When Inspiration Strikes #thirteencovens #writing #passion #LizTanner

Please note: This post may contain SPOILERS.

Last night I spent two hours in ritual and meditation and when I finally decided to close it up, I was pumped. The full ramifications of The Great Work I’ve been doing for the past 10 years (and the more recent work) fully dawned on me, and along with that, the realization of how my Audrey Brice work inspires my spiritual side and sings to my soul.

Liz Tanner (the OTS series) is my altar ego. She is outspoken, extroverted, and is constantly surrounded by people. Always thrust into the middle of difficult situations that she deals with. SPOILER ALERT She also helps manage one of the coolest cable networks EVER.  We really need a Black Magick Network replete with a monthly catalog. Haha!  If I could be Liz Tanner, I totally would be. I’m not nearly as people friendly or calm under pressure as she is. And she has a great deal more patience than I do. Obviously, her life is far more fantastical (and fictitious) than my own. LOL I love delving into her world because it’s exciting and dangerous. She is my response to Harry Dresden, sans vampires, elves, fairies, and so on.

The Thirteen Covens series is different for me. That’s more of my exploration of generational witches and Daemonolaters (I’ve known a lot of generational practitioners over the years), all the different occult personality types, and the coven group dynamics I’ve encountered over 30+ years as a practicing Daemonolater. That story is about the people, their families, the magick, and how it affects their lives. In those books, I seek to paint a small part of the world where magick is commonplace and practitioners are free from persecution and forced hiding. What would that world look like if you could just drive a few miles to a Temple dedicated to Tiamat & Leviathan? That world looks like Haileyville, NY (named after my niece, Hailey) and the tri-county area in which the Thirteen Covens live. So I think it speaks to practitioners of magick, and if they really want to know what it’s genuinely like to interact with people who claim to be generational, or to be around multiple covens, I think my Thirteen Covens stories show a very realistic set of characters (over 55 at last count) and interactions. Again – obviously I embellish the magick to supernatural levels, but it’s fiction, so that’s to be expected.

Admittedly both series of books explore a world where magick, witchcraft, Daemonolatry, and paganism are commonplace and most all of the characters are one flavor of mage or another. Very rarely do I write non-magick practicing characters into these stories unless I’m going to later pull them into the fold. It’s the interactions between the practitioners, their lives, and the consequences of their magick – their responsibility (or lack thereof) with the great power I give them – that inspires me. Sometimes I think I’d like to live in a world where magick is commonplace. Other times I think it would be far too dramatic. I’d likely still hide away in my house and only come out on the full moon to go to my local temple for worship. 😉

Granted all of my magicians practice either old school CM, old school Witchcraft, LHP, or Daemonolatry. Sometimes hoodoo, but rarely Wicca. Not that there’s anything wrong with Wicca, just not as much opportunity for ethical dilemmas. Plus, at least 50 series’ out there by other writers have Wiccan or “white witch” type characters in them. The rest of the occult community doesn’t have stories with characters who represent them or speak to them. It’s my hope that my characters DO (on some level) speak to ceremonial magicians, Thelemites, Luciferians, LHP, and Daemonolator readers.  We need our own heroes.

I get it – Liz Tanner is a GIRL. So maybe male practitioners can’t relate to her as she appeals more to female readers, but I assure you my Thirteen Coven’s series has a happy mix of male, female, gay, straight, black, white, Latino, and other diverse characters who are all equally compelling, strong, and interesting people. Or at least that’s my hope.

These stories sing to me and inspire me. Between that and the genuine magick I write about,  I am fully immersed in a magickal life and that makes me grateful regardless what I’m writing.  I’m just happy I can share it with all of you.

Thanks for reading and I hope my work (both fiction and non-fiction) inspires you to a magickal life, too.