Something magical is in our mists, your mists and mine! Enchantment is all around us-even on those bad footing days. We can turn around a bad day into a better day with the click of an outlook and within the touch of a breeze upon our face. Journey with me and stop by now and then. We can share our journeys together! Stop by my book trailer and begin your journey into your own magical realm.
Showing posts with label authentic magic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label authentic magic. Show all posts
I had a wonderful time as guest with Theresa Chaze on her program yesterday (which can be accessed here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/theresachaze We covered a wide range of topics. Even if you missed the live program you can still drop by and listen!
Theresa is a High Priestess, author and publisher (Valkyrie Publishing). Please visit her website at theresachaze.com
Don't forget my book, HER GODMOTHER, can be ordered through barnesandnoble.com, amazon.com, through your favorite bookstore and all stores everywhere.
Here I was again. From the time I was nine each time my mom went to the hospital I would wonder "Is this it?". "Will she survive?".
My mother became disabled from a massive stroke when I was nine and what followed was a life in which she was isolated by the loss of speech which left her uttering only a garbled jumble of words that only I learned to understand. Despite this severe speech limitation and shuffling walk which was also an effect of her massive stroke, she was well liked and respected by all she met.
During our life together there were more trips to the emergency room and subsequent hospitalizations than I can count. Each time I would ask myself--”Is this it?”
During what was to become her last year, I began to look at the very real possibility that I might lose her. I was terrified. A large part of who I was would be gone as well. After all I had been her “translator” and advocate since my childhood. I suddenly realized looking out for my mother was a life purpose. How would I fill that part of me that would be buried with her?
She was admitted and this time, due to high fevers, there were days she not know me or afterwards recall that I had been there everyday for hours to give her full care. Each day that she did not know me I worried if she had had another stroke, would she survive and if she did, would she ever remember me again? I wondered when did she become so fragile? In my mind she had always been and still was a fighter and I wanted “her” back!
But I also finally realized, despite all the coming back from every medical emergency possible, that she was after all mortal. It is so strange when you have indomitable people in your life. Even though you know better it just seems they will always be there. It suddenly dawned on me she could leave at any time. I know this material life is not eternal but I suddenly realized that the question was also not so much would she survive but, how could I if she didn‘t? Our lives had ever been intertwined. From the age of nine I was her link to all things that normalized her life. So much of my life had been wrapped around my mother how would I survive when the need to be, my purpose, would be gone? I then realized my worries were as much about me as about her. Seeing her in a hospital bed yet again pressed that life long question upon me once again. I wondered how much she, a ninety-three year old woman, now totally helpless and dependent on total care, could take. She seemed so small, like a broken doll but unlike a broken doll she had her mental faculties trapped in a body no one but me could understand. No one but me could hear her voice which is why I was always her voice.
I realized that as she continued to become repeatedly ill her last year I evolved from not wanting her to leave me to wanting what was best for her.
I am not a religious person but I am a spiritual one and I realized it was time for me to pray. I prayed for the outcome that would be for her greater good whether I would understand it not, whether I wanted it or not. I prayed with trust that the Creator I believed in would deem what the best was and I especially prayed that I would accept it.
In praying for surviving without mom, I had great cause to think on what I had learned from her. I had learned to laugh no matter what, that the mind is stronger than the body, to live life with faith and never quit.
The next she passed away. She was almost ninety-three. A good long age, many would say but, her life (and mine) was one of harsh battles with her increasing disabilities but you know what? At her passing, she survived seventeen heart attacks and more than twenty strokes and the ravages of Parkinson’s. It was not until she was eighty-eight that she was no longer capable of walking at all. It was not until her final year that she began to need nitroglycerin, oxygen and suffered numerous bouts of aspiration pneumonia. It was one such bout that compromised her heart causing her to “cross” in her sleep.
I realized she was my life model as she never gave up! She loved to laugh with family and friends, take herself to the movies while I was at work and overindulge my daughter with ice cream.
I look back now and how she loved of seizing her freedom, cane and all, to leave the house without a note or a call for as long as she wished. I remember how these antics use to frighten and infuriate me. Yet now I feel a great pride.
