Sunday, March 30, 2008
Free Ezine: Messages From the Universe--An Ezine of Many Voices
Messages From the Universe--An Ezine of Many Voices
Valkyrie Publishing is proud to announce the beginning of it second year publishing, Messages From the Universe. This ezine’s goal is to give a voice to diverse points of view and spiritual wisdom. However, unlike most spiritual ezines, Messages From the Universe encompasses all aspects of life, not just those who follow mystical topics. Instead of differentiating between the spiritual and the mundane, this ezine intertwines all aspects of life in a single forum.
With a rapidly growing readership, Messages From The Universe gives writers a venue to share their wisdom or challenge the status quo. There are no taboo topics except those that spread hate, bigotry or ignorance. Many spiritual ezines limit the articles to the mystical, healing or otherworldly issues. However, Messages From The Universe sees life as being interconnected. Like a stone dropped into a pond causes ripples that radiate across the surface to the shores, so does every action send out wrinkles in the universal energy. Whether on a spiritual or on a mundane level, every act affects life on some level. It is Valkyrie Publishing’s goal to show how politics, religion and metaphysics can be successfully intertwined in a single medium.
To have this free ezine delivered to your email address on a monthly bases go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MessagesFromtheUniverse/ and join this Yahoo group. Current and past issues are available at www.theresachaze.com.
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Thursday, March 27, 2008
Linda K Silva: Fantasy Author Who Challenges the Reality of Time
Linda K. Silva takes her characters and her readers Across Time as she explores the past lives and the soul connections that make life challenging and wonderful all at the same time. More than a fantasy novel, it expresses hers and many others believe that souls incarnate together in order to learn and heal old wounds.
Ms Silva allowed me the great privilege of interviewing her on her virtual book tour with www.pumpupyourbookpromotion.com. By commenting on this and Silva’s other tour stops, you will learn more about her and her work.
In Across Time, you send a character back to the past to save someone the character's soul loved. Does the character go back or does the soul regress to the previous time?
When Jessie goes back, her body stays in the portal entrance and her soul travels back. What makes this interesting (not to mention tricky) is that there’s a moment when her present consciousness is still there, so she sees herself as her past life being. There’s that “whoa,” moment for her, especially in book two, when she finds herself in the body of a pirate. A male pirate. The soul has no gender, of course, so when THAT happens, there’s a humorous moment (or two). Still, it’s disconcerting even when she lands in the body of Cate, a Druid Priestess from the first century.
If the character physically goes back, how is this accomplished?
Diane Gabaldon did that feat better than anyone else, but I still can’t wrap my mind around the body making that transition, so no, the body doesn’t go. However, there’s an interesting little twist of soul travel. If Jessie gets killed in her past life, she will die in her present life. Can a body live without its soul? Without a consciousness? Maybe. Maybe not. In the Across Time series, it cannot, and that fact often leaves Jessie is danger.
If only the soul returns to the past, does it retain the memories of all the lives afterward?
Not all of them, no. If we did, we would be crazy people. There would simply be too many memories banging around up there. We do, however, have residual memories of our past lives. It’s how we can explain the 5 and 6 year old music prodigies who can play Bach and Beethoven. It’s how we can understand déjà vu, love at first sight, or the numerous coma patients who wake up speaking a foreign language they never studied. I call these residual memories…like those small pieces of dust you can see in a shaft of sunlight, residual memories exist in all of us. Some of us are able to recall these, but most of us ignore them. We chalk them up to something, anything other than a past life memory. Unfortunately, in our society, what can’t be proven by science we call miracles. There’s nothing miraculous about residual memories. They’re there. We need only not discount them in order to learn from them.
How does the soul know that its loved one is in danger? Have they met again in the current time?
Jessie does not know that Cate’s loved one is in danger until she goes back. When she returned, she learns that Cate and Maeve have committed themselves to remembering each other throughout all of their incarnations. We have more than one soul mate, of course. We have those who travel with us through our many lives. Sometimes, we are siblings, sometimes friends, sometimes lovers, but we know such a soul when we meet them…again, we just pass these meetings off as something else. We might call it instinct, or intuition, but we seldom call this special knowing memories.
Does the other soul remember?
Sometimes. Jessie always felt this emptiness, this hollow feeling inside. She tried filling that void with drugs, booze, sex, anything. She couldn’t name it, just as many of us can’t name that ache we cannot define. She is lost until Cate comes to her for help. Once that happens, Jessie realizes what it is she’s been missing; her purpose and her soul mate.
What is your concepts of reincarnation and karma?
Even though I was raised by Fundamentalists, the idea that so many people spent this life looking forward to dying in order to get to someplace called Heaven or Nirvana, or or or…boggles my mind. It makes so much more sense to me that we are here, we learn something, we grow, and we take that knowledge with us to the next life, which, by the way, isn’t always forward. I know, I know, I sound like a crazy person, but did you know that DaVinci invented the parachute? Why on earth would a man invent something that wouldn’t really be needed for over 400 more years? Think of all the inventors and scientists who were so far ahead of their time. Think of history’s greatest artists; people who creating things or had ideas that were considered heretical. Where did they get those ideas?
As for karma? I don’t know that it travels with us from one life to the next, but I’m sure it exists in the lives we’re currently leading.
How do you think they influence a person's life challenges?
Wow. Good question. I think people who believe in past lives and reincarnation have a lot more to learn and can tap into wisdom and knowledge they didn’t know they possessed. I think it helps explains so much about our current fears, some of our baser idiosyncrasies, and the like. Many of us have fears for which we can’t even name the origin of.
When I had my past lives read by two different psychics in two different states, I was amazed by the similar readings. Once said I lived 82 lives, the other said 83. I was amazed, not by how close they were (which WAS amazing), but by the fact that I lived so many. “You…well…die young.” That explained so much to me and about the way I live my life. I have always lived my life by appreciating every day and doing as many things as I could.
Do you believe that souls incarnate together for a reason? Love? Revenage? Healing?
