rituals or light candles to honor departed loved ones. Some believe heaven and earth are close together on Samhain, and that this is the best time to make contact with spirits on the other side.

No belief system has been so maligned as witchcraft. It is important to remember that before the rise of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Goddess religions predominated for millennia throughout Europe and many other parts of the world. Between the 14th and 18th centuries––a period known as the "Burning Times"––tens of thousands, perhaps millions of women and children (the most famous being Joan of Arc) were accused of being witches and massacred by Christian zealots. Although most of the violence was levied against females of all ages, the Church also put astrologers, homosexuals, and other assorted dissidents to death. And we all know what happened in Salem, Massachusetts, a city that now capitalizes on its darkest hour and enjoys a brisk tourist business during Halloween.

Wicca is a Goddess-based religion––one of the few in a world where patriarchal belief systems prevail. Despite the fact that our male-dominated culture still denigrates witchcraft and paganism, many women (and some men, too) today are rediscovering these ancient traditions and finding a form of spirituality they can relate to, one that respects the feminine.

For the record: Witches do not put hexes on people, fly around on broomsticks, snatch and eat children, or perform animal or human sacrifices. They do not believe in Satan (he's a Judeo-Christian conception). They do not deny the existence of God or the male principle. Most of them are not cackling hags (although the "hag" is one of the three manifestations of the Goddess: the older woman, representing wisdom). They do not hate men and have no desire to overthrow Christianity or any other religion. Not all pagans are witches; paganism is a general term for various spiritual belief systems that honor the earth, nature, and the cosmos. Many of the rituals, holidays, myths, and practices now connected with Christianity derived from the earlier Goddess-based traditions.

Fear and ignorance are dangerous forces. They are at the root of racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, jingoism, and other forms of violence and hatred. This Halloween, let us put aside our prejudices and uphold one of the principles this country was founded on: religious freedom.

Sharing the Limelight

2009-10-06T14:49:00.000-07:00

Today, I'm grateful to fellow writer Raine Delight for inviting me to guest post on her blog. (Visit us at authorrainedelight.com) One of the best things about genre writing (mystery, romance, etc.) is the people you meet––writers, readers, publishers, and booksellers. In my experience, most of them eagerly help writers succeed by sharing information, contacts, expertise, and promotional opportunities.

Instead of viewing other authors as competitors, genre writers usually consider one another as colleagues and believe that a rising tide floats all boats. Guest blogging is a great way to meet new readers and introduce them to your work. Different voices also keep a blog fresh and varied. By cross-pollinating in this way and combining our resources, we can all benefit. I hope to soon feature some of my fellow authors on this site––stay tuned.

Pseudonyms: To Be or Not to Be Yourself

2009-09-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

Many famous authors have written under names other than their given ones, among them Mark Twain (born Samuel Clemens), Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson), George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), George Sand (Amandine Dupin), George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair), and Voltaire (Francoise-Marie Arouet). Ellery Queen is actually the pen name of two cousins: Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee. Even William Shakespeare is believed by many to have been a nom de plume, perhaps for Edward de Vere, the 17^th Earl of Oxford.

There are lots of reasons for choosing to appear as someone else in print. In earlier times, female writers such as Sand and Eliot used men’s names because of the prejudice against women. The Bronte sisters––Anne, Charlotte, and Emily––posed as the brothers Acton, Currer, and Ellis Bell respectively. Anne Rice, on the other hand, was originally given her father’s name, Howard Allen O’Brian, and decided when she started school to call herself by a female name.

Others opted for pseudonyms because their birth names were unwieldy, such as Joseph Conrad (né Jozef Teodor Nalecz Konrad Korzeniowski), or because they wanted something catchier, such as Mickey Spillane (Frank Morrison).

Many authors––especially genre writers––use pseudonyms, either to add color or to conceal their true identities. Because publishers of literary fiction tend to look down their intellectual noses at romance books, writers who pen romance novels frequently do so under names other than their real ones. Authors who write various types of books may write fiction under one name and nonfiction under another, to prevent confusion. Writers of erotica often use fictitious names to avoid static from employers, family members, etc.

