Jade Lee Blogs

SCHZOPHRENIC??? ME????

2008-07-18T17:19:00.001-05:00

I was asked to blog about Published Author Contests on Title Magic. Check out my SCHZOPHRENIC post!

SERIOUS BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE ON SELF-FLAGELLATION

I am of two minds on this blog. I was asked for my opinions about the published author contest circuit for romance authors. On the one hand, contests are a business choice. They cost money and time, and can be ego crushing, but also can have excellent results. Therefore, SERIOUS BUSINESS. On the other hand, they're just one tiny, infinitesimal, rather bizarre piece of the larger career plan. Ergo, SELF-FLAGELLATION could be more fun. So...do I blog serious or reality-check? Being more schizophrenic than usual, I have decided to do both--side by side.

Read the blog...

More Signings...

2008-07-17T17:24:00.001-05:00

I was at a basketball tournament this past weekend and signed store copies at 2 bookstores! They are as follows:

July 12, 2008 – Signed copies in Springfield, IL:

Barnes and Noble, 3111 South Veteran’s Pkwy, Springfield, IL 62704

Borders Express, White Oaks Mall, Springfield, IL

I have also kept signed copies up in Champaign, IL especially:

Borders, 802 W. Town Center Blvd, Champaign, IL 61802

Don't forget to pick up a signed copy for your own collection or they make handy gifts!

RITA!!!!

2008-03-25T09:59:00.002-05:00

Did you know it was Rita day today? I didn't! I'd forgotten all about it in my rush to finish one novel and revise another. (And, btw, my editor emailed to say yet another revision letter was on the way for a book...well, honestly, I'd forgotten that one of those was due!) Anyway...

I GOT THE CALL! TEMPTED TIGRESS is up for a RITA in the Historical category! For those of you not in the know, a RITA is the romance industry's equivalent of the Oscar--minus the papparazi and world-wide coverage. Oh god...I've got to get a GOWN!

Gawd, I'm so stoked! WOO HOO!

www.freshfiction.com

2008-03-21T13:02:00.002-05:00

Hey! My guest blog at www.freshfiction.com/blog is up! Click over then enter for a chance to win a copy of Dragonborn!

DRAGONBORN SEQUEL?

2008-03-21T09:39:00.002-05:00

My most common fan question these days is if DRAGONBORN will have a sequel. The answer is...email adavis@dorchesterpub.com and tell them you want one! I have one planned, I'm excited to write it, a ton of fans have asked me for it...but you can help make it a certainty by writing in!

Jade's BLOG take 3

2008-03-20T10:47:00.005-05:00

The folks at http://www.energymirrors.com/ have asked that I stop blogging about what I do with energy. They believe it is harmful to me and others. I disagree but will do as they ask because...well, because I hope that they know what they're talking about. So...if you were enjoying what I was doing, please feel free to contact them to learn more about this particular path as it applies to you. Perhaps I'll see you at a class someday.

In the meantime, Jade's Blog attempt 3 will focus on fan mail and what you want answered! So...email me! jade@jadeleeauthor.com Or just comment here!

Pay Attention! But don't care!

2008-03-19T08:04:00.004-05:00

There is an inherant contradiction in Energy Mirrors. Not for the client, but for me as a facilitator, even when (or perhaps especially when) I am my own client. It goes like this:

Judge the work by how effective it is. If your client isn't changing within 3-4 sessions, then you're missing something really important. BUT, let go of the need for a specific outcome. If you're so focused on something changing, then you're likely to miss something key.

In short...pay attention to what changes and shifts, but don't focus on it. Otherwise, it's too easy to limit or miss the very thing that will create the change you want. Well, that's great! And I understand it--in theory. In practice it's a hell of a lot harder.

We'll start with the work I'm doing. I want to lose weight. There's a whole 2 day class on weight loss and there's no way I can into all the specifics here. But let me say that possibilities of weight loss through energy work is...well, it's vital, it's key, it's that missing piece that might be the whole pie. Or so I believe. I promise, I'll do a whole blog on weight loss later. (It might help if someone begs me to do it).

Anyway, I've done so many sessions on "losing adipose tissue (fat)" or simply "weight loss", that I've lost count. I would conservatively guess 20 sessions, but probably more. I mean, I've been adding that to my frames for the last two years. Then I decided, hell, it's time to pull in help. I asked about sessions from CEM facilitators (Certified Energy Mirrors facilitators). The sessions cost $75 per and a course like this could easily run 3-4 sessions or a lot more. Not a small amount of change, but I'm willing to do it if it will shed some pounds.

