North of Nowhere, South of Loss: Stories

Book Description

"A new standard for the short story genre that will be hard to surpass."—Library Journal

In these prize-winning, "heartbreakingly nuanced" (Speakeasy) stories, Janette Turner Hospital explores the infinite incarnations of loss—lovers meeting again in midlife re-experience, through the memory of photographs both real and imagined, the passion that both frightened and thrilled them; a young dental hygienist adrift, living in a hostel in northern Australia, receives a heart-wrenching visit from her drug-dependent brother; a mother and adolescent daughter move into a new house, and their sense of safety is shaken when the previous owner reappears, desperate to reclaim what he has lost. Hospital's characters oscillate between estrangement and intense connectedness, between a permanent sense of dislocation and a yearning to belong.

Customer Reviews:

These Stories Are East of Wonderful!.......2004-11-15

Janette Turner Hospital has written fourteen short stories here, seven of which have been previously published in another short story collection, all of which appear to have been published in literary magazines or journals. The stories are set all the way from Australia to the Southern United States. The characters are wildly different in their problems and dilemmas; but to a person, they are engaging and alive. It's difficult to select a "best of" as there are no bad stories here. In the first one, "The Ocean of Brisbane", Brian-- who appears in several other stories-- is a successful scientist ashamed of his uneducated mother. His treatment of her will break your heart. One of my favorites is "South of Loss", where two lonely souls connect when a woman whose car breaks down on a back road in South Carolina meets an auto mechanic. They comfort each other from their own sense of loss. Although many of these characters are those whose "worlds of possibilities" are small, they continue to kick against the pricks.

As always, Ms. Hospital is wonderful with language-- from the photographer who is "not guilty as charged" but "framed"--to one Australian character's thoughts on Americans: "They are a curious people, Americans, Beth thinks, though it is easy to like them. They consider it natural to be liked, so natural that you can feel the suck of their expectations when they push open the door. . ." Finally in the story "Litany For The Homeland" Hospital waxes lyrical as she describes her love for Australia: "Homeland is where the senses steer by instinct when the reins are let go. It is always accessible in that small space between sleeping and waking. . . Wherever I am, I live in Queensland. I know to what brown country and to what wet rainforest my homing thoughts will fly in the moment between living and dying. . ." Does writing get better than this? Such poetic passages make Ms. Hospital one of the best writers of English.

These are as good as short stories get.

Everything in its time.......2004-10-25

Hospital has created a book of interconnected short stories, not a happy ending in sight. Rather, she takes incidents from her character's lives, sometimes seemingly minor, other times desperately tragic, and weaves an unusual narrative that reaches past the obvious, into far murkier waters of love, obsession, loss and acceptance.

Beginning in North Australia, the scenes redolent of that particular country and moving finally into the deep south of America, the author's sense of place defines each tale, the relative characters reflecting where each story takes place. Skillfully blending the present and the past, the innocuous becomes ominous, the innocent evil, never predictable, but surely representative of the intricacies of the human psyche.

In a rush of characters across space and time, images flash by unheeded, yet noted. Pushing into the future, emotions accelerate in intensity, yet fall backward into the realm of memory. Throughout the chaos of the years, the complexities of relationships, the what-ifs, there is a great connectedness, an acceptance of what is.

A genius of the impossible, Hospital rushes to the edge of the world and dares to look over. There are no happy endings because, basically, there are no endings, only the push toward freedom of one kind or another. Complex, challenging, North of Nowhere, South of Loss is an extraordinary experience in the realm of possibilities. Luan Gaines/2004.

Customer Reviews:

Exciting adventures in any century!.......2007-09-21

In the third book of the Deverry series, Kerr once again continues the pattern of introducing characters in the present by exploring their lives in the past. "The Bristling Wood," in fact, brings us to the second major arc in the series, a timeline set about two hundred years before the events occurring in the "present" - that is, the time when Jill and Rhodry are riding the long road in and out of danger.

In the past, the civil wars over the kingship of Deverry are dragging on, with disastrous consequences for the kingdom. A frustrated Nevyn finally decides, after some inspiration from a disgraced bard named Maddyn (Rhodry), to take a hand in things and just pick a king and place him on the throne, already. Using dweomer, he'll find a candidate - any candidate - and build him up with omens and glamours until everyone accepts him as the obvious true king of all Deverry. Maddyn, meanwhile, falls in with a band of mercenaries who will one day form the basis for the silver daggers, and whose ranks include the reincarnated forms of Gerraent/Cullyn and Brangwen/Jill - although in some cases, those forms are completely unexpected ones.

