Unfolding My Wings...

WELL, as many of you know, I went for my US Fiancee Visa interview in London yesterday. It seems that all is well and I will have a visa sooooooooooon, to get back to my beloved. There is one final hoop to hop through – a few more forms they would love to eyeball, then all being well, I will have visa in hand within the next couple of weeks and will be on my way back to Mr. M :) Yeeeeeeee–HAH :) We are very excited...and also extremely grateful for ALL the amazing love, positivity and support y'all have been sending us during the last few days of this process, which has been unfolding for the last 1.5 years now...I felt the flow of support very strongly on the day and it felt immensely nourishing, so thank you, everyone :) We love and appreciate you :)

on March the 4th I had:

1 quart water
mug of dandelion tea
3 cups greeeen juice: celery, cucumber, fennel, endive, landcress, kale, parsley, zucchini, ginger, apple
1 quart hemp milk with cinnamon/cardamom
2 tbsp bee pollen
3 cups greeeen juice: celery, cucumber, fennel, endive, kale, parsley, zucchini, ginger, apple
1 quart hemp milk with cinnamon/cardamom
40 chlorella ‘nuts’
3 cups greeeen juice: celery, cucumber, fennel, endive, kale, parsley, zucchini, ginger, apple
little packet of fresh jackfruit pods
2 cups water

SO...it seems I’m still here in the UK for at least the next 10 days or so...if you’d love to come out to play and give me a ‘goodbye’ wave/hug/squeeze in person, I’ll be speaking next Thursday, March the 12th, at the delightful Manna raw café in Brighton, from 7pm – details HERE. As I mentioned before, this will most likely be my last talk in the UK for quite some time, all being well with visa adventures... ;) Hope to see you there if you’re around...

…and while we’re on UK–based news, I’m excited to say that I have more bags of chia here again, if anyone would love some. They are £10 per bag (1lb/454g), plus p&p. Email me on angela@rawreform.com if you’d like to snap some up before the box is bare again ;)

I also have the following goodies here too, if you’d like any of these:

‘Raw Success’ by Matt Monarch - £10
‘Raw Spirit’ by Matt Monarch - £8
‘How to Go Raw for Weight Loss’ by Angela Stokes - £5
‘Revealing the Physical Changes’ by Angela Stokes - £5
‘A Juice Feaster’s Handbook’ by Angela Stokes - £5
DVDs of Mr. Monarch speaking at Ecopolitan - £5
'Become Younger' by Norman Walker - £5
'Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Juices' by Norman Walker - £5
‘Water Can Undermine Your Health’ by Norman Walker – £5
‘Raw Family’ by the Boutenkos – £7
‘Absolutely Abeba’s Edible Treats’ raw cracker recipe book - £5
'Raw Foods for Busy People' Book - £8
'Green Magic: Raw Foods for Busy People 2' Book - £9
‘Raw Food Made Easy’ by Jennifer Cornbleet – £12
‘Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen’ by Ani Phyo – £12
‘Raw Organic Cuisine in Ten Minutes’ DVD – Bryan Au – £10
‘Sprout Garden’ by Mark M. Braunstein – £9
'Raw Greek' by Gina Panayi - £10
'Fresh' by Sergei and Valya Boutenko - £12
'Raw Soul' recipe book - £10
'Detox Delights' by Shazzie - £5
Nut Milk Bags - £6 each

If you're unsure what any of these items are, you can see more about them on our store HERE...and just email me on angela@rawreform.com to let me know if there are any goodies you'd love to add to your collection... ;)

on March the 5th I had:

1 quart water
mug of ‘passion’ tea
big handful of goji berries and 2 tbsp bee pollen
2 cups greeeeen juice with seed milk
a GORGEOUS whole little durian
3 cups water
2 cups greeeeen juice
a delicious shared meal at Manna, including rainbow salad w/pesto, nori roll, love burger, raw sandwich, followed by apricot/pecan pie, berry cheesecake and ice cream – WOW :)
2 cups water

OooOOooooo, I am excited to announce the blossoming of the new ‘RawFu’ magazine from dear Bunny Berry. WOW, check this beauty out...I am sure this is going to be a fabulous read...if you’re not familiar with Bunny’s work and site, she is a super–sweet, sassy, funny, yummy, lovely, raw food lightworker spreading this healing message and building community with love, passion and truth. She also has GREAT design skills and style, so I really look forward to seeing this magazine as it emerges...You can subscribe HERE. Check out the pin–up boy on the cover for April ;) Brother Philip looking suave and serene...oooohhhhhhh, what a blessed, beautiful family we have :)

