The Five Prophetic Ages: inspiration & spark

This post is Part 6 of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download. Start with Part 1 here.

This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore.

Find more prophetic poetry in my Portents Directory.

In Part 1 of this series, I started on a spiritual path that led me to some deep insights, which I seek to explore throughout my fantasy novels. Inspired by my understanding of self-fulfilling destiny, I created the five prophetic ages of the Known World.

I. The Dawn Age began the world, and every person could prophesy at will. Such ready access to the future eroded their need to predict everything in advance. They discovered that life was more enjoyable when it wasn't planned from start to finish. But some sought to gain control of the amassed knowledge of the future, and the Dawn Age ended in war. The prophetic merfolk concluded that knowledge should always be shared, even with the ungifted landfolk.

II. Next came the Open Age, when prophesy texts were shared before interpretation, and meanings were deduced collaboratively. In many ways, this mirrors how humans discuss facts and gather evidence before drawing meaningful conclusions. Whether we like it or not, these conclusions influence the unfolding of our lives, and they force us into conflicts with those of differing conclusions. When some unsettling tidings of war and suffering induced panic amongst the landfolk, their growing fears triggered another war, and the Open Age collapsed.

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III. After the chaos, the world entered into the Golden Age. Prophesies were recorded and interpreted at length before being shared with the landfolk. Though this prevented panic about the unknown, it precluded anyone's ability to decide their fate for themselves. The merfolk became the undisputed knowers of truth, with the landfolk at the mercy of their interpretations. This mirrors the institutions of many human religions, which all claim to be the one true path. Their ideas are not entirely false, but the truths get rolled up in the trappings of other people's interpretations.

The Golden Age ended with a prophesy that could not be interpreted. It was long, convoluted, and heavily debated for decades. As this one crucial prophesy languished unsolved, it began to surface in subsequent, related prophesies. The number of interpreted prophesies dwindled, until eventually the merfolk had no interpretations left to share. This mirrors the scientific discoveries that cannot be integrated into mainstream theology, causing a schism between emergent scientific facts and the long-standing spiritual truths swaddled in centuries of dogma.

IV. Through the Dark Age of the next few centuries, the merfolk of my Tales of the Known World saga began interpreting prophesy once more. However, they'd fallen out of touch with the landfolk, and the mers opted not to share any more prophesy with them. The merfolk swore off all contact with the landfolk, violating their long-standing principles of sharing knowledge freely. Isolated and hypocritical, the merfolk society folded in on itself, placing more and more value on obtaining knowledge about the future, and less value on presence, self-awareness, and joy. This mirrors the world of humans today, obsessed with acquisition and growth, even at the expense of life.

V. The inevitable collapse of the merfolk society ushers in the Free Age, where the landfolk rebuild without the meddling hands of prophesy guiding their fate. Though prophesy is still sought and interpreted, the people of the Free Age place less importance on the prophetic word. Instead, they live empowered lives, creating the future through their decisions and actions - just as we strive to do on Earth.


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The Gears of Fate: inspiration & spark

This post is Part 5 of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download. Start with Part 1 here.

This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore.

Find more prophetic poetry in my Portents Directory.

In Part 1 of this series, I triggered a shift in my perspective. Now I began mapping my fictional characters and events from a cosmic viewpoint. Each character was on a journey to enlightenment, interacting and engaging in events from their unique perspectives in place and time.

Events unfolded on two levels: the manifestations of those in physical form, and unexpected events that seemed to be external. From a cosmic viewpoint, however, these external events were integral to the progression of characters toward their ultimate enlightenment, triggered in their best interests, though the characters themselves couldn't know it at the time.

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Usually interpreted as luck or chance, I appropriated these deus ex machina events into my cosmic paradigm, and I examined them through the mechanism of prophesy. Within the story, an entire race of merfolk can divine the future. In early stages, this was simply an interesting concept - what would a society be like, if every single person could know the future? But with my new insight into the universal story formula, I explored prophesy in a new way.

Even without prescience, real people correctly predict things about their future all the time. Technically, "I'll be hungry later" is a correct prediction about the future. We create our futures every day, by the things we believe and the way those beliefs inform our interpretations and reactions to events. In essence, we predict what will happen, and our predictions manipulate us into making them come true. In my Tales of the Known World saga, the prophetic merfolk do the same thing by interpreting their ambiguous riddles about the future.

It is the merfolk's vested belief in their interpretation that fulfills a prophesy, not the prophesy itself. The merfolk exacerbate this self-fulfillment by sharing their interpretations with the non-prophetic landfolk, purporting these interpretations as ultimate truth. They even meddle in the affairs of men and kings to cause these events to happen. All of this, as with we humans, is justified under the banner of unerring truth, when really it's nothing more than the blindness of conviction.


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From Real Magic to Fantasy Magic: inspiration & spark

This post is Part 4 of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download. Start with Part 1 here.

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In Part 1 of this series, I began questioning my life's purpose. As I mulled through my divergent callings, I struck upon a fascinating idea. Instead of writing a book of truth, I could deliver that truth within my fiction. My knowledge of the ego and the true self already informed how I developed my characters. And I'd noticed the Law of Attraction at work, not just in real life, but also in the most compelling stories of all ages. It seems the human heart is hard-wired to yearn for just desserts - nice people manifest rewards, and mean people manifest trouble.

These cosmic principles feel so inherently right to us that we even require our myths and stories to reflect them in some way. We want the good guy to triumph, and we want the bad guy to suffer. The best stories feel so powerful to us because they embody these cosmic principles throughout many facets of the storyline. I'd discovered the formula for a great story, and it was grounded in the ultimate truth of the universe. It is the formula for all stories, both real and fictional.

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Integrating this notion into my storytelling, I reviewed my fantasy tales and began noticing cosmic principles everywhere. The most obvious representation was the magic of the Known World. What better parallel could there be than a person setting forth the intention to cast a spell, and the manifestation of that spell? That was the crux of the Law of Attraction: decide, align, receive. The only difference between fact and fiction was that in the real world, magic is dismissed as fantasy, so it can be harder for the mind to allow for the possibility. In the Known World, magic is accepted as possible, so it manifests much more easily.

