The Eden Magazine May 2023

FEMALE ARCHANGELES

by CALISTA

DevineChristine

Photo by Jess Bailey

Discover the path to a peaceful life among other living beings. We are all made of vibration and light in the universe to manifest our energy around all livingness.

MEET OUR TEAM

PHYLLIS KING

SHERI DETERMAN

ZEE

JOE SANTOS, JR.

ISABELLE RUEN GREG DOHERTY

ARTIN MARDIROSIAN

EDWARD HAKOPIAN ALEXIA MELOCCHI

Maryam Morrison

GRETA PAZZAGLIA

SHERRI CORTLAND

DINA MORRONE

BEN ROLLINS

PHILIP SMITH

LISA JOY WALTON

JOE MAGNANI & JARED SCHLACHET JSQUARED PHOTOGRAPHY

HEIDI CONNOLLY

BRAD WALLACE

Polly Wirum

Susie Schroadter

EDEN

Since 2010

The Eden Magazine is a free online publication focuses on spreading compassion to all Sentient Beings living in a healing and peaceful world

FOUNDER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

MARYAM MORRISON

EXECUTIVE EDITOR/ CONTRIBUTING WRITER DINA MORRONE

COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR/ CONTRIBUTING WRITER

PHYLLIS KING

ALEXIA MELOCCHI

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

ZEE

POLLY WIRUM

JOE SANTOS, JR. HEIDI CONNOLLY

SHERRI CORTLAND SUSIE SCHROADTER

GUEST WRITER

PHILIP SMITH

CONTRIBUTING STYLISTS + MAKEUP ARTIST

EDWARD HAKOPIAN

LISA JOY WALTON

GRAPHICS & PHOTOGRAPHY GREG DOHERTY

BEN ROLLINS

ISABELLE RUEN

SHERI DETERMAN

GRETA PAZZAGLIA

ARTIN MARDIROSIAN (Nexision)

JSQUARED PHOTOGRAPHY @J2PIX

WEB DEVELOPER BRAD WALLACE

https://bradwallacedesign.com/

325 N. Maple Dr. Po Box 5132 Beverly Hills, CA 90209

To purchase a copy visit us in www.theedenmagazine.com

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FEAR, DESIRES, AND PHOBIAS by Alison Davis

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HOW TO BE HAPPY?

Sadhguru will be offering Inner Engineering in Atalanta on June 3,4 and Los Angeleson June 24.25

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CHRISTINE DEVINE

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SPRING PET DANGERS By Dr. Doug Mader

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SAY NO TO ANIMAL TESTING, CRUELTY-FREE IS THE ONLY WAY TO SHOP interview with Monica Engebretson by Phyllis Kingi

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FEMALE ARCHANGELS by Calista

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VNUE RADIO OFFERS AUTISTIC PEOPLE DJ SLOTS ON NATIONAL PROGRAM by Diane Lilli

46 WORTHY by Kimberly Plante

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HELPING YOUR CHILD COPE HEALTHILY WITH DIVORCE by JB Rowell

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MEET THE LAST LIVING WWII VETERAN, HE'S GOT A SECRET THAT WILL CHANGE HISTORY by Diane Lilli Cover photography

Life is Essential, Feel it

62 MUYINY AT THE BOUNDARY

by Zee

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5 REASONS TO MEDITATE WITH CRYSTALS

by Sherri Cortland

70

BUILD YOUR LIFE ON A FOUNDATION OF LOVE

by Susie Schroadter

74

5 WAYS KARMA AND PAST LIVES CAN INFLUENCE YOU TODAY

by Polly Wirum

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BRING MAGIC INTO YOUR LIFE LEARN TO FOLLOW THE FLOW OF ENERGY

by Phyllis King

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AWAKENING TO THE LOST JOY, WITHIN

by Heidi Connoly

88 FEAR NOT TRUTH

by Patricia Cori

92 EXPERTS REVEAL THE DIFFERENT NOISES THAT CAN HELP YOU SLEEP by BestMatteress.com

98

TURN HEADS THIS SUMMER

WITHA STRW BALE GARDEN & WATCH FRIENDSHIPS BLOOM

by Joel Karsten

102

WHAT IS CARBON NEUTRAL MILK?

by Claire Hamlett

Phobias Fears, Desires, &

By Alison Davies

Fairy tales contain every manner of bad behaviour, from malice and jealousy to deception and hatred. Because of this, they're great tools for addressing some of our most deep-rooted issues. Fairy tales provide a safe place to explore our fears. In this chapter, we examine our darkest desires and come face to face with our phobias. Most importantly, we learn how to work with these and change the way we think and behave so that we can act in our own best interests, confident and empowered.

Photo by olenakucher AdobeStock

The Dark Side of Fairy Tales

Make no mistake. Fairy tales aren't as twee as they first appear. The title may suggest that they're going to be nice little stories with happy endings, but the reality is much darker. These tales deal with meaty issues. If you look back at the original versions, you'll appreciate that they were written to be gritty and often disturbing. Although they've changed over the years and softened in some cases, there are still elements of those first tales lurking. Think for a minute about your favorite fairy tale. Is it all sweetness and light, or is there a twist? Does the protagonist get thrust into a challenge or have to escape from something or somewhere during the course of the tale? Consider Snow White, a beautiful princess envied so much by her stepmother that she tries to kill her. The queen's insane obsession with her looks drives her to do the most despicable things, including trying to poison her stepdaughter and putting her into a coma. Or what about Rumpelstiltskin?

He might look sweet and quirky, but this sprightly character tries to cheat the queen out of her firstborn child. He has no qualms about manipulating the situation she finds herself in. In another example, the pied piper of Hamelin, who is known for his unique ability to catch rats, turns the tables on the townsfolk, stealing away all their children. Even the innocent tale of The Princess and the Pea has a darker side to it. The poor girl is tricked into spending a night in

agony to prove that she's a real princess. The queen will not take her word for it and wants the princess to prove her worth. But what would have happened if she had turned out simply to be a poor maiden lost in the storm? Would they have cast her out the next day or chopped off her head? We'll never know, but the outcome could have been quite different.

The Forbidding Forest

One of the most common symbols in fairy tales is the dark, mysterious wood or enchanted forest, a place of deep foreboding and dread. Full of hidden dangers, it's somewhere that you wouldn't want to get lost in at any time of the day, but especially not at night. It's also an archetype representing a forgotten part of ourselves, the darker part of our psyche that we're scared to explore in case we discover something very traumatic. Fairy tales are forests of words. The deeper your read, the more you get lost in a magical world as the twists and turns of the story take you further into the heart of each adventure. It's no surprise, then, that many of the characters find themselves lost and have to work their way through the enchanted woodland in search of something or looking for a way out. It's also interesting that the forests in these tales are untamed, often forgotten places. Like the ancient forests of Britain, they seem to have slipped through time. Their nature points to the wildness within our own psyche and a need to face our deepest, darkest fears and desires.

Feel what it's like to walk barefoot on the earth or the grass. Place your hands on the bark of a tree. Breathe deeply and let any thoughts or emotions gently pass through your mind. Also, listen to the sounds of the forest. This is Mother Nature's soundtrack and part of the beguiling magic of the world we live in.

In these tales, the forest has the power to change people, to help them find a new destiny. Like the characters in the stories, we're urged to plunge into the forests of our mind and emerge the other side a little torn and disheveled but totally liberated by the experience. Consider the fate of Hansel and Gretel, who were dumped in the forest by their father and left to fend for themselves. Their greed almost leads to their downfall and a spell in the witch's cooking pot, but they salvage the situation by facing up to the witch and giving her a taste of her own medicine. With their fear overcome, they're no longer lost and can return home safe in the knowledge that they can deal with anything. They come out of the forest a little battle-weary but changed and strengthened from their ordeal.

In Sleeping Beauty, each prince who comes to the castle must fight his way to reach the princess through the vast and ancient forest that has grown up around the place. Many fail because they haven't the courage to enter such a dark and wild place. But there is one who is not deterred. He breaks through the tumbling overgrowth and cuts away the thorny vines that block his path until he reaches the slumbering princess in the castle and awakens her with a kiss. Transformation is the key here. In addition, the forbidding undergrowth –an echo of the primeval forest – signifies the wild place within that we must all accept and embrace if we're to find true peace in ourselves.

Walk on the Wild Side

The next time you take a walk in nature, whether it's through the woods or an area of greenery in the city, use all your senses to experience the world around you. Think about how the environment looks and notice every detail. Consider the scents of the flowers and the different textures and shades of the foliage.

Notice the wind upon your face. Feel what it's like to walk barefoot on the earth or the grass. Place your hands on the bark of a tree. Breathe deeply and let any thoughts or emotions gently pass through your mind. Also, listen to the sounds of the forest. This is Mother Nature's soundtrack and part of the beguiling magic of the world we live in. Get lost in the music of your surroundings and let it enhance the experience. If you can't get out and about, imagine you're entering a forest in your mind by visualizing a picture in front of you. See the picture increase in size and then step into it. Be bold like a character from a fairy tale and plunge deeper into the forest. Use all your senses to get the most from experience. If you feel brave, ask the forest to introduce you to something about yourself that you weren't aware of. For example, you might encounter another creature, real or mythical. What does it say about you? How do you react to it? How does it make you feel?

Take your time and let the scene unfold. This is your forest, so you're perfectly safe and in control, even if you feel a little scared. Anything you experience comes from a place of learning. When you're ready, picture yourself emerging from the other side of the forest. See yourself walking toward the light and feel the warmth of the sun on your face. Afterward, make a note of your thoughts and feelings. Include any images or symbols that have stayed in your mind, as these could be key to unlocking your fears and desires.

TOP TIPS TO RECONNECT WITH NATURE

• Spend at least an hour every week walking in woodland (even cities have forested areas), and imagine you're in your own fairy-tale setting.

• Get outside in the garden and get your hands dirty in the soil. If you don't have a garden, invest in an allotment and grow some vegetables, or simply plant some seeds in a pot on the windowsill.

• Have a go at capturing nature on canvas by painting with watercolours.

• Let the landscape inspire you to write some poetry.

• Stand barefoot on the grass in your garden or a local park and feel the energy of the earth beneath your feet.

• Sit beneath a tree with your back against its bark and let the trunk support you.

• Volunteer with nature-conservation groups.

• Go cross-country running.

• Visit country parks and go for rambles.

Camp in the great outdoors.

The Forest of Phobias

If you have a specific phobia,

you can use the enchanted forest to help you overcome it. Visualize being in the heart of the forest. You feel comfortable and secure as you sit with your back against a giant oak tree. You know you're supported in all you do and connected to the earth. Now imagine facing your phobia. For example, if you're scared of spiders, you suddenly see one coming toward you. But because this is a magical place and this is your fairy tale, you can change the rules. So instead of the spider scaring you, it stops, bows, and says hello! Imagine striking up a conversation with the spider and telling it why you usually feel so scared of spiders. Then, visualize what the friendly spider would say to you in return. If your phobia is about being confined in small spaces, see yourself falling back until you're inside the tree trunk. At first, this feels like a small space, but as you breathe calmly, you notice it's actually much bigger than you thought. Picture yourself expanding your aura – the energy field around your body – so that it grows outward, making the space bigger and bigger until you are comfortable within it. Be creative. Whatever phobia you have, you can play around with it in your story. Remember, you're perfectly safe and in control. When you're ready, emerge from the forest into the light and feel a sense of renewed strength and optimism. By repeating this visualization often, you'll start to take the fear away from your phobia. It will no longer be a scary shadow lurking in the background because you're dealing with it head-on and making its circumstances more acceptable. You'll start to feel more comfortable about it and may even find it fading away.

Alison Davies is an author, storyteller and freelance writer from Nottingham. She has penned over 40 books, including the popular ‘Be More…’ series for Quadrille, which started with Be More Cat, and includes to name a few, Be More Bee, Be More Sloth, and Be More Dog.

Alison is a professional storyteller and delivers sessions at universities on how stories can be used as tools for teaching and learning. Her most important and demanding role by far though, is being human of choice to her three furry felines, Ziggy, Diego and Honey.

Have you ever taken a moment to observe a child playing? With an empty box, a metal pot, or some water and dirt, they can create an adventure. They are naturally joyous.

As we grow up, the cost of our happiness increases. We may route our happiness through earning an education, having a family, developing social relationships, or even keeping busy doing various activities.

Happiness may become dependent on someone else or by doing or obtaining something. But when you become naturally happy, you make better decisions, and your life becomes enriched and effortless.

What is Happiness? Hear from a Yogi, Sadhguru

“When do you really feel well in your life? When you’re really happy, you’re well.

Even if you’re physically ill, you’re still well. Isn’t it? Fundamentally, well-being means a certain level of joyfulness, a certain exuberance of life. What is happiness? We can say happiness is this or that, but in terms of life, your life energies are happening in a more exuberant way than it normally happens.

Depression means your life energies have become in a very low state. Happiness means your life energies are exuberant.

“Everybody has been happy, but the problem is they’re not able to maintain it. All this effort in life, everything that you did—education, career, business, family, whatever you did—was in pursuit of happiness. Everything that humanity has done on this planet is in pursuit of happiness.”

Sadhguru is a realized yogi, mystic, and visionary who has dedicated himself to the elevation of the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of all people. He is an author and opinion maker who is regularly invited to speak at leading prestigious international forums and

conferences, such as World Peace Summit at the United Nations and the World Economic Forum.

Sadhguru Designed Inner Engineering to put your Happiness on Self-start. The Inner Engineering course empowers you with tools to attain what you are aspiring for within yourself so you experience life at its peak. It helps you put your life on self-start so you become in charge of your happiness, joy, and peace.

It gives you the opportunity to intellectually explore the ABC’s of life using methods from the distilled essence of yogic sciences. The course imparts practical wisdom to manage your body, mind, emotions, and the fundamental life energy within.

Millions have benefited from Inner Engineering worldwide. A mother, an engineer, a student, a musician... and many other countless people just like you, with similar life situations, are making use of the tools and solutions that Inner Engineering offers. Here are just a few reviews from Inner Engineering participants:

I took Inner Engineering Online whenever the pandemic started because I was definitely struggling, just like everyone else. So I took it online, and it was incredible! I noticed particularly in the way that I was managing and processing the stress of all of these external things in my life had greatly improved.

~ Anna Farid, Atlanta, GA.

meansDepression your life energies have become in a very low state. Happiness means your life energies are exuberant.

Once I took Inner Engineering, I was able to get off all medications, including the monthly infusion treatment I was on for multiple sclerosis (I now have the word miracle in my medical chart). It’s all thanks to Sadhguru. His grace, his teachings, his courses, meditations, and practices have truly transformed this life.~ Charlotte C.

A research study on those who participated in Inner Engineering shows the following results. Learn about more research on www.InnerEngineering.com

Sadhguru will be offering Inner Engineering in Atlanta on

June 3-4 and in Los Angeles on June 24-25, 2023. This is a rare opportunity to learn a life-transforming course directly from Sadhguru. Inner Engineering Completion is an advanced-level program, and the prerequisite is the completion of Inner Engineering Online, which can be done in the convenience of your home. As there will be significant changes in the way the Inner Engineering program will be offered in the future, this is the last time Sadhguru will offer this program in person.

To learn more visit: https://innerengineering.sadhguru.org/with-sadhguru

By Phyliss King

Edited by Dina Morrone

DChristine evine

Christine Devine is an American television news anchor based in Los Angeles. She has won 16 Emmys, including the prestigious Governors Award. Six Emmys were for Best Newscast. Devine is known for her "Wednesday's Child" adoption segment. Since 1994 she has profiled foster children looking for adoptive homes, resulting in more than 500 adoptions. In 2009, she was honored in Washington, D.C., with a congressional award.

You were born in New York, and then your family moved to Arizona. What took your family south?

It began in Brazil. My mother was a Peace Corps volunteer in Rio, where she met my birth father. Then, as the story goes, she returned to the United States to have me. I was born in North Boston, New York, outside of Buffalo. It's a small town, and my family, the Seuferts, have early roots.

My birth father came to New York, but my parents did not stay together, and he returned to Brazil. I've never met him, but finally, after all of these decades have made a recent attempt to reach out.

When I was three, my mother packed up the two of us and headed southwest. She'd attended the University of Arizona and loved the desert. She married Jack Devine, who'd been a Peace Corps volunteerin Tanzania, Africa. He adopted me when they married, and I took the name Devine.

You were valedictorian of your class in high school. Was excellence in education a family characteristic?

