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HEALING WATER

15th February 2015 by Carolyn Mathews Leave a Comment

HEALING WATER

Bernadette Soubirous was a girl of fourteen when, on 11 February 1858, an apparition of the Virgin Mary appeared to her as she was out walking with her sister and a friend. The lady appeared again; on one occasion a small spring began to flow after she told Bernadette to dig in the mud. This water was seen to have healing properties and Lourdes has become a famous destination for prayer and healing.

When I was fourteen I joined a school trip to Lourdes, organised by the Servite nuns from the convent school I attended. It was summer, but Sister Alban, the headmistress, gave us a dispensation from wearing our regulation (awful) straw hats and issued us with a navy beret apiece. It still didn’t make us look French.

In those days, only children from orphanages in France wore a uniform so when we helped out in the large refectory, serving pilgrims, they thought we were poor English orphans. The nuns told us this but I don’t know if they told the French we weren’t – maybe they gave orphans bigger portions so the sisters decided to keep quiet. Anyway, we threw ourselves into it and even submerged ourselves in the healing baths. I don’t remember much more about it, except that we bought tasteful plastic containers and filled them full of the water to take back home to give to the mums and aunties.

I was reminded of my trip when I read a message from Patricia Cota-Robles on www.eraofpeace.org. Her followers have collected Healing Waters from all over the world, including, of course, Lourdes, to create a Sacred Blend of Healing Water. She is offering a small vial of starter water to anyone who contacts her. The starter water needs to be activated so the vial comes with instructions on how to do this.

Science Museum, London, Wellcome Images (cc by 4.0)

As you can imagine, I was only too happy to receive this gift (Patricia sends it free but donations are welcome).

In ‘Squaring Circles’ a healing circle produces an elixir of life which has the remarkable effect of turning back Pandora’s biological clock. I’m not saying that the Sacred Blend will do that for me, but I’m slightly excited about taking it and wondering if my bikini body may be on its way back from the grave.

Whatever we expect from our Healing Water, the great thing is that now everyone can have their very own supply without having to leave the country or take part in a pagan ritual!

A LYRICAL LIFE – WRITING FOR PERSONAL GROWTH

12th December 2014 by Carolyn Mathews Leave a Comment

A Lyrical Life – writing for personal growth

The more you focus on something, the more automatic it becomes, and writing regularly can lead to a fluency which is often referred to as ‘being in the flow’. In Taoism, the concept of ‘flow’ is life being lived in balance and harmony, like a river finding its natural course. The act of writing connects you to your creative nature, which in turn attunes you to this ‘flow’.

The following is an encapsulated version of a short correspondence course I wrote on the subject of achieving a positive shift by means of guided writing based on the CHAKRA system. The course is no longer active, but you might like to try this taster for yourself.

Instructions: Simply write down the answers to each of the questions in as brief or expanded a way as you like. Pen and paper is best for this process. If possible, find someone you trust to read your work and discuss it with you.

Practice 1 – Red Base Chakra – Security and Survival

What was your first memory/impression of the world?

What is your favourite childhood memory? And your least favourite?

What people or things in your life do you value highly, and why?

Do you provide support for anyone? Could you help anyone feel more supported and secure?

Assignment: A horror story!

Practice 2 – Orange Sacral Chakra – Feelings, Sexuality

Did you experience the anxiety of separation when you first went to school/nursery?

What is your friendship circle like? Do you sometimes find friendship demanding? Do you demand a lot from your friends?

When were you last moved to tears? And laughter?

Do you think that males and females have different expectations of sexual encounters?

Assignment: Write about one of your friends or lovers.

Practice 3 – Yellow Solar Plexus Chakra – Power and Wisdom

Can you recount any instances of risky adolescent behaviour, relating to you, your friends or your own children?

What do you feel self-assured and fearless about? What makes you apprehensive because you lack faith in yourself?

How would you answer the question: Who am I? Are you fairly constant in character or ‘all things to all men’?

Can you sum up what being wise means to you?

Assignment: An article entitled ‘How I would like the world to be’. Make it as surreal as you like.

Practice 4 – Pink/green Heart Chakra – Love

When do you feel you truly became an adult?