Alllllll love and appreciation,
Stokes in England. xxx

With Gratitude

Mmmmmm, so...Thanksgiving tomorrow in the US...for those of you reading this who are celebrating this Holiday – ENJOY :) I hope you’re having a WONDERFUL time with loved ones, yummy delights and muchos gratitude flowing...
This seems to me like an ideal opportunity to share a few things I’m grateful for today...I’ll go for three things, as that’s the number I seem to most resonate with...
I’ll start with CLEARING :) As I mentioned recently, I’m in a major phase of physical clearing right now in my life – I currently have an enormous pile of accumulated stuff ready to give away – clothes, books, ornaments etc etc (including old coins from 30 different countries - hmmmm, what am I going to do with those...?)
I am SOOO excited to release all these things to whoever would love to receive them...and tomorrow night we’re actually going to have a girlie raw food potluck giveaway gathering, to give away/swap with each other whatever seems to want to flow onwards...and it’s a new moon in Sagittarius by the way tomorrow tooooooo – yummy time to connect with our si*stars* and release – I’m looking forward to it – and also to seeing the bare space on the floor that remains when all the stuff has moved on ;) FUN :)

on November the 25th I had:

1 quart water
1.5 cups greeeen juice: celery, cucumber, spinach, kale, parsley, endive, fennel, ginger, lime
1 outrageously enormous and delicious hachiya persimmon
2 cups energy soup with flax crackers and okra on the side, followed by goji/carob yumballs
little mug of rooibus tea
3 cups water
1.5 cups greeeen juice: celery, cucumber, spinach, kale, parsley, endive, fennel, ginger, lime
2 cups energy soup with flax crackers and okra on the side, followed by goji/carob yumballs
little mug of rooibus tea
3 cups water

Lalaalalalalalaaaaaa...
I am REALLY grateful that I’m soon going to be back in the arms of Mr. M, all being well :)
I have a ticket to take me to Mexico this Sunday, where the Monarch and I plan to find a little place to enjoy for the winter, or at least until we hear anything more abt my visa for the US... ;)
I’m visualising sun, beach, hammocks, coconuts, cucumbers, avocadoes, pineapples and papaya, thank you... :) FUN :)
Hmmmm, now where did I put the part of my brain that can speak Spanish...??? ;)

on November the 26th I had:

1 quart water
1.5 cups greeeen juice: celery, cucumber, spinach, kale, parsley, endive, fennel, ginger, lime
15 spirulina ‘nuts’
1 persimmon and a chunk of gorgeous pineapple
2 cups energy soup with flax crackers and okra on the side, followed by goji/carob yumballs
little mug of rooibus tea
1 quart water
mug of rooibus tea

OOooOooOoo, I am VERY grateful for this video on Ted.com from school lunch chef Ann Cooper in California. WOW – this woman is AMAZING :) She is PASSSssSssSSsSssionate about feeding kids healthy food and she is making a HUGE impact on the way schools feed children in the Berkeley area. She makes food for over 7000 children a day, getting up at 4am to do so, all from scratch (with a team of course ;) She has brought in salad bars, ‘real cooking’, organic growing, composting, local food sourcing and so much more to the schools she works in...she has SO much info to share in this video – I’d really recommend it...it might not be an all–raw menu ;) – it is a MAJOR improvement though on what most kids seem to eat...
You can see the 20–minute video HERE.

ENJOY and happy waves of gratitude to all... :)
One love,
Angela. xxx


P.S. OOoo, by the way, I know some of you had issues with the link not working when you tried to sign up for a free account at PhilosophersNotes.com. Here is that link again:

http://philosophersnotes.com/rawreform

Hope that works dandy-ily for you now - mmmmm, another WONDERFUL free gift to give gratitude for... We are SO blessed... :)

May I Be Frank...?

EXCITING: have you seen anything about the new ‘raw transformation’ documentary that’s in the works called ‘May I be Frank?’? I think it looks GREAT :) One reader, Gina, sent me THIS LINK this week to an article in Ode Magazine about the ‘star’ of the film, Frank Ferrante, who agreed to participate in this ‘sort of reverse Super Size Me’ production, with the assistance of some of those beautiful people from Café Gratitude.
55-year-old Frank’s background involves a working-class Brooklyn upbringing, drug addiction, alcoholism, arrests, periods in mental institutions, suicide attempts, obesity, hepatitis, heavy medications and strained relationships. PHEW...quite a bit to work through then, potentially ;) It looks like it will be a very entertaining, moving and inspiring film, especially to share with loved ones. You can watch the trailer HERE – it’s so well put together – I love it and look forward to seeing the full-length film when it’s ready – ENJOY :)


on August the 19th I had:

