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The Creative Pendulum — New Book To Be Released June 2022

I just received this cover graphic from Red Wheel/Weiser for my upcoming book, The Creative Pendulum. What do you think? It made the manuscript almost a book feel real. I had so much fun writing this book, and it happened during the Covid pandemic. The book was helped me stay focused on the positive. Daily showing up to write kept my creativity flowing. Also, I had fun researching the subject of creativity, which is summarized in the 33 Creative Charts found in my book.

Creative Projects are a Gift

I have been grateful to have a creative project during Covid-19. In January 2020, I started putting the final touches on my book proposal for the Book of Pendulum Creativity. I have to be honest–book proposals are difficult for me. It’s the sitting in the chair and beginning to write a marketing and business plan. Once I begin, I do get excited after ideas begin to flow, and I like researching in books and on the Internet.

            But I finally did finish my book proposal March 2^nd, 2020 and sent it off to my editor at Red Wheel/Weiser Publishing. By that time, I had finished approximately one-third of the book and was motivated to continue. But Covid-19 hit us hard in the USA and all of us–from my publisher to agent to editor–were reeling. Do you remember the early days? In California we were in a full shutdown from March 19^th to June 12^th. We were just learning about washing our hands, sanitizing, and talking about whether we should wear a mask or not. Simple things we could do to prevent the spread. And the big ask–stay at home all the time! Remember when the USA did not have enough masks and protective gear for doctors, nurses, and hospitals?

            It wasn’t ’til July 2nd, that I had a final, signed contract. Yahoo! I am still a newbie to traditional publishing, so each stage is exciting. Then there is the day after, “Oh my God I have to deliver a manuscript in five months, by January 1^st 2020.”  But a deadline is so helpful. It means you have to start now, no excuses, sit in your chair and write.

            I was able to rent a desk in the Catamaran Literary Reader offices where I have volunteered, so I could leave my loft, walk across the grounds, and open a door to another space away from dishes, house cleaning, cooking, and chores, not to mention the 24 hours new cycle, that always calls to me when I’m home. No, my office wasn’t as quiet as I hoped. Towards the end of the summer a fellow artist, was carving a large wooden sculpture with a chain saw right behind my office. When he arrived, I had to leave! But I would go home and continue working. I kept telling myself to be flexible.

            Then, right in my backyard, a few miles up the road on Highway 9 from where I live, we experienced the Santa Cruz “CZU Lightning Complex Fire.” Local news reports stated, “It started at 6:41 AM on August 16, 2020, the result of a thunderstorm that produced close to 11,000 bolts of lightning and started hundreds of fires throughout California. 1,490 buildings and one life was lost.”  As the fire roared in the mountains, ash rained down upon us, and half my neighbors left the Tannery. When they evacuated a housing track up the road a mile away, we accepted a friend’s invitation to spend the night.

            Then, I was so distracted by the presidential election. You know that story! All that waiting to find out who won, and all that drama that is still occurring. Meanwhile Covid-19 raged. I would still just show up to write at my office for two hours a day, minimum. I would sit, pop a sparkling water, and write. My book felt like a life raft in the unpredictable, sometimes frightening world we all were suddenly living. I could go to work on my book and be happy, no matter what was happening.

            But then I did finish a little early–December 8th. The manuscript and the Charts were emailed. There was this feeling of great relief and subtle emptiness, like letting go of a good friend. My agent congratulated me on finishing despite “dire distractions.” But, I felt so grateful to the project itself. I was given a wonderful subject to focus on–creativity. I had relief from Covid-19, the CZU Lightning Complex Fire, and the presidential news cycle.

            I still haven’t heard if the manuscript has been accepted. Patience! Then, the real work of editing and polishing begins. Hold me in your thoughts. Let’s see this project, The Book of Pendulum Creativity, being born either in late 2021 or early 2022.

Ten Questions about Dowsing & Divining

1. Tell us about your book, The Book of Pendulum Healing?

The Book of Pendulum Healingoffers instructions and a set of thirty interrelated Intuitive Healing Charts that help people research their emotional, spiritual, and physical issues. The book provides solutions and treatments for those who want to stay in balance, prevent illness or help themselves get well. In addition, other easy to learn healing techniques are included, such as communication with the angelic realm, affirmative prayer, meditation, aura clearing, and how to give healings to others.

