Author: C. LaVielle

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

Posted C. LaVielle3 CommentsPosted in Uncategorized

This tarot image is only one of many mystical hanged men. The one that comes most readily to the American mind is Christ, who was hung on a wooden cross till he died. But he returned to life so that all his followers could have eternal life. The Norse god Odin pierced himself with a spear and hung upside down for nine whole nights on wind-rocked Yggdrasil, the World Tree. On the ninth night he saw the runes arrayed below him and knew their meanings and was free. Odin gave the runes to humanity to guide us in our spiritual quest. The Buddha had it a bit easier, he merely sat beneath the Bodhi Tree. But he went without food and water until he gained enlightenment. He went forth and shared his insights and the rest is history. The Native Americans of the central plains dance the Sun Dance every summer to obtain life renewal, visions, and assistance from the Great Spirit. After the dance… Read More »

The Strength-Justice Tarot Controversy

Posted C. LaVielle13 CommentsPosted in Major arcana, Tarot

Some of my best friends read with decks in which Strength is numbered 11 instead of 8 and Justice is 8 instead of 11. In fact, I own eight tarot decks and five of them use this numbering system. Horrors! How can this be? The first tarot cards we know of, The Visconti-Sforza decks, were painted in Italy in the 15th century and didn’t number the major arcana cards. At least the ones I’ve found on line didn’t. Most subsequent decks did number them, but their order has been constantly switched and different cards, such as the virtues Faith, Hope, and Charity have been added and subtracted to accommodate various metaphysical theories. In The Devil’s Picture Book, Paul Huson mentions a 15th century manuscript with a marginal note that gives a number to each major arcana key. In this system, Strength is 9 and Justice is 20. The French Marseilles decks (1600-1700’s) were the first to use the Strength 11, Justice 8 numbering system. They… Read More »

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

Posted C. LaVielle1 CommentPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey

Justice, key XI and the Wheel of Fortune, key X sit at the balance point of the Major Arcana. Ten cards precede them and ten cards come after them. Together chance and karma create the fulcrum around which the hero’s journey turns. If we consider the Wheel of Fortune to be the mechanism of manifestation, then Justice is the force within the cosmos that brings balance to the wheel. The wisdom of the tarot matches the Egyptian concept that it is Justice that brings balance to the universe. Libra, the scales, is the astrological sign attributed to Justice. It sits smack dab in the middle of the zodiacal year at Fall Equinox and it’s all about balance, harmony, and beauty. The Hebrew letter Lamed corresponds to Justice. As a verb it means “to teach or instruct” and as a noun it means an ox goad. The meaning of the letter Aleph is ox, and Aleph corresponds to The Fool who signifies pure cosmic energy. And… Read More »

Summer in Words, 2011

Posted C. LaVielle4 CommentsPosted in Getting Published

When I arrived at the Hallmark Inn & Resort last Friday the receptionist looked at me in that particular way that tells an experienced traveler that they’ve screwed up your reservations. Rats, I said to myself, mimicking Molly Adair, my main character. And then I asked myself, What Would Molly Do? If Molly felt as desperate as I did at that moment, she just might have clobbered the receptionist with her practice stick. Fortunately for the woman, whose look had darkened even further, I’m not Molly. I smiled sweetly and waited for the verdict. Several minutes and many key tappings later she informed me that I was supposed to have arrived on Thursday and was scheduled to leave on Saturday. They’d already rented my room for Saturday. “Why would I do that?” I asked. “The conference goes until Sunday.” “I’ve found you another room,” she continued. “We won’t charge you for the upgrade. It has an ocean view, Jacuzzi, and fireplace.” Yes! The conference was… Read More »

The Major Arcana and the Hero’s Journey: Justice, Part II

Posted C. LaVielleLeave a commentPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey, Uncategorized

The Ancient Greeks’ concept of Justice was more pragmatic than the Egyptians’. According to Egyptian mythology it was Maat, or Justice that set order to the universe at the moment of creation, and so Justice is the primary force of their world. (see Justice, Part I) The Greeks claim that it was Ananke, the primordial goddess of compulsion, inevitability, and necessity, that set everything to order. She emerged fully formed at the very beginning of time, a serpentine spirit intertwined with her mate, Khronos, or Time. Together, Time and Necessity hold the egg of the universe fast in their powerful coil. She is the mother of the Fates, or Moirae and although even mighty Zeus defers to her, she’s not a popular or commonly worshiped goddess. Nobody, except perhaps a politician, enjoys bowing to her. As far as we know, only one temple to Ananke ever existed. It was in Corinth, and this most powerful of all goddesses had to share it with Bia, meaning… Read More »

What Does Drawing Snowflakes Have to do with Writing Novels?