1 quart water
3 cups veggie juice: celery, cucumber, fennel, endive, carrot, ginger
2 cups ‘energy soup’ with diced bell pepper and dulse pieces. Followed by a little hazelnut butter mixed with raw carob powder
1 quart water
3 cups veggie juice: celery, cucumber, fennel, endive, carrot, ginger
2 cups ‘energy soup’ with diced bell pepper and dulse pieces. Followed by a bowl of durian/hemp ice cream with lucuma and carob powders – YUM :)
mug of peppermint tea
2 cups water

YUMMY – a fantastic new raw food hangout has opened here in Brighton and I’m VERY excited about it :) It’s called ‘Manna’ and is hosted by the lovely Warren and Andreas. We shimmied along there yesterday to see how things are unfolding in their opening days. I think it is looking very beautiful – a light, bright, welcoming space painted in tranquil greens and yellows, with a generous deli counter packed with fresh greens, musical instruments hanging on the walls for customers to jam with, knowledgeable, friendly service, a lovely garden space with grape vines, a shop space with all kinds of pre-packaged goodies for sale and of course fresh juices, smoothies, raw meals, teas and more. I think this is a VERY exciting development for the UK raw food scene...
We tried the raw ‘burger’ dish and it was truly superlative. The venue has a late license, so the plan is to host events/jam sessions etc in the evenings, which will be such a blessing, to have a ‘clean’ space like this for people to gather and connect. WONDERFUL :)
If you’d love to get on down to Manna, here is the address:

Manna
24 Coombe Road
Brighton
BN2 4EA

You can also see more info at: www.galaxyofvitality.com. Maybe see you there someday soon if you’re in this area ;)


on August the 20th I had:

1 quart water
tbsp spirulina powder with water and lucuma powder
bowl of cherries (ooo la la ;)
double shot of wheatgrass
1.5 cups veggie juice: cucumber, celery, green bell pepper, carrot, ginger
2 cups water
AMAZING raw burger with fresh salad, followed by assorted freeze dried YUMMY fruit pieces (durian, jack fruit, mangosteen) and raw vanilla ice cream – WOW :)
Mug of choco tea and selection of raw chocolates – eeeeeek ;)
3 cups water


on August the 21st I had:

1 quart water
2 cups veggie juice: spinach, watercress, celery, cucumber, fennel, ginger, sunflower greens, endive, carrot
2 cups ‘energy soup’ with coconut chips stirred in and curry powerstix on the side, dipped in hemp butter. Followed by a little rammikin bowl of hazelnut butter mixed with lucuma and carob powders
3 cups water
1.5 cups veggie juice: spinach, watercress, celery, cucumber, fennel, ginger, sunflower greens, endive, carrot
mug of 'choco' tea
2 cups water

OooooooOOOOooo, have you heard about the ‘Healthy Living Eco Fest’ happening soon in Michigan? On September the 20th from 10am-10pm in Brighton, Michigan, there will be a day-long celebration of all things vibrant, fresh and joyful ;) The Monarch and I are both scheduled to speak there, along with Viktoras Kulvinskas, Shantree and Lorenna from the wonderful Living Centre in Canada, plus festie organizer Joyce Oliveto, who worked alongside Ann Wigmore for years. The day will in fact be a kind of ‘tribute’ day to the work and wonders of the Wigster herself – FUN :)
Here’s some of what’s on offer:

*Speakers & booths focusing on Green Living, Healthy Living & Building
*Living Foods Demonstrations
*Animal Health & Healing
*Lectures, Workshops and ongoing demos throughout the day
*Variety of booths with food & drinks—or bring picnic basket
*Drumming around the bonfire
*Tai Chi—Yoga—Massage
*Walking Trails
*Supervised Children’s Area with Activities

The admission fee for the full day is $25 for adults and free for those 16 years and younger ;) You can see full details about the festie HERE.
Hope to see you there too, if you’re in the area...

All love,
Angela. xxx

Roots and Fruits...

OoOoooOOoooo lalalalaaaaa, you ARE a wonderfully creative bunch, aren’t you :) Thanks for all the AMAZING chia giveaway contest entries y’all have sent in so far – YUMMY :)
There’s still time to send in YOUR entry for the contest, if you’d like to – here’s a reminder of the details:

This month we’re celebrating all things chia-related: the prize is a copy of our shiny new ‘Chia Cheat Sheet’ chart, along with a 1lb bag of chia and a bag of the delicious new ‘Chia Goodness’ cereal. YUmMMmMmmMMmmm :)

To be in with a chance of winning this chia goodie basket, just email in YOUR answer to the following Q:

What is YOUR favourite chia recipe? (ingredients/description please ;)