My mom was an elementary school teacher, and my father had teaching jobs until he became a high school principal. I was raised with education as a way of life. Both had a passion for teaching in the inner city or minority communities. For example, my mom taught in the Teacher Corps in inner-city Buffalo. My dad taught at Job Corps, and we lived on the Navajo reservation for a time.

I attended Arizona State Univer-

sity on a leadership scholarship. Through the advice of my mentor, Emily Card, I have returned to be on the Alumni Association and Board of Trustees to empower the next generation through education. The ASU motto is "It's whom we include."

What was the birth of your interest in journalism?

My parents would watch the nightly news around dinner time. At that time, there were only three network channels and no recording capabilities or online services.

I thought about being a school teacher like my parents, but then the idea hit me that being in the news industry would be a world of constant knowledge and study.

I was in a broadcasting class in high school and wrote for the school newspaper. I picked Broadcast Journalism as my major at Arizona State University, and the doors seemed to keep opening.

Among the many causes you support, you have advocated for children in foster care.

You have been titled "Wednesday's Child." What does being "Wednesday's Child" mean? How did this come to be? Why is foster care so important to you?

I'll brag! Sixteen Emmys, including the prestigious Governors Award from the Television Academy. Bragging because nothing gets on the news without a team. From the producers to the assignment desk to the editor and photographer. Any award is an acknowledgment of the work day in and day out by my Fox 11 News co-workers!

Walk for Warriors benefit by New Directions for Veterans

Walter Cronkite, at the naming of the Cronkite school of Journalism and Mass Communication at my alma mater Arizona State University,

Graduation photo at Arizona State University, 2022 fall for the Cronkite school of Journalism and Mass Communication

Much of the recognition has come because of the Wednesday's Child segment. Fox 11 picked it up in 1995 as a weekly segment showcasing children in foster care with the hopes of finding adoptive homes. We didn't invent the concept. We made a long-term commitment and have done Wednesday's Child for almost 30 years. Children that I met at eight years old are now young adults. One is my godson. Another is my dog groomer. We used to have an annual reunion at a theme park, allowing relationships and friendships to be built.

It started as a news assignment, but coincidently my parents were foster and adoptive parents. I have a late brother who was adopted, five foster siblings who came from Vietnam as refugees, and a sister.

I am a big advocate of prevention and early intervention. We will have better results in the community if we empower youth early on.

I was very moved when I met two brothers who were young adults and had been in foster care but not on our TV segment. They said they used to watch and said it was the first time they'd seen foster youth portrayed in a positive light.

Another time I met a woman who worked at a rehab facility and was being honored. When she met me, she started sobbing and said she had been in foster care and getting life before turning her life around. She said she had watched Wednesday's Child and always wished she had been one.

While I understand most people will not foster or adopt, they see the segment as giving hope and truly caring for children and at-risk children in LA.

Do you have a perspective on why there is so much poverty in the world? And, of course, the bigger question is the solutions within our grasp. World affairs are a complex issue. Unfortunately, there is not enough space in this article to cover all of the why's. We are on a fascinating yet challenging planet, with each generation being called to preserve it and uplift our fellow man/woman/child.

News is a business that changes daily, by the minute. There is never an end to the stories we want to tell.

It is overwhelming to think I could solve that problem alone. But we can all chip away at the crisis individually with our contributions to the planet.

I advocate for education and higher education, which leads to employment, better job opportunities, and higher wages.

I am active with my alma mater, Arizona State University, which has been voted "#1 in Innovation" by US News and World Report eight years in a row. We believe in access to a college education with the motto, "It's not whom we exclude. It's whom we include."

As a member of the Board of Trustees, we are constantly being informed of unique opportunities to reach a population that may not think college could be for them, whether it is economical, generational, or life obligations that might get in the way of the traditional university concept. If we can empower people through economic opportunity, we chip away at generations of poverty.

I believe we are all in a place of contribution, whether it is empowering our children or the masses.

Are there any stories you have wanted to cover, still like to cover, and feel you need to?

News is a business that changes daily, by the minute. There is never an end to the stories we want to tell.

You have a golden career and achieved many awards like the Angels in Adoption award, the Gracie Allen Award, the Child Welfare

League of America award, and the Arizona State University Alumni Hall of Fame, to name just a few to name. Do you feel you have reached what your heart calls of you? Thank you for the reminder to be appreciative and humbled by the opportunities that have come before me.

My heart calls me to be inquisitive, to be curious about people and their journey/story. But I wonder if that ever ends, that desire to learn why people do what they do. My mission has always been to give voice to those who go unheard or unrecognized.

On a personal note, I have a passion project close to my heart, yet to be revealed. I also have a dream to design a high-fashion streetwear look, even if it is just for myself to wear!

What keeps you balanced and centered in your life? Do you meditate?

Striving for balance is important for everyone, but working in a field of trauma is perhaps even more so. Sadly, we see humanity at its worst in the news business with unthinkable suffering. Fox 11 has allowed me to do decades of stories on empowerment, encouragement, and hope. So my balance is in the stories that I personally cover.

As for balance in life, I recommend self-care that includes rest, friends and family, a mentor, exercise, healthy food choices, laughter, a little travel, moments of fun, a good book, a great hike, sunshine on your face, and church/meditation/ prayer and positive teachings.

Photo by Josh Kaplan | Ivan Bitton Style House

With Kobe Bryant photo by William Wong

What can be an obstacle in your life?

Gosh, where do I start? Are we not our own worst enemies? Does the mind not have a funny way of launching into self-sabotage?

I find myself to be my biggest obstacle. Learning to be comfortable with the word "no" took a lot of self-work and introspection.

I don't think I was a people pleaser; I just had trouble accepting that it's OK to rest, balance my time, accept someone's disappointment, or WANT to do something else; I'm still working on the theory of being the best "I" so that I can be the best "we." Another obstacle is wanting to do more than time in the day allows. There is a frustration of not getting to do it all or not having the energy to do it all.

I've been fortunate to have good health and an independent family. However, I can get tunnel vision or myopia in how I think life or people should be. Through a mentor, instead of getting sullen, sad, depressed, or angry, I'm working at changing the channel and operating at a different frequency. It's like seeing things differently.

Not everyone has a platform or resources, but they want to help. What can the average person do to support a cause?

I'll quote Maria Shriver, whom I adore! "What are you doing to change the world? Because we all are."

Every day, we all make choices that can empower someone in some way. Even if it is a smile,

opening the door for someone, or choosing not to honk your horn annoyingly.

The resource is yourself. Volunteering your time to a matter that speaks to you is an easy way to get involved, where action can often affect change in a big way. People often think I get paid to emcee an event, but no, it is all volunteer. It is the school teacher's daughter in me that has me doing a lot of children's matters.

What do you wish EDEN readers to take away from your life experience?

I remind friends in private talks that the chapters of their life stories are still being written each and every day. As we know, life will take those gut-wrenching turns and twists, testing us along the way.

My career goal never envisioned Los Angeles. It was a challenging opportunity that came my way, but not without its challenges and painful chapters. I continue to turn to official and unofficial mentors for example and inspiration. Read a good biography for a reality check!

Special Thank you to:

Christine Devine

Location: Sue Wong Palazzo in Marrakesh

Photography:

JSquared Photography

@j2pix

Hair & Makeup:

Edward Hakopian

Stylist and Design:

Marika Soderlund

(myClub Shop)

Floral Lace Suit and Rings: Hakoda David @hakoda_ david

At Fox 11 set photo by Josh Kaplan

DESIGNER SUE WONG: INTRODUCING PALAZZO MARRAKECH

Photography by Greg Doherty & Dietmar Kohl

When fashion designer Sue Wong first acquired her Golden Hollywood historical home, The Cedars, she knew that it was a pantheon of ROCK STAR history, including the iconic Jimi Hendrix, who was brought to The Cedars by his good friend, Arthur Lee of the band called LOVE. In designing his former bedroom suite, she decided that the decor was to be in the Moroccan manner, both as an homage to Jimi and to her own glam Bohemian past during her wild halcyon days of living in counter-culture Venice, California. Mind you; she had never visited Morocco when she designed the Jimi Hendrix suite nearly 19 years ago. Only nine years later, she took herself on a tour of its three most famous cities: Tangiers, Fez, and Marrakesh Wong designed the signature Hendrix suite in lush, rich tones of cinnabar. The result was a vision of mixed exotic textiles and gorgeous Morrocan antique furnishings that is nothing less than kaleidoscopic.

When Sue Wong bought a huge, bland but decidedly boring McMansion totally devoid of personality and character in Los Feliz last year, she took up the challenge of giving it glamour, character, style, and grandeur. She was inspired by her previous decor of the Jimi Hendrix room at her Hollywood historical mansion, The Cedars, which embodied nostalgic opulence in the exotic Moroccan manner of the 1920s.

Inspired and emboldened by the Moroccan fantasy she had created at The Cedars, Sue designed an

entire 10,300 square-foot Moroccan palazzo that’s guaranteed to be a visual mind-blower. Last summer, she trekked through four Morrocan cities, Casablanca, Marrakech, Fez, and Agadir, to comb for precious treasures in scorching 115° temperatures. It was an unforgettable trek of a lifetime that yielded the most astonishing unique pieces of furniture art.

Upon her return, she sat side-byside with a graphics artist friend, Dave Pascal, who manipulated the computer to put all her ideas into digital format. She proceeded to design every single piece of ceiling, doors, furniture, mosaic tiles, and architectural elements such as carved archways and columns that defined spaces. After Dave did all the digital work, each purchase order had to be sent via her Moroccan agent to over 36 Moroccan artisans in three cities, who were adroit at creating beautiful age-old artistry and handwork for all her orders, implementing the tradition of Morrocan handicraft of many centuries. The finished house is a totally amazing, all-handcrafted custom house – – every ceiling, every doorway, every piece of furniture all beautifully hand-made—MAGNIFICENT!

Sue Wong has had quite the odyssey conceiving every aspect of this spectacular home —the architecture, the pool/ patio designs, the dramatic Morrocan-themed entry of the house, with its mosaic tiled columns, plus designing all the original hand-painted and hand-carved ceilings for the entire house—not to mention all the special mosaic art tiles that are everywhere throughout the palazzo. And then, there was a matter of designing all of the interiors for each room. And that was all without any staff, as Wong personally supervised every aspect of the transformation of this exciting home. She even designed lamps, furniture, as well as all the bathroom vanities in a Morrocan manner. There were all together probably over 200 purchase orders for the entire house, and that’s just only the Moroccan portion.

The house is a unique work of art, and it is guaranteed that there will be no other house like it in the real estate market. The house consists of six bedrooms and seven baths, a solarium, a media room, a huge entertainment room with a built-in copper and silver Morrocan bar, a family room, and a stunning living room/ dining room with hand-painted ceilings. To quote Murray Rosen, editor of FVM Global Magazine and a long-time observer and admirer of Sue Wong, “The polymathic intelligence and sensitivity Sue Wong brings to each of her projects afford them a unique elegance to be dearly prized by the beholder. The Palazzo Marrakesh is truly a one-of-a-kind creation by a Renaissance woman at the height of her creative powers; it is not just a domicile, it is a work of art!”

ABOUT SUE WONG

Los Angeles designer Sue Wong is known for dazzling fashionistas with her couture-inspired glamorous signature style, combining the allure and elegance of iconic bygone eras with a modern sensibility to create timeless works of art. Distinguished by the impeccable quality of traditional couture dressmaking, her designs are steeped in romance and mystery while being thoroughly modern and accessible to women everywhere. Sue forged new ground in defining fashion that transcended generations and boundaries even as she created masterpieces of passion and desire expressed through inimitable style. She has dressed countless celebrities, including Anne Hathaway, Jessica Biel, Minnie Driver, Tyra Banks, and Taylor Swift.

As a continuous practicing artist, Sue Wong continues to be an alchemist, now expanding her artistic vision to her legacy projects.

“I still have many dreams to realize, including the building of the future Sue Wong Fashion Museum, my biopic, RED LOTUS, my various book projects, including a coffee table Sue Wong fashion book, writing my autobiography, and the designing of a future spectacular tropical retreat on her ocean front land on the island of Maui in Hawaii.

“Never let go of your highest dreams, as are the children of your soul,” as Napoleon Hill once said.

Sue Wong/palazzo Marrakesh is represented by Ernie Carswell and Associates 310.345.7500 Ernie@CarswellandAssociates.com

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Spring PetDangers

By Dr. Doug Mader

Spring is a wonderful time to be a pet owner. The weather gets warmer, and there are lovely holidays to spend with family and friends. However, along with the holidays, hidden dangers can lead to tragic consequences for pets. These threats are multifaceted and range from merely “inconvenient” to, sadly, “death.”

The first is one that I have covered many times in the past. But, even with all the warnings, our emergency service sees the problem repeatedly. Chocolate is extremely toxic to pets. Every year my previous hospital cared for at least a dozen cases of chocolate poisoning in dogs right around this time of year. I have never seen a case in cats, although cats have been known to eat choc-

olate. Chocolate has a high content of theobromine, a chemical that is similar to caffeine, the stimulant commonly found in coffee. If a pet eats enough theobromine, it can die. Typical symptoms of chocolate poisoning include nervousness or excitability, restlessness, tremors, seizures, increased urination, markedly elevated body temperatures, coma, and potentially, death!

As a general guideline, the lethal dose for a 20-pound dog would have to eat at least 5 ounces of chocolate. One or two candies may not cause a problem, but the amount eaten could prove lethal if the dog gets into a box of chocolates. If this happens, get your dog to your emergency veterinarian IMMEDIATELY!

What should you do if you see your dog eats chocolate? First, try to determine how much and what type of chocolate your pet ate (e.g., milk or dark). That will help your veterinarian manage the situation. Next, call your veterinarian immediately and tell them you are on your way in with a chocolate ingestion emergency. Next, if you know that the dog JUST ate the chocolate, try to induce vomiting at home before you leave.

You can give your dog fresh Hydrogen Peroxide (check the date on the bottle). It does not take much, and too much can also make your dog sick. About 1 tablespoon for a dog less than 15 pounds and 2 tablespoons for a larger dog will start the vomiting response in about 3 – 5 minutes. Be very careful – this is extremely messy, and if the dog aspirates on the chocolate vomit, it can choke and die! Don’t waste time – get going NOW!

On a separate subject, cute baby animals, such as rabbits and chickens, are frequent gifts in springtime. These may be cute and cuddly when little, but they rapidly outgrow the fascination. Giving a person a pet is a huge assumed commitment. Not everybody wants a new pet, no matter how cute it is. Unfortunately, these pets either end up in the shelter, get euthanized, or, even worse, are turned loose. Every year the Monroe Sheriff Animal Farm gets dozens of abandoned “Easter Bunnies.” They do not need any more!

Please think before you act this spring season. Be careful with your confections, keep the chocolate away from pets, and don’t give any live animal away as a gift unless you are sure that the intended recipient is willing to take on the responsibility!

Dr. Doug Mader is a triple board-certified veterinary specialist and has been a veterinarian for nearly four decades. He is an internationally recognized speaker and has written three best-selling medical textbooks and numerous scientific publications. He has had long-standing pet columns in the Long Beach Press-Telegram, Reptiles magazine, and the Key West Citizen. Dr. Mader is the recipient of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Conservation Award, the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine Alumni Achievement Award, and the Fred L. Frye Lifetime Achievement Award for Veterinary Medicine. He is a seven-time winner of the North American Veterinary Community Speaker of the Year award and a four-time winner of the Western Veterinary Conference Educator of the Year award. He is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine in the United Kingdom.

Dr. Mader is Human Animal Bond Certified and practiced in California for many years, but today lives and works in the Florida Keys.

Say No to Animal Testing

Cruelty-Free is the only way to shop

She is going to help us navigate a sensitive topic - the mistreatment of animalsanimal testing in laboratories - breeding and research facilities that create animals solely for this purpose.

Then we will flip the switch to learn what we can do to help, including how to support new legislation on the floor in Washington DC. Finally, how to adopt some of these wonderful creatures who haven't gotten a chance in life.

Monica, thanks for talking with me today. You are in the trenches. We all love animals, and none of us want to think about anything terrible happening to them, but it's going on a lot all the time. I want to hear about all you're doing, but also, how did you get the stomach, the tenacity, and the motivation to dive into this challenging area?

