Trafford Publishing: 8-8-88 Symbols of a Life Path

Here is the full reference card for this book...

If you'd rather place an order by talking to one of our cheerful order desk clerks, please call 1-888-232-4444 (USA and Canada only) or 250-383-6864. From Europe, ring our UK order desk clerk at local rate number 0845 230 9601 (UK only) or 44 (0)1865 722 113.

8-8-88 Symbols of a Life Path

by Catharine Arnold

188 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-0576; ISBN 1-4120-0208-7; US$20.50, C$24.00, EUR17.00, £12.00

A baby, cervical cancer, and a voice whispering that it's all for a reason. One woman learns that life is never about the action but rather our reaction.

Read more!

about the book about the author sample excerpts catalogue info

About the Book

Telling someone that his or her life is whatever fate has in store for them is one thing. Now try telling them that they had a hand in designing that fate. With a strong belief in a higher power and faith in her place in life is how Catharine shows her perspective of life. Karma, reincarnation and a refusal to use words like coincidence or accident are the basis of this belief system she has acquired for herself. 8-8-88 Symbols of a Life Path is a liberal dose of spiritualism mixed with conservative common sense. Being a Libra, Catharine shows her natural urge to balance the two.
8-8-88 Symbols of a Life Path has so many meanings to the author as she explains how she advanced her spiritual sense because of these symbols she recognized. These were obvious symbols in her life path that only confirmed her beliefs. A couple of predictions from a psychic were only a fun thing tried a few times for entertainment purpose only. Then the predictions fulfilled themselves and the symbols thought of, as a coincidence became reality. When someone shows you your life chart and suddenly it becomes fulfilled to the last detail you tend to pay attention to the signs along the way. Now whose reality does she see and how does she base that perception?
Catharine takes a look at the possibilities that may be behind the symbols she has been shown and the probability that she placed them there to help her see that karmic trail she must follow. A third child a dozen years after her second and a series of medical problems including cervical cancer were seen as symbols to Catharine. To look at these changes in a sense of them being a burden or a misfortune is to limiting a thought for her. The symbols in her life path were put there because of the way they needed to shape her life. We all have a purpose and a time for everything we do. Our guides give us symbols along the way we just need to recognize them as the signs they are. It's never about what has happened to you, it's only about how you responded to it.

About the Author

Baptized and confirmed a Roman Catholic in Omaha, Nebraska, Catharine has held an array of jobs over the last twenty-five years that have helped round out her unique perspective on life. While she trained in Broadcasting like her Father before her she claims no title more dearly than that of Mother, wife, daughter, sister and friend. Although she has written countless 30 second commercial ads for radio, these pages are a first for her.
A small non-speaking role of a nurse in the movie Terms of Endearment gave Catharine a glimpse of Shirley Maclaine and her journey "Out on a Limb". It wasn't until years later that she realized this was more than just a fun thing from her college days. The pieces fell together in a pattern showing that nothing in her life was random. A look at personal and professional decisions made over the next twenty years that Catharine lays out for all others to see as her path.
This is the section where the Author tells their qualifications for writing such a book. We all have our belief system and no one can really tell you what you need as far as faith since they truly don't know your path. After a new baby and five surgeries in thirteen months time, the symbols were yelling at Catharine. These pages are filled with her perceptions on the way life, namely hers, works and she is yelling it back. There is no one else who can know the definitions of these symbols other than the one who holds them the closest. Catharine acknowledges that she had assistance with this book, but the ones who helped most are not of this earth plane anymore and have no need to share in the proceeds with her.