Please send in your answers to angela@rawreform.com before July the 31st. The winner shall be picked at random and with love thereafter... ;)

on July the 13th I had:

1 quart water
mug of ginger tea
2 cups green juice: cucumber, celery, greens from the garden, fennel, endive, ginger, sunflower greens, parsley
2 cups ‘energy soup’ with sprouts and a flax cracker, followed by pine nut butter mixed with goji berry powder
mug of ‘choco’ tea
3 nori rolls with jalepeno dip, sunflower greens, sprouts & cucumber, followed by pine nut butter mixed with goji powder ;)
mug of ‘choco’ tea
3 cups water

on July the 14th I had:

1 quart water
mug of rooibus tea
½ cucumber, pack of powerstix, little bowl of blended almonds/maca/lucuma/cinnamon, with goji berries stirred in
mug of sweet chili tea
2 cups water
2 cups green juice: cucumber, celery, greens from the garden, fennel, endive, ginger, sunflower greens, parsley
2 cups ‘energy soup’ with mung beans and chopped almonds, plus dehydrated turnip crisps w/cashew dip. Followed by a little round of OUTSTANDING lemon ‘cheesecake’ – amazing :)
mug of choco tea
3 cups water

This quote from Kahlil Gibran arrived in my inbox today from the ever-delicious ThinkArete.com free email service – love it:

“ "You are good when you strive to give of yourself. Yet you are not evil when you seek gain for yourself. For when you strive for gain you are but a root that clings to the earth and sucks at her breast. Surely the fruit cannot say to the root, 'Be like me, ripe and full and ever giving of your abundance.' For to the fruit giving is a need as receiving is a need to the root."
~ Kahlil Gibran, 20th century Syrian-born mystic poet, philosopher, and artist from The Prophet

How amazing is that?!?

Remember we need roots to bear fruit.”

That really spoke to me today and I wanted to share ;) You can sign up for these beautiful, inspiring, uplifting, free daily emails at thinkarete.com (if you haven’t already ;) – ENJOY :)

on July the 15th I had:

1 quart water
mug of ‘sweet chili’ tea
1.5 cups green juice
2 cups ‘energy soup’ with mung beans stirred in and a flax cracker, followed by a little bowl of tahini mixed with goji and yacon powders
1 quart water
mug of spice tea
a red bell pepper, followed by a yummy ‘smorgasbord’ meal of fresh veggies, greens from the garden, flax crackers and dips, followed by a little lemon ‘cheesecake’ & goji powder
mug of ‘sweet chili’ tea
3 cups water

on July the 16th I had:

1 quart water
mug of ginger tea
glass of green smoothie with chia, green powder, water, lucuma, maca
2 cups ‘energy soup’ with mung beans stirred in, with 2 flax crackers. Followed by a little bowl of blended almonds/maca/lucuma/cinnamon/water, with gojis stirred in
mug of sweet chai tea
3 cups water
1.5 cups green juice, with fresh greens from the garden
2 cups water
bowl of sea spaghetti with cashew/coriander sauce, fresh salad from the garden and olives, followed by a little lemon cheesecake yumball ;)
mug of sweet chai tea
2 cups water

Awwwww, just HAD to share this gorgeous pic of Brighton-based, 5-year-old wonder-boy Jem, who recently delivered this classic comment about the upcoming Funky Raw/Space of Love Festie in Sussex:

‘I think there should be a Funky Raw Festival for only people who are NOT raw because they will learn how yummy the food is.’

BEAUTIFUL :) Well, for now, for those of you who ARE raw and would still like to go and play at the festie, you can see all the details on their site HERE... ‘3 days of scrummy and nourishing ‘all raw’ food, Yoga, Massage, Healing, Sweatlodge, Raw Goddess Burlesque, live music and more, as well as Sparkle and her magical yurt full of treasures and surprises to entertain children, both young and adult.’ Sounds sublime...maybe you’ll even have the pleasure of inviting a ‘non-raw’ person to join in the fun there ;) LOL...

All love,
Angela. xxx

Fruity Feedback...

I’m re-reading Raw Emotions at the moment. I’m happy to see that it makes sense ;) LOL...after a couple of months’ break from it, I’m reading it over and getting it ready to go to print. I’m adding in a few little extras here and there for the printed version, like a ‘testimony’ page of peoples’ comments so far who have read the book. We’ve had some absolutely lovely feedback already and we’re certainly open to more if YOU’ve read 'Raw Emotions' and would like to share anything in regards to your experience with it. Here’s something sent in by ‘A’ this week:

“Hi Angela, I just wanted to tell you that I finished reading "Raw Emotions" last night.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for writing this book.

