Dear Friends,
There are all kinds of techniques we can use to activate the right side of the brain, and thus make it easier to receive guidance from our souls. Lots of people use card decks, for instance, and we have three very beautiful and evocative ones on p. 4.Another, less well-known but very easy way, is through songs. You know how sometimes the tune of a song pops into your mind? Mostly, people take no notice of this sort of thing, apart from possibly humming the tune for a few moments. But you’ll find that, if you take the time to remember or find out what the words are that go with the tune, they will invariably convey some sort of message or information about your inner state.
The strength to walk forward
Sometimes, these messages can be nothing short of life-saving. For instance, as I told you in my August letter, a close brush with death due to stage four cancer recently catapulted me into a profound crisis of faith. For days and nights at a time I felt overwhelmed by a sense that I had been abandoned by everything in which I had placed my trust and belief, that my suffering was pointless and that after all, there was no-one to hear my prayers. But, just when those feelings were at their worst, a tune came into my mind, and wouldn’t go away. The tune of a pop song which, in my youth, I had considered quite corny I have to admit! Want to know what the words were?
I believe for every drop of rain that falls
A flower grows,
I believe that somewhere in the darkest night
A candle glows,
I believe for everyone who goes astray,
Someone will come to show the way,
I believe, I believe.
I believe above the storm the smallest prayer
Will still be heard,
I believe that someone in the great somewhere
Hears every word,
Every time I hear a newborn baby cry,
Or touch a leaf, or see the sky,
Then I know why,
I believe.
Well, what a gift from above! What a reassurance! Can you imagine the comfort those words gave me? That song became my signature tune for a couple of months. I sang it all the time, night and day, and it stood beside me as I faced all those waves of fear and doubt until gradually (literally as well as figuratively), it gave me the strength and courage to stand up again, and walk forward into whatever the future might bring.
The reality our hearts know
Many times, while I was in hospital, I felt as though I was being squeezed out of life by the consensus reality (i.e. that ‘cancer is a deadly disease’) like toothpaste out of a tube, and it was not always easy to hold on to my belief, which is that miracles happen every day, and anything can be healed. Nor was it easy to see a future for myself which did not include the suffering of the present. At those times, the tune of Somewhere, from West Side Story, would come into my mind, to give me the courage I needed to keep faith in ‘real reality’, the reality our hearts know, despite everything the world tells us.
There’s a place for us
Somewhere a place for us
Peace and quiet and open air
Wait for us
Somewhere
There’s a time for us
Some day a time for us
Time together
With time to spare
Time to look
Time to care
Someday
Somewhere
We’ll find a new way of living
We’ll find a way of forgiving
Somewhere
There’s a place for us
A time and place for us
Hold my hand
And we’re halfway there
Hold my hand
And I’ll take you there
Somehow
Someday
Somewhere
Now Geoff and I are walking steadily towards that Somewhere. We still don’t know ‘where’ it is, but our hearts do, and we’re just following, one step at a time.
A gift for loved ones
So you can see why, when we think of what you might like to give to your loved ones this Christmas, we feel compelled to offer these songs to you in some form, for to us they are great treasures. So on p. 4, we have a CD by Rhydian – a young, world-class singer whom we have been fortunate enough to know since he was a teenager, and whom we would always be glad to walk miles in the snow to hear perform. Rhydian sings – with such feeling and musicianship – I Believe, Somewhere, and a number of other songs whose words, we’re sure, will be useful to store in your inner library, for your soul to draw on in times of need.
There is one more song that Rhydian sings, to which we’d like to draw your attention. It’s been recorded by loads of artists, but we think you’ll agree Rhydian’s rendering is the best! Many people ask for it to be played at their funerals – Geoff and I among them, not that we’re thinking of leaving any time soon! – because it expresses so perfectly the quest of human beings on this Earth, especially at this time: to erase, to transmute, to transform the illusory ‘consensus reality’ into the truth as we know it in our hearts. It’s The Impossible Dream from the musical Man of La Mancha:
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not goTo right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable starThis is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far
To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march into Hell
For a heavenly cause
And I know if I’ll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I’m laid to my restAnd the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable starThis song, more than any other, gives us the courage, determination and steadfastness we need to root ourselves firmly in the Earth, and remain standing – whatever happens – to reveal and serve the full glory of the human spirit, and to become, to use words quoted in both Diane Baker’s and Pierre Pradervand’s features: The Best That We Can Be.
With Yuletide blessings and much love,
Ann, Geoff, Sarah and the Cygnus Team
Christmas Posting Dates
If you’d like to receive your order
in time for Christmas,
please make sure it reaches us by:
UK: Wednesday 15th Dec**
Western Europe: Thursday 9th Dec
Rest of World: Thursday 2nd Dec
Please allow extra time if you need to post gifts on once you’ve received them.
**If you place a UK order between 16th and 20th Dec, we can still get it to you
in time for Christmas using our courier service, for which there will be
an extra charge of £2.75.
