Sally  wants “Sarah’s”  journey to educate others, not only parents but the teenagers themselves

The content of Appreciating Angels: sarah’s Story  is chilling, as it walks us through Sarah’s  turbulent adolescent years where rape, bulimia, and self harm are  brought to the surface and demand the reader to consider their  own teenage years and question whether in any way the situations  which arose could have been avoided.The reviews on the book have been outstanding with the majority of readers being able to identify with at least one of the situations which Sarah found herself experiencing.

To fulfill the desire to educate others, a series of workshops are now in place for Secondary Schools

For more information please click here

Relax and close your eyes, empty all your thoughts of work, the drive home, the kids, the in laws, the bank balance clear them all until there is nothing. Just a white, empty space.

This is the point that your eyes close and your human body falls asleep and your soul journeys.

Before the beginning

In the clear white light of everlasting proportion in an eternal space beings of brighter light, of energy congregate together. Some of the beings are brighter and vibrating fast, others are less bright and vibrating more slowly. Each the same yet each different. Each with its own energy and vibration. They are content in the space they are in. The feeling is one of calmness, one of love, once of peace. A slow rhythmetic thudumm, thudumm, thudumm is hardly audible.

The light beings form in a circle, each joining so their outer brightness touches the others.

The sensation of gasping for air comes through; the beings of light can feel it. A faint flicker of light comes into the circle and the suffocating sounds and gasps are stronger, a rising panic, the light grows stronger. A gasp, the light fades. There is a moment of nothingness and then the light grows stronger and the other light beings surround it and welcome the ball of light to them. They stay still all together all vibrating. The gasping subsides to the rhythemetic thudumm, thudumm, thudumm and the light in the centre grows brighter to its fullness and takes on its own vibration.

The beings of light and energy part and communicate. They communicate by thought transmission psychically.

The new ball of light transmits the images of a young child set in the late 19^th centenary on earth. Homes of brick built close together. A mining town. Deprived and poor. The child was raggedly dressed and his bones stuck out, his cheeks hollow. There were blows to his head from a mother who was under the influence and a father whose voice was always angry and as the images of a deprived childhood of a working poor family with no love in it flashed by, the child from a young age was put in a cage and lowered into the depths of the earth and flashes of the cage deep underground in darkness with children crying came to the forefront and the sensation was of a children so scarred that they lost bladder control, crying out for their Mummies and then being shouted at by big men who would be free to send a thump to the head for sniveling or slacking. Physical pain of the work, the cough deep in the chest that hurt came through clearly. The feelings of suffocation grew stronger and more intense as more images shot through the white light as they were released from the light being. Then the strongest feeling of fear came through and a sense of suffocation and diminishing life. The final image of the mining shaft collapsing on many young boys as they were buried alive flashed by and then the light beings each parted the human body they were in and rose into the light where they joined other light beings.

Calmness and love once again filled the space.

One light ball separated and the image of the man who was the father in the scene that had just unfolded appeared for a moment. Another light ball parted showing the face of the person who was the mother , another the face of a man from the pit, another the face of his friend, and as they broke the circle, other beings of light came to the group from afar showing faces and sometimes whispering a name. All passing love to the new light ball who accepted the love and the greeting. Some light beings stayed close for longer.

Stepping back, eternity was filled with the same scenarios happening among millions of light beings.

There were some light beings who were many times larger than others, and some light beings were like a sun with many light beings vibrating around them. In the distance was the largest light being, a long way forward from where we are.

A larger light being came to this group and pulled them all towards it. Psychically communicating the light being that was new was communicating that it had learnt acceptance, learnt that possession was nothing and love was everything as without love there was nothing but emptiness, the light being communicated it wanted to learn to show love and to care for souls who needed it. The larger light being communicated that whilst the last incarnation was short it was because it learnt all it needed quickly. It had learnt how to feel and engage and learnt to understand about what the soul was like without love or care. The large light being gave a male human face to the light ball. A man, attractive, the image changing from baby to adulthood but ended at an earth age of the middle earth years. The light ball received this with love and called another light ball over whispering Mother there was a feeling of a surge of unconditional love with this, another light being arrived and was given father where the feeling of pain was present, the light ball that had been his best friend in the previous incarnation came forward and was whispered the name Sarah to which sorrow and anger was attached, all light beings communicated and accepted with love.

