Hello and welcome to the first Highlights edition for 2008! I have been quite delighted at the fact that 2008 rhymes with ‘great’, ‘create’ and ‘celebrate’ and am choosing these as themes for my new year. As always this edition celebrates great creators! Catherine Brodie has been an active and well respected part of the new energy scene in Sydney, Australia for many years. Catherine starts the new year with the release of her new book ‘Angels with Amnesia’ and it’s a pleasure to have her share some of her experience with you. Then we jump all the way to the other side of Australia to meet Heather Joy Leane. Heather has created a children’s book, ‘Laugh again, Kinta!’ which retells the classic story of leaving home through the eyes of a Kookaburra. The book is filled with Heather’s amazingly detailed illustrations that are a great reminder that stories can be so much more than words. Gary Dodd is an Australian poet who was featured back in June . I have highlighted one of his poems from the writer’s forum to finish our adventure. So with three Australian creators in our newsletter the choice for a theme was easy. This month we celebrate my homeland and all who dwell here. Australia’s spirit name is Ah-ta-Ra and to me this name touches the very soul of this land. I am honored that Rupert Davis has allowed me to use his amazing photos of Australia through the newsletter. Rupert was featured in November and his photos truly capture the diversity of Ah-ta-Ra, from the dark greens and shadows of the forests through to the bright reds and vastness of the outback.

"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia." Charles M. Schultz       Photo- "Uluru" by Rupert Davis www.newearthphotography.com

Featured Author; Catherine Brodie What areas of creativity do you play with? How did you get started? Writing is my main area of focus.  I had the opportunity in my early teens to learn guitar, but I was too much of a dreamer to apply myself to any sort of homework, whether from school or guitar lesson practice, so the lessons stopped.  I’ve never been able to see myself as ‘creative’, having no music or art skills.  I can draw a little but it’s not something I really give myself time to do.  I know this may sound strange, but I actually have a problem with the whole concept of ‘play’.  Obviously, being a first-born has made me far too serious!  If someone asks me what I do for ‘fun’, I actually freeze up inside and can’t think of anything.  It’s as though some part of me disapproves of my doing anything just for fun or frivolity.  When I write, though, I definitely have a great sense of pleasure, passion and purpose.  I feel that this is what I’m meant to be doing; that this is what I’m actually here on the planet for at this time.  I love to absorb myself in writing and let the rest of life’s daily routine and responsibility fade into the background.  I actually feel a great sense of expansion when I write, as though I’m exploring a different dimensional space to the everyday world around me.  My spirituality has been the core of my life for the past twelve years.  And my passion for writing has really only been with me for three or four years.  To be able to combine the two feels very fulfilling.    When and how did you decide to write “Angels with Amnesia”? The book has been in process for about four years in total.  I had actually been writing and constructing spiritual workshops for ages, but never getting around to running them.  Each time the inspiration would take hold of me for a particular workshop topic I would throw myself into the writing and planning of it.  But, I found that each time I began to plan how to teach a topic, there was so much related information connected with that subject that I’d always end up deciding that it was too much for one weekend, too much for people to grasp in a short time, so I would lay it aside.  These were subjects related to the whole area of spiritual awakening and Ascension that I had been studying and experiencing for years. So, eventually I decided to draw together all the different workshop topics I’d been planning and put them into a book.  That way people could study them at their own pace and take all the time they need to absorb and integrate the information.  That’s essentially how ‘Angels with Amnesia’ came about, though there was additional information that had to be added to link everything together.   What was the writing process like for you? I had two distinct types of writing experience.  One was inspirational and spontaneous; the other was more analytical and seeking to create a logical process for the reader.    The inspirational experiences came when I was doing something else altogether, completely unrelated to writing – usually something mindless like washing up.  An idea would just appear in my awareness, fully-formed and often with related concepts attached to the main idea.  These moments were quite magical and I would stop what I was doing immediately to find pen and paper before the ideas slipped out of my conscious awareness.  It was a great way of getting out of housework!   I’m a messy person by nature, and even more so when the book was in its early stages.  There were piles of papers all round the house – I was afraid to throw anything out in case I lost any of the inspirational ‘gems’ that had bubbled up from within me.  Eventually, it all had to be drawn together and this was where the more logical and plan-focussed writing experiences came in.  I would mentally lay out all the topics and create chapters to ‘link’ the concepts together in what I hoped would be a natural flow for the reader.    I can get lost in writing no matter what it’s about, but the inspired ideas were definitely the more thrilling writing experience.   What made you decide to self publish? Well, what can I say?  Basically, because my book didn’t get picked up by a publisher.  I wrote to a number of literary agents and global publishing houses, most of whom didn’t respond.  The only one which did respond, with a very polite rejection letter, said that they felt the topic of Ascension had already been covered by their in-house authors.    I felt that the flavour of my book may have something different to offer – that we are eternal, divine beings who have managed to forget who we really are and get lost in the illusion of being limited or powerless.  I simply couldn’t walk away from my four years of writing (2 years on workshop plans, 2 years on the book) without exploring an alternative avenue of publication.    What did you learn about your creativity through writing and publishing? I guess I’ve learned how important writing is for me, that it is fulfilling and nurturing for my soul. I also realise that – for me – creativity is linked with having a purpose.  Perhaps one day I’ll learn to lighten up enough to do it just for fun!    I’ve written in ‘Angels with Amnesia’ that energies are here to serve us, and I’ve definitely had that demonstrated during the writing process.  If we state a conscious choice or intent of what we want to achieve – without worrying about the ‘how’ – then the appropriate and supporting energies come in to support our choices.  I think the inspirational ideas that came to me were a perfect manifestation of that creative support.   "Angels with Amnesia" is available to purchase as an E-book at www.awakeningangel.com You can also read a sample of the book there.

