 Dear Friends,
We thought you might like it if we brought you up to date with our news. Many changes have happened here at Cygnus over the last 18 months.
New home
As you probably already know, Cygnus works from a converted farmhouse, barn and cowshed in Llangadog, West Wales. Geoff, myself and our sons John and Sam used to live in the house, but by 2003, Cygnus had expanded into every available corner of the outbuildings John even had two members of staff working in his bedroom at that point! so it seemed a good idea for the Napiers to fly the nest and just let Cygnus take over completely. We haven't looked back!
For the first time in many years, the Napiers have had a chance to revel in their own home, and Cygnus has had the opportunity to spread its wings and become more independent 'fully fledged', you might say!
Just one of the delights of having our own home is that Geoff and I now have a little more 'head space'. As a result, our minds have been burgeoning with new ideas that we hope will benefit you.
New database
The first new project which we actually began work on some time before the family moved was developing and installing a new database. This took everyone months of preparation and planning, followed by the customary teething troubles which, thanks to the immense goodwill and patience of all our staff, we managed to get through without disappointing the most important people you! Now, as many of you will have observed, we are able to despatch your orders in a fraction of the time it used to take.
New publications
Our next project was publishing. This was made possible by the huge barn at our new family home, in whose cavernous vastness we are able to store absolutely masses of books.
Our first publication was The Gentle Art of Blessing. The author, Pierre Pradervand, is a wonderful Swiss man who really walks his talk and is a living example of spirituality in practice. His idea is that we can transform even the darkest situation, and draw to ourselves and others the healing and joy for which we yearn, by sending out blessings as a daily habit. This is a message that we feel should be spread as widely as possible. We'd be enormously grateful if you'd tell your friends about it, and maybe also your local book shop. If you give us a call, we can send you leaflets about the book, and you may also want to take advantage of our 'Books for Giving' offer.
Our next publication was Summer with the Leprechauns by Tanis Helliwell. I love reading spiritual books like this one, which are written in the form of stories. Sometimes you can learn so much more from a story. Often, you can learn even more than the author intended! Summer with the Leprechauns is about the elemental kingdom (fairies and so on), and how we can cooperate with it to heal ourselves and our planet. Now I know that a lot of people think fairies don't exist, and I'm sure they don't, if you mean those Victorian floaty things in gauzy dresses! But, like many of you, I'm inclined to think that there are beings foci of consciousness whose task it is to care for every single created thing, whether animal, vegetable or mineral, and whose greatest joy is to facilitate the unfolding of perfection in that creation. I can't see these beings, but I believe I can sense them, and when I act as though they exist, and work with them as Tanis Helliwell suggests, I do observe results that indicate I'm not imagining things!
The other book we've been involved with although we didn't publish it, just recommended it to our respected friend, the publisher Judy Piatkus is The Architecture of All Abundance. We were most impressed with the author, Lenedra J Carroll. She is one of those rare people who really understands about bringing spiritual values like kindness, honesty and generosity into every corner of life, and about how we can become catalysts for change. The mother and manager of Jewel, an American pop star, she has also founded several successful businesses and humanitarian ventures. In The Architecture of All Abundance she shares the story of her spiritual path, which began when she was a small child, and gives powerful advice about how we can build from the ground up a life of abundance and fulfilment.
New friends
Another change we've made in the last 18 months one that you will have noticed is to invite others to write the editorial. Overwork was partly responsible for this choice, but self-doubt, the demon that haunts everyone who has their words published for others to read (and judge!), is chiefly what drove me to it, if you want to know the truth. Having spent years and years fighting an exhausting losing battle with my inner critic, which of course only made it grow stronger, I finally got to the point where the words just wouldn't come out at all. So it seemed prudent to pause for a while, and try to make friends with my demons, as every wise person should. For in reality, self-doubt is a great friend. As the demon who guards the doorway marked Right Use of Intuition, his fiery breath if we are brave enough to face it tests our understanding, consuming the dross of illusion until only the gold of truth remains.
In the meantime, I rather like the result. It seems wonderful to me that now, by asking others to write the editorial, we have drawn into the Cygnus family some of the authors, publishers and friends who are in fact such an important part of it inspirational authors like Diana Cooper, Doreen Virtue, William Bloom, Sonia Choquette, Claire Nahmad and Judy Hall where would we be without them? And I think it's brilliant that publishers like Judy Piatkus and Tessa Strickland have let you see their personal side, not to mention our friends Jehanne Mehta and Mary Wainwright. They are lovely people whose spiritual light shines literally right through their skin, and I'm so glad to have been able to let you get to know them a little. If you'd like to re-read the letters they wrote, they're all on this website. Just click the links on their names above.
New shop
Mentioning Mary reminds me of the next bit of news I wanted to tell you. During June sometime we're not sure of the exact date yet we'll be opening a shop in Lampeter, and Mary's going to have a room in it where she will give healing with Reiki, Seichem, Flower Remedies and Homoeopathy. Besides books, we'll also be selling some lovely craft items, specially chosen because they lift the spirit. We'll be giving you more details in the next issue of The Cygnus Review.
New leaflet
Finally, we've produced a new leaflet about Cygnus, which we'd like you to have a look at and maybe pass it on to a friend: there is one inserted in every copy of Issue 6. We can send you more leaflets too, if youd like them. And remember that, if you make sure your friend tells us your membership number when they join, then, when your friend orders, well send you a £2 voucher as a thank you.
On the back of the leaflet, you'll see we've written something about why we call ourselves Cygnus. We've never told you anything about this before, but now that we're opening a real shop in a real place, perhaps it's also the right time to let you know the real truth about what inspires and guides us. Of course Cygnus, the Swan, is considered an important symbol in many traditions. However, what we've written didn't come from any external source we've never heard of anyone else talking about 'swan energy' but it's something that has been growing in us since long before Cygnus Books was born. Certainly, we feel very much that this incredibly loving, supportive and Truth-revealing energy so perfectly symbolised by the swan overshadows and surrounds every being in this world who makes any effort, however tiny, to 'love Truth above all things, and their neighbour as themselves'.
With much love to all of you,
Ann, Geoff and all at Cygnus
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