Beyond the normal magic of the Known World, there was also the idea of deep magic. Originally based on an elite magical language known only to a blessed few, deep magic transformed into the deliberate use of creative energy to manifest change in the physical world. The elite language was no longer a requirement, but rather an advanced tool to direct the creative energy, similar to the use of sacred chants and sutras in the real world.

Just as every person can attain enlightenment, all people of the Known World can potentially wield deep magic. But not all on Earth are called to awaken, and few in the Known World are called to transcend their mortal limitations to channel deep magic into the physical realm.

Real people tend to be powerful in certain areas of life, but flawed in others. Few of us are desperately evil or unerringly sanctified. Rather, most of us tread some sort of middle ground, where we do well in certain areas and less well in others. To mirror this in my Tales of the Known World saga, I reimagined the elite rosen who use their special language to wield deep magic.

This language awakens their inner power, but it's also a shortcut to wielding deep magic without attaining enlightenment first. They can create anything they desire, but only if they can believe in the magic they're casting. Just like all of us on Earth, their unlimited creative power is hampered only by their beliefs of what's possible and their expectations of the future.


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Compelled to Teach: inspiration & spark

This post is Part 3 of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download. Start with Part 1 here.

This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore.

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In Part 1 of this series, I began my spiritual journey by questioning the world around me. After my awakening, I noticed my perspective on other people was shifting too. If I was an infinite depth of clarity and loving existence, then so was every other person on the planet. All the pain and suffering we endure (and cause) as humans is because we've grown out of our inborn sense of self-awareness.

On the whole, humanity teaches its children to think certain thoughts and assume certain roles. With enough training, these children release their intuitive ways of being and take on the identities that are expected of them.

As is common when someone has a liberating spiritual experience, I felt compelled to share my discovery of truth with others, to help erode the earthly traditions that keep us separate from the truth of who we are.

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Becoming a spiritual teacher daunted me. My tarot readings had always been profoundly beneficial to my clients, but delivering a one-on-one tarot reading was quite different than publicly compelling students to arrive. Most people seemed unwilling to expose their carefully-ministered truths to new revelations, and they expected the revealing sources to be stoic saints with decades of credentials.

With my youth and enthusiasm, I found myself a rather uncompelling spiritual guide. Though I became licensed to deliver a spiritual awakening course called Avatar, I did not pursue students. I felt like I needed to be something more than what I was before people would take my message seriously.

As my affair with writing became ever-more enveloping, I struck upon the idea to write a book of truth. Within it, I'd divulge my knowledge of scientific discoveries and express the ultimate unity inherent in the fabric of space-time itself. I'd also interpret sacred texts across religions, and amass scientific evidence to confirm the Law of Attraction. After giving curious minds something to chew on, I'd delve into the experience of this inherent unity, which I recognize as both the self and the truth.

I felt, and still feel, profoundly at peace with this idea. Yet it rests enshrined atop my stack of unfinished books and notes on stories to be written, an opus at once insurmountable and enthralling. As I worked on my Tales of the Known World saga, I wrote pieces of the truth-book on the side. I'd share them in Facebook groups, and the responses I got were encouraging. But the stories in me still yammered for recognition. I wanted to keep working on my fantasy novels, and my writing experience told me to focus on one book at a time.


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My Great Awakening: inspiration & spark

This post is Part 2 of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download. Start with Part 1 here.

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In Part 1 of this series, I began my spiritual journey by asking the great questions about life. When I started paying attention to my own thoughts, a profound shift began to occur within me. If I was analyzing my own thoughts, then where was I? What was the "I" that was analyzing my thoughts?

In spiritual terminology, the awakening is when a person first recognizes that there's a difference between their stream of thoughts and the awareness that perceives those thoughts. If your awareness perceives something, that thing logically can't be your awareness. This core recognition forces the awareness away from identification with the mind, body, and physical world, freeing the self to be more real than ever before.

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Though scientific questioning had brought me to this point, I began exploring different religious tenets to clarify my search for self-recognition. I found every religion laughably false when taken in entirety, but each faith seemed to reduce down to the same basic truths. Virtues like forgiveness, love, compassion, and kindness seemed universal.

I explored Hinduism, Wicca, and the mysticism of tarot cards, but what really caught me was Zen Buddhism. A close friend gave me a book called Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies, and the Truth About Reality, by Brad Warner. This punk rocker became a Zen master after he moved to Japan to make monster movies. His sardonic voice fit right in with my inner rage against the machine and fanatic love of all things Japanese.

Through his book and others, I came to recognize myself as the awareness that perceives all other things. I even noticed that sometimes I would notice that I had noticed something - which meant that I am the awareness that is aware of its own focus and attention. From this realization, my consciousness expanded, and I began to experience life in a new way. I sought to lead others to similar shifts in their own perspectives, and interwove my Tales of the Known World saga with various expressions of this one simple insight.

My self-awareness brought with it a depth of understanding that cannot be expressed in words. There came a peace and serenity as I recognized the true nature of my self, and the trappings of the external world fell away. Smart/stupid, pretty/ugly, thin/fat, male/female - I saw through dualities as meaningless labels slapped across infinite being, and I came to know my true self as the indescribable beyond.


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An Artist After All: inspiration & spark

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This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore.

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My whole life, I've always had an appreciation for art. I looked to artists with awe and respect, and I had great esteem for the friends I had who could draw or paint or sculpt. I always felt like artists were cooler than me, with their pretty finished pieces that could be absorbed and appreciated with a glance. I was the less-shiny wordsmith in the corner, sculpting poetry and chiseling away at my set of novels, knowing that every one of their pictures was worth a thousand of my words. In those days, at least in my own mind, I was very much not an artist.

