Sandy Wright's Blog, page 15

Witch's Familiar

Since ancient times, witches have worked magic with the aid of familiars, or helpful spirits. These days, we tend to perceive a familiar in much the same way that American Indians view animal guides or power animals. They are messengers to and from the Otherworld.

Familiars can assist the witch in carrying energy for healing, communication or spell-casting. The familiar can also be used for protection of the home and/or personal property. During astral projection or dream work, the familiar can not only safeguard the witch, but also retrieve information for her.
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There are essentially three types of familiar spirit: the physical, the astral/spirit, and the artificial familiar. (I’m not going to get into the artificial familiar in this article, but I’ll give you examples of the physical and the astral.)
The Physical Familiar
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The physical familiar can be a pet or any animal/creature to which you feel drawn.  I’ve always thought of my cats (some of them at least) as my familiars. My 20-pound black cat, Shadow Moon, likes to stroll into circle in the middle of a ritual, and stay through path working. He doesn’t stick around me. Instead, at some point he will brush up against someone in trance and startle them awake.

His deceased daddy, Magick, preferred to jump up on the altar during smudging, and stay there the whole time we were outside. That cat was huge. We had to set up the altar around him.
Cats, because of their independent nature, have a reputation for being aloof little bastards who don’t care about us humans, but I don’t think that’s true. Yes, they’re insatiably curious. But I believe they are drawn to the energy of my magical projects, and they invariably add to the working.
Choosing Your Familiar
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If you feel naturally attracted to an animal or creature, then it’s likely you are being called into a relationship. And during your years of practicing the Craft, you will probably acquire more than one familiar. They may find you, as was the case with my corvid familiars, the raven and crow.

Or, you can seek out a familiar spirit through guided meditation known as a journey quest.

Raven is the spirit animal of my patron goddess, The Morrigan. I was adopted by the raven familiar before I even knew the name of the goddess they introduced me to, and now I see them everywhere I go. Nesting in the stadium lights at my son’s high school football games. The whoomp whoomp of their wings over our tent when we go camping. A whole murder of crows in the woods behind our forest cabin, who caw good morning to us as soon as we walk out on the deck to drink our coffee.  And the biggest raven I’ve ever seen perched on the roof of an SUV in the parking lot at Grand Canyon.

I love observing their behavior and have learned so much from interacting with them. (If you would like to know more about ravens and crows, see my blog from July 2014 on raven magic.
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Cats and ravens make sense as familiars, because they’re animals I have always loved. 
​But the second type of familiar, the astral/spirit familiar, took me completely by surprise.

​I encountered it when I took my first shamanic drumming journey. 

The Astral Familiar

An astral/spirit familiar is one that pre-exists as a conscious entity within the elemental realm or the Otherworld, which lies beyond the world of the living. It may look like a known animal (or not), but you can’t reach out and touch it.

My first shamanic journey took place in a community campground during a large fire circle with nearly 50 people. I traveled to what the Native Americans call the “upper world,” the spirit realm, and asked to meet my spirit guide. 

The journey was absolutely breathtaking. 

I got to witness the aurora borealis and a snowy, white landscape that seemed like the North Pole or something similar. I’ve never visited the tundra, so the whole time I kept asking myself, “Why am I here? Why are you showing me this?”

​You’re not supposed to do that on a spirit journey, by the way, but I was pretty green.

My spirit guide was equally impressive: An immense, shaggy sabre tooth tiger. 
He—actually, I think it was a ‘she’—didn’t speak, she just stalked around me in a circle. It made me distinctly uneasy. Finally she sat down in the snow near me and we watched the dazzling light show in the sky without speaking. I remember when I looked over at her, I saw the colors of the aurora borealis reflected in her pupils.

I felt so peaceful and protected when our journeying ended that evening. We all bedded down for the night, and that feeling of peace continued until the Santa Anna winds blew in about three that morning. The wind howled so hard around us, it blew my tent away when I finally got up and stepped outside to see how everyone else was faring. (Yes, it was staked down, and it still ended up a football field distance away.) My feeling of peace and protection completely shattered, I retrieved my tent, threw it in the back of my SUV, belongings still in it, and drove home in the dead of night.

That was the weirdest camping trip I’ve ever been on. While my rational mind told me the howling wind and this large gathering or witches and their path working were in no way related, I just didn’t want to get any closer to my sabre toothed spirit guide. So, I put the experience aside and tried again, albeit several years later.
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By the time I tried looking for a spirit guide again, I had done a lot of shamanic journeying. This time, we went to the lower world. I lit my candle and voiced my intentions, lay down on my rug and put my journeying stone over my third eye. 
I knew to keep my mind clear of preconceived expectations, to observe only, ask for clarification when needed. But my lower world landscape was so surprising, all questions fled my mind.
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It was apocalyptic. Everything was dusty, dry, dull brown. The trees had no leaves and appeared stunted. Crystals hung by strings in the tree beside me, their luster blotted out by dust. There were no buildings still intact, every structure was ruined and obviously abandoned. I looked around for anyone or anything that could be my spirit guide, and spotted an old man with a long, dingy gray beard, dressed in a brown burlap monk’s cloak. He had an animal on his shoulder, but I was too far away to make out what it was. “Are you my spirit guide?” I asked him as I approached. “What has happened here?” 
As I approached, the man turned away and walked off, but the creature hopped off his shoulder and waited to me in the dust.

