Nicola Mannering

Tonight, my twenty-one-year-old daughter, Little Pocket, phoned. “Mum,” she said, “I’ve got a breast-lump.” My heart stopped for a moment. “I’ve been to the doctor and she’s sending me to the specialist.” I remained calm. “It’s just the body,” I told myself. I asked her questions. “How soon can they get you in? Will they do a mammogram?” “No,” she said, “a fine needle aspiration.” I told her I would make some calls first thing in the morning to find out more, and that we would fly her down to Nelson if it would be quicker. Whatever could be done.

Little Pocket is her Native American name. Her given name is Anna. White Cloud, our Assinboine, out-of-the-body friend, had told her she used to be a healer, and she always wore a little bag with her crystals and stones in it around her neck. So everyone called her Little Pocket. When White Cloud told her this, she reminded me that even as a five-year-old, she would spend most of her pocket money buying little chips of crystals and semi-precious stones. And she kept them in a little draw-string bag. She still has it!

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The Shadow

“Have you ever watched the shadow of a tree against the backdrop of a wall? You can see the pale silhouette in all its beauty, in its grace, bending and swaying in the wind, the fine tracery of the leaves playing to and fro with the light. It has its own delicate beauty.

But it is not the tree. It is only the two dimensional reflection of this beautiful specimen which, in reality, is full of colour, and detail, and depth. This is how it is with the personality – that which we see, reflecting the soul on the outer planes, in the world.

The soul is the Real and the personality is the reflection. The shadow has its beauty, but the tree has dimensionality and power. The shadow bends and sways but ultimately, this movement is only a reflection of the movement of soul and spirit.”

(Author)

One morning on waking I saw the dawning sun shining through a tall, and very lovely Eucalyptus tree that stands opposite my house. It was casting a beautiful shadow on the wall of the house behind. I was fascinated by the gentle play of light and shadow created on the flat wall, and sat watching it for a time. Then gently, a feeling of love and knowing came over me, and I realized what this little panorama was saying!

The personality, the form, cannot exist in the world without the soul and spirit, just as it would be impossible for the shadow to be seen without the tree and the sun. The soul and spirit is invisible to us, and therefore we mistake the shadow for the real. But the shadow is the illusion, however beautiful it may appear. It is moved by the soul and spirit, and nothing we achieve in the world can be realized without this prime force. If we can learn to see beyond the shadow, into the real world of soul and spirit, we will begin to see and understand true causation, the Oneness behind it all.