Sample Excerpts

excerpt from CHAPTER 1: MY GOD
The way God works is such a personal thing to each of us no one can tell you how to be spiritual, including what I tell you within these pages. Remember this is my journey and if you can gain some light from me great, but I can tell you it must be your own path you follow. I believe we make a contract with God before we come here. We chose our parents, when we get here, when we leave, who we love along the way. Even our children, there are no accidents, if we follow our life plans and that goes along with following our intuition.
It may be hard to believe that you would put something in your life plan that may on earth seem like a mistake but on the other side makes sense. It's not the mistake you make it's the lesson that you learn from it. We spend too much time making the same mistakes over again and again because of the follow through on them. God forgives us each time we screw up too. When I say again and again I mean not just this life but we carry them over from previous lives.
Never will we be truly at home here simply because it is not our home. When we make a contract with God before we come here think of it as signing up for school and within the school years we sign up for certain classes. Usually it's something we just couldn't get through our head in a previous life. For me ever since I was young I questioned why I was here. I think everyone has that same wondering thought but for me it's been relentless and all consuming. So naturally the culmination of my life long obsession is now spilling out on these pages.
I really could go on page after page on God but the main thing I want to get across is that God is here and always has been. To reach God is very easy but may be very different for each of us. If it means you must sit in the lotus position with incense burning and crystals in each hand then do it. If it' s taking a walk and getting in touch with your thoughts then do it. If it's 8am Mass Sunday morning at the local Catholic Church then do it. I have tried all those ways of finding God and he responds to all.
When we come here we remember everything but babies can' t communicate what they remember. Two and three year olds can though, when they start talking you start asking them what they remember. By the time there five or six the veil comes over them and they forget like the rest of us. If we can only figure out away to keep that knowledge our lives would be easier. Being easy is not always the best way to learn something. Those of us who have had a lot of pit falls in our life actually should be grateful for the life lessons we have gained from those loses. It was just such a thing that led me to these pages.
At thirty six I found myself with a soon to be twelve and a thirteen year old, a husband going through a career crisis, and me pregnant after all these years of thinking the two we had completed us just fine. Well here is one of those mysterious ways that God likes to work in. Doctors have never been on my list of favorite people, I was terrible about going, but now I had to, and that's when they found something. I had an abnormal pap and I new it was cancer, something told me it was not serious if I took care of it now. I know I would not have gone in if it weren' t for the baby. Well needless to say everything did work out. Jackson Scott is now here and I have started these pages while recovering from a radical hysterectomy.
Nothing about it was easy I spent weeks in the hospital with a bad gall bladder that they had taken when Jack was four weeks old. Not to mention starting over with a little one. The point is if I couldn' t see that everything happened for a reason when I had events like this in my life then I must not have been looking. Sometimes I think I need to be hit over the head to see certain things so that must be what I did by piling it on like that.
Turning points happen more times then we realize. We are an ever-changing world because of the way we grow spiritually. Our goal is to be back one with God and we all have different ways of getting there. Eventually we will figure it out that until we do it together it's not going to happen. In some peoples eyes I probably over analyze everything but I am determined to gain as much spiritual growth as possible in this life and to me that means being open to anything. If you can imagine it then it is a possibility. Frankly I have a great imagination so I look at my possibilities as being right up there.
excerpt from CHAPTER 10: IS IT MY NATURE OR MY SPIRIT?
Is it wrong for me to feel a justification when someone is executed, or should I feel bad for him or her losing his or her life? If I don' t feel bad for them does that make me evil or just human? Does my lust for revenge make me take big steps backwards since I believe our intentions matter? These are really hard questions and my spiritual side tells me don' t execute anyone that doesn' t solve the problem yet my human side say's that is the only way to put down evil. How much more complicated does it get when you say that your doing it in the name of God? I think that's where you have to say that you don' t have the right to speak for God.
When looking at what comes through as an act of nature versus the spirit moving through us I've come up with some theories on this when it comes to homosexuality. I believe being gay is a choice but I think it' s more of a choice from the other side kind. We all have been both genders many times each. We know what it feels like to have feelings for both sexes. When we set our life plans on the other side we make the choice at that time to have this part of our make up or not. Lets face it to be gay in our world means opening yourself up to all kinds of criticism and hurt, so to make that kind of choice on this side would be hard. We don't give gays the same rights as heterosexuals some how we made them less then human. When I talk about the diversity in my friendships with people in that mix is a number of gay friends even my brother was gay. So I guess you could say I'm tolerant to them, although I would say it's not my place to condemn anyone for anything.
There is a place for all of us in the webbing of life we can't do anything alone. There is a reason for someone to choose this for this life span. The preconceived notions we have of anybody need to be tabled until you take the time to know the person for yourself. Being gay does not make a person a pedophile or a deviant. It also doesn' t make them anything special either;we all have the different things we come to life to deal with. It may be being gay or dealing with gays. I get a little irritated with special interest groups that want special rights over and above the rest of us. We all should get the same rights there is nothing special that anyone of us has over the other. It's just another thing to deal with, that you picked to deal with before you got here.