And yet, I dappled in artistic pursuits. An oil pastel here, a chalk and charcoal there, and once an oil painting with speckled white gaps between colors. Nope, not an artist. But I still liked to work with my hands. I expressed my creativity with crafting, particularly textiles, creating latch-hooked yarn rugs from store bought kits. Over time, I started adding more crafts to my repertoire - making candles, braiding rag-rugs, learning to knit and locker-hook with fabric and with yarn. I created my own knitting patterns, designed my own rugs, and even adapted a few traditional rug-making techniques to work with craft yarn and canvas.

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Then one day I heard about the zentangle, a detailed freeform doodle that looks good and does not require "real" artistic talent. I read an article, watched some YouTube videos, and started my own zentangles. The first few were clunky as I drew them, the concepts of the artform still hazy and my hand unsteady as I shoved an ultra-fine Sharpie across the page. But before long, my perspective on my own art had shifted completely. After a few bigger pieces and some glowing feedback from friends and strangers, I realized - I'd been an artist the whole time!

There is an art to making stuff, whatever the stuff. Craftsmanship in this world is ever being replaced by machined parts and assembly. Handmade goods are rare and expensive, well outside the price range of what most people would call reasonable. But I love the feel of string slipping through my fingers to become something manifest, a Zen-like peace in the repetitive motions. I use my crafting time to mull over the secrets of the universe, unraveling the mysteries of the human heart and concocting the greatest stories of my Tales of the Known World saga.

Whether ink and paper, fabric and rug canvas, or yarn and knitting needles, my art expresses a bit about who I am and what I love. But no matter the medium, to me, the greatest prize is the time required to complete each project. Each hour of making art is an hour of honest meditation, self-reflection, and relaxed enjoyment of the physical world. Art gives me time to integrate my life lessons, ground myself in who I really am, and process through all the twists and turns of my epic fantasy adventures. I might have discounted my art as a youth, but with a little Sharpie and a lot of open-minded consideration, I've become one of the artists I respect and esteem.


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Apollo's Raven by Linnea Tanner: a style analysis

This post is part of a series to augment the Tips for Writing Fiction available for free download.

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This post is also Part 8 of a series about Linnea Tanner. Start with Part 1 here.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I first connceted with Linnea Tanner in Part 1 of this guest series, and in Part 7 of this guest series, I provide the actual book review! The long-form style analysis below goes into much greater detail, diving into many aspects of storycraft, worldbuilding, and wordsmith techniques.

Apollo's Raven by Linnea Tanner is Book One of the Curse of Clansmen and Kings series, a Celtic historical fantasy set during the first century C.E. when Tiberius ruled the ancient Roman Empire. This book was originally published with a different cover, and I received this book as an advanced reading copy.

★★★★

Apollo's Raven by Linnea Tanner

Four stars! This great story revealed something I didn't see coming.

★★★★

The main character of this story is a fair maiden, Celtic princess, and spirit warrior named Catrin. Her strange powers allow her to commune with ravens, an animal considered very wise in the Celtic tradition.

Though forbidden by her father to explore her dangerous powers, Catrin foresees the destruction of her kingdom and turns to her raven spirit for help.

When troops from the aggressive Roman Empire land on her shores, Catrin and her family struggle to maintain peace and prevent her vision from coming true.

But Catrin falls haplessly in love with the son of the Roman ambassador. Their star-crossed romance fans the flames of an epic tale of honor, intrigue, and Celtic mysticism inspired by an ancient era of Roman conquest.

Tanner writes in a declarative, factual style that is nonetheless well-described and engaging. For me, her sentences sometimes felt a little long, but this is mostly a matter of personal taste.

I'm not usually drawn to books written in this style, and in places, the story had the feel of an engaging history textbook. But this actually heightened the air of historical significance within Apollo's Raven, and I admire Tanner for leveraging her writing style in this skillful way.

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Her love for history shines through this novel in all the rich details Tanner has diligently researched; her painstaking efforts brought the world of the ancient Celts to life. Her grasp of Celtic mysticism was deft and imaginative, and she contrasted this ancient pagan tradition with the more well-known paganism of ancient Rome.

Tanner also intertwined the mysterious workings of Catrin's raven spirit with the Roman sun god Apollo and his raven messenger of legend. Though this story takes place entirely in ancient Britannia, this overlay of Celtic and Roman mythology gave rise to the name Apollo's Raven for the novel.

Beyond the amazing (and historically accurate) foray into the world of the ancient Celts, Tanner's well-crafted story kept me guessing. Between Tanner's myriad character motivations and the mystic nuances of Celtic shamanism, Apollo's Raven delivered the unexpected in a highly satisfying way.

I loved how Tanner revealed one piece of the puzzle at a time, sometimes through a chapter following a specific character, other times through dialogue about offstage events.

I also liked the fast-paced chapters, and at the beginning of each chapter, Tanner placed an intriguing quote from the manuscript to come. I found that this "preview" enhanced my anticipation of the unfolding story, and it made the book quite hard to put down. I read three quarters of it in one sitting.

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Tanner's book involved many dynamic elements, from the tempestuous political climate of Britannia, to the unpredictable nature of young love, and the dangerous, little-understood powers of the Druids.

My favorite of the story's many factors involved a curse placed on the royal family well before Catrin's birth. The determined princess might use her raven's powers to alter the curse and change the future, but her powers themselves are part of the curse.

With little wisdom outside the raven to guide her and time running out for her Roman love, Catrin must immerse herself in the ancient magic of the Druids and fight to remain unscathed.

Overall, I found Apollo's Raven exciting, romantic, and laudable in its rich details of Celtic life. I am definitely reading her next book in the series! And I look forward to reviewing Book Two.

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Apollo's Raven by Linnea Tanner here.

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The Great Questions: inspiration & spark

This post is Part 1 of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download.

This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore.

Find more consciousness content in my Cosmic Directory.

In high school, the addled grief of my teenage world finally drove me to seek answers to the great questions about life. Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? Without a family religion to foster answers for me, I started my quest in scientific discovery. Surely mankind with all its technology could unlock the mysteries of the universe. I delved into quantum mechanics, and learned that the core particles of matter are just energy waves that pop in and out of material state.