But I I hold within me the life spirit she possessed. I honor and remember this for this is her legacy. Ironically I honor the will, strength, determination and stubbornness that used to frustrate me so much because I know she taught me the survival tools I needed and used myself so many times in my own life. She also influenced my career. All the advocating I did for her made me a superb disabilities specialist and advocate. Because I had to be her voice, I became intellectually outspoken at a very early age. The skills I learned as a child as a result of advocating for my mother has made me the effective communicator I am today.
Though she is gone for a while I am still disoriented by her passing. I have not yet gotten accustomed to the fact that there will be no more emergency calls or plans to see her for dinner.
But since I have inherited her stubborn streak single mindedness of purpose when I have to this is when I feel her closest to me--when I am not giving in.
In her own way she was a master magician-defying the diagnosis and prognosis of all doctors until she passed at the age of ninety-three! Magic is a matter of the mind after all...
For a glimpse of the healing of magic view this book trailer:
HER GODMOTHER BOOK TRAILER, Produced by Valkyrie Publishing, thresachaze.com
Available at fine bookstores and barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com
In Her Godmother, Allie learns to see the everyday magic around her on her path to healing. But there is also such a thing as magic everyday, any day. Magic is just the word I use to describe a miracle and, as I have written many times in the past, each day is filled with miracles. 186,000 to be exact. How do I come up with this number? Well, of course there will be concerns, worries, grief, loss and all those stressful things we experience as a matter of life but even though these things may be happening to us and I have had more than my share of all of these and more there are still "happenings" that are blessings or miracles or magical if you will.
For any given sorrow, there is a blessing. I have experienced the loss of many beloved people in a short period of time and grief was overwhelming but, I received so much love, companionship, counsel and wisdom from each and everyone of them that these things are the miracles I carry with me everyday. I have had near death experiences that left me blessed with a further understanding of life after life. I have suffered illnesses that were truly serious and debilitating and have overcome them all. As I write this I continue to heal myself from a serious central nervous system disease called RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy) that left me in agony for over seven years unable to dress myself without my husband's help. I was unable to write or type. An expert horsewoman, I had to give up my love which I have now regained!
Even during these times I would think of the miracles of each day. I often gave thanks for my daughter who is my life and best friend. I decided that each second of every day that she was okay that was my blessing,my miracle, my magic. There are 186,000 seconds in a day so just this one blessing gave me 186,000 blessings each day. Do you see where I am going with this? If you look at each and every thing that is going well in a day and count the seconds you will find you have much more than 186,000 each day! This is the magic of everyday that I choose to focus on.
If you have followed my blog you might remember reading my comments on my horse, Sassy. She had years of serious illnesses and at one point I thought I would have to put her down. She made it and I retired her. This year she started to show signs of her old self. I began a slow reconditioning program with her--my goal to just bareback her for long walks. This has been a slow process. After all she is, as of today, 29 years old and has been very arthritic.
Today is Labor Day and since I bought her on Labor Day I usually call this day her birthday. Today I took her out for one of our bareback rides and chose a different path that went up a gently sloping hill. Not sure how she would take this I was prepared to turn her around and just walk on the flats if necessary. Well, not only did she do this with ease when we got to the flats she began trotting! She hasn't been this energetic for years and she even wanted to run!
That she gave me this gift on her "birthday" did not escape me. You see I believe in messages, signals that come my way to keep me in faith and trust. And today was one of those times when I was told what you think may not be possible does not have to be the case. I know this from my mother who with over 17 heart attacks and even more strokes and Parkinson's lived to 93. Her whole life she never said never, that she was limited and although disabled she continued to walk, get herself to bingo and in general enjoy gossiping and causing me great worry when she would not call to let me know where she was...Each day of my mother's life was a testimony to miracles, to the magic of perseverance, of the will.
I struggle with bipolar disorder and there are days when it takes every fiber of my mind to make me determined not to give in. I also suffer from severe reactive hypoglycemia so there are days I fight overwhelming exhaustion as I try to balance my blood sugar levels. This morning was one of those mornings. Knowing how Sassy looks forward to going out I determined we would go out and if I felt too tired after a short bit we would come but I would give in.
Well, those few minutes became a magical ride with her the likes of which she and I have not experienced for years. Imagine if I had given in to my exhaustion this morning. Imagine the miracle I would have missed!
