Sunspots 463

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:


Christianity: An article on Speculative Faith, by me, based on a post, some years ago, in this blog, on how Christianity shows up in a novel by Juliet Marillier, a self-acknowledged Druid.
Computing: Are your passwords safe enough? Check them with the Microsoft Password Checker.
Humor: Audra McDonald sings the "best answers" to some Yahoo! questions for Tonight's Jimmy Fallon, in a 3 minute 42 second YouTube video.
Science: Wired reports that insects have become resistant to defenses built into corn crops, mostly because seed companies and farmers ignored the recommendations of independent scientists, and even denied the scientists access to the particular type of corn. Corporate greed strikes again.
Wired also reports on tardigrades, microscopic animals also called water bears. They have amazing resistance to most everything, including temperatures near absolute zero, and above boiling. There are photos.
National Public Radio reports on the 25th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez disaster. Scientists have discovered that the oil spill caused more damage, over a longer time, than they had originally supposed.


Image source (public domain)

Seer of Sevenwaters, by Juliet Marillier

Seer of Sevenwaters is the fifth book in the Sevenwaters series, by Juliet Marillier. (New York: Penguin, 2010) The books are historical romances, set in a fictional part of the real world, in perhaps the 16th century, mostly in the British Isles. Bookstores usually sell them as fantasy novels. Characters are Irish, Saxon, Norse, and from other parts of the old world. Seer of Sevenwaters includes a family tree. Sibeal, the main character in this book, is the granddaughter of Sorcha, the main character in the first book, Daughter of the Forest.

Marillier is a self-confessed druid. It is not surprising that many of the characters in her books are druid believers. As Marillier portrays that religion, it involved priests, who were celibate, and in tune with nature, and were also in tune with spirits of the land around them, and, perhaps, with supernatural beings, such as selkies.

I don't want to give away much of the plot of this book, which is well put together, and compelled my interest. I will say that Sibeal is in training as a druid priestess. She can see the future, at times, in visions, or by scrying -- looking in a special vessel or body of water. Such vision of the future can be deceptive. It might be something that is actually going to happen, or something that might happen, and it's not possible to tell. Sibeal falls in love with Felix, an outsider. He is not from her own ethnic group, and he does not practice her religion.

The characters are well drawn. They include a variety of people, with a variety of motives and interests. Many of them are part of Sibeal's family, but not all of them are.

In some of the other books of this series, Marillier included one or more Christian characters, who were presented as good people, and whose beliefs were also presented with respect, and without distortion. See here and here for my discussion of this aspect of Marillier's work.

This book has no Christian character, or at least no such character who is important, and who believes in Christ as God and savior. There are minor characters who make the sign of the cross when in danger. Felix, a major character, tells Sibeal:
"I was raised in the Christian faith, but my belief was shattered by the wrongs I saw enacted in the name of the Church. . . ." (395) During the conversation that this is part of, he indicates that he admires Sibeal's strong faith, and is drawn to it.

I was disappointed that Marillier had no strong Christian believer in this book, but deciding to have one was up to Marillier, not me, and the book is well-written, and well worth reading. Characters do have  moral choices. There are good characters, and characters who make lots of wrong decisions. One character is surprising in a way that I didn't expect.

Thanks for reading. Read Marillier.

Heart's Blood, by Juliet Marillier

I have read Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier. Although Heart's Blood is said to be the first book in a series, it stands alone quite well. Heart's Blood is an herb with important properties. The book is set in rural Ireland, in medieval times, and is told from the viewpoint of the main character, Caitrin, apparently a teen-aged girl. As the book begins, her father has died, and evil relatives have claimed the family's house, and claimed Caitrin as wife. She runs away, with a few clothes and her small kit of scribe's tools -- she is an accomplished manuscript preparer and copyist.

I have previously posted about Marillier's work. Her books are romances, with characters that are well drawn and that the reader easily sympathizes with. I have found her religious viewpoint of particular interest. Although Marillier is a self-acknowledged Druid, several of her books have important Christian characters, often unselfish, hard-working people, and she occasionally includes understanding of key Christian doctrine. In this book, there is a clear case of repentance and faith.

Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier

Juliet Marillier is a self-proclaimed follower of the druid religion. In spite of that, as I have indicated in previous posts, here and here, she has written sympathetically, and with seeming understanding, about Christianity and Christians.

Cybele's Secret (Knopf, Borzoi Books, 2008) is the latest book in which Marillier has touched on religion. In this book, set in Europe centuries ago, the main character is a practicing Christian, although seemingly only in the way many so-called Christians are, namely that they call upon God to help them when they are in deep trouble, but otherwise don't have much to do with Him. There is some mention of Islam, and of a pagan religion, perhaps similar to that of the Druids.

Since the Wikipedia does not yet have an article on this book, I will depart from my usual practice, and set forth a summary.

The book is a sequel to Wildwood Dancing, and, like that book, was written for young people. Paula, the main character in Cybele's Secret, was a minor character in Wildwood Dancing, a younger sister, of the main characters. The entire book is told from Paula's point of view.

Paula and her father have heard that an ancient idol, Cybele's Secret, which was involved in a female-centered religion a long time before the time of the book, may be available for purchase. The father is a trader, and has a buyer. He takes Paula with him to Istanbul, to attempt to purchase the object. Paula, although still a teenager, is scholarly. Istanbul is ruled by Muslims, although non-Muslims are welcome in the city, and there are many of them. However, women are not treated as equal to men.

Before entering the city, the ship that Paula and her father are traveling on meets the ship of a man named Duarte, a reputed pirate. When they arrive, one necessary procedure is to obtain the services of a guard for Paula. She selects a tall, muscular, good-looking man named Stoyan.

Paula helps her father with some of his trading, and even does a little herself, when her father is otherwise occupied. But she finds that she hungers for books, scrolls, and other items to read. Irene, the wife of a high official, has an excellent library, and Paula is allowed to use her library. Irene claims to revere Cybele's secret, and the religion it was part of. During Paula's use of the library, she finds two manuscripts that seem to be about Cybele's Secret, and has some mysterious visits from a woman in a black robe. Paula and Stoyan study the manuscripts, trying to figure out exactly what they mean. Paula comes to believe that this person is her sister Tati, who left the family to go into the realm of faerie with her lover, in the first book. Irene seems to be a good friend, although quite a bit older.

The potential buyers of Cybele's secret, including Paula and her father, and Duarte, with Irene serving as chaperone for Paula, are invited to see the object. It turns out that the object is a fragment -- a large fragment, but not the entire object, just the head and the upper body. Paula's father and Duarte seem to be the most likely buyers. Paula's father is waylaid, and beaten, on the way to a possible purchase, and Duarte buys the object. Paula and Stoyan manage to get on Duarte's ship. At first Duarte is antagonistic to Paula and Stoyan, and they reciprocate. However, another ship puts out from the harbor, chasing Duarte's ship, and Paula gradually comes to see that Duarte is no pirate, but an honorable man, and one who promised to return the statue of Cybele to its place of origin. He seems to be in love with Paula.

The three, using Paula and Stoyan's knowledge of the manuscripts, enter a cave. They are pursued by people from the other vessel, one of whom turns out to be Irene, supposedly Paula's friend, but obviously not really one. The cave is part of fairyland. Paula succeeds in doing several tasks, which means that she, Duarte and Stoyan are given the other part of Cybele's secret. During the time underground, it is revealed that Irene only wants the entire object so that she can set herself up as head of a religion for women in Istanbul. She does not believe in the religion of the Cybele cult.

Paula, Stoyan, and Duarte are allowed to leave the cave. Irene dies there. The three of them come out near an isolated village, which believes that Cybele's Secret will come to them, just as they bring it out. They leave the object there, for the villagers to revere. Their worship seems to be earth-worship, with no human sacrifices.

Paula would evidently have considered herself a Christian. She prays to the Christian God a few times, asking for His help, but does otherwise show any evidence of a deep faith.

The book ends with Paula planning to marry Stoyan, her former guard.

It was an exciting book. Marillier is a good writer. The issues treated, dangers faced, the moral choices, the practice of religion, pagan, Muslim, and Christian, are not as intense as in her books for adults, which, I suppose, is appropriate to the intended audience.