It was a spider monkey, and animal I had never seen in my life, I had to look him up. The little guy jumped up on my shoulder and pointed after the old man, urging me to follow him.
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There’s more to this story, but this blog is about familiars, so let me just remind you: no matter how odd the creature, or how unlikely the scene, stay open to all possibilities. Everyone wishes their familiar was a bear, wolf, fox—all the usual suspects—but in reality, what you may need at this time is a little, goofy-acting monkey.
Here’s hoping you have a wonderful visit with your ancestors at your Samhain celebrations next week.
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Blessed be!

Season of the Witch

Hecate speaks:

"I have been with you from the beginning. Silently, I watched you growing, and I was at all your rites of passage. I was the priestess holding aloft the torches of life in each hand, one pointing up to the heaven and one down to the great below, for it is said, “As above so below.”

Even the Earth herself calls on my services. I am the queen of the crossroads, witch queen, the transformer. I have come again this season to scream my frightening banshee yell and scatter pumpkins on your doorsteps and skeletons in your yard.

The ancient primal season of the witch is here, and you welcome me. Yes, you love to be frightened by me. I force you to laugh at your own death, to dress up your children in ghostly guise. Now comes your first sense of the upcoming cold season, chilling to the bone. I bring the final harvest, and if you haven’t picked your crops, I’ll nip them with frost. After Halloween, all that’s left in the fields is mine!

If you wish to honor me, I will show you my magical ways. I take away your fears of death and remind you to plan for your last days.

I am the keeper of the altars, outdoors and inside. I am speaking to you when you feel the desire to stand alone on a hillside. To look up in a clearing in the woods, and talk to the full moon.

I am the wild part of you, your sixth sense, the one that gives you your hunches, premonitions, dreams. I am the priestess immortal. My face is threefold—young, full bloom and crone.  I see ahead and behind. I am the hinge of reality.

Into your lives I bring these feelings, even now in the artificial forests of your urban concrete world. My witches are flying on their broomsticks, and the ghosts are shimmering in your windows.
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All is well, Halloween is near; souls will come to visit when the living world throws a party to mingle with the dead. I will share in your merriment and warm my cold hands at your hearth."
* * * 
Hecate’s speech above was adapted from the book The Grandmother of Time, by Z. Budapest, although I took a few liberties with the original. It reminds us of an important goal we can all set for the month of October.

October is a good time to tidy up the soul. Make a list of things that have got to go, such as resentment of friends or enemies, anger at yourself, regrets. Just think through your life to see what you no longer need. Go through your soul as if it were a long-forgotten attic, and see where cleaning up is way overdue, then write down what you find.

Note: Negative situations that are not your own doing are a different issue: If you are struggling with depression or other mental illness. If you got ripped off. If you lost your job because you’re a woman, or the wrong color skin, or too old. These oppressions are not your doing, so don’t blame yourself for them. Find groups with which to work through and channel your anger into political activism. It can give your life new meaning!
 
Spell to Let Go
 
Create an altar with black cloth, the color of the universe, the color of chaos, where everything come from and to which everything must return. Place some fallen leaves on the loth, to represent the natural order of the seasons and the discarded past. The fallen leaves are beautiful, but they are meant to become compost, to compost is where all our bad garbage is going as well.
 
Place your list of psychic garbage on the table. Light two black candles, one on either side, and burn some dispelling incense.
*Frankincense, Dragon’s Blood, Sandalwood – Ease depression and stress.
*Copal, Myrrh, Lavender – Spiritual cleansing
* Myrrh, Pine resin, Peppermint- Healing
* Benzoin, Amber, Rose – Promote love and harmony (external effect)

When you pray to the Goddess, talk normally, as if to your own sweet mama. You can say:
“Dearest Goddess: I have come a long way this year, carrying my burdens, and the burdens of the world, which I have internalized. I would like to take them off my shoulders and give them back to you to recycle, bury, to compost. Here, I offer you my resentments against friends, family, and (fill in your own needs here), and ask you to absorb them into your black cloak of the universe. Relieve me of them and allow me to walk more lightly.”
 
Burn your list in the flames of your candles. Now imagine all these feelings evaporating into smoke, and say something like: “I feel light, happy and cleansed. Dearest Goddess, you are my true strength and guide. I thank you for being accessible and answering your children’s call. I honor you and thank you.”
 
Gather all the things that were part of your meditation and cast them into a living body of water. Just as importantly, let go of your thoughts about the ritual.
 
Samhain Blessings to you!

Wanted: Volunteer Shooters to Thin Grand Canyon Bison Herd

The National Park Service plans to thin a herd of bison in the Grand Canyon, likely beginning next month. They will round up and relocate many of the animals. But they’re also seeking volunteers who are physically fit and proficient with a gun to kill the animals that increasingly damaging park resources.

