Category: Spirit

Posted on

Interview with Jonna Turner

I’ve been a writer since my teenage years in Memphis and have found that meeting new people and visiting new places has always stirred and fueled my imagination. My favorite books are mysteries. Growing up, I read Agatha Christie, Mary Higgins Clark, and Phyllis A. Whitney novels, which helped me to find my own voice and writing style. I’ve set my female sleuth novels in Memphis, Boston, Cape Cod, World War II Germany, Seattle, Victoria, BC, and Colorado, my home now.

Although I still love the mystery genre, for the past few years I’ve felt God nudging me to write an inspirational book. Thus was born, Angel Encounters.

Angel Encounters is a collection of real-life experiences with angels, spirits, demons, or Jesus himself. I gathered the stories from across the United States and several foreign countries. They are stories of near-death experiences, angel warfare, unexplained rescues, messages from the other side, appearances of departed loved ones, help from unlikely earth angels, and visits from God and Jesus in a time of need.

The book is designed to give readers hope and assurance of God’s love for them.

Jonna Turner

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002W7HIPE

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jonna-Turner/211333342228949?ref=hl

 

Posted on

Article in New Book

I have an article in Jonna Turner’s book, Angel Encounters, now available on Amazon. I wrote about an experience I had in Vittel, France, while on a meditation teacher’s course. It’s a book about encounters with angels and other spiritual beings.

Jonna Turner is an award-winning author of mystery novels, short stories, motivational radio scripts, and feature articles for newspapers and magazines. She lives on the northern edge of the Palmer Divide in Colorado with her husband and Golden Retrievers. She welcomes reader e-mail on her Facebook page and at her website: www.jonnaturner.com.

 

 

Posted on

New Egyptian Novel! Interview with Merrie P. Wycoff

Every once in a while someone writes a book that I know my readers will be especially interested in. Merrie P. Wycoff’s Shadow of the Sun is one of them. Merrie tells the story of the Pharaoh Akhenaten from the perspective of his daughter, Merit-Aten. Here’s what she has to say about the book.

Would you please tell us a little about yourself?  I was born in San Jose, CA and when I was 10 years old we took a class trip to the Rosicrucian Museum where I discovered a colossal statue of Pharaoh Akhenaten and was mesmerized. I vowed to discover the truth about this unusual looking man who history had deemed ‘a heretic.’  After college I moved to Los Angeles and worked as a lead Segment Producer for Entertainment Tonight for six years.  Then moved to Colorado where I reside today.

Would you please tell us about your latest book?  Shadow of the Sun is a paranormal historical novel set in Ancient Egypt. The story is told through the eyes of Pharaoh Akhenaten’s and Queen Nefertiti’s first daughter who is born to save her family and bring peace to her country after her parents introduce a revolutionary form of peaceful worship during a dark reign of terror. The problem is that her parents’ have dramatically different views on how she should do it.

Pharaoh Akhenaten desires that Merit-Aten remain chaste and take the perilous path of an Egyptian Mystery School initiate while Queen Nefertiti demands that Merit-Aten choose a consort and produce more heirs to ensure the family’s survival.  Merit is forced to choose her own destiny, but can she do it without destroying everyone she loves?

What made you interested in writing this particular story?  I have always been fascinated with Egyptian history. I am currently earning my Egyptology degree at the University of Manchester. But, on my second trip to Egypt in 2007 with Stephen Mehler, we traveled with an ancient Egyptian wisdom keeper, Abd’El Hakim Awyan who dramatically changed my perspective and introduced me to an entirely different point of view. I yearned to show my readers something new about an ancient civilization.

What does a typical writing day look like?  I love to write. I write whenever I have a chance. Lunchtime, before dinner or late at night. I just need quiet so that my scenes can come alive…like watching a movie. I have to hear it, taste it, smell it and see it. The characters tell me their story. I just listen.

Can you describe your writing process?  Research. Research. Research. Readers want to know what kind of tea they were drinking. It took me seven years to write this.  Probably could have done it sooner if I had an outline.  My next book will take less time.

How did you come up with your title?  Akh means child or shadow of the mother in the Khemitian (Egyptian) language because children follow their mothers everywhere.  The sun refers to the Aten which is the form of monotheistic worship that Pharaoh Akhenaten introduced back after he wiped out the pantheon of gilded gods.  The ruling deity at that time was Amun, the Hidden One who lived in the shadows when the priests ruled Egypt with greed, superstition and fear.

