Jon Turk WRITING A Scientist, A Shaman, and Their Remarkable Journey Through the Siberian Wilderness PUBLIC SPEAKING EXPEDITIONS |
From My Readers
The Raven's Gift has inspired people from all over the Western Hemisphere. Here are a few comments from my mail, listed in the order of most recent, first: Connie Webb: Fort Bragg, CA I liked how you projected your spiritual message of taking good care of the earth, enjoying solitude more and being more connected with ourselves and the earth. And I loved how you started off your talk with the logic and magic signs. I hope to live my life with magic daily no matter what I am doing. Thanks again for spreading an inspiring message. Bob Lang: Durango, CO Your book, The Raven’s Tale was a joy to read. A book filled with true magic and wonder. It deeply affected me, and taught me much. I found your writing to be pure and from the heart. One now filled with magic and wonder. To me, this is the only way the world works. Su Dowling Slover: The Peace House, Killingworth, CT These Comments in response to a workshop at The Peace House on April 24, 2010 I received a beautiful message the next day from one participant thanking us for this offering. In one comment, she said she loved the way you listened with your whole body! And she said her whole next week was so balanced and happy. Barbara Schult: Concord, NH Jon, I have just finished your book, The Raven's Gift, and I am still wiping away the tears. It is one of the most beautiful stories I have ever read and I want to thank you for letting the world know about Lydia, Moolynaut, Goshe, Misha, Oleg and the others, and the reindeer people. My heart is filled with love for Moolynaut and Lydia, and their people, and I don't even know them. Guru Pradhan: Somewhere in Email-land It was a honor hearing you talk today. I myself am trained as an engineer and to be frank my training and logical mind make it hard for me to believe some of your interactions with Moolynaut and the Raven Spirit. However, my skepticism aside, I know that seeing is believing and I perhaps have to undertake a journey/experiment of my own to verify for myself the existence, beauty, and power of the - for a lack of better term - the metaphysical world. Michael Bergman, MD: Hamden, Connecticut I finished The Raven's Gift breathless. What a wonderfully compelling and personal account! Parts beautiful, parts profound, parts spiritual. You are a model of an unconventional life and now with this testimony of one who follows a path with heart.
I used to muse while hiking of walking out of the 20th century into a time and place inhabited by Native Americans say 700 years ago. Aspects of The Raven's Gift felt as if you'd done that with the Koryak people. Thank you so generously sharing this with us all.
Maryon Attwood: Somewhere in Email-Land Jon, I finished your book, The Raven's Gift, this morning. I cried all of the way up the side of the mountain with you and karen as you took your wife's ashes up to float on the air currents with the raven and the essence of the spirit of the bear. Your world of adventures in the cold and the snow are very different from mine but there was a lot that felt familiar. Relayed by; Jody Cardamone: Aspen, Colorado
Thank you for having Jon Turk come to ACES. His presentation shook me to my core. Laughter and tears cascaded through my soul. His stories and images ignited memories, stirred up feelings from unexpected places, and touched my heart. His talk inspired a deep sense of wonder. Jan Botwinick: Boulder, Colorado I have just finished reading your book, and am still under its spell. Thank you for putting your experience into words. It was both moving and reaffirming to read --and yes, entertaining--as well as very much in synch with my state of mind lately, which may be encapsulated in two quotes I found recently: One from Einstein roughly paraphrased, "There are two ways to live life, one as if there are no miracles, and the other, as if everything is a miracle," and the second from Pema Chodron, "Impermanence is a principle of harmony. When we don't struggle against it, we are in harmony with reality." Erin Greenberg: Somewhere in Email-Land The first thing I notice about 'The Raven's Gift , is that the book has the quality of lightness ... it feels like a feather. From Terry Ruggles: Darby, MT
You should see my copy of The Raven’s Gift. The spine is bent out of shape from reading the book in bed; some pages have food stains on them from reading the book in restaurants (nachos and books should never be enjoyed at the same time); and the book’s cover is worn from being stuffed in and pulled out of my travel bag. In other words, The Raven’s Gift has been a great companion! I assume people reading this review will already know, in general, what The Raven’s Gift is about, so I’m not going to repeat that information here. Instead I’ll say this: The book will surprise you. It will make you care about a culture you’ve never heard of before. It will challenge your belief system. You’ll never look at a raven the same way again. You’ll definitely laugh, and you might even cry. Jon Turk is a wonderful writer. His words flow off the page, making it easy to enjoy the story without being distracted. Even readers in warm climates will find themselves reaching for a sweater as they follow Jon on this unusual and touching Arctic quest. Highly recommended! The mix of the content and the genuineness of your delivery system made for a delicious evening for everyone. When I think of a religion, cosmology or whatever, that has people drawing on walls rather than going to war, that reveres and enters the spirit of birds, bears and trees, that to me seems perfectly logical! Though I experience magic, I find it hard to put in words. I think most people of our culture somehow just can't admit to magic, so the universe did us a favour by putting you and Moolynaut together! Your work to bring your book into the world is very inspiring. I know that it is hard to travel so much, but your message is important, and your stories are a call for people to wake up to the world in a different way than they perceive it now....We humans are so out of touch with what we need in order to sustain life, but there are some of us who will go down continuing to turn towards what is real, holy and good. I think your stories point people to a deeper meaning. It encourages people to accept and embrace the thing they are encouraged by our culture to deny. I can't tell you exactly what that thing is, but your stories are pointing to it the way a compass points North. The Raven’s Gift made me think of the gift I received as a child, though I didn’t recognize it as such at the time. Of course I read incessantly, and in the course of my reading I naturally came across stories featuring magic, elves, fairies, and other features beyond the realm of my experience. I found it confusing, and always wondered, did they really exist? I was a stubborn, proud kid, though, and I never talked about these things with my parents or teachers, reasoning that I could figure it out for myself. I just kept reading and encountering more, so my powerful 10-year-old intellect reasoned that magic must be possible, or it wouldn’t be so present in so many forms. Since that time, the only unshakeable belief that I’ve carried is the belief in the possibility of nearly anything. Magic? Sure. UFO’s? Could be. Moolynaut, Kutcha, and the spirits from the Other World healing your pelvis? If you say so. From Julia Pyatt: Taos, New Mexico In all my years of reading books, your style and content is by far my favorite. This book is astonishingly great. I love your word choice, how your string the past and the current narrative together, we are right there with you all and our souls stir with a deep sense of remembering with each flip of the page. From Melanie MacVoy: Fernie, British Columbia I read about one book every two years, some I don’t even finish, but I’ve been reading your new book and can’t put it down. It has opened my imagination in many ways. Ben and I went for a cross country ski and I kept imaging I was crossing the Siberian tundra! It is also nice to read about Chris and be reminded of her gentle nature. |
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