Ayn’s summer newsletter 2019 – Dreaming A New World by AynCates on September 9, 2019 in Uncategorized
Summer News For many years I have experienced an inner calling to return home to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Perhaps my ancestors have been prompting my return, or it could have been the horses wishing for green grass that made me actually make the move. I also have a deep love for trees and perhaps they wanted me to rest amongst their roots and branches once again gazing at the skies and remembering the mysteries that my wild inner child still loves. It might have been that unseen forces wove the next phase of my path in this way. However it happened, my husband and I responded. We moved up a gravel road into a conservation area where life is full and the land is alive with greenery and wildlife. I love living near a lake and hearing the trickling creek, the croaking of frogs and the orchestra of a multitude of insects and songbirds. We are meant to rise and sleep with the sun. As I have slowed my pace, I have started to realize that the real news is to be found when the mountain rumbles and speaks. The news of the universe is very interesting, much more so then the tangles we humans tend to get ourselves involved in. Yet as romantic as it sounds, I didn’t realize that after a storm we could lose our landline, cellphone and internet signals, and that storms happen most afternoons these days. Stepping back in time has taken some adjustment. There have been weeks when I have had to drive forty minutes into town to receive emails and make phone calls. It has definitely made writing newsletters difficult, and speaking on radio shows has been precarious, but I have had plenty of time to finish my novel. Nimue: Freeing Merlin is coming soon! New novel coming soon…
DREAMING A NEW WORLD Embracing the Mythic Imagination Myths and legends are told over centuries so that the torch of wisdom can be carried from one generation to the next. The stories might be imagined but, although names might change, the archetypes generally remain the same. In most tales we meet the initiate, the hero/heroine, the challenger, the friend, the sorcerer, and hopefully a wizard or wise one. Behind these archetypes there are sources of wisdom that call to us, reminding us to awaken to the creative powers that are inherently ours. We might have made a mess of this planet, but the same forces that have been here since the beginning of time are still amongst us and can assist us. It takes some dedicated work and a lot of inner guidance to weave these ancient strands back together again. The illustration here by Belle Crow duCray is of Brighid, meaning “the exalted one” who appears in the last story of Legends of the Grail: Stories of Celtic Goddesses. Brighid is one of the most enduring deities, who continues to hold an eternal flame for humanity. It might be that everyone and everything is the product of a greater imagination — and that is good news. Our egos have a hard time believing that anything is greater than we are, but when we align with our True Nature, then we can enjoy the evolutionary unfoldment. Of course we need to change our ways, but what we really need to do is climb on our flying reindeer – or broomsticks – or flying carpets – and ride the new waves. Every night we dream, and every day we awaken back into this reality. Once we discover the essence of our True Nature, then the shackles of limitation fall away, and the essence of life becomes an exciting adventure. Listen to audios
How do we begin to dream consciously? Learning to enter the mythic imagination takes practice. We can begin by keeping a journal by our beds and recording our dreams. That is a sign to our psyche that we are taking notes of the dreams and visions that are being sent to us. We can take our shoes off and stand on the Earth, and actually feel the living soil beneath us. We can sit with our backs up against a stone or a tree, recognizing that everything is alive, and — with great respect — ask to see the world from their perspective. There is a living language of trees called the Ogham. There is some controversy over the age of the language and its authenticity, but it seems to me intuitively that it is a very ancient language. It makes sense to me that the people who lived in forests and had to survive there would understand the trees. The Birch trees would grow first to prepare the soil for the forest that was arising. Even now when we are beginning a new project it is wise to go sit with our backs against a Birch and seek wisdom. Trees do not usually speak, but they can send us a dream or vision. As we age, we might ask an ancient Yew how one generation feeds the next, and then await a dream of eternal life. The illustration here by Belle Crow duCray is of Arianrhod, a Welsh deity who appears in Heroines of Avalon & Other Tales. Arianrhod is pure magic, and when we tap into her we might just remember the songs of the stars and how to step into a culture of life. I invite you to turn off your phone and take some time in nature. Allow your inner wild child to come forward and just let yourself play in the leaves that are now beginning to turn as the autumn days approach. If you feel called to the Celtic worlds, my books in the Legends of the Grail series contain many visualizations, practices and poems designed to lead you back in time and find the roots that can sustain you even during a great storm. If ever we needed the wisdom traditions it is now. It is grand to know that all we seek is never further away than our own heart and soul. We are never alone, and will always be carried throughout space, time and dimension. All we have to do is remember our many friends and allies, and feel the rhythm of our wings.
Good News from the Publishing World I am so happy to share that Heroines of Avalon & Other Tales has been an Amazon Best Seller this summer. The book has won nine literary awards, including gold badges with IPPY, NIEA and COVR, and a silver with Nautilus and CIPA. It was chosen as the top IRDA fiction choice of 2019. Heroines of Avalon was chosen as one of the top books of the summer by The London Post. It has received many five star reviews including one from the San Francisco Post. Dart Frogs Book Club chose Heroines of Avalon as one of their three top books. Heroines of Avalon was chosen out of many books to be on the cover of Publisher’s Weekly, which is super PR! The paperback version will be available in about a month.
Follow this link to read about
Heroines of Avalon & Other Tales
in the San Francisco Review of Books:
http://www.sanfranciscoreviewofbooks.com/2019/08/book-review-heroines-of-avalon-and.html?m=1
Legends of the Grail: Stories of Celtic Goddesses has gone into its fifth printing is being made into an audible book, which should be out by November. A Story of Becoming is going into another printing, and The Rainbow Dragon’s Emerald is preparing to launch February 1st. We have delayed the publication of this book because I have wanted to shift to FSC sustainable printing. It makes sense that this children’s book about saving the world would require a shift in the way we print books.
I was invited on 64 radio shows and podcasts this year.
You can listen to some of the interviews here:
http://ayncatessullivan.com/media/
– and –
http://ayncatessullivan.com/audios/
As the autumn leaves turn bright colors and begin to fall, I am preparing to return to Britain to delve even further into the Celtic mysteries, and will also be visiting Grail Temples and other sacred sites near Prague.
Thank you for being a wild traveler. May the journey take you home – to your True Nature.
Blessings,
Ayn Cates Sullivan
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