A Tribute to Ann
Whilst there was inevitable sorrow at the passing of a dear friend of many years’ standing, I also felt an inundation of joy. It seemed as if Ann could at last view her work as a whole and see clearly what she had achieved. Throughout her last years of sometimes intolerable pain, she kept the lamp of Cygnus alive, a lamp carried indefatigably and held high with the help of Geoff, and later her sons. Her dream that initiated Cygnus – of assembling in a cave with spiritual masters who requested specifically that she find a way to transmit the light of the new age to a wide audience – has been heroically and beautifully fulfilled. Andrew Collins told us that ancient shamans would descend into deep caves, dressed as birds, and there, in the pitch darkness, absorb the visible light particles broadcast by Deneb, the bright star known as the ‘eye’ of the constellation of Cygnus. Having read the essence of these light particles in their innermost depths, the shamans would emerge as spiritual teachers and pass on this ‘bright knowledge’ to their communities, resulting invariably in a significant advance in human civilisation. I always perceived Ann as a bird, and Cygnus as her transmission of light. I salute her achievement, and a mission gloriously accomplished.
Claire Nahmad