I ended up emailing with one of the energy mirrors employees whom I've become acquianted with. I believe she's a CEM facilitator, too, but I'm not positive. Anyway, her advice was long and helpful, but it ended up that I should try doing a session on: LETTING GO OF THE NEED FOR A SPECIFIC OUTCOME.

Great. I need to lose weight or buy new clothes. Those are the two options right now. I could diet. Yeah, I've done that before and it was a great deal of effort. I know, I know, how much effort does it take to NOT eat. A LOT. But I've done it. I've gone on 700 calories a day diets that work. I lose weight...and a whole lot of sanity. I just don't feel like I have the focus or energy for that right now. So I'm hoping for that quick fix. Oh, and have you noticed how I wandered right away from Letting Go to but I need this result? Yeah, I did to.

So I did the session last night. And btw, it's not finished. I had to stop it in the middle because it went on too long, I was losing focus, and it was time to stop. Will have to pick it up again later this morning. But for the moment, the session I did took me straight to a Collective Conscious of Achievement.

What does that mean? It means (I believe) my intrinsic-to-my-very-cells need to accomplish/achieve. It means I'm goal-oriented. I set a goal--no matter how reasonable or logical--and my self-esteem is effected if I fail in it. It is IMO exactly how I am able to function in a job like being a novelist. Without that goal-setting and an internal drive to achieve it...I wonder if I'll ever get anything done again.

Now--in theory--disconnecting from that acheivement-oriented harmonic doesn't mean I'll never get anything done. It simply means I can chose to be goal-oriented or not. After all, does it really help me if I set a goal of finishing a soduku puzzle? I have set that goal. Not consciously, but I notice that my self-esteem suffers if I put it down unsolved. Can you say neurotic?

So it would really cool if I could separate from that. Also, it might be really cool if I could separate body image from self-esteem. And, you know, there's a never-evending list of goals out there. Some might argue that living from goal to goal is a straight road right to No Self Esteem because I can never measure up, I can never complete my tasks, I can never rest. That would be goal-setting run amuck, and yeah, I've been there.

So I did the session. I'm terrified that I'll suddenly not feel like finishing my current novel. I'm also trying really hard not to look at my weight. As in: I've let go fo the need for a specific outcome, have I lost weight yet? I've finally found a workable kind of living in my goal-setting. If my self-esteem suffers because I put down that sodoku, then lucky me, I have time tomorrow to lift myself back up again. But that's management of a neurosis, not freedom from it.

So that's where I am. Wish me luck...

Not so much today...

2008-03-12T11:33:00.002-05:00

Well, I did another session last night. It was a follow up to the one that produced such happiness yesterday. It was an incredibly difficult session. I yawned through the whole thing. Kept losing focus. Thinking about dinner, my writing, my mother, etc, etc. That's usually a sign that I'm hitting some Hard Wired Barriers (HWB) and just don't want to change. But I persevered. Or I think I did. Anyway, I spent more time with it until it finally finished. Yeah! I accomplished my task and went to bed.

But today...I don't feel different. I don't feel better. If anything, I feel more...gray. Now I don't think every session should produce results like yesterday, but after the difficult session last night, I fear I did exactly squat. I fear I just banged my head against the HWBs and did nothing. *sigh* I'll try to do better next time. It's all I can do.

I just wish there was an objective place I could go read a meter that said--Congratulations, you accomplished this much. You reorganized your field this much. Or you would have been better served to stare at your toenails for an hour and a half.

What did I do? What did I accomplish? I have no *#&*@# clue.

I think I'll go stare at my toenails now...

It worked!

2008-03-11T12:12:00.003-05:00

I am really happy today. Frankly, it's rather frightening and bizarre. And it is definitely interferring with my writing--which is not cool. But I'm just really happy. It feels like a million of my cells deep inside are grinning. That's it. Just grinning. So my insides feel happy, and that kinda throws my brain because there is no reason to feel this happy.

Oh wait, there is. I'm alive, the sun is out, and in general, things are going as they ought. That's a cool thing, but you know, that happens just about every day. Ergo...this is how I'm supposed to feel EVERY day. But I don't.

So why the change? I did a session last night. The frames (things to focus on) were suggested as something everyone should use in every session. So what the heck, I did. Here they are: (Keep in mind that I am the client).

% ego=God (means what percentage of client's mind thinks it is in charge, not the One Field)
% codependance (means what percentage of client is mutually addicted to/with someone else's field)
# of mind identities client is operating through (means what number of mind-generated personnas are limiting my experiences to what fits their perameters)
# of fields client is operating through (this is not the One Field, these are fields of stuff, usually mind generated, that clog up stuff)

Suffice it to say that at the beginning of the session the answers were: A TON! But I did the session and lifted out a lot of interconnectedness with my family, my parents family, and my cousin's family (I'm visiting them right now).