Posted C. LaVielle8 CommentsPosted in Getting Published

Last Tuesday I went to the monthly Willamette Writers meeting at The Old Church in downtown Portland, Oregon. The Speaker was Randy Ingermanson, software engineer, novelist and author of Writing Fiction for Dummies. Over 26,000 people read his on-line advanced writers zine. He was there to talk about how drawing a snowflake is like designing a novel. Here’s a very abbreviated version of The Snowflake Method: *When you are ready to begin writing, think of one sentence of that describes your novel. The closer to fifteen words you can make it the better. For example: A sailor barely escapes drowning when the great white whale his demented captain is chasing smashes the ship. Moby Dick, Herman Melville or A grieving fifteen-year-old girl falls into a parallel universe and becomes a warrior mage. Forging the Blade (my book, new title) *Write a one-paragraph description of the plot. Use five sentences. The first sentence sets up the story, the second describes the first conflict point, the second… Read More »

The Hero’s Journey and the Major Arcana: Justice, Part I

Posted C. LaVielleLeave a commentPosted in Major arcana, Tarot, The Hero's Journey, Uncategorized

Maat is the Egyptian goddess of truth, justice, balance, and harmony. She regulates the stars, seasons, and the actions of both mortals and the deities and set the order of the universe from chaos at the moment of creation. She is a most ancient goddess; archeologist have found depictions of her from the middle of the Old Kingdom, c. 2600 BCE. To the ancient Egyptians, she was not just the goddess of truth and justice, she was truth and justice. The early kings described themselves as “Lords of Maat” who spoke aloud the Maat they conceived in their hearts. The Pharaoh’s Vizier, who was a combination of Prime Minister, Chief Security Officer, and Chief Judge, was the High Priest of Maat. Paul Doherty’s fascinating ancient Egyptian mystery series features Chief Judge Amerotke as its sleuth. He not only invoked Maat everyday before he entered the courtroom but also had a very rich and fulfilling relationship with her. In the underworld, Anubis weighs the deceased’s heart… Read More »

Three Bits of Advice from a Pro

Posted C. LaVielle2 CommentsPosted in Getting Published, Young Adult Fantasy

The opening chapters of The Remaking needed something. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, but they weren’t ready to send out to agents. The best thing for me to do when I get stuck like this is talk to another writer, so I invited Kris out for a lunch of gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. We watched the weather do what it always does in Portland in late May—dither about raining and then raining. We also talked about my manuscript. Because she is my friend as well as an English teacher and a writer, she listened to me as I drowned my sorrows in Coke and cholesterol and rambled on about the plot’s back-story. When I was all done she said:  You need to include more of that back story right up front so I have a better understanding of your character. By golly, I thought, she’s right. Figuring out how much back-story to include is tricky. The reader doesn’t want to wade through… Read More »

The Fry Graph—No, You Won’t Find It in a Cookbook!

Posted C. LaVielle2 CommentsPosted in Getting Published, Young Adult Fantasy

When my friend, Kris, who teaches English and Writing at a community college, critiqued the first few chapters of my manuscript, one of the first things she did was analyze them using the Fry Graph readability formula. Unfortunately this formula doesn’t tell an author how much his readers will enjoy his writing, but it does calculate how easy or difficult his writing is to read. The Fry Graph result is a grade level. If the analysis result is 6.4, that means that most sixth graders would be able to read it. It counts the number of syllables and sentences in a hundred-word writing sample, and plots words vs. syllables on a graph. The more syllables and the fewer sentences there are, the higher the grade level. It’s best to use descriptive or narrative parts of a piece of fiction, not dialogue. The analysis is simple. This is how to do it. So that’s great, you say, but what good is it? Edward Fry developed the… Read More »