The origins of the name Goddess of the Stars and the Sea

My five novels are dedicated to, and are part of a collection called, ‘The Goddess of the Stars and the Sea’ series. This ancient Goddess carries the evolutionary force of embodied love. She calls upon a young priestess to assist humankind in their evolutionary transitions through several reincarnations, starting from Atlantis, through to the Dark Ages, and into today’s world.

The Goddess of the Stars and the Sea’s name has early roots, legends and historical correlates. 

The word ‘sea’ has several language origins. Mar, mer, and mari all mean the sea. In Latin, the word mare means the sea. There are many modern words derived from this source word - mermaid, marina, marine, to name a few. 

Mari is one of the most ancient names of the Goddess. It means Mother Sea.

Stella Maria means Star of the Sea. It is the epithet of the goddesses Isis, Ishtar, Aphrodite, Venus, Mari-Anna, and Mother Mary.

In legend, Stella Maria's star was Venus or Sirius (I have also seen it as listed as the Pleiades, and that is the star formation featured in my novels.)

Stella Maria is often depicted as dressing in a blue robe with pearly foam edging. (see picture below.)

Mari-Anna also means Sea Goddess, and Ishtar.

Stella Maris is the title that first belonged to Ishtar. She was known as the Goddess of the Sea, Lady of Compassion, Provider, Protector, Regeneratrix, Keeper of the Mysteries, and the one who manifested as the Magdalene.

Mari-Ishtar anointed, or christened, her doomed consort god Tammuz when he went to the underworld whereupon he would rise again at her bidding. That is to say, she made him a Christed one. Anointing is symbolic of the alchemical Sacred Marriage.

The ancient title of the North Star was Stella Maris, Star of the sea, Star of love, Star of Compassion. 

The root of the name Mary means love, compassion, giving, flowing, and also sea.

The Tarot card the ‘Star’ depicts stars that pour out the water of Life, revering the earth.

Tara means star (White Tara, Irish Tara)

These early etymological beginnings, the derivations for the name the ‘Goddess of the Stars and the Sea,’ all contain the roots for the Mother sea of love and compassion. This is our way forward during these tumultuous times!

Goddess of the Stars and the Sea 

from the book cover of ‘The Keys to Remember’ by Jodine Turner

Christal Banister artist

Photo credit: 'Stella Maris' by Bernadette Carstensen

Visionary Fiction and Nature

  

In wilderness lies the hope of the world.

Between every two pines there is a doorway to a new world.

~John Muir

I have published articles about the Corona virus and the role of Visionary Fiction in catalyzing sacred and transformational visions. Our visions serve to “imagine a world as we can dream it to be.” There are many paths to bring our visions to life through this Corona virus portal. Each of us carries a unique piece for the new creation. 

Working with nature is one essential method in moving forward.

The Native American elders and grandmothers, those indigenous peoples such as the Hopi and Lakota, as well as numerous other ancients such as the Mayans, have prophesied a golden age for humanity. They say our connection with nature is a vital part of that change. They warn that we can’t ignore nature, and how if we do so, it is at our own peril. We and the earth—nature and the land we live upon—are one.

Collaborating with nature can be a source of wisdom, earth magic, and deep guidance in how to transition into a new and better reality. Taking walks in a forest cathedral, sitting beside the murmuring ocean, being still and receptive amidst the flowers and plants in your own garden, and moon-bathing, can all be ways of tuning into the nature that we are all a part of and that provides sagacious guidance.

The VFA claims that “Visionary Fiction emphasizes the future and envisions humanity’s transition into evolved consciousness.” My Goddess of the Stars and the Sea series feature a young priestess who is reincarnated in four different lifetimes, during critical junctions in human history, to help the transition into the next phase of human evolution. One of the things all the novels have in common are storylines that show us how to work with nature and the land we live upon.

There are the languages of root and leaf, of field and stone, of seaweed and salt. These are words whispered in our ears by the land as if by a lover, the languages which tell us that we and the land are one.  

~Sharon Blackie

My first novel, The Awakening: Rebirth of Atlantis, takes place during the demise of Atlantis that occurred through the misuse and disrespect of the earth’s magnetic energies. Our young priestess was one of six star races who subsequently and courageously carried of the seeds of Atlantis wisdom to all corners of the planet. Her corner was the misty, magical Isle of Avalon.