2. What is pendulum divining or dowsing?

To dowse, the more scientific term meansto search with a rod or pendulum for anything. A sister word, more spiritual, is to divine, to discover by intuition, the direct knowing of truth. In this book, I use both terms interchangeably. 

3. How did you get interested in dowsing?

While healing after the death of my husband and after using a myriad of healing modalities – both in the alternative and traditional fields – counseling, reiki, flower essences, aromatherapy, and shamanistic methods – I was introduced to Spiritual Response Therapy which utilizes a pendulum and charts. I had a profound healing, and then studied and became a healer myself. Later, I created the Intuitive Charts to help with my own life, work, and healing.

4. What is the history of pendulum dowsing? Is it related to water dowsing with a rod?

Dowsing with a rod for water and minerals (also called field dowsing) has been used since ancient times for finding water, minerals, and lost objects. It was used by the Chinese, the Egyptians and later the Europeans. 

Dowsing with a pendulum for information (also called information dowsing) is a more recent development. Both pendulums and rods are tools to express through the body answers from the subconscious and super-conscious. The pendulum is a tool that connects us a person to higher consciousness to discern the truth. 

5. Is it magic? Has it been explained scientifically? 

In the broad definition – it is magic! I after all these years of using a pendulum am amazed at the power of the pendulum with the Intuitive Healing Charts to get to the heart of a problem and find solutions.

The dowser projects an intent, a request for information, and through the mind of the dowser and an instrument (a rod or a pendulum), an answer is fed back. The dowser has picked up a signal. It’s a type of clairvoyance, seeing beyond the ordinary. 

Still after all these years, dowsing though investigated, has not been scientifically explained. Albert Einstein, a dowser himself, was convinced of the authenticity of dowsing. He said, “I know very well that many scientists consider dowsing as they do astrology, as a type of ancient superstition. According to my conviction this is, however, unjustified. The dowsing rod is a simple instrument which shows the reaction of the human nervous system to certain factors which are unknown to us at this time.”  

6. Can any one learn to dowse or is it a special gift? 

I believe most people can learn to dowse. For some, the first time they pick up the pendulum, they will feel the connection, and easily experience the movement of the pendulum without consciously moving it. For others can be pendulum dowsing has been a slower learning curve. With study and practice most everyone can learn to dowse.

7. What is it like to a dowser, a diviner, and a spiritual healer? How long have you been a dowser and spiritual healer? 

It’s a little strange! I go in and out of multiple realities. On one hand I am a very normal person – just like everyone else, for instance, I go to the gym, shop, cook, write, and teach.

But when I work with divining, I open a window in my mind to another part of myself, who is connected with the universe and to Spirit. The charts act as a guidance system to clarify and discover both issues and solutions. Over the years while using the Intuitive Healing Charts, I have become a remote viewer, able to see and feel people and places, at distances. I see little films of people’s current, past, and possible futures, and am able to translate what I see, hear, and feel. Using the pendulum and divining overtime increases a person’s intuition and psychic abilities.

8. What types of spiritual healings do you do? What are the benefits? 

Primarily my spiritual healings work on the emotional and spiritual level. I am able to clear and help heal past and present life traumas, relationships, and physical spaces. Clients gain new insight, experience release from their issues, and move forward with their lives. Though thought of as being unconventional and unscientific, dowsing with a pendulum is infinitely practical – a direct route to the truth. A few sessions can be equal to a year of therapy. 

9. You teach classes on the pendulum and healing? What do people learn in your classes? 

These are fun, experiential classes! We learn to use the pendulum with the Intuitive Healing Charts, practice on each other and after practice give healings to each other. Most students are amazed at their new ability and the insights they have. Healing takes place instantly or overtime.

9. How can your book, The Book of Pendulum Healing, help people?

I wrote this book because I wanted to help people learn dowse, find the healing they needed, and have a deeper understanding of themselves. 