Then I learned that the energy waves were actually clouds of potential energy waves that sometimes collapse into physical form. Then I learned that it's the act of observing this cloud that causes it to collapse. Like a marshmallow left unwatched in the microwave, every speck of matter in the universe swells up and expands into an unstable cloud, only to deflate when you open the door to peek. Something about perception causes non-physical energy to condense into physical matter. Why did observing the world affect the world?

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As I explored this mystery, I encountered a growing mass of scientific evidence proving that human focus directly affects the physical universe. Extensive experiments with random number generators over the past 50 years have repeatedly shown that focused attention affects the randomized output of these electric circuits. Countless studies demonstrate that when people ask the program to generate more of a certain number, the output is skewed in their favor. Since electricity is just the flow of electrons, and electrons are just clouds of potential energy, I concluded that something about human thought was affecting how those energy clouds condensed into particles inside the computer circuits.

I started exploring philosophy and psychology, trying to unravel the mystery behind how thoughts affect the universe. I read about Behaviorism, Dualism, Solipsism, and other philosophies of the mind. I studied cognitive and developmental psychology, sociolinguistics and cultural anthropology. While I developed my Tales of the Known World saga, I immersed myself in humankind's innumerable ideas about life, God, and the universe. I began scrutinizing my own mind - how were my thoughts causing changes in the world around me? The answer I stumbled across was simplistic and profound.


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Celtic Tarot Card Meanings: an inspired contribution

This post is Part 4 of a series to augment the Guest Resources available for free download. Start with Part 1 here.

This and other guest-inspired content is gathered in my Guest Directory for you to explore.

Find more tarot-related content in my Tarot Gallery.

In Part 1 of this series, I first connected with historical fantasy author Linnea Tanner. We soon collaborated on this guest post for her Celtic history blog. I originally wrote this piece in July 2015, and it has been reposted here with permission.

UPDATE 2022: Since the writing of this post seven years ago, Linnea's site has undergone extensive upgrades and overhauls. My original guest post is no longer available on her site, but is preserved in full below.

Or skip straight to Part 5: Starting on our set of maps for Apollo's Raven!

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It is a great pleasure to reintroduce D.N.Frost who has graciously agreed to provide another guest post about the rich symbolism of nature used in Celtic tarot cards. She is a talented fantasy author, cartographer, and world builder with a passion for Celtic mythology and traditions. I’ve had the privilege of working with her to create a map and world for my current project on Apollo’s Raven.

Welcome D.N.Frost! I encourage everyone to learn more about her ongoing projects on mapping and world-building and her epic saga Tales of the Known World which you can download electronically from her site.

Guest Post: D.N.Frost |Celtic Tarot Card Meaning | Apollo’s Raven


Hello there! My name is D.N.Frost, and I’m the fantasy author, cartographer, and world-builder behind the epic saga Tales of the Known World. I love delving into the mythology and traditions of different cultures, and this guest post for Linnea Tanner was inspired by my love of Celtic mysticism. Enjoy!


The world of the ancient Celts teemed with layers of meaning and symbols drawn from nature. Many of these assorted myths and traditions were amassed in detail by Anna Franklin, a well-known Celtic Pagan authority in the British Isles. One of her books accompanied a Celtic-themed tarot deck, and though tarot only dates back to the 15th century, the book and cards are steeped in ancient Celtic heritage.

This Celtic Tarot card depicts a Celtic shaman, alone in the forest with his familiar, the wolf.

Celtic Tarot Card: The Shaman

Wearing deerskin, this shaman sits at his cauldron, beating his bodhran drum to call to the spirits. He brews a potion that helps him engage the spirit world, and a few of the potion’s ingredients surround him, notably the sacred herb vervain.

The path of the Celtic shaman was strongly tied to the land and the cycle of the seasons. By honoring the spirits of nature and learning their wisdom, a shaman sought to transform himself and expand his awareness. Conscious of the subtle connection between all things, Celtic shamans recognized the sacredness within everything, allowing them to form a bridge between the spirit world and the human world.

This shaman is shown brewing a sacred potion called the Cauldron of Ceridwen, which was believed to inspire eloquence and prophesy in those who drank it. This magic potion contained a number of ingredients, including rowan berries, sea foam, “Taliesin’s cresses, Gwion’s silver, flixweed, and vervain” picked on moonless nights (Franklin, 83). This potion was also used to create the Gwin or Bragwod drink used in sacred initiations, though the initiates drank it mixed with wine and barley meal.

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The Celtic goddess Ceridwen is said to have captured the wisdom of the Three Realms in her potion. She charged the youth Gwion to keep the fire going beneath her cauldron, and one day he splashed three drops onto his finger. When he put his finger into his mouth to soothe the burn, Gwion instantly became one with the past, present, and future of all things. The knowledge frightened him, and Ceridwen decided to test his worthiness by appearing as a terrifying beast. Gwion fled, taking on the forms of different animal familiars, and these animal spirits helped him integrate his new knowledge. The goddess continued chasing him until Gwion took the form of a grain of wheat, and Ceridwen ate him. Nine months later, she gave birth to him as Taliesin, meaning “radiant brow.”

This legend of consumption and rebirth symbolized how shamanic initiates had to be absorbed into the womb of the goddess before emerging wiser and forever changed. The harvest festival of Samhain celebrated the two aspects of this divine womb, both the dormant seed that lies within, and the wisdom shared from the spirit world. This celebration used the herb vervain, an ingredient in Ceridwen’s potion and one of the most sacred herbs for the Celtic druids. Vervain was only gathered on moonless nights when the “dog star” Sirius was rising, and Celtic lore associates the wisdom of this herb with the wisdom of the wolf.

