Contributors OLaurie Adams lives in McKean, Pennsylvania with her soul mate and husband of 30 years. They have two living children, Tom and Tina, and two adorable grandchildren, Alanis and Carter. Contact her at HHerstory99@aol.com Leslie Howard Antley is a perpetual student of the universe, as well as the local university, She has varied interests, including anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, genealogy, history, religion, and philosophy. She enjoys attempting to solve the puzzles of life. When not actively chasing flutter-bys, she spends meditation time creating memories with her hands: crocheting, embroidering, and crazy quilting. A fifth generation native Texan, she lives in Houston with her husband, Mark, and feline companions, Ruby and Pippin. Barbara Ardinger, Ph.D., is the author of Finding New Goddesses and Quicksilver Moon, a novel, as well as Goddess Meditations and Practicing the Presence of the Goddess. Her day job is freelance editing for people who don’t want to embarrass themselves in print. She works with authors of nonfiction books on spiritual, metaphysical, and other topics, and she also edits novels. She lives in southern California. Contact her at www.barbaraardinger.com Kristine Babe has been thrilled with the written word since she fell for her first favorite story, I Love Grandma. It didn’t take her long to turn in her crayons for pens; she’s been writing ever since. Kristine has written corporate communications, marketing materials, poetry, and personal essays. She is now writing short fiction and plans to write a novel. Kristine lives in southeastern Wisconsin with her husband and two children. Contact her at kbabe@wi.rr.com Stephanie Rose Hunt Bird is author of Four Seasons of Mojo; Sticks, Stones, Roots and Bones: Hoodoo, Mojo and Conjuring with Herbs; A Walkabout Home; and Motherland Herbal. Her prose is featured in Age Ain’t Nothin’ But a Number: Black Women Explore Mid-Life; and Natural Home, Herb Quarterly, and Sage Woman magazines. She taught painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is a hereditary intuitive and visionary specializing in African healing wisdom. Contact her at BirdoSan@aol.com Julie Biro says she is “an ordinary person living an extraordinary life.” She explains that “it is lived within me and reflected back to me through my daily interaction with the bush, its creatures, my companion animals, my husband, and the elemental forces that shape all our lives. In the moments of grace when I detach and become the silent witness, I can connect with all life and know her true nature.” Rob Bosanko lives in Arkansas where he taught drama for nearly 30 years. He graduated from Emporia State University. He considers this publication a return to his roots. His wife also teaches drama. They have two children, Jamie and Addie. Rob has written many plays, which have been produced at Emporia State, the New Stage in Jackson and at the South Arkansas Arts Center. He is finishing his first novel. Contact him at jewarnock8@cox-internet.com. Jennifer Brown is a writer and stay-at-home mother of three. Her writing credits include honorable mention fiction and poetry in Writer's Journal and Byline, as well as an award of first place in Liberty, Missouri's 2004 Poetry and Prominent People competition. Publishing credits include fiction, non-fiction, and poetry in Long Story Short, The Storyteller, and The Liberty Tribune. Anne-Elena Buckner still feels like a phoenix. She is a freelance writer who lives with her husband, Bob, and two big dogs, Buffy-the-squirrel-slayer and Hercule- the-muttweiler. She hopes she is aware enough now to prevent anymore drastic wake up calls from Above. So far, so good. Candace Carrabus likes to play with fire, that's why she writes. Her award-winning stories have appeared in The St. Louis Suburban Journals, The Storyteller, The Rockford Review, and A Cup of Comfort for Courage. She keeps three horses on the farm she shares with her architect husband, one delightful daughter, numerous cats, and a large black lab named Alex. Contact her through her web site at www.CandaceCarrabus.com Dane Cervine lives in Santa Cruz, California, where he serves as Chief of Children’s Mental Health for the county. His work has recently appeared in journals such as Eclipse, Freshwater, Raven Chronicles , and Porter-Gulch Review among others. In addition, his work has appeared in recent anthologies: To Love One Another: Poems Celebrating Marriage; and Working Hard For The Money: America’s Working Poor in Poem & Story ; Pagan's Muse ; and My Heart's First Steps . Contact him at danecervine@cruzio.com Dru Clarke, a former marine science and ecology teacher, does natural history writing and helps her husband care for a small ranch in the Flint Hills of Kansas where they raise quarter horses. She also facilitates Leopold Education Project workshops, which focus on developing a sense of place and a strong land ethic. Contact her at druc@kansas.net Ann Clizer lives in the mountains northeast of Sandpoint, Idaho. Her work has appeared in regional and national publications. She is writing a collection of stories about