Of Turtles and Book Births
Blessings of the Spring
I grew up spending summers at Lake Kasshabog in the Kawartha Lakes of Ontario. It was an extraordinary childhood; rich like just-picked blueberries and milk for breakfast.
One of the stories of the lake was the presence of snapping turtles. If you were dangling your legs off the dock, you were bait for those turtles. If one swam up to you when you were out in the bay, swim hard. Mind you, I didn't know a soul who had ever been bitten. And I'd never seen a snapper up close. I knew only the painted turtles who napped in the sunshine on the logs at the end of the bay.
Many years later, as a grown, lone woman on a summer drive home from the cottage, I encountered many turtles on the road. The year before it had been frogs. This time it was turtles. Teeny ones. Medium ones. An occasional monster one. I moved six or more over the course of the trip.
One of them was huge with a long neck and a train of a tail like a dinosaur. I could barely lift him, but managed to elevate his huge curved shell and carry him across the road and into the brush, gently placing him at the water's edge. He paused, tall like a king and then tucked in and moved off so gracefully, I could feel his gratitude.
Ten minutes down the road I stopped for another turtle who looked just like him. Another dinosaur but this one was so tiny, a fraction of the size of his big brother. I bent to pick the baby up and in a split second he stretched his neck out like it was a snapped elastic band to bite me, striking so fast that his whole body spun around. He missed.
I stared at him for a while. Then it occurred to me to get a stick as an offering, and bite it he did, hard. He clamped onto that twig so relentlessly I could have suspended him from it. It was easy to get him across the roadway, so focused was he on his snapping mission. I dragged him like a fish on a hook.
It wasn't until I was driving again that it hit me. Big brother snapping turtle had been gentle in my arms like a kitten. Baby brother snapper decided to show me just what I missed with big brother.
I am grateful for naïveté and kindness of all kinds, including turtle.
On this day, my life is full of blessings. I find myself amidst a wave of birthing energy, including the special edition of DEAR HUMAN CHILD, finally heading to my offset printer in the Czech Republic, at the same time as the paperback and ebook launch worldwide on May 26. The softcover is also so very beautiful. I’m delighted by the cover design and the interior layout. It feels good to hold in the hands, to carry the transmissions with me in this way.
I am also honoured to share that my beautiful publishers at AWAKEN VILLAGE PRESS have included MONSTER MOST FEARED, Book Two of the Love Letters series, in the launch of their new Community-Rooted Publishing Model, alongside two other wonderful authors.
"We are a small, independent publishing house transforming the way books come into the world. Each season, we gather a cohort of soulful, courageous storytellers, authors whose work is more than content: it’s medicine. Through our cooperative model, we surround them with everything they need to bring their books to life: not just editing and production, but care, community, and sacred attention. This campaign supports three extraordinary women, Lorraine Martinez-Cook, Adi Kanda, and Gabriella Cacciatore, each at a pivotal threshold in their publishing journey.
What This Is Really About:
This isn’t just a crowdfunding campaign. It’s a sacred money flow: a chance to circulate your resources toward deep healing, necessary truth-telling, and powerful collective transformation. In a publishing world often shaped by gatekeeping and scarcity, we are restoring storytelling to its rightful place: as an act of communal care, legacy-keeping, and cultural alchemy.
This is about bringing through books that don’t just entertain or inform, they restore, reveal, and re-member."
Awaken Village Press has special offers for folks who wish to support the project and hold both books in their hands! Sometimes, life just brings one blessings.
Read all about it here: Community Rooted Publishing Model.
The Oracle asked What is the purpose of fear? The man said So that I know what is dangerous The Oracle asked And what do you find dangerous? The man replied Hunger cold darkness the lions and the bears and Death The Oracle said Ah and what is courage? The man replied To face the beast The Oracle agreed and said Exactly But you must not only face the beast you must follow him into his cave and discover his treasure He will fight you for it all the way And what is his treasure asked the man? The Oracle smiled His treasure is to show you that you may wake up from your dream any time you choose That the beast himself was the dream and so how can he be feared? And now instead you might choose to dream a river a forest a meadow You might choose to dream an entirely different world... ~ Which Hand do You Choose? from MONSTER MOST FEARED, Book Two, Love Letters from the Divine
much love, Adi