I certainly do! In Jessie’s case, it’s all about love. For me, it’s never about revenge…it’s about connection with others. I think we wander through this life looking for those connections…sometimes we find them in friends, in co-workers, in siblings. We’re happiest when surrounded by people who understand us. Who better to understand us than someone who has travelled with us in the past?
Does the character return to her or his own time?
She does. She has to. When Cate calls her, Jessie knows nothing about the past, about history, about anything. She needs to learn that information so Cate can access those memories. That’s the fun part for me. I love history and I get to dabble in it. (not change it. Jessie can’t change what we THINK we know about history…but that doesn’t mean she can’t be a player in making the history we think we know HAPPEN).
How has changing the past altered the future?
Oh…I got ahead of myself. If Jessie could change the past, that would really bog the story down. What we have to remember is that the victorious are the ones who record history, not the vanquished. That means so much of what we have learned is screwed. According to historians, Queen Boudicca suddenly turned her army around. No one knows why. I can take liberties with this and GIVE the reason why. Jessie. There are so many gaps and holes in history, and that’s where Jessie makes the difference. The outcomes remains the same, but HOW the outcome got there…well…that’s my playground!
How do you see time? Is it fixed or like the future changeable?
Time is the Final Frontier and I love that we have not conquered it or really even understood it. Time is not linear, like a steel pole. I see it as a piece of string that can turn back on itself, and when frayed, there are strands of it happening at the same time ours is happening. If it wasn’t happening when ours was, there would be no place to go.
What is the one thing or things you would like the reader to take away when the read the last page?
I’d like them to think about why they are the way they are, and if they could tap into who they were, how would that change their world , or, at the very least, help them understand more about themselves? I also want them to be connected to Jessie and to want to go on more adventures with her Across Time.
Could you also give me a brief bio with contact information and where to buy you book. You can also include brief synopsis of your other work.
When Linda Kay Silva isn’t writing (which is seldom), she teaches various college English courses from American Minority Literature to Introduction to Fiction. Living with her incredibly patient partner of 10 years, Linda Kay takes time out to play with Lucy Lui, her cockapoo who loves walks, playing with her favorite toy, and blogging. If you want to know more about either Linda Kay or Lucy, you can check either of them out at www.lindakaysilva.com or Linda Kay’s blog at http://lindakaysilva.livejournal.com.
Synopsis:
Jessie Ferguson’s life is going nowhere. She’s tried drugs, alcohol, even sex to fill the void that has no name, but nothing seems to quench that dull ache that visits her nightly. When she moves into a restored Victorian Bed and Breakfast, all of that changes the instant she hears a call from the past. A call from her past.
A past life two thousand years ago from a place she knows nothing of, from a woman she’s seen only in her dreams. It is a past that needs her, a past that has burst through the boundaries of time in order to ask for her help.
How can Jessie help save someone else’s life when she can barely control her own? What is it this druid named Cate wants from her? To find out, Jessie enters through a portal only to find herself not face-to-face with Cate, but within her; for Cate and Jessie share the same soul only in two different periods across time. Cate has called for Jessie because the druids are facing the onslaught of a Roman army bent on crushing every last one of them. In an effort to save her people, Cate has traveled through the portal hoping that Jessie can help prevent the catastrophic destruction of her people…and of her loved one, and soul mate, Maive, high priestess of the druids.
Can Jessie help Cate save both her people and the woman she loves? In doing so, can Jessie find the same peace, contentment, and love that she found two thousand years ago? Is there a Maeve for her somewhere in this life?
If you believe in soul mates, if you know you’ve had a past life, if you’ve ever wondered who you might have been long ago and who you might have loved, then join Jessie in the first of a series of adventures that takes her Across Time.
Please give me a 300-400 word excerpt. Pick your favor scene and give me a piece of it.
“But how will I ever know if you survived Mona?”
“You may never know. Perhaps it is better that way. You carry within your breast the heart of a warrior, the spirit of a Druid, and the mind of a bard. Call on them when you need them. For if you reach down deep enough, you will touch Catie’s light and she will always show you the way.” Reaching up, Maeve touched Jessie’s cheek with her palm. It was hot; Jessie felt the heat all over her. “And remember, no matter where you go, you will find me, or I, as I did in our time, will find you.”
“You mean--”
Maeve grinned and nodded. “I am out there, Jessie. We just have not met yet.” With that, Maeve touched her shoulder before standing at the edge of the mist. “We will meet again, Jessie Ferguson. This, I promise you.” Turning, Maeve disappeared into the mist. For a long time, both women stared at the misty opening as it slowly closed around her.
“Will I know?” Jessie asked softly.
Cate nodded. “I did. The moment I saw her, something happened within me. I knew.”
“Immediately?”
Cate shook her head. “In a heartbeat or two, but you’ll know. We’ll know. I’ll help you know.”
Sighing, Jessie walked over to Cate and hugged her tightly. “You’ve become a good friend to me. I’m not very good at goodbyes and I wish this wasn’t one.”
“You have done a great thing, Jessie. Tomorrow, we will head to Mona to see how many lives we can save. I will do my best to make you proud.”
Jessie nodded. “And Maeve? Will you be able to save her?”
“I shall or I will die trying.”
As Jessie stepped away, she could barely believe the hollow emptiness inside; the pain of a goodbye far more excruciating than when she left San Francisco. “Then I guess I have to just walk away believing the two of you die a very old age. It’s the only way I can leave and live my life without wondering every day if you made it--if you’re safe and happy.”
Cate nodded, but then her face changed, like one who just got a great idea. “Do you know where Mona is in your time?”
Jessie nodded. “It’s called Anglesey now.”
“Close your eyes.”
Jessie did and immediately saw a stone structure much like Stonehenge.
“See it?”
“Yes.”
“Do you see a very large, white rock about the size of two horses off to the side of the henge beneath a large oak tree?”
Jessie nodded.
“Open your eyes.”
When she did, Cate was removing the ankh from around her neck. “If we live through this, both of us, then I will bury this ankh an arm’s length beneath that rock on the western side. I do not know if it will be there two thousand years from now, but if it is, then you will know.”
