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Tidings on True Love Isis and Osiris. Cupid and Psyche. Krishna and Radha. Mary Magdalene and Jesus. The concept of soul mates is as old as time, and the greatest love stories and fairy tales are woven together with cosmic coincidences that somehow conspire to bring lovers and soul friends together. Arielle Ford, the top-selling author of the popular Hot Chocolate for the Mystical Souls series, set out to find real life, modern lovers who felt they were brought together through the magical hands of fate. She shares these true accounts of contemporary love in Hot Chocolate For The Mystical Lover: Stories of Soul Mates Brought Together By Divine Intervention (Plume, January 2001, $13.00). The stories are told through the experiences of couples that consider themselves lifetime soul mates. And Ford includes her own spectacular tale of meeting her soul mate and husband, Brian Hilliard. Did couples in the book share a common thread, or experience one tell-tale sign that the truest of loves had arrived? “There is almost always a distinct moment when soul mates recognize each other,” says Ford. “Sometimes it's simple, mutual love at first sight. And sometimes one or both parties hear a small, still voice confirm: “she's the one” or “this is the one you will spend your life with.” LSB: How would you describe a soul mate? AF: To me, a soul mate is somebody who is really your mirror, your other half, the person who makes you more whole than you already are, and who you have karmic ties to from past lives and future lives. When you see them there is just a spark between you that lights you up and lights them up. And the world is a better, happier place to be when you're with them. It's not grounded in science. It's just my personal belief. LSB: Do you think we all have soul mates? AF: For some people, there are probably a number of potential soul mates; for others, there is that one great karmic love. Overall, I'd bet soul mates are together in more than one lifetime, and yet they are not necessarily supposed to be together in every lifetime. LSB: Then again, not every soul-to-soul relationship is destined to be a romance. AF: Soul mates may come in non-romantic varieties. They may come as a parent, a child or a pet. One of my favorite stories in the book, “Mystical Bluebirds,” is about two cancer patients who find one another at the end of their lives, in time to experience solace and companionship. It is a beautiful story that proves love is stronger than death and that a soul connection doesn't have to be sexual to be intimate. LSB: Did you have many love challenges to master before true love found you? AF: (Laughs) Many of them... like most people... until I realized there is nothing any of us can do to hurry a soul mate long. Soul mates have their own schedule. I believe it is pre-ordained and pre-arranged, long before we come into this physical world. LSB: So it's love at first sight... following a lot of personal growth and learning through relationships that didn't work out? AF: Yes. I believe there's timing involved. You can't make it happen a moment sooner than it's supposed to. For example: Years before I met Brian, I used to meditate in my living room every evening. There was a week where everyday I would sit down and I would actually feel my soul mate around me. And I knew he was nearby but I didn't know anything more than that. About a year after Brian and I got married we discovered that during the time that was happening he was living down the street at a hotel on an extended business trip. So he really was in the neighborhood. But this was not the time to meet. If we had met at that point we wouldn't have recognized each other. LSB: Even though you use the word “mystical” to describe the stories in your book, it seems that these are not experiences out of the reach of the average person. AF: A lot of people are having mystical experiences everyday and they just don't see it as that. They just call it Coincidence. Or Chance. Or think of it as being in the right place at the right time. LSB: What do you say to people who feel frustrated that they haven't yet met their soul mate? AF: I say, “If I can do it, they can do it.” I didn't meet my soul mate until I was 44. I consider myself the poster girl for later-in-life marriage. You never know what's around the corner! The whole point of the book is really to give people hope that it can happen for them. No matter what their age, no matter what their circumstances, or what's happened to them in the past. And there are enough stories here to prove that to you... at least 101 people have gone through it. Rev.
Laurie Sue Brockway is the author of nine books on sacred relationships.
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