You have hit so many nails on the head for me in this book, I am very grateful to you. I am now in the process over going back through my notes to decide which concepts I am going to implement first.

I want so badly to heal my relationship with food and eating and you are such an inspiration to me. Now I see clearly why my earlier attempts at being raw or succeeding with any other way of eating have not been sustainable.
And, thanks to your book, I understand why eating raw foods can be an important part of the healing process. Maybe the time was right for me to get the message...and maybe it's about the teacher showing up with the student is ready.

Thanks again.
Best, A.”

THANKS, A :) If YOU have a testimony you’d love to share, or any comments, feedback, typo alerts or anything else about ‘Raw Emotions’ you’d care to send in, please email angela@rawreform.com and let me know :) You can also order the e-book HERE if you haven’t seen it yet...
THANKS :)

on June the 4th I had:

1 quart water
cup of pau d’arco tea
10oz celery/cucumber/cabbage/fennel/spinach/carrot juice
1lb cherries
2 cups celery/cucumber/spinach/fennel/cabbage/endive/lemon juice
spicy flax crackers topped with dill hummus, sprouts and dulse seaweed = yummmmm
little bowl of sweet stuff afterwards = GOJI BERRY POWDER (WOW), yacon powder and lucuma powder, mixed with water
3 cups water
10oz celery/cucumber/spinach/fennel/cabbage/endive/lemon juice
orange fruits meal: papaya/loquats/persimmon
3 cups water

Time for another story of Brighton magic :) A couple of days ago, a dear friend was leaving on a trip to London for the day. Just before she left, I said ‘Mmmmm, if I was going to London today, I’d go and eat durian there...’ ;)
A few hours later, I was walking down a street in Brighton and suddenly felt the energy of durian, as my attention was drawn to the left. I looked up and there was a Chinese supermarket there that I’d never seen before. Hmmm...I followed the clues and walked towards the store. I then SMELT the durian before I even saw it...and entered the shop to find 2 boxes of fresh, unfrozen durian sitting next to the door. :))) I’ve never seen durian for sale in Brighton before and was extremely excited. The owner told me she gets shipments of them every week in the summer time and this was the first shipment of the summer...and it had just arrived a few minutes before I got there. WOW. The synchronicities in this place are just beautiful :) I really feel like Brighton is an amazing vortex at times – things can certainly manifest quickly here... The cost seemed reasonable too, at £5.95/kilo – which doesn’t seem wildly different to London prices, if I recall correctly. I bought a gorgeous little fruit and ate it in the sun yesterday. If anyone else would love to go and partake of these magnificent munchables, the address is:

Ryelight Supermarket, 48 Preston Street, Brighton, BN1 2HP Tel: 01273 734954

ENJOY :)


on June the 5th I had:

1 quart water
1 mug pau d’arco tea
orange fruits meal: papaya/loquats/persimmon
3 cups celery/cucumber/endive/spinach/fennel/ginger/apple juice
a GORGEOUS little durian
1.5 quarts water
3 cups celery/cucumber/endive/spinach/fennel/ginger/apple juice
1 mug rooibus tea
1 cup water

I’ve been eating quite a lot of fruit (mono-)meals of late and REALLY enjoying them. Here are some of the things I’ve been appreciating:

1. I love that when I eat a fruit meal, I feel light afterwards, rather than ‘weighed down’ in some sense by fats/heavier combinations, etc. When we first go raw, for most of us, there’s a sense that we can almost ‘eat anything’ and we’ll still lose weight, feel healthier and lighter after meals and so on, even if we’re eating raw pizza and cheesecakes all day long – this is of course because we’ve STOPPED eating the really crazy toxic processed/cooked ‘foods’ and almost anything that’s raw is some kind of improvement. That all shifts, the longer one is raw. If I was to eat raw pizza, cookies, cakes etc all day long now, I’d be a mess...LOL...my body consistently moves towards a ‘cleaner’/simpler intake all the time. Whereas raw pizza might have felt ‘light on my stomach’ to me at the start of this journey compared to the junk foods I used to eat, that is no longer the case. Now FRUIT meals feel light to me and I like the ‘clean’ feeling of fuelling up on them...
2. Yesterday I was eating some gorgeous papaya in the sun (one of my absolute favourite foods). After eating, I looked at my skin and noticed my arms and legs looked a little dry. Hmmm, what to do...? Then I realised the answer was right there in front of me – the discarded papaya skin :) I picked it back up and rubbed it all over my limbs – I got my food, then they got theirs’ – wonderful :)
3. I’m feeling more and more that I definitely prefer eating fruits whole, as they are, rather than blending them, making them into cakes/puddings etc. It just feels SO good to me to eat something like that in its whole and natural form, giving blessings before I open it or bite into it, visualising where it came from, giving gratitude. It seems a very different energy to throwing something in a blender and shattering all the cells into a mixture of something else. I’m reading the classic book ‘The Secret Life of Plants’ at the moment, which is also impacting my thoughts around this a lot ;) Plants truly sense and respond to all our thoughts and feelings, as repeatedly outlined in this book with countless examples...
4. I love when supermarkets/stores sell off the BEST fruit really cheaply, because as far as their standards go, it is ‘overripe’, when in fact, it is absolutely IDEALLY ready for munching...this week for example, I got a clutch of divine persimmons that were perfectly soft and ripe for less than £1 ($2)...I see this happen a lot with bananas too...
5. Finally...GOJI BERRY POWDER...while this may be a dried fruit product, rather than something of the more succulent nature, I felt compelled nonetheless to mention it here. This week, three sachets of dried goji berry powder arrived here from Mr. Monarch in the US. (: W.O.W. :) This is one of the most sublime raw foods I’ve tasted yet. Absolutely delicious – it melts in your mouth and tastes sweet and fresh and bizarrely reminiscent of some kind of childhood sweets (not sure which...) You can literally just eat it straight from the packet on its own, it’s SO tasty...or add to any kind of sweet raw meal/smoothie/cake etc...you can get hold of some HERE if you’d like to treat your taste buds ;)