Today I had magic like I had not had with her in a long, long time. If there is magic once, there is magic always.
What would make you feel as if you tapped into magic? Think about it and just do it!
Her Godmother Book Trailer: Her Godmother--a tale of magic and miracles!
Average Rating: Customer Rating for this product is 5 out of 5 Write a Review Showing 1-4 Possibly the best book I've read this year, and I read a lot. Florence Splitt, A reviewer, 08/25/2008: It's rare to be able to say a book about magic is true to life, and even rarer to say that one can inspire you, one that makes you feel you're connected with everything around you when you go for a walk, and see the world in a different light. This book does that, while telling a story that so many can relate to. Many think of witches as either insane, evil, a mix of those two- or one who molds the universe with the flick of her wand and some choice words. Different, interesting, fun most of the time, with moments of seriousness thrown in, mind altering- I highly recommend the read. I've also read 'Gifts of the Spirit' by the same author, completely different kind of book, but she's proving herself to be a quality writer in my opinion.
Also recommended: Gifts of the Spirit, The Tao of Pooh, The Tao of Eqqus, Long Way Down, The Stand 'Exteneded', Sphere, Island, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hamlet, Macbeth, Madness and Civilization, Eyes of the Dragon, Brave New World Revisited, A Child Called It
Customer Rating for this product is 5 out of 5 A reviewer Flo, A reviewer, 05/22/2008: For anyone who has suffered loss of any kind this book helps us see that healing is all around us. Allie, who is heartbroken about her father's alcoholism goes to stay with her godmother for while and boy, could we all use a godmother like hers! This book is poignant, funny and a wonderful read for juveniles and adults alike.
Customer Rating for this product is 5 out of 5 YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK!! Annie, A reviewer, 05/21/2008: Join Allie on her journey to healing. Her Godmother teaches Allie and the reader to discover the magic of every day enchantment. Through Allies eyes I learned how to look at life as a series of wonder.
Customer Rating for this product is 5 out of 5 A reviewer 01/18/2008: This book is sensitively written to help children whose families face challenges to heal. No flying broomstick here just down to earth real magic. In this case it is healing from the heartache of having a parent that is an alcoholic. Don't we all wish we had a godmother to make things right? Allie goes to stay with her godmother and begins to heal and nothing will be the same again!
Also recommended: Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings etc.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
HER GODMOTHER BOOK TRAILER
Available at fine bookstores, including Barnes and Noble, barnesandnoble.com, amazon.com and other online stores.
Are you in a dark place? Are you feeling like a victim to your circumstances? Are you emotionally fumbling? Do you feel your life has nothing miraculous in it? Everyone goes through rough times and everyone has times where they feel abandoned spiritually, losing hope through times of lacking faith. None of us are alone when it comes to experiencing the despair of darkness. Finding hope and faith can be difficult at these times but not impossible to obtain or regain.
I have found counting blessings not at night (as the song goes) but in the morning helps me frame my mental attitude for the day. Another is my mantra "I am blessed." You see over time you will feel blessed. Wish someone a blessed day and you will get a smile. Blessings are easy to give so why not give yourself as many as you can? Before we can see our blessings however, we may have to do some math.
There are 186,000 seconds in a day. This means on a given day if we have food on the table, no matter how meager, we have 186,000 blessings or miracles. Now if you add having a roof over your head your miracles for that day have now doubled to 372,000 miracles. It is all a matter of perspective. If you have active children add 186,000 miracles to each one. Is at least one parent alive? If so add another 186,000 miracles to your day. If you recovering from illness you are fortunate to be around to do so. True there may be really serious problems you are facing but if you are not consumed today by them, you have just found more moments of miracles.
The power to undergo our hardships gracefully is a matter of perspective and having faith and spirituality basically in tact. The next time you feel overwhelmed by your situation stop and do the math. Cate
Please take a moment to watch my book trailer. As Allie begins her journey of healing she encounters miracles of her own...