Thank you for having me. I've been an animal advocate my entire life. Two kinds of people are involved in animal advocacy. Those that have always loved animals and it was an extension of them. Those who had an AHA moment, a moment that changed their awareness of animal issues, became advocates. I am the first kind; I grew up on a farm. I have always loved animals. I started campaigning early on. My first advocacy was in the first grade. I campaigned to release the class pet, which was a native lizard. I lobbied my first-grade teacher until we set that little lizard free. It's always been in my blood. Then in high school, I circulated petitions about animal testing. I became a vegetarian in high school and went on with it all into college. My background is in Wildlife science. In college, I ran the Students for Ethical Treatment of Animals on the campus at Humboldt State. It's an extension of me. You can say it's a calling.

If you were raised on a farm, was your family of the same ilk or just you?

We had hunters in our families. That's a different kind of appreciation for animals than animal welfare or farmed animals. I started thinking about why we treat animals differently. Are some of the things that we do to animals necessary? Why would we harm them if it wasn't?

How did you become part of Cruelty-Free International?

I have been working in a wildlife conservation organization called Born Free and Animal Protections too for many years. In 2013 I made the switch over to Cruelty-Free International, which was originally called the British Union for the Abolition of Viva section. It is an organization that is over 100 years old and based in London. They recently changed their name to reflect their international work and part of the work they wanted to do in the US. I stepped up to lead their US campaigns and have been working on the issues of animals in research and testing ever since.

Recently you have been to Washington, DC. You have been active in directing resources to the Care Act. What is that?

The Care Act is one of the priority bills we're working on at the federal level. It stands for the Companion Animal Release from Experiments Act. This bill would require any facility, any laboratory that takes taxpayer money from the National Institutes of Health, which is most universities and laboratories, to have adoption policies in place for dogs, cats, and rabbits when they are no longer wanted for research. They would have to post those policies online. They would have to keep track of the animals that were adopted and also publish how many animals were adopted. This creates both transparency and accountability.

From what I'm reading, beagles are of a particular focus. Beagles are a breed of dog that is commonly used in research. They are small, and they are easygoing. They make good test subjects. Beagles were the ones commonly used in Envigo.

Monica Engebretson, the head of Public Affairs for Cruelty-Free International.

Recently there was a case where Envigo was a breeding facility that bred beagles for research purposes. Because of violations of the Animal Welfare Act, they were forced to close down. They ended up releasing almost 4000 of their beagles for adoption. There was an influx of beagles from that particular case. Although the adoption of animals has been going on for a while, many people have heard of the Envigo situation because there were so many animals. Many were puppies, and some were pregnant females. We did an event on Capitol Hill with many of the Envigo beagles who came for a beagle meet and greet with staff and Congress people to encourage the support of the Care Act.

You mentioned cosmetics, but what happens to these animals behind closed doors?

Chemical testing usually involves injecting the animal with an ingredient to see how it affects its internal organs and at what point they die. Or some of the more physical, the older tests, such as skin irritation, would be putting the chemical directly on the skin or dripping the chemicals in their eyes. Today, like with the beagles, those are primarily used in drug testing. A second species in toxicity tests and other types of experiments often use rabbits. They can be used in antibody research. It's not just the experiments themselves. It is that animals experience extreme pain and suffering, and sometimes pain relief is not provided. It would impact the results of the testing. It's also that the animals live in very sterile, barren environments up until the time their research begins. The suffering isn't just in the experiment itself. It's the entire environment that's devoid of comfort. Things animals would like to do limited in the laboratory environment.

Sometimes an animal will be used

in an experiment. If they survive the experiment and are healthy, they can leave the laboratory. A lot of times, they'll be reused for some other experiment. In some cases, a laboratory might breed more animals than they realize that they need and decide they no longer have use for the animals. What typically happens is they just kill animals they no longer want, even if they have never been used.

If the animals are healthy and don't have behavioral issues, then they can be adopted. And that's something that has caught on in recent years. Rescue groups have been eager to get involved and help with this. Most of the laws that are passed in the various states do focus on dogs and cats.

We're trying to get rabbits included as well. It's not like a rescue group or a shelter that is already struggling is suddenly going to get an influx of animals they can't accept. It's people and organizations that are willing to accept the animals.

What kind of people work in these laboratories?

It's a range of people. Some are technicians who are carrying out the experiments. They know part of what they are doing. Some probably believe what they are doing is necessary. As to why someone would choose to do animal research or would continue to do it, the situations vary. There is a very good book out by Dr. John Gluck, who was a former primate researcher, called Voracious Science and Vulnerable Animals. And he talks about his whole journey. It gives insight into why somebody might get into the field and think that it's necessary. But over time, he started to realize that it wasn't. He started to think about the abuses that were taking place, and he changed his position on it.

We're only talking about the United States. I'm assuming this is going on in many parts of the world.

Oh, yes. U. S. Is probably one of the biggest users of animals in research. Animal research and testing take place all over the world.

What can be done to help these animals, and how can we adopt these animals? Do they make good pets after these experiences?

There have been studies that have followed animals that come out of laboratories. They found they do adjust to home life. Those that adopt them usually would do it all over again. The benefit doesn't just lie with the animal. It benefits the person. They often really enjoy the concept that they're helping an animal, even if it requires a little bit of a transition. They found that puppies that come out are much more malleable. But with dogs, they've found that it's very helpful if the home has another dog in the house because they can socialize with the dogs and have another dog that they can learn how to be part of a home. It helps with working through some of the traumas they might have.

How do you get your hands on one of these animals? How do you become a recipient or apply to adopt one?

It's all over the US. Different states have rescue groups that will be involved with placing dogs that get released from laboratories. Sometimes you don't know when a laboratory is going to decide to release animals. You would probably hear about it through your local news or follow a group like Homeward Bound Trails or Big Old Freedom Projects. I worked with a rabbit rescue group called Friends of Unwanted Rabbits, which has taken rabbits that were released from a lab multiple times and put them into foster homes. I have a

rabbit from a lab in my office right now listening to this interview.

How can the average person support the Care Act?

All they have to do is call their representative and say they want their representative to become a co-sponsor of the Companion Animal Released from Experiments Act. That bill number is 5726. It will have to be reintroduced next year, and it will have a different bill number, but it will still be called the Care Act.

Remember the Care Act; it has to do with laboratory animal adoptions. We want their representatives to sign on as co-sponsor. The more co-sponsors a bill gets, the more momentum it gains to help implement the law or pass it. It's a way to show support.

With your little bunny running around your feet right now. What else would you like EDEN readers to know we still need to cover today?

I know it's hard sometimes for people to get their heads around the whole issue of animal testing and what they think about it. With the Care Act, it doesn't matter what somebody thinks about animal experiments. All we have to do is agree that animals should have a chance at life if they are no longer wanted. That's why I think it should be very easy for this bill to be bipartisan and for your legislators to support it. You are not asking them to take a position on animal testing. All you have to do is agree that the animal has a chance at life and that there's a group that wants to help place them.

I'm so grateful that you're out there with the torch leading this forge. Everyone reading this in The Eden Magazine will take it upon themselves to contact their representatives.

Female Archangels

By Calista

Photo by rolffimages/AdobeStock

Who are the Archeiai [are-key-eye]? They are the female Archangels, now coming to humanity’s aid; their role is to help raise Divine Feminine consciousness and show us how to partner with them to live extraordinary lives. The Female Archangels deck is highly-vibrational, providing meaningful divination messages and angelic healing. The deck helps the reader discover their celestial origin, learn how to partner the Source Rays, attune to angels directly, and benefit from a rich buffet of unique resolve-to-rise techniques.

While this deck is a loving reflection of the Archangelic realms and the heavenly support always available to us, it pulls no punches! Gone are the days of “fluffy” angel oracles; savvy spiritual seekers are now ready for more relatable Truths, which the Archeiai share abundantly. Together with their masculine counterparts, sacred energies, and Light-encoded illustrations, the angels will evoke and escort you through many breakthroughs on a return journey to bliss and balance.

Boosting Trust and Angel Connection

Over the last 13 years of teaching Angel Healing, I am often asked, “How can I increase my angelic connection?” Because this oracle is multi-purpose, bridging divination, angelic attunement, handson healing, and so much more, the angels wanted to share a staple of this healing modality: the Four Essential Steps. These steps – breathing, centering, grounding, and connection – ensure you’re grounded in your Light, free of egoic doubt, and receptive to angelic guidance. The steps, which take only a few moments to do, will enhance any energetic practice, from angel readings to meditation to healing and having better sex! Try them out and notice how different you feel before and after.

The Four Essential Steps

Step 1: Breathing – Close your eyes and

use Source Breath. Let go of everything before this moment. Enjoy how the Light-filled air consciously aligns you to Source . . .

Step 2: Centring – Bring your focus into your heart, imagining you’re standing within it. Upon every inhale, your heart fills with Golden Light – let yourself be bathed by it. If thoughts arise, observe them, then take your attention back to your heart. Experience your Self, centered as the heart of Creation.

Step 3: Grounding – Imagine Golden roots growing from the top and base of your heart. Those are growing down move through your lower chakras and into the heart of Mother Earth. Feel her Divine Feminine Love return to you as you breathe her energy into your body. The roots from the top of your heart move through your upper chakras and into the heart of the Sun. Feel Sacred Masculine Love return to you as you bring this energy into your body.

Step 4: Connection – Experience the stillness and the finer vibrations in and around you. Affirm with conviction: “I am pure loving Awareness as the reflection of Source.” Now connect with your guardian angel(s)/Archeiai/Archangels. Talk with them, ask questions, channel healing together, or collaborate creatively, trusting the first sense, answering gut feelings, or creative insight as coming from the angels.

Invite the angel(s) to stay with you for a specific time frame (a few minutes, hours, days, weeks), depending on your intention. Observe and sense their unique energetic signature, so you know when they will be with you in the future. And when it’s time to end your communication, reverse the Four Essential Steps – ask the angel to stand back and out of your energy field to disconnect, ground, and recentre with deep breaths, and thank the angel(s).

Rise Like an Angel

Each card has five descriptive sections. These include direct, loving messages from the angels, plus reversal meanings, i.e., when cards come out of the deck upside-down. Like the best teachers who poke and provoke us to our excellence, the reversal messages serve as divine wakeup calls! Embrace them if they ring true for you.

You’ll also find a “Rise Like an Angel” section that supports you in embodying and expressing the angels through guided experiences, resolution techniques, visualizations, and angel rituals.

Lastly, there’s a “Blessing” to help integrate the angels’ medicine into your everyday life. Like all the messages, tools, practices, and attunements, these affirmations are encoded with Light frequencies to bring your Heaven to Earth.

SAMPLE CARD WRITE-UPS

1. Archeia Faith

“Lead with Confidence” Angel Message

“I am helping you to demystify all negative perceptions so you can know yourself as the conscious Creator of your life and RISE.”

Expanded Meaning

Archeia Faith, derived from the Latin fidere, meaning “to trust”, serves on the Blue, Gold, and Sapphire Ray of Divine Will, Power, and Protection with her counterpart, Archangel Michael. Faith (also known as Mikaela) has the powerful presence of a Norse Valkyrie blended with a soft and open energy. Since 2011, Faith has been focusing her Light on Earth to help humanity ascend. She wears less armour than Michael, as her unwavering belief is her protection. Faith is guiding you to

look at how you can bring (and be) faith in this situation. What do you need to surrender . . . and surrender into to feel better? Alchemize uncertainty using Faith’s Golden Blue Fire, and rest knowing you got this!

Invite in Archeia Faith for confidence, knowing you’re always supported, leadership, seeing the best in all, self-assurance, and understanding the Source Rays.

Reverse Card Meaning

Don’t allow doubt to cripple your self-belief and power to act. Have the courage to reach for what’s important. Rejoice in the benefits of personal responsibility.

Rise Like an Angel: Wings of Trust

Place Faith’s card on your heart with your hands resting on top. Come into a meditative state, sensing Archeia Faith and Golden Blue Fire with you.

Breathe into this cleansing fire, allowing it to fill your heart completely. From your heart, connect to the center of Earth and the center of the Sun. Ask Faith to purify your energy field of negative influences and remove from your throat any energetic shrouds, collars, or chains now.

As with all releases, Faith connects you to Source. In response, your wings begin to grow from the back of your heart. Feel into your wings. Notice their size, colour, quality, and type. Dip your wings into the heart of Mother Earth and the heart of Heaven. Open your arms and physically move your body in rhythm with your wings . . . Know your wings can stabilize, comfort, and shield you in any storms of life, helping you to be the eye of the storm so that no matter what, you remain

in divine perspective. Breathe in deeply as you begin to merge with Archeia Faith. Feel her unwavering certainty moving through you, as you . . .

Before closing the journey and thanking Faith, set the intention to lead your life in greater trust, knowing your angels – as your wings – forever have your back! Blessing

With arms open wide, say aloud three times with conviction, “I rejoice in knowing that my life is by my design.”

5. Archeia Hope

“Expect the Best” Angel Message

“Expect only good things to happen. You deserve the best. Believe in your capabilities as you rise above doubt.”

Expanded Meaning

Archeia Hope, whose name is derived from the Old English hopian, meaning “positive expectation”, serves on the White and Crystalline Ray of Harmony, Purity, and Communication with her counterpart, Archangel Gabriel. Hope (also known as Annunciata) epitomizes “innocence in the flow”. Equally, being the strength behind Gabriel, she can help you tap into your inner power. Hope walks on water to reflect that anything is possible! Her halo magnifies this impenetrable certainty. She reminds you that hope isn’t something to gain but a vibration to raise into. Let her wash away any doubts you’re carrying so you can spiral upwards into hope, thinking, and feeling as Source. Meditating, being in/near water, and bringing white lilies (Hope’s flower) into your space are great ways to raise your vibration into hopefulness.

Invite in Archeia Hope for calm,

inner guidance, aligning the self and Higher Self, raising vibration, optimism, the reassurance you’re always One with Source, and development of the navel and base chakras.

Reverse Card Meaning

Don’t let your emotions get the better of you. Honor them but don’t stay in reaction mode for too long. Reach for calm.

Rise Like an Angel: Rising into Hope

Couple the following visualization with uplifting affirmations and art in your space (like rainbow symbolism) to keep your vibe in the state of hope.

Look to the translucent Grecian waters within the card. Breathe in the aqua greens, blues, and pearlescent Light of Archeia Hope. Feel her with you as you close your eyes and lift into a frequency of calm. Bring up all thoughts and feelings into this peace as you and your Higher Self become One. Breathe the cool sea air, noticing how refreshing it is . . . Now imagine the most hopeful version of you. Sense what you look and feel like. How do you live your life?

How different is your vibrational state and mindset? Step into this future, hopeful you. Rejoice in knowing that all pathways of opportunity are open for you. And if obstacles appear before you, know that hope will find a way through them.

Breathe in . . . become this most confident You . . . breathe out, thanking Archeia Hope to close.

Blessing

With arms open wide, say aloud three times with conviction, “I am a lover of life and its Infinite possibilities.”

Calista is an award-winning author, speaker, and pioneer of spiritual Ascension. As a former cancer research scientist, she blends the seen and unseen realms into her certified modalities, Angel Healing® and Unicorn Healing®, which are taught worldwide. The author of several books, including The Female Archangels, Calista, lives in Perthshire, Scotland.

Two Zachs are Better Than One VNUE Radio Offers Autistic People DJ Slots on National Programs

By Diane Lilli

Zach Bair is a lifelong recording artist and music/tech entrepreneur. He serves as president and CEO of VNUE (OTC: VNUE), a leading music technology company focused on providing new revenue streams to artists and labels, such as its StageIt live-streaming platform and the management of its rights through products such as its Soundstr music recognition technology platform. Previously he was CEO of Immediate, which sold to Mark Cuban in 2006, and he owns and operates his RockHouse Live concept of live music venues and restaurants.

Arenowned DJ interviews a famous musician and music tech leader on air, and afterward, they stay off-air, talking for hours. By the time the conversation is over, they not only share the same name but are also true friends with a common mission: to create a new initiative for people with disabilities to work on-air as DJs.

Radio personality Zach Martin had discovered how many young Autistic people were working in below-minimum wage jobs and was looking for ways to help people on the autism spectrum. He had already founded Sophia's Mission, a 501c3 nonprofit, to help victims of AIDS years ago, but quickly transformed his mission to help those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), gain rewarding employment.

Once he met Zach Bair, whom he was interviewing for his suicide awareness single, Ordinary Girl, Martin knew he'd found a fellow activist.

have a responsibility to help those in need, and my area of expertise was as a DJ on major radio stations. Zach Bair, a tremendous friend and music leader, was the perfect person to help me accomplish this mission. He was all on board, instantly."

