spacer "What decides why things go well one day and badly another? The events are the same, the homemaker is the same, yet on one occasion nothing works out for her and on another everything seems miraculously to fall into place. Is there a special ingredient within us that we can tap into and cultivate to generate the longed-for equilibrium?" Veronika van Duin began her career as a homemaker forty years ago. Setting out with love, enthusiasm and idealism, she soon discovered that she had no idea of the magnitude of the task, feeling herself to be 'very, very wanting'. As she writes: "...I felt guilty, pressurised and inadequate much of the time. I became increasingly conscious of my personal shortcomings. I also felt very alone, and sometimes lonely too..." It is from such humbling feelings that van Duin writes, offering support and hope for fellow homemakers. She reveals the discoveries that have provided her, and many others she has taught in workshops and courses, with the basic life tools for overcoming personal hindrances. In this wonderfully uplifting book, van Duin gives exercises for restoring balance, maintaining equilibrium, discovering understanding, creating joy, validating feeling, maintaining vitality and drive, developing insight, finding freedom, and much more.

In recent years, social and economic pressures have combined to affect the traditional role of the homemaker. With emphasis being placed on the world of work as opposed to the life of home, many people now struggle to fulfil several functions simultaneously. This increasingly busy and hectic climate has led to an apparent downgrading of the work of the homemaker. Taking a spiritual perspective inspired by the work of Rudolf Steiner, Veronika van Duin suggests that homemaking needs to be undertaken consciously as an honoured and valued task - as nothing less than a 'social art'. If we are to enjoy happy and contented family and home lives, the role of homemaker ought to be regarded highly. Without claiming that there is a blueprint for perfect homemaking, the author offers principles and observations based on a study of the seven 'life processes' and how they work on us. She addresses the significance of rhythm, relationships, artistic environment, caring, self development, and much more besides in this invaluable book.

For many years Veronika van Duin has been able to see "over the river" experiencing spiritual dimensions and worlds hidden to the physical eye. With clairvoyant vision she has perceived angels and demonic beings, people who have died, and even events taking place in other parts of the world. But in 2002, with the passing of her mother Barbara Lipsker, the author's spiritual journeys became more concentrated and frequent, and she began to see people who had recently crossed the threshold of death, including the victims of an airplane disaster and a suicide bombing. In A Rainbow Over the River, the author tells her remarkable story, from her earliest glimpses of the other side to her most recent excursions "over the river." In the second part of the book, she records an intensely moving diary of her mother's passing, rich in love, care, and profound understanding of suffering. She describes how, despite the sadness of losing their mother, Veronika's family see the death as a transition to a new existence and, ultimately, as a great festival of life. In the third section of the book she speaks of her mother's life as a pioneer of Camphill, a social movement that provides home and work for people with special needs. She also offers thoughts on birth and death, grief, healing, prayer, and the meaning of existence. A Rainbow Over the River is a glorious celebration of life, illumined through a knowledge of death and the eternal nature of spirit.