ONCE UPON A DREAM; Love's Philosophy

Love often takes us by surprise; here a simple bench  becomes an altar to Venus

Love's Philosophy

The fountains mingle with the river

And the rivers with the ocean, 

The winds of heaven mix forever

With a sweet emotion;

Nothing in the world is single

All things by a law divine

In one another's being mingle -

Why not I with thine?

See the mountains kiss high heaven,

And the waves clasp one another;

No sister flower would be forgiven

If it disdained its brother;

And the sunlight clasps the earth,

And the moonbeams kiss the sea;

What are all these kissings worth,

If thou kiss not me?

By Percy Bysshe Shelley

This is one of my favorite Romantic poems.  Shelley draws on nature to illustrate that everything is connected; we are part of this world, not separate from it or set above nature.  

Shelley's poem is a hopeful anticipation of a love yet to come to full bloom... a dream of that very first kiss between two people...it is a gentle plea for sweet surrender.  

Love's Philosophy is a subtle invitation to a sexual encounter "Why not I with thine?" he asks.  Why not indeed? I'm not sure I could resist...could you?

The picture is called The End of the Song by Edmund Blair Leighton.  I have a print of this in my bedroom. I like the way the suitor is leaning in, but not crowding his fair maiden, while she sets up a slight barrier between them by clasping her knee. 

It illustrates a brief moment in time, sitting on a bench with a lover, which is about to be interrupted by the over-protective parent. But I like to think they might have a secret tryst some other time, away from prying eyes.  If it is meant to be Love will always find a way.

ONCE UPON A DREAM; Princess of Dreams

"I dream of a love that even Time will lie down and be still for."

Quotation taken from the novel Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

Dreams of a Sea Princess

Princess of Dreams

I dream of a castle with a drawbridge

Of winter winds, cold and frigid

Of a soul-stirring sea

Pounding the castle rock below

I dream of troubadours and poets

Of merry great hall banquets

Of dancing gay and gallant

As the spiced wine flows

I dream of velvet gowns and slippers

Of diadems that glimmer

Of rings on every finger

That glitter, gleam and shine

I dream of candles softly glowing

As outside the night is snowing

Indoors log fires burn

With the scent of Scots pine

I dream of tapestries rich in colour

Hand stitched, hour after lonely hour

As my ladies and I await

 My true love’s return

I dream of a lover, strong and knightly

On a steed bold and flighty

Caparisoned so brightly

For him my heart still yearns

In armour like starlight gleaming

He rides on through my dreaming

 Old wounds still healing

I bid him sweet adieu

I dream of tender reconciliation

Two hearts beyond hesitation

Reunion is but a notion

Behind my closed eyes

For in shadows dark and smoldering

In my mind deeply searching

Lies a truth and a tale

No troubadour can score

In the corners of my heart

The place where lost lovers part

I carry deep within

The hope of our own sweet evermore.

By Marie Bruce

This is what happens when a writer can't sleep - I knocked out a quick ditty at 4am. Enjoy!

ONCE UPON A DREAM; "And round about the prow she wrote..."

The Lady of Shalott by J W Waterhouse.

When I am not busy doing prep for a writing project I tend to spend some of my evenings in quiet contemplation of other art forms in order to boost my creativity. Sometimes I watch a ballet DVD, sometimes I read a book of poetry or quotations.  Often I just ponder on a piece of art work by one of my favorite artists; this could be a modern artist such as Anne Sudworth or Victoria Frances; or one of the Romantic Pre-Raphaelite artists I so much admire.

Tonight it is The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse. I love this painting, not only for its own sake and for the beautiful poem it represents, but for the very personal memory it evokes. Some years ago when I was in Scotland, I wrote a love message for my soldier friend on the prow of his rowing boat, using red nail polish. He had already returned to barracks and I wanted to leave him a little reminder of our time together. He loved it.  This picture, together with the line in Tennyson's poem "And round about the prow she wrote 'The Lady of Shalott' " reminds me of that moment.  