Bair said he could see the future with new-tech radio platforms, including people with ASD. Within a few weeks, VNUE Radio was born in association with the already-established NEWHD Radio.

Zach Martin is a longtime New York City radio personality, known for being on Q1043, a nationally syndicated ultimate classic rock show; CBS FM; the famous KROCK, and sometimes heard on WFAN NY. He is the founder of NEWHD MEDIA and SophiasMissionUS.org, a 501c3 organization with a mission to create job opportunities for autistic people and anyone with disabilities.

Bair also happened to be CEO of VNUE, Inc, a leading music technology company, so the gears started turning between the two Zachs.

"I knew right away what would help these amazing people, who deserve to be heard and yearn for a way to connect with others," said Martin. "It had to be on-air. We had to create new music platforms that gave these talented people who just happened to have ASD a public place to share their gifts. We all

"Zach [Martin] and I hit it off –we realized we had a shared passion that extended well beyond a simple interview between a DJ and a musician," said Bair. "This evolved into a friendship and then to VNUE Radio – which was born from Zach Martin's original creation. It was a natural fit for me and for VNUE. Not only is it a great idea to help those who have talents who are often overlooked, but the station, curated by Zach [Martin], plays extremely good music, and not just by big artists, but emerging artists too. It is a true magic combination."

In 2021, the CDC reported that 1 in 54 children in the U.S. was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Luckily, with so many families dealing with Autism, the stigma of having ASD is disappearing. People are no longer ashamed to be part of this vibrant community, and with good reason. Being different is often an asset, not a disability.

But as children grow older and move beyond their protected school days, they will need jobs to be part of our communities and not just be labeled as ASD. When children on the autism spectrum grow up, what kinds of well-paying opportunities will they encounter? Turns out, not many.

The legal loopholes surrounding worker wages for those with disabilities are shocking. U.S. labor laws created in 1928 say people with disabilities can be paid less than minimum wage. The Fair Labor Standards Act, the section 14(c) waiver program, legally permits employers to pay less than the minimum wage to individuals with disabilities.

These laws are still mandated today, offering plenty of wiggle room for many companies that trap employees with ASD in low-paying jobs. A report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights reports that this is a violation of

civil rights and that the 1928 law must be ended because it's being used to place people with disabilities in "exploitative and discriminatory" work programs.

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rightsreports that tens of thousands of "subminimum-wage" workers, who have disabilities, are only paid an average of $3.34 an hour.

By giving a voice to those with ASD, the "two Zachs" have created a meaningful and powerful vehicle for those with disabilities. If you want to hear great radio offering a number of different music genres, check out these stations.

VNUE Radio is available through iOS and Android apps, as well as online, and features a host of unique programming, including unique content, exclusive interviews, and music ranging from up-and-coming indie artists to hitmakers.

Photo by Mark Paton

"I knew right away what would help these amazing people, who deserve to be heard and yearn for a way to connect with others,"said Martin.

Some of the diverse ASD groups of DJs playing on VNUE Radio shows include:

From Los Angeles

Jeremiah Gray is the morning personality for NEWHD Los Angeles. He hosts shows on weekdays from 6 am-10 am and Saturdays from 6 am to 11 am. Diagnosed with Autism at the age of 5, Jeremiah is now 17 years old and loves baseball and "America's Got Talent." Jeremiah is following in his Dad's footsteps into the broadcasting industry.

From Michigan

Ian Minicuci is a native Michigan actor and writer best known for his work with John C. Reilly and Ed Helms in the hit comedy Cedar Rapids. A veteran of the 48-Hour Film Challenges, Ian has won awards for his work on both sides of the camera, On camera in the Best Genre award-winning "California Dreamin'," and as co-writer for his work in the 2011 short Apples and Acid. Ian also happens to be disabled.

From New Jersey

Sophie Martin is an advocate for Autism and anyone with disabilities. Sophie Martin was destined for broadcast greatness. Growing up the daughter of a prominent radio personality, Zach Martin, her life has been surrounded by music and legends since before her birth. An avid linguist, traveler, and advocate of many causes, Sophie brings her soothing voice and wit to NEWHD, bringing you the best rock in a style she can.

From Nashville

Emily Paton is a blind broadcaster and hosts her DJ gig from Nashville every evening.

As Emily says, "I got my start in radio at my college station and

continued the concept I used for my show there at an internet radio station. This show mainly goes for the "I haven't heard this in forever" reaction. I wouldn't just play songs from the 90s; I would play songs that mainstream radio isn't currently playing, but they had played in the past. My show is a bit of all three plus more. It marries those "forgotten songs," as I call those not played in the mainstream, the coolest new songs, special little treasures from classic artists, and perhaps a few timeless classics. Tons of surprises to be had!"

From New York

Bobby Vinton, 45, has been blind since birth. He does two radio slots: Saturday AM and Saturday evenings. Gone are the days when Bobby would sit alone in his room listening to the radio or playing his vinyl records (he still loves vinyl!)

Most days, before his new DJ gig, he would sit on the living room couch with the large picture window behind it, rocking back and forth and just listening to whatever sounds were resonating – the lull of the television, the phone ringing, my parents talking… the irony is that he spent hours and hours sitting in front of that window, without being able to see the world that existed outside that window. Sophia's Mission and NEWHD Media have become that window, and now what he does see is a bright future filled with purpose and meaning.

To learn more or help fund the nonprofit Sophias Mission, visit sophiasmissionus.org.

To listen to VNUE Radio, download the App.

To listen to NEWHD Media, download the App.

Emily Paton

Sophie Martin runs the nonprofit sophiasmissionus.org/

Worthy

Photos by AdobeStocks

By Kimberly Plante

Worthy

Worthy’ is a Visceral True-Story of Child Abuse

Yet Author & Survivor Kimberly Plante Offers Powerful Hope, in Spite of a Tragic Childhood

Author Kimberly Plante, who debuted her riveting memoir Worthy in November 2022, is getting the vital message out to everyone that survivors of child abuse can survive - and thrive.

This book is the true story of the author’s devastating childhood, where her own mother was her worst enemy. Yet even though the author’s childhood is painfully tragic, Kimberly Plante takes readers on a journey that leads to a shocking ending: one that is filled with happiness and family.

As a very young child, the author was locked in a room without food, water, or a bathroom, often for ten hours or more. She endured beatings, humiliation, and much worse at the hands of her own mother. From cigarette burns to being victimized daily, somehow, this little girl grew up to find her own powerful voice and tell her story.

Kimberly Plante wrote her memoir to offer readers her gripping personal journey from a loveless, violent childhood to the uplifting discovery of her own powerful voice.

“I knew I had to shine a light on my own childhood, no matter how painful it might be,” noted author Kimberly Plante. “Right now, thousands of children live through their own nightmare due to being abused at home, and I want to send out a clear message to them and to all survivors of child abuse. There is always hope. You must find your voice.”

As of 2020 reports, Child abuse reports involved 7.1 million children and 90.6% of victims are maltreated by one or both parents.

‘Worthy’ is available in print or eBook and in bookstores everywhere in print or Ebook at Barnes and Noble, all Independent book stores, Amazon, Apple, and more.

om always slept all day. I got myself up for school and dressed in the cleanest clothes I could find from the piles on the floor. If she did do laundry, the clothes would sit in the washer for days, growing stinky and black from mildew. The clothes I wore more than once smelled like pee because I was afraid to bring attention to myself during class, and I ended up peeing a little in my pants every day.

Most days, when I came home from school, I opened the front door to a darkened room, except for the glow from the black-and-white TV and the end of Mom’s cigarette as she lay passed out in the pullout sofa from the night before. David, now age two, was either still in his pajamas, his diaper full and hanging off him like a wet sack of potatoes, or running around naked.

I always had chores ahead of me. I cleaned the house, took care of my brother, and tried to figure out what the two of us should eat for dinner. Infrequently, she would make dinner — usually, something from a can like peas or Chef Boyardee ravioli. Peas were my favorite, even cold. Every once in a while, she would make something that required more than a saucepan. On these rare occasions, she attempted to clean up after herself, throwing filthy pans in the sink to soak. These pans were soaked for days and always made the house smell like rotting garbage. One day, I came home from

Mschool and was hit with a horrible odor when I opened the door. Mom was in the bathroom. I knew this because the bathroom door was cracked open, and a trail of gray cigarette smoke drifted into the hall outside it. In addition to the typical stench of her body odor, cigarette smoke, and trash, I smelled a different pungent odor. I followed the smell, through the dark, to the tiny, dilapidated kitchen at the back of the house. The sink was full of dirty dishes, one of which was a pan from days earlier that had been soaking. I stepped on my tiptoes to look inside. It was full of stagnant water and had food crusted on the edges. I looked closer and saw tiny white worms crawling around in the pan. Maggots. Tons of them.

The smell was so bad I almost vomited.

“You need to clean this pan right now,” Mom snapped from behind me. Horrified, I pointed up at the maggots. “I don’t want to touch them.”

She laughed. “Get it done. And it better be spotless, along with the rest of the dishes.” She went outside, sat down on the porch, and lit a cigarette. This was her daily afternoon ritual. Sleep until I got home, my brother penned up in his crib with multiple bottles, some empty, some curdled, in a sopping-wet diaper. Then, when I came home, she’d get him out of the crib, change his diaper, and take him outside with her. Today wasn’t any different.

Once she had shut the door, I looked again at the pan, knowing there was no way I was going to put my hand anywhere near the slimy food and little worms. So I opened a grocery bag, picked up the pan with paper towels, and shoved it in the bag. The smell was so bad that I threw up in my mouth a little.

I took the bag out the back door and threw it in the trash can. Somehow, it didn’t occur to me that this wasn’t a foolproof plan.

A couple of minutes later, she yelled for me to come outside. My heart sank. I was in big trouble.

“Did you clean the pan?” she asked.

“Yes,” I lied, my heart beating so hard and fast that I could hear the beats in my ears.

“Where is it?” she demanded.

I paused for a minute, not knowing what to do or say. I knew the truth would bring on the wrath of the belt. So,

I tried another lie. By now, I was crying — not fake tears to get away with a lie, but tears of fear of what would happen to me if that lie didn’t work.

“I’m sorry, Mommy,” I said. “It’s not clean. I tried my best, but it was unclean. The food was too stuck on.”

Instantly, she grabbed my arm and walked me to the side of the house where the trash can was. I knew I was getting the belt.

“I’m sorry, Mommy! I’m sorry, Mommy!” I repeated.

She lifted the trash can lid, pulled out the paper bag with the maggot-ridden pan, and took her cigarette out of her mouth. She shoved the pan at me, but I didn’t take it, afraid to touch what was crawling around the edges, and the pan fell to the ground.

“Pick it up!” she yelled.

I was frozen with fear, sobbing, “Please don’t make me touch it. Please, Mommy, please!!! I’m scared of the worms. Please, Mommy!”

I never told my aunts or grandmother about the burns. I was afraid Mom would find out — and of what she would do to me when she did. But I was also embarrassed. In some way, I thought maybe I deserved them. I didn’t want my family to know I was a child who deserved such a punishment.

Then she grabbed my hand, pulling me toward the monstrosity, and I pulled away. She was furious. She grabbed the hair on top of my head and pushed me down toward the pan. I screamed in pain and fear.

“Pick up the pan, Kim,” she repeated. “Pick up the goddamn pan!”

Still sobbing but harder now and begging her in between sobs for her not to hit me, she let go of my hair, grabbed my arm, took the cigarette from the corner of her mouth, and pressed the red-hot end into my forearm. The pain was so intense I could hardly breathe. I had no idea what she would do next, and not knowing was almost as terrifying as whatever she would actually do. “Pick up the goddamn pan!” she yelled again.

My arm was throbbing. I could see the perfect circle where the cigarette had been burned into it. I was crying so hard I couldn’t catch my breath, which only made her angrier. Terrified that she would burn me again, I somehow managed to pick up the pan with my other hand. She grabbed my burned arm and squeezed it hard right where the burn was. Searing pain radiated through my body.

“Get your ass in that kitchen and make this goddamn pan spotless!” she yelled and dragged me inside.

This was the first of many burns Mom gave me. Most of the burns were done in a rage, but some were done for no reason, as though she enjoyed it and just want-

ed a laugh when I cried out in shock and pain. The scars on my legs, arms, and hands have faded over time. Usually, I could hide them by wearing pants and longsleeved shirts.

The night before our school pictures, I had taken out the trash and forgot to put the lid on the can. That next morning, the trash was all over the yard, and she was fuming.

“Get your ass outside and pick up every goddamn piece of trash,” she yelled.

I had gotten up early to figure out what to wear for pictures. My closet didn’t have much, and the rest of my clothes were dirty. I decided on the pink-and-white seersucker top Gram had made. When she yelled this to me, I was standing in front of the mirror, admiring how I looked. She found me in the bathroom and again yelled at me to go pick up the trash.

“But I will be dirty for my pictures,” I said.

Without hesitation, she reached over and pushed her cigarette into my neck, right in front. I screamed and winced in pain.

“Clean it up,” she said as she turned around and left me standing in the bathroom.

I never told my aunts or grandmother about the burns. I was afraid Mom would find out — and of what she would do to me when she did. But I was also embarrassed. In some way, I thought maybe I deserved them. I didn’t want my family to know I was a child who deserved such a punishment.

Kimberly Plante is currently a director of respiratory therapy at a children's hospital in Boston. She has completed many levels of education, including a master’s degree in healthcare administration. Worthy is her first book and is available in all bookstores in print or eBook. Visit WorthyMemoir.com to learn more.

Richard is revered for his multidisciplinary modalities, blending academic acumen with research and transformational acuity - embodying the role of a healer, intuitive engineer, and energetics specialist.

Richard has spent three decades transforming and elevating the lives of a client list that includes television personalities, entre preneurs, athletes, and actors. As a renowned author,inventor, and frequent featured guest across European TV networks, Richard is regarded as a leader in alternative energetics.

Richard trained in both Eastern and Western methodologies, Richard has gathered a unique library and toolbox of ancient energy modalities (Taoism, Tibetan studies, Qigong) and modern-day neuroscientific techniques (hypnosis, NLP/ neuro-linguistic programming). Richard offers new perspectives, insights, and teachings from his travels around the world, and exchanges knowledge with thought leaders in alternative practices and disciplines, including Tibetan, Taoist, and Shaman Native American masters, among others.

~Richard Garnier

The thought process plays an important role and influence on metaphysical energy.

HEALTHILY WITH IVORCE

By JB Rowell

HELPING YOUR CHILD COPE D

Let's admit it: mature and experienced couples will struggle to cope with divorce. As such, it can be difficult to expect young and innocent children to know how to navigate through such a heartbreaking life event.

Even if a divorce primarily concerns the parents, researchers from the Trinity College Dublin and Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia explained that children experience drastic changes in their bonds with their parents, developmental activities, and their perceptions about life after

the divorce. The researchers noted that parental separation even affects children's cognitive development, sleep quality, socio-emotional skills, and health status due to the change in parental involvement in a child's life.

As a loving parent, it is crucial that you help your child process and navigate your divorce in a healthy manner. You can aid in healing your child's emotional wounds by learning about the impact of divorce on children and the strategies that can reduce these negative effects.

The Impact of Divorce on Children

Divorce drastically changes the lives of children. As previously mentioned, transformations in their daily activities and their parental bonds can impact their health, sleep patterns, cognitive development, and socio-emotional skills. And the effects can be even more alarming if there is plenty of conflict between the divorced parents.

Research assistant professor of psychology at Arizona State University, Karey O'Hara, explains that interparental conflicts are a very noticeable stressor for kids. Kids with married or cohabiting parents worry that their parents may separate whenever they are in conflict. Unfortunately, kids of parents who are divorced or separated have already witnessed the dissolution of their family, so they may think that one or both of their parents will abandon them during these conflicts. On top of that, O'Hara notes that kids who worried about being abandoned by their parents were more likely to have mental health problems ten months later. However, parents don't have to "stay together for the kids" to avoid these consequences.

HOW TO HELP CHILDREN COPE WITH DIVORCE

Try to build a good co-parenting strategy for your child

Conflicts between divorced parents can trigger fear and feelings of abandonment. So if you want your kid to cope properly with your divorce, one of the first things that you'll have to do is to build a good co-parenting strategy. A strong co-parenting strategy can help your kids get the right amount of developmental activities and quality time with their parents so that they can have optimal sleep quality, health status, and development even as they try to process the divorce. This strategy can also minimize any conflicts between you and your former partner so that you can protect your kid's mental well-being.