Jessie realized, for the first time, that Cate had made the assumption that Jessie was in England or Wales, and it was no wonder. In Cate’s time, there was no America. Columbus and the New World were a good fourteen hundred years away.
“I’ll find it.”
“Thank you, Jessie, for answering my call. I promise I will live my life befitting one who has shown such courage. You are a wonderful person, and I am proud to know that you are who I become so far into the future.”
“I’ll miss you, Cate.” Jessie shook her head and wiped her eyes. “More than you will ever know. You, my little priestess friend, are the very best of me.” With that, Jessie found herself back in the Inn.
The Book Shelf: Novels By Linda Kay Silva
Letters
Thunderstorm
Storm Rising
Taken by Storm
Storm Shelter
Tory's Tuesday
Weathering the Storm
Storm Front
Tropical Storm
A Year in Wonderland
Biscuits and Gravy
Searching for Hemingway
Three Girls in a Teepee
Nothing Fair About It
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Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Guest Blogger: Primary Battles Prove Feminized Values to be Defining Element of 2008 Presidential Race
Primary Battles Prove Feminized Values to be Defining Element of 2008 Presidential Race
By Katherine Adam and Charles Derber
As Democrats come closer to choosing their candidate for the 2008 presidential election, gender has emerged again and again as the defining element of the primary race. Hillary has relied heavily on a base of older and working class women. Barack Obama has pulled ahead of Hillary Clinton with a feminized personal style and using feminized language about unity and community.
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd picked up on this phenomenon, writing, "The first serious female candidate for president was rejected by voters drawn to the more feminine management style of her male rival." Boston Globe writer Ellen Goodman has a different take on the events: "Now we see a woman running as the fighter and a man modeling a 'woman's way' of leading. We see a younger generation in particular inspired by ideas nurtured by women, as long as they are delivered in a baritone. So, has the women's movement made life easier? For another man?"
Dowd and Goodman both touch upon a theme we discuss in our book, The New Feminized Majority: How Democrats Can Change America with Women's Values. The Obama-Clinton gender battle ultimately comes down to feminized values, which will also be the defining element in the 2008 election and beyond.
For many Democrats, it seems strange to talk about values-based politics. We usually equate values with religion. The media calls evangelical conservatives the only “values voters.” Yet, values are nothing more than socially constructed ideals of how the world should be. Many aspects of a person's identity beyond religion create his or her value system –age, race, and nationality. However, the most important values for Democrats to understand are values shaped by gender.
Women's history of oppression, combined with their fights for liberation, have created what we term feminized values. These include empathy, cooperation, and a preference for non-violent solutions to conflicts. Conversely, men's history of political and economic dominance socialize men into a system of masculinized values, including aggression and individualism.
Gender gap data from surveys consistently show this gendered difference. But it is important to understand that gendered values are not embedded in a person's DNA. Women are not inherently more peaceful and nurturing, men are not born as cutthroat, "every man for himself" individualists. (Just look at Condoleezza Rice and Dennis Kucinich.) People, in general, are socialized into values based on gender, but gender is open to variance and change. Men can adopt feminized values, and, as we will show, millions have.
Women's increasing progressivism won't lead to a battle of the sexes showdown. In fact, millions of men are following the feminized progressive example, holding opinions on issues that match those held by a majority of women. This points to the reason Obama or Clinton needs to pay close attention to gendered values: for the first time, feminized values—which are progressive, community-minded, and often closely aligned with Democratic Party policy—are now held by a majority of Americans.
While gender gaps still exist, a large enough minority of men support feminized principles to make them majoritarian. We find these values reflected in issue after issue, in poll after poll. From ending the Iraq War to funding stem cell research, from raising the minimum wage to adopting government-sponsored universal healthcare, the feminized position is the majoritarian position—which means it is the winning position.
While Clinton seemed to be the more "masculinized" candidate in the Democratic race, the differences between Clinton and Obama will seem microscopic once we enter the general election. The race between McCain and the Democratic candidate shows a HUGE chasm between feminized and masculinized morality.
McCain's hypermilitarized foreign policy objectives and traditionalist social policies reflect his masculinized values. At events, he is often flanked by symbols of American masculinity, such as cops and soldiers. These visuals are an attempt to convey a subliminal promise of masculine protectionism: vote for me and men like these will keep your wives and children safe. The other unspoken part of this message is clear: Democrats are too weak and womanly to lead.
Unfortunately for McCain, a majority of Americans have turned away from this dated definition of "strength". With hundreds of thousands dying in Iraq, GIs returning home paralyzed or in body bags, and pictures circulating of hooded Iraqi prisoners with electrodes attached to their bodies, Americans are looking for a new kind of foreign policy. And with multiple corporate mergers, rising poverty rates, and economic inequality unparalleled since the Gilded Age, Americans can't afford anything but new domestic policies.
Obama or Clinton can provide an alternative to the morality offered by McCain. All they need to do is recognize the new feminized majority, and embrace it.
To order “The New Feminized Majority” visit Paradigm Publishing at http://www.paradigmpublishers.com/books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=180321 or Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/New-Feminized-Majority-Katherine-Adam/dp/1594515689/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204436315&sr=8-1
Building beyond Lakoff’s election-year best-seller, Don’t Think of an Elephant, this new book shows how the values of American voters are dramatically shifting. With the arrival of the 2008 election year, a rising feminized majority’—made up of both women and men—is emerging as the pivotal force in American politics. Emerging trends show these values are broadly progressive and address not just the needs of women but the general interests of society. They are held by women substantially more than by men but have become the values held by a majority of all voters, including millions of men.
Like earlier eras in American history, such as the New Deal, the rise of the feminized majority today presents an opportunity for the Democrats to become the governing party for decades to come. Looking beyond the 2008 election, Adam and Derber describe a new political strategy that targets the feminized base and opens up a window for major social justice movements to make progressive change.