Some bison would be shipped out of the area and others legally hunted on the adjacent forest. Within the Grand Canyon, hunters will be selected through a lottery to help bring the number of bison roaming the far northern reaches of the park to no more than 200 in the next three to five years.

About 600-700 of the animals now live in the region, and biologists say the number could hit 1,500 within ten years if left uncontrolled.

There are still some details to work out in the next few weeks, but the Park Service gave final approval to the bison reduction plan this month.

The Grand Canyon bison are descendants of those introduced to northern Arizona in the early 1900s as part of a ranching operation to crossbreed them with cattle. The state of Arizona now owns them and has an annual draw for tags on the Kaibab National Forest. Nearly 1,500 people applied for one of the 122 tags this year, according to the Arizona Game and Fish Department. 

The bison have been moving into the Grand Canyon Park boundary in recent years, where open hunting is prohibited. Park officials say they are trampling on vegetation and spoiling scarce water resources.

The reduction plan would allow volunteers working on a team with a Park Services employee and possibly a tribal representative, to shoot bison using non-lead ammunition to project the endangered California Condors that feed on gut piles.

Hunters cannot harvest more than one bison in their lifetime through the state hunt, making the volunteer effort intriguing, they say.

“I would go if I had a chance to keep a portion of the meat,” said Travis McClendon, a hunter in Cottonwood. “It would definitely be worth going, especially with a group.”
Grand Canyon is working with state wildlife officials and the Intertribal Buffalo Council to craft guidelines for roundups and volunteer shooters, who will search for bison in the open, said Park Service spokesman Jeff Olson.

Much of the work will be done on foot in elevations of 8,000 feel or higher between October and May, when the road to the Grand Canyon’s North Rim is closed. Snowmobiles and sleds will be used to remove the bison meat—and helicopters in rare instances, park officials said. Bison are the largest mammal in North America. Males can weigh up to 2,000 pounds and stand six feet tall.

Carl Lutch, the terrestrial wildlife manager for Game and Fish in Flagstaff, AZ, said volunteers should be capable of hiking eight miles a day, in snow, and carrying a 60-pound pack. They also must be able to hit a paper plate from 200 yards five times.

Most indigenous Native American tribes regard the bison as a sacred animal and religious symbol, based on the creation stories of where the buffalo came from.  Buffalo hides and heads were used in ceremonies, as well as to make tipi covers, utensils, weapons, shields, and sinew for sewing. Many Plains tribes used the bison skull for confessions and for blessing burial sites.
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While the details haven’t been finalized, it appears the current plan is to give the head and the hide of the bison to tribes in the area. The meat is probably going to be split among volunteers, with each volunteer able to take the equivalent of meat from one full bison. Anything in excess would be given to tribes and charities. A full-grown bull can yield hundreds of pounds of meat.
Here are some interesting facts not related to the Grand Canyon bison thinning:
On May 9, 2016, President Obama signed the National Bison Legacy Act into law, officially making the American bison the national mammal of the United States. This majestic animal joins the ranks of the bald eagle as the official symbol of our country.In prehistoric times, millions of bisons roamed North America, from Alaska to Mexico, to the eastern Appalachian Mountains. But in the late 1800s, the breed had been hunted nearly to extinction. Had it not been for a few private individuals working with the tribes, states and the Interior Department, the bison would be extinct today.Currently, 17 herds in 12 states--more than 10,000 bison--live on public lands managed by the Department of Interior.Yellowstone National Park is the only place in the U.S. where bison have continuously lived since prehistoric times. The herd there is estimated at 4,900, the largest group on public lands.Bison calves are called ‘red dogs’ because of their orange-red color.You can judge a bison’s mood by its tail. Hanging down is calm; if the tail is standing straight up, watch out! It may be ready to charge.Bison are not only big, they’re fast. They can run up to 35 miles per hour.The animals can live up to 20 years.Bison’s ancestors are from Asia. They made their way to America by crossing the ancient land bridge that once connected Asia with North America during the Pliocene Epoch, some 400,000 years ago.Bison are near-sighted. While bison have poor eyesight, they have excellent senses of smell and hearing. Cows and calves communicate using pig-like grunts, and bulls bellow during mating season. 

Mabon and the Eleusian Mysteries

.Happy Mabon! Welcome to the Autumnal Equinox, when Nature once again comes into balance. My hope is that the globe does finally come again into balance, and we can be free of catastrophic occurrences for the rest of the year. (In the meantime, please refer back to my last two blogs for spells to dispel our current hurricane, and give support to the victims of recent devastation.)
 
In Arizona, Mabon is the start of a whirlwind of activities. The rest of the world is slowing down, turning over crops, and preparing to nest through the cold winter months. But we’re the Northern Hemisphere misfits. After hibernating in our air-conditioned home caves through the 115-degree summer, around Mabon, everyone goes outside to catch up on yardwork and have outdoor BBQ's with neighbors. There is a long list of community activities: concerts, hay rides, farmers markets, sports activities, pumpkin fests and corn mazes. Everyone wants to play
outside after being cooped up indoors for so long.
 