In the present, a bizarre set of circumstances manage to separate Rhodry and Jill, just as the dark dweomer and political necessity both decide they need to get their hands on Rhodry, toot sweet. Jill is ensorcelled by a strange being named Perryn, and his story is one that, disappointingly, offers so much promise that Kerr never quite fulfills. (The same is true with Rhodda, about whom more in a later review.) Nevyn can't help, because he's stuck back in Aberwyn helping Rhodry's mother get him recalled from exile, so it's up to Rhodry's half-elven, dilettante-dweomer brother, Salamander, to rescue Jill. But then there's Rhodry, wandering around Deverry all alone - who's going to find him first?

While the present part of the story here isn't quite my favorite, I love the section set in the past. Maddyn, Maryn, Owaen, Caradoc, and Branoic are truly enjoyable characters, and their story is one of the strongest in the whole series. Moreover, it's one of those places where you can really see how events in the past are shaping relationships in the present. Overall, the writing is fantastic, although Kerr does have a few tics that can get annoying. I love this series, and this book is worthy of continuing it.

One of my favorite fantasy series.......2006-12-18

I have been a fan of Kerr since I was a teenager. I adore her books and her writing. I love the way she does interweave the lifetimes together. Very refreshing.

The main reason I wanted to review this book was in response to a comment stating that they did not understand why Nevyn was punished so harshly for such a paltry sin. I think they misunderstood. He is not being punished, he made a vow. He vowed to bring Brangwen to the dweomar, no matter how long it took. The gods of Wyrd accepted his vow and granted him an unusually long life to see it through.

I think if people took the time to actually read and not skim, they might actually understand what is going on and be able to enjoy it.

Third of the Ten (currently) in the Series.......2006-08-01

Against the passionate sweep of Deverrian history, the powerful wizard Nevyn has lived for centuries, atoning for the sins he committed in his youth. Now, with so much of his work at stake, Nevyn discovers that the Dark Council has been quietly interfering with the already tangled politics of war-torn Eldidd. Their evil webs are nearly spun before Nevyn, with all the power at his command, even realizes there's a war of magic destroying his world.

Katherine Kerr's writing takes a bit of getting used to, but it's worth the effort. She approaches her stories with a Celtic storytelling mindset, which means she conveys events according to their significance to the story, as opposed to chronologically. Consequently, while the stories begin in the "present" (which is an elastic concept, anyway, in a fantasy setting), the events unfold, chapter wise, both in the "present" and in the distant past. This can be frustrating, at first, but Kerr's writing is heavily steeped in Pagan and Western Mystery tradition, and the Celtic setting (and mindset) of her characters means that time, or chronological time, is not essentially relevant. To be honest, I found the first book infuriating, as I spent a lot of time trying to adjust to the writing style. However, I found the story engrossing enough that I persevered, and by the second book was so hooked I've read all ten in her three series.

Kerr's story evolves around the concept of reincarnation, and unfinished business, and "karma", and fate. The same souls recur again and again, just in new bodies, over the course of the centuries over which the story unfolds.

Kerr's world is one of High Fantasy, populated by Elves, Men, and Dwarves, as well as faeries/elementals, which she terms the "Wildfolk". However, hers is a slightly more dark, dangerous and less clear cut world than the works of other High Fantasy authors, not the least due to the fact that someone who was your friend in a former life can re-emerge in the story centuries later as a foe, and vice versa. There is a tremendous amount of magic, but it's the magic of the Western Mystery tradition (quite a bit of Golden Dawn and even Enochiana), and that of R.J. Stewarts Faery tradition. There are dragons, and giant beast men.

The Elves are a fallen race, driven out of their magnificent and palatial cities centuries before by invaders, and who now roam the plains as primitives. They possess the potential to be superlative magicians, but the knowledge was lost in the fall of their civilization. Humans, though warlike and shorter lived, have preserved this knowledge, but guard it jealously. The Wildfolk, basically magic incarnate, are unhinged from the effects of "karma", but lack permanence of personality, and cannot grow or develop, cursed to stagnation. The Dwarves are a secretive mystery, entrenched within the earth. Each has something to offer the other, and the story that unfolds is the story of this "technology" exchange, of sorts, between them.