In The Keys to Remember, we see how this same young priestess, reborn, helps us move through the dark ages where the wisdom, nurturance, and power of the feminine who works with the mysteries of nature, was vilified, demonized, and suppressed. This priestess’s most potent inspirations come when she communes with the earth during the sacred celebrations of seasonal changes called the turning of the ‘Wheel of the Year’—specifically for her, the early summer fertile festival of Beltaine.

In The Hidden Abbey, this same priestess is reincarnated in the 1600s during religious and social revolutions, and then is reborn again in today’s turbulent world. Her priestess initiations occur during moments of celebrating the Summer Solstice in the ‘Wheel of the Year.’ The Hawthorn tree features as a mystical pathway of communion and wisdom with the spirits of nature. The high Faery folk, our cousins in a realm parallel to ours, have a prominent role in showing us the redemptive wisdom of the land through their close connection with nature.

Messages of wisdom and hope, and practical tips in how to move through the dark and bleak times humanity faces, are embedded throughout my other novels as well, Carry on the Flame: Destiny’s Call, Carry on the Flame: Ultimate Magic. The festivals of Beltaine (early summer) and Imbolc (late winter), white flowered hawthorn blossoms, magical apple orchards, the misty land of Avalon, all initiate our young priestess into her true empowerment.

Even the most brilliant scientists of our time knew nature was our powerful ally and carrier of redemption. Albert Einstein said, “Look deeper into nature and you will understand everything better.”

The late, talented John Denver composed and sang a most incredible song for our world called 'Healing time on Earth.'  https://youtu.be/8ysnFOqUNto

In what ways do you work with nature to create a new and better reality?

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Hearing the voices of trees puts life into perspective. Knowing the rhythm of a stone helps me slow down and tune into a Deeper Wisdom that guides me through my life. 

~Clea Danaan

The earth has music for those who listen. 

~William Shakespeare

Trees are my temples and forests are my cathedrals.

~Mikhail Gorbachev 

Visionary Fiction and the Global Pandemic

"This is precisely the time when artists go to work… We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal."

~Toni Morrison, author

During this turbulent era of the coronavirus, I am sheltering in place, staying at home with my husband and our cats. The situation may or may not have changed by the time you read this.

For now, I shelter in place but feel a profound connection with every other person in our world going through the pandemic, having their own experience, their own struggles, their own fears, horror, sacrifices, and maybe even moments of joy and love and rediscovery.

We’ve catapulted into isolation. Thankfully, modern technology allows many of us a semblance of contact. Still, uncertainty and stress barrage our thoughts. Anxiety floods our emotions and trembles through our bodies. We heave a collective lament of shock, of grief, of mourning. We isolate from each other for all-around safety yet are entrenched in this together. Forced to slow down while life as we knew it changes.

I hope this will prove to be a crossroads that activates a global shift in consciousness. Just like in Visionary Fiction stories.

As a Visionary Fiction author in this time of extremes, I see that we are currently living what the philosophy of Visionary Fiction is all about. This is the genre of transforming consciousness. It ushers in the evolutionary power to ignite our personal and combined potential.

 

What exactly is Visionary Fiction?

Visionary Fiction stories quicken a growth in human awakening, both for the characters in the stories and for us in our lives. I am a founder of the Visionary Fiction Alliance, a website where authors and readers of this genre connect, united in their appreciation for tales about expanding awareness. 

With that intention in mind, the Alliance defines the genre in this way:

“Visionary Fiction embraces spiritual and esoteric wisdom, often from ancient sources, and makes it relevant for our modern life. Gems of this spiritual wisdom are brought forth in story form so that readers can experience the wisdom from within themselves. Visionary Fiction emphasizes the future and envisions humanity’s transition into evolved consciousness.”

Based on the premise that Visionary Fiction readers can inspire their own deep soul wisdom through a story’s character, the description continues:

“As the world evolves away from the Newtonian model of the five senses to the more evolved quantum model that includes the sense of spirit so resurgent today, Visionary Fiction is rapidly becoming the genre of choice to express that evolution and predict the breath-taking future that might follow the anticipated leaps.”

I can’t help but wonder, in what ways could our current world crises stimulate such evolutionary leaps? What transformations are possible? What new paradigms might emerge?

The Visionary Fiction Alliance goes on to say this regarding the genre: “The emphasis is on our limitless human potential, where transformation and evolution are entirely possible. Growth in consciousness is the central theme of the story and drives the protagonist and/or other important characters. The plot, or story, is universal in its worldview and scope.”