Marillier has been diagnosed with breast cancer, and is receiving treatment. I wish the best for her. The best would be that she not only be sympathetic to Christianity, but that she trust in the Christ of Christianity.

Thanks for reading.

Child of the Prophecy, by Juliet Marillier

This post is on the third book of Juliet Marillier's Sevenwaters Trilogy, Child of the Prophecy (New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2002). The previous post, on the second book, is here.

Again, Marillier displays her talent for placing characters in extended moral dilemmas. The first book had Sorcha, sister to six brothers, required to keep silent for years, in order to rescue the brothers from an enchantment placed on them by their stepmother, Oonagh. Sorcha finally succeeded. This book has Sorcha's granddaughter, Fainne, threatened by Oonagh, who is her other grandmother (I won't explain that in this brief post!). Oonagh threatens that she will torture and kill Fainne's father, Ciarán, physically and emotionally, if Fainne doesn't do her will, and she seems fully capable and willing to carry out this torture, even though Ciarán is her son. So Fainne, a teenager, believes, at first, that she has no other choice. Eventually, she sees that she does. Her great-uncle, Conor, a Druid priest, tells her, about another, but related matter, that there is always a choice.

Marillier says that she is herself a Druid. (The books of this series are set in the Ireland of the Middle Ages, where there were Druids.) As I mentioned, in posting about another, later series (see here, and especially here) by her, she does show some remarkable sympathy for Christianity. Not so much in this series, or in this book. No character of any importance is said to be a Christian. The longest statement about Christianity is:

I did not understand the Christian way. My studies suggested to me it was somewhat lacking in respect for the things that are: for the power of earth and sun, the force of water and the purity of air. Those are the cornerstones of the old faith, for without them, without the knowledge of moon and stars, without the understanding of all existences, how could one make any sense of things at all? We are a part of those wonders, tied to them as a newborn child is tied to its mother; if we do not know them, we do not know ourselves. (p. 537)

Unfortunately, too much of this is true now, and, perhaps, was in the Middle Ages, as well. Nature worship, whether Druid or pagan, isn't the cure for human ills -- Christ's death and resurrection is -- but belief in the efficacy of that resurrection should be compatible with respect and love for the world that the Word brought into being, and now sustains.

Two themes in the book are the importance of choices, and unselfish devotion as an ideal. Fainne's Aunt Liadan and her Uncle are portrayed as devoted to each other, trusting each other, in a way that is in harmony with 1 Corinthians 13. The love of Fainne and her father are another example of commendable love. Fainne confronts another of her great-uncles, Finbar, with his withdrawal from events. (Finbar was rescued from being a swan, but not completely -- one of his arms is a swan's wing.) In the end, he chooses to take part.

The entire series, over three generations, is about some small islands. They are represented as the heart of things. The series ends with the final destruction of Oonagh, and the return of the islands to their natural state, with Fainne and her new husband as guardians, not owners.

Like the other books in the series, this one is written entirely from the viewpoint of the main character, Fainne. Like the other books, there are supernatural elements, fairies and older beings, and supernatural abilities in humans, such as the ability to transform into an animal, to cast spells, to converse at a distance by telepathy, and to see the future. Fainne and various relatives have one or more of these abilities.

This is a powerful series, presenting, over and over, characters facing real moral choices. It also presents clear distinctions between good and evil. I wish Marillier wrote as a Christian, not a Druid, but am certainly glad that I have read this series for the second time.

Son of the Shadows, by Juliet Marillier

I have posted previously about Juliet Marillier's books. Son of the Shadows (New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2001) is the second of the Sevenwaters trilogy.

I try not to betray essential plot elements in my blog reviews of fiction, but deal with other features that interest me, and might interest you.

The book is entirely in the first person, with Liadan, daughter of Sorcha, the girl who rescued her brothers from their condition, enchanted swans, in the first book, as the narrator. Four of Sorcha's brothers, Liam, who now leads the household of Sevenwaters, Conor, who has become a druid priest, Padraig, who sails the known world, and Finbar, who has a swan's wing rather than one of his arms, and lives in the forest by himself, appear in the book. So do Liadan's older sister, Niamh, and her twin brother, Sean. As the book proceeds, this second generation of the family of Sevenwaters goes through great hardship, and experience love. Two of them have children.

