In later years, when I had become an adult with my own children, was married to a man that my mother viewed as very successful, I believe that my mother grew ashamed of her actions of having beat me and called me names–her form of punishment.
She observed me guiding and disciplining my and my husband’s children,
Of Raging Hormones, Depression, and Being a Good Person … Read More »
by Jan Meeus My mother dispensed a number of axioms that I adhere to. “Dress appropriately for the occasion. First impressions are lasting impressions. ” “Start 0ut the way you want to end up. People aren’t too keen on changing in midstream.” “Do a good job at whatever the task, even if it’s just sweeping the
Of Axioms, Doubt and Similarities … Read More »
The Greek myth of Persephone centers on the relationship between Persephone and her mother, Demeter.
Demeter loved her daughter, Persephone very much. The story goes that the Greek God, Apollo, fathered Persephone by Demeter, Apollo’s sister.
When Persephone goes missing Demeter, quite distraught, searches every hill and valley to find her daughter and only child.
One can only imagine the multitude of emotions that flowed through Demeter.
The goddess of harvest and motherhood, marriage and the crone stage of female wisdom that comes with aging, Demeter led a life of holding her own amid her brothers Apollo (Zeus), Poseidon (Neptune), and Hades (Pluto).
Both Demeter and her daughter, Persephone, stand at the center of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Initiation into the cult of Demeter and Persephone was said to prepare the participant to receive goodness and bounty in the afterlife that followed death.
Other beliefs held that those who underwent initiation would
Of Mothers, Daughters and Pomegranate Seeds… Read More »
Recently I’ve been helping my high school teenager with the story they are writing. Now that school has ended and summer vacation has begun they are spending more time writing on their work.
It is wonderful to watch them pour their energy in passion into the project.
Doing so revives wistful memories of when I began writing nearly two decades ago.
Recalling my first attempts at writing a novel, brings to mind not simply the excitement and angst at setting out accomplish such a great feat.
I doubt we would have succeeded had most of us who have accomplished this goal understood the full nature of our undertaking and what it would and has required.
And so it has been with care and caution in choosing my words and responses that have and sought to nurture my child’s passion when they have sought my guidance and consultat
Introspection, Thought and Nascent Creations… Read More »
Surviving a crisis bestows special knowledge garnered and held by few.
It also grants admittance into various orders of wisdom yielded by experience.
Every novel or story a writer crafts tells the life of a certain crisis, and chronicles a central character’s survival of that crisis. The process of writing that novel flows out of an upheaval, the completion of which involves many obstacles that reach a crescendo of conflict and tension.
Of Crises, Experience and Goals… Read More »
Mentors are the wisdom-carriers in stories. They infect the protagonist or major character with knowledge and information needed to complete their quest. Mentors encourage the heroine or hero to believe, and have faith in her or his ability to meet the challenge standing before them. On a psycho-spiritual level mentors represent the Imago Dei, the
Much like the gods and goddesses of Hinduism and Yoruban spirituality reflect the forces of the human mind and heart, archetypes display aspects and dimensions of character and personality. They show the various degrees of evolution of the human soul from birth to death.
Archetypes and Story Read More »