In this frenzy of activity, Mabon always seems to catch me off-guard. So soon? Really?

​I’ve done better this year. Because I’ve spent a lot of this fall at our forest cabin, I’ve been able to witness the seasonal changes from summer to fall. Our forest bed  has become a sea of yellow flowers. (Say "hi" to my Australian Shepherd pal Teak). ​It’s cooler, of course. The hummingbirds have migrated from our feeders down to Mexico. And the light is different. When the dogs and I take our daily walk in the forest, the trail is more dappled, and the sun slants through the trees at an acute angle. It’s cooler, of course. The hummingbirds have migrated from our feeders down to Mexico. And the light is different. When the dogs and I take our daily walk in the forest, the trail is more dappled, and the sun slants through the trees at an acute angle. 
We always stop at this favorite natural watering hole. On a 2-mile hike, these guys will drink as many water bottles as I'm willing to carry.
Best of all, the elk are back. We hear them bugling at bedtime almost every night now.  

This is in case you've never seen elk droppings!

Nature is aware of the equinoxes, even if we sometimes are not. The September astrological sign is Libra, the scales, signifying balance. Mother Nature establishes, once again equality between the forces of light and darkness. From now on, the days will shorten and the nights get longer. The Goddess descends into the Underworld, the world of darkness, where she tends to her dead souls. This act of going down into the underworld and defeating death is celebrated by the many rituals and processions of the Eleusian mysteries.

​The Eleusian rites were the most famous goddess festival in all of Europe. People came from all over the continent to participate, because they believed those who went through the mysteries gained good luck and insights, and they became sanctified by the goddesses. 

From the Autumn Equinox until the end of September, a different ritual, a different theme, was observed each day. The festival started with processions from Athens to Eleusis. Participants deposited sacred objects at the feel of the Goddess Demeter, then went to bathe in the sea. Then people gathered for Torch Day, going through the temples and the town in search for Persephone, or Kore.


The following day was a grand purification ritual, and initiates washed away ignorance and assumed new grace. Then on September 27, people marched day and night, carrying lit torches. This marked the true start of the mysteries. It began with Holy Night on September 28, when people thronged to a great bonfire. The hierophant invoked Kore, and her true presence was felt. Painted in dark colors, she was enthroned as the Queen of Hell.
 
Holy Night was the most important time because people confronted the idea of death as they watched Kore, the Divine Maiden, turn into the Crone and then turn back into the Young Queen of the Underworld. The presence of the Goddess gave people a chance to see their own death as part of their lives, and to remove fears about the afterlife.
 
I’ve always thought that this is a teaching that should have been continued. In our modern times, because of our denial of death and the aging of the body, we have rejected the wisdom of the aged, and in doing so have robbed old age of its meaning and youth of its direction.
 
It’s time for our cultural bias against age to end. The number of people reaching the mythic retirement age of 65 has zoomed from about seven and a half million in the 1930s (when Social Security legislation decreed 65 as the age of obsolescence) to 34 million today. By the turn of the century, that figure will be 61.4 million.
 
The Autumn Equinox reminds us that life has a beginning, a middle, ad also an ending. It’s us to us to convert our society to more “conscious aging” and a new way of looking at and experiencing aging that moves beyond our cultural obsession with youth, and toward a respect and need for the wisdom of age. 

Happy Mabon!

Supporting Friends After Natural Disaster

​For the millions of people who have suffered through a national disaster in the last month, their sorrow, anger and despair is not over.
Recovery takes time. Money. Rebuilding. Re-assessing. Stamina and determination. 
Above: TheAtlantic.com

While the nation and our own loved ones recover, it can be difficult to know what the rest of us can do to help. If you have friends and family who have been directly impacted, it’s tough to find the right words to express that you sympathize with what they’re going through. “There are so few things you can actually say, and of course the person who is traumatized knows that,” says Nora Baladerian, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist who headed three trauma teams in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. 
But providing emotional support during this time can be incredibly valuable.
​ Above: Naples, Florida (Getty Images/Spencer Platt)
NOTE: Contact BestFriends.org to report lost pets, look for your pets lost in Irma, or get information about volunteer and animal fostering opportunities.