Ancient Celts viewed the wolf with awe and respect. Considered very wise, the wolf only chose to share its wisdom with certain people, and many shamans sought the wolf as their familiar. The wizard Merlin was said to have an old wolf companion during his years as a forest hermit. The white wolf Emhain Abhlac once met the druid Bobaran, who threw three rowan berries at the wolf, three into the air, and three into his own mouth to receive the wolf’s wisdom. The Gundestrup cauldron shows a wolf beside the horned god Cernunnos, and the goddess Brighid is often shown with a wolf nearby. The wolf was a totem guardian of Britain, and one of Brighid’s four sacred animals.

According to the ancient Celts, the winter quarter of the year was ruled by the wolf. Winter was a dead time, a time of purification while the earth rested in darkness and grew ready for the rebirth of spring. This period stretched from Samhain in October to the Imbolc festival in February, which celebrated the goddess Brighid with a giant feast. In ancient Gaelic, the month of February was known as Faoilleach, which can translate to “the wolf month,” “the storm month,” or “the month of bleak death.” For the Celtic shaman, the wolf taught about instincts and psychic intuition, as well as the cyclical powers of the moon. The wolf’s wisdom guided shamans to trust their inner voice and to seek their answers within.

This Celtic Tarot card depicts the warrior queen Boudicca of the equestrian Iceni people.

Celtic Tarot Card: The Chariot

Boudicca led the Iceni tribe to fight the ancient Romans as they sought to conquer Britain. With woad spirals on her face, she cracks a whip from atop her chariot, drawn by one black horse and one white horse.

Horses were known as the chosen mounts of the gods, particularly the sun and moon deities. They symbolized the virility of the land itself, as well as strength and swiftness. The Iceni tribe derived their name from the word for horse, and Britain’s horse cults predate the arrival of the ancient Celts. Horses were shown on the earliest Celtic coins, and they were common god or totem creatures through the Iron Age and into the Bronze Age. For ancient Celts, horses represented the instinctive aspects of humanity, which often needed to be tamed and controlled. The horse’s master used the bit and bridle to control his horse, and this symbolized the intellect that tempered destructive impulses. While horses symbolized raw life-force, the reigns betokened the willpower and intelligence needed to harness this life-force effectively.

Fal, the Celtic god of horses and hounds, symbolized light within the darkness. In the cycle of the year, the northern quarter was called the Plain of Fal, associated with wisdom and truth. The Stone of Fal was the station of the yearly cycle connected with the winter solstice, when the midwinter sun was reborn. Ancient Celts believed this was when the horse goddess Rhiannon gave birth to her son. White horses represented the sun and were affiliated with the light of spring and summer. Like other white animals, white horses symbolized sky deities to the ancient Celts, while black animals were correlated with Underworld deities. Black horses, generally considered unlucky, were connected with the darkness of autumn and winter, as well as with the Underworld. They were an omen of death, symbolic of funerals and of chaos. A black horse was said to rule the twelve days of midwinter chaos between the old and new year.

Modern Celtic folklore still honors horses, and the horsing ceremonies of midwinter depict a play of death and resurrection. Also, May’s Beltane festival features the Hobby Horses of Padstow and Minehead. A black horse winds through town in a musical parade, and it falls to the ground whenever the music stops. Each time, the horse rises again when the music resumes, until the parade dies down at midnight. Then the sinister horse is considered truly dead, until it is born again in the fall.

This Celtic Tarot card depicts the Uffington White Horse in Oxfordshire, England.

Celtic Tarot Card: Seven of Swords

The hillsides of Britain are carved with many chalk horses, but this is the oldest carving, dating to around 1400 BCE. Sacred to both the ancient Celts and the earlier peoples of Britain, horses fostered the spread of Celtic civilization with their swiftness and strength.

Though ancient Celts carved the Uffington horse, the site was important to Britain’s Neolithic people. Well before the carving, the hill was part of a ley network said to harness dragon power. In fact, there is some dispute that the Uffington horse is really a dragon, since it looks down on Dragon Hill, where St. George allegedly slew a mighty dragon. It is said that nothing will grow where the dragon’s spilled blood poisoned the ground, and to this day there is a bare patch atop the hill. Near the head of the Uffington horse is a Bronze Age burial mound, and less than a mile away is a Neolithic burial chamber known as Wayland’s Smithy. There, legend has it, a magical blacksmith forged the shoes for the giant Uffington horse.

Ancient Celts believed that dead souls rode to the Underworld on horseback, and that horses carried living souls to and from the spirit world. Gods and shamans traveled through the axis mundi, or World Tree, and they tethered their horses to this tree before making the journey. Famously, the hero Conan traveled to the Otherworld on Aonbharr, the steed of the sea god Manannan. Aonbharr was said to make her rider invulnerable to any attack. According to Celtic lore, the white horse of the elf queen took Thomas the Rhymer to the land of the fairies, and Tam Lin stole a white horse to escape that fairy realm.


I hope you enjoyed this foray into the world of the ancient Celts! For more fun with prophesy and magic, visit me at DNFrost.com, on Twitter @DNFrost13, and on my Facebook page.

My love of cultures and mythology inspired an epic fantasy saga.

Let me send you my free ebook today!


References

1. Anna Franklin, The Sacred Circle Tarot: A Celtic Pagan Journey; Llewellyn Publications, 2000.
2. Paul Mason, The Shaman; Mixed media illustration. Sacred Circle Tarot: A Celtic Pagan Journey; Llewellyn Publications, 2000.
3. Paul Mason, The Chariot; Mixed media illustration. Sacred Circle Tarot: A Celtic Pagan Journey; Llewellyn Publications, 2000.
4. Paul Mason, Diplomacy: The Seven of Swords; Mixed media illustration. Sacred Circle Tarot: A Celtic Pagan Journey; Llewellyn Publications, 2000.

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Celtic Tarot Cards, Meaning from Nature: an inspired contribution

This post is Part 2 of a series to augment the Guest Resources available for free download. Start with Part 1 here.

This and other guest-inspired content is gathered in my Guest Directory for you to explore.

Find more tarot-related content in my Tarot Gallery.

In Part 1 of this series, I collaborated with historical fantasy author Linnea Tanner on this guest post for her Celtic history blog. I originally wrote this piece in April 2015, and it has been reposted here with permission.