Fans of Marion Zimmer Bradley, who clearly influenced Kerr, will be enraptured by this series, as will fans of Kate Eliott, who Kerr, herself, clearly influenced. It's phenomenal! Devotees of the New Age, Esoteric or Occult will find themselves nodding and smiling as they read, and sincerely hoping Kerr's writing will do for the Western Mystery and Faery traditions what Bradley's has done for Wicca.

a time to avert war, and a time to fight a war to the finish.......2002-04-07

For the profit of kings, well did he attack the hosts
of the country, the bristling wood of spears,
the grievous flood of the enemy.
- The Gododdin of Aneirin, Stanza A 84

This volume interleaves two skeins of history: the 'present' (Jill and Rhodry's time) and the last years of the Time of Troubles (the civil wars between Cantrae, Cerrmor, and Eldidd, all of whom had claims to the high kingship of all Deverry). The Time of Troubles thread began in _Darkspell_, but picks up here a generation or so later in the course of the wars of that terrible era.

In the present, Salamander has determined that the mysterious ring of dwarven silver is destined for Rhodry. But Rhodry's fate is that of Aberwyn - his brother's "barren" ex-wife, now married to another man, has just given birth to her first son, so Rhodry's recall from exile is the only way to avert civil war over the rhan. The ring is his from his blood-father, but he's heir to the rhan through his legal father. This story is continued in _The Dragon Revenant_ - Salamander's puzzle of how to get the ring into Rhodry's hands without destroying his claim to the rhan.

In the past, Maddyn (later Rhodry) has been wounded unto death in his lord's last charge, and as an outlawed man, has no choice but to turn mercenary. Here we have the founding of the silver daggers, and the beginning of the thread that will later lead to the forging of the ring. Maddyn's story continues in _A Time of Omens_, _The Red Wyvern_, and _The Fire Dragon_, and is concluded in _A Time of Exile_.

My favorite high-fantasy writer! (well, except Tolkien).......2001-07-09

Katharine Kerr is one of the all time best high fantasy writers ever known. She is exceptionally gifted in the use of fine detail and creative twists to keep her readers guessing. When I first started reading her books all these years ago, I was hooked almost from the beginning. Now, I own every Deverry and Westland novel to date, the pages worn and yellowed, but still I re-read the entire series cover-to-cover, beginning to end again and again. I use it as my "escape" from modern life.

Katherine Kerr's publisher is giving her some trouble about publishing in the US, from what I understand. Please, everyone, stand behind her and make her publishers understand that we want MORE.

Average customer rating:
The Bristling Wood
Katharine KERR
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OP4OZS

Average customer rating:
Dawnspell - The Bristling Wood
Katharine Kerr
Manufacturer: Grafton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPW68A

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4 Titles By Katharine Kerr Deverry Series (1-4) : 1. Daggerspell 2. Darkspell 3. The Bristling Wood 4. The Dragon Revenant
Katharine Kerr
Manufacturer: Bantam Spectra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Kerr, Katharine | ( K ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000SQNV98

Product Description

multiple books ship as one item. save on shipping/handling charges.

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The Bristling Wood

Manufacturer: Bantam Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HW6A6O

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Bristling Wood

Manufacturer: Turtleback Books Distributed by Demco Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0606275533

Customer Reviews:

Another good release in this series!.......2002-09-23

This is the sixth installment of the series. Haark is back ain as the evil Bantag leader. In the previous book, he had arrived through one of the "tunnels of light" from a world that is roughly 100 years ahead of Civil War era Earth. He is aware of many advanced technologies...

The humans are still struggling to throw off the bonds of the Bantag and the Merki. The Merki are licking their wounds to the West and appear to be out of the war for the time being. However, the Bantag have been sitting in the Chin cities for two years developing new weapons and training in tactics under Haark.

When the strike finally comes, the humans are ill prepared to counter it. It is one retreat after another. Of the three large human armies, two are cut off and surrounded. Hans with an army of over 50,000 is stranded the farthest away. Over 200 miles to the coast and 500 miles to the nearest human city. Keane and O'Donnal are stranded to the south near the Great sea with an army of around 40,000 including several thousand wounded in the opening battle.

The third army, under Hawethorne, is held in reserve. It numbers around 80,000.

Hans decides to retreat towards the sea instead of back to the city. His retreat is across open steppe. His orders to the soldiers are walk or die. Wounded are left behind with a weapon and ammo.

New weapons are introduced by both sides in this conflict. Haark comes up with winged flyers, mortars, and land ironclads. The humans come up with faster and more menueverable flyers, armor piercing artillery rounds, and a secret weapon at the end....