It seems strange to me now to realize that so many of the prints that are framed in my home are actually very subtle reminders of events that happened years ago.  I am not a big one for keeping photographs out on display, yet it seems that my subconscious found a way to record moments of my life for me anyway, through the fine art prints I chose to hang in my house.  It isn't just the Lady of Shalott that has a special meaning for me, but other prints I own too like The Meeting on the Turret Stair by Frederick Burton; La Belle Dame Sans Merci by Sir Frank Dicksee;  The End of the Song and The Accolade both by Edmund Blair Leighton. All these prints have hung in my bedroom for years and each one seems to represent a  special moment from my past. 

How very wonderful it is that Art can speak to us in such a manner, even when we are too stubborn or too busy to hear it. How amazing it is that the subconscious can find such delicate and tenuous ways to hold onto a memory, keeping it safe, allowing us to relive it again when the time is right.

I have discovered that there is truth to the saying  'A picture paints a thousand words' .   It makes me wonder why we are drawn to some paintings and not others; Rosetti  moves me while Picasso leaves me cold.  Pictures speak directly to our subconscience; this is the reason why mood boards are so effective in creativity.  The artwork you choose to surround yourself with isn't there by a happy accident.  It is there because on a deep level it expresses something about you.  Either it reminds you of something or it influences and enlivens you in some way.

Pondering on a piece of art is a fantastic way to feel more inspired.  You needn't buy large expensive prints; you can pick up inexpensive greetings cards with fine art images, or calendars, or books of the collected works of a particular artist you admire. Or search an artist's name on Pintrest tonight.  It is great for a writer to immerse themselves in a completely different form of artistry and creativity. I recommend viewing art cards etc by the soft shadowy light of candle flames or small lamps as this really helps to bring the artwork to life.

I always try to make a night of artistic pondering into a fun event - it is like a date with the artist!  Tonight as I ponder The Lady of Shalott and write this blog post, I am playing the beautiful music of Laura Wright 'The Last Rose of Summer' , enjoying a glass of white wine and burning a cinnamon and mulled wine scented candle.  It is dark and rainy outside. Inside the candles glow on the tragic tear filled eyes of Elaine as she sits in the boat, mourning her lost lover Lancelot and the life she will never have with him. All the romantic prints around my room have also come to life in the candle glow; memories playing out upon the walls; love sonnets hidden in the sound of  the brush strokes of long ago...

"Down she came and found a boat

Beneath a willow left afloat

And round about the prow she wrote..."

Ahhh, but that's my secret! ;-)

"There she weaves by night and day; a magic web of colours gay..."
Quotations taken from The Lady of Shalott by Alfred ,Lord Tennyson 

WRITER'S DREAM; Poetry - A Love Story

Poetry is an elegant and refined art form

Poetry; it is a very pretty word for a very pretty art form.  Yet poetry has a reputation for being ever so dry and dusty, the kind of writing only intellectual types enjoy.  I must confess that as a school girl I thought that I hated poetry - now I know that what I hated was having to analyse poems, stanza by stanza and pigeon hole them for the purposes of the curriculum.  When I was at university I loved studying poetry because the class was completely different to school lessons; at uni we were encouraged to express our own interpretations of the poems, rather than being told 'the poet obviously meant this when he wrote that line'.  

It must be said that the hey day of poetry has long since passed. From the 15th to the 18th centuries, poetry was at its most popular and the poets themselves were like the pop stars of their day.  The Romantic Movement cemented poetry into the very bedrock of British literature and can boast names such as Byron, Shelley, Keats, Burns, Rossetti, Tennyson etc.  Sadly poetry of this nature has had its day; but it has never disappeared. While modern poets rarely achieve celebrity status for their collections and making a good living from poetry alone is nigh on impossible, poetry is still around us all the time. Greetings cards, rap artists, children's rhymes, commercial jingles...all are forms of basic poetry.  While traditional poetry is an elegant and refined art form there is nothing pretentious about being a poet, for poetry exists to bring out our deepest emotions and to document the trails and triumphs of the human condition.  This effectively means that poetry is in all of us; we can all relate to it in some way.