If you’re not sure how to do that, here are a few suggestions from Dr. Baladerian.Listen and reflect. Say you’re so sorry, and you want to do everything you can to stick with them. As a supportive friend, just listen to them and validate their feelings.Let them mourn their loss. Your first instinct may be to jump in and say, “You can rebuild houses, but you can’t rebuild lives.” But there’s a good chance things will be different no matter how much rebuilding is done. Some of the islands and towns in Florida, some of the neighborhoods in Houston, some of the communities in the West ravaged by forest fires—they will not be the same, at least not in our lifetimes. A mourning time is needed in these early stages. Instead, it can be reassuring to say to a loved one, “I’m going to be with you until you have your house back,” or, “we’ll find our way together.”Help them focus on gratitude. Find a few facts to be grateful for, Dr. Baladerian says. Do a little list of appreciation and acknowledge what’s good. For many people, they’re simply happy to be alive, in which case you should focus on that. “You want to balance listening, being present, and noticing what’s good,” he says.Don’t underestimate long-distance support. After a disaster, people often don’t feel comfortable reaching out to their local friends and family for assistance, because they know they’re going through the same loss. Even if you aren’t anywhere near Florida or Texas or California, it’s worth it to post on Facebook to see if you can help anyone from afar. You might be surprised who responds, and your support and long-distance assistance can be instrumental.Understand that their feelings will fluctuate. After a disaster, it’s not uncommon for people to go through the five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance), Dr. Baladerian says. “They may experience a different stage on a daily basis at this point, so be prepared for whatever it is they’re feeling. And keep in mind that disaster recovery is a long-term process. Your loved ones may not “get over” their loss right away, and it can be a long time before their lives are back to a stable normal. Be patient and willing to listen or help throughout the recovery process.  
For my friends out there who practice Wicca, Witchcraft or even positive thinking: Here is one additional way you can help. This spell was created by Avery Hunt (thetravelingwitch.com), who recently went through a natural disaster herself in Hurricane Harvey.

Please feel free to use this magical working to help those who are suffering from the natural disasters that have occurred in the world recently and could use some extra support.




​You will need:
* Sage leaves
* Orange peel
* Cinnamon sticks
* water in a jar or bowl (preferably rainwater)
* A pot and a stove
* Paper and writing utensil
* Small piece or twine or green, white or pink yarn
 
Hold your container of water between your hands and take a moment to channel your love and protection for the victims into the water. You can identify specific people or simply trust that your magic will find those in greatest need. When you are finished charging the water with your magic, pour it into the pot and set it on the stove to boil.

Add the herbs and as you do say,
“I call on sage to protect and guard. Orange for the return of happier days. Cinnamon so luck may find those in need.”

Allow the mixture to simmer gently for 10-15 minutes.
While it’s simmering you can chant, meditate or write about your wishes for the victims of the natural disaster. If you write down your wishes be sure to save them.

After you’ve finished simmering the herbs, turn off the stove and allow the brew to cool completely. Take the liquid and the herbs to a place of significance to you (an outdoor space, preferably somewhere that you feel especially connected to your witchcraft). Hold the container with the brew and empower it once more with your wishes for the victims. 

Take a deep breath and as you exhale pour the brew out onto the ground. Allow the power you’ve built to leave through your breath, through your hands and through your herbal brew into the earth and air to be carried to those who need it most.
 
If you wrote wishes for the victims, roll the paper tightly into a scroll, tie it closed and hang it outside your home until the next full moon. 

I’m performing my spellwork and putting my bundles out this weekend. If you have a loved one you wish included, leave their information in a reply below.

Until next week, Blessed Be.

Hurricane Protection Spell

I was planning to spend this month on prosperity spells for Mabon. Instead, based on what’s going on in Texas, Florida, the other southern states and now Mexico, I decided to post and perform a protection spell instead. Specifically, storm protection magic.

A lot of people have been posting of their agitation and unease about the weather situation and would like to know how they can help from afar. Here’s your chance. *Thank you in advance to Lady Abigail for this working, only slightly modified. Having been through this before, you should know!
Hurricane Protection Spell
Needs:
5 white candles for peace, protection and safety (one larger to use as your protection candle.)
4 black candles to draw away the danger.
NOTE: candles should be left to burn completely out or during the hurricane’s wrath. PLEASE make sure they are in a safe place where they cannot cause fire, and no pets or children could be harmed.
Protection Herbs: Fern, clove, chamomile, angelica, High John root, Juniper, rue, or any other protection herb.
Cauldron or bowl
Altar or safe place to burn the candles
Working:
If you have a small cauldron, place the white protection Candle in the middle of it and sprinkle the herbs around it.

​Place all the candles in a spiral circle on your altar space, starting with the protection candle in the cauldron. Light the protection candle and chant:

“By the powers that be and see,
I call protection unto me.
And unto all those I love
To cover them like wings of a dove. “

Then, starting with the candle furthest from the center of your spiral, light the candles one by one moving inward toward the protection candle and say:

“I call upon the powers that be,
I seek protections unto thee.”

As you light the candles, see a great blue and purple bubble of protection growing from the center of your area and flowing upward into the sky. Visualize this bubble of protection being joined by hundreds of thousands of others, each joining into the other ones and growing larger and larger until one immense bubble covers every finch within the danger zone.

Once you have finished leave the candles to burn completely out or until the storm has ended.

P.S. If you don’t have room on your altar or table for all full-size candles, use tapers or mini tapers for all but your protection candle. It’s your intention that is most important in any ritual working.

Next week I’ll post a spell for the people coping with the aftermath of our natural disasters.
Be safe friends. Let us know that you are all right!

In the Writing Groove

While I was researching Clive Cussler last week, I got side-tracked reading about one of his co-writers, Russell Blake. This man is a phenomenon. He writes 6-10 books a year, and they’re 300-plus page thrillers. Plus, he’s a NYT, WSJ and USA Today best-seller.