Visionary Fiction takes the reader on a quest, an initiation into the deeper mysteries of existence in story form. It plays an extraordinary role in today’s tumultuous world as a catalyst and facilitator of rebirth.

 

Examples of Visionary Fiction

 

Three top-rated Visionary Fiction novels illustrate the genre.

 

The first example is from Margaret Duarte’s ‘Enter the Between Series,’ the novel Between Now and Forever:

 

Medicate or nurture; reform or set free. These are quandaries rookie teacher Marjorie Veil faces when she takes on an after-school class for thirteen-year-olds labeled as troublemakers, unteachable, and hopeless. Faculty skeptics warn that all these kids need is prescribed medication for focus and impulse control. But as Marjorie soon discovers, behind their anti-conformist exteriors are gifted teens, who are sensitive, empathetic, and wise beyond their youth. They also happen to have psychic abilities, which they have kept hidden until now. Can Marjorie help them do what she has failed to do for herself: fight for their spiritual and emotional freedom?

 

A second sample is the novel The Anathemas by Victor Smith:

 

This novel weaves the religious controversy about reincarnation into a multi-lifetime saga of conspiracy, redemption and love. A novel, yet a story firmly based on history, notably Procopius's Secret History and Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. With the pace of a thriller, it portrays the spiritual adventure of man and woman coming face-to-face with the life-and-death experience. Reincarnation... heretical but inevitable.

 

The final example from my ‘Goddess of the Stars and the Sea Series,’ is my novel, Carry on the Flame: Destiny’s Call:

 

Humanity is in the midst of one of the greatest crises in their evolution. Sharay struggles with a deep soul-calling asking her to help show the way forward, to help humankind move through the fear, chaos, and bleak times of today's world. Born into a lineage of priestesses in modern day Glastonbury, England, Sharay's path is blocked by her jealous Aunt Phoebe, who uses black magic against her to steal her fortune and magical power. When Phoebe commits Sharay to a psychiatric ward and accuses her of murder, Sharay struggles with the temptation to fight Phoebe's vengeance with her own. But Sharay must learn to transform her hatred for her aunt. She must face her grief, loss, and her own dark side in order to claim the mystery held deep within her cells that will allow her to fulfill her destiny and prove that the ultimate magic is the power of love.

 

 

Visionary Fiction and the Global Pandemic

 

We are, of course, worried about the coronavirus and the impact it has, in ways most of us never thought possible—medically, socially, emotionally, and economically. Yet tumult always precedes rebirth. A new paradigm is conceiving itself in our hearts, birthing possibilities for a new and better world. Visionary Fiction is in a unique position to contribute to that. We need these stories that fuel metamorphosis, cultivate empowerment, and bring readers a beacon of hope.

 

Visionary Fiction offers a vision of humanity as we dream it could be.

 

Hopefully, as in Visionary Fiction, we are now envisioning a world of our brightest imaginings. During times of crisis, the mists between the current chaos and the imagined world of possibilities are like thin, gauzy veils. When we draw them aside, we get to explore - in our imaginal realms - that normally unseen place where our soul is limitless, and where magic, mystery, and hope thrive. Visionary Fiction parts that veil to glimpse the soul that is inherent all around and within us, those unseen realms that parallel ours and fuel our visions. And from that soul-filled place, we can listen, envision, and act.

 

Without vision, we endanger our humanity and jeopardize the capacity for our civilization to heal.

 

Regeneration through Embodied Love

 

My vision is one of global cooperation and collaboration, in respect and love. That is what embodied love entails. Living it in our daily life, walking through the trenches of suffering, pain, and fear, yet still embodying love amidst it all. That is the central theme of each of my Visionary Fiction novels. The alchemy of embodied love, the greatest healer and ultimate magic.

 

Today’s world is turbulent. What do you read that invokes your vision of a new world?

What do you envision the world could become?

 

                                   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Lughnasadh

This is the name of the ancient Celtic festival of the Harvest, observed tomorrow, August 1st. The name is derived from Lugh (pronounced 'loo'), a Celtic deity of light and wisdom.

Lughnasadh celebrates the season for gathering the fruits of one's labors. For the ancient Celts, this was the corn, oats, and grains, and the planted summer bounty. The earth was honored for giving birth to her first harvest fruits so that her children might live. For our modern world, this can also be a time for appreciating what has come to fruition to nourish and sustain you. Lughnasadh is an invitation to reflect on what we love about our lives, who we are, and who we are becoming. A very relevant contemplation for the current times.

