Excerpt from newest work--

 I have two projects in the works right now- Soul Garden and this project which will be a full novel. Take a look and stay in touch for more excerpts and updates 

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 Her breath came in short painful bursts as she pushed herself to run faster down the beaten earth path that lead from the village center to her small cabin- a hovel, really, - on the edge of the wood. The same path that village women and young girls would steal down at dusk or just before dawn -whenever the light would assure that they would be less likely to be seen – to trade heads of cabbages or a small fish caught in the burbling creek for a Simple or a Tincture that would soothe the occasional tooth ache or stomach ailment. A silver coin or a pretty locket could get  a young girl the tea necessary to rid herself of an unwanted child before it had a chance to quicken in the womb, with a gold coin or brooch being able to procure the ointment needed to grow such a child should it be wanted.  

   The village men came as well but were more cautious and arrived in the dead of the night. These desperate souls sought salves and oils that would beguile their beloved, washes that would bring out the most of their manhood and powders that would restore lustrous hair at both scalp and chin. In payment they would bring the odd ax head or pine branch fashioned into a fishing pole. A garden hoe was a true boon and would insure that extra Boneset and Eyebright be added to their potions. But for those potions and brews requested that would end a neighbor’s prosperous garden or do away with  a prized calf coin was the only payment accepted and Elsbeth had gathered a middling sized purse over the years. Squirreling away each silver as insurance against an uncertain future it now seemed rather pointless. She was being chased down by the very dolts who had come to her for help and they wanted her hide. The grand irony in it all is that they were screaming for her death due to a recent still-birth and not one of her doing. She had neither assisted in the birth nor the death of this child – this time

A peak at the new book in the works...

original photo-Annie Russell. Private Garden.

~Good Morning and 'Happy Summer 2017'!~

Below is a short excerpt from the new book I'm working on - 

Soul Garden. My goal is to have this completed for an October release but as this one will incorporate many original artistic details that is a very rough time slot. As I get closer-usually at the third edit- I will release pre-sale information. For now please follow this blog for excerpts. If you've not read my first book yet it is available on my etsy store, website and at amazon. 

Introduction

 ‘Psychic’; the word conjures so many different feelings, scenarios, and judgments- some accurate, some not – from both people with advanced Abilities and those who have just an inkling of Intuition. The recent glut of television shows portray Psychics as both victims of their own gift as well as outsiders who act and dress outrageously. Is this a true representation? Yes and No. Psychics are, after all, people and people present themselves in all types of ways. However, if one were only to watch the TV shows – not to mention the big screen movies- it would seem that a person with Psychic Abilities could be spotted a mile away; they are the ones dressed in a flowing cape with an abundance of esoteric jewelry and a gloomy disposition darting furtive looks left and right - always on the look-out for malevolent spirits lurking in bushes and behind doorways. You might be surprised to know that the woman serving you coffee every morning with a cheery smile has amazing Psychic Abilities or the gentleman who jogs by your home in the evening with a wave as he passes is an accomplished Tarot Card Reader. My examples here are not designed to judge clothing styles or jobs and activities but rather to demonstrate that there is no ‘right’ way to be Psychic just as there is no ‘right’ way to be blonde or tall, blue-eyed or brown. That being said what I would like to address – and do in this workbook – is the idea that a Psychic is a victim of their own talents and abilities. While this may make for good TV and dramatic entertainment it is not a necessary way to live your life if you have Abilities. There is nothing wrong with living life as a Happy Psychic- well-adjusted even! Unlike the innate ability to create music or paint, this particular gift does have a tendency to overwhelm and take over one’s life BUT it doesn’t have to be that way. Being victimized and scared is not a prerequisite to being a Psychic. In fact, living in such a manner can not only reduce the accuracy and accountability of your Readings and communications but will curtail your basic happiness and joy with your life in general.

  In this workbook I have chosen the visual of a garden – a Soul Garden – as the vehicle in which we will work towards living joyfully as a Psychic or Sensitive. You do not have to be a professional Psychic to enjoy this workbook. It is my opinion that every human has innate Abilities to one degree or another. Some consciously develop latent talents in order to more accurately use them and some people are born with full-fledged highly tuned Psychic Minds. Most people fall somewhere in between those two extremes. In this workbook we will work together towards harmonizing the unique energetic tides that a Psychic will encounter on a daily-if not hourly!- basis. We will explore exercises designed to balance and stabilize our own energy and how to regulate our emotions in the face of outside emotional storms so that we feel safe. The energies and Spirits that dwell within certain flowers and plants will be used and visually ‘planted’ within our personal Soul Garden so that later when a particular plant’s help is needed we can quickly and safely ‘go within’, find that plant and open to its energies thereby gaining the wisdom and gifts that that flower is known for. As we plant our own garden we leave behind the inclination of victim hood and move more fully into self-assurance and enjoying our gifts and Abilities. Our Psychic Minds will develop and fine-tune and the waves and tides of energies from outside and inside ourselves will begin to diminish. All of that being said, this workbook will be FUN! It is my deepest desire to show you that the gifts you have are joyous! Even when some situations get scary- and they can- remember that you are living an amazing life that most people only watch on TV or read about in books. That alone should make you smile.