What advice do you have for writers who have not yet been published? Summon up your will forces to sit down every day and write. Then find a great editor to polish your work. Make it excellent. The publishing world is being turned upside down by those of us who are self-publishing.  My story is unique but it isn’t a vampire or zombie novel so although agents loved it they didn’t want to take a chance.

Name three people who either inspired you or influenced your creativity. My sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Conant who believed in me.  Drunvalo Melchizidek who urged me to write this story. And my mother who kept a bust of Nefertiti on the mantle while I was growing up. Life plants clues we just have to be aware of them.

If your book were chocolate, what kind would it be and why?  Dark chocolate with a hint of chile because it is exotic, flavorful and a bit spicy.

Tell us about your main character’s psyche or personality. What led her (or him) to be the person s/he is today?  Prior to her birth, Princess Merit-Aten remembers that she made a contract with the heaven lords to save her family. She negotiated for superior knowledge. Unfortunately that gets her into a lot of trouble and doesn’t make her popular with her older classmates.  She discovers jealously, lies, betrayal, murder and magic within the warring court.  Merit-Aten’s ability to talk to animals, see colorful auras around everyone and her obsession with the forbidden use of magic in order to further her cause stirs up a lot of drama.

If you could host a magical dinner party, who are the six people (living or otherwise) you’d include?  Stevie Nicks, Marie Antoinette, Queen Guinevere, Mary Magdalene, Count St. Germain, and Thoth.

What are you working on right now?My second book in The Shadow Saga is called Stealing the Shadow of Death.

Find out more about Merrie and her novels at http://merriepwycoff.com/

Posted on

April’s Fool

April Fool’s Day reminds me of switching the sugar and salt in their two bowls and giggling while my mother put salt in her coffee. It also makes me think of the Fool in Tarot.

The Fool is the first card in the Major Arcana with the number 0. But he’s also the last card, number 22. The Fool walks blightly out from the Absolute, the unified consciousness, as the first manifestation on the Tree of Life. He carries with him in his wallet all the knowledge he might need on his journey of creation, but that knowledge is in his wallet, not outside. This suggests that by stepping away from that all-knowing source, he’s already “forgotten” that he knows everything.

The Fool walks off a cliff, which to me shows the audacity of making that separation. He does this with a smile on his face. He’s accompanied by a little white dog. He carries a white rose.

The Fool always tells me to lighten up. Creation, life, the journey of manifestation, is not to be taken so seriously. After all, this separation is an illusion. It’s an experiment. We have all that we need to know in that wallet we carry. In the symbol of the White Rose. And we have the company of the always faithful White Dog.

Have a great April Fool’s Day.

Posted on

Christmas–Reaching Stillpoint

This time of year is always special to me, because of childhood memories of beeswax candles and Moravian Advent stars, carols and choir rehearsals, putting up the tree, Moravian ginger spice cookies.

Then there’s Solstice, the darkest night, the longest, when the sun is rekindled in the womb of the Dark Mother. Always the deepest darkness regenerates us, even though we fight to avoid it. But once we surrender, we too are renewed.

At Solstice, the sun stops sinking low in the sky and pauses. For three days it stays still. Then on Christmas Day, it begins to climb higher again.

Solstice and Christmas bring many things, but the thing I prize the most is the stillness. In stillness and silence, all can be found.

Posted on

Short Story Sale

I’m honored to have a story included in the anthology Ride the Moon from the new Canadian science fiction/fantasy press Tyche Books, Ltd. Just look at this list of great writers.

My story is “White Moon,” based on the story of the Mayan Goddess Ixchel. Ixchel is a moon goddess, the consort of the sun god, mother of the four jaguar priests. And it’s the name of the mystery crystal skull that was revealed at the 11.11.11 conference in L.A where my own consort, Stephen Mehler, was a guest speaker. The story includes Mayan mythology, magic, crystal skulls and sound healing.

In her myth cycle, Ixchel marries Itzamna, the sun, but grows tired of his hot temper. When she leaves him, she goes to her island, Cozumel, where she lives among women as a midwife and healer. I took this theme of the ebb and flow of relationships, and the ebb and flow of human consciousness.

A special note:  if you find that you resemble a character in this story, remember not to read too much into it. This is not really you, but a character in a story written for fun.