COVER STORY

It's time I said something about this book, then. I thought I'd begin with the cover. That would introduce it nicely. In visual terms there were two main characters I wanted to portray, but they needed a background. I thought first of all I'd try to paint one myself, or maybe take a few photos and piece them together. But then this idea came to me to use a piece of fabric which I had in my possession. It was silk, it had the right sort of colours and was already hand painted. But to make it more my own I wanted to change it in some way, so I scrunched it up and flattened it by placing a piece of glass over it. The result was 'ripple'. My friend Skip, (Robert Palmer,) came in at this point and together we took photos of it, which he then transferred onto the computer where, side by side, we gradually pieced together my ideas for the cover.

Then I made images of my two main characters, the boy and the girl. All good stories have a boy and a girl. But in this case at least, Finn, the young male character, was a boy with a difference. For one thing he arrives on the scene after having spent a few hundred years surfing the Multiverse. He has been summonsed by Gaia, Mother Earth, just as Humanity is on the verge of a major transition, a crisis point in World history, and plummets down through the stratosphere just as Annya, our main female character is floundering in the sea, close to drowning.

O

O

The fabric I used for a background has just the right touch of ambiguity. It suggests the sea, while at the same time it is a metaphor for 'the veil' which certain esoteric writers speak of as that which separates us, the living, flesh and blood humans, from those they speak of as being 'on the other side.' These are not terms I feel comfortable about using myself, and I didn't consciously choose a piece of silk with that term in mind. But once in place it felt right, and almost as if someone other than myself had had a hand in its choosing.

O
O

And this is something else which deserves a mention: there was, on many an occasion during the writing of the book, a sense that 'my uptheres' as I call them, were constantly dropping in from time to time, not only with encouragement, but with vital pieces of information at the very moment when I was floundering myself, or felt as if I had come to the very edge of a precipice and didn't have the slightest clue what I was going to say next. I have acknowledged this at the front of the book, crediting figures such as Adamus Saint Germain, Tobias, and the voice of The Reconnections, via Daniel Jacob.

WORD FOR THE DAY

IN-AUGUR-ATION. I just heard today that this word comes from 'augurdre' meaning reading the omens from the behaviour of birds. This was a Roman custom where a chosen priest and a highly placed politician consulted the auguries who spoke on behalf of the gods. These two illustrious representatives of the people would scan the skies looking for the sacredmost spot, the temple in the sky, where it was decided the birds would appear. Then after prayers and incantations were finished they would watch for the very next bird to appear in that space. Thus spoke the gods.

Keeping well in mind that I'm now speaking of We, The People, three days before the Inauguration in Washington a great bird appeared in the sky, and was brought down to earth by a company of its fellow avians -- following me, are you? What transpired a second or two later was by any standard, a miracle.

WE, THE PEOPLE

Well, I watched and listened - listened carefully, and for myself, I can now come off the fence and say, he IS the real thing. WE, THE PEOPLE, means it's roll up our sleeves time. We are the Hope of the World; we are The Dream we have been dreaming. And we just elected a great guy to stand for US, but not to carry all our expectations that he'll do the work for us.

I think I felt the Earth shift once more. Gaia felt it too, and rejoiced. And in my own humble way, this shift - both the shift in consciousness - the acceleration of the expansion of New Energy, and the actual material reality of the earth beneath our feet - is what I have been writing about in my new book, This Strange and Precious Thing.

If you want to read more about it visit my webpage at: http://www.esmeellis.co.uk/ That is until I get more detail up on my blog.

Having just posted this I discover that the said, D Jacob has put up another of his own which seems to contradict my 'roll up your sleeves time' comment. Not the first time we've disagreed! However, I don't think we actually have. The way I see it is: We, the People are beginning to take the power into our own hands and arrive at the realisation that WE, INDIVIDUALLY have the power to change our reality. That phrase itself is becoming a cliche, but what does it actually mean? If it simply means acting out of the past; acting from the good old, narrow old, self with its grab it all and hold onto it, devil take the looser, mentality, then nothing will have shifted. But neither will the world have changed if we go on adopting the victim role and expect our leaders to magic the solutions to all our problems and inadequacies. So, the question is still; what is our reality? Well, maybe reality is much more than we think it is. And our power to activate change is also greater than we have dreamed of before, because WE are also much more than we think we are. And, again, this is what my new book is about.