Describe the best and worst jobs you’ve ever had. What would be your perfect job?

Have you any reservations about giving and receiving love? Do you sometimes feel dependent on, or even addicted to, another person?

To love others, first we need to love ourselves, and so it is with forgiveness. Is there something you find hard to forgive – in yourself – or others?

Assignment: Have a go at writing a love poem. Write a love story, truth or fiction.

Practice 5 – Sky Blue Throat Chakra – Communication

What are your thoughts on middle age? Do the positives outweigh the negatives?

Do you tend to be trustful or mistrustful? Do you find that people live up (or down) to your expectations?

Do you have the freedom to express yourself as you would wish? Do you give others the opportunity to communicate effectively with you? Do you ever overstate your case?

How do you think your attitudes and opinions affect others?

Assignment: When you communicate with Source through meditation you open a channel of potential creation. Writing can also be a means of communicating your intentions. Write down how you’d like to create the coming year, after each intention, writing one positive step you will take towards that goal.

Practice 6 – Indigo Third Eye Chakra – Intuition

Do you agree that physical signs of ageing are a result of our expectations? Is society ageist? Are you looking forward to retirement?

Of the knowledge you have acquired, what do you value most highly? What course of learning would you like to embark on, if time and money were no object?

How developed is your intuition? Have you noticed any increase in your intuition since you’ve started writing regularly?

Assignment: Suspend any disbelief you might have, and write to your guardian angel. Give him/her (they’re gender neutral) a problem or two to solve on your behalf, then write the reply. You might get some good advice back!

Practice 7 – Violet Crown Chakra – Spirituality

What do you expect to happen when you die? Who will you see? Where will you be?

Have you had any experiences with formal religion? If these were negative, is any anger or lack of forgiveness now resolved?

Write about a loss of some kind you have survived. Is someone missing you? Do you need to contact someone?

What would you like your obituary to say?

Assignment: Start a daily journal where you ask advice about decisions you need to take and jot down anything that’s on your mind.

I trust you’ll enjoy the writing practice and, on a more subtle level, the chakra cleansing and clearing that can occur as a result of addressing the relevant issues. I hope you achieve a lyrical life, and will always be ‘in the flow’.

CHORLEYWOOD LITFEST

30th August 2014 by Carolyn Mathews Leave a Comment

As a local author, I’ll be at Chorleywood Litfest taking part in their Author Fair on Sunday, November 16th 2014. Hope to see you there.

Chorleywood Indie Author Fair

IS ‘SQUARING CIRCLES’ A BOOK ON GEOMETRY?

28th July 2014 by Carolyn Mathews Leave a Comment

IS ‘SQUARING CIRCLES’ A BOOK ON GEOMETRY?

Like most of my generation, I was brought up to be modest and self-effacing. We were told to leave the praise to others and never blow our own trumpets. But O tempora! O mores! How times have changed. The revolution in book production, marketing and publicity means that nowadays all authors – from best-selling to non-selling – have to push themselves forward to be noticed. Not only do we have to blow our own horns, we have to get others to swell the chorus along with us.

Here’s a conundrum. Called upon to pick up a friend’s daughter from school recently, I was surprised to find myself the object of attention of a clutch of eight-year-olds. On the way home, my young charge revealed that she’d told her class I was ‘a famous author’. (They’d been reading ‘Harry Potter’ and the fantasy must have gone to her head).

‘No, no!’ I protested. You mustn’t say that.

‘But I’ve seen your book,’ she said, ‘and you’re on the internet.’

‘Yes, but I’m not famous.’

Scarce had the words left my lips than my inner voice whispered: Be careful what you wish for. Oh dear. I’d caught myself in a heinous act of subversion: namely, sending mixed messages to the universe. What’s the point of (quite understandably, surely?) wishing for huge sales on the one hand, while trying to maintain as low a profile as possible on the other?

Uråsa_kyrka_Ängel052[1] — Uråsa church, Sweden. Bernt Fransson

Having spent months – years even – gestating a living, breathing book, we owe it to our creations to give them a decent chance of surviving and prospering. So here’s the opening reveille for Squaring Circles, due to enter the world on 26 September 2014.

