Ampersand Gazette #85

Welcome to the Ampersand Gazette, a metaphysical take on some of the news of the day. If you know others like us, who want to create a world that includes and works for everyone, please feel free to share this newsletter. The sign-up is here. And now, on with the latest …  

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Voice of America

To the Editor:

The Voice of America is silent. There’s a metaphor for you.

Ralph Scully
Newton, Mass.

The Entirety of a Letter to the Editor in The New York Times

March 20, 2025, Spring Equinox 

Well, yes and no. A collective voice certainly. At this point, a minority seeks control of the majority. But there are voices that are speaking up all over the place, and they’re getting louder, clearer, hungrier, and more urgent. 

It’s only a matter of time until a collective voice is found.  

This Letter to the Editor, though, made me think of the human energy system, and the effect that all of this upheaval, and chaos, and unknowing is having on our daily experience. So I thought we’d have a walk through the major chakras, and let them speak to how to handle the mess we’ve created. 

I call these The Beam Me Up, Scotties. Great images for giving yourself light treatments for your chakras.

First Red Root. There are those in this world who sense that their very survival is at stake. Is that you? If it is, begin to self-soothe. Wear red. Eat red food. Keep something red in front of your vision. The real rootedness for each and every being comes from within, not from tribe, clan, or family, nor from agreement with select others. Stamp your feet on the ground. Hard. Get yourself here, and ask: Is my survival really at stake? 

Second Orange Sacral. There are those in this world who feel that everything they care about is being taken from them. Is that you? If it is, begin to seek out the things that make you feel passionate, the things you deeply care about in this world. Do something which, in the doing of it, helps you lose time. Wear orange. Eat oranges. Put a picture of a ripe pumpkin in front of your eyes. Real passions aren’t external. They arise from within. Give over to a passion of yours, and ask: Is this passion enough to keep me present to myself, and to the world? 

Third Yellow Solar. There are those in this world who feel like giving up, so disempowered that even their slightest effort could make a difference that the refrain becomes: Why bother? Is that you? Consider this, power begets power. And it isn’t given, it’s taken. You always have the power to change your own thoughts, which changes your feelings. Always. What’s disempowering you? Pick one thing, one, even wiggling your fingers by your ears and sticking out your tongue, and focus your power on that. Wear yellow. Eat yellow food. Put a sunnyside up egg in your vision field. Put your hands on your hips and take a superhero posture. Sure, others have power, but so do you—if you’ll take it. Give yourself permission to be powerful, and ask: If I exert my power, will it help others exert theirs? 

Fourth Green Heart. There are those in this world who want to believe that love conquers all, and it does, it does, but it isn’t always a one-and-done sort of thing. Is that you? Sometimes love is a slow hero. Love acts gently, like the tide, lapping a little bit at a time to change a coastline. This is not to say that love can’t be big, fast, and dramatic, it can, but usually in high-risk, big emergency situations. Is yours that? What the world really does need now is love, but it’s not a dispassionate, impersonal love that’s asked of individuals. That love is sweet and personal and up close, and yes, slow. Find something you love, and focus on that. Wear green. Eat green food—the consensus on that is it’s all good for us! Put a shamrock in front of your eyes. Love, please, and do it deliberately to remind yourself that both you and the world are worthy of it, and ask: If I keep loving, can I inspire others to do the same? 

Fifth Turquoise Throat. This is the chakra that prompted this essay. Voice—that’s 5th Chakra in one word. There are those in this world who don’t even know what to say at the chaos and confusion these days. Is that you? The truth is that Truth only stands a chance when good people speak it into the chaos. It can feel like one voice isn’t enough, I know, but how do you suppose a group voice begins? With one. Always with the one. One voice speaking Truth is always valuable—even if it seems like no one is listening. This is how consciousness is changed. One person at a time. If America has no voice right now, it’s because we haven’t figured out what to say. Look for turquoise. Wear the color. Put turquoise in your vision field. This chakra is the home of creativity, and it’s going to take some serious creative thinking to change the world, ask: What’s the most outrageous idea I could suggest that might just fix everything?  

Sixth Indigo Brow. There are those in this world who don’t know how to think about what’s happening in the world—especially if they’re feeling a sense of betrayal by promises made and then broken. You’re not alone in that. This part of your energy system is for accessing deep wisdom, that of intuition, not logic. Get still. Set your sights on indigo, the best example is the denim of blue jeans. Eat blue corn chips or blueberries. Think of what might inspire you to make a difference in the world right now. That’s the dream of every soul—to make a difference. You might just be the person whose wisdom changes everything. Tune in to your own inner well, and ask: What do I need to know right now that will help me and everyone else? 