10. How can people find out more information?  Where can I buy a book?  

Please look at your independent and local Mind, Body, and Spirit bookshop. See my home page for links to Red Wheel /Weiser, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.

Why I Journal in the Morning!

From The Book of Pendulum Healing:

Early morning is the magic hour, when it’s quiet, while others are still asleep. This is time you can spend with yourself, waking gently. With coffee or tea or water in hand, I go to my purple meditation chair that overlooks the San Lorenzo River. I watch the river, which has been flowing fully and freely all spring. Over the months I have seen the leaves turn green, and I have also seen my sweet pink eucalyptus felled in a rainstorm. I notice the birds–mallards, blue jays, chickadees, and sometimes a grey heron flying low on the water.

I open a journal and pick up a pen. I let stream of consciousness flow onto the page. I let myself write about all the details of my life, whether happy or sad, joyful or fearful. I write about my friends, my children, about love and hate, about irritations and frustrations. I write about the previous day, about who said what, and who did what, and why it bugs me so much. Sometimes poems come through. After I clear away all my distractions, new ideas for projects or classes open into my unobstructed consciousness.

After doing this awhile­–I’ve been journaling since my early twenties–I feel I have a knowing about myself. I feel more real to myself. It helps me understand what upsets me, what I like, who I like, and what I want for myself in the future.

Then I use the pendulum and charts to ask any questions I might have about my life. I ask about my health, what I need, and what exercise would be best. I also sometimes clear my adult children, any loved ones who’ve asked for clearing, and clients who are going through a difficult time.

When I ran my own company, I took care of projects and employees and then went home to my children and husband to take care of us all. I would feel I had lost myself. But if I wrote even a page in the morning, the pen and paper would help me recover myself again.

The writing process comforts me. I write with pen and paper the old-fashioned way. There is something about the simple process that can be taken anywhere, no computer needed, that helps the mind settle down. Plus, I’m not getting distracted by Facebook and Google.

Writing has supported me to have a place to ask Spirit for help, help, help. For friends, family, and myself. My journal is a place to write down wishes and prayers and dreams for others and myself. Sometimes I take these written requests and put them in my prayer box. Later I open it up and read the prayers. Over time every prayer is answered.

My life has not always been so idyllic, but I have managed to journal, pray, and make a place for quiet time in the morning. It’s a big secret in life–those who take fifteen minutes of quiet time in the morning will have more of a Spirit-directed synchronistic day and life. See Julia Cameron’s bookThe Artist’s Wayfor more details on using the journaling process for healing.

As the author and artist Sark says about journaling in her book, Living Juicy: Daily Morsels for Your Creative Soul, “Fill it with inspiration and rage and tears and boredom and chaos and random pieces that happen to float past while you dream on the moonlit night.

A reminder–you can purchase a copy of The Book of Pendulum Healing here.

 

Meet Your Angels

 

 

As this is a devastating day for Southern California, its college students, and all of us, I thought it would be good to postabout the angels from my bookThe Book of Pendulum Healing.

The angels helped me, sometimes carried me, through the most difficult, painful times in my life, and they can help you too. My children are grown now, but I still ask that the angels of light and love always to surround and protect them, and then I ask them to hold me in their arms too. Angels can bring solace even when nothing makes sense and so many have been harmed.

Here is a short passage about my class, what we learn, and how you too can develop a deeper relationship with your guardian angels and the angels of light and love.

Connecting with Your Angels

I teach a class titled “Sacred Meetings with Your Angels” during the end-of-year holidays to give people a chance during the Holy Days to meet and learn more about their angels. I also teach a four-week class based on the book Ask Your Angelsby Alma Daniel, Timothy Wyllie, and Andrew Ramer.I truly love it because in my class my clients do have a personal experience of their guardian angels. They learn the name of their angel, discover how they could communicate more effectively with their angels, and receive a personal message. During the month we all seem to get closer to our angels.

