 Dear Friends,
One of the things we always remember most about holidays is what books we were reading at the time. A good book, that helps us step into that magical sense of connection with the universe, and with the divine in ourselves and each other, somehow seems to make the sun shine more brightly and our memories more special.
That's why we always choose this time of the year to produce our annual Star Titles collection – all your favourite books in one magazine. This year's selection seems exceptionally good, mainly because so many of the world's leading thinkers in the fields of spirituality, personal growth and health have published new books in the last twelve months. And we also have some really special titles that have only just been released, like Caroline Myss's Sacred Contracts, Diana Cooper's Silent Stones Colour Oracle, and the softback version of Oriah Mountain Dreamer's The Dance. Essential to a good holiday, too, we feel, is an exciting novel to relax with, especially if it's uplifting, too. That's why we've chosen Diana Cooper's The Silent Stones to be our this month's ‘Book for Giving'. Diana actually says that, as you read this novel, you pass through an initiation. Certainly, we can verify that, before we read it, we were going through one of those low and spiritually disoriented phases everyone has from time to time. But as we were drawn into the story, so we also found ourselves drawn back up into the clear air above the clouds, where we were able to remember once again what we want, why we are here, and who we truly are. And somehow, since then, obstacles that seemed insurmountable when we were still under our ‘cloud' have just dissipated, and everything seems simpler, lighter, more straightforward. We had a similar experience when we happened to open Neale Donald Walsch's Conversations with God series the other day, which is why we have an article from Book 3.
It's not always so easy, though, to dispel inner clouds, or lift our minds above them. Sometimes even the best of books don't do the trick, and in our meditations we just seem to meet a blank wall. At times like these, it's easy to get ‘all wobbly’ inside – to feel as though, maybe, we've lost the plot, or the plot's lost us. We long for guidance, but all we hear is silence. What's happening? Have we taken a wrong turning somewhere? Times like these, say the sages of old, are normal and natural. More often than not, they happen when, in our spiritual growth, we have reached a kind of threshold between one energy level and another, higher one. So they're a sign of something good, really. It just doesn't feel like that. What's actually happening, so we are told, is that our very proximity to the higher energy causes the dross of the old in us to be brought up to the surface, up into the light, where it seems to us like heavy cloud covering the heavens. But that's a good thing, because what you can see, you can do something about. That's why, when the heavens seem closed to us, we are advised to focus on thoughts of gratitude, love and trust – to remember that, come what may, ‘we rest in the Palm of a Great Hand.’
Thoughts like that, held steadily, will, when the time is ripe, dissolve the darkest of clouds. And then we will see, rather than only trust and know, that Light is all there is.
With much love from all of us, and wishing you an August filled with sun and laughter.
Geoff, Ann, Martyn, Jackie, Emma, Sarah, Regina, Irina, Penny, Sandra, Belinda, Mary, Derek, Eddie, Louisa, Jon, Sam, Tobi & Pat
Text & photographs © Cygnus Books 25-Sep-2002
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