Amara The Oracle
Since Netflix has uploaded the latest episodes of the popular series Supernatural, one of my kids is concerned that people will now think that my book Amara the Oracle will be considered dark and evil. Why is that? Because the newest character to be introduced to season eleven is named Amara, and she is no angel. I must be honest and tell you that I was quite surprised to see any character named Amara as it is not a popular name. But I can tell you this, my Amara is in no way evil or dark. In fact, she is funny, wise, and encouraging. Perhaps I should share how I manifested Amara into this world.
In 2009, I was finishing up my last year of university at Grant MacEwan. I only had to complete the practicum so that I would graduate and get my Applied Bachelor in Professional Writing and Communications. In the beginning of my studies, I had chosen the path of Rhetoric over Technical writing, which then led me to fiction, nonfiction and screenwriting. At the end of my studies it was time to dive into the work practicum. After a period of long deliberation, I decided I did not want to be employed by a firm or corporation because that route did not resonate with me. I wanted to create books, and I wanted to be true to my nature and calling. I decided to base my practicum on the business of self publishing. Back then, which was actually only eight years ago, the self publishing industry as we know today was just getting started. My university did not have a program in self publishing, therefore this was truly a new field for me to explore.
As I started my journey on self publishing, I began to research what was available to me for very little cost. I found Blurb. Back then, Blurb only had the BookSmart program to work with, but the single start up cost was the price of one copy of your book. This still stands today. At that time, my main interests were children’s stories. Being a bit ambitious for getting a decent grade, I also decided to incorporate another angle to my project. I hired a friend who was just starting out as a motivational coach to work with me. The second part of my project was “Can a motivational coach help a writer to succeed as a Self Published Author?” And so my journey began. Seemed pretty simple and straightforward. Ya right! What in life is simple and straightforward?
A few weeks into my project, I began to receive strong inspiration to begin a third book. But it wasn’t a children's book. It was something that called to me from my personal and private world of being a mystic intuitive. An oracle called out to be created. And as any mystic knows, you cannot fight these kinds of things because you know Spirit is knocking on your door and most likely will not be walking away anytime soon. Intrigued, curious, and even excited, I began to listen to what I needed to do.
Although I knew about the art of using a book to reveal a message from the Spirit, it wasn’t until I was creating this book that I learned this art of divination was called Stichomancy. Stichomancy has been used for a very long time. (The oracle seems to think it has been thousands of years, lol, and who am I to argue.) It is the act of seeking answers to one’s questions by randomly picking a passage or excerpt from a book. Amara has been designed for the sole purpose of being an Oracle.
Finding the name for the Oracle was a small challenge. I knew the voice of the book was definitely female. And before I could begin, it was important for me to find her name. Intuitively, I also knew it began with an ‘A’. So I went on line searching female names beginning with the letter ‘A’. At first I began to second guess myself because none of the names were resonating with me. Then I saw it. AMARA; Grace, Eternal, Immortal. Covered in goosebumps and a profound Aha moment, I knew my search had been resolved. Amara it was.
Right from the beginning, I understood that Amara needed to be very simple. No long explanations, no fancy jargon, and keep it to the point. However, at first I was surprised at how the format of the book was shaped. On the left page was a quote from someone who had been or was somewhat famous, and the right page was where the Oracle spoke to the inquirer of how the quote pertains to them. So, both the left page and the right page work together. Most of the quotes are from people who have already passed on. For some reason, the only people who are among the living that have a quote in the book are; Ellen DeGeneres, Bob Dylan, Richard Bach, Alex Collier, and I. Everyone else has left planet Earth. And that is an interesting point because there was one deceased person in particular that made a point of getting my attention in order to have his quotes put into the book. His name, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Surprised, ya, so was I. But I soon became comfortable with having Ralph as one of my muses. It got to the point though where I had to tell him to stop trying to influence me because the book was not about him. There was even a day when I came home and found a bookmark with his quote on it sitting on the floor in the middle of the living room. There was no one home and no way it could have gotten there on its own. I was a bit confused why someone so famous as Ralph would chose someone who was incredibly not famous, like me, to creatively influence. I decided to put away my kit of self destruction and researched him. Like everyone else, I knew of Ralph Waldo Emerson, but I did not actually know about his personal details. But then as I read more, an understanding began to form. Ralph and I actually shared many values and philosophical concepts. Ralph was also raised and influenced by the women of his family. He liked and respected women. I was honored. But still insisted he was limited to his amounts of quotes.
Once finished, I had sent the book off to press. When the time came to hand in my projects, my teacher was quite shocked to see three books; two children’s books and one oracle. I received a good mark in return. Since that time, I have revised the cover of Amara and confident that she is now complete.
But I must share the strange thing that happened one day while I was working in a retail store. While I was assisting a customer she asked me what else I did with my time. Well of course that was an invitation to begin talking about being a writer and my books. When I told her about Amara, she gave me a strange look and said that she heard about my book because a Psychic had talked about it on her tv show. Unfortunately she could not remember the woman’s name. I was shocked. It made sense though because the views on the book had spiked at a certain time frame and I had no idea why. Amara was definitely making herself known. Synchronicities were a wonderful thing.
Amara the Oracle is unique and there are no other books like her. I hope others will see her as a kind and wise energy that has been created and manifested to help inspire and entertain people.
Patricia Travers
