The writer in us all

"Loving myself as I am" can be transformational in not only how we view ourselves but also the wider cosmos. At the level of the ego self it means letting go of all falsity, the layers we cover ourselves with to present ourselves in the way we choose to our peers and loved ones. It is saying this is who I am in this moment, eccentricities, quirks, issues and all - I accept myself as I am. I no longer need to give my power to others by requiring them to give me attention. I am myself's own source of love and acceptance. The world can no longer pull me with puppet strings made of carrots and sticks. I call back my power. I am whole. Where I am on the path right now is where I am. I act from a space that is centered in this moment, a space filled with loving acceptance. That space fills me and surrounds me. It is my comfort and my safety. My home, my lover. Then the inner eye opens and "Loving myself as I am" becomes the whole world, indeed the cosmos and beyond. All that resides within it, ever existed, ever will exist or indeed may never choose to take form. It is all 'me'.  The fact is I wanted to try every conceivable way to exist. My insatiable curiosity imagined an Iceland and a Hawaii.  I imagined life roaming the desert of the Kalahari and the shop rows of New York. I imagined religious devotion and secular logic. Piety and hedonism. Mystics and playboys. Jewellers and miners. Eight legged beings, green skinned aliens, killer whales and territorial humans. I imagined romance, lives filled with thrill, who done its and flights of fantasy. I am a writer. I am the refraction and reflection of the light of the cosmos. You are too.

Ideally Imperfect - a heroine in need of love, acceptance and redemption

Ideally Imperfect

Alys, who renames herself Gratia early in this book, suffers from defensiveness. It's destroyed her marriage and lost her relationships with her father and friends. Not liking her life she determines to turn her it around, one piece at a time, to create a new reality.

This is the third in the series "The Martian Vampire Chronicles", and a continuation of the world created in "Lefthand Adventures." Favorite characters will appear, including faeries, delphines, the Shang, the Lemurians, The Malakim and immortals of Boswell and Mars and of course the baddies, the Din, led by Sakla. However I hope I've included enough backstory along the way that the book can be read on its own.

I wanted this story to be about reality creation and self acceptance. For Gratia that means coming to terms with the loss of her mother, early in life, finding a way to balance her hormones and her defensiveness, recognizing her potential, her true interests and her capacity to love beyond the bounds of what she was raised to consider as acceptable.

It is a story of an individual finding peace with who they are and making the most of it. About blossoming into a life unknown and unexpected.

Those who have read the first book of the series, "An open connection of the heart", will recognize the main character as someone who had life changing impact on Callan. When his wife refuses counselling he determines to do it himself, learning how to manage her as best he can, to defuse situations that might make her explode in anger. To avoid the triggers. But his counsellor, Leigha, warns him that it won't make the problem go away. And she was right. Having done all he could Callan ends his marriage and ends up living in a caravan, living on two minute noodle, until... well that was book of the series.

So why did I rework Alys into this story. Purely and simply a writer's compassion for one of her characters. I couldn't leave her as she was. There had to be a more positive future for her.

So if you read Book 1 I hope you will find it in your heart to forgive Alys and enjoy, as I have, her journey into becoming Gratia, short for gratitude.

You can find the book at all good online vendors, eg:

• Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/941906
• Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Ideally-Imperfect-Martian-Vampire-Chronicals-ebook/dp/B07SG8W95N
• Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Arwen_Jayne_Ideally_Imperfect?id=EtaaDwAAQBAJ&hl=en

Almond Strawberry Pikelets

Almond Strawberry Pikelets

• 3-4 frozen strawberries, defrosted and mashed
• three heaped tablespoons of lentil flour
• two heaped tablespoons of almond meal
• 1 heaped tablespoon of psyllium husk
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• a little water

Mix all together and add water to a firm batter. Put spoonfulls of batter in a flat non stick frypan and cook until golden. Enjoy.

Hazelnut pumpkin pie - vegan, gluten free, sugar-less

First the crust

The crust part of this recipe was originally sourced from http://fromthegroundupwellness.com/recipes/savory-vegan-pumpkin-pie-with-almond-meal-crust

Grease a flan tray or pie tin and then line with grease-proof baking paper. The oil helps to hold the paper in place. Trim any excess paper.

Preheat your oven to 180C/350F

You will need:

• a cup and a half of almond meal
• a pinch of Himalayan salt. (don't use sea salt cause there's too many microplastics floating around in our oceans these days)
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon  ground cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil (in my climate I need to heat this to make it liquid)
• 1 tablespoon of water. 

Mix into a dough then place in the flan tray  and press it with a spoon, spreading it out and up the sides. If it sticks to the spoon sprinkle a little rice flour over the mixture.

Bake for 10 minutes then set to one side. While it's been cooking you might have ground some hazelnuts and pre-cooked your pumpkin.