UPDATE 2022: Since the writing of this post seven years ago, Linnea's site has undergone extensive upgrades and overhauls. My original guest post is no longer available on her site, but is preserved in full below.

Or skip straight to Part 3: Writing a second guest post for Linnea!

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It is with great pleasure that I introduce D.N.Frost, an exciting fantasy author with a passion for Celtic mythology and traditions. She has graciously provided a guest post about the rich symbolism of nature used in tarot cards. Welcome D.N.Frost! I encourage everyone to learn more about her and the epic saga Tales of the Known World.

Guest Post: D.N. Frost |Celtic Tarot Cards Meaning | Apollo’s Raven


Hello there! My name is D.N.Frost, and I’m the fantasy author, cartographer, and world-builder behind the epic saga Tales of the Known World. I love delving into the mythology and traditions of different cultures, and this guest post for Linnea Tanner was inspired by my love of Celtic mysticism. Enjoy!


The world of the ancient Celts teemed with layers of meaning and symbols drawn from nature. Many of these assorted myths and traditions were amassed in detail by Anna Franklin, a well-known Celtic Pagan authority in the British Isles. One of her books accompanied a Celtic-themed tarot deck, and though tarot only dates back to the 15th century, the book and cards are steeped in ancient Celtic heritage.

This card depicts Scathach, a legendary Celtic warrior woman.

Scathach, Celtic warrior woman of legend

At her feet, a badger appears as the warrior’s familiar, and from the corner grows the magical herb borage. The name for this plant arose from the ancient Gaelic word borrach, meaning “a brave or courageous person.” Celts often soaked borage leaves in wine, which elevated adrenaline levels to evoke power and courage.

Renowned for her skills and strength, Scathach ran a school for warriors in her fortress on the Isle of Skye. Her name meant “the shadowy one,” and her fortress was known as Dun Scaith, the “Castle of Shadows.” Scathach only trained the adept few who were brave enough to invade her fortress and entreat her tutelage within.

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She was most renowned for training Cuchulain, the hero of the Irish Ulster saga. Though she is pictured with a sword while preparing for the Lughnasa games, Scathach is best known for the barbed spear Gae Bulg, which she gave to Cuchulain after he completed his training. Some tales accredit Scathach with the power of prophesy, a gift often attributed to ravens.

For ancient Celts, the badger was regarded as the best familiar for the warrior’s intrepid spirit. Seen as unshakable and grounded, the indomitable badger inspired the path of a warrior with its courage and ferocity. The Celts believed that the badger knew all the secrets of Albion, and that its knowledge arose from the depths of the earth in which it dwelt. The badger taught many lessons to the ancient Celts, including the importance of seeking inner solitude.

This card depicts a raven circling the cloudy sky over a youth lost in thought.

The Omen of a Circling Raven

In the surrounding mountains, tall pines stand as the tree of heroes and warriors, and swaths of bright daffodils paint the springtime valley. This flower symbolized the instinctive sexual energies of spring, sweeping the earth in magical regeneration.

In the Celtic tradition, pine trees symbolized fertility and rebirth, representing the vivacious spring rather than the desolate winter. Pine was one of the chieftain trees in the ancient Ogham alphabet, and its sturdy spirit especially resonated with Northern Celts and heroes like the warrior Scathach.

Ravens were messengers from the Celtic gods, bringers of wisdom and guidance from another plane. For the Celts, ravens were teachers and protectors, especially for seers and spirit warriors. Because they often circled in storm clouds, ravens were said to be thunderbirds that could herald coming squalls. Ancient Celts viewed ravens as prophetic, and their behavior was often used to auger the outcome of battles.

According to legend, the foresight of ravens warned the Irish god Lugh of the Formorian invasion. The head of the Celtic god Bran, whose name means “raven,” was said to prophesy from White Mount, the future site of the Tower of London. Bran’s head protected Britain from invasion until King Arthur removed it to demonstrate his own dominion over the land, but ravens still roost in the tower. Legend has it that Britain will fall to invaders should Bran’s ravens ever disperse.


I hope you enjoyed this foray into the world of the ancient Celts! For more fun with prophesy and magic, visit me at DNFrost.com, on Twitter @DNFrost13, and on my Facebook page.

My love of cultures and mythology inspired an epic fantasy saga.

Let me send you my free ebook today!


References

1. Anna Franklin, The Sacred Circle Tarot: A Celtic Pagan Journey; Llewellyn Publications, 2000.
2. Paul Mason, The Warrior; Mixed media illustration. Sacred Circle Tarot: A Celtic Pagan Journey; Llewellyn Publications, 2000.
3. Paul Mason, The Page of Swords; Mixed media illustration. Sacred Circle Tarot: A Celtic Pagan Journey; Llewellyn Publications, 2000.

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That's it for this post! Up Next: Writing a second guest post for Linnea...

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The Greatest Adventure Ever: inspiration & spark

This post is Part 2 of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download. Start with Part 1 here.

This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore.

Find more consciousness content in my Cosmic Directory.

In Part 1 of this series, I described my great experiment, to see if I can create the ultimate story. But my intention is more than to just push myself to do my best. I believe you deserve a crafted caliber of storytelling that has gotten lost amidst the chaos of modern life. A great story captivates readers from the first word to the last. I believe my stories are worth this time and effort, because I think fantasy fans crave a fresh tale, but still want the happy ending.

In a great story, every word matters. Whether the story is oral or written down, words allow for great precision but also pose an obstacle to the delivery of the tale. If a word doesn't need to be there, it impedes the story and must be culled.

This is hard for a lot of writers, because we get attached to certain wordings and imagery, but every word must be necessary or it's just slowing down the flow. I cut the fluff - not just in words, but in dialogue, mini-arcs, and extraneous details. I streamline my prose to be the clearest and most gripping communication of my story that it can be.

Check out this Author's Manifesto for more of my inspirations!