​I just bought a book he co-wrote with Cussler, The Eye of Heaven, so I’ll let you know how I like his style).

Since my writing pace is more turtle than rocket, I decided to test some of his craft tips on how to write more, faster.Do your research before you write the frigging book. Then turn off the internet. Your productivity will increase 30-40%. If you must, make notes of items that need research and do them after you’ve hit your daily word count.
    2. Insert place holder for shit you don’t know. Don’t agonize over             the perfect character name. Use XXX or ZZZ and come back to it           after you’ve hit your word count.  

These simple adjustments have made such a difference in my production! For the last week, I quit going back to research every detail I ran into. Instead, I made a footnote on the manuscript in red, to return to later.
 
YES! I’m making my daily word goal every day now! And note the emphasis on daily. I’ve written every day for the last 12 straight days. I can’t tell you what a relief it is to be writing every day, and with much less effort. On the writing every day, Russel says…

      3. Hit your daily word goal no matter what. Having too much to                  do life happens, all of those reasons are not reasons. They’re                  excuses. You either want to make this happen or you don’t. If                you can’t quit making excuses, take up some other hobby                        that’s less demanding, because this ain’t for you.  

      4. Ditto on revising. If you feel you must edit as you go, set aside               time AFTER you’ve written your day’s word goal, then go back               and edit. Note: I just quit editing. And still gave my pages to my             critique partners. We’ll see if they hate me.  

       5. Looking at the larger picture, Russell says to sit down at the top            of the year and pencil out a production schedule, and stick to it.            “When I say stick to it, I mean stick to it like someone will blow             your head off if you miss it. Like you’ll be fired from your job as            a writer if you miss it. If you want to do this as a career, develop            discipline.”

Harsh words, but Russell lives them. He starts on “content creation” around 8 or 9 in the morning, and works until 10-11 at night. Too much?  
   
        6. I’ve set a goal that’s realistic for me (also a Russell suggestion).           I’m going to generate 700-1000 decent words a day, every single           day, no exceptions. Guess what? That will allow me to generate             300+K per year! That’s three, maybe four novels a year. Would I           be happy with that? Hell yes.  

 One last interesting tip. Since the man spends so many hours                writing, he bought a treadmill desk. Russell says he now walks              about six miles a day, and has actually lost weight writing.          Hmm.  

At this writing pace, I’ll have Crescent Moon Crossing finished in November, right on time. Maybe then I’ll ask for a treadmill desk for Yule.
 
Good writing!
 
  

Conference Tidbits

This blog could easily be titled, “A good editor is worth her weight in gold.”

I dropped (literally) down from my idyllic summer cabin, nestled in the forest pines at 6500’ to the hot Phoenix desert to attend a conference last weekend. I hate being in the 110+ degree Phoenix summers, so the conference had better be good!
​ It was. The Sisters in Crime WRITE NOW conference caught my interest months ago when they announced Clive Cussler as their guest speaker. I’ve been reading his Dirk Pitt adventure/suspense series for years, although I quit buying them when he started using a co-writer.

During this conference I learned quite a bit about co-authoring and how writing partners can collaborate so their writing “jells.”
Cussler, age 86, has used eight different co-authors for his five best-selling series.  He paired up for several books with Grant Blackwood, who went on to co-author Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan series.  He’s also written several books with his son, and featured his son and daughter in his novels. He says his co-writers produce a lot of the pages. While he writes also, he most often comes up with the initial plot idea and treatment.

Panel member Lee Goldberg, who wrote many episodes of the Monk TV series, is currently teaming up with Janet Evanovich to write her Fox and O’Hare series.  He says he and Janet take a more collaborative approach, with both of them contributing to writing scenes. He says he’ll write a scene, “and then Janet puts her magic touch on it to finish.”

The last person on the panel was editor Holly Lorincz. Holly has been a ghostwriter for celebrities, Mafia chiefs, even a woman who escaped from the Taliban. She’s also a content editor.
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I was able to book a 20-minute appointment with her to discuss my book-in-progress, Crescent Moon Crossing. I wasn’t satisfied with the opening of the book, and was struggling with how to improve the initial chapters. Well…in 20 minutes, Holly gave me a fresh idea for the book’s opening, plus she helped me decide the best order to introduce the scenes in my first three chapters. Thank you, Holly! It was money well spent. I’ll definitely be back in touch with you when I have a draft ready for content editing. 
I just bought a few of Clive Cussler’s co-authored books:
Polar Shift (co-author Paul Kemprecos)Piranha (co-author Craig Dirgo)The Kingdom (co-author Grant Blackwood)The Eye of Heavens (co-author Russell Blake)Black Wind (co-authored with his son Dirk) 
I think it will be interesting to read them all in sequence and see if the writing and tone vary between co-writers. I’ll let you know.
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In the meantime, I’d love to hear your short list of authors you most enjoy reading. And what about co-authors—do you read co-authored books? 