The process of the above was timeless and unmeasured, a flash of light or an eternity, who knows. But the light beings of this group parted. The beginning can now begin.

This review by Amy Palko is more like a literary critique and, as such, I felt merited being a blog post.

Many thanks Amy for shedding such light and wisdom on my writings …

“Just finished reading Appreciating Angels – what a powerful story from a clearly remarkable lady!  The dialogue in particular is strikingly natural, something that I know from experience can be very difficult to get right.   As I was reading it I was very strongly reminded of the greek myth of Persephone.  

I have recently been researching archetypes and archetypal energy, and as part of those studies, I read Jean Shinoda Bolen’s Goddesses in Everywoman, which takes 7 greek goddesses and explores their archetypal influence on the lives of contemporary women.  She encourages a metaphorical approach to reviewing our lives resulting in a self-reflexivity that employs a symbolic lens.  

One of the goddesses that she focuses on is Persephone, the daughter of Demeter who was kidnapped by Hades and forced to reside in the underworld.  

Demeter spent many days searching for her daughter and, in her grief, she stopped tending to the harvest, and starvation & drought plagued the earth. Zeus, who had sanctioned Persephone’s kidnap, sent Hermes down to the underworld to retrieve her but by that point she had consumed a few pomegranate seeds.  By eating the seeds she had committed to spend a quarter of the year in the underworld with Hades as his queen.  This is what then accounts for our seasons in that Demeter tends to the earth while her daughter remains with her, and then allows it to fall barren when she is not.  

When I was reading Sarah’s story, I was called very strongly to Persephone’s narrative as so much of what Sarah has gone through, and her ways of coping, reflect that particular myth.  The attack is similar to Persephone’s abduction, as both are acts of a violent abuse of masculine power which result in a descent into the underworld, a dark, desolate place that reflects Sarah’s state of mind following the rape.  

Even the food, with Sarah’s anorexia and Persephone’s abstinence of any food other than 6 pomegranate seeds, can be seen as having a symbolic resonance.  

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, is Sarah’s search for a mother figure.  As she quite rightly identifies in her story, the role of the mother is not necessarily one which is played by our biological mothers, but rather by one who is drawing upon the archetypal energy of Demeter.  I think it’s very significant that Sarah fell in love with Susannah, her mother-figure, right before Katie calls her.  

Sarah projected herself back into the Persephone role right before descending once again to the underworld of turbulent memory and violent distress.   I strongly believe that we all have a ’set’ of archetypes that are there to help us fulfill our soul’s contract.  I think that the Persephone archetype came back into play for Sarah to allow her to articulate and learn from the life lessons she has lived through.  In Persephone’s role as queen of the underworld, it was her job to guide souls through the darkness.  

By drawing upon this archetypal energy, Sarah has done the same.  She has articulated her narrative and given voice to her experience and wisdom, and in so doing, she too has become a guide for others stumbling in the dark.     

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read it.”  -  Amy Palko, Sept ‘09

I received this e-mail today, its a lovely tale of ones encounter with a guardian angel. I am not so sure I believe in the vision of winged angels, rather that of the spirit in pure form within a human body, or being simply a voice. However there are those that belive angels may take any form. People stranded on a mountian have told of tales of animals that gave comfort in the hour of need. Divers have been daved by dolphins – who knows for sure but maybe the spirit of an angel can be in any form. This story, none the less, is heartwarming, and its message simple. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. –

The Little Pink Dress


There was this little girl sitting by herself in the park. Everyone passed by her and never stopped to see why she looked so sad. Dressed in a worn pink dress, barefoot and dirty, the girl just sat And watched the people go by. She never tried to speak. She never said a word. Many people passed by her, but no one would stop. The next day I decided to go back to the park in curiosity to see If the little girl would still be there. 

Yes, she was there, right in the very spot where she was yesterday, and still with the same sad look in her eyes. Today I was to make my own move and walk over to the little girl. For as we all know, a park full of strange people is not a
place for young children to play alone.

