Interview: LouAnne Ludwig, Author of ‘A Journey Within’  

Recently I had the pleasure of chatting with author and empath LouAnne Ludwig. I reviewed her new book A Journey Within for this site, and wanted to delve further into her creative and spiritual process. The book is written as a long and richly detailed tale, but it’s filled with powerful techniques for connecting to the divine spirit that Ludwig says lives within us all.

I was so captivated by the story line in your book! What led you to write it this way?

I was interested in creating a book to clarify certain lessons I had learned, but never really integrated into everyday living. I wanted it to be a complete story with stand-alone chapters — so I could refresh my memory when there was an opportunity to use a certain tool. I identified with the main protagonist and found myself pulling his experience into my own, over and over.

Can you talk about your work as an empath? Did that work play a role in your writing this book?

As an empath, I’ve long been developing gifts such as automatic writing and dream analyzing. Automatic writing enabled me to channel information onto the page quickly. I would begin my day of writing by meditating, then setting an intention of what I wanted to write about. Then, the words would just pour out.

In terms of dream analyzing, it was only natural that my main character would find himself living on an island in the book as though it were a dream. Awakening, he discovers he has been in his bed all along — but has developed new ways of thinking, and therefore living, which bring him and those who surround him to new heights of enlightenment.

During my own process, I had spiritual guidance in a big way: I was being trained in the strictest of fashions to become a highly attuned channel of heavenly inspired information. This book was meant to teach me, and it has been quite an education. I have learned that I am a vessel, open to allowing the spirit of the universal ‘All That Is’ to communicate through me in many ways.

I hear Ascended Masters – also known as my higher self, I see visions, I feel or sense other’s thoughts and emotions. I am a psychic medium who is easily in contact with those who have passed before us. I have ways of knowing what is behind other’s motivations. I hear music telling me the truths of others’ experiences and intentions, and most of all I am fully aware of the messages passed along, to, and through me. I often write them down so that I can refer to them later when the need arises.

My favorite times are when I am taken by the hand and filled with the wonderful insights and ideas that give me hope. I’ve come to realize that we are truly headed in a direction that will bring the entire earth to new levels of love and prosperity for all. The old dictums will no longer reign, and all will be born into a new way of thinking which gives credence to the adage: “All men are created equal.”

Why did you choose to have the main protagonist in this seeker story be a boy, not a woman?

I made the main protagonist a young boy so he could embody the innocence of a child, and the lighthearted playfulness he shares with his monkey friend. This is not to say a young girl could not have had those same attributes. But had this character been a grown woman, it would have complicated the story line too much.

Even though the boy encountered some of the same forms of resistance that I did, his experiences didn’t come close to the extremely absurd situations I sometimes found myself in. By the time we reach adulthood, our minds carry so much distraction and baggage. These mind-training techniques must cut through them, prolonging our learning process.

Did you model the main character, Alexander, on anyone you know? What about Manuka, the monkey, or the wise man — should we see him as God?

Alexander is the male version of my first-born grandchild’s name, Lexi. I was excited to have this character symbolize her — as she is not only brilliant and delightfully playful, but also still innocently unaware of her high-level attributes. The monkey was named Manuka after a type of honey that is sometimes referred to as “liquid gold” for its unique sweetness and healing powers.

The character first seems to be an ordinary monkey, but later appears lined up with the Holy Spirit or Christ Self within. He is the part of us all that connects us to each other, the part we all have inside who loves everyone and and every other living thing equally, in Holy connection to All That Is.

The wise man is a version of God who evolves — from a distant emanation of light to a closer human version, to a wise and all-knowing God Almighty, to a beautiful mixture of the energy and light and all-knowing Love that emanates from the heart of all mankind. This illustrates the path I personally took in coming to know God. Without the period of personification, I would not have been able to feel so clearly the pure love that pours from ‘All That Is’.

How should readers use the lessons set forth in each chapter of Alexander’s story?

No order has to be followed, and it’s not necessary to apply all the techniques. Even integrating one tool will change your experience tremendously. As you get used to utilizing one method, you might consider integrating in another. As that becomes second nature, integrate in another, and another – as many or as few as you are comfortable with.

The more techniques you master, the more enlightened you become – thereby bringing higher and higher levels of peace and joy into your everyday experience. By the time you decide to try allowing yourself to see the divine in everyone and everything, you will be feeling like your whole life has changed for the better. Most of us know the only one we can change is our self, but somehow, by utilizing these tools on an ongoing basis, we can bring about changes in those who surround us too.

For more about LouAnne Ludwig and her new book, A Journey Within, visit her website