Books Reviews Interviews for Alchemy of Love Books

The Art of Four Elements book launch

March 26, 2011

The Sunday Times in April

by Josianne Facchetti

A long, beautiful, red skirt caught Jeni Caruana’s eye from a multitude of people walking down Republic Street. Less than an hour later she met Jason Lu and the girl in the red skirt – Christine Cutajar – while they were discussing an exhibition. Jason Lu asked Jeni Caruana if she too wanted to take part in this exhibition. When things are presented to you in a way that feels right, I go with the flow. This was the inception of The Art of 4 Elements – a multimedia project where 3 artists chose and got inspired by poems written by Natasa Pantovic.

They transformed the inspiration from the poetry into their own art. Their aim was to follow their hearts, explore their capabilities and reach their highest emotional, mental and spiritual potential through art and also inspire other artists through this exhibition. Moreover, they have created an online book containing over a hundred of Natasa Pantovic’s poems where each of the poems has a corresponding drawing, painting or photograph. Everyone is invited to take part in this online book by including their own art.

The golden thread weaving in and out of each poem are the 4 elements – earth, water, air and fire. Earth represents the poems, fire represents the life force, air represents meditation and mental work and water represents the flow of emotions and letting go.

When I asked Natasa Pantovic how she felt about exhibiting her poems and exposing her inner thoughts and feelings to the public she answered – I am trembling about it, because I will be judged by people, but that is part of the growth and the process of growth.

The artists found the poems emotive, inspiring and full of feeling. Most of them are about spiritual growth and positivity.

Water – Jeni Caruana

Water kind of chose me. I paint the human figure a lot. I am obsessed with the human figure. I draw and paint dancers and people in motion. There is something very fluid about dances and the way they move. So my paintings in this exhibition are a series of dances in motion which I chose to paint in ink and water because this medium is very fluid and flowing. It is almost uncontrollable. I am drawing with a brush with ink and water and it just takes on its own. It is practically water. You shouldn’t be too much in control when you are working alongside the medium. That is when the exciting things happen. I just went with the flow. Art is for looking at the world and saying how beautiful it is.

Jeni first drew dancers in motion and then ‘married’ them to 40 of Natasa’s poems which she had already chosen.

Air – Jason Lu

I used oil paint and oil pastel directly from the tube. I tried not to mix colour to keep it pure because I believe every colour and pigment emanates a different vibration and energy and vibration in its pure form can leave a direct impact. The poems I chose are so positive that they inspired me to use bright pure saturated colours.

The themes in the poems I chose are of finding the freedom within us to love, to liberate and take away the baggage or layers accumulated from parents, society and school. Everyone is intrinsically pure and full of love but it is the fear gathered along the way that blocks this love.

Through the air element in the poetry I worked on letting go. I soaked myself day and night with the inspiration I got from each poem. Sometimes it took a couple of days to turn this abstraction of poetry into my reality and my reality in art form can also be an abstraction to the viewer. The thought process was like a therapy, healing me from inside. I felt like a big onion taking off one layer at a time. So the air element for me is elevating.

I did my best to bring this out in my paintings through the flow, lines and curves. There is a process which works on the subconscious level and is realised once the work is finished. If an artist is honest about the creating process, it should be a reflection of what is going on inside. This experience helped me to grow on the spiritual, love and meditative level. Sometimes it is the process that is important in the growth not the actual work. It was a great journey for me.

Fire – Christine Cutajar

In Rumania just before I came back to Malta I woke up in the middle of the night thinking I want to do something with my photographs. The next day I was invited by Natasa to take part in this exhibition. When you feel and really want something, it happens.

Christine says that there was no doubt that her element is fire. This element reflects my driving force, need for creativity, passion, taking action, love for life and the change that this energy brings.

Life is like fire stages. These stages are reflected in spiritual growth – the highs and lows to reach our ultimate state and divine love. This is what I experienced while producing the photos for this exhibition.

It took me a very long time to choose the poems but I got a lot of inspiration from them and at times the poems gave me a voice for feelings I had, but did not know how to express. Then the poetry inspired me to translate this into shots I took of nature. It was a growth and a relief that I finally expressed myself.