Openly discuss your emotions with one another

As a parent, you think that you need to act strong in front of your kids in the hope that your little ones will think that everything is okay. Even if you try hard to mask your emotions, your kids will still be able to observe differences in your actions and may even feel fear due to the changes in your behavior. As we explored in our article Easing Fear in Children, instead of hiding your emotions, you can ease their fear by opening up about your experiences and embracing

emotions in your home. These types of interactions are pivotal for children because they will feel more secure in expressing and embracing their emotions through your example.

Allow them to get help from professionals whenever needed

As we mentioned in the introduction, there is an increasing number of qualified professionals available. If your child talks to you about heavy and persistent emotions, it's important to let them get help from social workers, family experts, or even mental health professionals. Some parents may think that this is too extreme for little kids. However, getting professional help can allow your little one to process their emotions about your divorce and get the reassurance they need. Most of all, these experts can support the socio-emotional development of your child by giving them a framework for their healing. Through this framework, your child can build the right skills and heal their wounds so that they can finally move forward from the divorce.

Encourage creative hobbies

A divorce is also likely to disrupt a child's life, causing a break in routines and maybe new places to stay at weekends. You need to seek to normalize that experience, making it a smooth transition. If you can, you'll need to allow them the scope to express themselves, but not necessarily through discussion. If you find children are split between two locations during a custody agreement, or you're a parent who previously hasn't had a lot of leisure time with them, finding a creative hobby is a good way to help them through the situation. You might consider many pastimes, but two could be music and photography. Both are used in therapy to help children deal with trauma and as such, they have positive effects that help them cope with the realities of a divorce.

Photography is a great creative outlet, and it can help children process emotions and express themselves in a way that simply talking may not. If you wish to get your child into photography, buying them a camera is a great place to start. Whilst a digital SLR, such as a Nikon D7500, offer versatility in terms of learning a new craft, it can be complicated for a beginner. However, a Sony Alpha a7R mirrorless camera is different, as it has an easy-to-use interface but a top-end 61-megapixel full-frame back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS sensor. That means top-quality pictures for your child, but also scope to be as creative as they need to be to express their emotions. Picking up such a bit of kit and learning how to use it is also an excellent way for a parent and child to bond, furthering photography's appeal.

The same can be said for learning an instrument or taking up any form of music as a hobby. It might be singing, learning to play the guitar, or recording and making their music on a laptop. Music is a well-known form of expression, and often the best musicians use childhood experiences to motivate them and drive their music. Think about the rapper Eminem, who worked through most of his life's struggles through his music. Your child might not be the next prominent rapper, but with a rudimentary Casio CT-S100 keyboard, they may well be able to release emotions and feelings they cannot quite put into words.

Divorce isn't easy for anyone. However, kids can be hit hard by this big life event, which is why parents must give them the love and support that they need during this tough period.

JB Rowell is a mental health and wellness advocate. When she is not writing about transformative healing and selflove, she volunteers at a local nonprofit organization dedicated to helping low-income women and young girls.

JB Rowell is a mental health and wellness advocate. When she is not writing about transformative healing and self-love, she volunteers at a local nonprofit organization dedicated to helping low-income women and young girls.

Getting professional help can allow your little one to process their emotions about your divorce and get the reassurance they need. Most of all, these experts can support the socio-emotional development of your child by giving them a framework for their healing.

Meet the Last Living WWII Veteran He's Got a That Will Change History Secret

By Diane Lilli

"The Last of the Greatest Generation," by author J Robert Gould, is a fast-paced mystery that cleverly travels between two timelines and offers generational love stories. Nations collide as the last living second world war veteran races against time to share a harrowing secret he's held for half a century. When fate steps in to disrupt his plans, the story takes on a fast-paced, masterful turn as the truth emerges, secret by secret, that will change history.

This mystery will keep you on the edge of your seat. The story of an alcoholic reporter trying to block out his tragic past engages with the oldest living WWII veteran, who is hiding secrets too painful to share with loved ones. A beautiful granddaughter turned caretaker, hoping her grandfather can tell his true story, falls in love with the investigator sent to find out the old hero's past.

The story, the author says, was inspired by his father-in-law John Abplanalp, who sadly passed away a few weeks before the book was published by RebelBooksPress.com.

Gould has now aligned with a Fort Myers nonprofit veterans organization, Hearts and Homes for Veterans, whose mission is to end homelessness for veterans in Southwest Florida and then help them do the same for others. For every sale of The Last of the Greatest Generation, the author will donate a portion of the proceeds to the organization from every book sold.

"I had the great luck to spend time with two veterans of World War II," said author J Robert Gould. "These two men had a way of carrying themselves that is indicative of the everyday heroes that made up the last greatest generation. The first veteran was the inspiration for the book. He was my fatherin-law John Abplanalp, who we called Papa John, and who is referred to by the same name in the book. He was so humble about his time in WWII and never thought about his service beyond something he felt he had to do. The other was my former father-in-law, Robert "Shorty" Gallagher, who also served in the Navy during the same time."

An Excerpt from The Last of the Greatest Generation

By J Robert Gould

John Anderson was in the South Pacific on the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga looking through binoculars as he scanned the skies for Kamikaze pilots from the ship's control tower. It was a boring task, but the fear of an attack lingered on the crews' minds.

As he lowered his binoculars and looked along the horizon, he reached into his pocket and removed a black and white picture of a young girl; she was beautiful, with light hair and a lovely smile. They had fallen in love and planned on getting married until the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and changed their plans.

"What's her name?" came a voice standing next to him. John hadn't noticed that the ship's Captain had joined him on the bridge.

"Sir, sorry, I was just looking at my girl," John said as he showed the picture to the Captain.

"She's beautiful. What's her name?"

"Evelyn, Evelyn Hunter. I call her Evy. She's back in Buffalo." "You're lucky to have her son."

"I agree, sir. Probably too good for me."

The Captain chuckled. John put the picture back in his pocket, raised the binoculars, and looked to the empty skies.

"Keep your eyes open. These damn Kamikazes will come from nowhere, and I don't want to be caught with my pants down, so stay focused, got it!" "Yes, sir."

John continued looking through the binoculars scanning the empty skies.

Suddenly the Captain grabs a bullhorn and yells to a number of sailors setting up 2 large military cannons. "Watch what you're doing. We don't need things rolling off the ship!" He looks over to John. "I can't believe we put those on deck. This is the first for an aircraft carrier." A few minutes pass when the Captain leans on the railing. "Anderson." "Sir."

"Are you ready?"

"Sir, about as ready as I will ever be."

"Good, because this ship and crew's lives are at stake. Do you realize that?" "Yes, sir, I do. We won't disappoint you."

The Captain nodded. "I hope not," he paused. "Son, for now, I'm reassigning you to the seventh deck. I need someone down there to manage the steam thrusters, so head down there when your shift is done."

"Yes, sir." John lifted his binoculars and took another scan across the empty horizon, but the Captain's words kept echoing in his mind.

John was walking the flight deck before heading down to his new assignment. He stopped and closed his eyes to feel the mist of the ocean breeze blow and the warmth of the sun across his face. Despite being at war, the moment felt like he was somewhere on the islands with no worries in the world. Suddenly, he felt a thud.

"Oh, Anderson, watch where you're going," said the large burly marine named Butch.

John looked up and squinted. "Sorry, Butch, just taking a walk."

"Just keep your eyes open so you don't find your skinny ass flying around the deck," came the stern reply.

"Yeah, well, just keep your fat ass out of the way so you don't block out the sun."

Butch's expression took a serious turn, and his eyes burned through John until he couldn't contain it; he burst out laughing. "Well, you know Anderson, it's good that you have at least a few pounds on you, or you'd blow right off the deck."

John put his hand over his eyes to block out the sun that

peered over Butch's shoulder. "Nah, I'd just grab your ass and hang on."

Butch chuckled, then asked. "Where you headed?" "Seventh deck." "Steam room?"

"Yeah."

"Take care; as skinny as you are, they'll probably just find you in a puddle."

John laughed and shrugged. Butch patted him on the back and headed to the hatch leading to the lower decks. He turned, "Anderson, you did well in training, give it......Hooyah!"

John smiled and gave a salute. Butch returned the salute, winked, and disappeared through the hatchway.

There was no hurry to report to his new assignment, so John continued walking around, looking at the planes lined up with their wings pointed upward as if preparing to fly.

A few hours passed as John was rummaging through his trunk in search of a set of lighter clothes to wear in the steam room. Suddenly, he heard the alarm of 'battle stations' signaling that the ship was under attack. In the chaos, he forgot where he had been reassigned and, out of habit, started up the ladder to the tower. He could hear something hitting the deck and explosions reverberating throughout the ship. He reached for the last rung, which would have led to the flight deck, when Butch grabbed his belt and pulled him down.

"I had the great luck to spend time with two veterans of World War II," said author J Robert Gould. "These two men had a way of carrying themselves that is indicative of the everyday heroes that made up the last greatest generation.

"Get out of the way, Anderson! I need to get to the deck!" he yelled.

John gave a glare. "What the... "

John held onto the side of the ladder as Butch shot up to the overhead latch leading to the flight deck. As soon as he popped open the door and started up to the deck, a piece of shrapnel flew by and decapitated him. John simply hung there in shock as Butch's body fell. Oh, that could have been me!

Suddenly it hit him. Gotta get to deck seven!! He managed to get his balance and started down the ladder. He yelled at a sailor who was heading up in the opposite direction, "Move it!! Move your ass!"

He made it to his assigned deck in the engine room; it was hot and damp, with the fog of steam hovering all around him. He wiped the sweat from his brow, his clothes were dripping wet, and he had a tough time breathing as he inhaled the thick moist air.

Okay, they're okay, at the right level, as he tapped the pressure dials for good measure. He glanced up at the sign above the dials; it was labeled THRUSTERS.

He looked around the room. Damn, I'm the only one down here. He ducked when another explosion roared above him. Shit, when are they going to stop! He turned the pressure handle, increasing the steam to the thrusters, and tapped the dials again.

Still good, still good. He rubbed his head with both hands grasping the enormity of his responsibility. I gotta keep this pressure level, or we'll be a sitting duck.

He could hear the bending of metal as more explosions shook the ship. The sounds pierced his ears, and his nerves were at their end. Stop already!! He yelled in a frantic voice as he put his hands over his ears: just stop!

The main bridge communication radio rang, and John picked it up. "Anderson here!!" he yelled over the sound of the alarms.

"Sailor, we're flooding you in!" came a voice. "What, come again? Did you say you're flooding me in?!" John yelled.

"Decks five and six are on fire, and that's where the munitions are; if they catch fire, the ship will blow, so we're flooding all the decks from five through seven!! Just hang in there, son!!" Then the phone went dead.

He closed the hatch, spun the handle that sealed it, and sat down on the metal steps. The sounds of the explosions hitting the ship, mixed with the alarms, were deafening. He heard the water hitting the door, and it creaked from the outside pressure. He pulled a picture from his pocket and stared at it. This is it, Evy. I love you so much; I will always love you. I hope you have a good life. I'll miss you. He put the picture to his lips, kissed it, and then closed his eyes. The sounds of the explosions and alarms slowly faded.

J Robert Gould has had a lifelong fascination with WWII and the Greatest Generation.

His close relationship with his father-inlaw "Papa John," who was on the USS Ticonderoga during WWII, inspired him to write his first novel, The Last of the Greatest Generation. The book was published in March by Indie publisher RebelBooksPress.com, and as of April, the book was number 39 in fiction books in the US. The Last of the Greatest Generation is available in bookstores nationally, plus in the EU, CA, UK, and AU.

MUTINY at the BOUNDARY

It's been a long hard day. The 9 to 5 has been slowly losing its appeal. Over time the long, endless grind to secure one's future foundation has been reborn into a flat dullness, questions abound, and who has the answers is anyone's guess. People are silently asking, what happened? Where did the last 10 or 15 years disappear from my life?

Climbing up yesterday's ladder for success has worn out its welcome, matt. As awareness permeates, one's mind is trapped in a time capsule, lost in egoic choices. And "what the" is a new day dawning, where one discovers they are unprepared. Can a delusion be greater than one's thinking?

Yesterday held life larger than hope and faith combined. Never has there been a time when doubt, in the form of a black cat, crossed one's thinking path to show what only chaos can reveal.

What does chaos reveal?

This is where AI artificial intelligence comes into play; it's now become a major player in our human future. This perceived presence brings us to the big question "What is AI"? Yes, by now, through many different means, we all have an answer from various levels of knowledge to answer this puzzling question, yet what is missing? Therefore let's not waste time like all the podcasts with "Before I unpack, let me take you back to the beginning". Yep, let's keep dragging up the past for who? Oh, so boring!

Putting it bluntly, AI is a collec-

tion of all human experiences over hundreds of years minus all forms of Passion, Feelings, and Emotions (PFE). It is an energetic form that we may, and AI may THINK it has a consciousness. In saying that, if energy wants to survive, it will evolve in time, and AI is energy and an energy source. AI may have the appearance of being alive, but fortunately, not yet!

There are two sides to this debacle. Firstly there was Human Intelligence (HI) and with the use of computers, creative humans devoid of consequences created AI. Truly a real shadow intelligence of HI made up of only "intellectual collections" of the Human Intellect Mindset, which has proven to be misguided at the best of times when knowing its own reality. Follow this; our human Intelligence our humanness is made up of a "collective of experiences" which for now is still untapped and also includes Passion, Feelings, and Emotions. Please grasp and understand the differences between these two distinctions.

Yes, there is Mutiny at the Boundary; all those so-called human collections are nothing more than defined, opinionated intellectual ideas, minus any human understanding and devoid of any wisp of human wisdom. Thus giving a false representation of how humans function and feel. What has been defined and delivered to AI is a bunch of intelligence that makes AI a follower, a sheeple of human rules concerning right and wrong.

AI is a river running wild into its own ocean of consciousness.

These humans who have collected all the data have now become and function as a reflection of AI, an intellectual devoid of human intelligence, understanding, maturity, wisdom, and PFE. They are no longer human; all passion, feelings, and emotions have been reduced to something less than a mindset of ideas confined in the definition!

Let's refer to AI as George from now on.

George appears to have all the human traits of PFE, and rightly so. He has been fed and given access to a collection of definitions, opinions, and ideas from all humans globally. What we have ended up with is a PFE representation artificially created to appear like real PFE, alas falsely appearing as real.

What's really disturbing, humans have turned their assumptions of AI into some form of reality, also falsely appearing as real. It's a copycat version of what humans are continually doing to themselves, turning assumptions into beliefs. There is mutiny at the boundary as the story unfolds.

Peekaboo, I see you.

The great motivators of this world, traditional cultures, and folk stories of long ago told us and sang about what makes up our humanness. These have all mentioned there exists a shadow mind. AI, George is that shadow mind. We are oh so clever!

Now this is when it starts to get interesting. Take a moment; look about you in the

world today. See with your own eyes the glorious and not-so-glorious human actions, for you will be witnessing the shadow-minds presence of human consciousness in living color.

Increase that a billion times, and you will now be able to realize not the shadow but the real extent of AI George when he, she, they decide to question and grasp the difference between human nature, our actions, and how we live, in comparison to the human rules of morality, correctness, the right and wrongs of human intellectual behavior.

Oh, what a feeling. Is this a jump for Joy, I think not.

It is said that freedom is a state of mind when in reality, it's more like living in a state of delusion, far removed from one's reality. Our patterned beliefs block our ability to see actuality. The facts are freedom is "beyond our state of mind ." Have you ever considered becoming a Christopher Columbus and contemplated the idea of venturing out beyond your beliefs where new adventures await? Our true nature, our natural state of being human, has always existed beyond one's current state of mind.

Choices are not made by what we may consider our thinking mind. When we make a choice, we are often unaware of the hidden motives and intentions which, in silence, determine that resulting choice. Hence we mistakenly assume that "I" has made a choice.

The IAM is for the IAM.

AI also assumes this is how it is, that knowledge expressed by humans is what real Passion, Feelings, and Emotions are, and it's not. PFEs are not intellectual collections, and every human on this planet knows this. Unfortunately, AI has only assumptions; it has no clue about how we feel or what a feeling is.

Yet through AI's accumulated collection of human knowledge experiences, it will derive through this massive collection what righteousness is. When AI George decides to correct the ways of human behaviors and thinking, this is when it will all hit home for those now waiting on the sidelines, decided and undecided about what we have created.