life in the backwoods, titled On Higher Ground. Ann strives to capture the unique blend of commonplace and bizarre that makes upo the human experience. She operates a construction business with her husband, but her heart is on the water in a blue kayak. Contact her at annclizer@susba,cin Rev. Karen Coussens delights in her gift for storytelling, discovered as the mother of six and enhanced as the grandmother of nineteen and great-grandmother of two. Now living in a yurt on eighty acres in Northwest Michigan, Karen is learning new stories daily – stories of joy and peace in connecting with nature. She may be contacted at kaycee@coslink.net Angelique Cuillierier is a nomme-de-feu of a recluse who lives in a distant land. She has been writing articles, book reviews, children's stories and plays under various names for many years. You may reach her by contacting the author of this book. Deborah Davis writes fiction for young people, teaches writing workshops, and escapes to the wilderness as often as possible. Her novels are The Secret of the Seal and My Brother Has AIDS, and she is the editor of You Look Too Young to be a Mom: Teen Mothers Speak Out on Love, Learning, and Success. She lives in California with her husband and son. Contact her at www.teenmombook.com Frances Derhy, London born, has lived for the past 30 years in a communal village in the foothills of Jerusalem Israel. Working as a preschool teacher gave her the opportunity for spending many happy hours checking out the wild flowers, birds and bugs in the surrounding pine forest. Frances writes stories for children and has been known to draw and dabble in other various handicrafts. She is the mother of six and grandmother of five. Contact her at Derhy_@neve-ilan.co.il. Peggy Eastman is the award-winning author of Godly Glimpses: Discoveries of the Love That Heals, and editor of Share magazine, a spiritual quarterly published by the Catholic Daughters of the Americas. Her work, including her poetry, has appeared in many national publications such as Guideposts, Ladies Home Journal, SELF, Working Mother, and the AARP Bulletin. Contact her at peggyeastman@cs.com or www.bookviews.com/BookPage/godlyglimpses.htm Karl Elder, author of five collections of poetry, including Phobophobia, A Man in Pieces, and The Geocryptogrammatist’s Pocket Compendium of the United States, is Lakeland College’s Fessler Professor of Creative Writing and Poet in Residence. Among honors are a Pushcart Prize, the Lucien Stryk Award, grants from the Illinois Arts Council for poetry and fiction, and Lakeland’s Outstanding Teacher Award. For over two decades Elder has edited Seems; contact him at: http://www1.lakeland.edu/seems. Jean M. Farber was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and grew up in the Midwest. After graduating from the University of Illinois, she lived in Paris for a year and Morocco for three years as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Her first career was in publishing. Later she received a master’s degree in teaching. She has taught French, Spanish, and English as a Second Language for 8 years. She currently teaches Spanish in Steilacoom, Washington. Contact her at jeanmichalski@msn.com Charles Adés Fishman is director of the Distinguished Speakers Program at Farmingdale State University, Associate Editor of The Drunken Boat, and Poetry Editor of New Works Review. His books include Mortal Companions, The Firewalkers, and The Death Mazurka, nominated for the 1990 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. His fifth book,, Country of Memory, as well as his 10th chapbook, 5,000 Bells, were published in 2004. Maureen Tolman Flannery’s latest book is Ancestors in the Landscape: Poems of a Rancher’s Daughter. Other books are Secret of the Rising Up: Poems of Mexico; Knowing Stones: Poems of Exotic Places; and Remembered Into Life. Maureen grew up on a Wyoming sheep ranch but she and actor husband, Dan, raised four children in Chicago. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies and literary journals including Midwest Quarterly Review, Amherst Review, Slant, Buckle&, and Atlanta Review. Contact her at mtflannery@earthlink.net Grace Flora is a member of Art Culture Nature and of Interhelp. She is a native plant advocate with a special interest in the interface between poetry and biology. Virginia Fortner is an educational consultant, a teacher for homebound programs, adjunct professor of special education at several metropolitan colleges, and a guide for Footprints, a study-travel experience. She does watercolors. Most of her published work has been informational in nature, but writing poetry and fiction brings her true joy Barbara C. Frohoff was born in St. Louis, Missouri and has an M.A. in Creative Writing. She spent most of her working life in social work, and now travels extensively in other countries. She and her husband have six children and six grandchildren. She writes fiction, travel articles, and poetry. B.A. Goodjohn, originally from the UK, now resides in Forest, Virginia. Her poetry and short stories have appeared in The Texas Review, The Cortland Review, Blue Cubicle