Each artist chose 40 poems and produced 40 drawings, paintings and photographs related to and inspired from the poems. Some of these will be exhibited at St James Cavalier from the 27th April till mid May. The rest can be viewed on the online book – www.artof4elements.com

Posted by Nuit Poetry. Posted In : Spiritual Poetry Book

Interview with Jason Lu

March 25, 2011

Interview by Lily Agius

“This painting relates to my experience with my wife Zoya – floating in the air, relaxed...” Jason explains. I ask him why he has been represented much smaller in this by comparison with Zoë, and his quick response was, with a smile and a kind ‘Jason giggle’: “Because she is more important. She is the bigger part of my life.” He continued to point out that he had a little pink cow in the picture: “I like cows. This is a happy piece from two years ago. We are in the city but also the countryside – we are here but also in our own world, basically.” This was a good introduction for me to his studio – having now already been taken into the world of Jason Lu, within his bubble of art, his unabashed love of life and his infectious sense of humour. Walking around his studio with him and his Chinese friend he met at school in America – who had just arrived for a few days – I learnt the extent to which ‘art’ imitates Jason’s life.

EXPERIENCE WITH ART
“Back in Taiwan, I never did much art – I never had the chance to, except doodling. However, I moved to America when I was 15 and that is when I started learning a little bit here and there. When I was about 16, I was introduced to watercolour and the colour pencil, among other mediums, at school, but High School offered art programmes, teaching two and three-dimensional art including bronze casting, pottery, enamelling and oil painting. These are basic things that I still use to today. Painting, however, is a skill that I studied in Florence. I started painting from scratch in Florence, going back to basics in drawing, from academic drawing at the most basic level right up to oil painting, at the same time as doing academic sculpture. I then jumped back to The States and did my major in computer arts, which was mostly web design, graphic design and computer animation. I have not touched any of these programmes in about 12 years or so now. Computer arts are, of course, a real art, but it depends on your own personality and I prefer to get my hands dirty.

“Art is an extension of me, and that’s part of why I became an artist. When I was in The States I couldn’t really speak English and actually, somehow, I communicated through drawing for the first two years, so I really discovered the power of art as communication. Since I couldn’t do much else, I focused on art, and it helped me grow very quickly with different mediums.”

STYLE, SUBJECT MATTER AND MEDIUMS
“Maybe, since I was first trained in The States, I don’t really attach myself to any medium. Perhaps if you study in Italy you specialise in one field, but in The States they teach you to be more open and to do more experimental things. This could be why I have ideas that are sparked by different mediums and why I change styles so often – styles can be very dangerous. For me, style is a comfort zone. I feel that if you stick to one style, you fail to grow. What is fun about true art is that you are not responsible to anyone. It is more about yourself and the artwork, and I think your art grows with you like an extension of your mentality.

“As a professional artist, I survive by teaching. That way I don’t need to manipulate the artwork to satisfy the viewer and instead can create what I want to create. So, I don’t need to worry about selling my artwork and I teach what I believe. I teach the students the technique that they want – it may not necessarily be art, but it is a craftsman’s skill.

“If we look at my shouting figure mask – you could say that no-one would want this in their home as it can be seen as scary, but maybe there is a message behind it that I want to convey. It is definitely not commercial: the size is too big and the subject matter is too heavy but, you know, that’s the fun of it, as I am creating for myself. I could always create a beautiful figure for people to collect, but that is not why I became an artist to begin with – that’s the difference.

“For me, what is more important is expressing what is inside, and making sure that it is expressed properly. It can be expressed through a computer, a painting, a sculpture, a performance or installation art... It is not about the final product but the message and the process. If I want to survive as a professional artist, sometimes I do need to have something to say in the end, but in terms of creativity, a lot of things actually disintegrate in time anyway and you should be free to express yourself.”

CHINESE ARTISTS WITHIN THE ART-SCENE
“I’m going to offend a lot of Chinese artists, but I think they create too many political artworks. Suddenly they got this freedom, and too many of them do so called ‘bad technical art’, since somehow, that is the trend of the whole art market.

