goddessing

Laurie J. Marks writes as brilliantly as she thinks, and her book Fire Logic would be a page turner if it didn't make me stop and reflect periodically.

The first in a series of four novels in an "Elemental Saga," it's been followed by Earth Logic and will be part of a complete tetralogy when Water Logic (forthcoming) and then Air Logic are published.

Of Marks and Fire Logic, we read in a Booklist review:

"Marks is an absolute master of fantasy in this book. Her characters are beautifully drawn, showing tremendous emotional depth and strength as they endure the unendurable and strive to do the right thing, and her unusual use of the elemental forces central to her characters' lives gives the book a big boost. This is a read-it-straight-through adventure!"

I'm not typically a reader of fantasy, but when my beloved hands me a book from her considerable library in response to my plaintive "I need a good book to read," I do her the courtesy of trying out something new. This is the second Marks book she's handed me, and it suits me to a T.

The blurb on the back cover spells out the setting of the series and the central issue for each book: "Earth, Air, Water, Fire. These elements have sustained the peaceful people of Shaftal for generations, with their subtle powers of healing, truth, joy, and intuition."

In a conversation about military strategy between Zanja, the book's protagonist, and her commander Emil, both of whom are engaged in a fight against the Sainnites who have invaded Shaftal and destroyed their peace and so much more, we read:

"When seers predict the future, they are simply telling themselves stories, as you and I tell stories to each other. And they have the gift of knowing which of many possibilities are the most likely. The better educated they are, the better stories they can tell themselves."

Of Medric, the seer in the employ of Zanja's enemy whom she befriends (at least it looks like that's what's happening given where I am in the book), she thinks during their first meeting:

"...he must have come desperately close to being claimed by the madness which always is the dark shadow of insight...."

Concerned for his well-being, she advises him,

"A seer should have a mentor."

In a later conversation, Medric says of the seer who preceded him,

"The best seer in the land sees only a very small part of the truth."

This book is full of nuggets of insight, and it stirs not just my imagination, but also my thoughts about Paganism (what it has to offer as a spirituality and also what religious pitfalls it would do well to avoid ... but those are thoughts for another time). It also stirs a deep and painful personal experience. The week before my nephew committed suicide, the cobra came to me three times in my dreams. I knew s/he had a message for me, but despite being a somewhat accomplished dream interpreter I could not divine her intent. The third dream was on a Friday morning. On the opposite end of that day my nephew swallowed the bottle of prescription drugs that killed him. In that morning's dream, the cobra bit me on my left foot: "Receive!"

In hindsight, I see that the cobra dreams were evidence of alarm, of foreknowledge on a very obscure level of imminent danger. I knew the dream-cobra (and the occasional dream-mamba and dream-water mocassin) was a meaningful persona on my innerscape. I was paying attention, trying to decode the message and the messenger. I discussed these dreams over dinner that very Friday with a close friend who's a Gardnerian elder, but neither of us came close to the essential truth of my dreams despite our many years of Pagan living and explorations of deep mystery. Though I've had teachers in Pagandom (and done my share of teaching), I've had no mentor. Very few Pagans have been walking this path long enough to have the experience and knowledge necessary for mentoring, not to mention that we're not set up culturally (or sub-culturally) to accommodate spiritual mentoring/spiritual apprenticeship. We get bits of co-mentoring, I think, in the best of our covens, but for today I'd say that mainly we all grope along in the dark, enlightened enough to know that there's wisdom in darkness, all the while seeking light and the gifts that come with clarify.

Reading that "the best seer in the land sees only a small part of the truth" is a bit of balm for my mending heart. Working with my intuition and the tools I had, I failed to receive the cobra's warning. I live with deep regret about that. Cobi was the child of my heart.

And I carry on. Education makes a better seer says Marks in Fire Logic. My translation: Education, and practice, make a better Pagan.

Labels: book review, grief, paganism, quotes / quotations, the four elements

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