Summer has exhaled and faded. The nights are
beginning to lengthen. Leaves burnish in shades of red, gold, and orange, and drop
from the trees. The last of the harvest is gathered, and the remains of the
crops are tilled back into the fields to nourish the soil for next year’s
planting. Our lived life is analogous to this turning of the seasons if we can
view it from that perspective. As such, you may ponder what seeds you have
planted earlier in the year, what you have created by mid-year, what has now come
into fruition to be harvested in your life, and what needs to be nourished for
the upcoming year.
Because I am an author of Visionary Fiction (VF),
the writer in me also resonates with this season of autumn. And, more so with…
yes…Halloween. Not so much the commercial Halloween of clever costumes and
adorable children who ‘trick or treat’ for candy, as much as acknowledging this
season ‘where the veils are thin between the worlds of the seen and unseen,’ or
so the ancient Celtic people asserted.
October 31st, mid-autumn, marks one
of earth’s seasonal turning points with a festival called Samhain (pronounced
sa-wen, which comes from two words meaning summer’s end), a festival later to
be renamed Halloween. Samhain originally celebrated this mystical time when the
usual barriers between our world and the otherworld opened to allow contact
between humans and their ancestors, the spirits of the dead, as well the fairy
folk. Legend says that these two realities now have the opportunity to come
together and communicate.
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These otherworldly realities do not refer to
unnerving horror stories often associated with Halloween. Rather, the reference
to thin veils between the worlds addresses the unseen aspect of life that often
goes unnoticed, and is patently undervalued in our society. In this regard, Visionary
Fiction is a sort of ‘X Files’ of the literary world, or even an empirical
starship ‘Enterprise,’ in that VF often goes places other fictional genres do
not. More importantly, VF takes the reader to these otherworld realms in a manner that other genres do not. The other
realms often include intuition, spiritual contemplation, paranormal events and
beings, psychic abilities, dreams, visions, the power of synchronicity, the
magic of everyday miracles, the metaphysical, or supernatural occurrences.
To be true Visionary Fiction, such realms and
experiences are not used as mere plot devices by the VF author. Instead, they
are the venues through which characters redeem themselves, as well as the
conflicts in their lives and their relationships. Like any character in a
well-crafted novel, VF characters struggle to transform their fears – the
adversary that lies either within themselves or in their external circumstances.
The uncharted and unseen realms that are outside mundane awareness are the
arena Visionary Fiction draws upon in its effort to provide stories that give
the reader their own internal experience of expanding their minds and their
consciousness.
The VF author, or authors of any genre for that
matter, can use the energies of Samhain/Halloween to stoke their creative
fires. The Samhain passageway opens to winter, that dark half of the year where
the earth slumbers and the seed gestates in fertile richness. As authors, we
often get a preliminary jolt of inspiration for our novels. As part of our
writing process, we plant that seed of inspiration in the rich earth of our imagination
in the hopes it will grow. At this time of year, beyond Samhain’s doorway, lies
the deep cavern of the Earth Mother’s womb from which all that is intuitive,
creative, and natural on this earth is gestating, readying itself to one day be
birthed. The stages of writing a novel are similar, whether it is the bare,
newly forming concept of a story, or the kernels of ideas for a new scene or
chapter.
This time of year can also add its energy to
help us to strip away what no longer serves in readiness for rebirth into
something better. In my writing world, that is called editing and re-writes!
I like to tap into the
Samhain/Halloween energies by partaking in a writing exercise to re-energize my
writing life. I invite you to do the same with the following exercise.
Samhain is a time to reflect on the past year’s writing and finish
any old loose ends in your chapter, scenes, or manuscript from the previous
year.
Have a piece of paper, a pen, matches, and a fireplace or
fireproof bowl nearby. Take a few moments to go within. Acknowledge the energies
of gestation and transformation that preside over this autumn–into—winter half of
the year. Reflect on any old scenes, chapters, character development, plots,
etc. that you would like to finish at this time. Your reflections could even include
outmoded habits of writing, (or not writing) - whatever old business you’d like
to complete or transform with regards to your writing and authorship.
Take your piece of paper and write down your reflections. Light a
fire in your fireplace, woodstove, or fireproof bowl, as a symbolic remnant of the
Samhain great bonfires of yesteryear. Place the paper in the flames and allow
it to burn, to represent the finishing of your old business. As the flames
consume the paper, speak your intention for the releasing, transformation, and
completion of the old -- and the gestation, inspiration, and germination in
your rich fertile imagination and soul, of the new. Give thanks.
I would love to hear
what is creatively gestating in your imagination from this exercise!
*************
Jodine Turner is the award winning, best selling visionary fiction, fantasy author of the Goddess of the Stars and the Sea series about young priestesses who have lived in Avalon down through the ages to today. www.jodineturner.com
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