BOOK REVIEW: Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

Is there anything better than starting a new book and realizing—“YES. THIS. We are going to be spending a lot of quality time together.

And so we have. I read it every single minute that I could until I finished it. I read her first two books (The 13th Tale and Bellman and Black) and thought they were equally excellent.

There is an air of fantasy in the book that requires a bit of suspension of disbelief, but not so much as in her prior books. Pay close attention at the beginning when several characters are introduced or very quickly you won’t know what is going on. Do NOT start reading unless you have a bit of uninterrupted time to do it justice. Keep reading

BOOK REVIEW: Liver Rescue by Anthony William, Medical Medium

As a registered nurse, I hope everyone will read this book.

Anthony William’s compassionate guide can help those of us who traditional medicine has failed. Those of us with ongoing health conditions for which medical practitioners don’t have a cure. In many cases they don’t even have a correct diagnosis for our conditions. Sometimes we are even blamed for our health issues by our medical practitioners, as if it’s our own fault that they can’t help us. #BlamingTheVictim is alive and well in the current medical model.

Liver Rescue, like all of Anthony William’s books, puts the power back in our own hands to make decisions about how to help ourselves get and/or stay well. He gives us the tools. He encourages us to start where we are. Use what we have. Do the best we can. Trust ourselves. And he is right there cheering us on. Keep reading

The Holistic Practitioner Series #9: Jody Breton: Shamanic Practitioner, Ceremonialist

Please enjoy this month’s interview with Jody Breton, Essence of Spirit Ceremonies!

After many years in the medical field as a Respiratory Care Practitioner I retired to follow my passion for Shamanism.

Studying with indigenous peoples since the 90’s as well as western practitioners from the Foundation for Shamanic Studies and the Center for Earthlight Healing and others, I have been immersed in the practice of Shamanism for several decades. My deep connection and relationship with Nature and to the Spirit of ALL informs my life path and my holistic health practice for myself and others.

Shamanism is an ancient system of wisdom addressing the physical, emotional and spiritual well-being of self, the community and of Earth and beyond.

This wisdom is inherent throughout all cultures across the globe and has been practiced for over 50,000 years. The recent resurgence of Shamanism is in response to an awakening to our deeper connections to the web of life, to the mysteries of the unseen realms and from the calling of our ancestors, our earthly relatives in nature and the collective consciousness for healing on all levels. Keep reading

All risk, no benefit

I used to tell people to read the package insert before they made a decision about whether or not to get a vaccination. I directed them in particular to review the ingredient list and the side effects. I used to say, “Make a pros and cons list to weigh the potential benefits against the known risks.”

These things are vitally important to educate yourself about prior to getting a vaccine.

And then the truth came out about Infanrix

Corvelva, an Italian company, decided to test some vials of every vaccine to find out what they contain. The first vaccine they studied was ‘Infanrix Hexa’. [As an aside, I can’t help but note that the distressing name, “HEXa”, turns out to be foreshadowing …] Keep reading

The BRAVE Interview #30 January 2019: Amy Irvine

Here is this month’s BRAVE Interview with Amy Irvine!

1. WHO are you?  By trade, I’m a financial planner.  I use the term “planner” and not advisor because I think there is massive confusion around that title.

I grew up without wealth, but in a family with a strong work ethic.

The women in my family were amazingly ahead of their time.  They had strong personalities.  My great-grandmother and I were very close from birth.  Perhaps that is because I shared her name and because I spent so much time with her.  Her middle name was Grace, and she represented it in so many ways.  She reminded me that I could do anything and neither my gender nor my economic status was ever to be used as a limitation.  I fell into my profession at 22.  I was looking for something that would use my accounting degree, but didn’t know what that was and I was lucky enough to be hired by a small trust department. I am also a wife, a daughter, a volunteer and, hopefully, a trusted friend.  This is my most important role, although right now the business I started in 2015 is “hogging” me. Keep reading