Teaching the class allows me to receive a healing and confirmation because the stories are always so individual. One woman, who is feisty and colorful, has an angel named Zip. She is going through a healing challenge, and Zip is always lightening her up. Another woman’s angel’s name was surprising–Joe. A widow, she said that she never feels lonely because she feels Joe and her late husband with her.

We have fun with the exercises from the Ask Your Angelsbook–which I highly recommend. You can do the exercises at your own pace or form a small group and do them together. There is true power in spiritual groups.

Here is a shortened process that, if followed, will enable you to meet and greet your angels:

First, you need to clear any blocks that you might have regarding a belief in angels. You can make a list of any beliefs that might be standing in the way of your having an experience with them. Many people have thoughts such as “Angels are not real, or only children believe in angels.” “I’m scared. What if they are real?” or “Who am I to be helped by angels?” Once you have the thoughts down, crumple your paper, throw it away or burn it (safely), and then clear yourself with the pendulum. Next, write all the reasons why you’d like to connect with your angels. Keep that list and put it in a special place for prayers such as a prayer box.

The second step is to meet your guardian angel. Yes, we all have one. Guardian angels watch over us from before our birth, through our life, and take our soul home to God/Goddess. It doesn’t matter whether we see ourselves as an atheist or what our religion is, our guardian angel has been with us our whole life. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to meet this most helpful light being?

You can use a centering meditation and after, when you feel at peace, ask to meet and talk to your angel. You can visualize your guardian angel (using your imagination) in your mind’s eye. See yourself shaking hands (if you feel more formal) or receiving a hug. Take some time to feel the absolute love of God/Goddess that streams through the angels to you.

You can then ask your angel’s name and if they have a message for you. You might pick up your pen and journal and let the message flow naturally. For some, it might take a little while. You can continue meeting with your angels, and one day, you will know their names and be able to hear their messages. It’s such a reassuring feeling to be able to communicate directly with the angels.

In the Beginning — A Girl Friend Learns to Use the Pendulum

 

From The Book of Pendulum Healing – Chapter 3 – The Pendulum and Healing Charts Instructions.

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Recently, I had the pleasure of working with a new pendulum user. She had never dowsed before. First, I led her in a grounding meditation in which we connected to angels and Spirit and reviewed the pendulum and chart instructions. She then held her pendulum between her thumb and index finger, and as I sat next to her, for the first time, we both saw her pendulum move without her conscious volition.

“Oh my gosh. It moved. I wasn’t moving it. Look, it’s moving.” Then she asked, “What’s making it move?”

Then my client and I practiced asking and receiving answers to yesand no questions to train her pendulum. First, the questions are simple; for instance, “Is my cat’s name _____?” or “Am I ___ years old?” or “My name is ______.”

Then she asked, “But how does it work?”

This is the mystery that scientists have been studying for centuries. When you use the pendulum, you are not consciously moving your fingers, hand, or wrist, and it appears that the pendulum is moving on its own. This is called the “ideomotor response.” The pendulum is responding to our subconscious and super-conscious messages through our subtle body movements. When we are connected with our Higher Power and angels, they can also influence the pendulum.

I explained to her that after we clear and ask a question, we tap into both our subconscious and super-conscious minds. When we ask about something or someone outside of ourselves, we are sending out a request to the universal consciousness. The pendulum acts as an antenna to receive information, and the mind becomes the receiving instrument.

Then my client wanted to jump right to the Intuitive Healing Charts for more in-depth questions and answers. When we learn how to use the pendulum with the charts, it’s as if we’ve gone from a binary yesand nosystem to a multi-choice system. This is the juicy stuff.

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You can pre-order The Book of Pendulum Healing here at Amazon.

The Writer’s Journey

What an exciting and beautiful journey–writing this book and having it published by Red Wheel/Weiser.I spent months last year (and this year too) in my special green chair with my handy MacBook writing, conversing with the muse, and sending out drafts.

Though I had self-published before, this was my first time working with a publisher. I got lucky. Thus far, it’s been a great experience with so much help–readers from my poetry class, a wonderful editor, proof readers, graphic designers, and now PR and sales people–all helping to birth this book.

