Emergence
Hi Avid Readers – whether you’re a butterfly emerging from your chrysalis, a snake shedding your skin, or a lotus blossoming from the dark waters, fresh new horizons abound. So, dance your mind into alternative realities and discover cats, dragons, disco, and astral time-travel through adventures in magical reading. Enjoy!
News update:
Autumn – I hope you have had a wonderful Summer and have been enjoying the lovely weather. The Autumn finds me busy trying to complete the final draft of my new book – a fairy story that completes the anthology of joy. I am hoping to have this with you soon.
Winter – As the crocuses and daffodils begin to burst forth in the nearby wood, winter whites and sunshine yellows, work nears completion on ‘The Land of Bliss’ – a fairy story. More details to follow soon…
Summer – ‘The Land Of Bliss’ was always intended to be the first book launched, and is the main story for ‘The Anthology Of Joy’, a collection which comprises ‘The Land Of Bliss’, ‘An Alchemist’s Wedding’, ‘In Consideration Of Cats’, and ‘The Chameleon’s Last Dance’. Each story was to reflect and capture a different aspect of joy: of happiness and love triumphing over experience (the blending of step-families), of personal joy (marriage), of domestic joy (cats), of a celebratory night out (dancing). But first some time to breathe. Thanks for all the lovely feedback and support, and I hope you are enjoying the wonderful portraits by Nick Sweet-Rogers (please see the ‘Gallery’ for further images).
Yin and Yang – Oyster and Pearl
It’s always interesting to discover new words – their meaning, heritage and root.
I often struggle to find the right words to express the poetic feelings I have as a writer and usually find that the expression I want is alive in another culture and realisation comes to me as a reward for the journey into greater consciousness. This week I stumbled upon the Scottish word ‘smooring’ and I felt closer to understanding the position of my hero in ‘The Wilderness Diary’ as he tries to keep the light inside himself alive as he is buried beneath his Falling Tower.
In some ways he is smothered and extinguished by the process of grief, yet in other ways he is banked with ashes awaiting the rekindling of his morning. Perhaps that is why Hestia, Goddess of the Hearth, made her way into the book. The challenge and complexity of ‘The Wilderness Diary’ continues to reveal many a mystery, but for me it was only one half of the journey.
‘Popcorn, Parasites, Precious & Pearls’ is the Yin to the Yang, the oyster to the pearl, that explores some of the threads found in ‘The Wilderness Diary’ through comedy. Now the companions can rest side by side leaving me with much to reflect on in the deep, quiet beauty of December.
The Healing Trust
A big thank you to the Healing Trust for their recent article on my writing as a ‘creative life author’ in their Spiritus magazine (issue 11). Entitled ‘The Creative Life of a 21st Century Mystic’ it recounts the healing journey recorded in ‘The Wilderness Diary’ – the high-octane, revolutionary, dream-of-consciousness account of a Magical Adept who astrally time-travels as he progresses on his spiritual journey to the Heart.
‘The Wilderness Diary’ and ‘Popcorn, Parasites, Precious and Pearls’ were intended to be read together as part of the ‘Yin-Yang Experiment’ – ‘Popcorn’ being the humorous antidote to the grief-fuelled revolutionary dream-of-consciousness found in ‘The Wilderness Diary’. One is the journey of night to day, the other the journey of light to dark (an exploration of the taijitu where each aspect contains the seed of the other). I hope one day to collate the stories into their respective collections. Meanwhile, after 2 years of editing, proofing and designing, I am beginning to turn my attention to some new writing.
Introducing Cosmo Chaussette – ‘The Cat’s Whiskers’
“Meow, now, how…
Hello fellow cat lovers… Cosmo Chaussette here, the world’s foremost darling of the cat world. In the run up to Christmas I and my pet human (author of the delightful 5-star ‘In Consideration of Cats’) will be donating 50 pence per book from all world sales in November and December 2014 to the RSPCA charity.
Whether paperback or ebook, this charming glimpse into the world of cat culture will be benefiting our feline friends across the nation. So, spread the butter onto your paws, roll in the catnip and jump over the neighbour’s fence to get hold of the purr-fect, whisker-licking Christmas present. Available from Amazon, iTunes, Kobo and Smashwords. All in a good cause and the best possible of taste.
Ciao! Ciao! for now… Cosmo x”
In Consideration Of Cats – a review by Vincent Carmichael
Keith Brazil’s ‘In Consideration Of Cats’ succeeds in bringing to life the feline spirit of being; serving up a cacophony of charming and thought-provoking images. Paulo Coelho meets T S Elliot.
Love them or loath them, cats have featured in mankind’s history since the beginning of time. Over the ages they have been revered for their mystical, almost magical, qualities and in ‘In Consideration Of Cats’, the author’s “herd” reveal some of their secrets.