Seventh Violet Crown. There are those in this world who don’t consider themselves persons of faith, but even those who don’t have faith in some things. The sun will come up in the East, by way of example. This is the direct link between you and the Divine. Have you connected with your version of the Divine to ask for help? Are you asking for angel protection? Have you asked your guides and ancestors to intervene? There are all sorts of the best kinds of invisible help for those who ask. Drink grape juice. Look at violet. Wear purple. Contributing your energy to place a blessing upon the whole world is always worth it, do it, and ask: Is there a help I can be close to home? 

Eighth Rose Thymus. There are those in this world who are extra vulnerable to what is happening in our world. They need our compassion, and we need our own compassion as well. It’s hard to remember that everyone is doing the best they can, but we are. Even when we disagree with whatever others are doing. This is hard, I know. Wear rose. Smell a rose. Find something pink to look at. This chakra is all about immunity of the emotional and spiritual kind just as the thymus is about physical immunity. Everyone needs a safe place, and there’s always one inside you. Look around, if there’s someone having a harder time than you, offer them safe haven, and ask: How can we help each other through this? 

If you find none of these strike you as applicable, try a meta version. Instead of asking the usual question humans do, namely, What’s wrong?, spend a week intentionally switching it to: What’s right? This makes a change that’s unprecedented in our world. Just try it; you’ll see immediately what I mean.  

The biggest mistake people make when trying to increase their energy is looking outside themselves to do it. The easiest way, and the most effective way, is to look within. This is a quickie treatment on how to manage that. If you want personalized assistance, please email me, and we’ll arrange for an appointment. 

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A Useful List Of What Is Still Happening 

Yesterday morning I started a thread and I was so heartened by the responses, I wanted to share some of them here. 

What I posted:

“Yesterday on my walk I saw tiny new buds on this tree I've passed each day of Winter, and below it, as if they were a team, the green of new tulips. And I thought, "Spring is still happening." Then I thought, "Gladness is still happening," and "The love Eric and I share is still happening," and "Cookies are still happening."
And then I thought I'd start this thread so you can add to my list.
Name what, even though so much is being taken away, is still happening....” 

What the amazing subscribers of The Corners said: 

Theater is still happening.
Photography is still happening
Loving pets are still happening.
Meadowlarks are still singing.
Good things that are beyond our control, and that we don't need to know about are happening.
Sobriety is still happening!
Beautiful sunrises and sunsets are still happening
Cats are still curling up in my lap 
Prayer is still happening...
Choir singing still happening 
Art is still being made and inspiration is still happening
Hugs are still happening
Laughing is still happening
Visiting friends is still happening
Napping in sunshine is still happening
Tulips and daffodils are still happening and Red State Revivals are still happening!
Planting flowers and knitting are still happening 
HEALING is still happening 
Ferns are still uncurling.
Tacos are still happening.
Sobriety is still happening!
Ukulele playing is still happening.
Good friendships, and real connections are still happening! (And I am so grateful for that!)
The birds are still building their nest in the flower basket in my patio garden.
Bike rides through our beautiful neighborhood are happening. 

Excerpted from a Substack post on Nadia Bolz-Weber’s The Corners
“A Useful List of What’s Still Happening”
March 22, 2025 

I know, I know, it can seem Pollyanna-ish to focus our attention like this, but oh, we need it! And not only we as a species, we as a nation, we as families, we as co-workers, we as humans, we as friends, any and every we that we can conjure needs to be reminded that good things are still happening. 

A lot of the people I know have been weaning themselves off the news, off doomscrolling, off social media, off a lot of the constant barrage of negativity to which we are all exposed. 

One of the fastest ways to do that is to focus your attention on something different from what you usually focus on. 

Few of us realize it, but the most valuable thing in the possession of every human is their attention. The reason is because whatever you attend to grows. 

Attention, like electricity, despite its charge, is neutral. It can light up a room full of loved ones, and it can electrocute you at the same time. It just depends upon how you use it. 

Using your attention is a matter of Focus, one of my favorite words from my book God’s Dictionary. Its roots are Latin, and it means hearth. A hearth is the center of a home, especially one without central heat.  