This does not mean that I am no longer part of my family or they a part of me. It means, though, that I can operate alone as me without their influence. I am still a part of the family, but we don't operate as ONE MIND operating in different bodies.

Let me stress that if you asked my family, they would say that Jade is EXTREMELY independant. They have almost zero influence on what I do at all. This is relatively true. But some percentage of my cells were operating THROUGH the filter of the Family Mind. (We call it the Collective Conscience of -blank- which in this case was my Lee family).

Now truthfully, I'm sure I'll have to do this again. Some part of me will probably always group-think with my husband and children, siblings and parents, etc, etc. But for today, parts of me are newly born as JUST ME! And wow, that part is HAPPY! It's thrilled. It's clean of influence that I didn't choose.

And that makes me happy!

My Malignant Mind

2008-03-08T10:07:00.002-06:00

There is a concept in energy mirrors that has become a kind of holy grail to me. I can see it, I can sometimes touch it, but I can’t quite wrap my hands around it and own it. It is rooted in the earlier post–We Are All the Whole One Field–and it begins at the very beginning of everything.

At one point, the Whole One Field decided it wanted a relative experience. The One Field was everything, which is awesome. But what did nothing feel like? What about half? What about all the myriad shades of color in between? It wanted to know, and so it carved out a piece of itself and slowed it down. That piece became me. Another piece became you. Other pieces include the grass, the birds, the water, the Earth, and don’t forget all the other worlds and universes beyond our conception. But for the moment, let’s focus on one tiny piece we’ll call HB for Human Being.

HB’s body collects over a million neural inputs a second. That’s a whole bunch of data for just lying in bed breathing. Something had to organize all that data. And that something also needed to make decisions like when to walk, how to talk, and when to eat cheesecake rather than chocolate. Wham, the mind was created.

Now the mind is an awesome creative force. It can manipulate all that fabulous data, come to conclusions, decide on new paths, even choose to access the Whole One Field and experience Everything again. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, it forgot that it wasn’t THE SOURCE. I--the mind--am in charge, it declared, and it was damn well going to stay there.

So, when the mind decides it wants to do energy healing, it cheers itself on. Okay, let’s get specific. MY mind cheered me on. I was going to do all sorts of cool, mystical stuff. Except in order to do any real energy work, I had to access the One Field and STAY THERE. Otherwise, I’m just playing with my imagination, which is way cool, but it isn’t very helpful to the other pieces of the One Field out there who would like my attention. So here I go...

It took me about five years, but I can now quiet my body (depending on how much caffeine I’ve had), quiet my mind (babble, babble, okay, I’m breathing, I’m silent, I’m...), and access the Whole One Field. Easy-peezy. "Yeah!" cheers my mind. "I’m the Whole One Field." Well, I WAS the whole One Field. Now I’m in my mind/body again congratulating myself.

I am the Whole One Field. My breathing lengthens. My body stills. I touch a silent peace. "Yeah, I got to it again! Woo hoo! Now what?" Back in mind/body.

I am the Whole One Field. My headache eases. My back straightens. My breath... "So, what am I doing in the One Field? What’s going on?"

I am the Whole One Field. "Yeah, I got that. So when’s lunch? Am I thin yet? Headache’s coming back, so that obviously didn’t work."

And there you have my malignant mind.

WE ARE ALL THE WHOLE ONE FIELD

2008-03-05T10:49:00.002-06:00

Before I begin any energy work, I turn to the following phrase: We are all the whole one Field. At different times, I will capitalize one word or the other. ALL reminds me that everyone--person, animal, thing, air, space, even belly lint--we're all God or The One Field. I try not to use the word God because it's so emotionally charged, so I simply use the One Field (capitalized). It is through the One Field that I am able to touch anyone else. If I stay in the "Me-Jade, You-Belly Lint" mode, then I am in my head and not going to do anything but give myself a headache. We are all one. That's vital to all my work, even (and maybe most especially) my fiction work.

When I all-caps ONE--my focus is on unity. It's a little different from ALL where I consciously try to include individual clients or items. When I caps ONE, I'm thinking of a large ocean of creation from and in which we all live. Kind of like Star War's FORCE or Odo from Star Trek: DS9. Ever see the episode in which he returns to his formless ocean of family members? That's what I imagine when I think of the One Field. Except that the One Field is everywhere, not just hanging out there on a planet like a golden ocean.

