Author: C. LaVielle

A Writer’s Rant

Posted C. LaVielle10 CommentsPosted in Writing

My husband, Craig, came home last weekend with a grocery bag full of chanterelles and stories about his camping trip with our friend Larry. Since Larry loves to cook, much of the conversation was about food prep. Craig mentioned that Larry is of the school that believes water boils faster uncovered. My hackles rose. “No,” I said, shaking my chanterelle cleaning brush at him, “Larry doesn’t believe water boils faster uncovered, he thinks it does.” My long-suffering husband sighed and settled back for a long rant. “It would be a simple experiment,” I continued, “Just boil the same amount of water over the same heat in the same pan covered and uncovered a few times and you’d have your proof, one way or the other. But you can’t prove a belief.” And yet, we are all so certain of ours. Not because we can prove they are correct to the rest of the world, but because our bodies tell us at a gut level that… Read More »

What Happens When You Die?

Posted C. LaVielle8 CommentsPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, Wheel of the Year

Several years ago I was relaxing on a sunny hillside at the Northwest Fall Equinox Festival. The ground was still warm with summer’s heat and autumn’s soft, golden sunshine was baking my bones. As I drifted into sleep I thought how marvelous it was to be alive at this time of year. A hand pressed down on my shoulder. I jolted awake and looked up into the grinning, vaguely crazed face of my friend Blythe. “What happens when you die?” she said. I swallowed the obvious answer of “I haven’t a clue, but if you continue to wake people out of a sound sleep with that question you will soon find out,” and just stared at her. Blythe has a closer relationship with death than most of us. Over ten years ago she was diagnosed with a weird form of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and decided against treating it with radiation and chemotherapy. Instead, she follows a spiritual path that includes a regular quigong practice. She’s doing… Read More »

Vampires, Sevastopol, and Leo Tolstoy

Posted C. LaVielle6 CommentsPosted in Synchronicity

There are an amazing number of chilling accounts of what we would call vampirism in the historical records of Eastern Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. (see The Secret History of Vampires: Their Multiple Forms and Hidden Purposes) And so I decided that the vampire in my second novel would be from 19th century Sevastopol. He was a civilian doctor there during the Crimean War and the Russian army “requested” that he stay and work in the field hospital when the British and French fleets arrived, captured the area south of the city, and began bombing. The Siege of Sevastopol has been lurking in the back of my brain since I studied it in high school European History. I don’t remember anything I learned about it and I’m even a little shaky on the particulars of the Crimean War in general, but the name sounds so romantic and exotic that I thought it would be fun to have Iskander, my vampire, live in Sevastopol… Read More »

Why does Greek Mythology Read Like a Soap Opera?

Posted C. LaVielle6 CommentsPosted in Uncategorized

I found the following comment on my “Virgin Mary, Isis, The High Priestess, and the Empress” blog: “I’ve never really liked the Greek myths….(and I’ve)……always loved Egyptain paganism, because the women have much better and stronger roles, and their gods just seemed more like more ethical, more pleasant people.” Fond as I am of Greek mythology, I had to agree with him. Zeus and most of the other male gods are obsessed with fighting and sex and spend way too much of their time raping women. Artemis is a spiteful man hater (with good reason, it seems); and Hera, Zeus’s wife, is often portrayed as a jealous, nagging spouse (with good reason, it seems). Apollo and Hermes have the same father, Zeus, but different mothers. They are constantly fighting. Even Athena, goddess of wisdom and weaving, gets so pissed at Arachne, a mortal weaver who claims to be more talented than her, that she turns the woman into a spider. The Greek gods detested hubris,… Read More »

The Virgin Mary in COSTCO

Posted C. LaVielle3 CommentsPosted in Uncategorized

I dread going to COSTCO. It’s a huge, echoing void that begs to be filled even though it’s already jammed full of stuff. Unfortunately, the prices (at least on some things) make it irresistible. I had to make the sacrificial journey last Friday to get tested for new hearing aids. COSTCO charges over two thousand dollars less than the last place I went. I needed to pick up a few things so I tucked a bright yellow shopping bag with the Virgin Mary printed on both sides under my arm and ventured into the void. It was a normal, mind numbing COSTCO experience until I put a box of contact lens solution into my bag and headed back to the cheese cases for a COSTCO sized portion of fresh mozzarella to go with our tomatoes that have just now started ripening. A sad looking, elderly man’s eyes focused on the colorful BVM print and he looked up at me and grinned. A young woman glanced… Read More »

What Are Your Favorite Tarot Books?

