Appreciations

Thanks to my former wife Najda Maria for helping bring the Divine to life in our partnership and in our home. Thanks for seeing my sacredness when I couldn't. Thanks for your support of this book. And thanks for encouraging my connection with Nature.

Thanks to my son Mark for showing me how much love there is to being a parent. Thanks for your joyous spirit, for reminding me how to drop everything for the moment of Now, for being a boy who loves to sing, dance, run and wrestle. Thanks for being in my family.

Thank you Gurumayi for showing me the nectar of chanting, Gangaji for the clarity of your message and Guadeloupe for your protection. Thanks Karunamayi for your love and your encouragement of this book. Thank you Divine Mother for the love, inspiration and gentleness you bring me. 

Thank you Bob Noonan for all the writing tips and the great editing. And thank you Bob White for your awesome support and encouragement with this book, for your masterful coaching, and for seeing the greatness in those around you. 

Thank you Debbie Hird for helping turn this stack of papers into a work of art. Thanks Mike Gazzola and Marlyne Turner for guiding me through the printing process. Thanks to the Mastermind Alliance, to Joe Gerry, Jane Gibbs, Sarah Nevin, Rich Faler, Judy Noonan, Barry Kaplan, Silke Fuchshofen, Gene Chambers, Donna Galloway, Dan Mahoney, Elissa Al-Chokhachy, Jennifer Brown and all the people on the Planetary Partner's e-mail list for your support.

Thanks to my mom and my dad, both in spirit. Mom, I still don't know how you managed to raise 8 kids. Thanks for being someone I could talk to and for treating me as an adult. Thanks Dad for waving at little kids in the car in front of us, for bringing home turtles you picked up crossing the road, for taking me fishing and letting me hug you in your later years. Thank you both for the gift of life. 

Thanks to my siblings Bob, Jim, Bill, Dave, Judy, Dan and Mike. Bob for treating Mike and I as adults way back when, Jim for teaching me how to pitch, Bill for giving us wild rides in your convertible VW when we were kids, Dave for your enthusiasm, Judy for the BB King concert when I was 15 and for offering me a refuge when it got too hot at home. Dan for the lucky strikes in the bullpen after dinner and dishes, and Mike for our late night talks about everything under the sky as we slept out on the porch every summer. Our family is quite a gifted and unique cast of characters.

Thank you Kushners and De Groots for welcoming me into the family, teaching me what 'lechayim' means and introducing me to lox, lutkes and whitefish.

Thank you Hawkes for being neighbors and friends. Thank you Florence for showing me how to get the hook out of the mouth of a painted turtle, for selling me flats of flowers cheap and mostly for listening to the ongoing observations of a kid. It was great to be listened to. Thanks Frank & Dick for the summer jobs on the farm and letting me eat my fill of peas, beans, cukes, apples, plums and pears. Thanks Rob and Gene for all the bike riding and games of kick the can. 

Thanks Margaret Millard for offering me acupuncture instead of valiums when I was 18, for the past life regressions and half price sessions so I might heal my psyche. You were way ahead of your time.

Thanks Dick Wurfel and Mary Ann Scalley for being my friends over many a draft. Thanks Bob Marcoux and Bill Maxfield for teaching me the ropes in carpentry and roofing, along with how to deal with a difficult boss. 

Thanks Pat and the Vywamus community for helping me learn the art of reception. Thanks to the folks at the Swampscott Church of Spiritualism, my new family when I left Maine back in 1980. Thanks Ruth for your help with the Bimini trips, and Diane for your feedback. Thanks Lauren for your candidness, and Emmett for your courage. 

Thanks Pat Rodegast for bringing Emmanuel into my life. Thanks Sarah Nevin for bringing Emmanuel forward through our many classes and sessions. Thanks Richard Bach for your book Illusions, my bible for a decade. Thanks Babaji, Bade Baba, Neem Karoli Baba, Ramana and Yogananda, for the lives you lived and the paths you show. 

Thank you Melinda for our fishing, for the minge roos and for your songs so holy. Thank you brother Bob for the cabin logs and for your commitment to talking it through, no matter what. Thank you Bob Morehouse for partnering on Camp Denison and teaching me about town government. Thank you Bob Elliott for the men's weekend and your collaboration. 

Thanks to the spruce tree in the back yard, for giving me a place of refuge amongst your branches in my childhood. Thank you snakes, for stirring my kundalini as a kid. Thank you ponds, for showing me fecund fertility. 

Thanks to each of you, and to all my friends. I am so grateful for your presence in my life.

And thank you Elements; Fire, Earth, Air & Water, for the many ways you move me. Thank you fairies, elves, Devas and Pan, for this garden so beautiful. And thank you all beings of Light, seen and unseen, for your support along the way.