See, one of the main things I've discovered is that language is a heavy handed tool, but it's the only one I've got. Shades of language change what we think. So...ALL and ONE...subtle differences, but so important!

So...for the moment, I'm actually capitalizing both: We are ALL the whole ONE Field. Yes, part of me is indeed belly lint, gravel on the side of the road, and yes, even that disgusting spider that I really, really want to stomp on. It's both an awesome and rather unsettling thought.

Vicki Lewis Thompson

2008-03-04T07:10:00.002-06:00

In case you missed me yesterday...I was blogging at Barbara Vey's Publisher's Weekly Blog -- Beyond Her Book. it's on the right side after you hit this link: http://www.publishersweekly.com/ But that was yesterday when I posted about the fabulous Celebrate Romance conference I was at.

TODAY'S blog is about IRON DONGS. (yes, you read that right!) And it's at http://www.soapboxqueens.com/ Hop on by there and comment. Someone gets to win a FREE copy of Dragonborn!

ENERGY HEALING

2008-03-02T17:12:00.003-06:00

Hello all! I have strongly RESISTED blogging in the past. Why? Frankly, because I would rather be writing my books....or doing something that I have kept a relative secret. Yes, I've been working these past years to become an energy healer.

There, I said it. My dirty secret is out. I've told people about it in the past, but this is in print. Everyone in the world could read this if they like. It's quite a step for me. But for a variety of reasons, I have decided to let the world see my struggles with energy concepts and healing.

One of the primary purposes here is to show what I believe is true. Or rather, my PERCEPTIONS of the truth. Hopefully that will lead to better understanding of what is in my books. All of my writing has some basis in energy, but the concepts are not necessarily correct. Sometimes they are simply a reflection of my understanding at the time. Sometimes I've adjusted the concept to fit the fictional story line. And sometimes, I just make up stuff. It's the sad truth, but I am a fiction writer, after all. That's my job.

But for now, this place will be as truthful as I can make it. And hopefully, it will shine a light on one person's struggle with energy healing concepts.

There you go. That's all my bravery will allow for today. More tomorrow. But if you simply can't wait--visit http://www.energymirrors.com/

Jade

CELEBRATE ROMANCE!!!!

2008-03-02T13:18:00.006-06:00

I am just finishing out a fabulous conference -- Celebrate Romance http://www.crspring.com/
Pictures will be forthcoming from people more digitally capable than moi!

More coming in a bit. But for this moment...DRAGONBORN IS OUT!!!
--Jade

The Tao of Sex

2007-11-26T18:11:00.000-06:00

A Steamy New Series Explores Chinese Zen Sexuality

Imagine you're a white woman, stolen and sold into prostitution to give not sex, but your yin energy. The John milks you by inducing orgasm. Strange? Not so bizarre given the reality of an ancient Chinese off-shoot of Buddhism.

My newest novel, White Tigress, launches a series of books set in China (1898) that delve into a small sect of Buddhism the Sect of the White Tigresses. These intrepid women came from all walks of life, searching for youth, vitality, and immortality. They used the power of sexuality to illuminate their minds and bring health to their bodies. At the very pinnacle of practice, they would be able to walk among the angels. This was not death, but a visit to the Immortal Realm, before returning back to Earth.

And, oh by the way, these women still exist today. They tend to practice in secret, but Tigresses and their male counterparts -- Dragons -- live and love in modern day Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Traditional Buddhists teach that one should merge ones consciousness with the eternal, like a drop of water merging with the sea. The Buddhist loses all identity of self and becomes simply an indistinguishable part of the eternal everything. Most monastic Buddhists live quiet lives of meditation and total celibacy, striving for a mental merging with the cosmos.

Not so the Tigresses or Dragons. They view sex as a powerful force in the search for Immortality. They even pity their Buddhist friends for abandoning such an incredible tool on the path to the Eternal.

But how does one use sex to attain Heaven? The Tigresses teach that immortality is reached by mixing a womans yin with a mans yang. Yin and yang can combine with such power that the mind is taken to Heaven and one can walk and talk with the angels. The man or woman who has done such a thing is called an Immortal.

For a woman, that means creating as much yin as possible. Since she keeps her fluids in her body, the Tigress orgasms for as long as possible: many hours or days, if possible. Orgasm creates more yin which will combine with whatever yang has been accumulated. Hopefully, the mixture is potent enough to carry the Tigress to Heaven. (As if a day-long orgasm wasnt heavenly enough!)

