There’s a lot of discordant energy in the air, particularly over the situation in Palestine and Israel. I see anger in my Facebook newsfeeds; people urging others to take action (or take sides). And there’s anger that others aren’t expressing their anger over the situation.

Away from the media frenzy and propaganda, I am connected to people who search for another way. Some dedicate their crafts or energy to peace.

When you’re someone who likes to do things, and take action, it can become a desperate struggle to get your voice heard. If it feels right to sign a petition or send messages through your FB newsfeed, then do so. If others don’t want to participate in that form of action, then they shouldn’t be shamed into it, either.

A metaphysical approach to the situation NOT just between Palestine and Israel, but every war in the world (especially the ones which don’t make it onto the news because, frankly, there’s no vested interested from the so-called superpowers: aka, money) is to look within and search for the ‘war’ inside yourself. Where are you battling? What is the war ~ the bombing, the fighting, the killing, the raping and all the other atrocities ~ that’s going on inside you? Where aren’t YOU at peace with yourself?

I ask these questions not in any way to trivialise what is happening to those people, but because whatever we see in the world is a reflection of us.

 

Quantum physics

teaches us

that a ‘thing’

only exists when we observe it.

Just the other day I saw a news item which upset me deeply. An Australian couple rejected their Down’s son and left him with the surrogate mother. They took his healthy twin sister.

Every time we see/hear a ‘story’ in the world that impacts us, it is an opportunity to look within. I asked myself: what baby/project have I rejected because I haven’t considered it ‘good enough’ or because I’m scared that it won’t be accepted by the outside world? Again, this isn’t to dismiss the sadness or enormity of that particular situation, but to see my own prejudices. Every time I publish a book and ‘put it out there’, I’m terrified of it being rejected. I’m excited when the book is published and it’s my hands, but the letting go of it? That’s a whole different story!

I once heard a woman say that if she ever had a Down’s baby she’d flush it down the toilet! Her words have haunted me in ways you can’t even begin to imagine. Is our world so disconnected; are we, as humans, so separated, that we can’t join together and see that despite our outward differences we are all one?

 

one

We each come to this earth on a journey ~ a spiritual journey in a human body. For some of us, we will have challenges to our physical body, others to their mental body; and others still will endure sacrifices and demands to their wealth, self esteem, health, career, home, country, and so on.

The war between Palestine and Israel teaches me not only to be grateful for the home I live in, my healthy family, friends and right livelihood, but it reminds me to keep practising the ancient Hawaiian forgiveness prayer:

I love you
I’m sorry
Please forgive me
Thank you

By saying this prayer, over and over, we take ownership for the situation we’re witnessing, and in turn, it releases the person/event.

If we want to see peace in the world, we have to start with ourselves. Peace begins at home. Remember that old saying: when you point the finger at someone, your other three fingers are pointing back at you!

In honour of World Breastfeeding Week, let me introduce you to (or remind you of) my book, The Drinks Are On Me: everything your mother never told you about breastfeeding. Published by Starflower Press. There is also an Italian translation (available in Italy).

 

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Jupiter conjuncts the Sun today, in Leo. Such expansive energies. As a prelude to the New Moon in Leo on Saturday night, I’d like to let you know that issue two of Starflower Living is now available from http://starflowerpress.com/living/index.shtml

Enjoy! Veronika

Issue TwoIssue 2 of Starflower Living, out next weekend. Topics include: Inside the mind of an Ironman, and how to use that mindset for daily life; Leo New Moon; one woman’s discovery of creativity at midlife and how it changed her; maintaining zest for life; wild courage; return to the red tent; chamomile; heart meditation; play: honouring the inner child; earth medicine for vitality; and scrummy recipes.

http://starflowerpress.com/living/

If you sign up to Mailchimp, I send out an email each month when it’s out. Love, Veronika xxxxxx

Oh how I’m loving these warm (by British standards) Summer days. Some of my deepest nourishment comes from walking barefoot around the garden, sampling raspberries, cherries, strawberries and gooseberries. My garden is my sacred space, the place I come to commune with my Higher Self.

It grounds me, and it raises me. My senses are bathed in beauty.

Thank you so much to everyone who has offered generous feedback on our new magazine, Starflower Living, Naturally.

I’ll share a little secret. It was never meant to be a magazine, but a newsletter which kept people up to date with the books we were publishing. But, as usual, when I put my hand to a publishing entity, it takes on a life of its own.

We’ve had so many requests for it to be available as a print magazine, and not just a digital one. We thank you for such a lovely compliment.

There are several reasons for choosing the digital route: one is financial. Huge resources are needed to start and maintain a print publication. You are always at the whim of Royal Mail, an organisation which can double prices overnight if it so chooses. During my 12 years editing/publishing The Mother magazine, we endured regular postal increases. Most of these we ‘swallowed’ rather than passing on to the subscriber. Ironically, in 12 years, the printing costs only went up twice, and even then they were marginal.