I write because it helps me make sense of the world. It helps me understand why people do the cruel, irrational things they do. What makes good people do bad things? What drives innocent children to grow up into monsters? How does chivalry and nobility triumph over arrogance, egoism, and greed?

These questions drive me, and I play them out through my characters. Each of them is complex, multifaceted, realistic. And, like in real life, each of them has an overarching theme they've come into existence to explore, integrate, and be enriched with wisdom through. Their lessons are my lessons, and lessons of us all.

I write to free myself. I want to share a vision of a world where magic is commonplace, where people grow up accepting that they have magic, and that they can use their magic to make the world a better place. We've forgotten our magic here on earth. But in my Tales of the Known World saga, magic is the foundation of all being. I write these stories as examples, so we can learn to embrace our own magic.

I want to provide a framework through which people can understand how this real-life magic flows into being, anchors our souls into physical form, and guides the unfolding of the universe. These are spiritual concepts, woven into a fantasy world, so readers can absorb these concepts without the background resistance they'd have if presented with these concepts in a real-world fashion.

The fantasy stories circumvent our biases about the "real world" and allow readers to resonate with the spiritual concepts they know deep down are true. Once that resonance has been established, my hope is that it will vibrate up from their subconscious to manifest positive change in their real lives. After all, isn't real-life change the greatest adventure ever?


That's it for this series! Check out my latest inspirations for more.

Download the Author's Manifesto here, or start your adventure below.

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The Great Experiment: inspiration & spark

This post is Part 1 of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download.

This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore.

Find more consciousness content in my Cosmic Directory.

I write to move you. I want to write a story that grips you by the heartstrings and drags you breathless through the novel. What do we all want on this earth, really? To live, to feel alive, to experience that soaring of your spirit when triumph takes the day. We all love that visceral feeling when music, art, or film grabs us by the lungs and fills us with sensation.

There's a sort of liveliness inside that comes from great stories. Whether you participated in the event yourself, or followed the telling of it, the events and people in those stories can seize you and make your heart sing.

It happens with unpleasant emotions too. We feel alive when things go wrong, and some people get hooked on the tension and drama of their favorite characters. We suffer their defeats, feel their pain, and share in their triumphs. You want that feeling. It is electrifying.

Check out this Author's Manifesto for more of my inspirations!

I write to contribute something of quality to the world. There are so many books that are poorly written. There are so many stories that are trite and predictable. I want to write a book worth reading, a book that uplifts your spirit and hones your intellect. I want to write a story that is fun, gripping, adventurous, a story where you read it and become smarter, holier, without even knowing it.

I want my stories to drag people along for the ride, and then in the splashdown on the very last page, you're somehow more enlivened, more attuned to yourself and the heartbeat of the universe than when you started.

I want to write a book that imbues quality and originality back into the fantasy genre. I want something new, something fresh, something smart and intelligent and vibrantly alive - and since no one out there is writing it, I decided to write it myself.

With my Tales of the Known World saga, I seek to deliver that zing of life up through your fingertips. I aspire to tell a story so good, and write that story so well, that you pop out the back cover and bob in the afterglow, forever changed. Can I do it? That is the great experiment: can I write the ultimate story? And can you, dear reader, take the adventure?


That's it for this post! Up Next: Crafting a new caliber of storytelling...

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Why I Love World-Building: inspiration & spark

This post is part of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download.

This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore.

Find more worldbuilding content in my Codex Directory.

I love the world-building process. I love inventing something complex and rife with human disparity. I believe people deserve a well-crafted story and a well-defined setting for that story to unfold. But I also want to contribute to the entertainment paradigm. I believe the world needs more good stories, and I want my stories to matter.

The world I've built allows me great freedom for storytelling. I explore different social structures and cultural models, experimenting with the human condition and examining how any society's practices influence its people. I question normativity, because every culture has its own normal. I experiment with different definitions of normal, and I probe how individuals resist the pressures of society.

Check out this Author's Manifesto for more of my inspirations!

I also want the magic of my world to help readers understand the unity of nature, by showing the world from a more spiritual perspective. My readers relate to characters who live in a different paradigm, and they can resonate with the real spiritual maxims within that framework. By presenting this framework in a fictional setting, I provide a comfortable and safe venue for my readers to explore these spiritual truths without triggering people's real-world reservations about new ideas.

I love what I do. I must love what I do, because it can be long, lonely work. In many ways, writing a novel means surrendering the outside world to develop an inner world. Perhaps not all storytellers have found sanctity in their work, but when I weave my Tales of the Known World saga, I can tell that this is my calling.


That's it for this post! Check out my latest inspirations for more.

Download the Author's Manifesto here, or start your adventure below.

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The Glorious Human Condition: inspiration & spark

This post is part of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download.

This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore.

Find more consciousness content in my Cosmic Directory.

I am profoundly inspired by the great humanity of the world. I love that thrill in your heart when the good guy wins. People differ in how they rise to challenges and integrate past experiences. But though the content of each personality varies widely, there is a similar structure for all personalities. I love exploring this profound diversity that arises out of a remarkable uniformity.

I want to kindle that inborn sense of glory within our human condition. To delve through the wonders of our psyche, I push my characters to their very limits, and their stories evoke the triumph of human endeavor. I want to trigger your inner grandness through my characters and their adventures, the ride of your life delivered with resilient personalities arising from the trenches.

Check out this Author's Manifesto for more of my inspirations!

I love feeling like I'm in the hands of a master storyteller. So when I write, I want my readers to sense every detail toppling into place like dominoes. The story flows into each plot twist, but every turned page holds the last thing you'd expect.

My characters endure desperate scenarios, shocking culture clashes, outrageous social structures--anything where some facet of human imperfection can be explored, understood, and redeemed in the hearts of my readers.

I want my characters to lead by example, heal old wounds, impart wisdom, and reawaken the youthful wonder dormant inside so many of us. Ultimately, I hope my Tales of the Known World saga inspires people to look for the magic in their own lives.


That's it for this post! Check out my latest inspirations for more.

Download the Author's Manifesto here, or start your adventure below.

