The Authors Kingdom is the Author, Robin John Morgan’s point of view that reveals an insight into his writing of Heirs to the Kingdom. It forms part of the Christmas Event for 2016.
A Circle of Belief
It is Yule in the Woodland Realm. The snow is white crisp and deep, the houses are warm, and a large log has been set to burn to bring back the light and warm the world.
One of the primary aspects of the woodland life is their belief system. When I first started out putting HTTK together, I tried to look at every aspect of life, and a part of that was the way in which the country would change, even within the spiritual belief of people. I assumed that all the remaining religions would declare that the chaos and death, was whichever particular God’s you followed way of showing their power, by wiping out the evil in the world. Too many times after a destructive event we are told, this is their will, and we are sinners who must repent, and this made me think, because I do understand how a large proportion of people think, what if those who were suffering could no longer accept that?
In my end of the world of Modern Man scenario the people fled into the countryside, and it was here that they found their saviours in the form of people who still embraced many of the of the old customs. It is largely true today that within the rural community there are still many of the old traditions that exist, even though Christianity is still a major factor of modern life. If you look you will find many pageants around the country that celebrate the Celtic and Saxon traditions of our past, and so that led me onto the path of looking at these older traditional beliefs as a way to reconnect the survivors with a different faith that could to a degree show to be their saviours.
In the scenario I wrote, I have shown how after the Red Death, and once the people had fled from the cities, the weather turned warm and nature flourished. Although I have never written it, I have implied that Opal played a big role in this, never forget she at that point was the Lady of the Woodland Realm. From my point of thinking, it was Opal who influenced the life all around her, and so therefore the harvests were better than normal, a very important ingredient in the survival of everyone in that first year. This created a scenario where those of a pagan based faith could stand and say that this was the work of their precious nature taking care of everyone, and in many ways for those who are disillusioned, I felt it would be something many would accept and embrace, after all their life had gone from one of the modern way of living, to working with the land.
One of the biggest problems with Paganism is that for the last two thousand years it has been painted black by the Christian faith, and so I knew at the time I had to approach the subject in a more sensitive way. There are many today who still think that to be a Pagan you have to be a devil worshiper, which is a tribute to the success of the Christian faith and its propaganda throughout the past. I have a lot of involvement with Pagans; I have many friends who all practice in different ways, but the one thing they all share, is a deep awareness of the world around them, and especially in the area of the Nature and the seasons of the year. I like to think that being a Pagan is a sort of life that is very spiritual (In many mays likened to Buddhists) and deeply environmental, there is no coincidence that many environmental protestors are Pagan, as they see the natural world as a sacred space, and they are prepared to stand up and fight to save it.
The most popular form of Paganism today is Wiccan, which began to resurge from about the late 1950’s in the UK and the USA, it has grown a lot faster in the states, but again there are many misconceptions about it, especially in the area of what they term as “The Craft.” Wiccans do call themselves “Witch and Warlock” as do many other kinds of Pagan, and to a large degree this frightens people off. I can assure you it is not all broomsticks and cauldrons and evil spells, in many ways it is the gentle approach to life and its surroundings that involve a directed focus on creating peace and harmony through rituals and spells, you may see it more as “White Witchery.”
Rather than have everyone in the books convert to Wiccan or any of the other forms of Pagan belief, I decided to create what we see in the books as Earth Faith. I used the term for two reasons, firstly to show the reader it was a belief based on the Earth (Nature etc..) and secondly I do not actually like the word Pagan. Historically and still even to this day in the dictionary, you will find that the definition of Pagan means at its most basic, “Uneducated Heathen” something I feel considering how many pagans I know is false. It is yet another example on the success of the Christian Church and how it has influenced every aspect of modern life, including our language.
Earth Faith in the books is based very much on the Pagan belief of the Druids. It is a way of life based in the soil and the belief that we are all connected to this Earth, and that there is an almost symbiotic relationship between us as humans and the trees and plants that surround us. The belief we are all dependant on each other in the circle of life is something I do actually believe myself, and so it was easy for me to write a belief system based on those views. Put as simply as possible, we need each other. We need the trees to provide the air we breathe, we need the plants to feed us and the animals so that we can thrive, we need the spaces to provide natural habits for the animals, and at the heart of all things we need the seasons and what they bring to help us maintain a natural and healthy environment, especially in the aspect of providing clean water.
In my mind all the above is simply the most practical approach to maintaining the world we live in, but even for those who are not believers of the Pagan way, I am sure you will agree that when you walk alone in a woodland, there is an almost spiritual air to the experience, as we all can when we look at nature, we feel our own connection to the world around us. Here it is easy to bring into play some real Pagan belief. We don’t always realise it, but in modern life we humanise everything, our TV shows have ghosts and talking animals. It is not uncommon to see children’s TV showing animals that wear clothes and drive cars and love all of the things we do, as they live in tiny houses etc, and yet talk of a man of the woods, lady of the lake, or god of thunder, and suddenly the modern world says we are all high on drugs and talking nonsense.
