Discussion #1
The Wilted Rose Book Club: My First Impressions.
Welcome to our first discussion of our latest pick of The Wilted Rose Book Club, The Little Shop of Found Things by Paula Brackston! I have to say that this book came into my life at the right moment. I’ve been studying and practicing esoteric disciplines for almost two decades and the spirit world is a branch of Esoterism, but it was only recently that I felt to deepen my knowledge and put into practice what I’ve learned so far about spirits and ghosts. Reading the words spelled by the ghost Margaret Merton makes me think all the times Oh, that’s what the ghosts tell me during my paranormal investigations! So, I love reading this book, this is my world! I hope you find the book as captivating and interesting as I do!
Discussion #1: Chapter 1-Chapter 8. Suggested dates: April 1st-April 11th. Use the “LEAVE A REPLAY ” field to share your thoughts.
THE WILTED ROSE BOOK CLUB: Questions, Share your Thoughts!
1- Xanthe and her mother Flora decide to embark on a new chapter of their lives by moving from London to Marlborough, a small town in Wiltshire county, and to put behind their last relationships ended badly. Xanthe was with a man who dragged her into his problems causing her to unjustly spend a few months in jail; while her mother was with Xanthe’s father, whom in the meantime freezes the joint bank account causing to mother and daughter financial obstacles in opening the antique store in the new town. So the beginning of this story sees two women who, betrayed by men, leave everything behind to pursue a new life. As much as I see that this is a relationship between mother and daughter, what I see most is a friendship, a coalition between women. Did/do you share a passion with your mother that was turned into an opportunity to work together?
2- “It’s a happy teapot,” she told her. “Really? How do you know?” “Because I can hear it singing,” she said, holding it up. That’s how Xanthe defines psychometry, which is the reading of an object by tuning into its vibrations. Xanthe says that objects sing to her. In the book, this is seen as a rare gift, but in reality, psychometry, which also goes by another name, is a psychic sense that we all have. It’s based on the concept that everything on earth has a vibration, and objects absorb the energies of whatever or whoever get directly or indirectly in contact with them. Have you ever experienced by holding a used book, or any other item that was old and rich in history, a swirl of emotions or images?
3- The chatelaine is Xanthe’s connection to the past, a key that opens the doors to a world that is gone, it is also the object of interest in the story. If you had a question about an historical event that touched your heart, and you can’t find the answer in the books, but you have a place or an object that can take you there and get that answer, what would it be?
4- In this story, we have two mother-daughter relationships: Flora and Xanthe and Mistress Merton and Alice. Margaret Merton is a ghost, but above all, she’s a mother who has waited for centuries to finally find someone who could save her daughter from being imprisoned to life or worse from being executed. Flora is a mother in the modern era, who brings her daughter away to help her forget a past that saw her in prison because of her ex boyfriend. Thus, both mothers who live in different times have the same goal: they want to save their daughters from injustice. Do you think that through history, mothers have always been so caring toward their daughters?
5- Even if Alice and her mother, Mistress Merton, lived centuries ago, the chatelaine and the jail give us an opportunity to time travel with Xanthe, to visualize and feel how it could be to live such experience. If you found yourself transported in time, what would be the thing that would most excite you, and the thing that would scare you?
THE WILTED ROSE BOOK CLUB: My Thoughts
1- My mother and I share the passion for plants and owls. However, we have never thought of transforming these passions into a job. Probably, if we did, we could have had a plant store or a store that sold toy stuffed owls. Here’s a thought that goes a little bit off topic: as a child, I remember my mother working from home making stuffed toys for a store in town, I also remember my mom’s giant plants and how good she was and still is with plants. I had always thought that I didn’t have a green thumb and admired her so much for having any plant thrive naturally, till one day, I realized that if I tune into the plant kingdom, I can have a green thumb, too! Now, I have more plants than my mom! Just saying 🙂
2- I have experienced psychometry and I still experience it every time I want to put the intention of reading an object. It’s a meditation process where you hold something, close your eyes and relax. Automatically, you will start feeling emotions, seeing images, hearing something, like a song. You can’t always have a feedback, but it’s important to trust your gut. Once, I was holding a second-hand book, and after closing my eyes, I saw an image and two people talking in a living room. Another time, I was holding a watch belonging to someone else and a song in my mind started to play. So, why don’t you try yourself and have fun!
3- I’d like to know more about Lord Byron‘s life from him. I’d like to talk to him, I’d like to ask him questions about his memoirs that were handed out to his publisher after his death, and destroyed because they were considered to be too scandalous for the time. I wrote about a particular night in Switzerland, where he gathered his friends and challenged them to a writing competition. From this night a couple of famous works of literature saw the birth: Frankenstein and The Vampyre. Here’s below an extract:
I like to visualize myself, during a particular summer night of the year 1816, among the Shelleys, Claire Clairmont (Mary Shelley’s step-sister and Byron’s lover), Lord Byron and his physician John William Polidori discuss about galvanism and the French translation of a German collection of ghost stories titled Fantasmagoriana (Tales of the Dead). You can keep reading here.
4- I don’t think so or if it was, they had to put it aside. Mothers had no choice over their daughters’ future, it was the father who decided for them, they had to get married and have children, they had to stay in abusive relationships and be quiet, because they simply couldn’t divorce, it was either illegal and/or against society. A woman without a man was exposed to danger and their mothers had little if no word over their daughters’ lives. They were allowed to care for them, but to a certain extent. As a matter of fact, in this story we have a mother’s ghost who lived centuries ago. She couldn’t have had a say in her century for two reasons: one for being a woman belonging to a lower class, two for being in a patriarchal society that was still very well solid.
5- If I transported myself back in time, I would be excited to belong to a wealthy family of the 18th-19th century, wearing gorgeous, elaborated costumes of the time, and spending my days reading, sewing and walking with my friends; I would be scared of being executed if I were a witch like I am in the present, I would be scared of simply being a woman, because many died while giving birth, and because of a patriarchal society that still predominates our culture, and that has seen women hiding or being abused and killed just for being women.
Now, I’d like to hear from you! Join The Wilted Rose Book Club, grab a copy here and use the “LEAVE A REPLAY ” field to share your thoughts!