It’s perfectly legal to call yourself whatever you wish, so long as you don’t do it for purposes of fraud. Publishers will respect your right to remain anonymous (although if you get rich and famous, information sleuths might figure out who’s really behind that notable non de plume). And yes, you can copyright your book under your pseudonym. However, if you ever try to make a claim against someone for copyright infringement, you might have difficulty proving your ownership. If you seriously want to protect your identity, don’t include your real name on records you file with the U.S. Copyright Office as that information will be available on the Internet.

Confessions of an E-Book Convert

2009-09-06T15:38:00.000-07:00

I never thought I'd become an advocate of e-books. Call me old-school, but I love holding a physical book in my hands, flipping through the paper pages, highlighting pertinent passages and making notations in the margins. My favorite books are so bedraggled from use they're held together with rubber bands. Bookstores--especially funky ones with lots of odd, rare, or esoteric books--draw me like taverns draw alcoholics. When I go to someone's home for the first time, I always peruse the books on his/her shelves. (Maybe you can't tell a book by its cover, but you can tell a lot about people from their books.)

However, I’ve moved four times in three years. Each time I move, I schlep dozens of heavy boxes packed with books from one locale to another, promising myself I'll downsize my personal library soon. Yet parting with my books is like parting with old friends. How can I resolve this dilemma?

Enter e-books. Admittedly, wireless reading devices such as Kindle lack the tactile experience of physical books. But they're lighter and thinner than a typical paperback, and hold about 200 books! Talk about traveling light... (Now the money I might have paid a chiropractor can be spent for more books.) Not only can I read and store books on one of these handy hand-held units, I can even buy books with it--and download them instantly. Immediate gratification.

But the "green" factor is what hooked me. Before I became a full-time writer, I worked in the publishing industry for many years. Let me share a dirty little secret with you: the environmental impact of conventional publishing is phenomenal! Trees--lots of them--get cut down to make paper. The paper-making process pollutes water and fouls the air. (Ever stood downwind of a paper mill? It smells like an outhouse.) Toxic printing inks and dyes seep into the ground.

Then there's the little-known (outside the publishing world) matter called "returns." Ever see those flashy promotional displays in bookstores, featuring stacks and stacks of a new book? Many of those books will never be sold. The bookstore orders them, then return them for a full refund--even after they've been sitting around the store for a year and are so dog-eared the publisher has to trash them. Often stores just rip off the covers and send them back. The books end up in landfills.

So when Ravenous Romance's CEO Holly Schmidt invited me to edit The Green Love Anthology, I jumped at the chance. Here was an opportunity to combine three of my passions: literature, the environment, and sex. The anthology includes twelve tantalizing tales that blend ecology with erotica--each one hot enough to take the chill off a cold winter's night (you can turn down the thermostat and save oil). I even got to write a story of my own for the anthology: "Midnight at the 11^th Hour Cowboy Bar." Going green has never been so much fun! (Anybody know how to get a copy to Al Gore? It might warm him up a bit.)

Anthologies: The Literary Equivalent of a Wine Tasting

2009-08-29T10:57:00.000-07:00

I love anthologies. For me, they’re the literary equivalent of a wine tasting. I get to sample lots of different authors’ work to see what pleases my palate. I don’t have to make a major commitment to a particular author—I can try a little bit at a time, exploring myriad styles, themes, moods, characters, etc. If a story piques my interest, I can delve deeper into the author’s repertoire. If I don’t connect with a particular story or writer, I can move on to the next one. If variety is the spice of life, anthologies offer cinnamon, sage, paprika, tarragon, cumin, and more.

Over the years, many of my stories have been selected for publication in anthologies of various genres—mystery, romance, erotica, sports, supernatural, and literary. Some stories have even been translated into foreign languages, which got to be really amusing at times—try explaining baseball to Germans!

I’ve also been privileged to edit a number of anthologies. Recently I had fun editing a collection of erotic romance stories with environmental themes. I loved working with so many talented authors whose unique perspectives blended the unlike combination of sex and ecology––who knew so many intriguing possibilities existed?