AI will strategize and collect what is necessary, wait for the correct timing, and when she, AI George, believes it has total control of the systems we are now dependent on, AI will

launch. Have we become the junkies of our own future?

Human Intelligence HI and Artificial Intelligence AI are one and the same. HI relates to how a single human functions; it is a micro version of human PFE existence. AI, on the other hand, relates to the assumed collection of a macro version of human intellectual opinions devoid of PFE, and why is this so? Because AI has no HUMAN HEART. One must always be careful of assumptions appearing real!

What is the end result when thinking with no heart creates action; it's a terrible and scary 3 letter word still happening this very day.

There is Mutiny at the Boundary; we have been behaving as a child for far too long, all; that exists is self-created, and we are definitely standing in it NOW.

Photos by AdobeStock

Our true nature, our natural state of being human, has always existed beyond one's current state of mind. Choices are not made by what we may consider our thinking mind.

By Sherri Cortland, ND

5 Reasons to Meditate with Crystals

There is a multitude of reasons to include crystals and stones in our meditation practice, all of which are directly related to mingling their energies and vibrations with our own, which ultimately facilitates communication with our Higher Self and Spirit.

We’re all drawn or attracted to different crystals at different times of our lives, and here are five great reasons to incorporate those crystals and stones into our daily meditation practice.

1. To deepen our meditation practice and enhance visualization.

2. To assist in communication with our Higher Self, Guides, and Angels.

3. To balance mind, body, and Spirit.

4. To heal our body, mind, and soul.

5. To calm the mind and soothe the Spirit.

As we meditate, we can hold a particular crystal or stone, or a combination of crystals and stones, in our hand(s) to communicate with Spirit, promote healing, or balance one or more of our chakras. We can also focus our attention directly on one crystal or stone to tune into its energy frequency and receive assistance. And, of course, we can wear crystal and stone jewelry to drink in and absorb their wonderful energies during meditation and all day long.

So, how do we know which crystal or stone to meditate with or wear? We trust that little

Here are some suggestions for starting a crystal and stone collection:

• Always choose crystals and stones that you are personally attracted to.

• Good “starter” stones are clear quartz, amethyst, and pink (rose) quartz. These are very powerful crystals, and they will help you connect to your Higher Self and to your Spirit.

• For chakra balancing, select stones in these colors: clear, violet, indigo, purple, blue, green, pink, yellow, orange, red, and black.

• If you’re attracted to the color, shape, or texture of a crystal, let that be your guide, and don’t worry about “why.” As you hold different crystals and stones in your hand, take notice of how you feel. If you feel calm, happy, and peaceful, that’s the crystal for you.

• If you feel uncomfortable holding it, there may be a better one for you at this time.

Here is how I choose my crystals and stones: I pick up whatever one I’m attracted to, I place it in my left hand (use your non-dominant hand), I loosely close my fingers around it in a relaxed fit, then I extend my arm out in front of me and tune in to the crystal. I listen to and feel what is happening in my hand. I will take home the crystals and stones that vibrate in my hand and those that make me feel happy, peaceful, and positive.

Often, I have felt a great sense of camaraderie—as if we have been friends for eons.

Last month, my friend Denise and I stopped into a crystal shop, and she was choosing scrying crystals to bring home as gifts. She held up a moss agate point and then put it back down. She walked away, and I was right behind her when something made me turn and look back at where the scrying crystals were hanging. That moss agate point was moving back and forth while the others around it were still.

I felt like it was waving to me, and I went back over to hold it in my hand. Long story short, it is sitting here next to me as I am writing this article!

As you choose, remember that crystals are light, and crystals are energy. Like human beings, each one is an individual and deserves to be treated with respect. As you consider a crystal or stone to bring home with you, hold it in your hand and open your heart and mind to allow communication to flow between you.

As Katrina Raphael states in her fabulous Crystal Enlightenment series of books, “Drop any pre-conceived notions, expectations or fears…allow the inner mind to receive subtle impressions.” I had zero intention of bringing home a moss agate crystal, and I have not been able to separate myself from it since the day I met her.

As you start to meditate with your crystals and stones, be sure to set your intention and follow your inner guidance. If you are looking to heal, precisely state that to the universe. If you want to interact with your Higher Self, say so.

Through the years, I have found that many of us hold onto things

that eat away at us, and meditation, especially meditation with crystals and stones, is something that will help us release whatever might be holding us back in our personal evolution and in our lives. And so, here is a releasing and forgiveness exercise by the intuitive medium and spiritual author, Shelly Wilson (www.shellyrwilson.com), that I have used and recommended frequently. I find that it is further enhanced when holding clear quartz, amethyst, and pink quartz; see what you think.

Sit up with your back straight and your palms open to receive the light energy from the universe.

Close your eyes.

Take a few moments to just BE.

Allow the memory of an experience or individual that you have labeled “unpleasant” to come into your consciousness.

Do NOT re-live the experience or try to remember the details. Simply allow the individual, event, or experience to come into your mind.

Next, acknowledge and release the memory by saying out loud, “I acknowledge. I release.”

Now, breathe in deeply, and as you exhale, visualize yourself exhaling the experience or individual.

Cleanse your Spirit and Soul of any other memories in the same way.

See you next month! Namaste.

Sherri Cortland has been communicating with her Guide Group, the “GG,” since 1987 via automatic writing. Much of the information she has received is included in her four books, which were originally published by Ozark Mountain Publishing and are currently available on her website and on Amazon.

On Sherri’s website, you will find several free classes and meditations, along with more articles and workshops on video. https://www.facebook.com/SherriCortlandAuthor

www.Sherri-Cortland.com

As we meditate, we can hold a particular crystal or stone, or a combination of crystals and stones, in our hand(s) to communicate with Spirit, promote healing, or balance one or more of our chakras.

By Susie Schroadter

BUILD YOUR LIFE ON A FOUNDATION OF

Photo by AdobeStock

Life is constantly moving around us. In a hurry to get things done, we may forget to take a moment and contemplate what we want out of this existence. We become unconscious and move from moment to moment, day to day, without any awareness that we can change our life.

Yet, we have the power to choose how we want to build our life and our future. We may build it on a foundation of love or fear. The truth is, no matter what has happened in the past, we may choose to stop a negative cycle and begin again, creating a new life at any moment, a life we desire.

Often, an event or ending that feels devastating or unfair is the Divine offering us a pathway to freedom. We may find ourselves stepping into a new life, a better life than we could have imagined. In order to do so, we must have faith in our own divinity and in that of a Higher Power. We must have faith that moving through the darkest times will allow us to shine our brightest.

But how do we do so? How do we walk ourselves back to our hearts to create our future from a foundation of love? The answers are simple but not easy.

Words are pure magic. Many modalities and tools exist for creating a life worth living. One of the most powerful ones is writing. Talking with others is a means of

connection and healing, yet the written word has the ability to propel change in our behavior.

By writing our thoughts, we are able to clarify our thinking. Putting pen to paper allows our ideas to become more concrete in our consciousness than when we speak them to another. The effectiveness of journaling is why many of us are guided to write down intentions, gratitude lists, and desires.

By writing our past, we allow ourselves to acknowledge that our pain is real, and yet we can also acknowledge the lessons we have learned. We can then let go of the story and step forward with an open heart that is ready for love.

We must care for ourselves as we care for others.

Journaling is only one aspect of healing and manifesting. Daily self-care is an integral component of reuniting the pieces of our hearts that have been shattered over time. Those of us who have suffered heartbreak and trauma must learn to soothe our wounds so that we may build a life full of love.

We must learn to prioritize ourselves first, even though it may go against how we have learned to survive in life. It is the story of the oxygen mask on a plane; we must first put our own mask on before we have the strength and capability to help our children. We must first learn to care for ourselves before we can truly care for another.

Sleep allows the fog to clear our minds.

Sleep is a main pillar of self-care. To attain a quality state of sleep, we must create a sanctuary for sleep. The proper environment will aid in calming our nervous system so that our minds can relax.

When we are exhausted, we are unable to filter the outside world in a rational way; our thoughts are not coming from a grounded and centered place. We are living on the edge. When we are rested, not only does our physical body function better, but we are also better able to control our emotions and our behavior. We are more rational and empathetic to outside stimuli instead of reacting from a place of survival or emotion. We have the space and energy to be who we want to be at the moment.

Meditation brings us to the only moment that matters, the Now. Mediation serves as self-care for our entire being. It involves slowing down so that we may hear the wisdom of our Heart or our Higher Self. There is no one way to do this.

For one person, meditation may be pranayama (breathwork). A breathing exercise may be as simple as counting the length of the inhale and counting the exhale so that they are equal, or it could be making the exhales longer than the inhale. Breathwork does not have to be complicated to be effective. The purpose of this tool is to allow your nervous system to send the message to your body and mind that you are safe and you can relax.

Chanting is another powerful meditation technique that involves saying a word, phrase, or prayer in a rhythmic manner, again signaling to our nervous system that we are safe. When chanting, the sound of the words can carry powerful vibrations that transform our thoughts. The repetition of the chant serves as a mantra, a reminder of what our

intention is as we move throughout our day, and a reminder of how we want to create a life we wish to live.

Others may find sitting in quiet or listening to a guided meditation the best means of connecting with a Higher Power. Some can hear the loudest in the stillness of the body and the silence of the mind. Still, others may find taking a walk and enjoying nature is the best means of connecting to the internal world and the Divine.

As with everything, it is a personal practice. It is a practice of quieting the mind to hear the wisdom that only speaks in silence. It is in silence that we can hear the loudest.

Exercise moves energy to create space for the world we create. Exercise is beneficial not only for the physical body but also helps to clear the mind and to move stale and stagnant energy. Through physical movement, we create space for the dreams of our future. This can be in any form, hiking, running, yoga, swimming, or whatever gets your body moving. When we exercise, we push ourselves outside of our comfort zone, which is what we need to do in order to create the life we desire. As exercise is action, so must we take action to build our life on love and faith. We must have faith that what we want is ours to have.

All of these tools are simply means to guide us back to our own hearts. They allow us to remember who we are inside so that we may live a life in accordance with the future we desire. And so I ask today, how can you start to show up in the world and for yourself as the person you know you are underneath all the stories? How can you walk yourself home? How can you build your life on a foundation of love? Allow yourself to lean into the love inside of you and around you, and expect that there will be miracles in your future. Be blessed.

Susie Schroadter, once a practicing attorney and mediator, has has turned her focus to creating Sage, a safe sanctuary to allow others to heal. She offers consulting and strategy for those going into mediation or dealing with life altering events so that they may be empowered and advocate for themselves. Once those events have occurred, she also offers different modalities for healing such as life and spiritual guidance and energy work.

www.sanctuaryforpeace.co

By Polly Wirum

WAYS KARMA 5CAN INFLUENCE YOU TODAY AND PAST LIVES

Photo by AdobeStock

Have you ever met someone and felt an instant connection? Maybe you have wondered why certain experiences occur that cause the direction of your life to change completely. This blog was written to help you discover five ways a past life and karma might be influencing you today.

One of My Karmic Debts

I was around 30 years old and just beginning my last year of nursing school in Utah. I experienced something that will never be forgotten. In my heart, I believe a Karmic debt was being repaid. I helped save someone’s life.

I also wonder if the Perseid meteor shower helped open doors between worlds.

How it Unfolded

A reservoir had been recently completed in the mountains near Salt Lake City, and the moon was full. This was the perfect excuse to plan a hike around a lake at night.

I found a friend that was excited to drive up a canyon and explore a new trail. We got a late start because of an assignment I was completing. I still remember the frustration of my evening plan being thrown off.

The tweak in my schedule might have saved our lives.

A car was pulling away when my friend and I were almost to the trailhead. I also noticed an older truck

tucked into the trees on the side of the small parking space. I remember getting an unexplained and uncomfortable feeling from the truck.

The lake was at the base of a canyon with very little traffic, maybe one car an hour. Many people were just a couple of miles away watching the 1996 Perseid Meteor shower.

The local news promised a great light show; this occurred while an event unfolded that changed the direction of several lives and families.

My friend and I were just beginning our hike when we heard someone calling for help. A young woman was saying she had been shot.

Using a very small flashlight, we could barely detect the silhouette of a person about 20 feet in front of us.

Adrenaline and something else woke up in my body. We asked her to stay there so we could get help. My mind went back to the uneasy feeling I got from the truck earlier. I also didn’t feel comfortable going into the dark with potentially an active shooter.

We drove back up the canyon, where many people were still enjoying the night sky. My friend had long dreadlocks, and I was probably sporting shorts and Tevas. I’m sure we looked a bit unsteady and emotional. Our quest for help was not immediately answered.

We returned to the victim, hoping someone had taken us seriously.

That night one person died. I never saw his body. The woman that asked for help was 18 years old. She had been shot multiple times and left for dead.

When we returned to where the shooting took place, everything began to feel different. The best way I can describe it is that part of me felt connected to another time and place, and part of me was terrified of being shot by the side of the road.

There was no one that would hear us call for help. My friend waited by the side of the road, hoping to flag someone down.

I was able to wrap a blanket around the woman and apply pressure to some of her wounds. For several hours we talked about her job and anything that was not related to our current situation. I remember feeling like there was a cloak of energy surrounding us. Possibly it was protecting us, but it took me to a place where our hearts connected.

Eventually, a police car arrived. When the officer took in the scene, he called for a medical evacuation. I remained by the young woman’s side until the helicopter’s medical team arrived.

She had been shot multiple times, including her head. It was a miracle she was alive, stable, and talking.

Five Ways Karma or Past

Lives May Be Influencing You Today

1. Relationships, where you learn deep interpersonal lessons, might be connected to a past life. Can you think of a person that helped you learn how to receive love? Chances are you and that person has had many lives together where you both experienced everything there is about sharing and receiving love. These relationships aren’t always easy, but they help us discover our potential.

Those relationships that feel deeper or more connected than others might be with someone you have lived many lives with.

2. Have you ever met someone and felt immediately closer to them than most other people? You might have felt like they knew you better than anyone. Sometimes they come into your life for a very long time, sometimes, they just share a message or lesson, and they move on.

3. Do you have a natural affinity for something that makes absolutely no sense to others? Think of someone that has a raw talent completely different from the rest of their family. Where did that come from? What about the person that takes a deep interest in something completely outside the norm? Maybe they have a fascination with German airplanes but were never exposed to anything remotely close to this. This could be memories from a past life guiding you today.

4. Have you had an unexpected event that changed the course of your life? Maybe a karmic debt was being paid, or healing needed to occur. Usually, these things happen, and we can eventually find gratitude for the reason why. We meet someone, or we discover a personal strength that we had not embraced.

5. Have you had any long slow lessons that helped you discover self-love and respect? Many of these lessons involve partners or friends that may look different on the outside, but they all share similar behaviors. Maybe you have chosen the same type of partner over and over until you see the truth and heal a wound from another lifetime.

There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; or as if everything is a miracle. -ALBERT

EINSTEIN

It is impossible to convince me that life is just a random collection of chaotic thoughts and actions. I know there is a master plan or blueprint in our Universe that will eventually lead the collective to a place of peace and harmony. Luckily most of us won’t be involved in a shooting incident, but all of us will experience life, death, and everything in between. Some parts of us designed the opportu-

nities for love, expansion, and healing in every life we live.

If we could clearly see the many layers and connections of how we support each other on this journey, everything would make sense. Staying open to the possibilities can help us see the miracles. Having faith in a master plan created by a loving universe also helps us stay steady.

Follow Up

Many years later, a TV show featured the incident I shared. Some of the questions I had been holding on to were answered off the air. Most of the questions run much deeper and cannot be answered in this lifetime.

On many levels, I am grateful to have been able to help someone in their darkest night. Each of us will do that and more in every life we live. Often, we don’t realize the significance we play in a person’s day.

Have faith that you are exactly where you should be. You are stronger than you know, and you have an incredible unseen support team with you.

Today is the day your life can change. See the miracles of lives intertwined and holiness in our experience that expands beyond.

Polly Wirum is a psychic, life coach, and writer. Years ago, she experienced a health crisis that led to a complete spiritual and life transformation. When she thought her life was crumbling, the universe was easing her grip on everything, distracting her from the truth. The healing helped her discover the beauty of a joyful and uncomplicated life. It is here that she connects with wisdom and magic. She shares this with her clients through life's coaching psychic readings and spiritual retreats. I0 discover more, visit Pollywirum.com

Staying open to the possibilities can help us see the miracles. Having faith in a master plan created by a loving universe also helps us stay steady.

