Morgan asked Kate Elliott:

This question contains spoilers… (view spoiler)

Kate Elliott Morgan, this is a fantastic question (and my apologies for taking so long to answer). I wrote Crown of Stars long enough ago that the particulars of research have long since been superseded in my brain by the research I’ve done for the books I’ve written after. So I cannot fully reconstruct my thinking.

However part of the answer is revealed in the poem Liath recites in King’s Dragon, chapter 2 (The Book of Secrets) “by this ladder the mage ascends.” The ladder has seven rungs and those rungs correspond to the ancient world’s astrological understanding of there being seven significant astrological heavenly bodies: the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. So while the concept of the kabbalah is certainly part of the inspiration (as an intangible spiritual structure) I mostly did a lot of research on ancient astronomy and astrology (which in those days was basically one and the same) and then used it to create the ladder she climbs in Child of Flame. Seven was a much used number in the ancient and medieval worlds when it to came to astronomy/astrology and to compendiums of knowledge (the seven liberal arts, for example).

Here are some of the references I used:
Jim Tester A HISTORY OF WESTERN ASTROLOGY
This is somewhat older now and I am sure there are newer works that deal with the historical nature of ancient conceptions of astronomy and astrology -- in other words, not “sun signs” kind of books -- that I didn’t have access to when I was writing Crown of Stars.

E.C. Krupp’s books on ancient people’s understanding of astronomy

Two books important in the medieval period (in translation): The Cosmographia of Bernardus Silvertris and Commentary on the Dream of Scipio by Macrobius.
Both these deal with dreams and tours of a realm outside physical human existence.

Many ancient works (including the Bible) use the concept of dreams and or ‘ascents to heaven’ to discuss the nature of the world. I used those as template and inspiration and spun them off into my own thing.

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