What this means is that when you are focused, you are home—to yourself, in yourself, aware of yourself, which is one of the best ways in the world to take care of yourself. 

The truest place that any human has as a home is within. It is within you where you use Free Will. It is within you where you make choices. It is within you where you realize consequences. Within you is the safest place to be in this world. 

It is from within how you decide to use your attention, the gift of your focus. 

By all means, Belovèd, read the news, but don’t move in. Be on social media, but don’t sign a lease. Play Woe-Is-I, but don’t get a mortgage. Instead, choose where you want your main focus. 

So, what’s still happening right where you are right now? What’s still happening that’s making you glad to be alive? What’s still happening inside you? Here’s a start … 

Prayer is still happening.
Dreaming is still happening.
Goals are still happening.
Magic is still happening. 

What’s still happening in your part of the world? 

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A bonus that I couldn’t resist … 

A Clearer Picture 

If you want a one-word answer to the question, What’s wrong with us? Click here. It’s the best metaphysical answer I’ve heard in a long, long time. In a word:  

Inflammation. 

Other words for inflammation are: swelling, puffiness, redness, rawness, hotness, heat, burning, smarting, stinging, soreness, pain, painfulness, tenderness, sensitivity, infection, festering, eruption, suppuration. 

The list above is related to physical inflammation found in the human body, but what about these equivalencies, too? Wildfires, domestic violence, road rage, competition, global warming, heat waves, heat index (high humidity), rudeness, intolerance, cruelty, abuse, cursing, hate, prejudice, rejection, intolerance, doxxing, calling out, cancelling. 

Here’s the work: Deal with your own inflammation.  

Where are you inflamed? Chill it. Make peace. Go easy. Be kind. If you can give it to yourself, you’ll be able to give it to others. If enough of us do this, maybe there won’t be anything wrong with us at all. 

One of last week’s pages in my Our Lady of Whimsey page-a-day calendar read: Work hard. Be kind. That is all. 

Yeah, that.

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Here’s a universal affirmation. It works every time, for everyone, always and forever …  

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And in publishing news …  

 Okay, I’ve got it down to two templates. Talk about option overload. Eep. Anyway, both are simple and clear and will be perfect for iwrite, the Spiritual Q & A Column I’ve wanted to start for years. Very cool. We also figured out that I can keep the susancorso.com site, and simplify it. So much easier than starting over! And we can make it a subdomain of the blog, so there will need to be only one hosting plan instead of two. I swear—there’s a whole lot of magic to be done quickly when I engage in personal interaction. Voice to ear, commonly known as a telephone call, rules. 

The Mex In-Betweens are up on Amazon as ebooks and paperbacks. If you’re a Mex fan, you’ll enjoy the backstories. If you’re not yet, these thirteen short stories are a way to ease into all ten supernatural musical mysteries. Remember that the first book, Oklahoma! Hex, is back to permafree after sixteen days in no man’s price land. And, see below for a lovely surprise about this first in series. 

As of this writing, I am over 60,000 words and into the second half of Impending Decision, Book Five of The Boots & Boas Romances, the saga of attorney Jamie Jenkins and his about-to-graduate-from-law-school paralegal and cabaret singer extraordinaire, Jayne Jordyn Jewell. Well, what do you know? Cover designs for the rest of the series are beginning to burble to the surface. Last week, I designed the next three in a row, for three novellas in the series. These are the stories about Mickey and Sarah, Geoff and Greg, and Gretchen and TBR. My guidance is serving up snippets of ideas for each of the books which is a whole lot of fun.  

I fell into Jaq Direct, the final book of The Subversive Lovelies, my speculative fiction series, on the same day as Impending Decision, so I am at last writing two fiction books, in two completely different worlds, at the same time. For Jaq, I’m over 65,000 words so far. Jaq is set in 1907; Jayne is set in late 2020. I’ve set up two separated writing blocs in my daily schedule to manage it, and am averaging between 2,500 and 3,000 words per day. I am to the point in Jaq’s story where, as they say, the plot thickens. 

 The Besieged edits are still languishing in a file all alone, no matter that they’re calling to me. I am, however, continuing my research into the 1980s HIV/AIDS experience. I have fallen over article after article that analyzes what happened during that time to a whole demographic of people that no one bothered to care for. It’s heartbreaking, especially in terms of what’s happening on the ground right now over public health. 

