Urban Nomad. Who is the Smith?

I am the Smith.

I am the author.

Why ‘the Smith’?

The smiths were the crafters, the metal smiths, the blacksmiths, the makers of Medieval Britain a thousand years ago.

I am the wordsmith.

I’ve written and self-published 8 autobiographical books.

Click or tap the image above to see.

This smith has lived everywhere.

Over 50 dwellings have been my home.

An ancient aboriginal corroboree ground in a wilderness area known as Fairy Hills where the creek met the river was my first memory of life.

And only a few kilometres from the Melbourne CBD.

I’ve just learned they’ve been digging up ancient aboriginal artifacts that suggest this.

I’ve lived with psychics and healers.

And sat with mediums or channels.

I’ve lived with a Reiki Master in New York.

With a Roman Catholic nurse in the north of Italy.

With a Buddhist in the UK.

My lawyer was an Atheist.

I didn’t live with him.

I ran my own freelance copywriting business. in the ’70s

In 1972 I won an award for the best television campaign of the year for a brand of meat pies and donuts.

I was a New Age hippie.

We knew about climate change 50 years ago.

A group of us started a commune on 40 acres north of Melbourne to become self-sufficient and live off the grid.

A year later we’d failed.

I helped launch Animal Liberation here.

Our patron was Peter Singer, who was then Professor of Bioethics at Harvard., and wrote the book ‘Animal Liberation’.

45 years later it’s still active today.

I was the first member of the Permaculture Association.

Which, started by two Tasmanian academics in the late ’70s, today is changing the world

Now there are over one million people certified in Permaculture in over 140 countries with more than 4,000 projects on the ground.

I went bankrupt.

An article I researched and wrote 35 years ago – about the Swiss and Italian gold miners who came to Australia in the 1850s – triggered the launch of a Swiss-Italian Festa which is still running every year today in a local spa resort town.

Their story is in my book here.

I ran a social group called ‘The Springs Whole Health Group’.

We never ran out of guest speakers on healing topics, from ley lines to chemical sensitivity, who I’d enjoy interviewing every month before our next meeting.

Then I would write an article for the local paper which they always published on page 3 or 5.

This while living frugally in an old caravan parked at the end of a street in the spa resort town.

Over 5 years I became known as the man in the van.

I studied many spiritual philosophies.

I studied Religious Experience as an off campus mature age student at Uni –

The Christian Mystics

The Hindu Bhagavad-Gita.

Australian Aboriginal Dreaning.

I practiced Yoga for 50 years from wherever I called home.

Briefly I joined the Theosophical Society in Melbourne, with headquarters in Adyar, India, with the motto ‘There is no religion higher than Truth’.

I met and befriended the Librarian of the Melbourne branch, a Wise Woman, who taught me how and where and why to search for Truth.

What is Truth?

For a time I was married and today have the pleasure of a beautiful family of 2 lovely daughters, 3 adorable granddaughters and 2 mischievous great grandsons.

I’m truly blessed

Visit my 8 fun and entertaining autobiographical books on my Author Page here.

You can find more of my adventures in my autobiographical books.

Namaste.

Neil the Smith (author)

PS. I recommend – ‘Our Thoughts Can Change The World’ (104 pages) and The Great Regency Cover-Up’ (236 pages). Buy both now and pay less P&P.

I’ve Done Some Crazy Things In My Life.

I’ve swum at the nude beach on Fire Island off Long Island, New York, with a cute school teacher from New Jersey.

I’ve been to the Statue of Liberty.

I’ve known the delight of floating down the Grand Canal in Venice in a water taxi with an Italian nurse with the voice of Sophia Loren.

I helped to launch Animal Liberation here in Australia.

I was the first member of the Permaculture Association started in the 1970s by two academics from a Tasmanian (Australia) university.

It’s become a world phenomenon in the race to save the planet helping individuals and communities introduce a sustainable agriculture into their lives.

I was kicked off a commune a group of us started on 40 acres of land north of Melbourne in the 1970s for opposing questionable practices that would turn it into a religious sect.

I’ve sat with channels who’ve had books published of their words (for example, ‘Earth to Tao’ and ‘Tao to Earth’).

An article I wrote for a local newspaper about the Swiss-Italian gold miners who came to the Central Highlands goldfields in the 1850s was the inspiration for the annual ‘Hepburn Springs Swiss-Italian Festa’.

For a while I ran ‘The Springs Whole Health Group’ with monthly speakers on subjects ranging from hypnotherapy and reflexology to water divining and ley lines relating to health.