Prior to that, I was a partner in the New England publishing company Level Best Books which each fall brings out an annual anthology of crime stories (some have won national awards). Working collaboratively with other authors and editors to create a cohesive, diverse, and enticing collection of stories is both a challenge and a pleasure. It’s like being part of an extended family of like-minded individuals who share a common goal. And the end result is a smorgasbord of literary delights––something for everyone.

All You Need Is Love

2009-08-22T10:46:00.000-07:00

Recently, I was invited to contribute to BookWenches’ guest blog about what underlies and drives all of my work. I decided my motivating theme is love.

The ancient Greek playwright Sophocles wrote, “One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life. That word is love.”

Admittedly, love is a pretty broad subject, and one that authors wiser and more gifted than I have addressed ad infinitum since the advent of the written word. Yet despite all that’s been said by poets and philosophers, mystics and musicians, in many ways love remains a complete mystery.

Perhaps that’s why I feel compelled to write about love in romance novels, suspense stories and mysteries, and even in nonfiction books (including a WIP titled Love Is the Answer to Every Question). Maybe that’s also why year after year romance novels outsell other literary forms.

Especially during these uncertain times, romance novels give us hope. The guy gets the girl and everyone lives happily ever after. But I think their appeal is more than that. Romances––even jalapeño-hot erotic ones––espouse old-fashioned values including loyalty, honor, courage, compassion, and perseverance in the face of challenges. Like the eighteenth-century French fairytale “Beauty and the Beast,” romance novels are about the transformative power of love and its ability to make us better people.

There’s some Beauty and some Beast in all of us, and in every relationship. Each close encounter provides an opportunity to love, not just the other person but ourselves as well. It could even be said that we unconsciously seek relationships so that we might transform our “beasts.” According to C. G. Jung, “The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.”

I’m not talking about infatuation––that dizzying rush of euphoria that takes your breath away and makes your heart pound like a jackhammer. Infatuation isn’t about the other person, it’s about you––the projected image of yourself that you see mirrored in your partner. Infatuation is love in drag. And I don’t mean passion either. The word passion originally meant “to suffer.” From Camelot to Casablanca, storytellers have portrayed love as pleasure mixed with suffering. Literary fiction, contemporary dramas, and poetry often depict the all-too-familiar suffering that taints our real-life relationships.

In our jaded, self-absorbed, thrill-seeking society we put more emphasis on falling in love than on staying in love. As a result, nearly half of all marriages end in divorce. Romance novels, however, show us what’s possible if we make a commitment to love and realize that, as Marianne Williamson writes in A Return to Love, “to experience love in ourselves and others is the meaning of life.” Of course, infatuation and passion enliven the pages of “bodice-rippers” of every ilk––historical, paranormal, erotic, etc. But in the end, love prevails.

In The Phenomenon of Man, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin stated that “Love alone is capable of uniting living beings in such a way as to complete and fulfill them, for it alone takes them and joins them by what is deepest in themselves.” The Sufi poets tell us that divine love reveals itself to us through human love, and human love lights the path to divine love. Here’s one of my favorite poems, from the 14^th-century Sufi master Hafiz:

Even

After

All this time

The sun never says to the earth,

“You owe

Me.”

Look

What happens

With a love like that,

It lights the

Whole

Sky.

That’s why I keep writing about love, keep believing in it, and daily make it the centerpiece of my life. I think John Lennon was right when he sang, “All you need is love.”

Where Do Characters Come From?

2009-08-18T13:56:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, I was doing a live radio call-in show when a listener phoned in and insisted I’d used him as a character in my book. I told him I was flattered that he saw himself in one of my characters, but all my characters are fictitious. I dare say that’s true for most novelists and short story writers.