The other reason is that Starflower Living is published monthly (well, more frequently than that, as it comes out every New Moon), and there is no way we could get it printed and posted (even just to UK readers) to meet that deadline. Packing and posting a magazine is a time consuming job. My goal at all times is for a stress-free family life, wherever possible.

I would much rather put my energy into doing something I love: gathering information and images, and sharing them. Publishing digitally means on each New Moon we’re available to whoever wants it, wherever they live in the world. So, YES, it would be lovely as a print magazine, but that isn’t my intention. I’m so sorry to disappoint.

Starflower Living is also being offered on a single-issue purchase, rather than by subscription. Maintaining a database can be a full-time job, and that’s without having to send out renewal notices. As one-off purchases, it means people can just buy the issues which resonate with them.

For example, our Leo issue covers themes of courage, zest for life, the red tent movement, the heart, and play. If that doesn’t appeal to you, maybe the Virgo issue will: nutrition, nourishment, sacred space, healing, daily rituals. Or Libra? Love, relationships, marriage, commitment, partnership, beauty, balance and fairness. I think my favourite will be Scorpio. A nice bit of psychological depth as we step into the Northern Hemisphere Autumn.

If you haven’t yet read the launch issue, it’s available FREE from www.starflowerpress.com If you like, you can sign up to be notified of when each new issue comes out.

 

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Cycle to the Moon has been printed and should be arriving on my doorstep any day (Monday, hopefully). As soon as I’ve signed the pre-ordered copies, I’ll get them in the post. If you’ve already ordered a copy, I trust you enjoy it.

 

c2m3D

As I type, my daughter Bethany is playing violin in preparation for an exam next week. She’s going to Bangor University in two months to study composition and conducting. Dependent on passing school exams and her violin exam, of course. Fingers crossed. I am still getting used to having an adult daughter, let alone one about to leave home. She wonders if I’ll miss her. She has no idea what a hole will be left by her absence.

It is said, of parenting, that the days are long but the years are short. Yes indeed.

While we’re enjoying the school holidays, both my daughters are counting down the days until exam results.

Eliza is desperately keen to head back to school and start A Levels. Her chosen subjects are English, History, Media, Philosophy and Ethics. She loves her teachers, and is so passionate about learning. This morning she told me how many days left until school starts. I watched her face light up, and my heart sank. Fifty something days closer to Winter! I told her not to wish my Summer away.

Fortunately she started a part-time job, working in the gym café, which gives her something to fill her Summer days with, and money to spend.

She enjoyed her Prom last week. Here are a couple of pictures.

 

blogeliza1Eliza Robinson

I’ve been able to spend more time focusing on my next two recipe books. You can find some of the recipes in Starflower Living.

And I’m still writing for The Mother magazine.

64TM

Enjoy your Summer (or Winter, if you’re Down Under). Love, Veronika x

So, I have finally cleared some space to start photographing some of the recipes for my next cookbook: The Mother’s Kitchen. I hope you enjoy them. Love, Veronika x

 

 

Lemon-Honey Baked Tofu

Lemon-Honey Baked Tofu

Twittermush

Leek-stuffed mushrooms

Twitterraspberry

Raspberry and Elderflower Muffins

Twitcurry

Butternut and chickpea curry with lemon-infused polenta

Butterbean and Spicy Spinach Stew

Butterbean and Spicy Spinach Stew

 

Happy New Moon in Cancer! This is the time for nourishing home and family, and taking care of ‘the nest’. You can download your FREE copy of Starflower Living now.

 

http://starflowerpress.com/living/

 

StarflowerLivingcover-1-3D-rendered

 

 

By Veronika Sophia Robinson

 

April 16th, 1995 This day will forever remain the anniversary of my heart. It was the day you first kissed me. The day you held me close, looked into my eyes, and found me. In that moment, you held me as if I was the most precious thing in the Universe. You’ve done so every day since. I can still feel that first hug, your soft breath against the curve of my neck, and the sense of knowing that I’d come home.

April 16th was when I touched my Happily Ever After.

Funny, just a few weeks before you turned up and made me laugh, I’d written a list of my ‘ideal man’ requirements. Near the top of the list was ‘someone who’d sing to me’. The Universe must have smiled that day, knowing that you were a professional singer and that it would be just the blink of an eye until we found each other again. Even now, all these years later, hearing your voice in the shower has me whispering ‘thank you.’

The first song you ever sang to me was “If tomorrow never comes, would she know how much I loved her…” As the years have ticked on by, this has remained ‘our song’.