Have you noticed the way the field of science is always ready to blame what you did or we as a society on the cause of certain illnesses? They really dig deep too, they can find so much data to back up why this food is causing cancer to people or that product is ruining this or that. But they cant explain why this 95 year old man who's a meat and potatoes guy and of course a cigar now and then is still going strong while his neighbor who never smoked and jogs every morning just keeled over at 56. These kind of things are shouting to us that things are predestined we plan everything, including the not so nice things. We figure out what the person needs and angle in what the spirit needs that's why we use the word coincidence so much. We think that these things come together on their own but that would be like one miracle after another. We are woven together in ways we can' t see. You don' t need to see it either you just need to know its there. You know faith.
What makes human nature think that we can gamble our way into prosperity and for that matter why do we have to be prosperous? We go out on a limb for some of the stupidest things and yet what is important doesn' t always get that attention. It's a hard line to separate the difference between a reckless gamble and a sure thing. I have been to Las Vegas and quite a few different Indian reservation casinos and I know the feeling of when you need to head for the door. Why doesn't everybody who feels that react accordingly? You don' t have to be in a casino to feel that 'I'm about to make a bad bet feeling' either. .
So what kind of facts do I need to back up these pages? None, we were given the ability to either have faith or not. You can stand by and say prove it to me all you want. What about getting out and digging up the truth for yourself. Our whole life is about wondering why were here and what were supposed to do. When I talk about my beliefs people go either way as far as interest. They can' t hear enough or you're preaching and they can't get away fast enough. So what if I am preaching? We need teachers around us and I am only telling you what I've told myself all along. It's up to you what to take a second look at. If these pages scare you then I have to ask what is it your scared of finding within yourself.
excerpt from CHAPTER 13: FINDING OUR ROLES
Our roles are not who we are they only define us for the moment. Karma is the key behind what we choose to do for each life span we pick these roles that keep us questioning things. We've come up with sayings like 'Murphy's law' is the reason we had this happen. Or the old saying 'isn' t it ironic.* No, its not ironic it' s the way you planned it and I know you feel it within. The times I get tuff on myself are when I am being bombarded with trying times and it would be so easy to throw blame around.
Say you're in an accident that clearly was not your fault maybe you got hurt or it cost a ton of money. Then you get the why me what did I do to deserve this. Well I hate to break it to you but you did ask for this or you would not have been at that place at this time to have it happen. We all do this and tend to get overloaded with emotions. If we come out the other side much more humble and appreciative then we understand the process much better. There are no accidents the crash was for a reason so use your energy to figure that out how you need to react instead of whom to blame it on.
So why doesn' t God jump in and help when he can see something about to happen? Well did any of your teachers ever stand over your shoulder while you were taking a test and give you the right answer when you were about to make a mistake? The truth is we're either lazy or scared most of the time and that's when we start looking to share our pain. It has to be somebody else's problem I don' t want to bare this alone. Remember fear is the worst form of evil there is. We will always make mistakes we just need to learn to handle them better.
I remember lying on the table before my gall bladder surgery and that was scary for this mom who never did anything more than birthing children. The nurse eased my tension and things were not as bad as I thought. Well eight months later and three procedures more. I had the hernia fixed I even recognized a nurse from a previous surgery. She asked if I was ok because my face turned red. I said I 'm OK I just had a hot flash they come now and then since the hysterectomy. I remember feeling very calm and confident that what happens is what is meant to happen. All of this I attribute to my prayers to God and the knowledge of what will be will be. Que sera, sera.
We accept the challenge from God to come here and learn things for our growth. When that was solid in my mind then it was easier to accept that was why I might have taken on the role I did with the challenges that are within it. Why waste an opportunity to learn as much as possible by not having any conflict. it's like going to an amusement park and never getting on the rides. It might break down and something could happen. So you spend your time watching others have fun and wishing you had the nerve to try. I'm not saying you have to go straight to the roller coaster but at least give the Ferris wheel a try.
We can all say that's easy for you to say at sometime or another. When your talking to somebody who just won something or achieved something you wanted. We get that green-eyed monster of jealousy out there for all to see. Ask yourself is it worth it to be petty or how far could I go with congratulations for this person and the proper amount of grace. That is exactly what I was lacking and it held me back. I think about my role in this life and how I want it represented. It came down to the fact that I found it easier to be the better person. As soon as I learned to be gracious with others I felt the gains come faster. I wonder if I ever had a role where I had done everything the way I planned or if that's possible for us. I don' t ever feel like I'm striving for perfection just a real thirst for knowledge. Perfection is for the other side this is where we make the mistakes and put it all together. I like getting the little clues along the way. Now that I know I put the clues there myself I recognize them faster.
I lost a job and literally the next day my husband was promoted with a substantial raise. Every time I guess I do it in the form of a prayer and then I get an answer to it. I want these pages of my thoughts to lead to something more to learn from for everyone who picks them up. I have had books sitting open to the passage that answers my thoughts. Reassurance is something we all need and I think if you open yourself to that you'll get the positive feed back you seek. As long as your being honest about your feelings.

Catalogue Information