This is a beautiful and touching account of the author’s feline family antics. Acutely observed, charming, witty, sometimes savage but with candid honesty, the author gives us a brief glimpse into the feline subconscious, inviting us to consider the potential of the human spirit, through the eyes of his cats.
Interlacing prose with verse, the author takes us on a journey of discovery, and puts forward the question: If we were able to step out of our lives for a moment, allowing ourselves the luxury to merely observe, perhaps we could reach that higher level of understanding that appears instinctive in cats. As the author quotes: “Cats have attained a connected spiritual resonance in all three aspects of their bodies: personality, soul and spirit”.
There lies a cat in us all and here, the author has captured the germ of humanity in feline form. I for one will endeavour to adopt Hector the cat’s philosophy in life, the author describes him as: “the enforcer of eliminating the negative, accentuating the positive and enabling the appreciation of life”.
Oh to be a cat!!
Thank you Mr Brazil
‘In Consideration Of Cats’ – an article on cats and healing written by Keith for ‘The Healing Trust‘ Spring newsletter.
‘In Consideration of Cats’ is a non-fiction collection of notes, observations, illustrations and poems reflecting on the behaviour and antics of cats and the healing that the world of our feline friends can bring us.
Originally, ‘Cats’ was part of a collection of stories that explored different aspects of joy. It was a very blissful time for me personally. I had just left full-time work, had moved to a bigger house to set up a therapy business, and was busying myself for a long and much needed holiday (a pre-honeymoon month in India and Nepal prior to getting married with a few days in Paris on honeymoon to finish up), when a long-blocked burst of creativity over-whelmed me.
So, in amidst much activity, I suddenly found myself being bombarded with thoughts, feelings, impressions and words that I needed to capture and organise into different story forms. My writing process is rather an unconscious journey and is always Spirit infused, but at the time I was truly standing ‘On Top Of The World’ (I had just flown over the Himalayas) and Spirit encouraged me to explore and discern the different aspects to these feelings of joy.
On returning home I regularly sat quietly with my four cats. I allowed them to lead me, in my stolen moments of solitude, to deepen my meditation practice and observational skills. I started with word-portraits of my four cats, describing their characteristics and interactions, so I curled up on the floor to be more closely immersed in their world – a fascinating world of contrasting dynamic activity and absolute stillness.
This process continued over the next six months and involved a trip to my friend in the States who had three cats. There I had a chance to daily observe and note more general characteristics and antics of our feline friends in relation to each other and how they had likewise inveigled themselves into my friend’s world and affection.
Yet cats, for all their domesticity, remain untamed and ‘Wild at Heart’. They need their roaming freedom and interaction is always on their terms. They offer purrs as reward for affection and claws if we transgress their boundaries. Purrs, of course, are warm, vibrational pulses of energy that are very therapeutic and calming, soothing our daily distresses and linking us back into our Heart Centres.
In return for feeding, watering, and grooming, they offer us comedy, affection, exasperation, and comfort – but above all the pleasure of integration with another kingdom. If we allow them, they will teach us the ‘Tranquility of the Senses’ in their stillness, a useful starting place for those wishing to go on Inner Adventures of Consciousness, as well as showing us the ‘Oneness’ of focused action (there is no mind-body split in them!).
They know how to have fun and offer us friendship and companionship in our moments of need. They are rascals and rogues as well as dashing heroes and heroines. Yet ultimately they are our four-legged living, ringing- singing bowls of beauty and pleasure.
They are part of the great web and Interconnectedness of Souls and you never know who might be spiritually connecting into them from behind the scenes or who and where they will turn up next. They are Masters-in-the-Making and show us the nature of the Cat Way.
Welcome
Hi there Fellow Psychonauts, Planetary Wanderers and Friends,
This is my first blog post to welcome you to my site. The picture of the Himalayas is one that I took from a small plane whilst on my travels in India and Nepal. The saying was given to me as I watched the dawn break over the mountains. I thought I was on the moon – the landscape was so lunar, pure and compassionate. Truly the ‘Roof of the World’.
I hope Life is filling you full of wonder and that your adventures and travels are bringing you joy. This is just a brief hello in case you have stumbled upon the site or whether you are one of the first readers to have discovered my book ‘The Wilderness Diary’ dedicated to Gaia and my father – published 21st December 2012 via the Amazon CreateSpace Team – and are looking for more info.
It’s all been quite a journey and learning curve to get to this point… so bear with me as I get up to speed with the Online World! I’ll be posting updates and answering any questions via my blog so stay tuned.
Meanwhile, check out the gallery for some drawings from ‘The Wilderness Diary’.
Here’s to the magic…
Keith x