All love,
Angela. xxx

Brighton ROCKS :)))

I had SUCH a beautiful experience on Brighton beach today, which I would love to share.
It was the first time I’ve been to the beach since I got back to the UK. As perhaps you may be aware, this is not a sandy beach – it’s all pebbles. As I stepped out onto the rocks, a HUGE smile spontaneously spread across my face and is actually still with me as I write this. Something about Brighton beach just really seems to resonate for me... I had a very moving experience here on my ‘spiritual’ path a couple of years back, which I’ll write more about further down the page... My mother’s side of the family is from here and this place holds a lot of energy for me... I love how so many people all sit on the beach, facing out to sea – they rarely face other directions – it’s like a collective meditation out to the ocean... I laid down on the pebbles this afternoon and tuned into the energy of the place through my whole chakra system; yummy, relaxing energy flowed through me. After a while I sat up and looked around at all the stones around me. I thought to myself, ‘mmmm, I’d like to bring one of you with me, to carry this energy on my journey’, then I wondered how I would recognise such a stone in my collection – I have many stones from many places and the stones from Brighton beach are relatively plain – how would I tell it apart from others in years to come? Right then, my hand reached out and picked up the first stone I laid eyes on. I turned it over and right there, etched into the surface, was the word ‘Brighton’ (see pic - hope you can kind of make it out - my usual camera is on holiday at the moment ;).

:O :O :O .WOW.

Have NO doubt that the universe hears and responds to our every thought... What a BEAUTIFUL gift – of all the millions of stones on the beach, that was the one I was shown to pick up... I have no idea how it came to be etched with the name of this city...perhaps there are many more like this ;) LOL...maybe it’s a city policy now in fact, to stamp all the beach stones, so that people like me don’t come along and make off with them all ;) LOL...I really don’t know...in any event, I really appreciated it as a sweet gesture and affirmation from the Universe... Ever-more encouragement to keep my thoughts tuned to love and gratitude ;)

on May the 31st I had:

1 quart water
3 cups watermelon juice
1.5 cups green juice: celery/cucumber/endive/radish/spinach/ carrot juice
1lb yummy cherries
2 cups water
little gorgeous nugget of Kate Magic goji cake with a little bowl of super-fuel: green powder, hemp seeds, yacon syrup, maca = YUM
3 cups water
cup of pau d’arco tea
1.5 cups green juice: celery/cucumber/endive/radish/spinach/ carrot juice
½ a sublime papaya
2 cups water

Ok, so here’s smthg I wrote a while back about another very moving experience I had on Brighton beach back in summer 2005, while I was helping out at ‘Raw Living’...