“I think that they should take away the brackets of ‘classical’ and ‘contemporary’ – since it is really about truly expressing what is inside. Maybe what they want to express is political, but somehow I feel that it is much too much. They just want to shout and it has become too boring. They are clearly influenced by the West and are not using much to do with their own Chinese tradition. This is okay, since we live in a contemporary age in which every medium is used, but I feel that the true voice can be found from the country you are brought up in and that would be the most honest voice for them to use rather than imitate someone else and conform to a market. Artwork should be the voice from within – that is the most important. Everyone is unique and different.”

MALTA AND LIFE
“Over the last eight years, Malta has really helped me realise who I am. The pace here is slow, and it has allowed me to isolate myself with my work, and to think about what I do in my life that has, in turn, helped me grow... The climate and energy in Malta is quite special and has also helped me get through very difficult periods of my psychological layers... Every moment is changing me, but at this moment I feel pretty balanced, grateful and happy, and I love my life and appreciate everything that is coming to me. The most important thing in my life is to search – what is my responsibility as a human being at this period of time while I live on earth? And through this searching period, art is the medium through which I express myself as a person – a reflection of my personal growth.”

QUOTE FROM A FRIEND WHO MET JASON IN 10TH GRADE IN AMERICA
“His English was very poor and my Chinese was very poor. In fact, his English was so bad, I had to improve my Chinese because of him. Ironically, his English didn’t improve until he went to Italy. He was always known as ‘the artist’ in school. Even back then, he said art was a medium in which to communicate in place of language. He was always very creative and even to this day I think that he is the hardest-working person I know, despite what people might think – that artists are all slackers. That is never the case. Personality-wise, he’s always the same.” Jason laughs.

WHAT IS AN ARTIST?
“For me, an artist is a name that people give you – a label, like a chef. You use a profession to survive. But I think that, in a way, if you perfect what you do and express yourself, everyone is an artist. What is art at the end of the day? My definition of art is expressing yourself fluently with any medium – writing, talking, film... it could be anything. Art is anything that you put your heart into.”

WHO IS JASON LU?
“A husband – eventually I could be a father – I am a son, a friend... I am a regular human-being like everyone else. We all try to do our best. We need to be true to ourselves inside – if you are not true to yourself then you will not be happy and won’t be able to love the things you do or those around you. Love ourselves, love others and do the things that we love.”

Upcoming exhibition: Jason Lu is one of four artists taking part in an exhibition next year in Malta based on what is felt through poetry by Natasa Pantovic. Jason has illustrated his feelings in small canvasses inspired by 40 poems, but he tells me that he doesn’t remember any of the poems, instead he feels them, having used the right side of his brain – the creative side. He continued to explain that his work is somewhat primitive and childlike, but this is how he wanted it to be – capable of reaching out to anyone of any age, from a three-year-old who can pick up the colours, to an adult who can perhaps read the hidden message behind it. “Poetry is an emotion, and you can see how it inspires me....”

Posted by Natasa. Posted In : Spiritual Poetry Book

Creativity - losing fear of being wrong

March 25, 2011

Although coming from absolutely different backgrounds, destiny decided to cross their roads due to unique artistic creation. Concentrated over the poems of Nataša Pantović, three artists let themselves go in search for mysteries of life and their meanings

By LJILJANA SAMARDŽIĆ (ljiljana.samardzic@wavemagazine.net)
from Sombor, SERBIA

A very unusual exhibition had been opened in Malta on April 27th. Visitors could see the art crafts which were made as inspiration of four elements - fire, water, air and earth. Those are the same basic elements which Empedocles considered as four basic beings of nature. The Earth has been presented through poems of Nataša Pantović (Serbia), Fire, which Heraclites thought of as the most unstable element, belonged to Christine Cutajar (Malta), photographer. Jason Lu's (China) paintings described his view and presentation of Air and Jeni Caruana (UK) painted Water, which she considers an almost uncontrollable element.

Things which also make this exhibition original are book "The art of four elements" which contains 120 art works and 120 poems and website http://www.artof4elements.com/. Each artist took 40 different poems and turned them into pieces of art. As it is written on their website, life is just an experiment in which "most of us strive to hit the jackpot, to find the recipe for love, happiness, fulfillment, to get to the finish line healthy, without suffering, sane, inspired and laughing. The Art of Four Elements is a story of such an endeavor, of an attempt, a dream, to discover a sacred stone that transforms metals into gold, helping our souls live their highest potential."

