Connecting to The Sacred

Hi, I’m Judith Ashley, author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series, romantic women’s fiction with light paranormal elements. My stories show you what life could be like if you had a place like The Circle where you are unconditionally accepted, supported and loved. And where, with this support, you make choices to overcome the darkest nights and choose love and light.

My series The Sacred Women’s Circle is a good fit for this month’s topic which is sacred. The main characters come together to create their own spiritual practices that resonate with their views of the world.

And their view of the world?

We are all part of the Divine. We are all sacred.

And what is we? All that is and that includes the rocks and trees as well as animals and plants.

At the time I wrote these stories I didn’t know about animism. When I heard Colette Baron-Reid talk about being an animist, I realized both my characters and I are animists.  Animist (n), Animism (v), Animistic (adj)

Definition: Attribution of conscious life to objects in and phenomena of nature of inanimate objects.

Mother Nature's Contribution to my Beach Birthday Party

I’m not sure if all animists talk to the trees, birds, rocks, flowers when out on a walk but they do recognize a connection. We are all part of the Divine Matrix, Spirit, The Universe, the God/Goddess, Higher Power – in other words, we are all part of The Sacred.

That truth, for me, guides much of my action. I see myself connected by sacred ties to people who are not like me. Even people who don’t like me. Even people who spew hate instead of love. Being an animist is who I am and impacts not just how I pray but also how I interact in the ”real world”.

My questions for you are these:

How would your life be different if you saw yourself connected to all that is around you?

What would you do different if you saw the people you disagree with, the people you fear as not only connected to you, but part of the sacred?

If you not yet on my mailing list, you can sign up for Choices here. I’ve created a new free offering that includes the novella Sarah’s Ankh along with the first chapter of Lily: The Dragon and The Great Horned Owl. I hope you enjoy them.

Look for my next non-fiction Yes, You Can Create The Life You Love this fall.

All of my books are available at your favorite e-book vendor. Be sure to ask your local library if you’d prefer to read my books through that resource.

Learn more about Judith's The Sacred Women’s Circle series on her website JudithAshley.net

Follow Judith on Twitter: JudithAshley19

Check out Judith’s Windtree Press author page.

You can also find Judith on Facebook!

© 2021 Judith Ashley

Resurrecting Old Haunts

Twenty years ago last Saturday I started writing fiction.

Yes, it may seem odd to know it to the day, but here's why I do. Oh, sometime before that I'd taken the apparently obligatory one-day extension class short story workshop, with appropriately miserable results. I think I'd written three totally useless short stories in my first 35 years totaling less than 5,000 words.

Then in July of 1993 I was on a Quantas jet traveling from Korea, through Singapore (to get an Australian visa), and on to Darwin, Australia. I was about to, as the Aussies say, "Ride a pushie down the Alice." It was the next leg of my mid-life crisis on wheels, to ride my bicycle the 1,500 kilometers across the Outback from Darwin to Alice Springs. While in the air, I started writing a little vignette in my journal. It was about a freshman roommate who killed alarm clocks...literally. I used to lie in my dorm bed and watch yet another poor, hapless clock go flying out to the end of its electrical-cord tether, then smack into a wall and slide down behind my bed with a shiver of tiny fragments.

When he awoke in my story, he wasn't in his dorm bed, but rather sitting across the conference table from St. Peter, who was asking for his help with the broken gates of Heaven. Where that came from I still don't know to this day. While the roommate didn't survive the first draft, St. Peter did and through Australia, Indonesia, India, Israel, and Greece, I wrote of his journey and others. This went on to become my first professional sale, The Cookbook from Hell. It's ultimately about the Devil's mid-life crisis, because she's sick of cleaning up after God for 14 billion years. He may be a creative genius, but his follow-through is lousy and she's always picking up the pieces.

Years later, I wrote the sequel, but I never published it. Why? Well, Cookbook suffered from two things. One, a severe case of first-book-itis and two, the tiny publisher collapsed after book 2 of my 3-book contract... I try not to take it personally.

So, as part of my 20-year celebration as a writer, I redrafted the first book so that I could finally release the second, a dual launch. I was surprised at the emotional baggage, both good and bad that came up. That's part of the writer's journey though, digging down deep, seeing what we find, and doing our best to turn it into entertainment. And I have to admit, I find this world immensely entertaining. While they are not romances, they are definitely stories from my heart.

And that's sort of the whole point, isn't it?