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Self-Awareness is the Key to Great Writing: inspiration & spark

This post is part of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download.

This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore.

Find more consciousness content in my Cosmic Directory.

Think about great writing for a moment. It's a miracle, really. Emotions and images arise within readers, all from squiggles on the page. There is so much artistry that goes into crafting those high-quality squiggles. Beyond the required wordsmith skills, there is a profound amount of humanity behind any story that comes to life.

How else but self-awareness do you paint a character in his struggles, with his pain, striving to overcome and triumph? In order to write such a thing, you must be able to step outside of your own pain and see how it has shaped you.

All these characters of mine–they all are some facet of me, and I in turn am all of them. Yet they are so disparate, so potent, so visceral. How can one person see through the eyes of so many people? To be a great writer, you must become the eye that sees itself seeing. Such self-awareness is crucial to the writing process.

Check out this Author's Manifesto for more of my inspirations!

Everyone's experience is unique, and yet great writing presents characters at various stages along different paths. How can a person reflect on one life's experience and discover a thousand lifetimes of development? Self-awareness.

The more self-aware you become, the more insight and nuance you can infuse into your characters. The more you live as your true self, the more relatable and profound your characters feel. Your stories gain depth and meaning beyond intention.

Each character becomes a vassal of truth for readers like him. Characters drive themselves downward until they revolt against their patterns and uplift into wisdom. Great writing lives out the lessons that life teaches us–and only the self-aware writer can capture those lessons on paper.

At every moment, every person is in constant flux between dissatisfaction and breakthrough, breakthrough and contentment, contentment and dissatisfaction. With my Tales of the Known World saga, it is my hope that readers become more self-aware through the adventures they have conquered.


That's it for this post! Check out my latest inspirations for more.

Download the Author's Manifesto here, or start your adventure below.

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Enlightened Entertainment: inspiration & spark

This post is part of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download.

This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore.

Find more consciousness content in my Cosmic Directory.

We have entered a new age. Our science tells us that ideas have frequencies, and we now know that energy creates the matter of our world. On the contested horizons of leading-edge science, humanity has discovered that everything is connected.

Through the mechanisms of energetic resonance, quantum particles leap into existence, and evidence is mounting that our thoughts influence how they manifest in the world. We are called as never before to lead uplifted, compassionate lives, and many of us have come together in the spirit of joyous self-discovery.

But through my own journey, I've noticed there's not much fiction out there for people like us, people who want to choose happiness over stress and positivity over negative thinking. From this new paradigm of thought, even the most brilliant TV shows and well-written films can seem hollow, disappointing, and rooted in an outdated approach to life. Since becoming an off-grid hermit isn't an option for everyone, what can the spiritually-inclined person enjoy at the end of the day?

My goal is to provide entertainment for the enlightened age. I welcome you to my Tales of the Known World saga. In this fantasy world, the magic works like the energy of thought, and spiritual principles guide the unfolding plot and characters involved.

Check out this Author's Manifesto for more of my inspirations!

These are not bland stories where everyone holds hands. My tales are gripping fantasy adventures! Through the lens of understanding, I explore the deepest flaws in our human nature, and I quest for answers about our own redemption. The story comes first, and if nothing else you will surely enjoy the epic tales I weave. But embedded in my work is a spiritual paradigm we've realized is true, though our culture is still adjusting to our new understanding that thoughts manifest reality.

I want you to enjoy your spiritual journey. If you've chosen to feel good regardless of what is staring you in the face, you should still be able to curl up with a good book or some great TV. My work as an author aims to provide the gripping adventures we all enjoy, but in a way that resonates with spiritual truths, rather than undermining them.

I invite you into my Tales of the Known World saga, so you can enjoy the benefits of an adventure woven from an uplifted perspective. The story is engaging, and the framework of the Known World will empower you to discover truths within your own heart. It has been my pleasure, honor, and privilege to create these stories for your enjoyment, and I hope my saga will spark more people to create entertainment for the enlightened age.


That's it for this post! Check out my latest inspirations for more.

Download the Author's Manifesto here, or start your adventure below.

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Celtic Tarot Card Meanings: an inspired collaboration

This post is Part 3 of a series to augment the Guest Resources available for free download. Start with Part 1 here.

This and other guest-inspired content is gathered in my Guest Directory for you to explore.

Find more tarot-related content in my Tarot Gallery.

After contributing my first guest post in Part 1 of this series, I was eager to create a second guest post for Linnea Tanner. She writes historical fantasy and explores Celtic mysticism, tradition, and mythology on her blog.

I asked her if any other animals had special relevance to her series of novels, and Linnea replied that wolves and horses were two important symbols in her books. As with my first guest post, I flipped through my tarot book for cards with wolves and horses.

Check out these Guest Resources for more inspirational content!

I found one card, The Shaman, with a wolf on it, and two cards, The Chariot and the Seven of Swords, with horses. Accompanying these cards was a wealth of knowledge about Celtic history, the symbolism of these animals, and how the animals were celebrated in Celtic tradition.

As I compiled my guest post proposal, I noticed how well the symbolism of these three cards tied together. Just like my last post, Linnea's knowledge of the ancient Celts helped me select cards with corresponding themes for her blog.

I submitted my enthused proposal, and Linnea had a surprise for me! Not only did she accept the proposed tarot post, but she inquired about a map commission for her upcoming novel, Apollo's Raven.

Everything happened in a blur after that. The map dominated my focus, and the next thing I knew, a week had flown by. I knuckled down to edit and format the post. Since Linnea's own posts are quite long and informative, I left in as much of my original draft as I could, presenting a vibrant and in-depth picture of the ancient Celts.

When the post was finished, I sent it to Linnea and got back to work on her map. She loved the post and soon it was live on her blog. The whole experience felt breezy and light, probably because we both were knee-deep in finishing her beautiful map of ancient Britain.

You can connect with Linnea
at LinneaTanner.com here.

And be sure to subscribe to Linnea's awesome blog, if you haven't already!

That's it for this post! Up Next: The actual guest post content...

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