In Foxmask, and Wolfskin, Marillier, who is not a Christian, showed considerable sympathy for Christianity. A character even told another about Christ's redeeming love. In the earlier trilogy, I did not find this. There is a little acknowledgement of the positive role of some priests and nuns during the middle ages, but there don't seem to be any Christians, under orders or otherwise, in this book. There is clear recognition of free choice, however:

I cannot believe that because he is her son, he must inevitably work evil in his life. To say that is to say we have no choice at all in what we do, in how we live. I don't believe that, Uncle. Juliet Mariller, Son of the Shadows (New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2001) p. 428. Liadan is speaking to Connor, her uncle, about Ciarán, who is also her uncle, but about her age. Lord Colum was his father by Oonagh, the sorceress.

"If you had accepted me, my path would have been different," he said bleakly. "If you find you dislike what I have become, you have only yourself to blame."
"Your actions are your own," I said, holding back my anger. "Your choices are your own. Each of us carries a burden of guilt for decisions made or not made." I saw a little image of my Uncle Liam, lying on the track with an arrow in his chest. "You can let that rule your whole life, or can put it behind you and move on. Only a madman lets jealousy determine the course of his existence. Only a weak man blames others for his own errors. Now, will you deal with me?" Juliet Mariller, Son of the Shadows (New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2001) p. 483. Eamonn is speaking with Liadan, blaming her that she rejected him for another. He has since done some evil things.

There are elements of fantasy in the book. For one, Liadan is able to share her thoughts with Sean, Liam, Finbar and Conor. (Sorcha was able to do this with Finbar and Conor, at least while they were not swans.) For another, the king and queen of the fair folk appear at critical points. It is obvious that they are not human, although, of course, they resemble them. There is also another race or two of magical people hinted at, deeply connected to the earth, or the ocean. For yet another, Finbar and Liadan have The Sight, an ability to forsee the future, or possible futures. It is a two-edged gift, because sometimes it shows what will happen, sometimes it shows what might happen, and sometimes it shows what the seer wants to happen, and it is usually impossible to distinguish among these possibilities.

I think one of the characters has abilities, or good fortune, that strain the bounds of the possible. He has ability to think ahead, to lead others, to determine (by ordinary means) what others are thinking, even others he is at war with, and to find his way through all kinds of forest. All this comes in handy, though!

As in all her books, Marillier places her characters in prolonged agonizing situations, testing their sanity, their love, and other aspects of their personalities. I'm glad I read this a second time.

Thanks for reading!

Daughter of the Forest, by Juliet Marillier

I have decided, rather to my surprise, that Juliet Marillier's Daughter of the Forest (New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2000) is one of my favorite books. It's over 500 pages long.

For more information on Marillier's writing, see my previous posts on it, here and here. In these posts, about two more recent novels by Marillier, I pointed out that she is a self-proclaimed pagan, but wrote of material from these novels, Wolfskin and Foxmask, indicating that not only is a Catholic priest portrayed in a positive light, and one of the main characters in the book, but that Marillier actually includes a passage in which a character comes to belief in the Christian God. All of her books that I have read are set, more or less, in and around the British Isles, during the Middle Ages. All of them have appeared in the Fantasy section of bookstores. They all include romantic love -- eros, in the terminology of C. S. Lewis.

I'm trying not to give away the plot in this post, at least no more than the back cover of the book does.

I hadn't really paid attention to Christianity in Marillier's writing when I first read Daughter of the Forest. This time, after finding it inescapable in the two novels mentioned above, I looked for it. It's there, but not so much as in the later books. There is a priest who is an important character, but he is not so throughout the book, only in the first part. There is another priest who plays a minor role later. Both are portrayed quite positively. (There is another priest mentioned briefly, who does not appear, who is apparently not such a good man.)