BACKGROUND
The main character, Pandora, debuted in Transforming Pandora, which gives the backdrop of her life from the age of eighteen. Squaring Circles opens with her mother’s burial in a paddock in Glastonbury.

WHAT’S WITH THE TITLE?
You may well ask. One of the reasons I chose Squaring Circles was that the expression ‘to square the circle’ means ‘to find a way around a difficult problem’. Pandora encounters quite a few of these, the first at the very beginning, when her mother’s grave is disturbed. In an effort to find the culprit she turns detective, staying in Glastonbury, away from her family home. This is bad timing for her marriage, as her partner, Jay, is working closely with another problem – Gaby, a predatory singer who has designs on him. An extra complication arises when Pandora comes across Zac, an old flame, who offers her a tempting new job in a completely different sphere.

The title also relates to her social circles and how they could be healed or ‘squared’. Pandora’s present family circle includes Jay’s five children, three of them teenagers, unfamiliar to her until four years earlier. What’s more, a blood relative turns up whose identity has been kept a secret for over thirty years.

There are other circles, too: the Glastonbury community her mother was part of and the clients Pandora meets through the sound therapy work she does. And there is the Circle of Isis – a healing group her mother was involved with, which a scheming couple want to use for their own ends.

Finally, there’s a geometric connection. Rosemary, a character who also appears in the first book, describes herself as ‘a practical alchemist’ and practises her art within the Circle of Isis. A common symbol for alchemy is a circle within a square within a triangle, within a circle. If you look closely at the cover you can see all those shapes.

Have I convinced you that the title passes muster? I hope so. Just don’t ask me where the triangle comes in. Wait a minute, that must be the Jay, Pandora, Gaby triangle and the Jay, Pandora, Zac triangle. Thanks for helping me work that out.

There’s one more Pandora book to come, so now all I have to do is square the circle of what she does next and what to call it when she’s finished doing whatever she decides to do!

PANDORA’S DIVINE PURPOSE

8th July 2014 by Carolyn Mathews Leave a Comment

8930709 - egypt 2 PANDORA’S DIVINE PURPOSE

In 2005 I went on a trip to Egypt entitled ‘The Awakening of Divine Purpose’. I heard about it through Sandra Makein, a healer who was part of the organising team. She was a friend of Damian, the young channeller who would be taking us round the sacred sites and leading us in meditations and guided visualisations, while we tried not to faint in the searing heat.

The high point was the evening that Damian channelled each member’s individual divine purpose. The information was recorded and each of us subsequently received a CD, produced by Paul Foss, which included, not only our divine purpose, but the whole group singing in the King’s Chamber of the Great Pyramid.

I have to say, that when I first heard the words Damian spoke, I couldn’t understand what the heck I was supposed to be devoting the rest of my life to. My channelling came from the Seraphim who declared that my mastery was that of ‘healing the atomic blueprint of all beings’. I had to ‘manifest forth unto the world sound codes of light to assist all beings to birth a memory of the original pattern of their atomic structure…to assist in the healing and transformation of cellular disorder…to perceive the sacred geometry that makes up their form.’ There was more in a similar vein, equally incomprehensible to me.

After the session, it was clear that everyone was dying to discuss their messages further. I managed to nab Damian the next day to ask him what it meant in practical terms, but the trouble is, channellers often don’t remember the communication itself. So I repeated what I could remember of it and he told me it was concerned with an aspect of healing connected to the body’s sacred geometry.

I had an ‘O’ level in maths but that hadn’t covered sacred geometry. On top of that, I felt strangely disappointed at the task I’d been given, which seemed to be hands-on healing. I’d previously attempted to give Reiki treatments, but the wooden treatment table had been a bad choice: too low and too heavy. My efforts might have benefited the recipients, but had resulted in back and neck ache for yours truly.

Fast-forward to 2011 when I had an urge to write a novel, Transforming Pandora, with a spiritual aspect. There is a supernatural character in that book called Enoch, who communicates with Pandora via automatic writing. The language I used for him was based on the elaborate language that came through when Damian channelled.