OBAMADAY

Today's the day, but everything's been said, and I can't come up with anything new. From around the world, anyone who's anyone at all, or no-one at all, have been asked their angles and opinions, and we've heard them all, so many times by now that the comments already sound like cliches. Maybe we can only wait and watch now - and hope. Yet as I say this an email has popped in which may have something new. I've quoted from my friend at The Reconnections once before, but I might just squeeze him in again. Here is an excerpt:---

From Daniel Jacob of The Reconnections.
"Everyone has at least one passion. Every heart harbors some secret joy. Many of us have simply lost hope, or forgotten. NOW is our time to remember! NOW is the time to move towards that passion. Step by step. Little by little. Don't worry about doing what you "should." That's a paper tiger. What is it that you REALLY WANT, deep down in your soul? What makes your heart skip a beat, and your blood flow faster in your veins? The more you follow after that, the more ENERGY you attract to yourself.........FLAMES, which have power to warm your spirit, and lift it higher and higher. Do what you can, right where you are. Begin by TELLING ONE PERSON what your passion is. Take a risk. Passion shared is passion multiplied. Step to the line. If you can't speak it, write it. Once the energy is given a chance to breathe.......it takes on a life of its own. If you encounter obstacles in realizing your passion, don't give up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MslbhDZoniY Step back, give the situation time to "breathe".......and go do something easy.... something fun. The Reconnections call this "HackySack Wisdom." Play. Doodle. Do something "pointless," to restore a sense of FLOW. Or do something simple, that carries no resistance with it. When you feel relaxed, replenished, go back and check on your passion again. Still stuck? Keep flowing. Let that situation be. Go inside and reaffirm your desire......letting go of doubt. If your brain is screaming "Try harder!" ........let your body play,instead. Don't push. Don't let yourself be pushed. Life is no longer about pushing..... Though there is plenty to observe, as we move along life's journey,sooner or later we must come to grips with the fact that LIVING IS NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT. And neither is re-birthing a country. The central focus of Barack Obama's Presidency has always been: "This isn't about me, it's about YOU." Many people on the Capital Mall today were seen wearing t-shirts that read: "This is OUR Inauguration." This is something we must all do together. Divided,we fail. United, we will rise to become more than we ever imagined ourselves to be! "

2009 AND ALL THAT

And we all seem to be back in the land of the Eyeless (and Toothless) in Gaza. How long does it take? An eye for and eye; a tooth for a tooth, and this is where we end up. Again. Again. Again.

"Promise was that I should Israel ..... deliver;
Ask for this great Deliverer now,
And find him Eyeless in Gaza ,,,"

"But what is this strength if it has not within it a double share of wisdom?" from Samson Agonistes: John Milton.

The Augument
Samson made Captive, Blind, and now in the Prison at Gaza, there to labour as in a common work-house, on a Festival Day, in the general cessation of labour, comes forth into the open Air, to a place nigh, somewhat retir'd there to sit a while and bemoan his condition. Where he happens at length to be visited by certian friends and equals of his tribe, who seek to comfort him what they can; then by his old father Manoa, who endeavours the like, and withal tells him his purpose to procure his liberty by ransom; lastly, that this Feast was propclaim'd by the Philistins as a day of Thanksgiving for thir deliverance from the hands of Samson, which yet more troubles him. Manoa then departs to prosecute his endeavour with the Philistian Lords for Samson's redemption; who in the mean while he is visited by other persons; and lastly by a publik Officer to require his coming to the Feast before the Lords and People, to play or shew his strength in thir presence: he at first refuses, dismissing the publik Officer with absolute denyal to come; at length perswaded inwardly that this was from God, he yields to go along with him, who came now the second time with great threatnings to fetch him, Manoa returns full of joyful hope, to procure e're long his Sons deliverance: in the midst of which discourse an Ebrew comes in haste confusedly at first; and afterward more distinctly relating the Catastrophe, what Samson had done to the Philisins, and by accident to himself: wherein the Tragedy ends. John Milton; Samson agonistes; first published 1671