As I got closer I could see the back of the little girl’s dress. It was grotesquely shaped.. I figured that was the reason
people just passed by and made no effort to speak to her. Deformities are a low blow to our society and, heaven forbid
if you make a step toward assisting someone who is different. As I got closer, the little girl lowered her eyes slightly to avoid my intent stare. As I approached her,I could see the shape of her back more  clearly. She was grotesquely shaped in a humped over form. I smiled to let her know it was OK; I was there to help, to talk.  I sat down beside her and opened with a simple, ‘Hello’ The little girl acted shocked, and stammered a ‘hi ‘ after a long stare into my eyes. 

I smiled and she shyly smiled back. We talked until darkness fell and the park was completely empty.. I asked the girl why she was so sad.  The little girl looked at me with a sad face said, ‘Because, I’m different…’  I immediately said, That you are!’ and smiled. 

The little girl acted even sadder and said, ‘I know.’  ‘Little girl,’ I said, ‘you remind me of an angel, sweet and innocent.’ 

She looked at me and smiled, then slowly she got to her feet and Said, Really?’  

‘Yes, you’re  like a little Guardian Angel sent to watch over all the people walking by.’  She nodded her head  yes, and smiled.  With that she opened  the back of her pink dress and allowed her Wings to spread, then she said ‘I am.’ 

‘I’m yourGuardian Angel,’ with a twinkle in her eye.  I was speechless –  sure I was seeing things. She said, ‘For once you thought of someone other than  yourself.. My job here is done’..  I got to my feet and  said, ‘Wait, why did no one stop to  help an Angel?’  She looked at me, smiled, and said, ‘You’re the only one that could see me,’ and then she was gone.  And  with that, my life was changed dramatically..

So, when you think  you’re all you have, remember, your angel  is always watching over you. Like the story says, we all need someone… And, every one of  your friends is an Angel in their own way.  The value of a friend  is measured in the heart. I hope your Guardian  Angel watches over you always. 

]]> http://www.appreciatingangels.com/?feed=rss2&p=97 0 http://www.appreciatingangels.com/?p=71 http://www.appreciatingangels.com/?p=71#comments Sat, 29 Aug 2009 15:51:38 +0000 Sally Asling http://www.appreciatingangels.com/?p=71

Because the universe is bigger than we can comprehend.
Because God is love and light
Because the soul  is immortal and everlasting
Because all Angels work with Love to help us evolve spiritually
Because we chose to be here

Why are there bad people? I mean evil people, evil people that commit crimes suck as rape and imprisonment and claim they have found God and were guided by Angels…….

I have already shared that I believe we meet our soul group and pre ordain our human quest, but evil cannot be an act of love.

So is Earth an experiment. If all souls are full of love and light, learning and growing stonger to be closer to rejoining the supreme one being, then why do we have to experience such evil, or suffer at the hands of evil people.

I personally think the Earth is like one  long stage show. Pre scripted. Where some souls incarnate to just be Actors on the Earthly plane. If we don’t understand bad, how can we define good. If we dont have hate, would we know love? Is Earth the place of teaching us all one lesson and that is to understand good and bad?

If I hadn’t needed a hug so badly, would I truly understand how giving a hug can be so powerful an action? If I had not suffered, would I understand suffering? If I had not suffererd unrequited love, would I be able to value true reciprical love?

Are we all Actors in each others lives to play a part? I like to think I am quite nice, but last I found myself having to carry out a deed I knew would hurt someone. I knew the person would not be able to forgive me and forever I will be a baddie in their memory, but there was a reason and it had to be done. In the grand scheme of things my actions to have to terminate someones employment was fair, because we all know we are bound by certain rules. I knew this person for only a few months, I liked them and they were clearly going through difficult times. As much as would have liked to reach out, it was not appropriate to do so, and my actions lead them to lash out at me in hatred. I do not know where this persons life took them, but my actions negativly impacted them. Don’t get me wrong, I feel no guilt as my actions were conducted properly and for a reason. I am suggesting though, for those months and moments I was an actor in somone elses journey.

So, the fact that as a human race we are evolving and at times destoying our world, makes me wonder if the Human Being was the suprime beings stage, where our souls come, where time is slowed right down and where we experience Love and Hate, ultimatley for the journey of the utmost important – that of our soul.

