What is it about me that you should know?
Okay. Born in the forties, a Scorpio, in Jefferson City, Missouri. Raised in Kansas City, Mo. Married in Kansas City, Mo to my husband of 46 years, Mel Clark. Received a degree from University of Missouri at Kansas City. My husband and I moved to California. And stayed. I worked as a chemist my entire working life.
That’s the bare basics. But what does that tell you about me? Not very much. It’s true. It’s dry. The good parts concern my mind. My personality was formed by strong, loving parents, John and Jeanette, an older brother, Jerry, an older sister, Jackie, and my four-legged canine sister, Fifi. My church, Catholic, tried to form my mind, my soul, into their cookie-cutter fantasy. It worked until I was about twenty-six. However, stirrings of rebellion swirled within my soul even in Catholic grade school–nun taught–“If God created everything, what about Evolution?” Evolution resonated with my young scientific mind. My stirrings of rebellion became a hurricane in high school–all female, Catholic-taught by nuns–I asked the priest-teacher (for seniors only) about ‘cave men’. “Were cave men before Adam of the Bible?” If so, why aren’t they mentioned in the written Word of God? If they were after, then they most especially should be mentioned in the Bible.
The priest’s answer was, “Yes, ‘cave men’ were before Adam. Adam was the first human with a soul. That’s why Adam is considered the first man in the Bible.”
That blew my mind! Cave men and women invented fire, language, art, music, and community. How could they NOT have a soul? Had this priest not seen the artwork of Lascaux Cave in southern France?
Artwork on the cave walls painted approximately 15,000 BCE (way, way, way before the Bible was written by human males). The cave contains nearly 1,500 engravings, and around 600 representations of animals, such as deer, bison, lions and horses. Oh my. The people of Lascaux also left about 2,000 hand prints–adults and children. Their statement was, “We were here.”
These people had no soul? I didn’t believe it then. I don’t believe it now.
God being omniscient is a problem for me, too. If He knows everything-what has happened, what is happening, what will happen-then what the heck is Free Will. This is a problem for a lot of people. A whole lot.
I psychologically and physically left the church. It didn’t help that many priests were accused of abusing those they were in charge of.
On my own, I started going into my backyard every New Moon and every Full Moon and formulating ritual. I realized that I was connected to the Earth and the Moon. I realized we are all related; PachaMama and Grandmother Moon. I felt a part of this wonderful Universe. I was Pagan. Someone who honors all of creation, from the water smoothed stone, the plants that replenish our oxygen and feed us, the four-legged, multi-legged, and no-legged animals, to the humans who can make our society a Heaven or a Hell. I recognize that all things have a soul. I believe that the Universe is a Giant Web where I am one strand connected to a multitude of strands which are connected to a multitude of strands.
In the late 80’s I began taking writing classes at Pasadena City College. After taking a half-dozen ‘how to write’ classes, I noticed a class that looked interesting. Celtic Mythology. Well, right down my alley. I grew up reading Grimms’ Fairy Tales, Edgar Allan Poe, and Tales from the Crypt comics. One night before class started, I heard one of the students talking to another about trance drumming. I listened carefully. It sounded like I’d like to try it. I approached the first student and introduced myself. Then, I took a deep breath and asked Sharon about trance drumming. I had to ask three times in three different class meetings. Finally, Sharon told me I should read The Way of the Shaman by Michael Harner and then Journey by myself until I found a Portal-an entry point to the Lower World where I would find a Power Animal which would help me with my query. The Portal might lead to the Upper World where my Teacher would be. I needed to find my Portal and have several Journeys by myself before she would invite me to be a guest at one of their meetings. It turned out that the group of several people met once a month.
I followed her instructions, read the book, learned new words, and a new way of looking at the world. It turns out that it’s not that easy to find a Portal. I persevered. When I felt ready, I called Sharon. I was a guest. I was then a member of the group.
I had taken the Celtic Mythology class in 1990. I am still a member of the Drumming Group I had joined back then. I’ve participated in many Journeys and thereby have obtained many insights into intents/queries. Right now, there are four others in the Drumming Group, all happen to be women, although in the past there had been a male at one point. Some people have come and gone. I and Sharon, Bonnie, Gloria, and another Sharon have been in our Trance Drumming group for over three decades.
