Books
y husband and I had many books and professional references. All of his were on Tortola, brought down when he moved out of the United States. Many of mine were still in storage when I left the US in 1994. I am fortunate I still have many. When I was a child, we were surrounded with books, learned to appreciate them. Dr. Suess' books were favorites and, regardless of the type of man Theodor Geisel was, they still are. Childcraft, the World Book encyclopedia, my mother's thick cookbook I hoped to bring into my home one day, a Bible encyclopedia, and more, were lost after an eviction. They may have ended up in the trash. One person's trash is another's treasure. What would I do if I could not read?
Life with Books
My husband and I created our own libraries. We had common interests about health, wellness, and spirituality. As I read a book, I would highlight passages for me and for him. People watched me ultimately highlight a whole page. I tolerated their comments about the purpose of highlighting and that I should not have done what I did. Unbeknownst to them, I was highlighting for two people.
I enjoy holding them in my hands. I downloaded many digital references. I prefer copying them to read rather than reading on a computer. You will find old esoteric information throughout In(intuitive)-Vesica Art Design Energy from books published in the 19th century to the 21st. I prefer information from older references. The content is republished and it becomes the foundation of new discoveries. Annie Besant used her mind to diagram elements. Her methods shows the power of our mind's abilties to access what we desire to know.
"Those who came into intimate contact with Annie Besant were aware of her spiritual powers and first-hand knowledge of many occult matters. She used certain of her yogic powers to investigate the nature of the super-physical realms, and several books on this recondite subject were written in collaboration with her colleague, C. W. Leadbeater. A remarkable piece of writing done by them was Occult Chemistry, in which they described the chemical elements examined by them. The first edition was printed in 1908, when it did not appear possible to reconcile their observations with the scientific knowledge of atomic structure of those times, but recent developments in the field support them. C. Jinarâjadâsa, a former President of the Theosophical Society, published in 1951 a third, enlarged edition of Occult Chemistry, containing descriptions of 111 atoms, including 14 isotopes, and the molecules of 29 inorganic compounds and 22 organic compounds. Dr. Stephen M. Phillips, a theoretical physicist, made a detailed analysis of the Besant–Leadbeater studies in the late 1970s and provided a lucid explanation and reinterpretation of their observations, reconciling them with present-day physics." (1)
Packing Books and Other Possessions
I desired to relocate from the British Virgin Islands in 2005. I packed our books and professional references, numbered and listed what each box contained. The packing list ultimately documented what possessions were destroyed and what I would need to replace. If my husband had survived, we would have needed to identify the sources of his references he wanted duplicated. However, many of the references he kept were irreplaceable.
If the books I cherished are gone, and some I did not make the time to read completely, what does that mean? Should I regret not making the time to read them? Can I replace them?
When they are together in one place, I have the business of sorting the books into categories and, primarily, thinning them so the task of dealing with my possessions when I die is manageable.
Books and Tropical Storms
Hurricane Irma destroyed our home in 2017. My husband said it was good that I was not there. I received photos via email from someone I did not know. The sender was the wife of a neighbor who lived below us on the hill, but she was also a colleague of my husband at the Lavity Stoutt Community College in Paraquita Bay. The level of destruction was mind-blowing, particularly since we lived there for almost fifteen years. (Clem had passed in 2015.) Would it have been easier to address the losses and less emotional for me had he been physically present? He was with me, and we communicated. Incorporeal beings are easier to locate and communicate with.
Inside Our Office Post H. Irma, Josiah's Bay, 2018,Tortola by Allison Williams Hill
I returned in 2018 to reduce the potential for destruction from subsequent tropical storms on other structures. A team moved the debris from the slab and carted it to Pockwood Pond, the island's waste department location on Tortola. The mountain of waste was huge, and our destroyed property added to it.
Pockwood Pond Waste Site Facing the Caribbean Sea by Allison Williams Hill
The bungalow was destroyed. Many of the packed boxes of books and Clem's collection of African masks were unavailable. They went down the hill on the property. After returning to the property a year later, I saw the overgrowth. I decided not to pay for assistance to cut a path down there to recover them. It became, unfortunately, the problem of the next owner.
Books and the Cost of Replacement
Many of the textbooks were hard-covered. I brought down architectural books I used in school. I had two copies of Architectural Graphic Standards, one from 1955 and another from the 2000s. My Simone Reznikoff's reference bit the water. The AGS 1955 is no longer available. My husband's materials were important to him.
I grew to appreciate his books on self-defense and the military. His experience in South East Asia changed him remarkably.
Of the references I owned, I would have had to check their availability. Thinking about what was damaged by weather and by the environment does two things. First, I evaluate what I still need for my activities. I have one book that survived called “The Compleat Patriot" written by Phillip Marsh, a book I encourage every American citizen to read. When I purchased it, it cost less than $10.00. It can cost up to $60.00. The price varies; I have seen it listed for more.
Such is the cost of replacement for books. Prices fluctuate and they may no longer be in print.
Question detail 2 by Allison Williams Hill
Originally called Books and Furnishings
from The Hidden Side of Things by C.W. Leadbeater
To a discerning eye a man shows his nature in his choice of books-- a choice which is of great importance to him. A man reads a book; he lays it aside and perhaps forgets it; but nevertheless it lies there on his table or his book-shelf and it continues to pour upon him a steady influence, whether for good or for evil.
