Rosa Mira Books

Today is an auspicious date - 11.1.11. A fine line-up of 1's. It is also the date that marks the launch of Penelope Todd's e-publishing company Rosa Mira Books.  

A few months ago - on 18 June 2010 - our friend, fellow blogger, writer, editor & now-independent e-publisher Penelope Todd wrote on her new Rosa Mira Books blog, "It's two years since I woke one night, as clear-minded as I've ever been, and understood that I would begin in the coming years to publish, promote and sell e-books. . . Recently I came across the words of Russian poet and mystic Daniel Andreev that expressed succinctly the kind of work that draws me, into which I will put my energy - 'work that bears the mark of talent and at least one of the following: a sense of beauty, broad scope, profundity of thought, sharpness of insight, purity of heart, or a joyfulness of spirit alongside a keen awareness of the world's darker depths. . .'"

It has been thrilling and inspiring to witness the gestation and (now-imminent) birth of this soul-centered enterprise. I remember clearly Penelope sharing her experience of waking in the early hours of morning a few months into 2008, responding to the 'call of nature.' Out in her back garden, she was struck by the presence of two particularly brilliant stars in a sky pinpricked by the usual innumerable others. She related afterwards that that potent moment acted as a catalyst for what has grown to become Rosa Mira Books. The idea that  seeded that night, persisted and took root. Today, RMB moves from the realm of 'idea' into that of 'actualized vision.' Wow. 

Many years ago, a Carmelite nun stood up in the final discussion session of a workshop I'd been attending in Cape Town and (this, after observing silence throughout the weekend) made the following  statement; 'Reality is born of dreams: we must write our vision high on a billboard. If we want an idea to take shape in the outer world, we must first imagine it in the inner world; then we must speak it. Speech breathes substance into ideas that – if left unspoken – would otherwise remain in the world of the imagined and un-actualized, and therefore of illusion…’

Yes. 

Penelope invites you - wherever you are, and if you're awake - to 'give Rosa Mira Books and The Glass Harmonica: A Sensualist's Tale by Utah-based author, Dorothee Kocks, your energetic well-wishing when the site and its first publication go live this evening.' Please join us in raising your glass or mug - or tipping your hat - at 5.30PM, NZ Daylight Time* when we gather in Penelope's Dunedin home to celebrate this beautiful 'coming-to-fruition', a door opening to a shimmering set of new possibilities. 

Congrats, Pen - you're an inspiration xo

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*GMT 4.30 a.m. 11.1.11
EST 11.30 p.m. 10.1.11
Sydney 3.30 p.m. 11.1.11
Utah 9.30 p.m. 10.1.11
Buenos Aires 1.30 a.m. 11.1.11
   

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Today is also Tuesday which means it's Tuesday Poem day. I'm going to exercise a little poetic license this week and welcome in a second Tuesday (tomorrow or the next day, depending. . . ) on which to post a poem. I would, however, like to direct you to the TP hub where Mary McCallum has written an intimate and moving tribute to dear Harvey McQueen who died on Christmas Day after a long battle with a degenerative illness. A more gracious or courageous man than Harvey it would be hard to meet. We will miss him. His tender appreciation of the natural world - its detail, mysteries and rhythms - was a gift to all who encountered him on his blog Stoatspring. He was a deeply reflective and gentle man. 

Rest in peace, Harvey.