Okay. I have determined that I am a fluke of the Universe. I am a specter with some kind of supernatural yearning to be real. I do not exist. The Cyber universe tells me so. Please bear with me as this evidently nonexistent person, author, daughter, wife, and mother comes to this conclusion. Everything and everyone is on the web. Cate Cavanagh is all over web, all over google and just about every search engine there is. Cate Cavanagh has been an NPR radio affiliate broadcaster and podcaster. Cate Cavanagh is listed on amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com as well as other online book stores. Cate Cavanagh has books in bookstores, including Barnes and Noble. Cate Cavanagh has a laudable professional and creative resume but, am I really here or a spectral- lurker who is simply just too stupid to know that I am not her or she is not me?
During the last several years I have had three myspace pages. They have all been lost. When "I" inquired myspace told me I did not exist. I have in the last week rejoined and did three more pages only to have them blip off. Once again myspace told me I do not exist.
I began this blog and, low and behold, my "appearance" here seems like something out of the Twilight Zone where a specter fades in and then out...Will I be here when I complete this blog? My blog is here one minute and then gone the next. I do not know but then I do not really know if I exist anyway.
I have had websites-zip-gone-never was.
So, I decided not to be deterred and go the new big connection website-facebook. Well, I have signed on twice as I write this and my password is said to be wrong. I reset the password and although I get signed in, it is not the "right" password for going further than that.
So, I have this little dilemma that vexes me greatly- Do I really know we exist? It seems I don't. I find myself having bizarre musings. For example, in science it is said that something blue is not blue at all. It's just everything else that is not blue. An orange is not orange but rather every other color is absorbed EXCEPT orange which is what we see. I look in the mirror and therefore must conclude that the image I see is merely a rejected range of colors that make up my green eyes, freckled face and red hair so, with scientific fact in hand I look at myself and realize that who I see is not really there at all so the me I see simply does not exist.
Apparently cyperspace has come to the same conclusion so the question becomes if I am not Cate, then who am I am? Will the real Cate please stand up and finish rewriting the books I still have lurking in the back of my mind? Will the real Cate clean my house and do the luandry and cooking for me? I am apparently living your life...enough already! Live Your own.
But, if you must insist I live your life will you please take over my life and replace it with heavenly spas, swimming pool, a huge boat, an estate stable, landscapers and room service?
Do this person-whose existence is questionable- a favor. Please go to you tube and view the book trailer for the book some other Cate wrote. Thanks.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Speaking of animals my book, Her Godmother, has two colorful animals as main characters! Copy and paste this url into your browser OR scroll to the direct link.
Finally! After a hectic day of barn work and exercising my horse (some of my readers know my husband and I have a small farm with horses) I was finally able to consider laying on the sofa for a good movie.
Ice tea in hand I waltzed over to the sofa to find my preferred space already occupied by two big dogs, a beagle mix and two cats lying all comfortable-like as if to say "Okay. What's showing?" As I cook dinner on any given day the dogs will saunter in and sniff the aroma in the kitchen and give me a glance as if to say, "What are WE having for dinner?" This is when they get the command, "Out of the kitchen" which they woefully obey.
Sometimes I think about their life. I get up and the first order of business after coffee is taking them out for their constitution. I often refer to this as "reading them their rights." While out, I feed the horses and put out hay for them (pasture puffs on a year round vacation-another yarn for another spin of words for another time....).
This taken care of we all come inside where they get their feet wiped by me. You would think they would bother to wipe their feet on the rug mat by now! Then of course I "cook" for them--adding a juicy tidbit concoction to their food while praying the little one, Marilyn, will choose to eat rather than sit, guard her food and growl at the other dogs that are paying her no mind whatsoever as they eat their food.
It would be unthinkable for us to leave the house without leaving music on for them to listen to. We do not want them to be bored. My husband prefers to play country and just doesn't believe me when I tell him they really like soft rock and light jazz...
When we come home I am grateful that they leave their creature comforts of recliner, sofa and love seat to greet us at the door. I think this is really thoughtful of them.
Animal lovers will understand why we are the way we are with our animals: they are family. They are loyal and offer the wondrous lesson of unconditional love and non-judgment that would transform a global community.
My favorite coffee cup is one that has a picture of a dog sitting on a chair watching TV, eating chips. His legs are on a hassock and underneath it says: What your dog does when you are not home.
As I said before, our dogs are very thoughtful and it is clear when we get home that they have clean up after themselves and put the empty bags in the garbage.
