About the Author

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            Alba Jorgelina Zeoli was born in 1951 in Manhattan, New York, and was raised in Argentina. Her father was an Argentinean organist and composer. Her mother was a pianist, physicist, mathematician and mystic. As a young woman, Jorgelina became a concert organist and worked as her mother’s research assistant in the field of Math Education.

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            Escaping the horrors of the dictatorship, in 1979 she came back to the United States to study organ at The New England Conservatory of Music with a scholarship. Her mother followed her months later. Once in Boston, long letters to her sister Diana (a.k.a. Christi) became fertile ground for Jorgelina’s imagination as she soared above hardships with lightheartedness and humor. Writing to Christi often felt like taking dictation from a voice in her head that made her laugh. Excerpts from these letters were later integrated in her inspirational memoirs. “OH, MY GOD! I JUST HAD A TELEPATHIC COMMUNICATION WITH A ROACH! IS THAT NORMAL?” (The Immigrant, Flashback, Part Three.)

 

            During her years in Argentina, Jorgelina had suffered many traumatic experiences. In 1982 she began meeting with a non-professional counselor which led her to a severe emotional breakdown. Her mother was very concerned and gave her books about religion and spirituality. “These books will help you find peace, Jorgita,” she said.

 

“Well, that hit the spot.

                        I couldn’t stop reading.

 

I was not reading with my mind,

I was reading with my heart,

 

and my heart

resonated with certain passages,

 

and in the resonance

my heart was being nurtured

 

--I was so hungry, so hungry.

 

Some readings

were filled with poetry,

 

poetry that reached

my soul,

 

poetry that soothed

                        my broken heart,

 

poetry that calmed me

down

bringing me deep into meditation

 

although at the time

I didn’t know

what meditation was.”

 

(The Way Out, Part One. Unstuck. 2017)

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“Immersed in meditation,

I was now living in a place

not of this world.

 

I experienced myself

as an egg-shaped infinite universe

contained in the small physical human form

that was my body...

 

and I dived

                        and dived

                                                and dived

 

in the depths of this infinite

bottomless universe

that was me,

 

and one day

I was rushed to the surface,

 

my infinite ocean

closing under me.

 

I had come back

to this world

 

and I had come back

transformed.

 

I had been in hell

and without medications,

without any medical treatment,

 

I had found my way back

to a fair amount of emotional stability

and inner peace.”

 

(Volcano, Flashback Series, Part Five, 2019)

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            In 1985 Jorgelina gave her senior recital and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Organ Performance. Soon she gave up her concert career and embarked in a passionate quest for healing spending over two decades in psychotherapy. She specialized in the development of church music programs, became a professional singer, and supplemented her income offering music instruction.

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            In 1995 her beloved Christi died tragically. Jorgelina was grief-stricken and met for spiritual counseling with the pastor at the UCC church where she worked as music director. He was a predator and betrayed her trust trespassing professional boundaries. The ordeal that ensued led her to the verge of suicide.

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“... the agony wouldn’t go away,

 

until one day ...

 

 down on my knees,

                        my soul cried out...

 

‘WHAT DOES GOD WANT

FROM ME?’

 

and God

answered me

~~~

 

It happened in 2003.

 

My life had become unmanageable

and journal writing had taken over...

 

One day, out of the blue,

 

a conversation began with

an inner voice,

and a magical world opened up

through my pen,

 

a world in which Jay,

--my wounded inner child--

 

played and laughed and cried

with God.

 

Wow.

 

I was actually

talking to God,

 

and God was talking to me.

 

Right there. On paper.

Like I didn’t have enough problems.

 

I’m still digesting that one.

 

But it was real,

 

for as the conversations

continued

I felt a loving presence inside.

 

I was

no longer alone.

~~~

 

Shifting back and forth

from agonizing writing

to my magical world with God,

 

I didn’t know it then,

 

I was weaving

the wavelength of God

into the wavelength

of my pain.

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My insides were getting

transformed

through the Love of God.

 

Literally.

 

I didn’t know

what hope felt like

and one day

                 I felt hope,

 

 

I didn’t know

what contentment was

and one day

contentment came into my life,

 

 

I couldn’t remember

                        what joy felt like

and one day joy came back,

 

 

my trust

had been shattered

            and it was restored

 

But first

I had to speak my mind.

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(Oh, oh, here comes trouble.)

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I hated God

and I told him so.

 

And after my hatred was purged

I fell madly in love

with Him. Or Her.

 

And this, ladies and gentlemen,

is how I finally got unstuck.”

 

(The Way Out, Part One, Unstuck. 2017)

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            Jorgelina’s conversations with God evolved into a magical world of healing that became the foundation for her work about trauma, grief and recovery through the integration of psychotherapy, spirituality and creativity (narrative, poetry, humor, art, music and film). (See List of Works.) Later writings depart from trauma. She has self-published some of her books and booklets.

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            Jorgelina is a resident of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and freelances as music and Tai Chi instructor.

Jorgelina Zeoli,

organist,

plays Liszt's Prelude on B.A.C.H.