The Way of StoryReflection on 2026
A new year begins tomorrow. Greetings from Ojai, CA (Below)
“There is no ‘True’. There are only ways of perceiving.
One must write for one’s self, first and foremost. Only that way does one stand a chance of producing something good.
Life is short and Art is long!
The day before his death Socrates in his prison asked a musician to teach him an air on the lyre. “What’s the use,”said the man, ‘since you’re about to die?”“To know it before I die,” answered Socrates.”
– Gustav Flaubert
Catherine hiking in Ojai.
The brink of another year demands reflection on the closing year, 2025.
Due to medical challenges, this was a resting and recuperating year. One book was published, Remarkable Women followed by teaching two new courses: The Callings: Listening to the Inner Voice, and Jung & the Power of Dreams. Mostly though, it was replenishing the well. Though there is no scarcity of ideas for possible new books, yet sometimes the spirit sags.
This will be my 4th year to offer Soul Resolutions in Tranformative Times at the Krotona Institute here in Ojai, CA – also on ZOOM. Sat, Jan 10, 2026, 2-4:30pm for a fee of $15.
And also my 5th year to offer , Great Films, Timeless Themes (Sept-Oct in Ojai at Krotona Institute.)
Some excellent films this year. Though I stopped voting for the Oscars due to the increased darkness & violence from Hollywood, the positive point is that I can avoid those kinds of films & watch whatever I choose. Here’s my top 4:
Nuremberg (USA) (see my earlier review posted in the previous blog.)
Sentimental Value (Norway)
Hamnet (USA) Shakespeare’s family drama.
Come See Me in the Good Light (USA) (documentary)
whose theme is “It’s not about dying. It’s about how you live before you die.”
(Check out Amazon Prime & Netflix for streaming.)
Happy to see that 3 of my produced works are still up at Prime: (The Christmas Wife, Unlikely Angel, & A Joyful Noise”episode of Touched by an Angel).
Find myself watching films with actors I’ve worked with who are now gone. Jason Robards, Julie Harris, Hugh Cronyn, Teresa Wright. And friends who have passed on as well (Diane Ladd, etc).I sometimes call this ‘the price of staying on.”
“Film is without question the medium of our times.” Producer David Putnam (Chariots of Fire, The Mission) once said,
“If films were what they might be there would be no need to go to church.”
Living with ghosts and wonderful memories this holiday. Yet somehow the future pulls us forward in spite of ourselves.
I love writing. I love teaching. I love doing writing consults, and psychic readings. And luckily there is no limitation of one’s age with any of these vocations.
At the start of each year, for decades now, I honor the ritual of tossing coins for the I CHING. Still amazed how this ancient book of prophecy can be so exact centuries later. One more magical experience. (Recc the Richard Wilhelm translation, Foreward by C. G. Jung)
So tonight, on the eve of 2026, I shall light incense, meditate, then toss the 3 coins for a preview of what is to come…
Embrace your adventure and learn from it all. Afterall, isn’t that why we are here?
Catherine