New Love April 1995

New Love April 1995

It’s such a gorgeous Autumn morning here in the Eden Valley. My husband Paul and I are in ‘my’ writing room (which doubles as a guest room and second lounge room and general workspace for the whole family) at work on our various projects. Eliza’s at school. Bethany’s asleep (four days till she leaves for university!!!!) I love this time of day when the early morning Sun isn’t long over the hills, mist is in the fields before me, and there’s a gentleness to the morning.

It took a long time to get to the point where we could create a life where we mostly work side by side rather than Paul being at other work. I enjoy this daily companionship so much (though I still need to find a way to press the ‘off’ button when Paul starts talking to me about sports).

In April, we will have been together for twenty years. I have no sense of our relationship being ‘old’, even though when we met it was:

 

“I’ve known you forever”

at first sight.

 

I still love it when Paul holds my hand as we walk down the street, or puts his arm around my waist for a cuddle as we’re waiting in a queue. I never tire of the way his face lights up when he sees me.

 

So, in April, we will have a Vow Renewal Ceremony shared with our friends to honour this chapter of our lives. We both feel we’ve grown and changed a lot in that time. Renewing our vows is about recognising this, and saying ‘we still do’.

 

The story of how we got together still makes me smile. I invited Paul for dinner and he never went home again. We moved in together straight away. This photo is from the morning after that dinner. My flatmate said ‘let’s get a photo so you can remember this day’… as if I’d forget!

It is, indeed, a privilege to grow old together (even if he has few wrinkles than me!)

Do you eat together as a family? What does tea time look like in your home?

For me, it is an important coming-together time. It’s a place where we share not only our food, but our day.

We light a candle, often play some gentle music, say a prayer of gratitude for the meal, and dine together. According to recent statistics, this isn’t how most families spend their meals.

It is in this part of our daily rhythm where we will feel the biggest ‘hole’ when Bethany leaves for university in eight days.

 

dining

Would you be a stay-at-home mother? Do you feel you don’t have a choice and that the economic climate ‘forces’ you to leave your children with someone else?

 

Stay-at-home mother

Stay-at-home mother

If ever there was a zodiac sign to represent personal growth, it’s Scorpio. I am now taking submissions (writing and art/photography) for issue 5 of Starflower Living magazine.

Issue 5 themes for the New Moon in Scorpio (due date, October 4th): soul mates, sexuality, transformation, empowerment, letting go, grief, old baggage, psychology, secrets, depth of character, compulsions, deep emotional connections, ancestors, debt, inheritance, jealousy, abandonment. Health: sexual organs, organs of elimination, menstrual cycle, sexual infections. email: office at starflowerpress dot com

Cover photo by Sabine Scherer Photography.

Cover photo by Sabine Scherer Photography.

Have you signed up to Starflower Living magazine yet? Issue 4 is out in two weeks. Lots of interesting articles along the theme of relationships and beauty. I hope you enjoy. ~ Veronika xx http://www.starflowerpress.com/living/index.shtml

autumnatstarflower

Autumn has arrived in Cumbria. The garden rewards me with handfuls of blueberries. Such a treat! It won’t be long till I have to start ordering in firewood, but for now, my main celebration of Autumn is: enjoying the elderberries and rosehips, autumnal mists in the fields, and in the use of foods in my kitchen: butternut, blueberries, apples and pears.

In two weeks, my daughter Bethany will be travelling to Bangor University in Wales to study music. I spend each day mentally preparing for this huge change to family life.

My daughter Eliza started A levels this week, and is loving her new teachers. It is such a joy to hear her sharing her delight.

As the days grow darker (and colder!), my time will be spent writing. Things came to a bit of a lull during the school holidays. Autumn will see me release some e-books all based on ten steps.

ebooks-logo

 

I will sink myself back into writing my novel a few days a week (really looking forward to that), and the remaining time will be divided between the recipe books and editing Starflower Living magazine. I have to admit that I’ve really enjoyed stepping back into a magazine-editing role (but without the stress of bulk mailouts). If you’ve not yet read this digital magazine, you can download the first issue FREE from the Starflower website. www.starflowerpress.com Each issue is just £2.50

 

SLpromopng

For this weekend only, I am running a special offer. If you order a mentoring or astrology session off my website, you can have a second session FREE (for any member of the family). Offer expires Sunday 7th Sept, midnight (UK time)

However you celebrate Autumn, I hope you enjoy it. For my southern hemisphere readers, enjoy Springtime! Love, Veronika x

Many years ago, in fact it was the first time I was living in England (about 1994), I heard a voice in my dream so real that I wondered if it was a dream. The voice said to me: You will write The Beautiful Birth book. At the time, I was working as a Media Officer for Compassion in World Farming having just finished a stint doing the same job for the Royal New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

 

I thought it an odd dream ~ my work was about animal welfare and animal rights. What did I know about children? And actually, at that time, I wasn’t even interested in having babies. (How quickly that would change ~ I gave birth two years later!)

 

But the voice was strong. Kind, but strong. I popped into a beautiful little New Age bookshop that morning. It was called The Open Window, and was in my village of Petersfield, Hampshire. Two books on waterbirth literally fell off the shelves (spooky, I know) and landed at my feet. I bought them, and devoured every page.

 

My mother, who had birthed eight children, had given birth unassisted at home to the last three. If I had any idea of beautiful birth, it would stem from her experiences of tuning in with her body and birthing in private.

 

So, my life changed. In 1995 I set up the National Waterbirth Trust (in NZ), wrote affirmations for a CD called Peaceful Pregnancy (which my husband did the voice over for), and in 1996 gave birth to my beautiful daughter Bethany, by candlelight and the sounds of Mozart, in our bedroom. Oh how my life was to change. Between then, and 2002, I had given birth again, and lived in three countries, and began publishing The Mother magazine (which I went on to edit for 12 years). www.themothermagazine.co.uk

 

 

Seconds after giving birth at home, by candlelight and Mozart, to my daughter Bethany.

Seconds after giving birth at home, by candlelight and Mozart, to my daughter Bethany.

Writing The Birthkeepers was, I believe, the book I was told about in my dream. It describes the three biological needs of a birthing woman, and how important they are for an easy and ecstatic birth. Half of the book contains stories from women who had empowered births. As the subtitles states, it is reclaiming an ancient tradition. To birth, in tune with our bodies, is to do what our ancestresses did long before man interfered with the birthing process.

 

The Birthkeepers

The Birthkeepers

StarflowerLivingcover-1-3D-renderedIssue TwoSL3lowrescoverJust preparing to publish issue three of Starflower Living. It will be available on Monday from www.starflowerpress.com If you’ve not yet tried some Starflower inspiration, you can download the first issue FREE. Subsequent issues are just £2.50 to anywhere in the world, and instantly downloadable. Enjoy! Love, Veronika xxx

 

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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