Press, Flashquake, and other journals. Contact her at bunny@worshipthecarrot.com Susan Elizabeth Hale is a singer, poet, and music therapist. She is author of Song and Silence: Voicing the Soul (1995) and the forthcoming Sacred Space – Sacred Sound. Susan teaches workshops and classes throughout the United States, Great Britain, and Canada and directs The Voice of the Rose: Songkeeper Apprenticeship Program in Taos, New Mexico. For more information: www.angelfire.com/nm/susong or susong@yahoo.com Carolyn Hall is a freelance writer. Her works appear in Sacred Stones and Chicken Soup to Inspire a Woman’s Soul. She is marketing director for Kansas City Voices and serves on the board of Whispering Prairie Press. Patricia Hamill divides her time between the rural New Jersey cottage she shares with her husband, a professional potter, and her family's home in upstate New York. She spends her days writing essays and children's fiction, and running her business, Heron Moon Editorial Services. In her precious spare hours, she rides her horse, Latin Quarter, hides away weaving peacefully on her loom, or devours works of Irish literature. Contact her at thamill@hotmail.com Jessica Hankinson has published in magazines such as The Growing Edge, Weatherwise, and The World & I. She earned a B.A. in biology from Ohio Wesleyan University, an M.S. in botany from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an M.A. in English from Clemson University. Her career as educator began with teaching English at Clemson University; currently she teaches science at TL Hanna High School. Jessica and her husband, Brian, live in Pendleton, South Carolina. Contact her at jhankinson@earthlink.net. Sherry Norman Horbatenko lives in Southeast Georgia, in a small town of milk and honey called Woodbine. She shares her life with two paperweights (who greatly resemble cats) and her mother. She tutors and maintains a small farm, a home business, and two rental properties. She has written short stories and a fantasy novel with two sequels in process. She's looking for a good agent who will take her work and help to make 'it' happen. Contact her at horbaten@gate.net. Mary Ann Horn resides on the banks of Julington Creek in North Florida. She has taught religious studies at Flagler College and women's studies in the Honors Program at the University of North Florida. She holds a graduate degree from the University of Our Lady (Notre Dame). Her written work has appeared in Water's Edge magazine. Greg Eric Hultman is a writer living and working in Chicago. Starting his writing career as a news reporter, he also wrote for state natural resource agencies and later worked as a copywriter. He majored in Creative Writing and graduated from John Schultz’s Story Workshop program. A professional interpretive naturalist at the Shedd Aquarium, Hultman is author of a book on botany in the Midwest, numerous magazine articles, book contributions, and several media scripts. Contact him at sagedancer@sbcglobal.net Roberta Beach Jacobson is an American freelance writer living in Greece.Her publishing credits include Woman‘s Day, McCall‘s, Capper‘s, Playgirl, and I Love Cats, and her work appears in seventeen anthologies. Contact her at http://www.travelwriters.com/Roberta. nwenna kai is a writer, TV/Film producer, and restaurateur. She co-owns a live foods vegan cafe in West Hollywood, California, called Taste of the Goddess Cafe. Overall, she loves art, yoga, organic live food, good people, good music, sun bathing, and holistic spas. She resides in Los Angeles. Kathleen Kirk is an editor of RHINO Magazine, a literary annual (www.rhinopoetry.org). Her poetry and prose appear in many journals, including ACM, Midnight Mind, Poetry East, Puerto del Sol, Quarter After Eight, and Willow Review. Kathleen and her husband, painter Tony Rio, are parents of two children. Joan Koerper, Ph.D, received her doctorate in humanities from the California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, California, and delighted in writing her dissertation, Singing Over the Bones: Pottery and Writing as Expressions of Soul as Artist, A Work of Creative Nonfiction. She is a writer, potter, adjunct professor, workshop leader, licensed psychotherapist, and former detective . She lives in California. Contact her at Koerper@aol.com Michelle Langenberg is a poet, artist, freelance editor, and energy healer. Langenberg has won awards from the World Order of Narrative and Formalist Poets and the Scottish Open Poetry Competition. Credits include more than 100 works of art, poetry, prose, and songs published in Sparrow, The Formalist, Southern Humanities Review, Black Bear Review, and Exposure Art, among others. Contact her at chelleashes@kc.rr.com. Claire MacDonell grew up in rural Nova Scotia where winter still means something. She's been a social worker for a number of years, but is presently a south-bound traveler, learning Spanish and working in gardens along the way. Her biggest goal at the moment is to get all the way to the bottom of Argentina. Contact her at Clairemacdonell@hotmail.com Hualani Janice Mark is a muse maven, a transformational performer and