In later centuries, the festival of Lughnasadh was Christianized as Lammas, from the Anglo-Saxon, hlaf-mas, "Loaf-Mass." At Lughnasadh, bread baked from the first harvest was eaten in thanks. Baking, sharing, and eating bread is a wonderful way to celebrate this holiday.

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Here is a lovely Lughnasadh song to entertain and inspire you:
https://youtu.be/lENBM9vKkVM

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And here is a Lughnasadh poem written by the prolific author and ceremonialist, Caitlin Mathews from her ‘The Celtic Devotional: Daily Prayers and Blessings.’

The Song of Lughnasadh

I am the sovereign splendor of creation,
I am the fountain in the courts of bliss,
I am the bright surrender of the willpower,
I am the watchful guardian and the kiss.
I am the many-colored landscape,
I am the transmigration of the geese,
I am the burnished glory of the breastplate,
I am the harbor where all strivings cease.

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Lughnasadh gives us an opportunity to take ancient esoteric wisdom and make it relevant for today’s world. The genre of storytelling I write, Visionary Fiction, does the same thing, in the hopes of inspiring and expanding human consciousness. You might take this day to consider what seeds of wisdom, hope, and love you may be called to protect and pass on to those who come after you. Especially as we rebuild a new world out of the Covid crises portal.

What seeds of wisdom, hope, and love would you like to bring forward?

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Photo image from owlsdaughter.com

 

 

 

The Writer's Life and my Newest Award

“You simply sit down at the typewriter, open your veins, and bleed.”

~sports columnist Walter Wellesley “Red” Smith, 1949.

"I think all writing is a disease. You can’t stop it.”
~William Carlos Williams

Words come from an author “drop by drop.”

~Reverend Sydney Smith, 1855

“All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.”

~F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Of all that is written I love only what a man has written with his blood. Write with blood, and you will experience that blood is spirit. Whoever writes in blood and aphorisms does not want to be read but to be learned by heart.”

~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, 1880s.

“Writing is simple, Muffy,” says Jeff MacNelly’s Perfesser in the comic strip Shoe. “First, you have to make sure you have plenty of paper. . . sharp pencils. . . typewriter ribbon. Then put your belly up to your desk. . . roll a sheet of paper into the typewriter. . . and stare at it until beads of blood appear on your forehead.”

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Yes, the life of a writer. We are familiar with how we sequester ourselves in our office equipped with our computer or even pen and paper. Our companions are our creativity, inspiration, dreams, visions, and our muse sitting on our shoulder. Oftentimes our cat or our dog sit at our feet (or walk across our keyboards)!

When I wrote my first novel, “The Awakening: Rebirth of Atlantis” I told my husband not to open the door to my office where I was writing unless it was a dire emergency. I had to occasionally remind him that the question, “Where do we keep the peanut butter?” doesn’t count as an emergency.

I penned that first book in 6 weeks. Revising and editing were another matter. Years, actually. My other novels also took years to write.

That is why when we, as authors, receive accolades, good reviews, or letters telling us how our novel changed someone’s life, we rejoice. So, today I rejoice. I was just notified that my latest novel, "The Hidden Abbey" is a finalist in the NIEA (Annual National Indie Excellence Awards) 2020 in the Visionary Fiction category.

A good thing for me to celebrate, especially with my novel's timely visionary message aimed at today's turbulent world: embodied love.

Excerpt from the 14th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards (NIEA) Press Release:

“Winners and Finalists are determined on the basis of superior written matter coupled with excellent presentation in every facet of the final published product. Indie Excellence proudly celebrates the talent, dedication and love authors put into the book product."

Talent, dedication and love. That’s a sure recipe for writing a novel.

What is your sure recipe for writing a novel?

Which of the quotes mentioned here, above and below, is your favorite?

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“You write in order to change the world…if you alter, even by a millimeter, the way people look at reality, then you can change it.”

~James Baldwin

“Write what should not be forgotten.”

~Isabel Allende

“Because this business of becoming conscious, of being a writer, is ultimately about asking yourself, How alive am I willing to be?”
~ Anne Lamott

“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is … the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”
~Mark Twain

“I don’t need an alarm clock. My ideas wake me.”
~Ray Bradbury, WD

“To gain your own voice, you have to forget about having it heard.”

