The Gift of Healing

A peek into the inspiration for the novel, Elke’s Magic

We live on top of a hill, surrounded by woods. Countless wild animals pass through, en route from the stream and ponds below to the sanctity of the forest. We have been visited by deer, fox, raccoons, possums, groundhogs, rabbits, coyotes and on the rare occasion even a bear! The same pair of mallards arrives every spring to lay eggs, and a red tailed hawk flies overhead daily. Needless to say, there is never a dull moment around here!

Arriving at my front door late one afternoon, I looked out into our backyard, and noticed a doe nursing her newborn fawn. She was only about a hundred feet away. As soon as she had spotted me, our eyes locked. We had bonded, the deer and I. Knowing that she and her baby were welcome and safe at our home, she continued feeding her little one until it had finished its meal. And then they both bounded back over the stone wall into the woods once more.

All day I had been struggling with a way to open my first Young Adult Novel. Elke, the main character, is a healer who can mysteriously bring about curative powers simply through her touch. I had already written most of the book already, but I needed a way to introduce Elke, and to subsequently introduce readers to the world in which Elke lived.

Unbeknownst to them, the deer and her fawn had just given me inspiration. And so, the first chapter of Elke’s Magic opens with a doe seeking help. Injured, she heads to Elke for her magical healing touch. After Elke offers therapeutic assistance, the deer leaps back into the woods. Turning back for a moment, the deer looks Elke directly in the eye before disappearing into the trees.

We are all capable of being a healer like Elke. Maybe less effectively than the fictional character, but we can all provide that necessary hug, offer encouraging words, extend our deepest sympathy or give a warm and loving smile.

Sometimes that is all it takes to bring about the gift of healing.

Contemplating Reincarnation

Not exactly sure when I started to fully believe that our souls have the capacity to return. A few years ago, for some inexplicable reason, I had an “aha” moment. In a spontaneous burst of comprehension, I felt it in deep down in my own soul.

I have been here before.

Perhaps being in my sixth decade here on this planet has made me more introspective. I have expectations that if the end is nearing, yet hopefully not too soon, I will have yet another stab at life. This soul inside me needs to move on and finish what it started in its current corporeal state.

Sounds a bit creepy to think about it, though. The concept or belief that a soul can shift into another seems too far fetched. Too unreal. But I think, no I believe, that it does happen.

What perplexes me the most are the logistics. When did this recycled soul actually arrive? Did it swoosh in, at birth? Or did it occur at conception? Perhaps somewhere along the line, during gestation? And then, at death will it leave in a poof, only to enter another human form? Maybe. It makes sense. We as humans all need time to grow. Our soul needs to grow. Is one lifetime long enough to learn everything? Or do our souls need many lives in order to evolve into whom they are destined to become?

So, if indeed we do reincarnate, it could explain why we are so often drawn to the familiar. When we meet someone for the first time and there is an instant connection, does that mean we knew them in a past life? Were we friends, spouses, or family members before? The night I met my husband, I went back home and told my roommate that I had met the man I was going to marry. Not sure why. It was just a knowing feeling that had come over me. Were we once spouses? Eons ago? Fast forward, and 38 wonderful years together, maybe we were together before. In another lifetime. It explains so very much.

And why do we instantly love our children? Something magical happens the very first moment that you meet your child. Most often, seconds after birth, but for some, it might take a bit longer. It does grow though, in intensity, that connection that lies deeper than just the knowledge that you carried this child inside of you for nine months. Or if adopting, that the child in your arms knows somehow that you are family. Has that child’s soul been part of your life in the past?

I assume that all of these answers are there for us, in our next lifetime. Maybe. Until then, I hope that this soul inside of me right now is doing its very best. And that it will continue to do so when it finds its new home, once it is finished and ready to move forward.

Survival

Fourteen years ago and four months after burying my mother who had lost her battle with cancer, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. My father had also lost his battle, years earlier. I was grateful neither parent had to know of my diagnosis. It would have broken their hearts.

After Chemo, I was told that I had a 94% chance of living another ten years. Thankfully, I am one of the lucky ones. I am still here! And I am eternally grateful for each and every day.

In the early years, I kept the details private, only sharing with a select few. Then, along the way, I started writing about it. It was indeed cathartic. Actually writing it down also increased my conviction that Breast Cancer needed to be talked about. Honestly and openly. Essays became short stories. Short stories then evolved into my first novel. The Final Canoe Ride.

The main character in my first novel, Meg, is fictional, but her medical details were what I had actually gone through personally. It wasn’t easy sharing all the unpleasant details. But I had hoped, along the way, to be able to somehow shed light on a situation that still needs more understanding, more research and more development.

Because there were so many stories in my head and in my heart, I kept writing after finishing my first book. I have just finished the final draft for my sixth novel. In all my books, my character Meg lives on. Either in the “fictional flesh” or in the spirit.

I do believe that we all have the resiliency to overcome obstacles, no matter how impossible they may seem at the time. We can all move forward, here on this earth. With hope that there is indeed a future for us, whether it is in the here and now, or somewhere out there on the spiritual plane.