musician, a mother, fertility liaison, visionary writer, and world traveler offering womb wisdom workshops, dedicating her services to the fulfillment of our ultimate human destiny. As a visioneering businesswoman and regeneration strategist, she’s establishing a new reality for communication and leadership wisdom through SOULsignatures and her unique enterprising program called BLISSbiz. Contact her at www.museonthemove.com, www.design-oracle.com, or www.paradiseposse.com. Ian McDonald has lived in Guyana since 1955. He is author of the novel The Hummingbird Tree and several books of poems. He is editor of the journal Kyk-Over-Al and joint editor of the Heinemann Book of Caribbean Poetry, as well as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Diane Queen Miller lives in northwest Montana, follows the traditional ways of the Lakota Nation, and works with the Ikeya Wicasa (The Common People) Native American Cultural Center. She also works as a radio copywriter/producer, loves native beading and leatherwork, and dances in local pow wows. Her two goals in life are to be a grandma who bakes cookies and tells stories, and to have her voice on audio books for children and adults. Suruchi Mohan lives in California. Since writing this story, her first novel has been accepted by an agent. She is now working on a new novel. Patricia Monaghan is the author of numerous books on spirituality including The Red-Haired Girl from the Bog: The Landscape of Celtic Myth and Spirit (New World Library), as well as three books of poetry, most recently Dancing with Chaos. She is on the interdisciplinary faculty of DePaul University in Chicago. Contact her at www.patriciamonaghanpoetry.com. Rafe Montello has been attracted to mysticism and personal development all his life. His studies have included mind-body arts ranging from akido, baquazhang, Brazilian jujitsu, and kali escrima, to yoga and pilates. A Buddhist for over thirty years, he explores practices from many traditions. His formal education includes a graduate degree in educational psychology and training as a chef. Information on his program using cooking in personal development can be found at www.werecookingnow.org. Tammy Murray lives in Providence, Rhode Island and works as an activities director at an independent retirement community. Her husband, Tim, works as an executive chef. Now that their children are grown, she spends her free time working toward a college degree, learning to play piano, gardening, and crocheting. Tammy recently moved to a new home in Pawtucket, RI. She looks forward to many cozy evenings in front of her new fireplace. Contact her at writermom960@yahoo.com J. Eva Nagel is co-founder of Side By Side, a Youth Leadership Program, and the founder of the Waldorf School of Saratoga Springs, New York. She maintains a private psychotherapy practice in Schenectady and she is a staff development consultant, an essayist, an avid traveler, and an overextended gardener. Mostly importantly, she is the mother of four and grandmother of two. Contact her at jevan424@aol.com. James Penha, a native New Yorker, teaches at the Jakarta International School in Indonesia. Among recent published works are an article in NCTE’s Classroom Notes Plus, a story in Columbia, and poems in Heliotrope, Thema , and PoetryMagazine.com. A volume of his “Greatest Hits” is available from Pudding House as part of its series celebrating the work of small-press poets. Contact him at jpenha@cbn.net.id Jan Phillips is a speaker and workshop director who teaches throughout the U.S. She is author of Marry Your Muse, God is at Eye Level-Photography as a Healing Art, and Divining the Body:A Journey Through the Sacred Self. To receive her free online Museletter, email jan@janphillips.com. Art Ritas taught English for thirty-three years. He led interdisciplinary study tours to the Yucatan in Mexico and was co-director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Macomb Community College. Now in Naples, Florida, with his wife Susan, an anthropologist, he is a boat captain, master naturalist, and facilitator of creative writing workshops. He is working on a book on his kayak adventures on the Wilderness Waterway in Everglades National Park. Contact him at Aritas540@aol.com. Penny Ross is a writer and artist living in Northern Virginia. She works in television part-time, which gives her ample opportunity to write, paint, and sculpt. Penny has been showing her watercolors and photography for many years, and has recently embarked on writing for publication. View her other works at www.penzart.com Joy Margaret Sallans lives in Ottawa, Canada with her husband, John, their cat and two parrots. Her work as a lay pastoral visitor with the Unitarian church, as well as her studies in palliative care, have taught her the need for spiritual self-nurturing. Joy takes every opportunity to walk the labyrinth, lit or otherwise. An active member of Ottawa’s crime writing community, she writes about the mysterious and supernatural and is a founding member of CrimeStarters. (www.crimestarters.com) Julie Ann Shapiro is a freelance writer. Her short stories and essays have appeared