Valerie Harms

Chistopher Paolini (author of Eragon series) has been burning up the best seller list again. Here is my article about him. http://www.distinctlymontana.com/article/teen-wizard-chris-paolini.

Major Spiritual Symbols
Here is a glossary of universal symbols that appear in dreams or stories about change and renewal, Knowing about them enlarges your frame of reference so that you can better interpret their meaning for you. My book contains more.

Vessel—The vessel is the womb, from which all birth proceeds. The female body is such a container. The uterus and the oven are both vessels. Pottery/vessels used for the gathering of food and water from early cultures had breasts. The funereal urn is also a vessel. Projected outward, it symbolizes the world, the cosmos.
In Christianity, the vessel became the baptismal font and the chalice of the Last Supper.

Belly—The darkness in which most transformation takes place. The belly is a holding place, where growth can safely occur. Synonyms include cauldron, nest, chrysalis, or cave.

Fire—used to create vessels and tools, to fry/broil/roast food; hence it is an instrument of transformation. Emotions and conflicts, religious and sensual desire, heat our temperature; containing them allows inner fires to work their changes. Read More 

We have many paths we can take in life. Sometimes the dead ends are valuable for as long as they last. They don't have to be seen as a waste of time. Robert Frost famously described "the road not taken." It led to his precarious but successful life as a poet and small farmer. Sometimes life sends us stops us in our tracks along a path and sends us on another one. You lose your job or partner or child, you become very ill, you must start over in a different town or country. But as the poet Machado says the bees in our heart spin honey out of our old failures. So the end of one road, the death of a way of life, leads you to a new path...and ultimately renewal. Read More 

This past year has been full of enjoyable editing--from the mythological and depth psychology papers of students at Pacificia to environmental studies produced by Sonoran Institute to fiction of all stripes, and the huge variety of Distinctly Montana magazine articles. Bring it on!

Ever since I presented a workshop on Soul Writing in Kansas City and Bozeman, I have been most pleased with the fine folks with whom I've done follow up consultations with. To me richness lies in depth material, whether mine or others. In gratitude to all my colleagues.

See my Events page for new information about designing a course for what you need in writing and publishing for children and writing memoirs or family histories.

Cleaning out shelves I found 4 new copies of Anais Nin's Anais Nin, Waste of Timelessness and other stories, which I published years ago. These books are first editions. Am selling at $15 each. A real treasure.

1. Gatherings from a Dancer's Journal by Carolyn Bilderback. This woman was an excellent, zen-oriented dancer. This book talks about the inner journey and technique.

2. My, Haven't the Flowers Been by Harriet Zinnes. The author of numerous poetry books and poetry teacher, she will stimulate your mind and senses.

$4 each for postage and handling. Send via Paypal or to PO Box 1123, Bozeman, MT 59771. Beats Amazon pricing.
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On my publishing page, I put up the intro/article for my book proposal on travels. Let me know your comments.

Recently I had a hard time finding a place to hold a board retreat. That impelled me to create a list with contact info of places in all areas of the state. If you'd like to contact me for free information, please do so. I am publishing the entire list for $10.
It's immensely useful if you want to have a family reunion, large meeting, conference, or retreat.  Read More