This is a book on a grand scale. Several large, continuous battles. Not as fast paced as previous books, but it sets the groundwork for the next book which should be very action packed.

Long on Battles, Short on Story.......2001-08-24

Although this series is interesting enough for me to go out and buy all the volumes, I'm getting tired of reading one battle scene after another. It seems that if you open the book at random, pretty much any page you turn to has fighting on it. And I'd like more maps, please. Without maps and diagrams I find it pretty meaningless to read a battle description. It's getting predictable, too: just when ALL is lost for the humans, some super-human effort is made, and they triumph. I would like to read more about the characters, what they do when they're not fighting, for example. Also, I'd like to know more about the effects on the social organizations of the Cartha and the Roums of having made contact with such a vastly different social paradigm as the Yankees represent. I wonder if it's a male/female thing; I notice that most of the reviewers give all the books in the series 5 stars, and I get the impression that these reviewers are all men.

Very good transition........2000-08-11

Tanks and machine guns. Ha'ark has been forced to attack the Republic before he was absolutely ready, but the Republic buckles under pressure. This time both armies are modern and their leaders understand modern war. Also, expect the unexpected from Hans, who will turn the tide once more. A very interesting aspect of the series is how fallible Keane is. He inspires his people, but makes terrible mistakes that must be payed for with lots of blood later on. This destroys him little by little. Forstchen manages to make him very human, very far from a legend, and closer to what people really are. This book is transitional. Not as spectacular as those before, it still is very good and sets the stage for more to come. Also, a new major character is developed: the tank commander Timokin. And since Ferguson is dead, the technological edge that the Republic could always count on seems threatened. Read on.

keep it coming.......2000-03-25

Im 13 and have read all 6 books and have enjoyed them imensley. I read each in under 2 days. I think chuck furgeson shouldnt have died. Also i need a map i know the places but i dont get how they connect. By the way all his books are good but this and the wing commander series are my personal favorites.

Edge of your seat.......1999-07-09

I started reading the series last week and have read all 6 now. Just found out about A band of brothers and am going to buy as soon as possible. Keep it up and I will keep on reading.

Book Description

Someone who's misplaced his glasses may want to pray to Saint Anthony. A person with an earache might call upon Saint Cornelius. Those who battle temptation could entreat Saint Margaret of Cortona. In fact, anyone seeking help with problems large and small will want a copy of Saintly Support, a book that explains why people pray to patron saints, and then offers prayers of supplication and guidance. Whether they want relief from arthritis or peace in the world, Saintly Support gives pilgrims a place to start.Organized by the saints' patronages and specialties, Saintly Support provides short biographies of the saints, explaining the basis for their patronages and a calendar of feast days for the entire year. Sample prayers to each saint are simple and direct, yet beautifully written. A prayer to St. Isidore of Seville, for example, includes the line, "May I always remember that my work is in the people around me and the community I live in." In addition, Saintly Support contains exquisite black-and-white and color engravings of many of the saints who are included in its pages. Readers will find that Saintly Support offers a powerful way of communicating with God by sharing their hopes, dreams, worries, and desires with the most blessed in the Christian community-the saints who've gone before.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful book!.......2006-03-10

If you're searching for a thoughtful, beautifully detailed book that is uplifting, informative and a quick read, this is a great option for you. I enjoy reading this book through just to learn more about the saints, but it is also wonderful to keep around for the printed prayers that are unique to each saint. I cannot say enough about the art and detailing--it is just gorgeous. With gold accent and rich colors, it is definetly a collector's book! This is great for any reader of any age. The price is a grea deal, too. I wouldn't be surprised to see this book actually gain value!

You can't go wrong with this saint book.......2004-01-20

I bought this book last year, loaned it out and never got it back, so I ordered another copy for myself.

This is a great book to read up on some of the more known saints and some of the lesser known saints. I mainly bought this book for the prayer to St. Giles. He is the patron saint for fear of night.

If you'd like a book on saints, start with this one. You can't go wrong.

Book Description

Healthy eating made simply delicious in one comprehensive volume.

Many have the best of intentions when it comes to eating healthy meals. However, heavy demands on time and unanswered questions on acceptable amounts of fat and sodium conspire to defeat healthy eating. The 500 Best Healthy Recipes brings together hundreds of delicious, nutritious and healthy recipes.

Nutrition expert Lynn Roblin offers a good start. In clear, concise terms, she explains daily requirements for essential vitamins and minerals. Correct amounts of carbohydrates, fat and sodium are the focal points of good health. Roblin explains the need for maintaining the right balance of these elements in our diet. In a realistic, conversational style, she outlines a healthy eating plan.

