An open book

This is my first letter, and I want to begin by introducing myself.

I am Ivy Maya. It is not the name I was given at birth. It is the name I chose to sign what I write about spirituality.

Writing without my own name is a choice. Without a face and a biography beside it, the work stands in the foreground, and the work is what deserves your attention.

There is also a more intimate reason. I am not sure these writings are mine alone. It may be that, in part or in whole, they were inspired by an intelligence greater than mine. If so, the merit does not belong to the one who was typing.

What I can tell you about myself is what matters for the book.

I have a personal mission: to open myself to the movement of love that sets souls free. This work is one of its fruits.

I study spirituality, I reflect, I meditate. And I worked in a Spiritist center, where what I read in books took on faces, voices and stories. What is in these pages is not theory from afar. It is what I found along the way, and what found me.

The first book#

Today I publish my first book, A Revelation of Being. Online, free, open to anyone who wishes to read it, in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese.

It asks a single question: what is our true nature?

My wish is to bring to Spiritists, and to those who feel close to the doctrine, knowledge that comes from outside Spiritism. Those who devote themselves to a doctrine with love do not always have time to look beyond it. This book made that journey, and brought what it found closer to home.

Why today#

I chose to publish on October 20, this year's Vijayadashami.

The name comes from Sanskrit: vijaya is victory, dashami is the tenth lunar day. The tenth day of victory. It comes after Navaratri, nine nights devoted to the Divine Mother. In the spiritual reading, the nine nights are a time of purification. The tenth day is the day of realization.

Two stories are told on this day. In one, the goddess Durga defeats Mahishasura. In the other, from the Ramayana, Rama defeats Ravana.

Ravana was not ignorant. He was brilliant, and knew the scriptures as few did. And still he was a prisoner of pride and of the desire for power.

Knowing the teachings is not the same as living them.

I wrote a book full of quotations, of sources, of study. That is exactly why I want to remind myself, before I remind you: knowledge is only worth something if it transforms us. The victory this day celebrates is not over an enemy outside. It is over the ignorance that makes us forget who we are.

In the south of India, during Navaratri, books rest on the altar at the feet of Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom. On Vijayadashami they are taken up again with reverence, and study begins anew. It is also the day many children write their first letters.

It seemed to me a good day for a book to be born.

I did not choose the date because I believe one day holds more power than another. I chose it for what it brings to mind.

Write to me#

If you have a suggestion, a correction or a criticism, write to me through the contact page. An open book is also a book that can grow better.

I wish that this work may touch your heart and help you in your personal transformation.