A year or so later, I started a second novel featuring the same main character. I wanted her to become a healer but I wasn’t sure in which modality. One day I was drawn to play the Divine Awakening CD. Then I googled some of the expressions the Seraphim had used and, finally, I began to understand what the words meant. They matched those used in reference to the Violet Flame of St Germain when describing the way the flame blasts all negativity from the trillions of cells in the human body. I discovered that ‘the body’s sacred geometry’ refers to human DNA. A person’s ‘original blueprint’ refers to his or her original soul, which is a ‘spark’ of God/Source.

The other area which connected closely to the channelling was the healing properties of

Thai gong Badagnani at the English language Wikipedia — Thai gong. Badagnani at Wikipedia

sound. Hey presto, the light went on. I realised I had my answer and Pandora became a sound healer who incorporates Violet Flame invocations into her healing.

So nine years after the original channelling, it has all come to pass. As it turned out, it’s not me who’s the hands-on healer, but Pandora. Through her, I’m spreading the word, which is great news for my back.

When I asked Damian for permission to adapt the actual words of my channelling to use in the second book, Squaring Circles, he came up trumps. His reply was: ‘It is beautiful to see that what was seeded in Egypt is taking fruit.’

Oh, and by another stroke of luck, he agreed to provide the cover image.

Squaring Circles is published on 26 September 2014.

Damian Nola is also known as Aminya Nanga Mai

TRANSFORMING PANDORA – Frequently Asked Questions

4th June 2014 by Carolyn Mathews Leave a Comment

TRANSFORMING PANDORA – FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Pandora, Rossetti — Pandora, Dante Gabriel Rossetti

What was the inspiration behind Transforming Pandora?

When I left teaching, I thought I’d try my hand at something other than material for language learners. My first efforts were a bit off-beam – some dodgy poetry and a self-help manual. It wasn’t till the autumn of 2010 that I had an overwhelming urge to write a novel, so I joined a writing class to get my work critiqued by strangers – friends and family are often too kind to be objective critics. There was some resistance from a few members of the class to the spiritual element, but for me this underlying theme was essential because I wanted the book to be more than just a story. I wanted it to appeal to the reader’s heart and soul.

Is there anything biographical about Pandora?

I’ve certainly drawn on familiar locations and scenarios. I was a convent schoolgirl with an Irish background, I worked in a nightclub in Estartit, on the Costa Brava, and have attended a number of Mind, Body and Spirit events and workshops in my time. But she isn’t based on the eighteen-year-old me: she’s much more reflective about religion than I was at that age.

Do you think of the 1970s with affection?

Photographer: Louise Docker — Photo: Louise Docker, Sydney.

Yes. I got married in the 1970s. One of our wedding presents was an old black Austin A30 which kept breaking down. We rented a small flat with an orange ceiling and purple walls, mercifully not in the same room. Both of my sons were born in this decade, and we moved house three times, so it was full of new life experiences.

Have you ever communicated with a supernatural being from ‘the other side’?

I communicate with ‘the other side’ in the way that any other writer or meditator does. With writing it’s the state of being in the flow – contacting the muse, if you like – when the words come easily and it feels as if a truth is being communicated through the speech and actions of the characters.

Richard_Doyle,_illustration from In_Fairyland,_1870 — Richard Doyle, In Fairyland

Meditation can put the meditator in touch with his or her higher self. The practice opens the third eye and increases our powers of intuition, so we instinctively make better choices, know when to follow a hunch, become tuned in to the process of creativity. But, no, I don’t see angels or ascended masters – or even fairies. It would be nice, though.

How long did it take to write Transforming Pandora?

About a year, but after that, six months of tweaking! Working with two time frames did cause complications. I sent the manuscript to a literary consultancy to see if the structure worked and they advised me to review the chapter sequence. So I rejigged some of the chapters, clustering them together, and added a new one at the beginning, to set the scene a bit more.

What’s Next?

Pandora takes centre stage again in my second novel Squaring Circles, This one’s set in 2008, so there’s only four years of her life to catch up on. Like the first, it starts with a recent death, but this time there’s a mystery surrounding the burial which a large Poitou donkey helps her solve. I plan to write one more Pandora book after that. Then I’ll see what life and inspiration brings.