I knew you were unlike the fifty or so men I had dated in the previous ten years. I simply knew. You felt different, both to the touch, and to my heart. You smelled different, too. You smelt like a man I wanted to breathe in night and day: a sexy combination of the earthy spice cumin and kind, loving man. Your voice soothed me to sleep, and your love woke me up. Through empathy, kindness, awareness and tenderness, you found ways to help me blossom into the woman I am today. Quite simply, my love, you healed me.

Perhaps it was the way you made me laugh, or your shy yet mischievous smile. One thing was for sure: I knew you were different. I knew, in that language beyond words, that you and I had known each other forever. How else would it have been possible for us to move in with each other the next day, promising that we wanted to be with each other for a long time?

On this, our nineteenth anniversary, I still know. Not once have you ever made me feel bad about myself, or inadequate as a woman or a lover. You have tilted your whole life in such a way so that I can fully live mine, not from sacrifice, but love.

 

A blustery day: Green Bay, Auckland, New Zealand.

A blustery day: Green Bay, Auckland, New Zealand.

I see you walk through the street in town towards me, and I realise “Oh, I know him! That lovely man is mine!” My heart pounds as if I’m 16 years old. I go weak at the knees because I know that it wasn’t a silly, spontaneous decision to spend my life with you. I know that we were simply picking up wherever we left off in a previous life. And if reincarnation isn’t real, then I simply thank my stars for such damn good luck!

Nineteen years later, our baby is off to university. Both of our daughters are a living embodiment of our knowing. Before we had even made love, I knew you’d be an amazing father. And you have been, and still are.

You have shown me that my inner knowing is the greatest tool I have in this lifetime. When you had a heart attack last year, I knew that my life would never, could never, be the same again if you left this earthly world. Who would make me laugh the way you do? Who would catch my tender heart when it aches? Who would be a role model to our daughters about what a ‘real man’ is like? And who the heck would clean up the cat vomit in such a perfect way?

I live each day grateful that you’re still here, walking side by side with me, knowing that each day is a beautiful miracle.

This, I know: if tomorrow never comes, I will know how much you loved me. You, my love, have never left me in any doubt.

Just before we met, a tarot card reader told me about a man coming into my life. A man so amazing that I would pinch myself every day. She was right. Nineteen years later, I am still pinching myself. Nineteen years later, I am still laughing dozens of times each day. You, make me do that. You, are the love of my life. You, honey. Only you.

When I’m asked how you can tell if someone is the ‘right’ person for you, my reply is always the same: you don’t have to ask, you just know.

**

I submitted the above piece to an online journal called When Women Awake. The theme was ‘knowing’. My piece was rejected for not having ‘emotional complexity’ and because it wasn’t considered interesting.
.
Today I humbly share this rejection with you, thankful for every day I have spent with my beloved. I hope you enjoyed reading it and do, indeed, find it interesting and rich with the emotion I feel for this amazing man in my life. ~ Veronika x

Illustrated by Sara Simon, from The Mystic Cookfire

Illustrated by Sara Simon, from The Mystic Cookfire

 

Goan Potato

From The Mystic Cookfire, by Veronika Sophia Robinson
www.veronikarobinson.com www.starflowerpress.com

We used to love eating this in the café of our local bookshop, but now we make our own. Gorgeous! It’s exquisite! You can thicken it a bit, if you like, and eat it as a casserole.

Olive or sunflower oil
500 ml coconut milk
2 onions, chopped
1 red chilli, seeded and chopped
2 teaspoons black mustard seeds
900 g potatoes, cut into cubes
½ teaspoon turmeric
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 curry leaves or two teaspoons curry powder
750 ml water
300 g baby spinach leaves
2 tablespoons sweetener
Bunch of fresh coriander leaves
Himalayan pink salt
Black pepper

Heat the mustard seeds, and when they begin to pop add the onion and chilli. Cook for five minutes, then add the spices, potato and water. Cook for twenty minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Add the spinach and cook for five minutes. Add the coconut milk and sweetener (sugar or maple syrup). Add the salt and pepper (to taste). Garnish with coriander leaves.

 

The Mystic Cookfire, available from www.starflowerpress.com, Amazon and good bookshops

The Mystic Cookfire, available from www.starflowerpress.com, Amazon and good bookshops

Did you know that May 28th is Menstrual Hygiene Day?

Why not help increase awareness of the female menstrual cycle?

My new book, Cycle to the Moon: celebrating the menstrual trinity (menarche, menstruation, menopause), is now available to order from my website.

 

c2m3D

https://veronikarobinson.com/author/index.shtml#cycle

If you’d like me to sign a copy for a niece, daughter, sister, friend or granddaughter, leave a note in the ‘paypal note to seller’ section.

With love, Veronika xxx