~ Allen Ginsburg

“I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that before developing his talent he would be wise to develop a thick hide.”
—Harper Lee, WD

“Life is like a recycling center, where all the concerns and dramas of humankind get recycled back and forth across the universe. But what you have to offer is your own sensibility, maybe your own sense of humor or insider pathos or meaning. All of us can sing the same song, and there will still be four billion different renditions.”

~ Anne Lamott

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/09/14/writing-bleed/

https://www.indieexcellence.com/

The Celtic Imram

The ancient Celts told epic stories of voyages across the seven seas in a boat. The destination—to travel uncharted waters, to go beyond the ninth wave, to the golden lands of the Otherworld. The travelers embarked on what they called an Imram. The Imram is an allegory for a soul quest, a spiritual journey, a vision quest.

One famous Imram tale is the heroic legend of Bran the Blessed of Welsh mythology. Bran means Raven in Welsh, and his story is one of regeneration. He is known as the Guardian of Britain. https://bardmythologies.com/the-voyage-of-bran/  

image credit: Diana Morningstar digital arts

Another Imram can be found in my novel, Carry on the Flame: Destiny's Call. Sharay has been committed to a psychiatric hospital by her Aunt Phoebe who wants Sharay's fortune and her magical powers. In this scene, a mysterious elder mento, Dillon Emrys, describes the Imram for Sharay.  

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Sharay hiccupped again, wiped her wet cheek on her sleeve.

“What am I to do, Dillon?”

“About the hiccups?” The smile in Dillon’s twinkling eyes reached his lips, his mouth curving into a wide grin.

Sharay rolled her eyes. “No, silly. What am I to do about this?” she said, spreading her arms wide open to indicate the room, the psychiatric hospital.

“Simple. You’re to go on an Imram.”

“On a what?” She leaned back on her legs, and sat on the floor, her spine against the side of Dillon’s bed for support. She was exhausted, and Dillon was talking in riddles.

“On an Imram. It’s an important journey. A physical journey navigated by your soul.”

“My soul will navigate a journey?”

“Yes—it will be both an inner and an outer journey. The Imram is the outward form of an inner mystical journey. It’s much like a vision quest. You’ll travel the land, and as you do, you’ll visit the Inner Realms of your dreams and visions.”

“But the doctors call my dreams and visions hallucinations.”

“They know nothing.” 

Sharay stared, wide-eyed. “I’m not hallucinating?”

“Of course not.”

Sharay noticed how his dimples burrowed deep within the crevices of his cheeks.

“The Imram will be a splendid adventure. Just like it was for our ancestors, the Celts. They crossed the seas on mythic travels to foreign lands. They went on the Imram.”

Sharay imagined huge wooden boats, mermaids carved on the bow, sailing by star navigation across deep blue waters, heading far into the west. She shook her head. “I’m afraid I’m in no shape to go on a sea voyage. I don’t see how your Imram will help me.”

Dillon chuckled. “The Imram is not limited to the sea. It’s not about where you go but how you get there.”

“So, how do I get there?”

“Trust the Imram. You’re in good hands with your soul as your navigator.”

“How can I go on an Imram? I can’t even leave this hospital,” Sharay said desolately.

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image credit: boat prow, ocean, guiding star: Diana Morningstar digital arts 

Ancient Call of the Avalon Priestess

Glastonbury, England, a.k.a. mystical Avalon, is my soul’s home.  When I lived there, I visited the Chalice Well Gardens every day. The Well was a source of deep, mystical meditations and inspiration for me personally, and also for all of my Visionary Fiction novels. In honor of Glastonbury, the Legendary Isle of Avalon I made a video called ‘Goddess Magic in Avalon: a Ritual of Re-membering.’

Re-membering because I know deep in my bones that priestesses long ago gathered beside this well to honor the Goddess. I felt their presence at the Chalice Well. Feeling them, and getting a sense and vision of their poignant history, was an intensely profound and emotional experience for me, a spiritual awakening. On some deep inexplicable level, I recognized I was once one of their kind. And they are re-gathering, ‘re-membering,’ in today’s world. 

So click on this YouTube link for 'Goddess Magic in Avalon,' to invoke the magic of the sacred Chalice Well Garden in Glastonbury. Experience this enchanted garden through image and evocative music, accompanied by my published poem titled ancient call of the "Avalon Priestess."