Exploring her own soul and paths, Christine Cutajar went from psychology to the artistic world and instantly experienced success and her very first confirmation and positive critics.

What made you change your mind regarding your profession and become photographer and artist?

- Studying psychology was interesting for my personal development and growth. However, I always felt an ambiguity as to how to apply this knowledge to a particular profession. Having worked on myself to always follow my heart and intuition in my life, I trusted that this again will be my guide to give me clarity in my profession. And it was indeed my trust in the divine and accepting my true self which led me to feel free and confident in expressing myself through art, more specifically abstract-nature photography.

This is your first exhibition and a kind of confirmation as artist. Which thoughts and what feelings are characteristics of your preparation for this event and the opening itself?

- Yes, this is my first exhibition. I felt very excited about the whole event and about exhibiting my work with established artists. I also experienced some anxiety, but I guess that is just a part of this preparation.

In the interview for "The Malta Independent" it is mentioned that this is the very first exhibition of this kind in Malta. Are there similar or same exhibitions present in other parts of the world?

- I have not heard about similar exhibitions abroad.

Why did you choose to base your exhibition on the four elements?

- Transforming the visible into words, and words into images, The Art of Four Elements artists gathered together with a common dream to explore the manifestation of: Earth that is fixed, rigid, static and quiet, and symbolizes the world of senses; Water that is the primordial Chaos, is fluidity and flexibility, and symbolizes the world of emotions; Air that has no shape and is incapable of any fixed form. It is a symbol of thoughts; Fire that is boundless and invisible, and is a parching heat that consumes all, or within its highest manifestation, becomes the expression of Divine Love, and Spirit that stands at the center of the four elements as an Essence, an Observer, Consciousness coming forth to experience the magic of Life.

When you were making photographs, did you use something else beside poems as inspiration?

- It was a very interesting experience as during the creative process my inspirations from nature, photography and the poetry all came together and led me to create the image from this combination.

How do you expect that your art will affect on people? What do you wish to evoke in them?

- From the comments which I have had from the exhibition, most people were intrigued with the most abstract of photos. For me, the visitors' various reactions to my work were interesting as it reminds me of the mysteries in life and our reactions to them. It also reminds me of how different each person's perceptions are to the same thing, as we all come from different backgrounds... and it makes me wonder how important it is to question our own beliefs and perceptions of the realities we form.

Since the exhibition is about to end, can you share your experience and tell us what do you gain from it?

- During the opening I found myself fascinated with the different interpretations of the subjects in my photos. Having received very positive feedback on my work from various sources, I would say that I gained more support and encouragement to make more of my work public.

What are your plans for future? Will there be more exhibitions soon and will this one be available in other countries as well?

- I am currently working on other projects, connected mostly to abstract-nature photography, which will be released during the coming months, where you can find more information in the near future on my website: http://www.nurisha.net/ . This exhibition is only available in Malta, however the book will be available worldwide in the near future.

Posted by Natasa. Posted In : Reviews

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Best Life Transformation and Favorite Self-Help books lists at Goodreads as voted by readers with Mindful Being towards Mindful Living Course and Conscious Parenting by Nataša Pantović Nuit

parenting lists goodreads best books with Conscious Parenting Book by Nataša Pantović Nuit

Today's Featured Author Nataša Pantović Nuit with Susan Leigh

What or who inspired you to start writing?

After helping Father George build a school in a remote area of Ethiopia, I entered the most amazing world of parenting adopting two angels from Ethiopia as a single mum. My kids are actively teaching me how to be a more loving, mindful and conscious parent. Ema and Andrej love and train basketball, play music, act within a Music Theater Group and were Chess Champions of Malta.

How much of yourself, your personality or your experiences, is in your books?

My life story book has many pages within the world of Marketing and Management Consultancy and work as Trainer building courses in Communication, Leadership, Team-Building. Some of the most intriguing pages also talk about 25 years of Yoga and Meditation, and my spiritual exploration journey through Theosophy, Zen, Tantra, Antroposophy, Yoga and my yogic vegetarian life-style where I danced barefoot in the rain, meditated for hours in search of God and read 1,000s of spiritual & psychology books. I learned from many Leaders, Gurus and Sages of our past and present....

