Interview with writer Ailsa Keppie

Helping me wrap up this month is writer Ailsa Keppie to talk with me about her memoir, By the Light of the Crescent Moon.

Bio:
Ailsa is a lifelong student of self-awareness and spiritual connection. She finds expression of her personal view on life and relationships through writing, coaching and working with the body. Expanding the feeling of aliveness both in herself and the people she comes into contact with is something she finds enriching and fulfilling.

In her younger days, Ailsa desperately sought fulfilment and inner peace. She studied music, science, dance, and the performing arts in an attempt to find her place and a way to contribute to the world. During this time of expansion and exploration, there was an underlying fear. Fear that she was not enough, fear of not being perfect, and a fear of being seen. At the age of twenty-five, these fears consumed her and she retreated into Fundamentalist Islam, and a polygamous marriage. She started wearing a burka in an effort to regain some sense of herself. Over the years, as she nursed her mother-in-law and raised four daughters, the containment of her chosen life became too constricting and she began to wonder if this path was truly the one for her. Finally, the overwhelming desire to once again be seen in the wider world prevailed and she left her life in Morocco to return home to Canada.

She continued to raise her daughters on her own and spent a decade learning and practicing the healing arts, which has finally led to a readiness to share her story, from a place of self-knowing. Through the process of diving deeply into the religion of Islam and living that way of life for many years, she has learned to embody the diversity of another culture as well as the ‘way of peace’ that is Islam. Ailsa continues her work these days with somatic coaching, teaching and writing. She focusses on healing relationships—with ourselves, others, and the planet.

Welcome, Ailsa. Please tell us about your current release.
This is a memoir based on my true story.

Book blurb:

When Ailsa Keppie puts on a hijab for the first time, it solidifies her commitment to her new, chosen religion. She gives up the lights and action of a circus performer for the position of wife and mother, learns Arabic, and moves to Morocco.

A new mother, living in a strange country, under completely foreign rules, Ailsa experiences isolation and racism, as well as romance and sisterhood, in her quest to fit in with her new community. She welcomes another wife into her marriage hoping to experience the peace and joy of a pious life. As the story progresses, cracks appear. Things are not as blissful as Ailsa would have others believe. We are drawn into her inner struggle, often seeing the folly of her choices, but championing her to prevail. Torn between her inner voices of duty, shame, longing, and hope, she is determined to find the light that will get her through increasingly darker times.

Ailsa’s story is easily recognizable by women who have dimmed their light in order to survive. For any woman going through a similar situation facing the constraints of marriage, religion, or culture, Ailsa’s story will help bring clarity and a sense of knowing she is not alone.

What inspired you to write this book?
I remember starting to write about my life about 25 years ago. I had just finished working as a trapeze artist in the circus and had converted to Islam. I had become an unemployed, married, pregnant, Muslim woman in a matter of only a few months. The change had been such a shock that even my friends had reeled back when I came out and many of them turned away, not knowing how to be in relationship with someone who seemed so radically different than the person they’d known up until this point. Then I moved to Morocco and almost completely lost touch.

When I returned to Canada after 18 years of living a ‘pious life’ as a Muslim wife, and I shared my experience with friends and family they wanted to know more about it. They would say to me, “You became a Muslim? You wore a burka? You moved to Morocco and had another wife?” I realized people were curious and wanted to know more about it.

I also felt a need to go back and find meaning from the struggle I’d had over those years. I’m not really sure why I converted but the draw to Islam was part of finding a sense of belonging. You put on hijab and suddenly you’re a member of a community. I was only 25 at the time and didn’t really know what I wanted but there was kind of a spiritual connection involved in the love story. It became entwined for me—the spiritual path and the love path, which made it all the more difficult to get out.

Writing my story was really about me needing to process that difficult period of my life and realizing that it was an unusual experience. Looking back after many years, I was like, oh I didn’t really find out who I was but I took a path until it got uncomfortable enough for me to look at it again. Maybe I’m not really who I am even yet. I feel like I’ve done some more work since and transformed again.

What exciting story are you working on next?
I am thinking about writing the sequel to this book about the challenges of raising four daughters on my own and of how my own choices affected my children in ways that weren’t always what they would have asked for. My own freedom and empowerment came at a price for those close to me.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I began to love writing and considered it as a possible career path when I was in Junior High School. I had a wonderful English teach who encouraged us to write stories every week as part of our English assignments. I took some of them to a writer and asked for feedback at the time and it was validating to hear that I had some talent if it was nurtured and I practiced.

Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I don’t write full time. I have a massage therapy and coaching practice. I do find it very difficult to carve out time to write. I usually have to make goals for myself like writing 10 or 20 pages a month or something like that.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I like writing the inner voices as characters in my stories. Those voices in your head, either critical or supportive, that shape so much of our perspective.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I had a few ideas – nature photographer, dancer, inventor, writer

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
I love that people’s stories are always so fascinating, everyone has a story. Thank you so much for sharing mine.

Links:
Pleasure for Health | Our Celtic Hearth | Facebook | Instagram | Amazon

Thanks for being here today, Ailsa.

Readers, you can learn more about Ailsa by checking out her other book tour stops with OC Publishing.