Like Lakoff’s, this striking new book—perfectly timed for election year 2008—offers a new vocabulary for every citizen who wants to understand (and reimagine) American politics. It will intrigue and provoke readers, stirring new conversation among progressives and new insights for every citizen interested in politics, morality, religion, values, and social justice.
Reveals the “Three Hillaries” and why two of her three political dimensions consist of masculinized values.
Shows why Obama and Edwards are more “feminized” than Hillary Clinton
Builds beyond Lakoff’s Elephant in showing how gender is increasingly pivotal in political values, and by revealing the deep historical roots of gendered values in America
Looks at the relation between religion, values, and politics in a new way
A book perfectly timed for the first election in which a woman, Hillary Clinton, stands a strong chance of becoming president
Written by a widely experienced political campaigner and a noted social critic
Shows how political discussions have been gender-blind and how gender awareness opens new windows to social justice in America
Gender, Values, and the Democrats
As the only group targeted by a political party using a value-based strategy, evangelicals are seen as the only people who match their actions and politics to their values. Values, however, are a universal human phenomenon. In their simplest form, values are socially constructed views about how the world should be. In 1651, Thomas Hobbes wrote about the subjectivity of values and how we shape our values to fit our ideas of what makes a perfect society.
But whatsoever is the object of any man’s appetite or desire, that it is which he for his part calleth “good”; and the object of his contempt “vile” and “inconsiderable.” For these words of good, evil, and contemptible, are ever used with relation to the person that useth them. There being nothing simply and absolutely so; nor any common rule of Good or Evil, to be taken from the nature of the objects themselves.7
Looking past Hobbes’s notorious pessimism about the human condition, this idea highlights that everyone acts on values and that values are socially constructed. Therefore, values vary from person to person, and a person has the ability to change his or her values.
Although Hobbes refers to an individual’s values, his message translates to larger community values. Americans, for example, hold American values. Every political candidate, on the right or the left, knows that most Americans respond favorably to the idea that a person should be rewarded for hard work. This is a capitalist, American value. Members of other societies might feel that a person should be rewarded for his or her skin color or family bloodline. Every person is socialized into the values of his or her community or nation, and these values then intersect with other values the person has, such as those based his or her religion, race, and socioeconomic class.
Perhaps the most important set of socialized values, however, is based on a person’s gender. We term these values feminized values and masculinized values. In this book, we will outline how men’s and women’s different value systems create divergent views about what America should be. We argue that Americans carry gendered attitudes into the voting booth and, like the evangelicals, vote based on how these values translate to specific political issues.
Just as some groups’ values fall to the more conservative end of the political spectrum, other groups’ values fall to the left. Evangelicals usually support right-wing candidates, because their moral values are highly conservative. We will introduce a group of voters whose values reflect progressive ideals: feminized values voters. If evangelicals represent the key to Republican electoral victory, then feminized values voters represent the chance for Democrats to usher in a new progressive era.
Feminized values are the values into which women are socialized; a majority of women hold these values, as do a smaller percentage of men, for reasons we will describe shortly. The potential for a more progressive era arises because the women and men who hold feminized values make up today a majority of the country and of voters.
We term feminized values voters the feminized majority. These women and men will not only change election outcomes, but also will transform American values and the American Dream. The feminized majority supports a strong welfare state, views social issues through a lens of egalitarianism, and feels that government should do more in general to help its most vulnerable citizens. Feminized majority voters support stem cell research, comprehensive sex education, and environmental protection. They reject violent imperialism. They worry about their long-term economic security and fear that neither party will provide them with adequate health care. In a much deeper and richer way than American masculinized voters, the feminized majority yearns for a progressive, populist America.
We call these voters the feminized majority because the values they carry truly are becoming majoritarian. We will describe the political and economic changes that have led to this point. It is important to remember that President Bush changed the 2004 election by mobilizing evangelicals, who represent only 23 percent of voters. Now, Democrats have the opportunity to change America in dramatic ways with the support of a much larger part of the electorate. While the general perception is that the United States is a conservative country, we shall show that feminized values are held by an increasingly robust majority of voters in the country who are prepared to support a progressive politics of social justice.
The Democrats can lead the feminized majority if they are willing to abandon their triangulation strategy and create a values-based platform. This approach seems unorthodox, because we usually conflate values and morals with religion and conservatism. However, values are nothing more than socially constructed ideals that provide a moral compass for each person, regardless of where he or she falls on the political spectrum. Once Democrats recognize the power of values in elections, they can begin appealing to values voters.
A noted social critic, Charles Derber is a Professor of Sociology at Boston College. Katherine Adam is the Outreach Director for the Philadelphia GROW Project of the Drexel University School of Public Health. She has been active in Democratic Party politics at the federal, state, and local levels, including interning for Senator John Kerry. Derber and Adam collaborated on the newly released nonfiction title, “The New Feminized Majority: How Democrats Can Change America with Women’s Values” which can be purchased at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com, and from the publisher’s website.
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Thursday, March 20, 2008
Obama, Why Do You Hate the Voters of Michigan?
Obama, Why Do you Hate the Voters in Michigan?
It was reported to day that there are four factions working toward getting a revote for in Michigan. Clinton has already come out in favor, while Obama has remained silent. Which only leads me to believe that his is either he is afraid or that he hates the voters of Michigan.
The governor, state representatives, many Democrats, and businesses have been working to make it possible for Michigander votes to count. The people in the state, who weren't involved with decision to move up the date, want their voices heard. The 12million dollars have been pledged. It will not cost the National Democratic Party or the state a cent. All that needs to be decided is the manor of the revote and the date.
Clinton honored the agreement by not campaigning in Michigan; however, she showed the residents respect by not removing her name from the ballet. She has been asking for the revote, even though she originally carried the state.
Removing his name was optional, yet Obama chose to over look the millions of voters in Michigan. Since then he has continued to snub the state, by remaining silent and subtly discouraging the revote. So is he afraid of loosing and giving Clinton momentum or does he simply hate the people of Michigan.
