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Contents copyright 2024 by Valerie Harms

Thinking about animals

1. People have wonderful memories of dogs or cats they had as children. How did a pet help you through hard times? How does a dog teach about love?

2. We are born of and live in the midst of nature. It doesn’t mean just a woods or lake. How much do we think of  Read More 
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Tips for Writing about Dreams of People

When you dream about your mother, father, brother, sister, friend, lover, co-worker, etc., describe their qualities. What are they like? How do you feel about them? If the dream takes place in the past, write about what was going on for you at that time. What was your relationship with the person then? What were the hopes and difficulties of your life? Let memories surface. You will be surprised at how a dream's meaning suddenly strikes you after you have done some remembering. Look for the click of recognition.  Read More 
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Review of The Inner Lover

Love is a matter of Life or Death -
A review of Valerie Harms' The Inner Lover by Doris Norrgaard

What the world needs now
is love sweet love,
that's the only thing
that there's just too little of... Hal David

Why has Psyche to perform so many difficult tasks to regain Eros? Why  Read More 
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Movies & Soul Journeys

Super response by Rose O:
The scene that came to mind the moment I read your instructions was from the movie "The Matrix."

Background: The Freedom Fighters have been badly betrayed by one who could not accept the painful truth of Reality and wanted only the bliss of the illusion offered by The Matrix. Neo and Trinity have gone into The Matrix to rescue Morpheus from the Agents, programs of the Machines. Trinity and Morpheus both believe Neo to be "The One" who would save humanity from the dominion of the Machines. Neo did not believe himself to be The One but refused to have Morpheus die due to a mistaken belief in Neo. (Morpheus had been captured when he sacrificed himself so that Neo could evade capture by the Agents.) With Herculean effort, Neo and Trinity successfully rescue Morpheus and send him back to Reality and out of The Matrix. Trinity follows Morpheus. But Neo's escape is prevented by the Agents and he is shot by Agent Smith and begins to die.

Pivotal point: Trinity and Morpheus realize that Neo has been badly wounded in The Matrix as his heartbeat weakens, his muscles flinch and blood begins to flow from his mouth. He is dying. Trinity whispers to him that she knows he is The One because the Oracle told her that she would love The One. She loves Neo; therefore, he must be The One. He is still dying. Then she kisses him -- the reverse of the Sleeping Beauty story where the masculine awakens the feminine principle -- and awakens him to the truth of his identity and destiny. Then she slaps him in the face (kind of like the slap on the baby's bottom at birth in The Real) and says something like "Now get to work!"

And so Neo dies to the old and is reborn into the New, changing him both in The Matrix and The Real. His system has been rebooted, seemingly by the power of love and faith. His abilities in The Matrix now exceed those of the fearsome Agents. He can command the rules of physics, which only exist in his Mind in the Matrix, since it's a computer program. This is essential -- Neo has been freed from the limits of his own Mind; his thoughts that defined him. But he was freed by the feminine principle, as represented by Trinity, and not by the masculine principle, as represented by Morpheus. It was Morpheus who found Neo within The Matrix and in The Real; who was the first to believe in him as The One; and who tried freeing him from the limits of Mind through various mental exercises. But Neo's spiritual evolution required more than mental expansion; he needed the element of emotion to grow beyond his belief system.

Neo can now absorb the Agents (programs) and transform them. He overcomes not by resistance but through surrender. He is now master of The Matrix, having been freed of previous constraints. He easily defeats the Agents and returns to The Real to rejoin Trinity and Morpheus, and step into roles of Hero, Lover, Savior, Protector. There are certainly Christ attributes in his evolution throughout the story line of the three movies.

Why do I identify with this scene?

Mostly because of the empowerment of the feminine principle, which I cannot recall from stories I was told in childhood. With Sigourney Weaver's character in the movies Alien and Aliens (the first two only), I was introduced to powerful feminine heroic figures. Women who epitomize heroism not only from the masculine perspective but in combination with the more feminine attributes of compassion and tenderness. Neo/Trinity embody this blend of the masculine and feminine as a couple: the blending of Heart and Mind, Strength and Compassion, Thought and Faith.

I appreciate the emphasis on being freed from the limits of one's thoughts/mind. I've read accounts of fruit flies who will not fly out of open jars because in previous generations the jar had been capped. The fruit flies are conditioned to circumstances that are no longer in place; they are genetically programmed not to fly above a certain height. I've also read of baby elephants being tied to sapling trees. When they grow up, they are capable of freeing themselves due to their incredible strength. But again, they have been conditioned or programmed to the belief that they cannot escape, so they do not try.

The scene also depicts a battle of good against evil. The few brave enough to grow beyond what is comfortable, to face what is Real rather than accept an illusion created by a mechanistic, soul destroying organization that literally feeds off the life force of people. Ramana Maharshi, a great sage and teacher of enlightenment, indicated that the Path of Self Enquiry is suitable for "ripe" souls, souls willing to surrender identifications with ego and constraints of mind.

I admire the faith of Morpheus and Trinity, to proceed on a course of action purely through strength of conviction. I admire the toughness of the Freedom Fighters who persist despite impossible odds, who fight for a better life, who fight for life -- period.  Read More 
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Archive of Archetypal Symbolism

A rich resource is the Archive of Archetypal Symbolism. At the Jung Institutes in NYC and L.A. are files of images with information on their symbolic meanings. They also have a newsletter. See http://aras.org/. I'll build a live link to the right.
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Article on Getting book published

In the July/August issue of the Montana State of the Arts Newsletter I have an article on how to get a first book published. Read it here (PDF at right) or at www.scribd.com.
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Over 55?

I just put up an email course I will hold in 3 sessions for people over 55 on FULFILLING YOUR BUCKET LIST. This will focus on life transitions and keeping the dreams alive. Email me at valerie@valerieharms.com. Locals in Bozeman can choose to meet over a refreshment.
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CSAs in Zone 4

CSAs enable you to order a box of freshly harvested produce from your local farms. Not only do you get great veggies, but also you support the sustainability of farmers. For a list I compiled of NW states, see http://zone4magazine.com/data/2010-06-15_csa_guide.pdf.
Zone 4 Magazine is chock full of great stuff too, published by Andra & Dan Spurr.
 Read More 
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Mexican writers

I just came back from Tucson where my daughter teaches fiction at the University of Arizona. The UofA recently had a 3 day book celebration. My daughter said the Mexican writers were very dynamic. Check out Mexican Fiction.
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Susan Orlean's book list

This site contains an excellent list of books, maybe some you don't know. I didn't know Pat Barker, for instance.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2010/06/susan-orlean-books-that-changed-my-world.html.

Susan Orlean is a very good writer herself. She authored The Orchid Thief, among other books and articles.
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