With so many recipes, there are hundreds of appetizing, healthy meals to choose from:

Chunky Artichoke Dip
Oriental Chicken Salad with Mandarin Oranges, Snow Peas and Asparagus
Leg of Lamb with Pesto and Wild Rice
Broccoli Pesto Fettuccine
Black Bean, Corn and Leek Frittata
Beef, Macaroni and Cheese Casserole
Blueberry Peach Cake
Glazed Espresso Chocolate Cake

Best of all, these are recipes that can be enjoyed by everyone from families to empty nesters to students. With easy-to-follow directions, helpful tips, techniques and make ahead ideas, 500 Best Healthy Recipes belongs in everyone's kitchen.

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The Book of Antique Furniture: An International Sytle Guide from the 16th to the 20th Century
Francis Rousseau
Manufacturer: Chartwell Books, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Furniture | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

A History of Interior Design

The Bulfinch Anatomy of Antique Furniture: An Illustrated Guide to Identifying Period, Detail, and Design (Bulfinch Anatomy of Antique Furniture)

Interior Graphic Standards

The Big Book of Antique Furniture: Featuring English & Continental, Colonial Revival, and Victorian Furniture

Field Guide to American Antique Furniture: A Unique Visual System for Identifying the Style of Virtually Any Piece of American Antique Furniture

ASIN: 078581227X

Book Description

A challenge that few have attempted in the past; assembling everything you need to know about furniture from the sixteenth century to the present in one book. This incredibly thorough book includes every important style that marked society, including Renaissance, Charles V and Phillip II, Regence, Louis XVI, Directoire, Rococo, Empire, Victorian, Art Nouveau and others, complete with intricate details allowing a rigorous identification of each object. Decorative motifs, various types of wood, fabrics and ornamentations are described in detail to help furniture lovers find their way around second-hand shops and auction houses. Includes over 700 color photographs.

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Pure Magic

Magic Quilted Mandalas

Magic Quilted Mandalas: Circle Medallions Made Easy
Sheila Finklestein
Manufacturer: Krause Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Quilts & Quilting | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Textile Arts | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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Mandala Quilt Designs (Dover Needlework Series)

Within Sacred Circles: Meditations and Mandala Quilts

Design and Make Your Own Contemporary Sampler Quilt (Dover Needlework Series)

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream

ASIN: 087341635X

Customer Reviews:

Pure Magic.......2000-04-03

The cover of the book caught my eye. I borrowed from the library 6 times. My library suggested I just go ahead and purchase the book so someone else could use it. The mystic of complicated circle quilts is totally blown out of the water by the information the Sheila Finklestein imparts. Just the pictures are enough to get every creative sewing juice flowing. I find myself testing stripes and looking at them more than ever before. Absolutely, recommended for every level of quilter. Note: I haven't been quilting a year and this is something I can do. The amazed look on faces is worth every mintues of decision making involved. The mandala can be as bchallenging as you want it to be.

Magic Quilted Mandalas.......2000-04-03

This book presents an interesting twist on quilting (pun most definitely intended since each of the quilts seems to undulate with a life of its own). The directions are clear and the pictures wonderful. I would suggest this as an alternative for any quilter who is bored with triangles and squares.

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Salvage Style for Outdoor Living
Moira Hankinson , and Nicholas Hankinson
Manufacturer: Rodale Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Garden Furnishings | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Decorating | Interior Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Interior Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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Flea Market Makeovers for the Outdoors: Projects & Ideas Using Flea Market Finds & Recycled Bargain Buys

Salvage Style in Your Home

New Spaces from Salvage: Creating Perfect Interiors from Recovered Architecture

Easy Flea Market Style: Creative Ideas & Fabulous Fix-Ups

ASIN: 0875968686

Book Description

Step-by-step projects transform unwanted materials into stylish garden ornaments. Used pallets. Junked scaffolds. These are materials the average gardener might have, or might have a way of getting. What can the ecologically minded person do? Pioneers of reclamation Moira and Nicholas Hankinson guide readers through 30-plus projects that will add signature style to any yard or garden. Readers will learn how to uncover artifacts, then turn them into something useful and beautiful. Salvage Style for Outdoor Living serves the reader who craves simplicity but will not forgo sophistication.

Book Description

Charles Thomas Cayce, eldest grandchild of Edgar Cayce, and Jeanette Thomas, administrator of the A.R.E. records and archives, have brought together a definitive collection of letters from and to Edgar Cayce that illuminate the man and his God-given talents as a "psychic diagnostician."