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It was reported to day that there are four factions working toward getting a revote for in Michigan. Clinton has already come out in favor, while Obama has remained silent. Which only leads me to believe that his is either he is afraid or that he hates the voters of Michigan.
The governor, state representatives, many Democrats, and businesses have been working to make it possible for Michigander votes to count. The people in the state, who weren't involved with decision to move up the date, want their voices heard. The 12million dollars have been pledged. It will not cost the National Democratic Party or the state a cent. All that needs to be decided is the manor of the revote and the date.
Clinton honored the agreement by not campaigning in Michigan; however, she showed the residents respect by not removing her name from the ballet. She has been asking for the revote, even though she originally carried the state.
Removing his name was optional, yet Obama chose to over look the millions of voters in Michigan. Since then he has continued to snub the state, by remaining silent and subtly discouraging the revote. So is he afraid of loosing and giving Clinton momentum or does he simply hate the people of Michigan.
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Michigan, politics, Obama, Clinton, voters, revote, 2008 elections, fair voting, democrats, making votes count, Michigan Governor, political representatives, Michigan Voters, Florida voters, elections,
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Celtic Goddesses Reawaken in a Magical Tale of Love and Betrayal
Celtic Goddesses Reawaken in a Magical Tale of Love and Betrayal
By
Theresa Chaze
Magic, romance and karmic justice combine in a new Celtic fantasy novel from Theresa Chaze. Released as an ebook, which is available on her site, as well as part of the Amazon Kindle program, Nict For Ure Selfe (Not For Ourselves) honors the Celtic Goddesses and the Wiccan tradition. Unlike most authors, who write magical fantasy, Theresa Chaze is a Wiccan Priestess who uses authentic magic in her novels. In many ways, her fiction can be considered a Book of Shadows.
After attending a local Pagan festival, Alyssa finds herself to be a target of Sheriff Deputy Nevel’s violent obsession. Her complaints only bring on more abuse. Her friends and coworkers are harassed. No one in in her life is safe from persecution. Alyssa doesn't understand why he and his comrades singled her out. In desperation, she performs a karmic ritual so that she may understand his hatred of her. Instead of a message, her soul takes her spirit back to the time when the Goddesses and Gods of old had not yet given way to the Christos and clan traditions could mean life or death. “Nict For Ure Selfe” (Not For Ourselves) a suspenseful tale of betrayal as traditions and love are tested by the changing times and greedy men whose lust for power continued into their next incarnations
Nict For Ure Self (Not for Ourselves) is available in a PDF ebook through the author’s site at www.theresachaze.com or through the Amazon Kindle program after March 21, 2008.
An excerpt:
Alyssa struck the match. Instantly, the end burst into flame. She held it to the wick of the white candle until it ignited. Pinching off the match head, she placed on the table. Taking a deep breath, she flipped her long chestnut color braid back over her shoulder; it bounced and swung around her waist. Focusing on her intent, she started the ritual. “Goddesses--Maiden, Mother, Crone I call to thee and ask that you appear to me.” Picking up the candle, she held it above the surface of the water. Its glow illuminated just beyond the rim of the black bowl and reflected off the clear surface. “On this darkest of night, grant me the portal to make things right. Let me see clearly the moments of the past, so that I may understand what is happening at last.” Tapping the edge with the candlestick, the glass on glass echoed throughout the dark room. The vibration rippled through the water. “As I created a wave in the glass, so I ask you help me with my task.” She set the candlestick next to the bowl and placed her hands on either side palms down. “Let me see where his hatred of me had begun, so that his vengeance can be undone. Why he stalks me I know not why, yet I know the answer lies in times gone by. Take me back to the time and place, so that I may end the conflict with haste and grace.” Picking up the four raven feathers, she held them above the candle. "Goddesses of the raven and night, who left these feathers as a symbol of your might. I call you now to come me, to create a justice that even the blind may see. I call your forth to this land to guide the karmic hand. For those who have done harm to me, let their reckoning begin now--so mote it be.” Placing the feathers equal distance around the bowl, Alyssa paused for a moment to let their energy settle around her.
Stretching her neck side to side, she took a deep breath and allowed her Priestess training to relax her body into a meditative state. The outer world fell away as she sank deeper within her self and started climbing the stairs to her own soul. Into the darkness, the staircase spiraled upward, until she reached the iridescent platform where her Akashic record was held. Suspended in the darkness of endless time, Alyssa looked for a guide to help her. But she was alone. In the past, there had always been someone there to act as a guide to help her face the challenge. Uncertain, she stepped up to the pedestal. If she was to atone for a past error, she would be give direction. However, if she was merely a player as another strutted and fretted through a karmic lesson, than she could do little more than watch. The book lay open before her. On it, fate continued to write. “Book of all my lives, show me karmic tie that echoes into this life.” The pages flipped, stopping twice before it came to rest on the life named Shannon Marie Cullen.
The image of a red haired young woman lifted up off the page and hovered above. Her heart shaped face still had the softness of youth. Yet the hazel eyes sparkled with old wisdom. She wore her dark auburn hair pulled back into a long, single braid. Although she seemed familiar, Alyssa felt no emotional connection to her. There was no bond or sense of being between them. Only a faint familiarity like a tune whose melody echoes in the back of your mind, yet you cannot remember the words or the context in which you heard it. She reached out to touch the image; it reached back. Yet before their fingertips touched, Shannon Marie vanished only to be replaced by a three dimensional screening of wooded forest. Rich and lush it sported multiple shades of green, tans and browns as the forest became fields and forest once again. As her perspective changed, Alyssa felt herself zooming to focus on the scene that was most important. Yet it was more than just pictures and sounds. The smell of the fields and rushing of the river below sparked memories and long sleeping emotions. No matter where her life led her, she could never find the safe sense of home. Fear always kept her from letting her roots grow too deep. She had never understood. Her childhood was no better or worse than anyone else's. Yet as her spirit drew closer, the familiarity once again made her crave the comfort of home.