The Taber’s Medical Dictionary arrived at long last! I can’t believe it hadn’t been revised in 30 years. This means the tiny courses go back on my plate. The first four courses will be Body, Heart, Mind, Spirit chakra teachings. Each is a dive into one aspect of learning how to have Exponential Energy—something we all need right now. I’m hyped to return to creating these tiny courses, but two fiction projects at the same time have my time pretty well wrapped up these days. I’ll get to these. I will. 

Lauren Grace, my soul sister in Australia, has my visit with her live as a full-length episode on her award-winning Afterlight Podcast. Here’s what she says about it: 

Restore Your Energy and Reclaim Your Power with Dr. Susan Corso 

In this episode of The Afterlight Podcast with Lauren Grace, we dive into energy leaks and how to restore yourself to exponential energy with special guest Dr. Susan Corso.

✨ Using the chakras to gain clarity and heal
✨ Releasing the past & transforming rage
✨ The power of prayer & energy work
✨ Tapping into your energy system & reclaiming your power to choose

And so much more... If you’re ready to heal, recharge, and step into your full potential, this episode is for you! Listen now! 

She also has two mini-episodes from that same chat which will go live in March and April. March’s episode goes lives Tuesday, March 25, 2025. Exploring the Emotion of Rage with Dr. Susan Corso. I’ll keep you posted for April.  

Between Impending Decision, the fifth book of The Boots & Boas Romances, Jaq Direct, the final book in The Subversive Lovelies speculative fiction series, The Gazette, iwriteWHATSYOURSUPERPOWER.COM, and a secret card project up my sleeve, and the tiny courses plus, you know, life, things are rich and full.    

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On the subject of happy surprises … after all the mishigas with Amazon over the price of Oklahoma! Hex, I was very happy to see it go to #1 on the Metaphysical Fiction Bestseller List, and stay there for 4 days! 

 My review request this issue is … if you love speculative fiction, would you please read Jezebel Rising—the permafree book that starts my Subversive Lovelies? If you love it, would you leave a stellar review? I need THREE MORE reviews of four stars and above to do one of my special series promotions … please. This will take you right there. 

Reviews really are the engine that powers the career of an indie author. 

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There are all kinds of editors in the literary world. A lot of them specialize in one kind or another. Some only help with story development. Others copy edit. If you go the traditional publishing route, you’ll encounter them all, but I happen to know an editor who does it all. 

Tony Amato is my favorite editor for lots of reasons, but mostly because he’s a uniquity. A very fancy word for one-of-a-kind. His myriad talents serve authors and their books in a way unlike any other editor I know. May I encourage you to reach out if you need book-husbanding? Seriously, this is the guy. 

Now more than ever the whole world needs your creative input. Really, if it’s about books—you name it, he’s done it. Like I said, if you need anything in your writing life, Tony Amato is the person. Find him here.  

P. S. Tony Amato, as you know, my favorite editor, has a new substack. He’s writing about writing and he’s sharing some of his own fiction. Subscribe here. 

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Magic Pill: The Extraordinary Benefits and Disturbing Risks of the New Weight Loss Drugs by Johann Hari 

from the blurb … In January 2023, Johann Hari started to inject himself once a week with Ozempic, one of the new drugs that produces significant weight loss. Hari was wildly conflicted. Can these drugs really be as good as they sound? Are they a magic solution—or a magic trick?  

Finding the answer to this high-stakes question led him on a journey from Iceland to Minneapolis to Tokyo, and to interview the leading experts in the world on these questions. He found that along with the drug’s massive benefits come twelve significant potential risks. 

He also found that these drugs radically challenge what we think we know about shame, willpower, and healing.” 

Johann Hari is an exemplary investigator, with razor-sharp instincts, genuine wit, and a mind that likes to weigh all sides of an issue. This he does beautifully with Ozempic and Friends. Follow him as his research changes his mind again and again about these life-saving and potentially life-limiting drugs. Well worth your reading time.  

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Are you waiting for a sign?
How about this one? 

Surprised?
You shouldn’t be.

IMAGINE

is the only real assignment these days
for all of us. 

That’s what it’s going to take to
change the world.
Yup, IMAGINATION.
Nothing more and nothing less. 

Just for a moment,
try imagining our world
as you want it to be.
When enough of us do this … 

Then … 

the world will change. 

Thereupon hang both the law and the prophets. 

I am, without doubt, certain that And is the secret to all we desire.
Let’s commit to practicing And ever more diligently, shall we? 

Until next time,
Be Ampersand.  

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