  If you’re ready to hone your Psychic Mind, remind yourself to live joyfully and spend some time cultivating your own Soul Garden come along with me as we start down an amazing garden path.

Soul Gardens and Dream Spaces -- or how to cultivate a healthy relationship with the news if you're a Sensitive

Red Dahlia by Jennie Marie Schell 

 There are days, no WEEKS, that I just cannot stomach the news. I try to stay informed but the constant barrage of dead children, abused animals, apartment fires, blown up kindergartens (this morning from China), and our own government continually working against 'we the people' feels like the death of a thousand cuts to my soul.
  I sit at 'my spot' at the dining room table, coffee in hand, and try to be an 'adult'; I catch up on emails (70% of which are spam), return those that need my attention, check my digital and paper calendar, pay what bills I can and attempt to stay informed but what I really want to do is lay on my back in the tall grass of a secluded meadow and watch clouds float by over head. And as I mentally add lemonade and a nice blanket to this internal dream space  the next news story is about ticks and lyme disease.

*sigh*

I add a spray can of poisonous Deet to the image and move along to updating business pages.....

  I am seriously considering hacking away at my on line preferences to show ONLY happily adopted children and animals, couples celebrating 75 years of a joyous marriage or relationship, what colors to paint a room, decorating journals, and food porn. I just don't know if 'staying informed' is healthy any more... at the same time I wonder if running from the on-going insanity is giving up and allowing it all to continue.
  Should I be a warrior or an escapist? Is there a way to be both???
I mean, can I work in my soul- garden cultivating beautiful flowers AND be strong enough to weather the constant stream of hurtful insanity that seems to flow from every direction? Can I use that garden to filter the stream so that only those insane items I MUST deal with can come through? And how do I determine what those are???

  These words float to the top of my consciousness as I ponder that question :

~Ritual

~Guides

~Meditation

~Yoga

~Art

~Goddess

~Strength

~The Color Red

~Breath

~ Ground, Center, Shield


Time to work on my Soul Garden. How about you? What will you plant in your's?

....and there's a book!! A real, live book! Available Now! (oh-- and more in the works LOL)

Good morning!

Divine Interference - Living with Angels, Demons, Fairies, and Ghosts

Here's your publishing update- Its done!! Yay!! The book Divine Interference-Living with Angels, Demons, Fairies, and Ghosts is now available in 2 forms- Kindle and Paperback through Amazon and a signed paperback edition through my etsy store. Go HERE and HERE for each venue. I've sent out the batch of pre-orders yesterday and am anxiously awaiting the responses.
 In the meantime....

There are more! Seriously -- about three more books (with one being a full length YA novel) flitting around in my head so this blog will probably get pretty busy over the summer as I use it for notes and ideas and you all get to wander through the process with me! Isn't that cool? What you can look for are notes and excerpts from 3 books --



*A Handbook/Workbook of sorts
*A book dealing only with my experiences in New Orleans
* A full length YA novel about magic and witchcraft...

original painting of a New Orleans Creole-style Cottage in The Treme

A unifying visual theme of anything I write and/or publish will be the inclusion of my personal artwork and photography which means I need to up my game on creating my own covers. Totally worth it because you all know that we DO judge a books by its cover, right? :-)

So please stay with me on this blog- it will be worth it! If you're inclined to share it I would be very honored - the more the merrier! And if you haven't read the final product of Divine Interference  please consider it. If you have and would like to comment here, on etsy, my website and of course- Amazon - that would be beyond wonderful!

Happy Reading!

PS-
I saw a dead man in an orange shirt at the baseball field yesterday - he seemed so sad but would not talk with me. After all these years it still taken me by surprise when I have an unexpected encounter..

Its almost publishing time!

Divine Interference   - Living with Angels,Demons, Fairies,& Ghosts

Good morning~

 The memoir which began life as this blog is almost ready to be sent to the publisher- just a few more tweaks and we'll have a book! I expect a box of books to arrive at my house and a listing on Amazon by the third week in June- I'm so excited!

  I've enable a Pre-Order feature on the etsy store for those of you who would like a special - A signed copy with free shipping in the Continental US. Go here to order your copy. There is no minimum so please feel free to order one or two more as gifts

  Once I get my 'summer legs ' ( similar to  sea legs but more difficult to acquire) under me I will begin the next writing project- a handbook of sorts for those who are 'sensitive'. I have some lovely images and thoughts on how this book will be set up- I'm anxious to begin! Please 'stay tuned' for updates and excerpts on that project.

  Thank you to those who read this blog and have followed along- I would love it if you shared , commented and let me know who you are and from where you're reading...

 Until Next Time -
Annie

We're live on Kindle now!

 

working paperback cover with original artwork

Hello!

  Having taken the advice of a few readers I have moved my writing of this blog onto my private files and developed a book that is currently available on Kindle. In a few weeks a paperback a will be available for those who prefer a 'real' hold-it-in-your-hands book.
The paperback can be Pre-ordered on my etsy store HERE. You will receive a signed copy and shipping is complimentary
. 

   There are at least 2 more books in the works and those will be previewed here as well -- stay tuned!

