SLO County native Emwyn Powers releases a novel set on the Central Coast about a woman's personal and spiritual awakening 

A story rooted in personal pilgrimage and connecting to the mind, body, and soul, 8 Stones on the Altar is a unique take on how hardship can lead to a spiritual awakening.

Written by San Luis Obispo County native Emwyn Powers, 8 Stones on the Altar follows protagonist Mac McCullough on her journey through a messy divorce and a reimagining of her life before attending her best friend's wedding.

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• Image Courtesy Of Emwyn Powers
• BOOK COVER Those interested in reading the book can have it for free on Kindle or buy a paperback version on Amazon.

"I wanted to write a book that was super uplifting," Powers told New Times. "I feel like everyone right now can use something that's kind of light and fun and leaves you feeling good even though there are some serious themes in the book that the character deals with."

When McCullough's seemingly perfect life in a northern SLO County town undergoes unforeseen and intense changes, she finds herself turning to spirituality through meditation and crystals.

As she starts to develop psychic awareness and notices how it grows the more that she meditates, she decides to use her newfound powers for the better and help slow the effects of global warming, something McCullough is passionate about, Powers said.

"I wanted to put in the law of attraction and meditation and the tools that can help you use it when you're going through a hard time and apply them to situations that we can all relate to," she said. "I love self-help books and spiritual books, but it's more fun for me to read it in fiction so I can actually see the principles being applied to real-life situations."

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• Photo Courtesy Of Emwyn Powers
• ENERGY REPLENISHERS Mac McCulloughh, 8 Stones on the Altar's protagonist, encounters different crystals that give her power, energy, and healing along her journey.

With the power of her mind on her side, McCullough takes a life-altering journey from the iconic redwood trees in Santa Cruz back to a familiar private lake close to Santa Margarita. Along the way, McCullough stops in places such as Cambria to recharge her energy by connecting with crystals.

"Every chapter in the book is named after a gemstone, and the character obtains some form of that gemstone during the chapter," she said. "The gemstones have a lot of healing and a lot of energy, so the gemstone she gets during that chapter is for what she's going through during that time. It supports her, and each one is different."

Powers said the main character is psychic, and the author believes everyone has some form of psychic powers and intuition.

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• Image Courtesy Of Emwyn Powers
• BECOMING PSYCHIC When the book's protagonist Mac McCullough undergoes life changes, she notices that her psychic abilities become stronger through the use of meditation.

"I kept trying to find a book like this, and I just couldn't find it, and so I thought, 'Well, let me just write it.' I just have this whole world in my mind, and I wanted to express it," she said.

McCullough's journey is loosely based on what Powers said she has gone through in her own life. Writing a fiction book about that metamorphosis has been on her mind for years.

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• Photo Courtesy Of Emwyn Powers
• MEET THE AUTHOR Emwyn Powers is a SLO County and Central Coast native who went from designing furniture and jewelry to following her life dream of becoming an author.

"This book is very character-driven, and it's supposed to be like real life in a way. Of course I draw from my own experiences," she said. "I lived in Santa Cruz for a really long time, and I moved to this area about 10 years ago, so I talk about her living in Santa Cruz."

Powers said she drew inspiration from Under the Tuscan Sun where the protagonist of that book travels around Italy and shares recipes. Powers offers a bit of surprise in her book by including her own recipes for everything McCullough cooks on her journey.

"I just thought that was a really fun thing to do, and no one ever really does that in fiction books," she said. Δ

Reach Staff Writer Samantha Herrera at [email protected].