Why are we here? Whats it all about?

I have often wondered why bad things seem to happen to good people. Sometime tragedy strikes and everyone can’t understand why it has happened to seemingly the nicest of people. It seems so unfair. At this time its hard to believe there is a God. I’ve heard it a zillion times people question that if there was a God why is there war, why do we die and why doesn’t “he” step in.  I am not religious, not in any way really. I don’t go to church, I don’t put my hands together and pray and I do not have a cross on my wall, I can’t say that I read the bible with any frequency, although like most I turn to the great book for births deaths and weddings.

For me religion is spirituality. Its about looking at the soul, it’s about believing in something so much bigger and powerful that a church or going to mass every Sunday. It’s about a lifestyle and an understanding.

My spirituality is something I was not born with, nor was I influenced by someone, it’s just grown within me as I have grown up asking questions and seeking answers, it’s something that feels right for me and something that for me explains everything in our living world simply.  It answers for me all the questions about birth and death, pain and suffering, love and happiness.

I believe in one almighty force, a powerful entity. If it , call it God. I believe that to become all knowing and all caring this light force sent out tiny particles of its self that became souls. Souls that are all made of light. Where time is nothing and the universe larger than our tiny lazy brains can conceive.  All the souls are on a journey of enlightenment to make its way back to become one being again. In our souls journey it needs to learn so much more than our earthly brains can understand. However, for a short time, short in relative to something so eternal we can’t conceive this either, our souls take residency in the human body here on earth.

Before our souls incarnates here, we meet with other souls on the astral plane. We look at other incarnations and plan out our incarnation of our time on earth, we path out our existence to teach our very soul what it needs to learn. We may meet other souls and agree to meet different people at different times of the journey to influence or change a course that leads us to the lesson or event we need to learn from or experience.

That means that sometimes bad things have to happen. It means that there is a reason for why something is happening, and we have to understand this and move forward. For whatever reason a person has on our life, be it a rapist or the hero of the hour, there is a reason they are in our life, its a soul we made a pact with and an event we preordained.

My belief in this started in my early 20’s when I was coming to terms with the events that my book “Appreciating Angels” tells the story of. It’s only in hindsight that I can see events for what they were and see that for my soul to grow I have had to discover all I have. The reason I called the book Appreciating Angels was because there were key people in my life that stayed for just a short time, but made a big impact on the journey I was on, often keeping me on some sort of path.

However, if I believe Angels are the souls that are in my life for good, and by Angels I mean the souls I met before my incarnation, and that these key people would influence and change my life – what was the rapist? If we are all souls in an incarnation, why are some bad?

I have not matured in my own mind enough to have all the answers, I just think that souls can get lost along the way, just like when we meet someone in real life we refer to them as a “lost soul” – I think maybe they lose direction – but the karmic law will take care of all this over time – and by time I mean the eternal time line not the time spent here on earth. Or maybe, someone gives up some of their soul’s good journey to play the baddie, so other souls can grow and learn from it. So whilst they are conducting bad deeds here on earth, it may be a sacrifice in the spiritual world for a soul to incarnate not for ultimate good but to learn lessons that they too need to learn.

Just my thoughts really, but I would be interested to hear yours………so do reply

Hello and welcome to my blog.

I am neither stupid
or neither bright
I still do wrong
I try to do right
I know theres’ a God
As I do perceive
Thou its freedom of choice
As to what you believe
I’ve had it rough
I’ve had it good
Life can be tough
but life’s as it should
I believe in Angels
You can ask me why
But all I know
Is our soul does not die

Before Appriciating Angels was born, I started a blog called Living the Desiderata, because of my beliefs in the human spirit. When I first started to write what was to become Appreciating Angels, the blog I had used for this, became the blog I started to write. I had long since forgotton about it, but then somone asked me if I had always had a stong spiritual side, or was it recent. Well, in my youth I gave it all little thought. It was only when one event after another in my life happened that I couldn’t understand what I was doing to seemingly bring about so much bad luck.  So I started to explore this, and how from this we all evolve together.

So I thought I would share with you, some of my musings before Appreciating Angels was born.

The thought process