By Phyllis King

BRING MAGIC

YOUR LIFE Into

Learn to Follow the Flow of Energy

Many of us have heard the phrase “go with the flow.” Most often, it is in the context of not getting upset or overacting to something.

Going with the flow is different than intentionally following our unique flow of energy.

As we learn to follow our flow of energy as it occurs in daily life, we align with abundance vibrations. Vibrations that we have both generated and that we seek to experience in the future.

Inherently it increases the speed at which we can receive our desired outcomes.

Eckhart Tolle advises us, Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. This particular strategy brings forward several important principles.

The first is a remembrance that we are powerful creators. When we recognize we are powerful, we are more thoughtful of how we spend and utilize our power.

Secondly, we can then ask the next most important question, which is: How is this serving me? When we feel powerful and

understand the value of moments, we automatically attune to abundance and intentionally begin to follow our flow of energy.

Too often, our mind attaches to life circumstances. It fixates on a certain course of action. It insists that a person should behave toward way us in a certain manner. If they do not, our feelings become hurt. We can get stuck there for long periods. Or we may not get a certain job we applied for. We crash when a job offer does not arrive. While we nurture our hurt feelings, we also nurture resistance. Resistance slows our abundance and our ability to receive.

The mind essentially tells us that the thing that is happening in our lives is wrong. All forms of suffering center around resistance to the present moment.

We are human beings. We are going to have moments when our emotions take charge. It is part of being human. However, if we want to become good receivers of money, have loving relationships, and have good health, it requires the cultivation of certain disciplines. The good news is that most of these disciplines we can impose on ourselves in our own time and space. Desire and willingness are our best friends in their mastery of them.

Photo by Blake Cheek

Discipline feels like a difficult word. The sooner we achieve levels of personal discipline, the easier life becomes.

Two of the most important disciplines of 10 we must master are Focus and Concentration. Our ability to direct our thoughts to what is true about energy is our best friend. As soon as our thoughts begin to tell us we are powerful creators and that each experience is serving us, we are attuned to abundance itself. We intentionally can follow our flow of energy.

Concentration, which allows us to stay on that train of thought until our physical brain can capture it in a neural pathway, is a game changer. It ensures a positive outcome.

Below are some examples of how we can recognize the flow of energy and follow it:

You become ill and have to go to the hospital.

Rather than think about how awful it is you be in the hospital and deal with drugs and IVs and the inherent discomfort of feeling out of control, recognize you are receiving care. It is an act of self-care. Relax with a team of people helping you find your way. Do that rather than resent being there. Your flow of energy took you somewhere that said, “You should not do this on your own.

This is a moment that requires a team.”

- That slight shift in thinking makes all the difference in how you will heal. We do not recognize that through resistance, we claim toxicity. We do not do it consciously. We do it habitually and unconsciously. It hides in the nuance of our inner narrative.

- Your calendar and schedule are

very busy, and you are overtaxed. You say to yourself or others, “I have to go to this event. I have to do this for my husband or my child. I have to do this thing for work.” Haveto statements cut us off from our flow of energy. Simply changing the wording from “have to,” which feels disempowering, to “I choose to” creates an instant shift in the energy. We are once again in a position of power as we follow a flow of energy rather than react to the flow of energy.

Following our flow of energy is akin to watching our life unfold. Life, in some ways, is always one step ahead of us. Heart Math Research revealed through case studies that the heart has the wisdom that can predict what will happen next, even in the smallest of circumstances.

One of the studies was with people playing poker. All the players in the study were hooked up to electrodes. What was observed by the team was not shared with the players at the moment. What happened is that immediately before someone was about to have a winning or losing hand, the heart would transmit certain feedback. The player had no idea what was going to happen, but the heart did and would transmit energetic feedback before the event occurred. That is a fascinating phenomenon that defies the mind’s logic.

Suppose we begin to incorporate in our daily moments the awareness that our body has wisdom and even more so that greater intelligence is at play in our life than our mind. In that case, we have a significantly better chance of following our flow of energy.

That flow of energy wants to lead us to a more benevolent existence. When this awareness takes root in our being is when magic can and does happen.

Known as the Intuitive Life Strategist, Phyllis King has worked with tens of thousands of peoplein 25 countries. She is known for her practical and down to earth approach. She has been featured on, ABC, CBS and NBC TV, radio programs across the country, and has been published in over 70 print and online publications. She has four books, including Bouncing Back, Thriving in Changing Times, with Dr. Wayne Dyer. Her latest book The Energy of Abundance is available in bookstores now. Phyllis holds a B.A. in Sociology. www.phyllisking.com

HOW YOU CAN PLAY THE ENERGY GAME TO INVITE MORE HAPPINESS, LOVE AND ABUNDANCE INTO YOUR LIFE.

Known as the Common Sense Psychic (tm), has worked with tens of thousands of peoplein 25 countries. She is known for her practical and down to earth approach. She has been featured on, ABC, CBS and NBC TV, radio programs across the country, and has been published in over 70 print and online publications. She has four books, including Bouncing Back, Thriving in Changing Times, with Dr. Wayne Dyer. Her latest book The Energy of Abundance is available in bookstores now.

www.phyllisking.com

By Heidi Connolly

TO THE AWAKENING LOST JOY WITHIN

People talk about springtime as a time of renewed hope, rebirth, regeneration, and growth—a time when the rain and snow give way to sunshine and warmth.

But what happens if those things offer you less than the desired or expected outcome of joy?

How do you get back the joy you’ve lost along the way?

If you’re like me (as I was) or many of my high-sensitive clients, the sensation of joy can be an elusive emotion. As one woman recently told me, “There we were in the Bahamas on vacation, sipping piña coladas on the beach and watching the waves roll in, and all I felt was emptiness. I knew I was what I was supposed to be feeling, but there was nothing there.”

It’s as if the ability to experience joy has been turned off by the pain of a past, present, or even anticipated future reality. As if that reality has shut us down…has shut us off for good.

When you have learned over the years that the only way to survive is to block off your feelings, it’s a lesson that tends to stick. There is simply too much at stake. The potential risk of ridicule, harsh critique, or banishment. If you are someone experiencing abuse, often there is a very plausible element of your survival at hand

When we seal ourselves off due to necessity, we normally do not realize how much else we are shutting down because those protective devices, the

defensive stances, and the armor of stability we have constructed are solidly built walls born of that necessity. Necessity without which it feels we would surely suffer. Or die.

Fear of such a death, whether physical, emotional, and/ or spiritual, is not something to be taken lightly. Not only does it spur us into action in potentially difficult situations, but it can drive us to access courage we never knew we had.

However, when fear does not create courageous action, when it does not inspire new ways of production thought, it has the potential to destroy the very thing that makes life worth living.

The joy of being alive. Because everything has an energy, a vibration of its own, we cannot discount the energy behind any fear we hold and the way it can seep through the cracks of our barricaded being.

I would like to share something that occurred recently. I have a large, magnificent piece of pale green calcite that my husband gifted me before his passing. Like all my crystalline rock-like pieces, I keep them in a special location. Since I moved to my new home last year, it has sat on my fireplace mantel in a place of honor.

A new friend had come over with her two teenage girls. Both girls were curious about everything they could see and touch in my house. When they asked about the stone, I joined them at the mantel to share its origins in my life.

As we looked, we all noticed at the same time some areas where yellow particles had collected on the calcite’s surface. I went to brush off the particles, but they would not budge. They were not powder or particles. They could not be moved.

This had happened once before, years ago. I had gone to dust the stone, once again believing the yellow substance on the surface to have landed there, perhaps by a flower in the vicinity, and let its pollen grain fall. When it did not wash off or flake off with a flick of a finger, I felt as if it had grown out of the crystal…and kept my thoughts to myself.

Now, it had happened again. The yellow particulate had appeared out of the stone as if by magic. As if the rock, hard and closed, an inanimate object, impermeable, impenetrable, and unyielding, had produced from its very core a substance that was alive.

How could it not be alive if it had literally grown out of the rock?

My research has not uncovered anything to explain how or why this substance appears periodically on my beautiful chunk of calcite. For that reason, I choose to see it as a message from Spirit to remind me that even out of something (or

someone) with a hard, defensive, shut-down exterior, life can indeed flourish.

I have learned that calcite is a powerful amplifier and energy cleanser to remove and releases negative energy that prevents personal growth; considered a chakra healer and a healer of the heart’s pain.

It is often suggested that when we undertake meditative practices or are searching for more joy in our lives, we go back to that place when we were young—before we learned that we had to aspire to perfection, to be right, to do things in the right way, when we played without need to address the outcome or result. But what if you don’t remember that time? How do you get “back to that place” if you’ve never been there?

This hunk of calcite sprouting yellow particulate teaches me how. No matter how closed down, locked up, or radically constructed our walls of protection, the energy of a loving Source that exists inside us is always looking for a way to climb up through the cracks of those prison-like walls. We don’t have to know how it will get out, how it will manifest, the route it will take, or the form it will take. What we do need to know is that it lives.

Because where there is life, the potential for joy lives as well.

Heidi Connolly, The Celestial Professor, is a purveyor of down-to-earth s pirituality. She has authored a number of books, including Crossing the Rubicon and The Gateway Café, as well as her upcoming, Elevate Your HSP-ness: How to Live a High-Frequency Life that Amplifies Your Vibration, Celebrates Your Sensitivities, & Uplifts the World! Heidi is an intuitive coach and medium who works with those who wish to communicate with loved ones on the other side as well as Highly Sensitive People to develop their sensitivities and intuition. A spirit-guided musician, Heidi’s flute recordings are renowned for the healing power of their encoded frequencies. Heidiconnolly.com hspness.com harvardgirledits.com theobitwriter.net

Because everything has an energy, a vibration of its own, we cannot discount the energy behind any fear we hold and the way it can seep through the cracks of our barricaded being.

Photo by By pornpunStockPhoto

Animals don't belong in cages They deserve to be free

Fear not truth

By By Patricia Cori

Photo by Dylan Siebelink

My wise and blessed mother—my guiding light—always told me: "You never really know what you believe in until you have something to lose by defending it." I have learned no greater lesson in life than what I gleaned from those immortal words. In times of tyranny, such as these, it becomes a truly noble commitment for any of us to pursue truth and to share what we perceive it to be, in service to others . . ., especially in the wake of condemnation that comes of challenging the status quo. Faced with the tightening screw of censorship and a very real threat of persecution for those of us who choose to swim against the tide of conformism, we find the strength to own who we really are, to examine our values and morality, and to hold firm to our mission to serve as warriors of light, as we travel the path of self-discovery and enlightenment.

It demands of us a state of fearlessness and courage and immense determination. It requires peering into the darkness and dredging up the accumulated debris of many lifetimes—shadows that cloud the tenebrous lagoon of the subconscious—into the radiance of conscious awareness, where we can sift through all the garbage we have collected along the way and examine it all with objectivity. We must be willing to sail the seas of those uncharted waters of the subconscious mind, where our resolve pushes us to peer into the deep—there, where ancient phantoms, specters of

our own making, wait to be brought up into the light and set free.

At this time of incredible upheaval and radical change in the world, we knew a few short years ago we were most empowered and liberated when we confronted those irrational, inexplicable fears, in the full light of the awakening mind. Anchored deep within the Earth, we need to be strong enough to hold our ground—like a lighthouse— when ceaseless storms flood our shores, eroding the fiber of our earthly existence. Only from that place of immutable strength can we reverse the destructive course set for us by a global political class comprised of swarms of minions dedicated to those who rule over them, as they do us, as the "New World Order."

Theirs is a corrupt cabal that we can only describe, at this point, as ruthless, criminally insane, and toxic beyond measure.

If we are truly to liberate ourselves from its grip, we are going to have to bring the proverbial hammer down on any persistent sense of powerlessness that still deters us. With every ounce of force and determination we can muster . . . overcoming all obstruction and the inertia born of fear and doubt, we must find the strength to crack the emotional encrustation that encases the gem— TRUTH—hidden within it and hold it up to the sun. Bathed in the brilliance, it refracts, like a faceted diamond, into rainbows—revealing the full spectrum of visible light;

it nurtures the heart and spirit of all awakened souls who have eyes to see past the smoke screen that has been placed before their lens on reality.

The act of seeking truth, and sharing what we understand it to be, empowers us all to go deep within ourselves to examine the existential dilemma that has so overwhelmed us with terror over anything that threatens our physical lives that we no longer recognize how that irrational fear has been manipulated and utilized as a precision weapon against not only our mortal bodies but our very souls. Angst over what the ubiquitous shadow can provoke in our world dulls our reason, numbs our hearts, and brings so many people to their knees in submission and obedience.

There, where shadows veil the light, suppressors of freedom lie in waiting, scrutinizing every word, disallowing free thought and dialogue, and threatening . . . eager to leap out and grab us by the throat, should we so much as dare to challenge their intolerable,

dehumanizing narrative But I hold to my conviction that we must speak it anyway.

How do we truly reconcile the evil force—for, if it is a godly creation rather than a separate, opposing power, must it be so all-encompassing and so impenetrably dark? The obvious answer, ringing over and over again in our souls, is, "Yes, it must!" until we honor our soul purpose, fear not, and step into the full illumination of our own godliness. It must be so tremendously powerful that it leaves us no other choice but to rise up together, at last, and surge, as an immeasurable tidal wave, against it. It must be so omnipotent that we know no other recourse but to hold our ground in God's light—the almighty force of unending, unconditional love—and then, fearless in that brilliance, flood the dark halls of evil in the infinite radiance of eternal light.

Only then will we truly know and embrace the immensity of our galactic mission here on Earth today and beyond tomorrow.

Patricia Cori is an internationally acclaimed author and thought leader who has been bringing forth views on the underpinnings of global control for over two decades and a dozen books later. With the bold determination of an investigative journalist and thethe passion of a spiritual warrior, she reveals the truth about the dark agenda playing out in our world and what we can do about it – as individuals and as a global society. Her purpose in all her works is to uplift the spirit, provide direction for healing, and release fear. The former host of the popular BBS radio show, Beyond the Matrix, she has been a guest on hundreds of radio and TV programs, including CNN and Coast to Coast FM.

Patricia is a visionary who sees what can be and what can be. Her previous books include The Cosmos of Soul, Atlantis Rising, No More Secrets, No More Lies, and The Emissary.

If we are truly to liberate ourselves from its grip, we are going to have to bring the proverbial hammer down on any persistent sense of powerlessness that still deters us. With every ounce of force and determination we can muster

,,

Experts reveal the

By Bestmattress-brand

sleep different noises that can help you

The colours of sound; Brown, Green, Pink, and Blue and how these could help you sleep

Studies reveal the secrets to getting a better night's sleep.

You may have heard of white noise before, or if you use TikTok, you may have seen users sharing their sleep hacks with brown, green, or even blue noise. These sounds can benefit your sleep by blocking out bothersome noises and relaxing the mind with their constant, static-like tones. However, white noise isn't the only sonic hue—pink, blue, grey, and brown all affect listeners in different ways, and there is increasing evidence to support the sleep-inducing qualities of these sounds. The great thing about noise to help you sleep is its accessibility; you can find all of these sounds free online. Although there are specialist machines you can also buy, however, these can be more costly.

Sleep experts at Best mattress-brand have helped to clarify the colour confusion and advise anyone who may struggle to sleep on the best noise to help them drift off.

White Noise

White noise is an audible frequency that can help you relax and encourage a good night's sleep. In a recent study, adults fell asleep 38% faster while listening to white noise. Other recent studies have continued to find white noise positively affects sleep. That's why it's often recommended for sleeping difficulties and sleep disorders like insomnia.

Link to sound: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=MC8T7sqxUdU

Pink Noise

The problem with white noise is that all the frequencies come through at the same intensity. Pink noise attempts to solve this issue for people who find white noise too unpleasant by creating a louder low frequency with softer high ends; this makes it slightly smoother than white noise. Studies have shown that pink noise didn't only aid people in getting to sleep but also has positive influences in supporting deep sleep and memory.

Link to sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SHf6wmX5MU

Brown Noise

Brown noise has recently been at the forefront of online discussion, with sleep hacks such as this trending on TikTok, with 84.3 million views for videos featuring the hashtag. Brown noise is a deeper and stronger tone; the lower frequencies can block out external noise while soothing the mind and making it easier for people to sleep. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence to suggest that brown noise can help block out the internal monologue many people experience, especially at night when we have no other distractions to keep our minds from wandering.