I’ve lived in a caravan parked by the roadside in a small country town in the Aussie bush where I became lovingly known as King of the Hippies.

On the side of a hill near a lake in the north of Italy I enjoyed an outdoor family feast of Italian food and wine served beneath a canopy of vines in a magical setting resembling a movie set.

I’ve run my own one-man freelance advertising copywriting business for over 10 years in Melbourne.

My first big ad presentation was at a week long client conference on the steamy tropical South Pacific island of Fiji.

How did I survive being left homeless, penniless, jobless and friendless when my business and I were declared bankrupt and I lost everything?

Before all of that I worked at the Melbourne office of the second largest ad agency in the world now known as McCann’s.

A campaign I created, wrote and produce for meat pies and donuts won an award at the annual National Television Society Awards in 1972.

I had a fairytale reunion with my 21 year-old daughter living on the famous Gold Coast of Australia.

I’ve been twice married, have 2 grown daughters and 3 adorable granddaughters.

I live now in a beautiful seaside resort town across the bay from the city of Melbourne where the Annual Mussel Festival and Annual National Celtic Festivals are held.

I’ve authored 4 books (not novels).

“Either write something worth reading,” wrote famous American author Ernest Hemingway, “or do something worth writing.”

I reckon that’s what I’ve done in my crazy life.

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Best wishes.

Neil

Was I A Human Guinea Pig?

We hear a lot about going with the flow.

Easier said than done, we might think.

Who in their right mind would let go of everything and just let themselves be blown along as a leaf in the wind?

We hear about the idea that attachment creates suffering.

But then, who in their wildest dreams would throw away their credit cards and live without possessions to which they become attached?

And what about the billions of people living below the poverty line?

How on earth are they to survive in an affluent society like ours?

Well, I lived below the poverty line, for 30 years, well below the minimum wage amount, and lived to tell this tale.

It’s as if I was a human guinea pig to see how I would survive.

I’ve written the book about the years when my back was to the wall, when I lived with nothing, I mean, nothing.

If you think it’s impossible then I invite you to read the book.

It’s called ‘A True Paranormal Mystery To Change The World’.

It’s a spiritual adventure because there are secrets that I used in my life to attract small miracles that enabled me not only to live with nothing, below the poverty line, but to live in some of the most spectacular places around Australia, New York, Regency England and northern Italy.

It’s a metaphysical thing and I’d like to reveal my secrets to you.

Read the book and enjoy my adventure as it unfolded.

Buy your copy direct from the publisher here.

Love and Peace.

Neil

PS order your copy of my other new times a-changing book ‘Romancing Your Life & Changing The World’ HERE.

My Spiritual Adventure Across 5 Countries

The author in San Remo on the Italian Riviera

Just when I thought my life was over the files to an explosive historical secret landed in my lap.

A secret that was asking to be told.

Well okay, I thought, I was a writer looking for a project and a story looking for a writer looking for a project.

Here was an adventure looking for someone who could not resist an adventure.

I was unemployed, homeless, penniless and friendless at the time.

My freelance copywriting business of some 10 years had just been declared bankrupt and I had lost everything. (Read more about me HERE.)

I was living alone in an old caravan parked outside its owner’s home in the Australian bush with all my worldly possessions crammed inside.

Then everything changed.

What was going on?

The files revealed the life of a granny who had died 17 years earlier than she was last seen.

Which meant she was a ghost.

My curiosity was piqued and I started on a journey to learn her secret.

Then there were the 3 hidden messages which all came together for the first time and found to have significant links to each other.

And to the past.

When deciphered, they revealed a possible blood link between George IV and an unsung hero from the early days of British settlement of Australia around 1800.

Here’s a clue as to his identity: he was Commander of a famous sailing ship which was more recently replicated and is today sailing the Seven Seas as one of the Tall Ships.

You can read where the clues led me and the supporting historical evidence in my book ‘Back to the Wall’.

My travels with nothing included 6 months in exciting New York and 4 months in romantic Italy in my search for answers.

For someone down on his luck this was a truly romantic world adventure across 5 countries that could not possibly have happened without a little, how shall I say, outside help.

Call it coincidence if you like. Carl Jung would have called it ‘synchronicity’.

You decide.

When the adventure ended I returned to write the story in ‘Back to the Wall’.

Read my adventure for yourself – HERE.

It’s a great read, a real page-turner, I promise.

Best wishes.

Neil

PS. But if you don’t believe me, read the awesome reviews – HERE.