Sacred Scotland Finale - Skye and Iona

We had two locations left in our Sacred Scotland tour, the Isle of Skye, probably the most famous of all the islands in Scotland. And then on to Iona, a tiny jewel in the crown of the Inner Hebrides, known as the seat of all religions worshipped in this country.
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Skye has the greatest concentration of peaks in Britain, and the most challenging to climbers.  In fact, a common past time is called “Munro Bagging,” which consists of hiking (Scottish is hillwalking) to the top of all 282 Scottish summits over 3,000 feet. When you summit, you’ve bagged a Munro.

The beauty of wanting to bag all 282 is that in committing to do so, you open up the opportunity to see an incredible breadth of Scotland’s dramatic landscape, most of it away from the populated areas. Many of the Munros are located in Skye, so it’s a popular place for mountaineers.

Once you’ve bagged all the Munros, you’re considered a Munroist, and you start getting a lot of knowing nods, kudos and respect. Our laird friend, John McKenzie, told us he’d bagged the Munros when we visited him at the beginning of our trip, but I didn’t know just what an accomplishment that was until I saw the rugged landscape at Isle of Skye!
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We took a relaxing hike to the magical Fairy Pools at the foot of the Black Cuillins, complete with stepping stone water crossings, and crystal clear, icy cold water for those who wanted to swim. I put my feet in, and they were tingling with cold in less than 30 seconds, but three women in our party were much braver and actually swam!  Linda, our (Tarot reading hostess extraordinaire) and Anne, a  tour participant, brave the frigid water at the Fairy Pool.
Sorry, Crissy, I know how much you wanted to be publically captioned...not! We traveled next to sacred Iona. This little island is so small (only three miles long and one-and-a-half wide) that its ferry doesn’t transport cars and none are allowed on the island.  When we disembarked we had to haul ourselves and our luggage from the ferry to our hotel in a light drizzle. No worries, the village was enchanting and our cottage, the Finlay Ross, was warm, dry and welcoming.

One of several small islands off the western coast of Scotland, Iona can seem remote from mainland life. But in the old days when most people traveled by sea, Iona was central to life on the entire west coast.

It’s known as a ‘sacred isle’ because of its pagan and then Christian spiritual activity through the ages.  Persecuted druid priests came here for sanctuary to escape the persecution of Rome. Iona’s Gaelic name, Innis-nam Druidbneach  means ‘Island of the Druids. Unlike so many of the other western islands, however, Iona shows no trace of megalithic structures. This may indicate that the island was indeed considered sacred.

Iona feels old. The air, the ground, the contours of the land seem saturated with ancient memories. It’s said the island is made of quartz and marble, formed under vast heat and pressure when the first oceans were condensing on the blistering hot surface of the earth. The land contains no fossils, for, as far as is known, no living creatures yet existed in the waters of this primeval land.

There is a Celtic saying that heaven and earth are only three feet apart, but in the thin places that distance is even smaller. The veil is definitely thin on Iona, and this ‘otherworld’ has a soft doorway, so everyone treads lightly.

The mystical druids were said to have founded a library here. But the displaced Irish priest, St. Columba, fought off the powerful druid elders in 563 AD to claim Iona as his own, and converted most of Scotland and northern England to Christianity.
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Not much is left of St. Columba’s original compound, but there is part of a 13th century Nunnery and a beautiful abbey. A lintel over one arched window on the Nunnery has a worn ancient carving of Sheela-na-Gig, a fertility Mother Goddess. 

​Considering the site, I wonder if maybe this figure was moved from an older structure to the nunnery.


I had a wonderful time leafing through the bibles displayed inside the Abbey, collected from at least 80 different countries and languages.

The Abbey Museum houses impressive remains from the early Celtic period, include 14-foot-tall crosses dating from the middle or late 8th century.
photo by fotomanisch.deviantart.com  The most impressive of these is the 14-foot-tall St. Martin's Cross, which still stands outside.

When Columba first settled in Iona, he and his followers created a scriptorium. Imagine hooded monks sitting in rows copying ancient manuscripts and creating new sacred texts. The best surviving example is the famed Book of Kells.  The island became a place of pilgrimage and royal burial as its fame as a center of learning spread.

When the Vikings invaded Iona in the eighth century, the Book of Kells was secreted off the Iona and to Ireland. It’s now housed at Trinity College Library in Dublin.

Known graves on Iona include 48 Scottish kings including Macbeth, 8 Norwegian, 1 French and 4 Irish, as well as numerous clan chiefs. Templar knight gravestones reveal their presence on the island.

Megalithic remains suggest it was a prehistoric burial site too. But why? Why did so many royal people come here, to this tiny island, to prepare for their final journey?

Some say it’s because Iona is a borderland between life and death.

There is no denying that Iona is mysterious. The light is more translucent, more heavenly and less earthly, often filled with swirling mist. The water is blue, unlike the black waters in most of Scotland. 

And the beaches are littered with beautiful green stones, Iona green marble.  The island is famous for it, and the crystals have been collected as talismans for centuries.