“After another whirlwind day with Raw Living, I felt over-stimulated on super-fast energy and a great need to get out of the house and down to the beach. I went there and reached out to the sea and stones to help me ease the intensity I was feeling in my life. I laid down on the pebble beach and released my chakras to the stones and the sky. Something amazing started to happen. A huge amount of energy began to be sent into my being, through my third eye chakra. It came in waves, pulsating into my being, crashing into and onto and through me like the waves of the sea were crashing onto the shore below me. It was an extremely intense experience, yet liberating too and would be the start of a greatly increased connection for me with my energy body. I stayed there, letting the waves flow into my being, for quite some time, exploring this new sensation. When it became too cold to remain there on the beach, I headed home again in a new altered state. I was blown away by the intensity of this new feeling and unsure what to do with it…it was a little hard to even explain what had happened to Kate when I got home…
In the days that followed, the energy kept on coming into my body, with the same intensity and it was a challenging time for me. I simply didn’t know what to do with it all back then…I felt very ungrounded and this powerful force was crashing continually into and through my body. It felt something like being continually electrocuted for a few days. I was very unbalanced with it and needed guidance. I asked my older 'fairy godmother' friend for guidance and she helped me understand that it was a Kundalini awakening – a new level of energy being opened to me and I needed to integrate it and learn to ground it, to feel more at ease. I needed to allow it to become a whole body experience – allow the energy to flow through my whole being as it came in, rather than it just bounding into me and my system kind of freaking as it didn’t yet know how to handle it. This was what I needed to know and as I worked with those principles, it did indeed become a more integrated and whole-body experience. Rather than it feeling like my energy field was being boomed apart by the waves, it started to feel like an amazing and hugely enriching experience. The energy flowed now in through my third eye chakra and dissipated through my whole system. Other dramatic events of that time also conspired to help me learn to access and ground greater energies...”

I LOVE BRIGHTON :)))

on June the 1st I had:

1 quart water
1 cup pau d’arco tea
3 cups celery/cucumber/spinach/watercress/ginger/apple juice
1lb cherries
yummy little meal of hemp seed/flax oil/Himalayan salt/kelp powder mixture stuffed in nori rolls with mixed sprouts & spinach leaves
3 cups water
3 cups celery/cucumber/spinach/lettuce/watercress/ginger/apple juice
½ a delicious large papaya
2 cups water

I also love the raw community that is manifesting around Brighton. There are SO many incredible, vibrant beings here, sharing raw fun and creating beautiful things. I was at a raw potluck last week and as I looked round the room at the attendees, I was just awestruck at all the wonderful things everyone is manifesting...here are just some of the raw-friendly businesses in this area (in alphabetical order ;) :

*Hunab Ku – Twinkle and Lucifer’s ‘Portal to the Immortal’ – they are also helping organise a retreat with David Wolfe later this year...

*Raw Chocolate Company – Linus’ phenomenal big-scale project to bring raw chocolate to the masses :)

*Raw Gaia – Lisa and Hector’s GORGEOUS line of raw skin-care products – NOTHING compares ;)

*Raw Kitchen – the uber-lovely Shell’s site with recipes, raw catering services and more...

*Raw Living – Kate’s magical long-standing website with store, books, recipes etc.

*Space of Love – as mentioned recently – Matt (and Lara’s ;) site for the festie in August (plus the Anastasia books).

*Total Raw Food – newlyweds Jess and Tom’s vibrant online store, with articles, recipes and more.

Are there more that I’ve missed...? Probably – I’m sure someone will remind me if there is ;) ...and these are just the people who are ‘officially’ doing raw things here – there are so many more magical raw beings around here involved in this scene...what a blessing :)
Incidentally, Kate Magic also wrote a very sweet MySpace blog this week about how much she also loves Brighton – CLICK HERE to see more ;)

All love,
Angela. xxx

The Philosopher's Notes...

There is a VERY exciting new project I’d like to introduce you to (if you haven’t discovered it yet already ;) It’s called ‘Philosopher’s Notes’ and basically, it’s like mini ‘Cliff’s Notes’ for self-development books.
Brian Johnson (the man behind the wonderful ThinkArete site, which I keep mentioning) has taken all his favourite inspirational books and distilled the offerings in them down into 6 pages each OR MP3 recordings of around 20 minutes, that you can listen to as you go about your day... I think it’s an INCREDIBLE project and such a wonderful offering to the world...think of ALL those amazing books you’d love to take the time and space to read and it maybe never quite happens for you...sound familiar? Well, now you can quickly and easily get the ‘skinny’ on titles like ‘Loving What Is’, ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’, Eckhart Tolle’s ‘A New Earth’ and so on from a guy whose true gift in life seems to be assimilating universal truths and presenting them for others in a way that makes them super-easy to understand and integrate. See why I’m excited about this now…??? ;)))
In fact, I’ll let Brian explain the project himself – here’s what he wrote on the Notes:

“The idea is simple: you’re busy. AND you’re committed to reading/learning/growing and all that good stuff. When you put those two together, it can be hard to keep up!!!

Have you noticed that in any given book, there are usually a bunch of REALLY “Big Ideas”—those life-changing gems that really make an impact in your life (those pages are usually all marked up, underlined, starred, highlighted and all that goodness in my books! :))?!?