A short time after I had been a member of the Drumming Group, a woman, actually Sharon, who had introduced me to Trance Drumming and brought me into her group, invited me to a lecture. I accepted and met the person who drastically changed my life. The lecture was by Maria Gimbutas lecturing on the Goddess in archeology. I have always liked archeology, and I had learned about and accepted as my deity, the Goddess from Celtic Mythology Class thanks to Dr. Len Franco who taught the class. Sharon had also invited another. It was, Xia.
Xia and I got to know each other through phone calls, then working together on a tv script, then attending Pagan rituals. Xia and the environment brought out my latent Pagan. I learned about horoscopes, Tarot Cards, Spirituality, Power Animals, and most especially, more about Goddess. For a few years, we attended rituals in other women’s homes. During this time I had a dream where the ritual facilitator asked the attending women what their names were. When she came to me, I didn’t have the foggiest idea what to say. Finally, I said, “My name is Pythia”. I do not go ‘against’ my dreams. To this day Pythia is my spiritual name. A few years down the road, Xia received a calling from Goddess to ‘build’ a temple to Her. I helped her in this endeavor and we created one of the few federally recognized 501(C)3 Pagan Churchs: Temple of the Goddess. We performed four rituals a year for ten years and started a website: TempleoftheGoddess.org.
Covid, death, and some members moving away, put an hiatus to the rituals. However the church still exists on-line as TempleoftheGoddess.org. There’s a ton of information on the website. I am extremely proud of the Temple and my involvement in birthing it into the world.
There. You have a more complete picture of my life. If you desire to delve into my growing up years, my marriage years, my widow years, please check out various essays that I will be posting.
Except for one teensy item.
My writing.
I wrote a sci-fi short story in grade school and my nun-teacher gave me kudos. My first poem was written when I was eleven when my best friend, Michael, moved away. I was devastated. In thinking back, that’s where poems come from. Not the head, but the heart. I’ve written many poems since then. No prize winners. That’s not the point, is it? Since a poem comes from the heart, it doesn’t matter whether anyone else praises it, or even sees it. If that sounds masturbatory, so be it. If you want to publish your poems, then you’d better work at it.
It wasn’t until the 80’s that I started writing again. The first task I took on, writing when I got home from work, was to write a Star Trek novel. First with pen and paper, then a manual typewriter. This was a work of love. I entered the world of Captain James Tiberius Kirk and Spock. I didn’t think about whether it would be published or not. That wasn’t the point. This was something I had to do.
Thinking back once again, that’s the way it should be. Writing a piece because, “I had to. I couldn’t not write this story.” Also, a wise man and writer guru (David Gerrold) once said, “I wrote the story because no one else was writing it, and I wanted to read it”. I hope I quoted you correctly, David. My take on that quote is, I am unique. I have unique thoughts. Therefore my stories are unique. Yes, they can be formulaic, too. With any job, or career, there are pitfalls no matter how clever one is. Like poetry, if you want to publish, you have to work at it.
Pitfalls are why every writer needs a beta reader. A beta who knows grammar, knows the genre, and is honest and intelligent enough to point out errors in grammar, plot, or perhaps character development. The beta might offer solutions to be taken, or not, by the writer.
I’ve written quite a few short stories. Interestingly, a woman in the writers’ group I once belonged to, heard one of my short stories and commented that it sounded like the first chapter of a novel. I agreed. So, since that time many moons ago, I have been writing novels.
I plan to self-publish my novels, nine as of this current count. I also intend to publish a synopsis of each on this website so you will have an idea whether or not to purchase said novel.
I intend to put short stories onto this website. I wrote them because I could not not write them. I hope you enjoy them.
Oh, and be prepared to read pieces about Life, Death, After-Death, Communications from the Dead, Reincarnation, Trance Drumming, Ayahuasca, Organized Religion vs Spirituality, Magic vs Magick, Tarot Cards, Divination Tools, Blood Family and Bond Family, Science, Ritual, Past Lives, Labyrinths, Supernatural Beings, God vs Goddess, the different Goddesses, the different Gods, the Sea, Crystals & Sacred Stones, Time, Power of Words, Undersea Wonderland, Sentient?, Prayers, and who knows what else? Find these essays on this website in Mind, Heart & Spirit.