Here I always point to mythology, which has inspired the writing of books for hundreds of years, simply read the Tales of Grimm, Arthur and the round table, or Arabian Knights, and you will soon see that our whole world is underpinned with the tales of yesteryear, which are all based in one form or another on Pagan belief. These stories are not works of fantasy, they are the upgraded stories of our ancestors, all from a time long before the Christians or the Islamic faith grew to power. We are exposed to these tales throughout all of our childhood, and yet once we step into our adult life we are told it is nonsense, fairy stories, and wrong to continue to believe it. I always point out, that it was these very myths that taught children how to navigate our iron and bronze age world, and no matter how modern and protected we think we may be, nature as we have seen in the last decade has a funny way of rising up to show that man is not really in control, and we need to learn better how to avoid the pit falls she creates.
One of the easiest ways to get a child to understand something is to make it human like, which is why our ancestors did it, within HTTK I have done the very same thing. I have the Man of the Words who they call Green Lord, I have the source of life Eve, I have a power that lives in the sky, Albanlin, and I have a force of nature divided between two human forms, Runestone and Jade. Each of these characters interact with other humans on a human level, but they are the human representations of those very same powers of the Earth.
When it came to the rituals, I wanted to avoid the old argument of how the Christians used Pagan dates in order to supress Pagan belief, and introduce their faith to the masses. It is a very important aspect of Pagan belief, and so with a delicate touch I have introduced some of the main traditions of beliefs to the books under the guise of Earth Faith. I think to be honest a part of me wanted to write how living within the balance of life has its rewards, but I also wanted to show that these traditions are not evil, or devil related. I mention Imbolc (Fed 2nd) and show a little of what is still today a big part of rural life, in the form of Beltaine. (May Day) There is no coincidence that we all have a bank holiday on the weekend of May first; this is more a political thing today than say religious, but it is yet another example of how the Pagan belief has been manipulated to appease the masses whilst suppressing the Pagan tradition. Summers end is still the highlight of the Pagan year, and so I wanted very much to show it within the books. To overcome any issues that could arise from it, I spliced it with Runestone’s birthday, and her upcoming wedding. This allowed me to show the celebration in the background, whilst writing a full piece into the book on her wedding. Samhain, or All Hallows Eve, is a sacred time for Pagans. Whilst the rest of the country today celebrate the death of witches, (Pagan women burned alive for their Pagan belief) Pagan’s celebrate the end of the growing year, and the start of the preparations for winter and the new growing year to come.
Again with the modern world this is no longer significant as we all just run off to the local large market on the edge of town to buy what we need, but I wanted to show that for our ancestors this was a dramatically important time. The harvest was in, and it was a time to prepare for the storage of food, this is a life and death moment for those who live solely on the land, if you do not store enough, you will not make it through the long cold days. Samhain is about doing exactly that, you take what will be required and place it into storage, food is pickled and preserved, meat is salted and stored, and grains are ground to flour and placed in cool stores. It is the reason most houses to this day still have a pantry, because in older times that was where the food was placed until required. Once everything is stored away and safe for the winter, the excess was then used in a meal of celebration, and the whole community would gather to share a meal and strengthen the bonds between them. It is something I feel to be a tradition that we should revive, after all we all lock ourselves in our homes for the long cold snowy days of December and January, maybe a festival revival would make us realise that we do have neighbours, and we could strengthen our communities and maybe take a moment in bad weather to think of them and ensure they too are safe. This was the purpose of Samhian, and as I wrote it, it is clear that there are no devils or evil acts involved, if anything it is a festival of friendship.
Life no matter how you try to deny it is a wheel. It goes round in a circle dictated by the seasons and repeats, we are born, we live, we die. We are children who learn, grownups who work, and mature adults who retire, and then we die. We go to bed and sleep, we wake and eat, we begin our day and work, we return home at night to eat, and then we sleep. The whole of human life revolves around circular patterns of routine, the Pagan’s recognise this and work their faith within it.
My story centres on a farm that became the focal point of a group of people, and so as the year progresses I show the circle of the farms work routines. I show the fields of Mid-Summer filled with food, Jess and Hanna running the preserves operation as they pickle the tomatoes, or Fuse as he oversees the corn and wheat stores with Jess. Throughout the whole of Heirs to the Kingdom there is the farm always in the background noting the lifestyle of those within the woodland realm, even Joe alone in the woodland has his still as he cooks up potent whiskey. It is the cycle of rural life, and again it shows us all how we can live on the land with hard work and make it successful. Everything appears to balance, even Robbie when faced with a stag and the deer as he hunts, tells Runestone, “we only take what we need.” This is the heart of Earth Faith working to the benefit of everyone.
