Lily Iona MacKenzie's Blog for Writers & Readers

The Ripening
The Ripening:
A Canadian Girl Grows Up

" A wildly inventive, consistently engaging, and amusing comic novel, but under its bright exterior lurk darker undertones and truths.... "

" A wildly inventive, consistently engaging, and amusing comic novel, but under its bright exterior lurk darker undertones and truths.... "

" Tillie’s grit and ability to face life’s challenges are inspiring, the seeds for later discovering her artist self. Tillie takes readers on a wild ride. Join her if you dare! "

Lily Iona MacKenzie Books
Curva Peligrosa
Curva Peligrosa

" A wildly inventive, consistently engaging, and amusing comic novel, but under its bright exterior lurk darker undertones and truths.... "

" A wildly inventive, consistently engaging, and amusing comic novel, but under its bright exterior lurk darker undertones and truths.... "

" A wildly inventive, consistently engaging, and amusing comic novel, but under its bright exterior lurk darker undertones and truths.... "

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FLING!
Fling!

" A wildly inventive, consistently engaging, and amusing comic novel, but under its bright exterior lurk darker undertones and truths.... "

" A wildly inventive, consistently engaging, and amusing comic novel, but under its bright exterior lurk darker undertones and truths.... "

"Fling! is both hilarious and touching. Every page is a surprise, and the characters! I especially loved Bubbles, one of the most endearing mothers in recent fiction. A scintillating read."

Lily Iona MacKenzie Books
Freefall
Freefall :
A Divine Comedy

" A wildly inventive, consistently engaging, and amusing comic novel, but under its bright exterior lurk darker undertones and truths.... "

" A wildly inventive, consistently engaging, and amusing comic novel, but under its bright exterior lurk darker undertones and truths.... "

" These fascinating characters will fill your imagination, defying expectations about aging, art, and what truly matters in life. "

Lily Iona MacKenzie Books
All This
All This

" A wildly inventive, consistently engaging, and amusing comic novel, but under its bright exterior lurk darker undertones and truths.... "

" A wildly inventive, consistently engaging, and amusing comic novel, but under its bright exterior lurk darker undertones and truths.... "

" Indicative of the title, the poems in All This range from the conventional lyric/narrative that captures an intense moment of emotion, an epiphany glimpsed briefly out of the corner of the eye, to the more experimental. "

Lily Iona MacKenzie Books
No More Kings
No More Kings

" A wildly inventive, consistently engaging, and amusing comic novel, but under its bright exterior lurk darker undertones and truths.... "

" A wildly inventive, consistently engaging, and amusing comic novel, but under its bright exterior lurk darker undertones and truths.... "

Each finely crafted poem in this powerful collection comes alive on the page while she traces the days’ journeys with a painter’s eye, a musician’s ear, and the deft pen of a poet.

Lily Iona MacKenzie Books
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Dreaming Myself into Old Age: One Woman’s Search for Meaning

Bette Davis claimed, “Old age ain’t no place for sissies!” And there’s some truth to that notion. But it’s also true that old age is not to be missed. An important life phase that offers its own mysteries to be solved, it deserves our full attention both from our conscious and unconscious minds. Old age can be one of our richest stages because it forces us to examine more closely what meaning life has and to seek answers.

To accomplish this, at the beginning of 2012, in my seventy-second year, I decided to return to analysis. I felt it was time to explore my fears of aging and dying. Fortunately, I found Dr. Y, a Jungian analyst who also is a psychiatrist, so he merges the rational world of science with the more mystical one Carl Jung embodies. Of course, Jung also was an MD, grounded in the scientific method. But for me, Jung’s esoteric ideas about the psyche, which I devoured from the time I first discovered his writing in my late twenties, overshadowed the scientist. I love how Jung evokes the multiplicity of things—the magic, the mystery, the mythic dimension. And that’s what I aim for in this exploration.

One question I’ve been asking myself as I write about aging is what my goals are. In part, I hope that reflecting on my final years will help me to better understand my own maturing process and deepen it. In sharing this progression, my readers will make their own discoveries, as has been true for me whenever I’ve read about someone else’s journey.

But I also believe that aging offers its own mysteries for us to explore, and that is part of my quest here as well. It can be one of our richest stages because it forces us to examine more closely what meaning life has and to seek answers. I take the reader behind the scenes of my late-life Jungian analysis where, during some of my weekly sessions, my nightly dreams become a focus. Dreams, like poetry and other art forms, employ a special image language that we can understand more deeply if we spend time with them. They also offer insights insights into ourselves and our world that otherwise wouldn’t have happened.

Please join me on my journey when Shanti Arts publishes my hybrid memoir on September 19, 2023.

3 thoughts on “Dreaming Myself into Old Age: One Woman’s Search for Meaning

  1. Pingback: Join me in writing about life's underside! — WELCOME TO MY BLOG, FELLOW WRITERS AND READERS!

  2. Pingback: Dreams as source of inspiration — WELCOME TO MY BLOG, FELLOW WRITERS AND READERS!

  3. Pingback: The Poetry in Dreams — WELCOME TO MY BLOG, FELLOW WRITERS AND READERS!

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