Don't Go Back to Sleep

Clara Marie Cameron, thirty-six, stands by her father's bedside as he dies from complications to an exposure of Agent Orange, the poison used during the Vietnam War. At the moment of his dying, something extraordinary happens: He transmits his awareness of the mysterious transition from living to dying. Clara cannot retain this gift, until her elders help her to recall the experience and create healing through a powerful ritual of "remembrance." John, Clara's father, has inspired her to become an artist and a lucid dreamer. Her dreams bring her artwork to life, and inform her of the mystery and geometry that underlie all creation. As a woman coming of age during a time when life support systems on earth are profoundly threatened, Clara uses her creative imagination and her strong will to probe the meaning of life and how to contribute to it. Spanning the timeframe from 1966 to 2008, this is a story of a family who finds itself in recovery from the tragedy of the Vietnam War, in reaction to GMO and industrial farming, and in love with the deep awareness of the Sacred. Each individual is forced to face the question, 'how can we work together to counter the influence of industrial agriculture and the poisoning of the earth and its people?' The concluding ceremony triggers a healing for Clara and for everyone taking this journey with her. As all things are connected, when we heal, we influence the entire fabric of creation towards wholeness and integration. In the tradition of Starhawk's The Fifth Sacred Thing, this captivating novel empowers the healing potential in every character, as well as in the reader. All involved are awakened to a more potent creative energy than anything the world's most powerful multi-national company can manufacture: the force of Gaia-Sophia herself.