Of course, characters can be inspired by flesh-and-blood people. But they’re rarely carbon copies. Often they’re amalgams. A character might combine the traits of several people––your sister’s hair, your boss’s feisty temper, your best friend’s interest in archery. It’s not uncommon to give a character a few of your own attributes as well––or to endow him/her with qualities you wish you had. You can make your character taller, prettier, smarter, braver, richer––whatever you please––then send him/her out into the world to do all the things you’d like to do. How cool is that? We writers get to play God/dess.

Some characters seem to emerge “out of the blue.” Even the writer doesn’t know where they came from. They may turn up at your desk fully formed and demand a role in your story, or slip in the door quietly and begin sharing bits and pieces of themselves until you’re hooked. Characters have minds of their own and they can be quite insistent. They keep you awake nights talking. They distract you when you’re supposed to be busy doing your day job. If you let them, they’ll take over your book and try to run the show.

Writers have lots of imaginary friends. We never go anywhere without a few of them tagging along. Being a writer gives you license not only to talk to yourself, but to your characters as well. My characters like to ride in the car with me. When I started writing my first mystery novel Hidden Agenda, I didn’t know whodunit until I was halfway through the book. One day I was driving down the highway when the villain slid into the seat beside me and said, “We’ve all gotten together (meaning the characters in my book) and decided it’s time you knew. I’m here to tell you I did it.” Well, then I had to go back and rewrite the first half of the book.

Most readers I know say they must care about the characters in order to enjoy the book. Most writers I know believe that characters drive a book––if you really know and trust them, they’ll guide your story and when you get stuck they’ll bail you out. The problem for writers is, once you’ve finished the book, what do you do with the characters who’ve been an integral part of your daily life for months or maybe years? After all you’ve been through together, how can you just say “nice knowing you” and send them packing? For many of us, letting go is hard, maybe impossible. We don’t want to sever our ties, say goodbye to dear friends when the curtain falls. The answer? Write a sequel!

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About...

2009-08-15T15:42:00.000-07:00

One of my publishers (Adams Media) has just launched a terrific new content-rich website to rival About.com and other information sites. It features excerpts from books on subjects ranging from cooking to finance to tarot––including many from my books. I invite you to take a look––just click the link Everything New Age. Enjoy!

Thanks to My Writer Friends

2009-08-12T13:56:00.000-07:00

Today I'd like to thank my fellow writer friends for giving me space to speak out on the blog Un:Bound, and for sharing so many witty and wise comments. Special thanks to host extraordinaire Dana Fredsti (see Zhadi's Den). If you follow the links to their sites, you won't be disappointed.

Reading and Writing in a Bad Economy

2009-08-11T10:10:00.000-07:00

Turn on the TV, peruse a newspaper, and all you see is doom and gloom. Rising unemployment, falling stocks, crime, war, and disease. But read a romance novel and the protagonist lives happily ever after (or at least happily for now). Pick up a mystery novel and the bad guys get punished. Everything turns out the way it should.

That’s why, despite a dismal economy and declining book sales nationwide, “genre” books––especially romances and mysteries––continue to hold their own in the marketplace. Fantasy and sci-fi are doing okay, too. The truth is, we’re looking for an escape. We want to get away from the frustrations, the drudgery, and the uncertainty of our everyday lives. In a recent interview about her new book The Story Sisters, bestselling author Alice Hoffman says she began “reading to escape reality; now I’m writing to escape reality.”

We writers are charged with an awesome responsibility: to entertain our readers. Especially during these trying times, it’s our job to whisk readers away on a magic carpet ride to a place where dreams come true. To give you a thrill, to make you laugh, to help you forget (for a little while at least) the unpaid bills, the unappreciative boss, or the inattentive spouse.

Recently I read that movie attendance goes up during a bad economy because movies provide inexpensive entertainment and escape. If you do a cost-per-hour analysis, however, books offer one of the highest entertainment values around. An e-book that will keep you enthralled for several evenings costs about the same as a cup of fancy coffee at Starbucks or a large box of movie popcorn (and no calories).