Through breaks in the leaves, she saw two girls running quickly. She knew who they were, yet she didn't feel connected. Instead, like a moderated film, she watched them from above. Instead recalling her own memories, the information flowed to her in unspoken words and images as if someone was narrating their story to catch her up with the story.
Shannon Marie ran breathlessly up the glen, quickly followed by her younger sister, Rachael. Although a year and two months younger, Rachael looked more like Shannon Marie's twin. Both girls favored their Scottish heritage with their flaming hair and outspoken temperaments. Their two older sisters, Elizabeth Marie and Katherine Anne favored their mother's French heritage both physically and in temperament. Fair-haired beauties they openly used their feminine assets to manipulate others to get what they wanted. The plain spoken of mannerism of the patriarch of the family along with his two youngest daughters frequently came into conflict with the matriarch and the eldest sisters' elitism as they boasted of their unclaimable link to the French throne. They refused to see that no matter which man laid down with the mother, the child could lay no claim to parentage unless they were acknowledged by both the father and family. Jacqueline Marie Katherine de Medici may have lay with the King of France, but the daughter they created was conceived above the sheets--not beneath them. Jacqueline refused to be silenced at court about the parentage of her growing child within her. It was the reason Marie marked her for death. But instead of a curse, the midnight escaped to Scotland became a blessing as the people’s revolution sought out the privileged nobles.
In the highlands, Abigail Marie Katherine de Medici was born without a father; the fortune and power of the de Medici family hid the stain, but was never washed away. Having valuable connections in the English and Italian courts, Jacqueline was received as her family station required. Eventually she attained a small estate and fitted herself into the region. Unlike the women born in Scotland, Jacqueline, followed her de Medici heritage, keeping control over her assets and her life. But it was her wit and cleverness, which turned the small estate into one of the most prosperous in the Parish. It was the second reason Abigail was never considered a suitable match for any of the legitimate Clan heir. The heads of clans refused to allow a match unless the son would take total control of the estate and fortunes. Jacqueline refused to relinquish her power. Abigail resent her mother for it. Richard Connell had approach her with an offer of marriage; he was the second largest estate holder in the Parish and under consideration to become the next Parish Chief. Jacqueline refused and arranged a match with Shawn Jacob Michael Cullen. Only he was willing to break with tradition. Instead of insisting on control, he offered himself as steward to Jacqueline, claiming nothing for himself and agreeing to allow her to chose who inherited the de Medici affluence. The eldest son of Michael James Cullen he saw Abigail as an opportunity to restore his clan's fortunes. Reluctantly Abigail agreed; his family estate was not as large as the Connell, but his clan connection opened the path to gain legitimacy and a title. The match was made for the benefit of both families.
Shannon never thought of Seanhair as a woman of wealth and power, only as her Grandmother. None of that interested her, no matter how Seanhair attempted to entice her. She loved hearing stories about France before the revolution, but for some reason, both she and Papa were more concerned about her to becoming more aware of estate business. The month before she officially starting attending to estate business independently. Her decisions carried nearly as much weight as her father's.
Alyssa felt the connection Shannon Marie had with her father. It drew her closer to the young woman for it was something she had always wanted and never had for reasons that were beyond her control. The richness of their love bond awakened her own sadness and sense of loss. He had died before she was born. The only things she knew of him was what her older sister told her. Their mother had stubbornly refused to talk about him. Without warning, Alyssa reached out to more fully connect with the young red head. Suddenly she felt the grass beneath her feet and the breeze on her face. She was no longer an observer, but part of the drama and seeing through Shannon's eyes.
The strange feeling again crept up on Shannon Marie and she stopped half way up the hill. The strange awareness seemed to be happening more often. At first, it was only in her dreams that she could sense spirits around her. The feelings kept getting more intense and harder to ignore. But this time it was different. In a way familiar. Papa had told her that her Aunt Margaret had the same gift. She could see the Earth Folk and the spirits who had not yet crossed over. She asked Bridget to bless her with the same gift; the night of the next full moon, she had her first dream. Since then, the encounters with the dead had become nightly. Sighing, Shannon shook her head, trying to clear the thoughts. But instead of vanishing the image of an older woman with reddish hair reached for her. Her greenish eyes were so familiar, yet she had never seen them before. She was not afraid, yet she was reluctant to take her hand. The spirit of the raven flew between them and the woman backed away, but did not leave.
Suddenly Alyssa felt herself being pulled away. She remained connected, yet she was no longer in direct contact with Shannon Marie. The emotional bond that had started to form had been thinned, but not broken.
The raven circle and flew back towards them. Shannon followed its flight and it brought her attention back to the hillside. She did not know why her mind filled itself with such things. It was almost as if someone was trying to give her wisdom she was not ready to understand. Each time the feeling passed, she felt that something important had happened, yet she was unable to see how it in fit in her life. She slowly started climb the hill again. It was like the lessons Seanhair was teaching her about the lands and court. It did not interest her, but her grandmother’s behavior told her that the lessons were important. None of the information was new. It was all old. Yet, it seemed so essential the closer she got to her seventeen birthday. Suddenly there were no more stories or gossip about the other clans’ secrets or stories about the French court, but a constant testing of what she had learned about the estate.
Reaching the crest, she caught up with Rachael. Shannon Marie pointed to the gathering at the bottom. “I told you Papa would make them wait for us!” She readjusted her crossbow, freeing it from the fold of her breeches. Her attire was another point of contention between their parents. Breeches, boots and wool shirts were not proper dress for ladies. Father always snapped back that if she had provided him with a son, he would have left the girls to her raising. But she had not, so she needed to be content with the two older girls. The two younger were his to raise as he saw fit. Shannon Marie was grateful he had always won. The thought of being turned into court pony turned her stomach. She disappear into the marshes first.
“Hot damn!” Diverting from the path, Rachael leaped a fallen log for no other reason that it was there and ran down towards the gathering at the bottom.
Shannon Marie stopped for a moment. The sun was warm on her face. The lush greenery of early summer was old enough to be fully developed, yet young enough to still have a multitude of shades of green. For a moment, she felt homesick as if she had been away for a long time. She blinked and the feeling vanished as quickly as it had come.