"Those who lose dreaming are lost" Australian Aboriginal proverb   Photo- "Hope"  Blue Mountains, Australia             by Rupert Davis            www.newearthphotography.com

New Books, CDs and Sites

Our featured authors have their new books now listed upon the book page. Catherine's "Angels with Amnesia" is available as a magnificent E-book. Catherine has also made available a very generous sample of the book for free so that people can truly get a taste of her wonderful writing and experience it's beautiful presentation. "Laugh again,Kinta!" is a joy in every sense. Heather's art is so beautifully detailed that each time you open the book you can see something new. Her attention to detail even carries through to how your book arrives, sealed with kookaburra feather stickers. Read more about these books HERE. On the CD page we have some new CDs from a past featured artist, Sarah Bierman. Sarah's latest CDs are co-created with Kuthumi to guide people into expanding their creativity in the new energy. Read more about the CDs HERE. Our sister site www.newnenergymusic.com is now up and running. Please drop by, say hi to Lars and play in the forum.

"You feel free in Australia..... The skies open above you and the areas open around you." D.H. Lawrence   Photo- "Kata Tjuta" by Rupert Davis            www.newearthphotography.com

Featured Artist/Author; Heather Joy Leane What areas of creativity do you play with? How and when did you get started? I’ve always been drawn to things creative (excuse the pun, but I love them as well!). I enjoyed both writing and drawing growing up (keeping a diary every day for a year as a 12 year old including the not so fascinating accounts of what we ate for dinner each night!). Formal art training came in the shape of a graphic design course where life drawing was my favourite subject, and then once computers came into play for graphic design I happily embraced this technology. Play for me is also doing ‘hands on’ creating; making personalized cards and gifts and seeing the response in others. What inspired you to write a children’s book? For a long time now I have wanted to create a children’s book, maybe going back to the days as a pre-teen child, sewing the spine of small handmade books on my mother’s sewing machine. In later years I would scribble down ideas for stories but nothing really grabbed hold of me. I’m sure that when a story comes to you, the timing is right and for me things fell into place when on hearing that kookaburras were not native to Western Australia and had been brought across here by the first Director General of the Perth Zoo, that an idea for a story started. The attraction there was the elements of change, moving and separation, finding out who you are and where you belong. The interaction between illustration and words within children’s books is an art all in its own. As both illustrator and author could you talk about how you created this for your book? Because I am not a writer by profession I always thought that the story would be the harder part for me. Consequently I was surprised that over twenty-four hours, in two parts, the story flowed out and was simply there! (some editing did come later but in essence stood largely as is).    Initially I started out drawing rough outline sketches of how I envisaged each page was to look in relation to the text but later it seemed that each main illustration had its own life and timing. So often I would have little serendipitous happenings in my research, with the people I was meeting and this would add great inspiration to my work. For example, there was the finding of the beautiful Ngiyampaan word for laughing, kintakirri, in an Aboriginal word dictionary and then wondering how I would go about getting permission to use the word (Kinta and Kirri being my two main kookaburra characters). As it turned out, my aunt and uncle who own a cattle station in NSW knew one of the Ngiyampaan elders, Beryl Carmichael, and were able to put me in touch with her! Occasionally I would ‘force’ myself to sit and produce an illustration (I was averaging one main illustration a month at one stage) but overall there was a wonderful flow to the