Many books, it is true, have no pronounced influence, and may therefore be considered as neutral. But if a book has done us good, its influence will usually continue to be for good, unless indeed it happens that we outgrow it altogether, and in that case its influence might possibly be a kind of retardation.
The main thing is to avoid definitely evil books-- horrible, neurotic studies of characters which are better left unstudied, tales of unnatural and most unpleasant women who are always hovering as near as they dare to the edge of impropriety of some sort, stories of doubtful morality, of shady transactions, or of blank inanity.
All these are things for which a sensible man will spare no room on his book-shelves, because they are not worth reading in the first place, and they certainly radiate an impure and unwholesome influence in the second. The great criterion in the formation of a library is that only sane and healthy books should be admitted, for books are specially strong centres of thought-forms, and their unnoticed influence in a man' s life is often a powerful one. They should be not too many, but emphatically good of their kind.
There is hidden side to even so homely a question as that of furniture and colour decoration, since every colour has its own special rate of vibration, and some of these rates are helpful to man, while others are distinctly a hindrance. Broadly speaking, light and delicate tints are good, while heavy, coarse and dark colours are usually to be avoided. Some consideration should also be given to the purpose for which the room is intended; for example, certain shades of red might be not out of place in a dining-room, but would be far from desirable in a room consecrated to sleep or to meditation.
o each his own. I LOVE the look of an old library, imagining the centuries of information stored within them. I do agree with light surfaces to increase light which is better for the eyes and psyche. However, the New York Central Library has a rich brown towards red that quiets the mind and moves readers into studying, pursuing their research, or reading.
Movies are suitable for instant gratification. Books are not a choice for instant gratification. Introverts or extroverts, these preferences are sources for seeking like-minded people. Within them, types and subjects splinter into branches like a tree, leading to an amazing number of choices to suit a person looking for associates, friends, or lovers.
ALWH Soul portrait by Allison L. Williams Hill
Spiritual Books - The Book of Life
“Whatever an individual, as an evolving soul, has exuded through thought, feeling, word or action, into the world of form, it is recorded and remains a permanent record of his life; it shows to whomever that can or cares to read it, whether the particular individual has helped the advancement of man, or remained stagnant or even worse, contributed to his own and to others retardation.
“If this record has not been qualified by fifty per cent of Light, when it was created, it does not rise into the Higher Atmosphere to become part of the Great Akashic Records, which will always endure as a memory of the good done by that individual. It will remain earthbound, and add to the effluvia which weigh down the Earth and the aura of the individual." (2)
Write 11 by Allison Williams Hill
"“The Book of Life’s” service to the evolving soul is manifold. When, for instance, an individual has reached that stage of evolution where he can be trusted for a given service, affecting groups of men, the first thing the Karmic Board will look is the individual’s ‘Book of Life’, and from its contents the final decision will be made. (3)
“The greatest use of “The Book”, however, insofar as the individual is concerned, is when the great event of the “Ascension” is on hand. It is then the determined factor as to whether the candidate has fulfilled the needed requirements to be a part of The World of Souls, the Spiritual Hierarchy, and serve from the Inner spheres, instead of hitherto from the world of form.” (4)
“In the Inner Spheres, “The Book of Life” of every individual is accessible for examination by any one of the Members of the Spiritual Hierarchy. When the balance pf “The Book” shows a definite turn toward constructive activity, and the individual’s evolution has reached the point of perfection, then the Ascension is bestowed and “The Book of Life”, having completed its purpose, is given to the Maha Chohan, to be stored permanently in “The Cosmic Library”, where are preserved all the constructive experiences of every human being.” (5)
Flowers 3 by Allison Williams Hill
“This “Library”, known as “The Library of Maha Chohan”, (3) contains the “records” as is the complete recording of every act, of each of the Ascended Masters. But before the final depositing of “The Book” is made there, every possible act of disharmony shown in there, mercifully is taken out, by Members of the Court of the Goddess of Mercy Kuan Yin, and this so that “The Library” will not show anything less than perfection.” (6)
(3) “Besides the Library, there is another one around the Great Central Sun, known, too, as “The Cosmic Library”, in which have been collected the Cosmic Records representing the manuscripts, and other items which were written from the beginning of time, in every age and civilization of the Planet Earth, and were transferred there prior to various cataclysms. They are preserved there in their original condition, exactly as they were written originally, and this is to show the stage in which human evolution was at that period.” (7)
Books of Times not Available to Humans
During channelings with Raphael, a group of Spirits approached and introduced themselves as the Priestesses of Akarrabah. They were women who were initiated in a temple in a civilization of which no one can find recordings. Similar to Delphi, the women maintained and worshipped beings who were believed to bestow its worshipers with knowledge of their origin in spirit and how to live the lives they have in service.
A head priestess asked me during a channeling how did I feel when I thought of love, or of being loved. I responded that there was nothing I could not do. She said, “Aaahh, the feeling of love, of being loved gives you all that you need in life. It empowers, and it strengthens to know that We are here in support. Know always that We love you.”
Footnotes
1. The Theosophical Society International Headquarters, Annie Besant 1847-1933, https://www.ts-adyar.org/annie-besant-1847-1933
2. Papastavro, Tellis, The Gnosis and the Law, Group Avatar, 3rd Printing, 1972, p.182
3. Ditto, p.182
4. Ditto, p.182
5. Ditto, p.183
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