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Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Linda K. Sliva: Author, Teacher, and Wise Woman
Linda K. Silva takes her characters and her readers Across Time as she explores the past lives and the soul connections that make life challenging and wonderful all at the same time. More than a fantasy novel, it expresses hers and many others believe that souls incarnate together in order to learn and heal old wounds.
Ms Silva allowed me the great privilege of interviewing her on her virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book Promotion. By commenting on this and Silva’s other tour stops, you will learn more about her and her work.
In Across Time, you send a character back to the past to save someone the character's soul loved. Does the character go back or does the soul regress to the previous time?
When Jessie goes back, her body stays in the portal entrance and her soul travels back. What makes this interesting (not to mention tricky) is that there’s a moment when her present consciousness is still there, so she sees herself as her past life being. There’s that “whoa,” moment for her, especially in book two, when she finds herself in the body of a pirate. A male pirate. The soul has no gender, of course, so when THAT happens, there’s a humorous moment (or two). Still, it’s disconcerting even when she lands in the body of Cate, a Druid Priestess from the first century.
If the character physically goes back, how is this accomplished?
Diane Gabaldon did that feat better than anyone else, but I still can’t wrap my mind around the body making that transition, so no, the body doesn’t go. However, there’s an interesting little twist of soul travel. If Jessie gets killed in her past life, she will die in her present life. Can a body live without its soul? Without a consciousness? Maybe. Maybe not. In the Across Time series, it cannot, and that fact often leaves Jessie is danger.
If only the soul returns to the past, does it retain the memories of all the lives afterward?
Not all of them, no. If we did, we would be crazy people. There would simply be too many memories banging around up there. We do, however, have residual memories of our past lives. It’s how we can explain the 5 and 6 year old music prodigies who can play Bach and Beethoven. It’s how we can understand déjà vu, love at first sight, or the numerous coma patients who wake up speaking a foreign language they never studied. I call these residual memories…like those small pieces of dust you can see in a shaft of sunlight, residual memories exist in all of us. Some of us are able to recall these, but most of us ignore them. We chalk them up to something, anything other than a past life memory. Unfortunately, in our society, what can’t be proven by science we call miracles. There’s nothing miraculous about residual memories. They’re there. We need only not discount them in order to learn from them.
How does the soul know that its loved one is in danger? Have they met again in the current time?
Jessie does not know that Cate’s loved one is in danger until she goes back. When she returned, she learns that Cate and Maeve have committed themselves to remembering each other throughout all of their incarnations. We have more than one soul mate, of course. We have those who travel with us through our many lives. Sometimes, we are siblings, sometimes friends, sometimes lovers, but we know such a soul when we meet them…again, we just pass these meetings off as something else. We might call it instinct, or intuition, but we seldom call this special knowing memories.
Does the other soul remember?
Sometimes. Jessie always felt this emptiness, this hollow feeling inside. She tried filling that void with drugs, booze, sex, anything. She couldn’t name it, just as many of us can’t name that ache we cannot define. She is lost until Cate comes to her for help. Once that happens, Jessie realizes what it is she’s been missing; her purpose and her soul mate.
What is your concepts of reincarnation and karma?
Even though I was raised by Fundamentalists, the idea that so many people spent this life looking forward to dying in order to get to someplace called Heaven or Nirvana, or or or…boggles my mind. It makes so much more sense to me that we are here, we learn something, we grow, and we take that knowledge with us to the next life, which, by the way, isn’t always forward. I know, I know, I sound like a crazy person, but did you know that DaVinci invented the parachute? Why on earth would a man invent something that wouldn’t really be needed for over 400 more years? Think of all the inventors and scientists who were so far ahead of their time. Think of history’s greatest artists; people who creating things or had ideas that were considered heretical. Where did they get those ideas?
As for karma? I don’t know that it travels with us from one life to the next, but I’m sure it exists in the lives we’re currently leading.
How do you think they influence a person's life challenges?
Wow. Good question. I think people who believe in past lives and reincarnation have a lot more to learn and can tap into wisdom and knowledge they didn’t know they possessed. I think it helps explains so much about our current fears, some of our baser idiosyncrasies, and the like. Many of us have fears for which we can’t even name the origin of.
When I had my past lives read by two different psychics in two different states, I was amazed by the similar readings. Once said I lived 82 lives, the other said 83. I was amazed, not by how close they were (which WAS amazing), but by the fact that I lived so many. “You…well…die young.” That explained so much to me and about the way I live my life. I have always lived my life by appreciating every day and doing as many things as I could.
Do you believe that souls incarnate together for a reason? Love? Revenage? Healing?
I certainly do! In Jessie’s case, it’s all about love. For me, it’s never about revenge…it’s about connection with others. I think we wander through this life looking for those connections…sometimes we find them in friends, in co-workers, in siblings. We’re happiest when surrounded by people who understand us. Who better to understand us than someone who has travelled with us in the past?
Does the character return to her or his own time?
She does. She has to. When Cate calls her, Jessie knows nothing about the past, about history, about anything. She needs to learn that information so Cate can access those memories. That’s the fun part for me. I love history and I get to dabble in it. (not change it. Jessie can’t change what we THINK we know about history…but that doesn’t mean she can’t be a player in making the history we think we know HAPPEN).
How has changing the past altered the future?
Oh…I got ahead of myself. If Jessie could change the past, that would really bog the story down. What we have to remember is that the victorious are the ones who record history, not the vanquished. That means so much of what we have learned is screwed. According to historians, Queen Boudicca suddenly turned her army around. No one knows why. I can take liberties with this and GIVE the reason why. Jessie. There are so many gaps and holes in history, and that’s where Jessie makes the difference. The outcomes remains the same, but HOW the outcome got there…well…that’s my playground!
How do you see time? Is it fixed or like the future changeable?