Posted C. LaVielle3 CommentsPosted in Tarot

When folks ask me to recommend a book on tarot I give them a list of what I consider to be the classics—the golden oldies. The Tarot, A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages, by Paul Foster Case Paul Foster Case (1884-1954) was a member of The Golden Dawn and founder of The Builders of the Adytum. The Tarot examines the 22 major arcana cards from a ceremonial magician’s point of view. It can be a bit abstruse at times, but it is well worth the effort. Mastering the Tarot, by Eden Gray (or any of her other books) Chicago debutante Eden Gray (1901-1999) followed her dream to New York City and became an actress. She also worked in radio and on the London stage, earned a Doctor of Divinity degree, lectured and taught classes on Science of the Mind, ran a bookstore and publishing house, and wrote the first easy to comprehend books on tarot. They are still in use today. See Mary… Read More »

The Major Arcana and the Hero’s Journey: The Hanged Man, Part III

Posted C. LaVielle3 CommentsPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey

Water is a mysterious substance. It expands when it becomes solid instead of contracting like any other self-respecting compound, and it contracts instead of expanding when it liquefies. It flows easily into any shape you choose, but no matter how hard you compress it, it won’t get any smaller. Without it life as we know it would be impossible, yet everything will eventually dissolve in its persistent caress, especially if you add a bit of salt and turn it to tears. It can be as gentle and refreshing as a warm summer rain or as dangerous and cruel as a raging sea. It is everywhere. 90 to 94 percent of the human body is water, and it covers two thirds of the earth. Swirling with opposites and contradictions, it is The Hanged Man’s element. Neptune, the planet of mysticism, spirituality, deception, and illusion, is also associated with The Hanged Man. Its Hebrew letter is Mem, which means water. In this case it refers to the… Read More »

Willamette Writers Conference, 2011

Posted C. LaVielle6 CommentsPosted in Getting Published, Young Adult Fantasy

I got good news and bad news at this year’s conference. The good news was that Miriam Kriss, an agent with Irene Goodman Literary Agency, asked to see a synopsis and the first ten pages of Forging the Blade. She was the only agent I pitched to because I’d already pitched to all the other agents there that were looking for YA fantasy. The bad news also came from Miriam Kriss. After carefully listening to my pitch she said:  You’re book isn’t really young adult fantasy because you’re main character doesn’t have the same concerns and problems that young adults have and she spends most of her time with adults.  Your book is high fantasy, which doesn’t sell as well as urban fantasy.  Your second book should never be a sequel to your first book (mine is), because if you don’t sell your first book, or if it sells poorly, you’ll never be able to sell your second book. Ah well, maybe… Read More »

The Major Arcana and The Hero’s Journey: The Hanged Man, Part II

Posted C. LaVielle18 CommentsPosted in Major arcana, Tarot

The Hanged Man is in search of enlightenment. But notice that he’s not having a cup of tea with Great Aunt Ethel. The knowledge he seeks can only be given to him by the gods, or for those with a more secular viewpoint, by his subconscious. This sort of knowledge is available to everyone; all we need to do is ask. It’s attainment is the selling point of the major religions and meditation techniques. The part that they sometimes don’t mention is that to receive the answer, you must go to a place where you can actually hear it, and then you must be very still.  It isn’t a physical place.  It exists where the world as we know it and the realm of the “other world” intersect.  It’s that ethereal, dusky place between the dark and the daylight.  Psychologist call it “liminal space” and define it as a place where borders meet and soften and become neither one nor the… Read More »