Mystic Grits: A Southern Girl's Journey to Wisdom

Mystic Grits is a story about a southern girl’s personal evolution and growth into a conscious awakening at midlife –presented as a work in “meta-fiction,” the collision of two literary genres –autobiography sparked with metaphysical spirituality –or, said another way, the “Dance of the Dissonant Daughter” meets Star Trek, the Next Frontier.

Follow a young girl named Precious, the namesake of a wise, Carolina tobacco-farming grandmother –she calls Maw Maw– the magical influence in the girl’s early life and who shows up posthumously as an “image” during a retreat in the mountains and as a consistent voice and guide in her journals.

Struggling with where to start the story of her life’s journey, the author writes, “I climbed the ladder to my attic to collect dust-covered journals and diaries among the luggage, my kid’s outgrown clothes and that vast collection of Beanie Babies I thought would make me rich one day. I wanted to see if there was a story worth reading in the diary pages written as I explored the depths of my soul during life transitions and spirit-filled growth spurts.” Pulling from these journals just a few of the cosmic events and deeper inquiries, she has found a novel way to transform truly personal reflections into a sampling of anecdotal stories about her inner journey beyond her southern traditions and values.

More than just an entertaining story, the book is a recollection of actual moments from the author’s life. Young Precious grows into a spirited woman who, while remaining true to her deep-rooted faith, is also awakened to a more-expansive view of how “to live out loud” and fully embrace her many gifts. So, Mystic Grits is ultimately a story about a conscious awakening. Playing with the Ouija Board Game at her 10th birthday party, Precious is told that she will become a “T-E-A-C-H-E-R,” to which she replies, “Yuck, that’s not what I want to be, I want to be an airline stewardess and see the whole wide world.” Continuing to resist even more obvious messages, she finally learns to surrender, trusting divine guidance to show up just in time for the most critical decisions of her life. These decisions are typical of many who are reflecting on their quest for what’s next, asking the big life questions about who they will marry, the children they might have, how to face daily career challenges, and how to support a friend who faces mortality. Her quests leave her restless as she begins to capture her journey–wrestling with this leap of faith she will ultimately take to become a writer!

This “southern girl’s journey to wisdom,” is divided into four books that illustrate a solid grounding in faith and then an expansion of this faith in herself, in humanity, and in the Divine. Captured in the four section titles – Foundations, Leaps, Lessons, and Mysteries--each set of reflections builds on the revelation that there is more to this life than what we know. The conversations with her Maw Maw Precious give the younger Precious an easier way to talk to God through prayer. Growing in trust, she has a glimpse of a spaceship at Hanging Rock State Park, communes with angels and other guides in her journals and meditations, and has too many coincidences to be just that. Through these magical experiences, Mitsch discovers the marvelous potential that is available to those willing to envision a larger experience of this life and our place in the Universe.

The author ends the book with her views on writing as an act of faith: “I hear a constant drumming to help ‘awaken the torchbearers’ who will lead us to a new place in our human evolution. I have an amazing faith that those who read my story are being called forth with your light. So now as this story ends, a new story begins.” She leaves us all with the invitation to become courageous enough to share our own stories.