Ash and Spirit
"Pema Rocker's poetic prose is balm to the soul of those carrying unhealed wounds. In Ash and Spirit she advises you to acknowledge grief and listen for spirit, writing, 'It's all here for us,' and she's right: It's all here for you in this haunting, healing book."
-Suzanne Giesmann, author of Messages of Hope and Still Right Here
A Story to Heal and Feel Grief Together
When 30-year-old Pema, one of New York City's newest residents, ran to the corner to see "how they put out fires in big cities," she had no way to know she and the people stopped in the street around her were witnessing the start of a national attack, or that the sight would retrigger the painful trauma of her brother's sudden death when they were teenagers. Neither did she know it would begin an emotional and spiritual journey that tested and transcended physical bounds.
Ash and Spirit travels a story of loss as a teenager, and the search to resolve decades of grief. A narrative collage constructed of interviews, messaging chats, journal entries, pictures, and personal stories that take place over thirty years, Ash and Spirit, represents the dislocated nature of memory and trauma recall. Vivid and detailed moments in time stitch together to tell a whole story of many losses into one for the sake of healing individual and collective grief.
Praise for Ash and Spirit
“…beautiful and hard and honest and needed.”
“…reading this feels like being loved with ferocity and tenderness.”
"Is it possible for a piece of writing to be achingly painful and simultaneously luscious? I think I just read the answer."
Told from the tender center of both personal loss and collective, this book will be valuable for anyone experiencing loss or grief, for the first time or still.
Buy the Book
Pema helps people connect—to self, to others, and to the magic in creating and relating.
Creativity coach and intuitive guide, she works with people ready to share: artists, writers, leaders, teams, and your best friend following their calling.
The journey in her book led Pema to investigate expressions of energy in its many mutable forms. "Listening-extra" is what she calls her heightened tracking of stories, circumstances, and experience that connects-the-dots to her clients' deep inner knowing.
Pema hosts Story Charming Parties to spark meaning and connection using the power of story. And, she helps visionaries pull ideas into form: Since 2008, she has been a ghost writer, editor and interviewer for thought leaders, and has helped people find their ways through transition and creative blocks. Author and blogger, she has also created and curated magazines for Queer and spiritual communities. Pema lives in Portland and Santa Barbara, and serves people all over the world.