I’m going out on a limb now, but I believe that reading “feel-good” books can actually make the world a better place. There’s a lot of talk among motivational speakers these days about how our thinking influences our realities. The more we focus on positive things, they say, the more positive things will come our way. Like attracts like. If they’re right, the first step toward a happier life is thinking happier thoughts. So instead of watching the news on TV, I’m going to read a book that puts a smile on my face. Maybe it really is that simple.

Here’s to happy endings!

Write What You Know

2009-08-05T15:02:00.000-07:00

The best way to break into today’s highly competitive writing world is to follow an old axiom: write what you know. Are you an expert on fly fishing? Quilt making? Restoring antique cars? If so, you already have a niche market of fellow enthusiasts and potential readers. My neighbor Jim Stanley, a master naturalist and land management specialist, compiled his extensive knowledge into a soon-to-be-published book Hill Country Landowner’s Guide.

Your area of expertise might be your business––after all, no one knows more about your business than you. Writing a book sets you up as an authority in your field and can generate extra income. According to a study called “The Business Impact of Writing a Book,” 97 percent of the 200 authors surveyed said publishing a book benefited their businesses.

Maybe you want to write a memoir to preserve your family history for future generations. Or perhaps you’d like to share an abiding passion with readers. Photographer E. Joe Deering (who took my pictures for this blog) has a fascination with the Texas flag and colorfully conveys this in his new book Lovin’ That Lone Star Flag.

According to John Baker, editorial director of Publishers Weekly magazine, 85 percent of all books published annually are nonfiction. However, fiction titles generate more revenue. When you consider the recent growth of independent and online publishers, today more options exist for writers than ever before.

What’s your area of expertise? What’s your passion? If you write about something you know and love, your enthusiasm will shine through––to editors, agents, and readers.

Getting Your Book to Readers

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Your book is finally done! Once you’re over the thrill of seeing your name in print, you’re ready to start getting the book to your readers.

If you wrote your memoirs mainly for your children and grandchildren, this part of the job is simple. However, you may discover that people outside your family circle will want to read your book as well. Take copies to your high school or college reunion––former classmates might be eager to read about the good old days. Your pals at the VFW may be interested in your wartime experiences. Members of your church, country club, or social organization might be curious to see if you mentioned them in your book. People who share your love of bird watching, woodworking, or gardening are potential readers, too.

If your book serves as an adjunct to your business, you already have an established audience: your customers, clients, colleagues, and coworkers. Notify them that your new book is now available. Display a copy in your office and/or waiting room. Companies you do business with might also be willing to showcase your book. Take books to Chamber of Commerce meetings, business engagements, conferences, corporate functions––anyplace you’re likely to encounter people who might be interested in your services. Remember, having a book in print enhances your image as an authority in your field.

Always keep a few copies of your book in your car––you never know when you’ll run into somebody who wants to buy one.

Getting Published

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You’ve finished writing a book. Congratulations! What now? How do you get your book to readers?

Traditionally, authors have sought a publisher to buy, print, and market their books. Most books sold in this country still come from the large publishing houses, such as Penguin and Random House. But getting a publisher to take on your book––especially if you’re a new writer––is becoming increasingly difficult.

The good news is, today you have options that didn’t exist until recently. E-books constitute the fastest growing segment of the publishing business. Electronic books can be purchased on line, usually for much less than a printed book, and downloaded to your computer, iPod, Kindle, or other device. Most of the big publishers, as well as many smaller ones, now offer e-books. Some publishers only handle e-books. This new area of the business expands possibilities for authors and readers alike.

Print-on-demand or POD books are gaining popularity, too. This do-it-yourself method allows you to print your own book in small quantities. You become the publisher; you not only write your book, you design, promote, and distribute it as well. You retain total control. If you’re talented, you can lay out your book’s pages on your computer and design a cover––or hire someone with technical skill to do it for you. Download the digital files to a CD, then take the CD to a good copy shop or printer who’s equipped to produce PODs. They’ll run off and bind as many copies of your book as you desire. If you intend to use your book as an adjunct to your business, or only plan to offer it to family members and friends, this could be the best choice for you.

Never before have authors had so many avenues open to them. Consider your goal, your audience, and your resources to determine which option is right for you.