"The Fours Sisters of the Last Forest on Earth" |
TITHING 10% of the profit will go to a project that loves Life, . It is part of the sacred way of tithing (giving 10% of your profit to a project that tends to Life to keep the sacred energy flowing) | THANK YOU To the Forest of Devon in England to entrust me with her vision. To dear Stu for his art, his gentle grace and courageous willingness to be touched and transformed by the story and the Four Sisters. Thank you so much for his gift of the 13 illustrations. I want to thank also my brother Mathieu Thomé for his steady holding and feedback. Valerie Teller and Lut De Naeyer for their ongoing support and Shante Zenith, Helena Ter Ellen, Carole Thomé for the proof reading, the french translation and generous presence. |
AZUL VALERIE THOME To create a first book is an incredible experience of reciprocal transformation and learning! To have carried the original vision for 5 years, to see it change and transform and to accompany it to is full maturity has changed me indeed. These Four Sisters are good company for our troubled times. They offer the wisdom we might all long for from our Elders. The story, or rather the vision, first came to me around 5 years ago, while walking in the forest in Devon, England. I 'saw' the last forest on the Earth, I saw the Four Sisters (they were not called that then) . It was like a day dream, deep time where the past, present and future are a whole experience. I did not realise then that the vision longed to become a little book, a prayer, an instruction and a way to bring soul back to the frontline of our lives. The story has ancient and new guidance. It can be read to children and adults. It can be used as a way of journeying in systemic constellation , a community ritual or a solitary map to feel more alive and in life. When in 2017 the original vision was activated by 18 women in Belgium, I held an all night vigil guiding us all through the meeting of the Four Sisters: Grief, Love, Death and Rebirth... Each of the Four Sisters were dressed up and placed around a circle of empty logs in a forest on the north of the country...it was touched by Grace and brought Soul to the frontline of our lives. I knew then that the vision now brought into form needed to be shared wildely and widely...but how? 9 months ago I contacted Stu to see if he would do the illustrations. He said yes and we went on a journey that needs to be heard. Here is my BIO and WEBSITE | STU MCLELLAN Stu McLellan is the talented illustrator who created and gifted SOULand with the 13 illustrations. We worked for 9 months to birth what is now an integral part of the story. Our working together was alive, rich in heart. WITH STU's WORDS (the text has been shortened- you can find it in full on his website) ...Azul's work embraces that, and much more, that invites us into life in fullness, welcoming love and grief and death and rebirth. This invitation presents both deep sighs of relief and a stirring to courage in the face of things our culture often mutes or runs from, that pokes a finger into our fears. And so the possibility of working on drawings to accompany this story was something that I felt I wanted to accept... ...To represent four Sisters, as a man. To feel the depth and vitality of the story and. To present a story that involves encountering wildness and shadow as well as the fire of community and intimacy... ...Encountering life and finding that these Sisters are longing for us to sit with them, they are longing for our company, for our conversation, for our vulnerability and willingness to offer ourselves in service to all life. There is something the resonates deeply about that circle of empty logs. I feel the truth of that image for us as species and I know that what they ask is communal, yes, and also deeply personal. .... ...The non human presence, of the raven and badger and fox and dragonfly also grew over time. And so they are here. They still invite me to make eye contact with them. To ask me what it is I will do, what will we do, to walk into that forest with Hamsat, in meeting those sisters and allowing our eyes to meet. In returning to those empty seats and adding our offerings to the fire. It is a very beautiful, moving, achingly poignant story. I'm struck by Azul's courage in seeking to live out Hamsat's example and with extraordinary energy offering waymarkers for all our journeys. May this story be such an offering." Stu's BIO and WEBSITE |
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