In the meantime- please check out the Kindle Book - 

Divine Interference , Living with Ghosts, Angels and Fairies  

Available now for your Kindle or eReader.

Ghosts in a Small Town.. an excerpt

Ghosts In A Small Town

“Be whole, be dust, be dream, be wind

Be night, be dark, be wish, be mind,

Now slip, now slide, now move unseen,

Above, beneath, betwixt, between.” 

― Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book

  I still live in the same small northern Midwest town that my mother moved us to after I graduated from high school. It is a very small town situated on the bank of one of The Great Lakes with its primary economy being tourism. It is quite picturesque and almost every angle makes for a postcard worthy image to send back to friends and family in Chicago or Cincinnati or wherever you’ve come here from. If you look the town up on ‘haunted USA’ or similar websites you won’t find a mention but for people like me there is nowhere that is NOT haunted – Spirits are everywhere and active in varying degrees. Some want our attention, some are simply residual energy reenacting an event over and over in a continuous loop -with or without consciousness. Some aren’t Spirits at all but rather living people from the past or future that we have happened across. This happens when we encounter a ‘thin space’ – for lack of a better term- that allows people, animals or things to sidestep between time. These thin spaces most often occur at liminal places such as stairs, doorways, windows, beaches and the entrances to cemeteries.  As I said, though you won’t find my town listed as a hotspot of haunted activity the following stories – all true – might help you to remember that Spirits are everywhere. Where ever there is life there is death and we mix and mingle together all the time. The difference between most of us is that people like me know it. Ready? Read on for some ghost stories of the northern Midwest as experienced by me

The Girl in The Theater

 When my first born was quite young and I was trying to get my personal life together I took a job at the local movie theater as a housekeeper. It was a terrible job but it paid cash and the hours worked with the sporadic daycare I was able get. It was my job to vacuum the lobby, blow the debris from the theater floors with a leaf blower then sweep all of it up. I then cleaned the restrooms and wiped down the glass entry doors. This took me about 4 hours every other day. The theater wasn’t large- it had a concession stand in the small lobby, two public restrooms, and 3 theater rooms- two to each side directly to the front of the lobby and a smaller one off to the left of the lobby.  Most people complained that the smaller theater was creepy but I had no problem there. It was one of the larger rooms to the front and the left that created a very hostile work environment in what was an otherwise empty building. 

  I felt the spirit the very first day I was working. I have been to this theater on more occasions than I can count as a patron and felt nothing out of the ordinary but in the quiet and empty building the presence was quite pronounced. I carefully entered the theater room where I felt the spirit and looked around but couldn’t see anything nor did the feeling I was having coalesce into anything more specific. I mentally acknowledged that there was a presence and moved along in my work. 

This scenario continued for over a month before the change occurred suddenly and without warning. I entered the building as usual, gathered the cleaning supplies from their closet and energetically ‘felt outward’ for the spirit as I walked toward the two front theaters. As I entered the theater to the left the spirit rushed me suddenly and became visible as a young girl of about nine years old. This rushing is one of my least favorite things that a spirit can do; not only is it frightening but it’s an aggressive move and leaves me feeling very off-kilter. This girl took me so by surprised that I fell backward and crab-walked as fast as I was able out of the theater and into the lobby. My heart was pounding and I was in a full-blown cold sweat. What in the world had just happened?!  I took several deep breaths, shielded myself for protection and carefully stepped back into the theater. And Wham! There she was again – a very angry young girl rushing me so abruptly and so quickly that all I could see was her face in front of mine. And it was not a nice face. This was one pissed off ghost. I left the theater again and regrouped once more in the lobby. I could feel the anger and malice emanating from that room but it became obvious she couldn’t leave that area. I decided to clean everything else except that room for the day and leave good enough alone for the time being. 

 The next time I came into clean I broadcast to the ghost that I was there and I would be coming into the room to clean. No arguments and more ghostly temper tantrums. I stepped in to try out my newly established rule and she promptly rushed me again. This time, however, scary as it was- I held my ground. She was literally in my face and very angry but I refused to move. After what seemed like a very long time but was probably only 3 or 4 seconds she backed off and moved towards the theater curtain. I cleaned the floor and blew the debris toward the curtain and as I walked down the aisle to finish sweeping it up she watched but didn’t make a move towards me. I pretended to not notice her while sweeping but was taking stock of her appearance; two braids in her light brown hair hung just to her shoulders on either side. She was dressed shabbily in a dingy white pinafore with black woolen tights and black leather lace up shoes that had seen better days. A plain long sleeved shirt of undeterminable color covered her arms and disappeared under the grungy pinafore. The year 1932 flashed at me and the image of a mechanic’s garage or workshop. I finished up and left to clean the remainder of the building. When I got home I asked my husband what used to be where the movie theater now stands. He said that for years a mechanic and car lot was located at that spot. While I could never get her to talk to me nor could I get her to tell me the reason for her aggression I believe the ghost of that child is connected to the activity that existed on that plot of land decades before the theater was built. I’ve often wondered what she sees- does she see the theater and not know how she got there or does she still see the mechanic’s shop and is angry that I was in it.