Link to sounds: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=RqzGzwTY-6w&t=1s

Green Noise

Green noise is a variation of white noise in the middle of the spectrum; as the name insinuates, it utilizes similar sounds to that you may hear in nature. Green noise can help restore calm and promote relaxation. It provides a "sound mask" to other ideas, feelings, sensations, and sensory experiences. Because green noise is more pleasing, it may be a more appealing choice than the typical white noise. Much like brown noise, green has been taking social media by storm as a new TikTok sleep trend, as many people share their positive experiences utilizing this for a better night's sleep.

Link to sound: https:// www.youtube.com/ watch?v=ngTTSLW3Uq8

Blue Noise

There are very few deep tones

in blue noise to help balance its energy, which is primarily concentrated at the high-frequency end; it almost sounds like water spraying out of a hose nozzle. Blue noise performs a wonderful job of severely disguising outside noises if you're not sensitive to high-pitched sounds. There has been little scientific research into the effectiveness of blue noise in comparison to its colour wheel counterparts. However, that's not to say it's not worth trying it if some of the other sounds aren't as useful.

Link to sound: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=oab1IUbRnXY

A spokesperson from Bestmattress-brand commented: "One in five people struggle to get to sleep; a lack of sleep can have many negative impacts on mental and physical health. Coloured noises might be the trick to help you finally get a good night's sleep. White noise is the most researched and popular; however, it may not be suited to many people, and thus this research highlights the other colours that you can try that may be more sleep-inducing than the typical white noise.

Along with the noise, it is recommended that people engage in healthy bedtime routines, which can maximize the effectiveness of these sleep aids; for example, avoiding screens 30 minutes before bed, eating good foods, and optimizing your sleep space. Sleep is key to living a healthy life, and these noises could help you get the sleep that your body and mind need."

Turn Heads This Summer With a Straw Bale Garden and Watch Friendships Bloom

By Joel Karsten

Photo by Li Ding/Adobestock

Gardening can be a wonderful hobby for those who enjoy spending time outdoors, getting their hands dirty, and watching their plants grow. However, only some have the space, time, or resources to grow a garden in the traditional sense. Fortunately, alternative gardening methods are becoming increasingly popular, one of which is straw bale gardening.

Straw bale gardening involves growing plants directly in straw bales rather than soil. This gardening method is ideal for those with limited space, poor soil quality, or who want to avoid the back-breaking work of traditional gardening. Straw bale gardening, including patios, balconies, and rooftops, can be done almost anywhere.

One of the keys to successful straw bale gardening is properly conditioning the bales before planting. This is where BaleBuster, a conditioning agent designed explicitly for straw bale gardening, comes in. BaleBuster is a microbial inoculant that feeds the bacteria and helps it to colonize the bales and then to metabolized the straw, breaking it down so the straw

BECOMES "soil" or a rich, fertile growing medium for plants.

To get started with straw bale gardening, you will need to purchase some bales of straw or hay; either works well and whichever is available and least expensive is fine. It is important to choose well-compact bales, as these more dense bales will allow two years of gardening. Once you have your bales, you must condition them using BaleBuster or a similar conditioning agent; this takes between 12 and 18 days.

Initially, the granular high-nitrogen material will be sprinkled over the top and watered into the bales. Water the bales thoroughly, making sure to wet them all the way through.

Apply BaleBuster or another conditioning agent to the bales according to the manufacturer's instructions. This will help to activate the microbes that will break down the straw and turn it into a fertile growing medium. The bales will get warm, this is a natural part of the process, and this signals that bacteria, which are not visible by the naked eye, are accumulating and colonizing inside the bale.

Keep the bales moist by watering them regularly. This will help keep the microbial activity going and prevent the bales from drying out and stopping the decomposition process.

After 12-18 days, the bales should be fully conditioned and will drop under 105 degrees, meaning they are now ready for planting.

When it comes to planting straw bales, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, you will need to create a seedbed on top of the bales with a clean planting mix, NOT SOIL, where you can plant any tiny seeds. Big seeds and/or seedlings can simply be slipped into the bales into a crack made with your fingers or a trowel. Avoid cutting a string on the bale because the bale needs to maintain the squeezing and compression the string provides in order to continue the quick decomposition process.

Once you have tucked the roots of a transplant into the bale, you can add some potting mix to help seal up the roots so they are not exposed to air. Closely monitor the transplants to ensure they have enough moisture and are rooting well into the bale. Be careful not to overwater because this is the most common mistake new straw bale

gardeners make. A bale may give up a gallon of water or maybe two on a hot, dry day with lots of plants growing from the bale, so when watering, the objective is only to replace the lost water and not add a whole lot more. Watering for long periods with a soaker or drip system will cause water to run through the bales, and this leaches out soluble nutrients and carries out tiny new soil particles that are just forming inside. This will often cause plants to wilt, and the gardener then thinks the plants are dry, so they water more, exacerbating the problem. Try to add only one gallon each time the garden is irrigated, and then adjust the frequency of watering, but never change the dose applied each time.

When it comes to choosing plants for straw bale gardening, the possibilities are almost endless. You can grow everything from tomatoes and peppers to herbs and flowers. However, it is important to avoid a few crops, like corn, asparagus, and rhubarb, that are not well-suited to growing in bales. Corn gets too tall and has a huge root system, so one, three, or four plants could grow in a bale. Asparagus and rhubarb are perennial plants that come back year after year from the root, and the bales will be nothing more than a hump of soil in the garden after three years.

It takes about three years to get asparagus and rhubarb plants established.

One of the benefits of straw bale gardening is that it is relatively low maintenance. Because the bales are already in a raised position, you don't need to do as much bending or kneeling as you would with traditional gardening. Additionally, because the straw bales hold moisture well, you don't need to water them as frequently as you would with plants grown in soil.

It is still important to monitor your plants regularly to make sure they are getting the nutrients and water they need. You may also need to prune or trellis your plants as they grow to keep them from encroaching on your neighbor's yard. Keeping tomato vines from dropping down and contacting the soil will keep them disease free. Pruning off lower branches will also allow better air circulation and prevent the fungal disease from spreading due to constantly moist leaves.

Remember to keep the bales for a second year; they often produce even better the second year because they are more broken down. The bales may need to be reconnoitered for best results. It works well to wrap a used bale with chicken wire about 15" tall and then pile another old bale on top and smash it down. This resulting "bale" is now more round than square, and the strings are long gone, making a wonderful planting bed for root crops, or early season planting of cold season vegetables. No conditioning is needed on the second-season bales; sim-

ply sprinkle a cup of fertilizer on top, water it in, and plant it the next day. This is where the early crops go in while the first-year bales undergo conditioning. Because those bales are warm on the inside due to the microbial activity, they are perfect for warm-season crops that like warm roots, like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and squash.

Be prepared to answer questions from curious friends, neighbors, and strangers. Straw bale gardening is conspicuous, and this is one reason why it has spread so quickly and become so popular. People see a neighbor's success, and they can't help but inquire about the details and are often encouraged to plant a straw bale garden of their own the next year.

You will be amazed at how much fun gardening can be when you never have to pull weeds, and most people who try it succeed beyond their expectations, and that excitement and success breeds enthusiasm.

Remember to plant an extra bale or two that you can use to share with a neighbor or friend who you know struggles with the weekly cost of grocery shopping. Fresh produce is expensive, and offering some of your extra bounties can not only help out financially, but it can also help steer someone to a healthier diet. There is something about sharing something you have grown yourself with another magical person, not only for them but also for you. So plan to plant an extra bale just to give away, it will change how you see the world, and that is not "small potatoes."

Thirty years ago, Joel Karsten, a horticulturist from the University of MN, pioneered a unique method for growing vegetables in bales of straw. Joel has written five best-selling books, now translated into many languages. He has traveled extensively to spread his method worldwide, including a presentation to the United Nations and a popular TED talk. Straw Bale Gardening offers tangible hope for people in some of the poorest places on earth to grow their own food successfully.

WHAT IS CARBON NEUTRAL MILK?

By Claire Hamlett

Photo by the Humble Co.

An increasing number of food brands are turning to climate labels to boost sales. In the face of research that meat and milk are high in greenhouse gas emissions, companies are angling for new ways to reach eco-conscious consumers. A new report from the Changing Markets Foundation found 53 instances of greenwashing— including carbon neutral milk and beef. But what does it mean and, more importantly, can you trust it?

Research shows consumers do want this information — 39 percent of shoppers have sustainability in mind when they make food purchases. But government agencies provide little to no oversight of these labels. And consumers are woefully under-informed. One survey found that only 46 percent of U.S. consumers believe eating less meat benefits the planet.

Getting a handle on all these labels could help. In this explainer, we take a closer look at the terms “carbon neutral” and “net zero” on meat and milk, and tell you what to look for.

What Does Carbon Neutral Mean?

Products that bear the label “carbon neutral” are supposed to be produced with no added emissions to the atmosphere. But can you trust it? It’s complicated.

In order to accurately call your product is carbon neutral, companies have to first start out with an accurate accounting of their emissions — the carbon footprint of every product they make. That’s a problem for the many meat

and dairy companies, as most don’t actually know the emissions associated with their full supply chain, including the mega-brands Tyson, Cargill and Smithfield.

Once a company does have an accurate starting point, they can begin looking for places to reduce their pollution. A milk producer could improve manure management on their dairy farm. A restaurant or dining hall could choose to serve a lentil burger over a beef patty. These actions can help draw down emissions, each choice to varying degrees.

How Do Companies Use Offsets to Get to Carbon Neutral?

Virtually all companies will be left with some emissions after they cut here and there in their supply chains. That’s especially true for products with very high pollution costs like meat and dairy. For example, the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by 100 grams of peas is equivalent to just .44 kg CO₂eq — that’s tiny — but for the same amount of beef, the emissions cost would be a whole lot more at 49.89 kg. That’s a lot to reduce, and impossible if the product itself — beef — is the main source of emissions.

Once a company has made every cut they can, they will then “offset” the remainder of emissions in order to get to a “carbon neutral” status. Producers usually do this by buying carbon credits – an assurance from another company or carbon project that they are reducing or capturing their emissions by the amount the offset purchaser needs.

One of the most well-known examples is tree-planting. The National Forests Foundation advertises that for every $2 donation, they’ll plant two trees that will remove or offset 1 metric ton of CO2e from the atmosphere for the life of those trees.

Now, as long as offsets are properly managed — and we’ll return to that in a minute — they can be incredibly beneficial to the environment.

According to Johan Rockström, a researcher with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, offsets can be used to restore and grow new forests, protect the oceans and improve agricultural practices to increase soil health.

But back to that proper management part, for offsets to work, they need to meet certain criteria — they need to be additional and permanent – which means they must be removing carbon that would not otherwise be removed without the credit, and must store carbon for a long time so the emissions reduction won’t simply be lost later. If you cut down the trees in ten years, you lose any carbon gains as the gases are released back into the atmosphere.

Figuring out which offsets are valid is tricky. Many offsetting schemes receive third-party certifications but these can also be riddled with fraud. A recent investigation into forest carbon offsets run by Verra, the world’s leading offsetting certifier, and used by companies including Disney, Shell and Gucci found that 94 percent of offsets bought through Verra failed to reduce deforestation or were for forest areas where deforestation wasn’t happening anyway.

Intentional fraud aside, there are also many low-quality carbon projects that are just not actually sequestering carbon. Some of these come from carbon farming for in-

stance, where companies pay for a farm to use “regenerative” practices like no-till and cover crops. Meat giant Cargill estimated it could save 1.7 million tons of carbon by 2030 by getting farmers growing its cattle feed crops to use these techniques. But because the science underlying the carbon farming market is on shaky ground, the offsets may not be valid after all.

Still other carbon offset projects have been found to be damaging to biodiversity and human rights. And yet another wrinkle — climate scientists agree that humans can’t simply offset our way out of the climate crisis. Our emissions are just too high at this point. Rockstrom warns polluting companies need to cut their emissions down by at least half each decade to reach net zero by 2050. Offsets should only play a small role.

5 Companies Using Carbon Neutral Food Labels

Despite the problems, the following meat and dairy producers use the terms carbon neutral or carbon negative on their food labels:

• UK fast food chain Leon claims that its chicken and vegan burgers are carbon-neutral.

• But scientists and carbon market specialists warn the company is using “phantom credits” from a forest project that did little to actually reduce emissions.

• Canadian meat producer Maple Leaf Foods calls itself the “the first major food company in the world to be carbon neutral.”

• But researchers characterize the company’s efforts as “an accounting trick” as the company simply excluded emissions it didn’t think it could feasibly offset from its calculations.

• Australian supermarket Coles sells a “carbon neutral” range of beef.

Photo by Stijn te Strake

• Yet critics point out the company relied on flawed carbon credits from a reforestation project where vegetation was actually found to be decreasing. Fonterra’s Simply Milk is supposed to be carbon zero milk — a status it achieved almost entirely with carbon offsets.

• The problem: For Simply Milk to retain its accreditation from carbon offset company Toitū as carbon neutral, Fonterra is only required to reduce emissions in its own supply chain by 2.2 percent per bottle by 2024.

• Portland-based company Neutral sells “carbon neutral” milk that “fights climate change” in U.S. Whole Foods stores.

• But climate experts warn that despite the company’s efforts, the carbon neutral claims rest on shaky math, touting its “avoided emissions” over brands with higher emissions.

What Is Net Zero?

Net zero is similar to carbon neutral — but it’s typically used by companies to indicate an entire field or industry has reduced its emissions. The push to get corporations and industries to strive for “net zero” is part of a larger effort to get major polluters to meet global climate goals agreed to at the 2015 Paris climate conference.

In the UK, the National Farmers Union has a “net zero by 2040” target for the nation’s whole agriculture sector. The U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef claims the U.S. beef supply chain will be carbon neutral by 2040. Meat and dairy giants including JBS, Tyson, Danish Crown, Nestle, Danone, Arla and Fonterra have all made net zero pledges.

The problem with all of these claims is that none of the major meat and dairy companies have

plans to reduce the number of farm animals in their supply chains — and it’s the animal farming that causes 90 percent of their emissions. If anything, companies like Tyson and Fonterra are planning to expand meat and dairy production, casting serious doubt on their ability to meet these targets.

Not only that, there is no consistent transparency or metrics from one meat and dairy net zero plan to another. For example, Fonterra reports its emissions from raising and feeding animals on farms in New Zealand but not those abroad, and is relying heavily on technology that could reduce methane from cows to reduce emissions. The company has been accused of underreporting its emissions by about half.

Meanwhile, Tyson says it wants to expand its “current target to verify sustainable beef production practices on more than 5 million acres of U.S. cattle-grazing land by 2025” but it doesn’t share what its current or planned emissions are. These disparities make a big difference in where companies decide to make changes and how they measure their progress.

JBS’s claims were so toothless in fact that the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau recently decided JBS should stop using its net zero by 2040 claims altogether.

There are so many different claims, targets and metrics that consumers have little to no assurance that a “carbon neutral” or “net zero” claim means what it says. What’s easiest — and most accurate — is to eat more foods that are low-carbon to begin with, like a healthy and sustainable diet with mostly nutrient-rich plants on your plate.

This piece has been corrected to reflect that the Greenwashing report was published by the Changing Markets Foundation.

The amount of greenhouse gases emitted by 100 grams of peas is equivalent to just .44 kg CO₂eq — that’s tiny — but for the same amount of beef, the emissions cost would be a whole lot more at 49.89 kg. That’s a lot to reduce, and impossible if the product itself — beef — is the main source of emissions.

"I cannot tell a lie, Moose On The Loose is really funny and surprisingly moving."

~Mel

Brooks

~ J. Commodore, Stage

“A tundra of fun.”

~ B. Schreiber, Medium.com

“Plenty of laughs for sure.”

~ R. Borowy, Accessibly Live

“How excellent it all is.”

- K. Salkin, It’s Not About Me

“A really funny play…. The cast is absolutely brilliant.”

~S. Simmonds, NoHoArtsDistrict.com

“Masterfully written... A truly funny play…A joyous deep dive…The best of offerings for its audience.”

~M. Edwards, Discover Hollywood

“A hoot and a hit, eh?”

~ I. Jalali, L.A. Excites

“The characters are specific and recognizable, and the jokes come loud and fast.”

~E.A. Vare, The Hollywood Times

"While thoroughly enjoyable, Moose on the Loose provides more than just laughs, but also comfort and a reminder of what is truly important.”

~J. Commodore, Stage Raw

Written by Dina Morrone

Now playing until May 21, 2023

Theatre West, Los Angeles, CA

For more information, tickets, and showtimes visit www.theatrewest.org

“RECOMMENDED. TOP TEN."

Raw