Well, what I’ve done is opened up my favorite books, gone straight to those pages with the BIG IDEAS and created “PhilosophersNotes” that quickly give you the inspiring gems along with my thoughts on how these ideas have impacted my life and how they can impact yours—all in the context of a 6 page PDF or a ~20 minute MP3 (so you can decide if you’d prefer to read over a cup of tea of listen on your way to work, on a hike, at the gym, doing errands or whatever’s best for you!).”

Brian already has Notes ready for 35 different titles, with many, many more to come. The current introductory price for a year's subscription to the service is an incredibly reasonable $19.95, set to rise to $39.95 on June 1st (this Sunday). That investment gets you instant access to all the 35 titles that are already ready, PLUS you’ll be emailed a set of Notes from the archive every other week (both PDF and MP3 formats).

SPECIAL OFFER for RawReform Blog Readers: On top of the already inexpensive subscription price, Brian is very generously offering readers of this blog an extra 10% off. If you hop over to the PhilosophersNotes.com website now with THIS LINK, you can save an extra 10% on the yearly subscription price, reducing it to just $17.95 – wow, thanks Brian :)
I really hope y’all enjoy this new service...

on May the 25th I had:

1 quart water
2 quarts cucumber/celery/apple/ginger juice
little bowl of strawberries and cherries = yummmmmm
baby spinach leaves, mixed sprouts, pumpkin seeds, a couple of brazil nuts, wakame seaweed
3 cups water
½ an incredible honey-like papaya
1 quart water

On Monday I went to the magical launch party of Miss Magic’s new book ‘Raw Magic’ in Brighton. FUN :) (We're going to have the book available soon in the US - we're working on it - bear with us ;) Kate didn’t know I was back in the UK, so it was fun to surprise her, as well as catch up with other raw yumsters here and meet some new faces on the UK raw scene ;). It was lovely to meet Philip McCluskey in person – here is a snap of us both below, taken by the fabulous Suki...there was masses of raw chocolate on offer at the party – I’m on juices though right now. The last few weeks I kind of lost the plot with juicing once a week for the Global Juice Feast – it seemed challenging while travelling in Thailand etc. Well, right now it feels TOTALLY right to be back on juice again – my body is still pretty spun-out from jet-lag/sleep deprivation etc and juicing feels like the quickest route to recovery ;) I think I’ll juice for at least 3 consecutive days now...we’ll see what happens after that ;)

on May the 26th I had a juicy day of:

1 quart water
8oz AMAZING pineapple juice
1.5 quarts cucumber/celery/apple/ginger juice
1.5 quarts watermelon juice
2 cups water
shot of wheatgrass/ginger juice followed by a shot of straight ginger juice and a few sips of Suki’s intense wild greens/garlic juice
2.5 cups celery/cucumber/lettuce/spinach/sprouts/carrot juice
1 quart water


on May the 27th I had:

1 quart water
8oz pineapple juice
3 cups celery/cucumber/lettuce/spinach/sprouts/carrot juice
3 cups watermelon juice
2 cups beet, carrot, ginger, lime juice
double shot of wheatgrass juice
2 cups water
1 cup ‘relaxing tea’
1 tbsp green powder, 1 tbsp bee pollen
3 cups green juice: celery/cucumber/lettuce/parsley/ginger/apple
2 cups watermelon juice
2 cups water

WOW, it is SO beautiful to me to see how the raw community is coming together to support Melissa Gilbert and her family, who I wrote about on this blog a few days back. Thanks to all of you who have bought her e-books or sent in donations.
Melissa and her family are now officially homeless and out in the Arizona desert in a tent. Her husband has thankfully found a new job – they are now going to live in the tent until they have enough money to start renting a place again. Yesterday Dhrumil re-posted my blog post about the family to GiveItToMeRaw.com and it is just WONDERFUL to see all the responses there from people who have gone to Melissa’s site and bought both her e-books for $20, to help support this beautiful raw family in their time of need. You can see that thread on GITMR HERE. You can see Melissa’s blog HERE, which is now being updated by her great friend Aleesha, until Melissa has an internet connection again. If you didn’t purchase Melissa’s e-books yet and would like to, you can see them HERE. For those of you who HAVE already purchased them and maybe not received them as email attachments – please be patient – they are trying to get them emailed out to people asap as they receive the orders...you can also actually email Aleesha on timelessspirit@shaw.ca once you've paid for the e-books and she will send them to you, as Melissa has no real internet access right now...and again, as I wrote before, if you feel drawn to simply donate funds to the family, rather than purchase their books, you can transfer money with Paypal to: loverawlife@gmail.com.

THANK YOU, beautiful raw community, for sharing the love :)

All love,
Angela. xxx