Seascapes of a Soul: Wholeness and the Sense of Self

The search for self-knowledge and identity is a common theme in autobiographies these days. So also is the search for a spirituality other than that of the conventional religions. Both are found in Seascapes of a Soul: Wholeness and the Sense of Self. This book is an account of a unique spirit on an often solitary journey. With clear argumentation and transparent honesty, this author presents a story that reaches towards individuation, gained partly through discovering C.G. Jung’s ideas about the psyche.
Several themes recur: the onset of old age, Jungian individuation, solitude and aloneness, mood swings, a rejection of orthodox religion, a love for the natural world, an interest in gnosticism, the inner sense of the Divine. Her relationship with her twin sister is also prominent. There is light and dark here: the ups and downs of living with a twin.
In rejecting the Christianity she grew up with she followed an innate urge to a spirituality that ultimately arose from the strong sense of self she had had from an early age. If this has a name it would be ‘gnostic’ because it is a perception of inner divinity, the God within.
This is a woman’s story with a difference. Although, unlike so many, she did not have to struggle through a life of disadvantage and deprivation, she did have to wrestle with a powerful self that sometimes wandered up blind alleys into ego. But she learned to accept mistakes and incorporate them into what Einstein called a ‘calm and modest life’.
Images of the sea, symbols of the unconscious, run through the book. The ‘seascapes’ at the head of each chapter function in the story as a leitmotif for the modes and moods of the spirit.

Second-Best Luck

Fancy retirement right across the globe? Learning to speak a foreign language (Australian)? Too easy; don’t be a wuss, mite! Herein, you will find travel, exploration, how not to buy a house, how to build a harpsichord; how to cope with a second hysterectomy, coronary bypass, two different and simultaneous serious cancers. No worries; she’ll be right, mite! Consider Orshtraya on differing scales; the conurbation that is Canberra; the 90-mile straight which is just a blip in the landscape driving across the Great Australian Bite, Mite; the deeply soothing silence of the outback.

Seriously, sport: this sometimes humorous volume is travelogue, retirement manual, and medical aid, all in one. It has a sporting chance of really helping anyone terrified with recent news of cancer or other really serious illness. We all need help.

Secret Son of a Legend

I have only known since 2012, but I am the illegitimate child of Bobby Moore, the captain of the 1966 World Cup winning football team. I went from living an exceptionally happy and privileged childhood to one of detachment, hurt, and misery. My world was completely turned upside down and I deeply missed my former life and my family. I made the most of my life by focusing energy and attention on my education and the sports in which I participated, which helped me relieve the tension. I enjoyed my freedoms as I grew older and made a life for myself. I have never really wanted anything, but I now feel, after six decades, the need for recognition, acknowledgement, and closure in my life.

Secrets and Lies – Tales of an Employment Lawyer

If you want to know how real-life lawyers behave, using deceit, lies, and other dastardly methods to try to beat the individual litigant then read on…

Gillian lays bare some of the tricks that she has discovered that some solicitors and employers have used, details how she found them out, and how she won.

See the Colour in the Clouds

Six years after being diagnosed with breast cancer, I revisited my diary and decided to share my experiences.

I reveal how losing my hair turned from tragedy to comedy, how a watercress and potato soup sent emotions soaring, and the way in which my two young daughters played such a huge part in my recovery.

In my own words and images, this is my story; from diagnosis to life after cancer – the complex emotions, the mood swings and the surprises along the way.

This is my recollection of the events and emotions that lined my unique path through breast cancer. I hope that the excerpts, taken from my original diary, are not only enlightening for other cancer sufferers, but that they might throw out a beacon of light to the many families and friends supporting their loved ones through a time of anguish and uncertainty.

Sharki and the Naked Travellers

Travelling with one’s partner in a campervan for a year provides an excellent, if not gruelling, test for newly married couples; it amounts to “couples therapy” on wheels but without the therapist. Not only does one learn a tremendous amount about one’s partner but also about oneself. There are a few endeavours that couples should avoid; three that come to mind are wallpapering, navigating, and being in each other’s company 24/7. After travelling for a year with my partner, I can say with absolute authority that putting up wallpaper with one’s partner is nothing short of life-threatening. Navigating and constant companionship did put us to the test a few times but fortunately there were no casualties. None that I noticed.

Think “Fawlty Tourists on Wheels” and that would accurately sum up our year-long meanderings in Sharki, our trusty wannabe 4x4 campervan that took multiple terrains in her 2.8-litre stride.

If one has a year to spare, I highly recommend throwing caution to the wind and embarking on a zero-itinerary adventure with an open mind, a strong stomach and your very best friend at your side.

Shit Happens!

The contents of this book are a perfectly true account of the noteworthy events that occurred before and during the author’s 53-year career in sewage treatment and water pollution control. Many of those events, referred to as “SHIT HAPPENINGS” were extremely amusing and some were absolutely hilarious, though in some cases they were undoubtedly dangerous to the author himself as well as others.

Many of those occurrences were almost unbelievable but even after many years they remain etched into people’s memories. Some events could be regarded as ‘tragi-comic’; amusing for some people but causing misery, discomfort and despair as well for others. Some were indeed extremely tragic, where innocent lives were lost and most of these were caused by a combination of laziness, greed and lack of concern for others. These last three qualities were clearly shown in all the countries the author worked in: The United Kingdom (England, Scotland and Wales), Thailand, Hong Kong, Egypt, Turkey, Singapore, Taiwan, and Australia. However, it must be said that SHIT did not HAPPEN in all of them.