Read Write Club Featured Author Nataša Pantović Nuit

Tell us about yourself and what inspired you to start writing.
My dear life explorers, if you are reading this interview it is likely that this amazing Holographic Universe got us together for a reason. Our thoughts have already met, it is now time for us to meet. Endless life lessons and endless questions connect our souls search towards the path of love, peace and harmony and this magic key is in our hands. While examining this supreme alchemy of soul I had to write…

Tell us about your books.
Believing that we are all innately divine the Alchemy of Love Mindfulness Training Series of 9 books explores the alchemy of the soul: the preparation, transformation and initiation process as an underlining method of personal development and growth.

The Series is a spiritual not religious endeavor that uses life-coaching tools from various philosophers, gurus and sages of our past and present. The Series of many genres, includes; poetry, personal development, and historical fiction.

We attempt to explore: Virtues, Core Beliefs, Ancient Tools such as: Meditation, Mandalas, Dream and Soul’s Diary, explore relationships designing a relationship Plan, Training Willpower, building the motivation and discipline, Choosing a Perfect Healthy Nutrition,
working with Creative Intelligence: Improving our capacity for logic, emotional knowledge and problem solving.

Buzzfeed Interview with Nataša Pantović Nuit about Mindful Living

Author Nataša Pantović Nuit has told Buzzfeed that her latest nutrition book called: Mindful Eating with Delicious Raw Vegan Recipes, is about how ‘consciousness transforms into its golden possibilities’:

While sitting and awaiting Nuit at the dawn of this wintry day, mid March, a ginger cat jumped onto my lap purring for attention. A lucky one really, doesn’t need to worry about what to eat and how. We on the other hand spend endless hours thinking and talking about healthy food, conscious diets, the alternatives to junk we continuously chose to digest.

Nuit approached our table slowly giving me enough time to have a closer look at this lovely lady. This woman with bluish green eyes and long brown hair slightly whitening at the front has stopped her age clock at around 40 knows what she says and does. In fact she is a very conscious woman, her words are perfectly measured, wise and her whole appearance is very meditative.

Author of 7 books all dealing with conscious living, mindfulness, alchemy of soul, Nuit will talk to me about her book on nutrition called Mindful Eating....

How often do you think one can eat junk food? I asked.

‘The treats are part of the beauty of life. It is the indulgence that creates problems. Our busy life-styles take us into the hands of fast food chains, processed foods manufacturers, and we somehow forget that the easiest and healthiest food is the one from our gardens, raw unprocessed fruit and veggies. I’ve been a vegetarian for the last 30 years and I am still passionate about the consciousness of this choice. It’s a life-style diet that pays respect to our Mother Gaia and her resources.’

It’s a life-style of a yogi living in an urban area not in a cave. I suspect your life-style does not include drinking alcohol, indulging in sweets and soft drinks I asked. She giggles.

‘If you wish for a treat make yourself daily a good cup of coffee preferably organic and fair trade, add some spices to it, experiment, enjoy a bar of dark chocolate and indulge in wonders of herbal teas, green teas, coconut water, instead of going for fizzy sugary drinks.’

Let’s face it: if we are to choose from a carrot salad and chicken nuggets with some Coke many will still unfortunately for their well-being chose the latter. The unconscious part of our minds is still much greedier than our wish to stay healthy and fit until our old age.

‘It is our unconscious eating that could become a problem, all the poisons that we put into our bodies. Choose your diet consciously, enjoy all you do and go back to the wonders of mindfulness daily.’

‘I have designed and published the Alchemy of love mindfulness training books with a team of very inspiring experts all in love with life and mindful living.’ ‘Do not get obsessed with food, get obsessed with wonders of life. It is possible to live life happily and healthily. It is mindfulness and love that you want to fall in love with and the spiritual journey itself.’