Now that The Book of Pendulum Healing is coming out, I am excited. Dowsing and divining opened up new windows in my mind, and I’m eager to share this valuable resource with new readers and friends on the healing, psychic, and spiritual journey.

In the next few days, I’ll be posting a few excerpts from The Book of Pendulum Healing. I hope it inspires you to explore dowsing, and yes to buy my book.

A reminder–you can preorder The Book of Pendulum Healing at Amazon.

 

Santa Cruz Dowsers Investigating the Mystery Spot

 

Our Santa Cruz Dowsers Group is now forming. It’s wonderful to have such a large group in our town who are dedicated dowsers and diviners. We had our first field trip together to the “Mystery Spot” last weekend.

For those out of town, the Mystery Spot is described as a gravitational anomaly located in the redwoodforests just outside of Santa Cruz, California. In the photo above, we are at the bottom of the hill all standing up straight, but at the top in the cabin there is a lot of leaning going on.When I was in the cabin, I realized I had visited the Mystery Spot decades ago with my father. I remember him tall, I was short, and together we were leaning in the little cabin.

All of us walked up the hill to the cabin together. It’s so strange, but when you’re in the 150 foot radius of this weird energy field, your body gets very heavy and it’s hard to move. Once in the cabin, I tested to see what my pendulum would do it spun clockwise, then counterclockwise, and did this the whole time I was in the cabin.

I had no idea what it all meant, but I noticed that the longer I was there, only a short 45-minutes, I became dizzy and a little sick to my stomach.Scientist still have not unraveled the mystery of the Mystery Spot, but it’s fun to experience. Yes, it’s a gravitational anomaly. And one of the most visited tourist spots in Santa Cruz. Keep on dowsing…

 

 

The Dream of The Fisherman and Pascedero

 

I had a dream last night that I was on a fishing boat pulling in nets with a team. I was thinking – oh my God, this is real work. I complained to a fellow fisherman and he said, “This is nothing.” Then he showed me his hands which were huge, chewed up, and a calloused.

I decided to drive up the coast. I was going to stop in Davenport for coffee, but it had a big tour bus in the little town, so I decided to go further to Pescadero.As I was driving I realized with my limited Spanish had something to do with fish. I looked it up later – Percadero is Spanish for “fisherman.”

I believe that if you honor your dream by following a trail, that you will be given more dreams and guidance. What was I to find in this little town?I walked around and found cool coffee house complete with antiques from my childhood and Peter Fonda in the Easy Rider movie poster behind the wood burning stove.

Hum. What does it all mean? Fishermen always remind me of the miracle of Jesus walking on water and saying,”Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

But I have to tell you this was a robust, down to earth fisherman in my dream. It felt like a movie, so vivid and real. An authentic man telling me to roll up my sleeves and get to work.

But here I am drinking a delicious cappuccino at the coffeehouse “Downtown Local.” I am still pondering the dream and Pescadero. Keep on riding and writing, and be not afraid.

 

 

 

Blog Block, The Election, and The Book of Pendulum Healing is Coming!

You’ve heard of writer’s block. Well, I have bloggers block. I am suppose to writing three times a week, yet, I am blocked. What’s a writer to do? I hear my angels say, “Write anyway!” Okay, here I am.

Some thoughts. I don’t know about you but the news since Rump has been in office, has been terrible. It’s as if each crisis is worse than the last. I am suppose to be a spiritual person, and I am, but I am very reactive too. (Reactive is overarching small word for anger, sadness, and grief I have felt, but I am attempting to be polite.)

I chose the photo above as an antidote as the ocean can be very calming!

These stressful days reminds me of parenthood. I waited a long time to be a mom, I was thirty-five when I had my first baby. I had spent five years on a spiritual path–meditating, praying saying affirmations and suddenly (or after nine months) I was a new mom, so in love with my baby, Adam. But being a mom was the hardest labor of love I ever experienced, and at times I didn’t feel very spiritual. I felt constrained and scared, and here was this little being depending on me. (I do want you to know he did grow up, despite me, and is a wonderful kind, loving, and helpful man.)

