Denise Linn - 1 March

AND OTHER STORIES
ON MY JOURNEY TO WHOLENESS

Also by Denise Linn

Books

Altars:Bringing Sacred Shrines into Everyday Life

Dream Lover:Using Your Dreams to Enhance Love in Your Life

Feng Shui for the Soul:How to Create
a Harmonious Environment That Will Nurture and Sustain You

Past Lives, Present Dreams:
How to Use Reincarnation for Personal Growth

The Hidden Power of Dreams:How to Use Dreams
on Your Spiritual Journey

Quest:A Guide for Creating Your Own Vision Quest

Sacred Legacies:Healing Your Past and Creating a Positive Future

Sacred Space:Clearing and Enhancing the Energy of Your Home

The Secret Language of Signs:
How to Interpret the Coincidences and Symbols in Your Life

Secrets & Mysteries:The Glory and Pleasure of Being a Woman

Soul Coaching:28 Days to Discover Your Authentic Self

Space Clearing:How to Purify and Create Harmony in Your Life

Space Clearing AZ:Using Feng Shui to Cleanse and Bless Your Home

Audios

Angels! Angels! Angels!
Complete Relaxation
Dreams
How to Heal
Journey into Past Lives
Life Force
Past Lives and Beyond
Phoenix Rising
Secrets & Mysteries
Way of the Drum

Video

Instinctive Feng Shui for Creating Sacred Space

Please visit:
Hay House USA: www.hayhouse.com
Hay House Australia: www.hayhouse.com.au
Hay House UK: www.hayhouse.co.uk
Hay House South Africa: orders@psdprom.co.za

AND OTHER STORIES
ON MY JOURNEY TO WHOLENESS

DENISE LINN

HAY HOUSE, INC.
Carlsbad, California
London Sydney Johannesburg
Vancouver Hong Kong

Copyright : 2005 by Denise Linn

Published and distributed in the United States by: Hay House, Inc., P.O. Box 5100, Carlsbad, CA 92018-5100 Phone: (760) 431-7695 or (800) 654-5126 Fax: (760) 431-6948 or (800) 650-5115 www.hayhouse.com Published and distributedin Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd., 18/36 Ralph St., Alexandria NSW 2015 Phone: 612-9669-4299 Fax: 612-9669-4144 www.hayhouse.com.au Published and distributed in the United Kingdom by: Hay House UK, Ltd. Unit 62, Canalot Studios 222 Kensal Rd., London W10 5BN Phone: 44-20-8962-1230 Fax: 44-20-8962-1239 www.hayhouse.co.uk Publishedand distributed in the Republic of South Africa by: Hay House SA (Pty), Ltd., P.O. Box 990, Witkoppen 2068 Phone/Fax: 2711-7012233 orders@psdprom.co.za Distributed in Canada by: Raincoast 9050 Shaughnessy St., Vancouver, B.C. V6P 6E5 Phone: (604) 323-7100 Fax: (604) 323-2600

Editorial supervision: Jill Kramer Design: Amy Gingery

Photo Credits: Front-cover photo taken by Meadow Linn, June 21, 2004, on the summer solstice six months after the winter-solstice earthquake. Interior photos taken by family members and:

Earthquake: Alan Levi; Australian outback: Lynora Brooke; fire ceremony: Sari Yu-Pietila; African Zulu village: Amber McIntyre; Table Top Mountain in Capetown, South Africa: Lynette Orman; berry picking: Babette Hayes; drumming: Ruth Toledo; standing on the hill on Summerhill Ranch: Jeannette Cake

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private useother than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews without prior written permission of the publisher.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Linn, Denise.

How my death saved my lifeand other stories on my journey to wholeness / Denise Linn.

p. cm.

ISBN 1-4019-0526-9 (trade paper)
1. Linn, Denise. 2. Spiritual biography. I. Title.

BL73.L56A3 2005
204'.092--dc22

2004015703

ISBN 13: 978-1-4019-0526-2
ISBN 10: 1-4019-0526-9

08 07 06 05 4 3 2 1
1st printing, February 2005

Printed in the United States of America

For my daughter, Meadow.

Your remarkable insights continue to astound me.

And for my sister, Heather you were there.

You know.

Contents

Authors note: All the stories in this book are true; however, some of the names and places have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the individuals involved.

T his book began with a deep rumble in the earth. On December 22, 2003, a 6.5-magnitude earthquake rattled my world the day I had chosen to start writing about my life.

On that morning, a chasm opened in the center of my small town, and the stone walls around my home fell to the ground with thundering intensity. Boiling mud and hot mineral water bubbled and flowed through the streets in a torrent. Sulfur fumes shrouded the collapsed shops and piles of debris. The violent wrenching movement shook me to my core, as the walls around me trembled and cracked.

I believe in synchronicity. The search for signs and portents has been one of my guiding dictates. It seemed to be an omen that on the day I planned to start writing about my life, the physical world around me ruptured, revealing fissures and rubble, much like the cycles of destruction and renewal that made up my own history. I knew that the writing process would level many of my self-imposed walls and crack open secrets locked inside me for so long. However, looking at the earthquake-marred landscape near my home, I wondered if that was what I really wanted to do.

I chose the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year, to begin the long process of introspection into the hidden recesses of my past. To start my book on the day that initiates the worlds transition out of the darkness and into the light seemed auspicious. As I traveled through the dark corridors of my life, my journey helped shed the light of truth on what Id experienced but sometimes it was painful.

A friend who already had a successful autobiography under her belt said, Dont go into any of the heavy stuff. Just make yourself look good. Yet I knew that the good and the bad, the mundane and the mystical all merged and melded together inside me. How could I speak of one without revealing the other?