This unique and compelling collection provides a firsthand look at Edgar Cayce's efforts to use his gift in service to others; his struggles with financial hardships and sometimes-public humiliation; and his efforts to reconcile the information that came through him on topics such as reincarnation, Atlantis, and astrology with his devoutly Christian beliefs.

Cayce's letters show, as no other documents can, how his psychic gift drove him, against all odds and many setbacks, towards his dream for "the Work" -- the development of the Association for Research and Enlightenment, which has preserved his work and made it accessible to all.

Customer Reviews:

It's Hard to be Alone with Your Intuition.......2005-05-31

When I ask people if they've ever regretted not following a hunch, I get a lot of stories about how hard it is to act on intuition when you have to explain yourself to others who don't understand. The interpersonal, or social dimension, of bringing intuition into the world deserves more study.
A case in point is Edgar Cayce. It was easier for him gather intuitive guidance than it was for him to deal with the social repercussions of his intuition. Cayce wanted desperately to be financially self supporting, for example, and knew he was able to do so easily through photography. Yet his intuitive guidance directed him to lay photography aside and focus on his psychic readings. When his friend David Kahn, in response to Cayce's expressed financial need, arranged for him some well paying photographic work, Cayce had the difficult diplomatic task of showing appreciation for David's efforts, yet nevertheless explaining his intuitive decision to abandon the well paying photography.
That story is in a revealing book, The work of Edgar Cayce as seen through his letters (A.R.E. Press). He wrote as many as thirty letters a day, and, as selected and edited by his grandson Charles Thomas Cayce and Jeannette Thomas, with a helpful ongoing commentary, they give us a fly-on-the-wall perspective on Cayce's life.
The value of these letters for many will be to add personal specifics to the characterization of Cayce as humble, generous, sincere, dedicated, and caring. Of special interest will be the correspondence between Cayce and his son, Hugh Lynn, which shows a humorous closesness that would be the envy of many fathers and sons today. Near the end, Hugh Lynn's letters to his father, offering help, guidance, encouragements, as well as his clear readiness to carry on his father's work, are very touching.
Readers will form their own lesson from Cayce's letters. For myself, I was most struck with how alone Cayce was with his gift. He was the only intuitive in the crowd, the only one acting from a living connection with the source of the work. Others knew the ideas, but seemed to respond from a more rational, conscious level. The social fabric around Cayce lacked intuitive threads and was unable to support the application of Cayce's intuition. Had his supporters taken their own turns on the couch, the atmosphere might have been different.
A major theme in one period of Cayce's life was his aloneness in the face of the feud among his key supporters, Mr. Kahn and the Blumenthal brothers. They wouldn't talk with each other to resolve their differences, but triangulated Cayce into the position of trying to appease them all, so he had to absorb the tension within himself. There are few examples of Cayce saying anything negative, but on one occasion he writes, "the great trouble of the world at large today--people preach what they would like for others to believe, but what they do not act themselves." I couldn't help but wonder what might have happened had Kahn and Blumenthal led each other into a meditative stateto ask for a reading for how each could improve the relationship between them. But no, setting aside normal consciousness to enter into an intuitive state to receive special guidance was reserved for Cayce alone.
Financial concerns were a frequent theme in the letters. But toward the end of his life, when the public had become aware of Cayce's skills, there were more requests for readings than Cayce could fulfill. Here was an abundance that could not be realized because it was on Cayce's shoulder's alone. If others who showed some intuitive abilities had been encouraged to develop their skills and help out in some way, as his own readings suggested, Cayce's own service might have been prolonged. But the bright light of Cayce's ability blinded his followers to the possibility that others might use their lesser light to some advantage. So Cayce was alone with the burden of his ability.
I also noted that although most all of the aspects of the organization had some problem associated with it--problems Cayce was supposed to solve--there was one exception: the study group project. There are only positive references to this aspect of the work. It occurred to me that in the case of the study group model, each member is assumed to be intuitive. There are times in the group process for each and all to experience the teachings directly, intuitively, and in an applied manner. Members of a group are expected to share their experiences as a new teaching for others to use in their own learning. In the study group model, no one is alone with their intuition. Maybe the goal of the work must be more than simply to teach individuals to use their intuition to find inner guidance. If it is to be successful, it must have as a goal to teach people how to be intuitive together so that we might be guided as a cooperative team. www.henryreed.com/publications/bookreviews

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