The sign of
Scorpio ushers in the cold and dark part of the year in the northern
hemisphere. Coming after the last
harvest, people celebrated year’s ending and honored their dead in holidays
such as Samhain, All Hallow’s Eve and the Day of the Dead. The rising of the dark during this time makes
Scorpio the perfect time to honor the fact of death as part of life.
Scorpio is
called the sign of death and rebirth. Ancient
star maps show a giant scorpion with its tail raised to sting the heel of the
hero Ophiuchus or Aesculapius, the great healer, called the Serpent Bearer. Death, healing and rebirth are all part of
Scorpio’s cosmic story.
The most
intense of the three water signs (Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces), Scorpio
symbolizes our inner struggle to open up and allow intimacy with others, to
acknowledge someone else’s values, and to learn how to work in deep emotional
partnership. With Saturn in Scorpio
these past two years, we have been given a lesson in dropping old emotional
patterns that no longer serve us and opening ourselves to an emotional healing
and rebirth.
We are
experiencing a breakdown in our culture, and we need to accept the Scorpio
initiation of death. With Scorpio’s
ruling planet, Pluto, in Capricorn, the sign of our cultural institutions, and
Capricorn’s ruler, Saturn, in Pluto’s sign, it’s a cosmic wake-up call to all
of us. The force is with us on this
one. It’s time to see that death is not the end,
but merely a transitional phase to another type of life, whether here on Earth
or in the spiritual realms. We have to
get over our fear of death so we can bring new life to our planet and our
people.
We have to help
patriarchy die.
Guy Gavriel Kay’s The Fionavar Tapestry
Once again, I
want to talk about a series of fantasy books by my favorite author. Yes, this trilogy is even more my favorite
than Tolkien’s LOTR, which I must have read 40 times throughout the years. It makes sense, since Mr. Kay helped
Christopher Tolkien edit his father’s work after his death.
The Fionavar Tapestry is Mr. Kay’s first
fantasy novel, but don’t stop there. He’s
written 10 of my favorite historical fantasies.
I’m sure I’ll get a chance to talk about a few others at The Bard’s
Grove in the future.
The Fionavar Tapestry is a trilogy
comprised of: The Summer Tree, The
Wandering Fire & The Darkest Road. It
resonates with our times, because 5 of the many wonderful characters in the
books are modern college students who find that they have big roles to play in
saving the first world of Fionavar
from a deep-seated darkness whose only passion is to unravel the tapestry of
Life in all worlds.
Sounds like
some of the issues we face as we work to get rid of the end game of patriarchy—its
monolithic corporations which are destroying our Earth and taking our freedom
away! With Uranus in Aries, we are each
being called to our heroic selves, to stand up and help change the world. In these books, these five college students
find that they have a place in the last battle again evil alongside great
heroes and heroines in a world where magic and mystery are still acknowledged
and valued.
We meet the
main characters in The Summer Tree. Four friends attend a summer lecture by a
mysterious and reclusive genius and along with a fifth student, Dave, get
invited after the lecture to his rooms, where he tells them he’s from another world—the
first world of all worlds, Fionavar. He
has been sent to bring back five people to attend a great celebration in their
world. The five, for various reasons,
all accept his invitation and are taken to a world of magic and wizards, kings
and princesses, priestesses and seers, and an ancient evil which is rising
again with intentions of destroying all the worlds.
Each of these
young people discovers who they are truly meant to be when they accept their
roles in the army of Light which gathers in Fionavar. Fionavar is the home of many races: the Kings
of Men in Brennin and Cathal, the Dalrei, the native tribes of the Plains, the
gentile Giants and people of Eridu, and the stalwart dwarves as well as the
beautiful Lios Alfar, the Fair Folk. This
brief explanation tells you nothing about the finely drawn characters who I
know will stay in your imaginations for a long time.
The five chosen
ones are all uniquely themselves. Kimberly is a med student who discovers she
has been seen and awaited for many
years in Fionavar, and who must bear the burden of the War Stone. Then there’s Kevin, the brilliant lawyer who
goes so deep in lovemaking that he touches a goddess. Paul is called to an especially hard task—to be
tied to the Summer Tree and so become the Arrow of the God. Jennifer, whose beauty enchants even the
immortal Lios Alfar, must pay a debt from past lives and come through the fires
of death and transformation to a new life. And the fifth is Dave, who has always felt
himself an outsider and who gets separated from the other four upon their
arrival in Fionavar. He finds himself
called to become a warrior when he is found on the Plains by one of the Dalrei tribes.
And those are
just the modern Canadian characters! In
Fionavor, we find out that the mysterious lecturer is none other than the
wizard Loren Silvercloak along with his source,
Matt, who was once King of the Dwarves.
The wizards of Fionavar get their power from their source, and we see
both the good and the evil of this in the stories.
Then we have
some of the most marvelous warriors I’ve ever encountered in any story. The brilliant,
daring, romantic and defiant Diarmuid, the youngest son of King Ailell and his solemn
exiled older brother; the warriors of the Dalrei—Ivor, Levon, Torc and Tabor;
Shalhassan, the Lord of Cathal and his beautiful, dangerous daughter Sharra;
Na-Brendel and the host of the Lios Alfar; the goddesses and gods of Fionavar;
the shamans and seers and the priestess of the Mother, Jaelle. And so many other brave and interesting
characters—a few which I will leave as a surprise for you.
The main story
is that Rakoth Maugrim the Unraveller, who has been chained under a mountain
for millennia, plots to break free from his prison with the help of his
lieutenant Galadan and the usual host of evil beings. But even these characters are never
one-dimensional and sometimes even sympathetic.
When Rakoth does break free, all our heroes and heroines must work to
overthrow him on many fronts. This they
do, with great sacrifice and honor.
Scorpio’s
energies are part of this story of renewal.
In Fionavar, the old world is dying and everyone has to take up their
archetypal roll if they are to defeat great evil and bring peace to the land
again. This can happen within an individual
and within a society. If we all make
sure that we go through the death and rebirth ourselves, we stand a good chance
of re-shaping our own world into a higher, better version of itself. And this story of cultural renewal is a great guide for us.
I can’t tell
you anymore about the story because I don’t want to spoil your enjoyment. This is the absolute best ‘end of the world’
fantasy you’ll read since you read the Lord of the Rings. I suggest you order your copies now and spend
the holidays inside a story that contains many aspects of our Celtic myths rolled
into one in the most satisfying way.
For more information about Guy Gavriel Kay, go to: http://www.brightweavings.com/index.htm
From The Bard’s Grove,
Cathy
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