Time is the Final Frontier and I love that we have not conquered it or really even understood it. Time is not linear, like a steel pole. I see it as a piece of string that can turn back on itself, and when frayed, there are strands of it happening at the same time ours is happening. If it wasn’t happening when ours was, there would be no place to go.
What is the one thing or things you would like the reader to take away when the read the last page?
I’d like them to think about why they are the way they are, and if they could tap into who they were, how would that change their world , or, at the very least, help them understand more about themselves? I also want them to be connected to Jessie and to want to go on more adventures with her Across Time.
Could you also give me a brief bio with contact information and where to buy you book. You can also include brief synopsis of your other work.
When Linda Kay Silva isn’t writing (which is seldom), she teaches various college English courses from American Minority Literature to Introduction to Fiction. Living with her incredibly patient partner of 10 years, Linda Kay takes time out to play with Lucy Lui, her cockapoo who loves walks, playing with her favorite toy, and blogging. If you want to know more about either Linda Kay or Lucy, you can check either of them out at www.lindakaysilva.com or Linda Kay’s blog at http://lindakaysilva.livejournal.com.
Synopsis:
Jessie Ferguson’s life is going nowhere. She’s tried drugs, alcohol, even sex to fill the void that has no name, but nothing seems to quench that dull ache that visits her nightly. When she moves into a restored Victorian Bed and Breakfast, all of that changes the instant she hears a call from the past. A call from her past.
A past life two thousand years ago from a place she knows nothing of, from a woman she’s seen only in her dreams. It is a past that needs her, a past that has burst through the boundaries of time in order to ask for her help.
How can Jessie help save someone else’s life when she can barely control her own? What is it this druid named Cate wants from her? To find out, Jessie enters through a portal only to find herself not face-to-face with Cate, but within her; for Cate and Jessie share the same soul only in two different periods across time. Cate has called for Jessie because the druids are facing the onslaught of a Roman army bent on crushing every last one of them. In an effort to save her people, Cate has traveled through the portal hoping that Jessie can help prevent the catastrophic destruction of her people…and of her loved one, and soul mate, Maive, high priestess of the druids.
Can Jessie help Cate save both her people and the woman she loves? In doing so, can Jessie find the same peace, contentment, and love that she found two thousand years ago? Is there a Maeve for her somewhere in this life?
If you believe in soul mates, if you know you’ve had a past life, if you’ve ever wondered who you might have been long ago and who you might have loved, then join Jessie in the first of a series of adventures that takes her Across Time.
Please give me a 300-400 word excerpt. Pick your favor scene and give me a piece of it.
“But how will I ever know if you survived Mona?”
“You may never know. Perhaps it is better that way. You carry within your breast the heart of a warrior, the spirit of a Druid, and the mind of a bard. Call on them when you need them. For if you reach down deep enough, you will touch Catie’s light and she will always show you the way.” Reaching up, Maeve touched Jessie’s cheek with her palm. It was hot; Jessie felt the heat all over her. “And remember, no matter where you go, you will find me, or I, as I did in our time, will find you.”
“You mean--”
Maeve grinned and nodded. “I am out there, Jessie. We just have not met yet.” With that, Maeve touched her shoulder before standing at the edge of the mist. “We will meet again, Jessie Ferguson. This, I promise you.” Turning, Maeve disappeared into the mist. For a long time, both women stared at the misty opening as it slowly closed around her.
“Will I know?” Jessie asked softly.
Cate nodded. “I did. The moment I saw her, something happened within me. I knew.”
“Immediately?”
Cate shook her head. “In a heartbeat or two, but you’ll know. We’ll know. I’ll help you know.”
Sighing, Jessie walked over to Cate and hugged her tightly. “You’ve become a good friend to me. I’m not very good at goodbyes and I wish this wasn’t one.”
“You have done a great thing, Jessie. Tomorrow, we will head to Mona to see how many lives we can save. I will do my best to make you proud.”
Jessie nodded. “And Maeve? Will you be able to save her?”
“I shall or I will die trying.”
As Jessie stepped away, she could barely believe the hollow emptiness inside; the pain of a goodbye far more excruciating than when she left San Francisco. “Then I guess I have to just walk away believing the two of you die a very old age. It’s the only way I can leave and live my life without wondering every day if you made it--if you’re safe and happy.”
Cate nodded, but then her face changed, like one who just got a great idea. “Do you know where Mona is in your time?”
Jessie nodded. “It’s called Anglesey now.”
“Close your eyes.”
Jessie did and immediately saw a stone structure much like Stonehenge.
“See it?”
“Yes.”
“Do you see a very large, white rock about the size of two horses off to the side of the henge beneath a large oak tree?”
Jessie nodded.
“Open your eyes.”
When she did, Cate was removing the ankh from around her neck. “If we live through this, both of us, then I will bury this ankh an arm’s length beneath that rock on the western side. I do not know if it will be there two thousand years from now, but if it is, then you will know.”
Jessie realized, for the first time, that Cate had made the assumption that Jessie was in England or Wales, and it was no wonder. In Cate’s time, there was no America. Columbus and the New World were a good fourteen hundred years away.
“I’ll find it.”
“Thank you, Jessie, for answering my call. I promise I will live my life befitting one who has shown such courage. You are a wonderful person, and I am proud to know that you are who I become so far into the future.”
“I’ll miss you, Cate.” Jessie shook her head and wiped her eyes. “More than you will ever know. You, my little priestess friend, are the very best of me.” With that, Jessie found herself back in the Inn.
The Book Shelf: Novels By Linda Kay Silva
Letters
Thunderstorm
Storm Rising
Taken by Storm
Storm Shelter
Tory's Tuesday
Weathering the Storm
Storm Front
Tropical Storm
A Year in Wonderland
Biscuits and Gravy
Searching for Hemingway
Three Girls in a Teepee
Nothing Fair About It
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Linda K. Sliva, author, teacher, wise woman, fantasy, fiction, reincarnation, soul mates, author interviews, Theresa Chaze, metaphsyical, soul healing, karma, karmic connection, soul connection, spiritual healing, occult fiction,
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