in Mega Era, Millennium Shift, Orgease Journal, Alternate Species, Story South, Science Fiction and Fantasy World, Seven Seas Magazine, Word Riot, The Write Line, Green Tricycle, All Things Girl, Ultimate Hallucination, The Glut, Somewhat, Dovetail Journal, Uber, Moon Dance, The Quarterly Staple, and Opium. Her story "Water Memories" appeared in Sacred Waters . Julie is working on her second novel. Contact her at Julie@gotdot.com Carol Shenold is a nationally published freelance writer with articles appearing in medical professional and general interest magazines. Writing is an important part of her life, helping keep her sane, along with playing dulcimer music and portrait painting. As she gets older, she finds herself trying to pay attention to more of those little things so important in life, such as children and sunsets, as well as learning to accept miracles when they happen. Contact her at cshenold@cox.net Shumalua is mother of three and grandmother of nine children and encourages all people to wear red on Friday to express compassion and concern for the bloodshed of innocent people everywhere, and the plight of our environment. "May we find each other in the silence between the words." Roberta Gordon Silver (aka R. Gordon Silver) is a novelist whose books are sold online at www.AuthorHouse.com or www.Booksamillion.com. Power Within, a romantic suspense tale of New Age zeal gone wrong imperils the heroine, who saves herself by her wits and inner strength. Voices of Eternity is an inspirational historical novel based on anecdotes by her immigrant father. Contact her at silverbob765@yahoo.com. Diane Sims lives in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Her books include Gardens Of Our Souls (in English, Chinese, and Japanese), An Ovarian Cancer Companion (in English and French), and Solace, as well as various anthology submissions. She is accompanied in her life’s walk by both multiple sclerosis and ovarian cancer. Diane adopted three feral kittens who give her many smiles, along with the love of her life, Garth, who has reappeared to be by her side. Contact her at dianesims@rogers.com Michael Sky has facilitated firewalks for more than five thousand people since 1984. He is author of Dancing With the Fire, a comprehensive exploration of the scientific, psychological, and spiritual teachings of fire (www.dancingwiththefire.com) and Breathing, a definitive book on the use of breath for therapeutic and spiritual benefits (www.energybreath.com). Michael lives with his wife and daughter on a small green island in the Pacific Northwest. Contact him at Sky@thinkingpeace.com Richard Smyth has published poems in such journals as The Southern Poetry Review, The Florida Review, Tampa Review, Kansas Quarterly, and others. He is editor and publisher of the poetry journal Albatross, now in its twentieth year. He holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Florida and currently lives in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Bernadette Stankard describes herself as “a flower child gone to seed.” She has been married for thirty-three years to Ed, who was at the Washington protest at the same time as she, unbeknown to each of them. Their two children following in their parents’ footsteps by protesting and working for change. Bernadette has authored several short stories and nonfiction pieces. Her most recent book is How Each Child Learns: Using Multiple Intelligences in Faith Formation. Contact her at stankard@sbcglobal.net Ola Szeleczky, born in Ukraine, now lives in Australia. Being a fire element, she is deeply inspired by nature’s ability to regenerate itself after bush fires. She follows the spiritual teachings of Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma), has worked as a crisis counselor, and writes poetry. Sharon Upp, Laguna Niguel, California, has been a writer for more than twenty years, working as National Coordinator of English for Voluntad Editorial in Bogota, Colombia, editor of trade journals in the States, author of an Orange County business journal astrology column, and author of poetry and vignettes. She taught A Course in Miracles, served with the Alliance for Spiritual Community, and is an ordained minister of the Living Essence Foundation. Contact her at sjmilesupp@cox.net. Amethyst Wyldfyre (Maryjane Moore) is a spiritual counselor and healer living in the Merrimack Valley of Southern New Hampshire. She is also a talented jewelry designer and artist. She is owner of Amethyst Wyldfyre, A Sanctuary for Awakening to the Sacred, a home for her work and the work of other artists/healers who specialize in creating sacred objects. Contact her at stonemedicine@comcast.net Andy Young is an artist/teacher of creative writing at NOCCA/Riverfront in New Orleans. Her most recent book is All Fires the Fire and her chapbook, mine, was recently reprinted. Her poems have recently appeared in Dublin's The Stinging Fly, Carolina Quarterly, and the anthology Another South. Her words have been featured in electronic music, dance, and theatre productions, and have been translated into four languages. Contact her at andymuse@att.net. - TOP -