I am a poet. I am proud to be a poet. Poetry is the very lynch pin of my entire career as a writer, the staples that hold everything together.  It was the first type of writing I ever had published; not in a high artistic sense, but in the form of humorous poems designed to make people laugh.  As I moved forward in my career, original poetry of a more artistic romantic style became the trademark of my work - visionary dreamscape poems expressing a connection to something magical and ethereal are dotted throughout my books as an introduction to a new chapter.

Writing books on spell casting for the Mind, Body, Spirit market means that much of my work is poetry based, for what is an incantation after all, if not a type of poem?  Even my column with Spirit&Destiny magazine is based on the power of the written charm and the traditional form of petition magic; it is the poetic incantation of my column that sets my work apart from other aspects of the magazine, while the modern tone blends in with that of a 21st century women's magazine.  

It was a love of my poetry that made the producers of Paradise Music get in touch and ask me to write and record a pagan album for release on their label - they liked that I frequently write to iambic pentameter rhythm which translates more easily to a musical time signature. It made sense to me that I would one day write songs - I love singing and I often hear a mental melody when I am writing poetry anyway, so for me, becoming a pagan singer-song-writer was a no-brainer; it was simply a natural progression of my work as a writer. Yet it came about from my work as poet.

If you want to try your hand at writing poetry the important thing to remember is that you are writing for a modern audience. As much as you might love the old romantic poets trying to emulate them is the best way to achieve rejection.  We already have the poetic back catalogue of the Bronte sisters - we don't need a bad Bronte impersonator!  Emulating the great writers looks and is rather pretentious. It is certainly not the way to get published as it comes across to editors as being very juvenile. Poetry is neither pretentious nor juvenile when it is written with integrity. 

Write your poetry from the heart; feel every word and make you reader empathize with your point of view. Paint pretty word pictures and one day you might also be proud to call yourself a published poet.

Poetry has been the guiding star of my career as a professional writer ...who knows where your poetry will take you?  Toast the moon, drink absinthe and wax lyrical!

ONCE UPON A DREAM; Night School

This looks like my sort of night class.

Image from www.deviantart.com

Over the past few weeks I have been toying with the idea of returning to a course of study in the evenings. I have done night classes in the past and enjoyed them, though these were usually dance and music classes. I am now thinking of returning to college to study something more academic, say psychology, sociology or something like that; something that will help to make me a better, more insightful writer and which I can bring to my career as an author.

Being a proactive type I have spent much of the Easter bank holiday looking over the short courses available at local colleges. One thing that struck me was how expensive the term fees are; on average a single term of once-a-week academic (as opposed to hobby orientated) night classes will cost around £500. With three terms to one academic year that soon adds up to a substantial fee.  Gone are the days of access to education for all.

My plan, if I decide to go ahead, is to begin a short taster course in the autumn and see if I enjoy it.  I do enjoy learning new things and I like to be back in the classroom.  Night school is great as you can fit it around work commitments and family obligations. The courses are usually broken up into shorter blocks, so it does take longer to achieve a qualification if that's what you want, but it also means that you can do a taster  course in each subject that interests you, just for fun.

For someone like me who works from home, night classes give me the opportunity to get out and about, to meet new people who share similar goals and ambitions.  It is a fun way to learn something different.  It is also a good way to put some additional structure into my week. I believe that any positive experience, such as a learning experience, will make me a stronger writer.  We are all learning all the time anyway, so we might as well give our learning some strategic direction. For some, night classes are the path to a new career or a promotion in their current career.  For me they are a great night out for my inner Blue-Stocking!

Have you ever thought of taking up a night class of some sort?  It is a great way to enhance the work-a-day week and to feel re-energized and pro-active in your own life.

IVORY TOWER; Knight of the Holy Grail Arrives!