book’s creation that made it very satisfying. There’s nothing like being in that special ’zone’ where time stands still and you are totally engrossed in what you are doing! What was the most challenging part of self-publishing so far? How did you deal with this? What is the most rewarding? I think the most challenging part of self-publishing was when it went out of my hands and into someone else’s space. Up until then I did all my checking and rechecking, reassuring myself that I had done all I could to produce a good end result. The saga of having the printing redone due to another’s errors was, although frustrating, a reminder that it could have easily been a slip-up on my part. Then an opportunity presented to trust the printer to put it right (which they did admirably) and I ended up with a book I was very happy with. The most rewarding part is being able to look at the whole process and see your self as its creator. Even if feedback from others were non-existent, you would still get a feeling of accomplishment. Just recently Beryl Carmichael shared with me a Ngiyampaan word that means “I did it!” (unfortunately I can’t remember the word). It seems all languages should have one word that means that! What’s next for you as a new energy artist? For now, the process of promoting and selling what I have produced is creative as well, as it is new territory for me. I am also looking forward to being able to visit schools and read my story to more children as my first few experiences of that were very enjoyable. There’s nothing like instant feedback, even if it’s simply a smile! My graphic design work continues and maybe further down the track, another story may emerge…who knows! "Laugh again,Kinta!" is available at www.sunbeambooks.com

"Ah-ta-Ra has been developing it's own unique and different energies. Ah-ta-Ra carries the energies for the new energy world in it's own special way." Tobias through Geoffrey Hoppe   Photo- "Rainbow Serpent Rock" by Rupert Davis             Yuin Tribe Sacred Site, Mount Gulaga, Australia             www.newearthphotography.com

From the Writer's Forum

Gary Dodd is an Australian poet who has filled our forum with his gorgeous poetry. I am thrilled to highlight one of my favorite ones in our Aussie theme newsletter! Two Poets Gather A man knocks on a door, he is greeted by an older lady. They are strangers except for two telephone calls. They have also, read parts of each other’s book. They greet as strangers, they quickly become old friends. Together, they explore our world, the universe, themselves, and everything in between. For the younger man, he is impressed by the alertness of esteemed hostess. A lady in her nineties, as alert as a 20 year old, as wise as a great sage. Her journey, his journey, while different, show distinct similarities. Her appreciation of life, her understanding of time, lightens his load. Her willingness to listen, her willingness to share, a gift for the younger man. Two people drawn from different eras, united under one roof, in conversation. Is it about poetry, yes and no. Is it about words, more so, and then again, not always. Is it about life, yes! Is it about connection, yes! Is it about respect, yes! Is it about acceptance, yes! Is it about sharing, yes! United by their connection through verse, they cross boundaries few venture near in a lifetime. Such is the magic, when two poets gather. For this poet, he says thank you to his new friend. A lady of immense capacity, a lady of immense compassion. A lady of extraordinary character, a lady whose depth touched his soul. May we meet again! Gary Dodd Visit Gary's site at www.anodandasmile.com

"We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love... and then we return home." Australian Aboriginal proverb   Photo- "Mutitjulu Springs" by Rupert Davis             Uluru, Australia             www.newearthphotography.com

Thanks so much for dropping by.  I look forward to lots more to share with you as the year unfolds. If you are a new energy author or artist ,or know someone who is drop me an email and you could see yourself or them featured in a newsletter! Namaste, Marisa Read past editions of Highlights HERE