Sometimes it can be very hard keeping connected with the magic in the everyday happenings. Thunderstorms and lightening can be an inconvenience-rain, sometimes hail, lights flickering and so on. Then there's getting soaked walking the dogs and having to wipe mud off the mutts that, of course, just LOVE romping through the deepest puddles they can find. It is not unusual for this to be irritating.
Today was such a possible day but the truth is there is excitement in a storm. The sound of the branches and leaves crackling in the wind, the cool sting of wet darts on the skin is invigorating and the sheer mindless glee dogs experience splashing around in the mud is like a turn table-time trip to younger days when rainy days meant soaking sneakers and water squishing in between the toes. Mom of course would always get furious but it did not matter for I knew the ire was just worth the sensation of warm, dry feet becoming wet and cool. Umbrellas? Pfft. There was nothing nicer than feeling the cold rain tapping on my dry shirt or blouse. Chances are you remember those days too. And then there is the smell of rain. Yes, for those who may have forgotten, rain has its own smell. But in the bustle of being all "growed up" we somehow lose track of the lighter side of inconvenience.
Children love inconvenience. It's all an adventure and, if we let ourselves pause just long enough, a rainy day's inconvenience can bring us full circle into our natural state of still being kids but only in adult bodies. Now...where did those dogs go? Bye for now. Going to look for them in the biggest puddle.
Valkyrie Publishing announces the December 8 release of Dragon Domain--Book Two of the Dragon Clan Trilogy. Reminiscent of Anne McCaffrey, Marion Zimmer Bradley and J. K. Rowlings, Theresa Chaze continues the tale of the Dragon Clan with Dragon Domain--Book Two of the Dragon Clan Trilogy.
Dragon Domain (978-0-9798406-1-6) picks up the story several months and several miles down the road. Cheyenne and Celeste came to Coyote Springs to use their psychic gifts to find a missing child. They find the girl and made a new friend, Jane. Tired of rootless life, Cheyenne prays for a safe, stable home. With Jane's help, she find abandoned farm and decides to stay. Reluctantly, Celeste also remains. The threesome create a spiritual retreat that grows out of their shared wisdom, respect and sense of family. Cheyenne is happy for the first time since she awoke broken and bloody beneath the blinding desert sun. Celeste had saved her then, but soon after Dominic appears on their doorstep, Celeste once again turns to the dark arts. Instead of a savior, she becomes vicious enemy with knowledge of all her strengths and weaknesses. With the dragons' aid, she was barely able to ward off their initial attack. But with each dark soul Celeste and Dominic binds to them, their malevolence grows until they will not settle for less that destroying Cheyenne and all she loves. How do you protect yourself from someone knows exactly how to steal your soul?
Dragon Domain--Book Two of the Dragon Clan Trilogy is a book where all the magic works, the women are strong, and suspense is page turning. As residents of Coyote Springs are forced to face the challenges from within and without, the characters jump off the pages and invade your dreams. Not for the faint of heart, Dragon Domain is a tale of lust, passion, and old magic that no longer has a name known to man.
Therese Chaze draws her readers in from the first page and refuses to release them until the last word of this fantastic tale of witches, magic, love and betrayal. Set in the village of Coyote Springs, Dragon Domain is a book of lessons; lessons on love, forgiveness, and above all truth to oneself. In the grand traditions of Anne McCaffrey and Marion Zimmer Bradley, Therese Chaze captures the imagination as well as the heart of her readers. Dragon Domain is an open door to a world of wonder, and from the first page to the last, you will be hard pressed to put it down. Linda Rucker, author
Alyssa attends a local Pagan festival, only become the target of the local deputy's bigotry and hatred. Unable to understand way she was singled out, she performs a ritual asking Bridget for her help. Instead of gaining wisdom, her spirit is transported back to a time before the Celtic Goddesses and Gods gave way to the Christos and when clan traditions could mean life or death.
I am an eclectic Witch and founder of Quantum spirituality, The Science of Change as well as author of Gifts Of The Spirit and Her Godmother. I am a widely published columnist and have been a political radio commentator in New York as well as a political podcaster. My husband and I share our lives with four horses, five cats, two dogs and a tempermental parrot! Please visit my website at
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