Book Reader Magazine Featured Author Nataša Pantović Nuit

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Poetry has always been my way to express different states of mind. Hence my two poetry books (Art of 4 Elements and Tree of Life). Getting lost within a book and writing were my first fascinations. Read at least a 1,000 of books and wrote a 1,000 of pages…

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Both Hesse and Tolstoy were my first Spiritual Gurus. Through their deep insights and soul-full messages I for the first time experienced the world of spiritual growth and meditation. I was 16 when I discovered them and since they followed me through my learning. Many artists inspire my writings, especially the ones that lived some centuries ago like; Leonardo da Vinci, Lao Tzu, Giordanno Bruno…
I am deeply attracted to the insights a mix of different cultures offer. My kids are from Ethiopia, they speak Serbian (my mother tongue) fluently and consider themselves to be Serbian-Maltese Ethiopians. Ama, the protagonist of my historical fiction novel, comes from Kenia and lives in Macao (China) during the 17th century. Her father is a Portuguese Alchemist, her mum a Kenyan Queen and her friends are from all around the planet, finding themselves in the midst of this complex blend of Chinese, Portuguese and Africans that live together on this little peninsula during the 17th century. Ama as an African Goddess living in China, came to my worlds before I had an idea to adopt children from Addis Abeba.

Conscious Parenting Buzzfeed Interview with Nuit

Nuit Author of seven mindfulness books tells BuzzFeed about her new adventure, a self-development course designed for parents called Conscious Parenting. She claims parenting to be a skill and a calling that constantly challenges our spiritual and personal growth. Nuit says: 'It is a million dollars question: how do we still work on self-development increasing Love, Understanding, Wisdom even though the art of parenting is so complicated? How do we become more loving parents?'

Q. Tell us more about this movement of Conscious Parenting, of Mindful Parenting, or Simplicity Parenting?

A. 'Conscious Parenting' or Spiritual Parenting is a natural result of our decision to start working on our Parenting Self-Development.'

'Stepping into the foot-steps of our ancestors, gurus, alchemists, sages, dreaming a better world, we walk our path enriching our mental, emotional and spiritual experiences. Within the parenting world this movement takes the form of: Conscious Parenting. As a Conscious Parent we acknowledge that every child is an individual with a different growth rate and a potential that is varied and vast. Respecting the needs of these beautiful souls, listening to their unique voices, hearing their wants will assure them that no matter how tiny they are somebody will kneel down to Listen. Respecting the potential that is hidden within each child, we respect their potential to become Kings of their Trade, or Saviors of the World to come.'

'Our children need our Love, support and sanity within this amazing matrix of choices we live in. They need us to guide them towards healthy foods, habits, inspiring activities, life enriching friends, etc.'

Q. Can we do it and how?

A. 'It is possible to get it RIGHT if we stick to the very basic principle of Self-Development and Spiritual Growth: encouraging within our children a strong capacity for feeling, rich soul experiences, with a capacity for strong mental growth and a potential for strong willpower.' But we can not do it alone. I keep saying to my kids: Please help me become a better and more loving parent!

'It is easy for parents to lose themselves in Parenting Responsibilities, in day to day tasks, in screams of demanding children, within the piles of shit of their babies, within Parenting Rules and Roles. It is easy for parents to lose the connection with Her Majesty Love. A harsh or skeptical parent can easily subdue the life force of the child. An energy of a warm, gentle, loving parent will be absorbed unconsciously into the new forming mind that will so gain and maintain a deep devotion to Life.'

A. 'It is important not to give up, get discouraged, or forget that we can aim to reach our highest potential even surrounded with screams, buttered with no sleep, exhausted with the utter lack of privacy, utter lack of space for one-self, constantly challenged with various demands (for more and more chocolate, for more and more TV, for more and more games, for more and more expensive gifts, for more and more and more…);'

Spiritual Writing through History with Nataša Pantović at Booklikes

We're happy to welcome Nataša Pantović Nuit, an author of 9 mindfulness books and spiritual researcher and trainer, on BookLikes blog. Nataša introduces the subject of spiritual writings, and we have to confess that we've learned a lot form this short piece. We wish you all inspiring and spiritual reading. And writings!

If you are into “Spiritual writings” you are probably already pre-warned and have experience more than a few expectations and accusations instantly associated with this amazing genre. To be fair, throughout the history this was the most read genre of all. Remember the “eternal” classics such as: Bible, Koran, Baghavagita, to mention just a few, that have earned the reputation of the “best sellers” of all times. Whether in English speaking countries or within the countries of the East, the books that took the attention of the millions were “Spiritual” writings, talking about eternal love, happiness, or damnation.

