Ben Storms knows fire. A hotshot, he’s not afraid to fight fire with fire and walk into the belly of a blaze to put it out. Only one thing has ever frightened him—how he feels about Hadyn O’Hara, a fellow firefighter. The largest wildland fire in decades brings them together for a hot time. Too bad Fire is a jealous bitch and doesn’t want to share Ben. Hadyn breathes in the spirit of Fire after an injury and sets Ben’s heart ablaze—with dire consequences to them both.
This steamy short explores sacred sexuality and the space where reverence and devotion meet the flesh.
Coming soon, from Burning Heart Press
Meditation today. Oy. Dancing with my muse down the proverbial garden path. The brief appearance of my Patroness, Freyja. I asked what my Work is–now that I’ve accomplished the mission, run the gauntlet, got the t-shirt.
You must devote your time and effort to the contribution campaign right now. For the next 30 days, don’t contact Me if that helps.
I panicked. Don’t dance with my Muse? What? Was I being summarily dismissed?
No. I’m not. Muse just desires me to focus on chanting and helping others chant right now. For the next month. He calmed me and said if I need Him, to g’head and call. I’m a writer–how can I live without my Muse?
He held out His hand and a beam of amber light shot from His open palm to mine. He said that “this month” was impetus for me to develop a “gold standard.”
Sometimes, it is so hard to chant. It is at once, the greatest joy and the most painful act. Having been chanting for 30 years, I am well aware of the benefits and “Human Revolution” which can and will occur in my life if I increase the amount of chanting I do and help others do the same. Do I want to see the “gold standard” of my life and the lives of others revealed? Or do I wanna get whiny about knowing what’s right for my life and just not wanting to do the Work?
I think I’ll chant about that 
Hail Loki, god of change, challenge and my Muse of writing delights.
I do “possessory work.” I allow spirits, under strict terms, to “ride” me. Said spirit then speaks through me. It’s called “horsing” in both Caribbean and Northern Traditions. Every now and then, the spirit I work with wears spurs. That happened when I was in Florida the first week of April. I was ridden hard and put away wet, so-to-speak. I didn’t “ground” properly, we were too busy for thorough aftercare and I became ill. I couldn’t hold food or water down and my blood sugars went crazy. I asked the spirit to back down and stay away for the remainder of the trip. I recovered.
Then, everything around me started breaking. At the day job, several key bits of programming went teats-up. Email, the PA system, the bells. And at home, our “homestone.” We had it made to thank our household gods and land wights for our new home last September. Crack!
Then the dreams of being lost and having empty cups (no fortune) began. I later found a lost child at the grocery store (that is a blog post in itself).
The proverbial clue-by-four hit me upside the head and I heard the spirit speak. He said that I had banished him and that he felt unwelcome and lost without me. I had not taken the time to “invite” him back into my daily life. I chanted about that fact this morning and made the verbal invitation. I will make an offering tonight on our land to seal the “welcome home” deal.
There are steps that very, very seriously need to be followed when one works with the old gods and spirits. One of these steps is proper grounding and aftercare. Another is listening to and noticing the signs and wonders around you after such an ordeal to see what else needs doing.
Yellow ribbons deployed, sir. Welcome home and hail Loki.
A recent conversation gave me pause. I had to consider the issue. Ponder it. Topic? The power of words. I am a Nichiren Buddhist (SGI-USA). I am also a Northern Tradition pagan. I’m pretty sure that the “shoten zenjin” or protective functions of the universe in Buddhism, especially in my case, are the old gods. They still get ’round, yanno? So, let me toss out a Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and Hail Odin for watching my back. For thirty+ years I have chanted and recited portions of the Lotus Sutra in my Buddhist practice the way I was taught to recite them. And it ain’t in English, peeps.
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo flows much sweeter off the tongue than “Invocation of the mystic law of cause and effect through voice.” Makes sense to chant it as Nichiren did. But Gongyo…which means “assiduous practice” although melodic and sonorous, is a different animal. I tell folks we all learn it one word at a time. Gongyo is recited twice daily in a phonetic manner based upon the classic language Nichiren spoke. No matter where we are in the world, if we sit down to recite the sutra with another SGI Buddhist, Gongyo will sound the same way due to its phonetic translations into a myriad of different languages. Nichiren recited the sutra in the classical Chinese (or Japanese) language and to unify with him and the millions of his followers around the globe, it goes without saying that we should recite it the same way he did. Not in English. Not in Tamil. Not in Greek or Navajo. Even if we don’t understand it. True that.
Words have power. Many words have SERIOUS power, and we are able to wield that power even if we don’t understand the true implications of the utterance. Gongyo is one of those kind of things.
Gongyo can be read in English. The entire Lotus Sutra has been translated (more than once). I’ve read it. I’ve recited it aloud in English. It does not wield the same power as when we recite it in the language Nichiren taught it in, but whatever. It’s what I wanted to do and 25 years later, I can say I did it and did not suffer ill-effects for doing so.
As a child I used to create spells and incantations based upon phrases from my favorite books. Even as a ten year old, I recognized that words have power. One I recall clearly is “AVERT!” from “A Wizard of Earthsea.” I believed in Erreth-Akbe, a wizard-warrior from the series. I wore his sigil. I danced the long dance. I wanted to fuse with the magic talked about in the series.
I now understand the difference between using *good* fiction as a communication/divination tool, mundane words, powerful words and invocation of the mystic law. I do fuse with the magic every time I chant. It is my galdr (sacred/magical words), my focus and the basis of my life force.
I choose to practice Buddhism the way Nichiren taught. Because that’s what I’m told to do? Hardly. I’ve proved the power of words to myself. I chant and recite Gongyo and honor my personal shoten zenjin, because I must. All of it is a part of me as much as much as the fat roll around my middle or heavily coated-with-mascara eye lashes.
Words have power. Wield them carefully, precisely. Magically. Joyfully.
It’s been about a year since I “blogged.” I was under instructions from the powers that be to “write.” Not blog. During the last year, I’ve had things I wanted to blog about, but withheld my opinions in order to be a more focused writer. Meh. Today, I blog. I’d like to talk about my book, “Songs of the Flesh,” written under the pen name Elspeth MacLean. This is my first pseudo-steampunk fighter chick novel. There’s at least one more percolating. My daughter inspired the main character, Reggie Halfdan. Songs of the Flesh isn’t all sex, all the time. Reggie becomes imbued with the spirits of fallen heroes while fighting her way through a labyrinth. Her companion is a Dog Boy named Hundi–a wolf shapeshifter. It is a bloody, tense, sexy (yes, there is sex in it) tale.
Out now! |
Available now! |
Because everyone loves a sexy beast!
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Escape the mundane with a world of sultry, sexy paranormal men – tricksters, djinn, incubi, and the women who love them, because nothing’s sexier than redemption.
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