Now for the mixture

Preheat, if you haven't already, your oven to 180C/350F

You will need:

• 2 generous cups of cooked pumpkin - I used Japanese pumpkin on my first attempt but butternut or just about any other pumpkin should work well, even golden nugget squash.
• 1/2-3/4 cup of hazelnut. 3/4 is better but it takes time for me to grind this in my coffee grinder. You can also purchase pre-ground hazelnut meal but since I grow my own hazelnuts I thought I'd better use them. They're sweeter, juicier and better tasting fresh.
• 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon of tapioca or arrowroot flour as a binding agent.
• 1&1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon. I don't add any nutmeg as it is an irritant that causes digestive problems for those susceptible to it.
• 1/4 teaspoon of allspice
• a grind or two of Himalayan salt.

Mash together then place in you pre-prepared pie crust. Spread to the edges

Bake for 20 minutes

So tasty it disappears in minutes so if you are serving more than two people you might want to double the quantities.

Sprouted quinoa, toasted pine nuts, shredded nori, rice and carrot sushi and patties

My friend Robyn, who's a great amateur chef and amazes me what she produces in her small but compact kitchen, turned up the other day with some treats for me. I quizzed her on the ingredients then had to have a go myself:

The mix for the sushi and the patties is basically the same.

• Sprout one cup of quinoa
• Cook one cup of rice
• Cook half a carrot and mash it.
• Toast about 1/3 cup of pine nuts in the fry pan until browned
• Shred or finely cut up one sheet of nori

Mix together and use the mixture as filling for sushi rolls

To make the patties add two tablespoons of psyllium seed as an egg replacement. Add about a dessertspoon of turmeric for color and flavor. Pan fry until brown

I use a non stick fry pan for toasting the pine nuts and browning the patties so no oil needed.

Serve the sushi chilled, the patties warmed. Both are quite sweet tasting.

Robyn's original mix used cooked pumpkin instead of the carrot but I didn't have any so I substituted.

Chickpea Tofu and Vegan Frittata

Chickpea Tofu and Vegan Frittata . Last winter while camping at Yowah a nice lady named Dawn gave me a recipe for chickpea tofu. I got around to making my first batch last week. Then brainstorming with my friend Robyn we wondered if you could use it to make a vegan frittata. Yes you can and its delicious. Here's what you do. For the frittata bit pre prepare some vegetables by stir frying about two cups of your favourite veggies. Zucchini, ginger, mizuna with coriander, cumin, asafoetida, tumeric and a little pepper works well. Once cooked place on the bottom of a flan dish and set to one side. Next you will need one cup of chickpea flour and three cups of water. First place the flour and half the water in a large cooking pot. Mix until a smooth consistency. Then add the rest of the water. Stir well. Now bring the mixture to a boil and turn down to simmer, stirring all the while. You can't walk away from this, you must keep stirring if you want to avoid lumps. The mixture should take between five to eight minutes to thicken to a consistency that looks like one of those bubbling mud lakes you see around Rotarua in New Zealand. Even makes the same plop plop sound. Once it has thickened remove from the heat and immediately pour into the pre prepared flan tray. Smooth the top and let it cool then refrigerate until fully set. Slice and pan fry to rewarm as needed.

We are all just pixels of light - an introduction to "An open connection of the heart"

What I set out to introduce in my latest novel "An Open Connection of the Heart" was the idea that an unbounded connection with each other and the cosmos is more important than our day to day attachments. One of the main characters, Russell, must come to grips with the fact that he is no longer truly physical. Once he comes to terms with it he realizes that he is no longer constrained by the normal boundaries we perceive. Towards the end of the book he explains to Sam, as much as he's managed to work out: 

“I am pixels of light. I’m only solid if I wear this,” he indicated the pendant, “and put my mind into it. My body only exists as a projection of my mind. My body exists within me. Not me within my body.”

Sam nodded. “It’s quite the opposite of what most people think, but go on.”

“You are pixels of light too. It’s just you believe in your solidity as THE reality.”

Sam thought back to how she had pulled Naira out of the stasis pod, using the firm belief that the pod did not exist and that Naira was made of light. “Everything is that, isn’t it? Particles of light in the visible light spectrum which our brain processes as solid with boundaries defining body, self and other.”

“That’s what I’ve been mulling over as I adjust to what I am now, but I think you’ve described it better.”

“So if everything is really particles vibrating at a certain frequency, with no particular boundaries defining separate people or things what makes you you and me me?”

“I haven’t worked that out yet but I’m starting to think those people you’re talking about are our own fictions, characters in a story we’re dreaming into existence.”

The book is much more than a spotlight on my usual non-dual philosophy. It's also an adventure. One with aliens, androids, human scientists and a sentient slime mold. All of them must work together if they are to make a new life for themselves on the surface of a planet that, until now, appeared dead.

Available now at all good online vendors.