Even within the ancient marketing, it was clearly understood that if a book is written by God, it stands a much better chance to win huge audience. Paradoxically, if you are a believer, all the books are by force written by God or influenced by His or Her Majesty, cause God as an Omni-potent entity must surely encompass the world of writing, yet a claim that the words are directly channeled by Holy Spirit (a messenger of God) is quite a popular one. Yet the competition within the world of Holy Spirit followers is quite tough, surely such experiences must be unique and sacred, so the other people’s assertion of the same, was at times guarded by deathly sword.

Within the competition of who is more “enlightened”, and closer to God, only “the best” could possibly survive. Some tradition have decided to keep this “spot” reserved only for the karmic few, by birth given rights, some others chose a complicated hierarchical process that after the completion give their God representatives the full trust.

Moving a step away from the Holy Books, and mind you this was not easy, there were times when only Holy Books were readily available for folks around the fire gathered to read, the written word was once “sacred”. If it is “written” then it must be true. Pope Innocent the VIII (we are talking 15the century) embraced a book written by two German Dominican Monks, called the “Malleus Maleficarum”, the Witches' Hammer, the hunting manual and blessed it, giving to the Inquisition all the power and tools needed to act against this so-called evil, called: women, resulting in killing some-say millions...

Spirituality and Historical Fiction within the Home of Wayne Turmel

My relationship with the spiritual and religious is complicated, to say the least. And while I remain very skeptical, bordering on the agnostic, in most issues, the search for the soul and the things that bring it peace fascinates me. Basically, I gave up searching a while ago, but respect and cheer on those who continue their journey. As usual, it’s taken me a long time to get to the point: today’s interview with Nataša Pantović Nuit and her novel “A-ma: Alchemy of Love.”

I think that historical fiction is a great way of asking the important questions in life, don’t you?

Yes, using historical fiction, my major question to the audience was: How much of our thoughts, feeling or insights are truly ours and how many of them repeat within the various historical settings on Earth, throughout the centuries. Within our own spiritual journeys the major question is our eternal addiction to suffering (in my story this is the voice of Lilith). Can we let it go? Can we live our highest potential? Can we open to Love?

What is it about that time period or character that intrigued you and motivated you to write about it?

I was triggered by Giordano Bruno’s writings and his drive to change the existing “dogmatic” structure within the science and religion of his time. Trying to prove that the Earth is not at the center of our Universe, placing humans at the periphery of Gods attention, shook the essence of our Adam and Eve story, our story of Jesus, our promises of Heaven and Hell, and has threatened to undermine our Religious and Political foundations. Entering the Age of Reason and Age of Enlightenment from the long period of darkness, fighting so many “demons” must have inspired many enlightened souls and their “revolutionary” spirit and works: Leonardo Da Vinci, Martin Luther, Christopher Columbus, Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Galileo Galilei, to name just a few.

Now, imagine living during these times, imagine the 16th and 17thcentury China, being in the shoes of Jesuit Portuguese Priests who came to convert the Chinese into Christianity and for the first time truly met the wealth and depth of this most amazing culture…

Why China you may ask? I found it most intriguing that China had a compass and gun powder centuries before they came to Europe. Did you know that they possessed the most advanced Navy, yet they always focused on the trade with their neighbors, never went into frantic invasions of other continents. Reading about holocausts committed all around the world by Colonists powers around different continents (American Indians slaughter, Australian Aboriginals destruction, or crimes against New Zealand Maoris) all gave me an insight about how unfair was our world, and difficult our fight for justice, better world, and freedom. Within A-Ma we follow insights and subtle energy battles following lives of a group of enlightened souls who understood the prime importance for West and East wisdom sharing.

Without giving away spoilers, what’s your favorite scene in the book?

It is the setting of my story.

The world without a coffee or a tea shop was also our reality, not such a long time ago. The books were kept within the cellars of privileged, with an access only to the few. Various Monasteries were great for studying, however going out of their walls, there were a few places where people could gather to discuss life and philosophy. Coffee or tea shops mushroomed during this time, each one of them having similar setting where all classes are mixed and each could afford this inexpensive cup of delicious liquid. They were called “Penny Universities”, they gathered artists, philosophers, time-wasters, actors, poets. This became a natural setting of my story, Ama’s coffee house in Macao, at the edge of China. Ole within its walls gathered all sort of researchers.

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