Legend tells of a lonely monk who fell in love with a mermaid. When she was banished, she shed tears that can be found today, the small green tear-shaped crystals strewn along Iona’s beaches.
There are also legends about magical “green eggs,” called Druid’s Eggs or Serpent’s Eggs. Which brings me around to that other tantalizing legend – the Druid’s library.

Could it be that Columba’s monks copied not only old Christian manuscripts, but also the Druid writings they found on Iona? What happened to all that work?

It’s never been found, although modern historian Ashley Cowie, host of the TV series Legend Quest, swears he’s found the entrance to the lost library in a secret chamber under Iona Abbey.

Yes, Iona is chock-full of intriguing questions and mystery. And you can be sure I’ll be following Cowie’s investigation with interest. Wouldn’t an ancient Druid Chamber of Secrets would be an exciting way to conclude my Ancient Magic series?

Thanks to each of you for following my Sacred Scotland blogs. The Scotland series is complete, but come back next weekend for another topic.

Sacred Scotland - Strong Feelings at Callanish Stones

Continuing our islands investigation, we ferried to the Outer Hebrides and onto the island of Lewis.

Mythological creatures called the Blue Men of the Minch are said to inhabit these dark waters off the western coast of Scotland. 

They’re storm kelpies, or in Scottish Gaelic, na fir ghorma. The word gorm refers to any shade of blue, and na fir can be translated as “the men.”

Folk tales say the mythical blue men may have been part of a tribe of “fallen angels” that split into three. The first became the ground dwelling fairies, the second evolved to become the sea inhabiting blue men, and the remainder the “Merry Dancers” of the Northern Lights in the sky. I love this legend!
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The Blue Men have the power to create storms, but when the weather is fine they sleep or float just under the surface of the water. They swim with their torso from the waist up raised out of the sea, twisting and diving like a porpoise. They are able to converse with mariners are said to shout two lines of poetry to a skipper in a rhyming duel before capsizing their boat. Unless the captain can complete the verse, they will seize his boat.  Uh-huh. Tell legends like this to a writer, and you can be sure it’ll end up as a short story supplement to her novel series eventually!

I marveled at the empty distances between the few small villages, and how the sheep were allowed to graze anywhere.
You could round a bend in the road and find one right in the middle. Our driver called them “Harris Tweed on the hoof”.


Our major site visit in the Outer Hebrides was Calanais, referred to as the “Stonehenge of the Hebrides.” The main Calanais, site is part of a wider landscape temple embracing satellite sites of stone settings and circles.  ​This is a lunar observatory created as an ancient power center to witness the major lunar standstill that occurs only once every 18.9 years. (The next lunar standstill will be stages by the moon in 2025.)
Calanais I site includes a central monolith, an inner chambered cairn, a circle of 13 stones, and avenues that run north, south, east and west and make up the stone heart of the site, laid out in the shape of a Celtic cross. 

​The stones are gneiss rock, black metamorphic rock banded with quartz and mica, and nearly three million years old.
The Pixar film Brave features several scenes set in and around the stones. And The Starz TV series, Outlander, based on a series of books by Diana Gabaldon, has used the stones as a model for a fictional circle near Culloden called Craigh na Dun.

Maybe the site has become too popular. Or, maybe the stones have absorbed the negative emotions of the people who now trek out to this secluded site to visit. Maybe they even resent the renewed attention?  After all, its own people abandoned the site around 800 BC and let the peat reclaim it until farmers re-cleared the area in 1857.

Whatever the reason, this site ignited an overpowering feeling of anger and resentment in me, a feeling that lingered long after we left the stones. Part of the issue was a pre-teen boy who stood in the middle of this sacred sit, acting stupid and making gang signs while his mom tried to take his picture.
Nevertheless, the only place I felt comfortable was in the inner circle of the structure, said to be where the Druid leaders would stand to address their followers. I couldn’t wait to leave.

I wasn’t the only one to feel strong negative emotions this day, enough, in fact, that Linda, our co-leader, met with us before dinner to discuss our feelings.
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We’d been drawing a tarot card each day, and during the meeting, I drew the Moon card, after hesitating, and emphatically rejecting, a different card.  ​The rejected card, as it turned out, was the Devil.

Linda’s interpretation was that the Moon card reminds me that the sacred and true is always there, no matter what else is going on. Meanwhile, the Devil is trying to get my attention, saying, “Hey, look at these distractions, pay attention to them, let me ruin your day!”

She also pointed out that I’d been dragging my red scarf on the ground much of the day, and its color was a perfect match to the red cape on the Death card. She gave me a lot to think about.
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The next morning we visited the Calanais III site, and it was completely different. This double-ring site includes a grouping of three stones named “Mother, Maiden and Crone,” and it had a remarkable atmosphere, as quiet as the wind. It also has less visitors than its better-well-known sister site.  Our group went early, winding into the rocks holding hands. We held a short ritual circle, undisturbed by any other visitors.

It was the perfect way to end our time on Lewis, before driving across the isthmus to catch our ferry to the Isle of Skye. I’ll tell you about Skye and our last island, magical Iona, when I conclude my Scotland tour blog next weekend.

Until then, Blessed Be. And pay attention to the signs you are presented in your daily life!