The men have it much tougher. Ejaculation means a huge loss of yang, taking as much as a year off the life of the unfortunate gentleman. Thus, a man must bring his yang to the bursting point, then stop just before releasing his fluids. The yang power is then mentally rolled back into the body where it combines with whatever yin he has accumulated. Legend claims the master Dragons have pulled themselves back from the brink as many as a 1000 times in one night. Eventually, enough yin and yang will be accumulated to create an ecstatic event. (Or perhaps their heads explode from the frustration.)

As in Tantric practice, a Jade Dragon performs daily exercises to maintain his stamina. Indeed, the best-trained dragons can orgasm without ejaculating. Such a man is believed to have become very female in his orgasmhaving the contractions without actual loss of power.

So what about this heavenly experience? Once the practitioner has gained enough yin and yang energy, s/he must mentally stir them together into the great yang circle and lesser yin circle. This was done by sexual stimulation and mental focus. Have you ever tried to meditate? To keep your mind quiet and trained on a single thing without distractions? Its enormously difficult. But the Tigress or Dragon had to achieve that state of mental focus while being sexually stimulated. Imagine trying to mediate while your partner licks your yin pearl! Yes, that was a normal part of a Tigresss practice.

Once the yin and yang circles were established, the practitioner would mentally enter the Immortal Realm. There were many chambers to this heavenly location. One of the first was the Chamber of a Thousand Swinging Lanterns. There, one would feel the expansiveness that is Immortality and watch in awe as lights danced before your spiritual eyes. Higher up were a myriad of different chambers were great beings walked, trailing celestial glory in their wake. An aside note: if youve ever seen pictures of Chinese angels or celestial beings, they will have ribbons flying about their bodies. Those ribbons actually represent the heavenly glory that follows in their wake. The Chinese equivalent of a halo.

In White Tigress, my hero is a jade dragon and his "partner" is the abducted Lydia Smith. Unusual circumstances force Chang Ru Shan (the Chinese always put the last name first) to buy Lydia from the brothel where shes been dumped. He believes he needs her white yin. And so they begin forced practice first with purification rituals, and then with the harvesting of Lydia's yin—done by sucking on her nipples or her pearl while she orgasms. Ru Shan soon feels the beneficial effects of her yin. Or was it more because of their conversations and the way she constantly challenged him to think differently than proscribed by the Imperial court? Remember, in Imperial China, the Emperor encouraged the Chinese to believe that whites were no better than large monkeys, living in colonies. Using a white woman in this fashion would be just like buying an expensive milk cow or perhaps a pet monkey.

Despite the difficulties, the two share their sexual energies, reach the antechamber of Heaven, and then…Lydia escapes. How Ru Shan comes to understand her value and overcome his cultural biases is the surprise of this book. That together they learn to love each other and attain Heaven is the message of my book.

The series continues with Hungry Tigress in June 2005 and Laughing Tigress in December 2005. In Hungry Tigress, my heroine is an American who has lived in Shanghai for a few years. Not nearly as na? as Lydia, she chooses to explore the Tigress practice with her Shaolin monk hero, Zou Tun. What I learned about the Shaolin is the subject of an entirely different article. Believe me, he has some difficulty overcoming his celibate inclinations. Well, maybe not a lot

But the book that is really becoming an amazing exploration is the final episode in the trilogy. The heroine of Laughing Tigress is Shi Po, the head Shanghai Tigress and a recurring character from the first two books. She is a leader who has lost faith in her own religion, until the heroes and heroines of the first two books attain Heaven before her. Lost and angry, her husband is forced to step in to save her from self-destruction. Together they begin the practice again from the very beginning. Searching through the bitter disappointments that face all married couples, they find a way to move beyond the awkwardness of their arranged marriage, to discover love in one another's arms. I wont tell you if or how they become Immortals, but I promise it will be a surprise.

As you read my series, I hope you discover what I did. That what initially began as an intriguing use for sex became a great philosophy. In a society where sexuality wasnt discussed at all, where womens entire lives were dominated by men, these amazing ladies developed a religion around sexuality and a means to attain the highest personal achievement. They became Immortals and they used the pulse-pounding, head-exploding, body-throbbing power of sexuality to do it! I dont know if I was able to fully communicate the awe I felt as my characters walked with the angels in this trilogy. But the message I wanted to convey was just this: We can all attain immortality. It is our birthright. And the shortest path to that place is through love.

Feel it, express it, enjoy it.

Testing a new blog for Jade Lee

2007-11-26T16:07:00.000-06:00

Hey, does it work?

I'm listening to the Crazy Tuesday podcast -- Cindy Dees is FASCINATING!!!