Join the Circle with Judith Ashley!

Today I'm thrilled to welcome Judith Ashley to the blog!  I met Judith at the Desert Dreams conference in Phoenix this year, and we hit it off.  Judith is the author of the Sacred Women's Circle series, and she's giving away a copy of Book 1 today!  Let's get to know Judith!

Judith has been a part of sacred women’s circles for over twenty years and knows first-hand how important spirituality is when dealing with life’s challenges. One day the stories that make up The Sacred Women’s Circle series flooded through her in daydreams, lucid dreams and conversations so real at times she wondered about her sanity. It was a compelling experience! An experience that catapulted her on this journey to tell these stories. Seeing them published is a dream come true.

Judith’s prayer for you:
May your dreams manifest in “right time” and May you know the peace of unconditional acceptance, support and unconditional love.

Thanks Lara for the invitation and opportunity to join you today here at “Get Lost in the Story.”

I love the premise of your blog and can certainly relate to the “lost in the story” part. Growing up my family had to jiggle my shoulder to bring me back from the castles or cabins, the Scottish Highlands or the Wild West of the United States or wherever I happened to be at the time. The books children have to read today are much different than those I read in the forties and fifties where women were not portrayed in the many roles we are today.

Like so many readers, different things draw me into a story. Setting and characters to be sure but also the central problem to be overcome. And, the stories I’m drawn to are the stories I want to write.

I was compelled to write the stories of the seven women who created a sacred women’s circle where they are unconditionally accepted, unconditionally supported and unconditionally loved. These women showed up in my dreams and in visions, their chattering in my head as they talked to each other and to me continued over many months until I sat down at my computer and put their stories in concrete form.

Readers tell me they love the strength of the relationships between these women as well as the reality of the problems they face: infidelity, domestic violence, divorce, death, single parenting, breast cancer, working mothers, overcoming childhood trauma. And for some, it is their spirituality. In this sacred women’s circle they’ve created their own spirituality that combines many different practices. And, each woman has her own spiritual practice that sustains her as she finds her way to her HEA.

I love a story where I’m so immersed in the journey the characters take that I learn something about myself or about how other people experience life’s lessons. When you read The Sacred Women’s Circle stories you have the opportunity to experience what it is like to be unconditionally accepted, unconditionally supported and unconditionally loved.

And, when you read the series from Lily to Sophia, you have a basic framework for creating your own sacred women’s circle — and I’m just an email away.

On my own “To Be Read” list are books 4, 5, 6 in Paty Jager’s Shandra Higheagle series, Sarah Raplee’s Blindsight and I’ve planned a trip to the book store to find a few Grace Burrowes books I’ve yet to read. I saw that one of my all-time favorite authors, Jo Beverley has a new posthumous novel out. A must read for me. Also I have Lara Lacombe’s Dr. Do or Die nearby.

Please check out my website: http://JudithAshleyRomance.com

I also blog every Monday at http://JudithAshley.blogspot.com  and the first Friday of the month at http://RomancingTheGenres.blogspot.com

Learn more about the first and last books in the series!

Lily: The Dragon and The Great Horned Owl

Terror ratchets up Lily’s PTSD symptoms. Hypervigilance during in the light. Nightmares in the dark. If she doesn’t do something different, she’ll lose her mind and maybe even her son.

What happens to us when we blame ourselves for choices we made that turn out to haunt us? How can we trust ourselves to make the right decision now? Where can we find the strength and support we need to confront our past and seek our future?

You can learn more about The Creation of Lily here. And where did The Dragon and The Great Horned Owl come from? Your hint: Lily has always been sensitive to the vibrations around her, especially from the land. Her gift is her ability to visualize the protective energy of the land on which she stands.

Sophia: Every Ending Is A Beginning

Having loved and lost once in her life, Sophia guards her heart. But even though Fremont Police Captain Cam Mitchell is surrounded in darkness, she sees a glimmer of light and she is attracted to him.

When you’ve personal knowledge of the pain of the death of a loved one, how do you put your heart on the line again?

Ever heard of the ‘blue bird of happiness’? Sophia’s personal totem is the blue bird. Happiness seems beyond her when a longtime friend dies. Nothing brings her the joy she so easily manifested even a few months earlier. In my work with the elderly I’ve been with some of my clients as they drew their last breaths. Sophia might follow the Wheel of Life but that is much different than risking her heart in a relationship with someone whose very profession courts death.

Leave a comment with your email address and I’ll send you a link to download the first book in the series: Lily: The Dragon and The Great Horned Owl. This link takes you to the story behind the story!

Thanks for joining us today, Judith!