Today as I write it is the start of Yule, another element of the faith that I briefly slip within the pages of the books. Today we know that the days will begin to stretch and grow longer as more light will enter the world. Light from the sun is one of the most important elements of the growing year; it is the one factor that will determine the success or failure of your crops. It is the middle of winter, which is a time of concern, especially if you have to manage the food you have stored. In the faith it is important to recognise that the half way point has been reached, and soon you will be on the threshold of Spring. In Pagan belief evergreen trees are sacred; they show us that life can be sustained through the long deep cold of winter. They are the symbol of hope that kept our ancestors going, and today we take an evergreen and bring it into our home and decorate it. It is a massively Pagan belief, and something all of us do without even understanding why.
To our ancestors it was a significant act that brought new life at a hostile time, into the home to show that it was possible to live in the most hostile of seasons. The days are dark and cold, and so a large log is placed on the fire, they called it Yule Log; we still have them today except we make them from candy and cake. It is at this point when you look to your stores, and you will know how you will fair in the coming months. Up until this point food has been rationed, and so now is the time to see if there is extra. At this time of celebration of the halfway point, extra rations are given and it provides a chance to fatten up a little to have the important reserves within your body to face the hostile end of winter. It is an important part of the life we live in partnership with the land, and so it is a highly significant time in Earth Faith. It has been demonised by the Christian Faith as tree worship and demon worship and converted to Christmas, and yet even they bring in a tree and decorate it in their churches.
The whole point of Earth Faith was to give mu characters a stronger sense of identity based on rituals of the past. I also wanted to show that this belief that still exists today, is not evil or sinister as it has been painted, but is based on a way of life that kept us alive long enough to evolve into the world as we know it today. Like all things you can hood wink the people for so long, and Pagan belief has become a growing trend in the last decade. I still think there is lot of misconception between the clashing faiths of Pagan and Christianity, and actually the sad thing is that Christianity in a bid to overcome the strength of Pagan belief in the past developed a lot of its own ritual around that of the rituals it was trying to destroy, and as a result both faiths have very much a similar way of living their year. They have far more in common, than they realise, if fact I would even say they have more in common than they do uncommon. Christian’s have one god, Pagans give human aspects to the powers they know are out there, and yet the rituals and timing of them are very similar, and I felt when writing I wanted to show this.
In book four I deliberately wanted to show the Christian Church of the past, and the modern church. I crashed the two together in the chapters leading up to the chapter “Tests of Faith.” I think it is important to acknowledge those of all faiths who refuse to change with the times, and it was here I showed the dogma of Brother Argus, pitted against the reformer Bishop Steven’s. Into the mix I through reason in the form of Runestone, and as we see she does point out that they both have far more in common than they would at first realise. I like this chapter, although I will not deny I had a lot of flak over it, but at least that provides me with my side of the coin and I can explain to those who attacked me at the time what it was I was trying to show. Admittedly those entrenched in dogma were never going to listen and understand my point of view, but a lot did listen from both sides of the equation, and I felt that the chapter brought forth a lot of understanding for both parties, and that is a good thing. It is easy to sling mud at an opponent, but point out their similarities and the task gets harder.
In HTTK understanding Mason would seek to influence, I think it was simple deduction to say he would look to a surviving church, and so it made sense to give my opposition to Mason an opposing view. It served the purpose of creating a good clash between old culture and new evolving culture, and also gave me a chance to show a little more understand of all sides of the spiritual boundaries. I hope it worked well and did show the readers something new of this modern world. I think within Earth Faith it shows you can be spiritual, without being religious, and you can work to protect the earth without being a Pagan, but more importantly I think it showed that we can all live together with dialogue no matter what our spiritual beliefs may be, and looking at the current world today, I actually think it could be a very good thing indeed.
The customs and traditions of our past were there for a very important reason, and it is one we should not forget. They were customs that kept us in touch with ourselves and the land we lived on, and in many ways it is sad they have been left by the wayside in the wake of Christianity, and the growth of the modern world. Pagan belief taught us that we are all connected to everything, and modern life with money had taught us everything can be sold. More than ever it is important that we understand the past, for it is in doing so we can build a better future. I think the message of our ancestors is very important, and it is not one we should easily ignore as we are doing today. The messages woven in to early religious faith was based on the facts of survival, and we are all intelligent enough to now see that, and understand we can learn from these rituals without having to be a part of that faith, and as a result we can prosper in peace.
Heirs to the Kingdom highlights one way of life, that could evolve in future years, after all we really do not have any idea of what will become of mankind. No doubt if such a scenario did occur, I am sure religion would rise in one form or another to either control or aid the survivors. I honestly think if one religion rises, others will rise to challenge it, and within those faiths will be a blue print for the kinds of life those people want to rebuild. I have to confess it is a great deal of fun to sit back and play out all the scenarios, and I have very much enjoyed putting my little pieces together. I enjoy reading books that challenge my view of the world, because in doing so I have to open my mind and try to figure out where my place in it would be, and in a way I have done something similar with HTTK. I suppose now the only question is, where would you be in HTTK, green world or stone?
Be you Christian, Islamic, Pagan or any of the other faiths that exist in the world today, I send to you my wishes for a peaceful and prosperous time of year, and I hope your celebrations are fruitful and happy.