Now, I have this fabulous book coming out, The Book of Pendulum Healing, in January. I can’t wait to see it and share it in bookstores and at my workshops. But I haven’t been blogging and telling you about it.

I have been too obsessed with the national crisis waves we are experiencing. I follow the news, rant, and donate small amounts to lots of groups. Then I remember to pray for spiritual help for us all.

Yes, I do talk about prayer in my book, about how I worked in the Prayer Room at Unity Village, and prayed with people from around the world. I used to find comfort in Myrtle Fillmore’s (co-founder of Unity) apple orchards. I imagined her and Jesus walking with me, and picked an apple a day to eat!

Today, I pray that we will soon be out of disheartening, devastating Rump world one way or another. I am always saying to the angels, “Help, help our country and the world. Help the planet, the immigrants, the children, the native Americans, the people of color, the women, the LGBT people–help us all!

So that’s my truth for the day. I will be writing more. Stay positive, love your neighbor, eat your apples, and VOTE. We shall overcome.

 

The Artist Way by Julia Cameron Transformed My Life

Years ago I was writing my first book, “Divination & Joy, Intuitive Tools for an Inspired Life,” but I was having a difficult time finishing. My girlfriend who had facilitated the course at her work said, “Let’s start an Artist Way group.” I had the book on my bookshelf, but I hadn’t opened it in a five years. Together we began the twelve week process found in the book, Morning Pages, Weekly Artist Dates, and exercises at the end of the chapter. In the tenth week of the class, I finished the book and we ate a carrot cake from Gayle’s Bakery to celebrate.

During that time I was a single mom with pre-teens and then teenagers, running a high tech marketing company and the sole support of my family. The Artist Way not only helped me with my writing, but with my life.

When Julia Cameron created the course and later the book, she made a decision to give it to the world. For the price of her book, people could heal their artistic souls and create community of like-minded artists. Her book has reached diverse audiences around the world, and not only helped heal artists, but others suffering from physical problems. The Artist Way just had its 25th anniversary in print and has sold 4 million copies.

Julia Cameron has been an excellent mentor to me through her books. And at “Creative Reboot” just last month I enjoyed a workshop with her and finally met her. She had us all engaged in the process immediately. Once more, I discovered I wanted to focus on my painting.

I have now taught theArtist Way for fifteen years, and presently just started a new group. Each time I finish a course with students, I have the pleasure of seeing people’s lives expand, and some students pursue professional art programs and jobs. I, too, am given a gift–a new form of art–poetry, painting, books, and new ideas for my own creative life.

So run to your bookstore, buy a copy of theArtist Way, and begin the process. You will be amazed at the transformation in your life.

Just this year I’ve been working with Red Wheel/Weiser who is going to publish “The Book of Pendulum Healing” January 2019 – a dream come true to finally launch my work out into the wider world. Yes, the Artist Way will help all your creative dreams come true.

Just Back From “Creative Reboot” in Santa Fe

Last Meeting at “Creative Reboot!” Julia Cameron is second from the right.

For me the “Creative Reboot” Conference in Santa Fe was just the big boost I needed for my writing, art, and creative life I needed. I’ve been teaching Julia Cameron’s “The Artist Way” plus some of her other books for over fifteen years now. Julia was going to teach and I could finally thank her for all that she has done for me over the years.

Sometimes I haven’t wanted to meet my mentors that I’ve met through books. Books can be so personal as people do tell their secrets and stories as Julia has done over the years. But finally I was sitting in her class. I was privilege to be a staff volunteer, so I let me know if she needed anything I was available.

I participated in the class exercises, and found out I wanted to PAINT again. And I would love a painting studio, but really what is necessary is that I pull out my Golden Paints and put brush to canvas.

At the end of the conference I ran up to the stage to give Julia a last hug. Again, thank you Julia Cameron for sharing so much with us!

I met two hundred people at the “Creative Reboot” Conference that like me follow the “Artist Way,” write daily morning pages, go on weekly “Artist Dates,” and have had their lives transformed. I came home to my two Artist Way groups to share all that I had learned. And this weekend for the first time in a long time I painted! It felt so good to put brush to canvas.