This beautiful picture, hand signed by the artist, now hangs in my bedroom.
www.shalatain.co.uk

One of the nicest things about being a writer is when I get to interact with other creative people.  I have artists, musicians and fellow authors I correspond with, usually by email and we often exchange goodies. It is like a cyber Bloomsbury Group and I love it. It is a great part of my job as we share our creative experiences and support one another's work.

There came a knock upon the door this afternoon and it was the postman.  He had brought me something wonderful!  A rolled cardboard tube containing the promised print The Knight of the Holy Grail from the Jack Shalatain Studio in Cornwall.

This is a very special gift, beautifully hand signed by the artist himself, and although I knew it was on its way to me as he'd emailed me earlier in the week to arrange it, it was still a wonderful surprise when it arrived.

The print is quite large at A3 size, printed on expensive vellum paper, so it has the look of a canvas. The signature is in flowing script and dated.  It is a stunning piece of art from one of my favorite artists.  That it is signed and dated makes it even more special to me... I feel so very lucky to own it.

Enclosed with the print was also a note card, depicting more of Shalatain's work. Inside, hand written by the artist is a note of thanks for my support of his work, with hints as to a new knight painting he is planning.  Apparently The Knight of the Holy Grail is one of Jack's favorites among his paintings and I can see why; it is completely captivating.  This note card was a lovely personal touch from a lovely artist. I will put it away safely with the rest of our correspondences from years past.

Of course I spent the majority of the afternoon getting this treasure framed.  It now hangs in my bedroom and the deep tones of the painting complement the violet decor.  It fits in perfectly with the four-poster bed and the overall theme of the room, as I already have a few fine arts prints of knights and ladies hung in here.  As I type it is almost dusk; the candles are flickering on the Knight of the Holy Grail - he is alive tonight and I am thrilled and enchanted.

BOOK NOOK; Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey

A wonderful Gothic novel

I have just finished reading Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey.  I couldn't put it down. Set in the Victorian era this stand alone novel is the story of sixteen year old Violet Willoughby, the daughter of a fraudulent medium. What intrigued me most about this book is the fact that the author is fearless in tackling the topic of a toxic parent.  Indeed Mrs Willoughby is a fine example of a Narcissistic Mother; resentful, controlling, manipulative and self-absorbed.  She frequently tries to put Violet on a guilt trip with her 'after all I've done for you!' speeches and she is not above using emotional blackmail to get her own way.

Violet is forced to assist her mother, who is basically a con woman, in elaborately staged seances.  I was very interested to read about some of the 'tricks of the trade' that fake mediums would use to support their claims of otherworldly activity and communing with spirits.  It is quite shocking that anyone could profiteer from grief and bereavement, but in the Victorian age mediums were all the rage and there was money to be made.  Violet and her mother live a life of luxury and faced with the prospect of destitution, the seances are their only means of income.  Due to the nature of her mother's 'gift' Violet doesn't believe in ghosts, so when she comes face to face with the ghost of a drowned girl she tries to ignore it.  But the ghost won't go away and Violet suspects that she was murdered.  As more ghosts turn up, she is forced to accept her gift as real while trying to keep it secret from her mother who would surely view Violet as a cash cow if she knew of Violet's new ability.  As Violet tries to track down the killer and lay the girl's ghost to rest, she puts herself in very grave danger, asking too many questions and raising suspicions.

This novel is so many things; it is a Victorian coming of age story, a thriller, a paranormal romance and a murder mystery all rolled into one. It has all the key notes of a traditional Gothic novel; a dead girl, a beautiful country house, secrets and deceptions, strange weather patterns at play, supernatural events etc.  It reminded me a little of Jane Eyre in that respect.  There are some beautiful descriptive passages of the library and boudoir suite of Rosefield House which I loved reading.  All in all Haunting Violet is a fun take on the classic Victorian ghost story. Definitely worth a read.  I'll be looking for more novels by this author next time I visit the book shop.