Sobriety Delivered EVERYTHING Alcohol Promised

In this life-changing book by Justine Whitchurch, you’ll discover that you too can escape the clutches of alcoholism. This book holds a message for those caught in the battle, that their divine purpose is waiting for them on the other side…you are stronger than you think.

“Sometimes all you need is for someone else to believe in you, before you can believe in yourself.” – Justine Whitchurch.

“…Much of my drinking was hidden from them, or so I thought. I knew I was being watched like a hawk, so I was sneaking it in whenever and wherever I could. I would venture to the local bottle shop and buy miniature bottles of vodka so I could stash it in secret places. It felt like the perfect crime. The only problem was I had to dispose of the bottles somehow, and that was proving tricky. In times of quiet desperation, I resorted to taking swigs of alcohol-based mouthwash to subside my urges; something I can never erase from my memory.

But the worst was yet to come. It was a weekday, and I had just woken up feeling like a slowly decomposing corpse. My skin felt like it was crawling with bugs, my heart was racing, and panic was overwhelming my body. Looking into the mirror, I realized my face was still black from a fall a few days earlier. But like most other times, I had a vague memory of what happened.

I was on round-the-clock surveillance by my family and the thought of getting through the attempted detox was unbearable. Discreetly, I raided my dad’s alcohol cabinet and over a 30-minute period, downed 500mls of straight spirits. The next thing I can remember was waking up in an ambulance on the way to hospital and trying to answer the paramedic’s questions about how much I had drunk…”

Solace in Stamps

My memoir traces the many traumatic events I’ve dealt with, in socially changing times, from the mid-1950s onwards. I’ve fought the government’s solicitors because of inequality, survived a rare type of cancer and sepsis, and battled depression too. I’ve written about the emotions I’ve felt over several relationships; a cheating fiancé, a marriage on the rebound and an affair with a married lover. With little education, I tell of my quest to become a surveyor in later life. I’ve recently had to come to terms with the tragic deaths of both parents. Often when times were difficult, especially as a child, I found huge comfort in my stamp collection. Yet there are many lighter moments too!

I am fortunate to possess transcripts that describe my grandfather’s years as a dispatch rider during the Great War. He witnessed horrific sights at the battlefields on the Somme and experienced grief and heartache when a younger brother died in 1914, his older brother died at Ypres in 1915 and his mother died in 1917.

There are also intriguing links within my story to my 2^nd great-grandfather who was the illegitimate son of a wealthy landowner and an agricultural labourer’s daughter. Born in 1854, he trained as a tailor and travelled to where the Industrial Revolution had taken hold and mills were springing up in the Midlands and Far North.

In addition, I have an amazing connection to my 14^th great-grandfather who fought for King Henry VIII and who was knighted as a result.

Speaking Volumes

How did a fishmonger’s son from Tyneside, growing up in the 1950s with a Geordie accent, become the person who recorded over 900 audiobooks and received an MBE from the Queen in the Birthday Honours of 2017?
This ‘charming’, ‘entertaining’ and ‘heart-warming’ memoir answers that question.

Reviews:

AudioFile magazine
“…not simply a reader but an artist of the spoken word…”
“…Gordon Griffin, an entire acting company in one person…”

“Witty and moving memoir of how a working-class boy becomes THE voice of the spoken word.
Honest and vivid account plus excellent advice for those of us who work with words.” Miriam Margolyes

Stepping Out Of The Ordinary

Something gnawing away inside his body was suggesting it should be taken out of its comfort zone. At 30 years old, Mike discovered rock and winter climbing perhaps a little later in life, it just meant he had to train harder and catch up on the others rather quickly, pretty soon progression into the world of mountaineering, alpinism and interesting adventures were to follow. In writing from his personal accounts from Alaska to the southern tip of Patagonia or from Baffin Island to Norway’s Lofoten Isles, he endeavours to transport the reader to those remarkable worlds to become intimate with them and their extremes of remoteness, wanting to share the rawness and intimacy of nature which is truly inspirational. Conventional family holidays were a thing of the past as Lynne, his wife, joined in on some of the adventures. All of these were achieved while both held down full-time employment, Mike as a production manager and Lynne as a dental receptionist. Their offspring, Gary and Nicky, were not short of a few adventures of their own too. Unfortunately, in the places visited, the evidence became abundantly clear of our rapidly changing world and of the tragic impact the human race is having upon it.      

Tainted Beauty

Yvy grew up believing in who she was, but what she didn’t know was how to live her truth. Trapped in a body that presented as male, Yvy had no choice but to take on life’s obstacles whilst attempting to desperately find the answer to living her truth.

And so her journey begins. Yvy embarked towards uncharted territory, knowing that she would inevitably reach her truth and live as an authentic creation. But what she wasn’t prepared for was the lessons she would learn along the way. Lessons that would shape her gender identity and give her the confidence to be unapologetic when it comes to being who she was born to be.

Tainted Beauty is a heartfelt, sexy and hilarious no-holds-barred look into the life of a woman who isn’t afraid to tell it like it is.