I’m always looking for new and fresh ideas to bring to my novels. And it seems I’m always pointed in the right direction, one I might call a synchronous direction, to fill in some of the blanks. In Once Upon a Tree, I found this wonderful book whose cover was Gwen made manifest in tree form. The book itself suggests that some trees grow in isolation, living a proud but precarious existence, a description that might fit the ex-vet, who lost a limb fighting on remote mountainsides. Her beauty comes from her courage, her fierce protective spirit, and in time she will rise, like the mighty tree and touch the sun.

While writing Can’t Be Tamed, I found an old film I saw in college that resonated. History was always my passion. I loved learning about people, times and cultures. I remember being entranced by the movie, haunted by the images and the meaning of what it represented. It stirred the first flickers of feminism, and those flickers have grown stronger with age. The Burning Times is one segment of a trilogy that separates the history of women’s spirituality into long-past, past and present. The pre-history speaks to the Feminine Divine ‘s existence, and how it was subsumed over time by the “sky”. (a reference to male power and domination). Where women were once the healers, the leaders, the planters, the wise ones, they were reduced to nothing; their way of life exterminated during what has come to be known as the witch trials. These executions didn’t only occur in Salem, Massachusetts, but all over the world. The Spanish Inquisition, another method used to diminish what women brought to the earth, and in the process, destroyed the organic way of life.

Thankfully, the feminine divine is reemerging. After centuries of oppression, women are offering inspiration, courage and community, something desperately needed in today’s world. Through myth, we see her as goddess, an archetype that lives within us all. It is spiritual in nature, the sacred center of our being, and it brings us to life. Many have been caught up in this movement of celebration, reclaiming their true selves, reaffirming their powerful energies, and connecting them to something bigger than themselves.

My series, Everyday Goddesses, explores the aspects of this archetype; nurturer,  warrior, protector, wise one, healer, story weaver, planter, and one who studies what remains after death. Each is a fragment of the whole, and when brought together, are able to exhume the long-forgotten awareness of who they are, strengthen their individual gifts, and foster the type of community that enriches them.