Since the events occur early, and are at least hinted at on the back cover of my copy, I will say that Sorcha, the seventh child of Lord Colum of Sevenwaters, must try to save her six brothers, Liam, Diarmid, twins Cormack and Conor, Finbar and Padraic, from an enchantment laid on them by their stepmother, Oonagh. (Their mother, Niamh, died in birthing Sorcha.) The book, told by Sorcha, is the story of how she works to save her brothers, and how she falls in love. The main appeal, for me, is the agonizing ordeal she must go through, the good writing, the reverence for nature, and the good characters Sorcha finds from time to time, sometimes in unexpected places.

As in Wolfskin and Foxmask, there are religions beside Christianity. Although not much is said about them, there are Druids in the book. Nonhuman beings, with limited supernatural powers, appear occasionally.

As I said, Christianity isn't as openly presented in this book as in the other two, but it is there, and treated with respect throughout. So is Druidism. A Druid says this: "There is no good or evil, save in the way you see the world. There is no dark or light, save in your own vision." (p. 535. I don't know if this is Druid doctrine, or just the character speaking for himself.) In a way, the whole book has argued against that very belief -- there are good people, and evil ones, in it. Christianity doesn't so much teach that there are bad and good people, as that there is evil in the world, and that if we don't choose to follow Christ, we will be a part of it.

Thanks for reading.

Paganism and Christianity in Juliet Marillier's fiction, pt. 2

The first part of this is here. In that post, I commented on Wolfskin, by Juliet Marillier, and referred to an interview with Marillier, in which she said that she is a pagan.

Foxmask is a sequel to Wolfskin, and, as in the previous book, Christianity is presented in a positive manner. In fact, a character comes to belief in God in the book.

"What changed your mind?" Thorvald whispered.
And Niall said simply, "Love."
After a little, Thorvald took his father's hand in his, swallowing, and asked him, "You said that was half the reason. What was the other half?"
"I discovered that God has a sense of humor. All those years I played the part of a priest: I stood by my brethren and mouthed the words they spoke in true faith; I copied the scriptures not because I believed a single word of them, but simply so I would not lose the skills I had at reading, scribing and translation. I argued philosophy with Breccan: there was genuine pleasure in that. I tried not to let my cynicism confuse the boy. I found a certain calm in the pattern of their days; the order and discipline of their life suited me. But I was no Christian. My mind was full of doubt and disbelief. I have seen enough of the dark acts men can perform. I have felt such shadows in my own being that I could hardly be swayed to believe in a god of goodness and light, however eloquently Breccan pleaded his case. Until now."
"What do you mean?"
"God's joke: he saved it until the last, testing my resistance to him all those years. It was simple, Thorvald, simple and shattering. You came, and Creidhe told me I had a son, and I saw you, the one fine thing I had made. I had known nothing of your existence before then. Something changed within me; something opened, a tiny crack, a little chink. It is all God needs. I ceased to resist him, and I hear his voice. He laughs now, I imagine. He has won this battle, and I am truly his." pp. 507-8

As I indicated in the previous post, Marillier is a good writer. She portrays memorable characters, and puts them in emotionally gripping situations.

I expect to re-read her trilogy, published earlier, and look for her treatment of Christianity, with a view to posting, eventually.

Thanks for reading.

* * * * *

On April 2, 2009, E Stephen Burnett wrote an essay, asking questions about how far a Christian author could go in writing fiction which has a God who is significantly different from the Christian God, and whether a Christian could legitimately create a fictional character who is in defiance of God. I posted tentative answers to these questions, which are related to the subject of the post above, on April 13, 2009.

Paganism and Christianity in Juliet Marillier's fiction

Juliet Marillier, author of fiction set centuries ago, in Europe, claims to be a pagan. She states that she belongs to a Druid order.

I read her Sevenwaters trilogy (Daughter of the Forest, Son of the Shadows, and Child of the Prophecy -- these books won, or were nominated for, various awards) some years ago. I read her Wolfskin recently. Without giving away the plot, I'd like to point out a few things about the book.

First, it presents two pagan religions as if they were real, and gave real connection to a supernatural world. These two are a pagan religion found in the Orkney islands, where much of the book takes place, and a Norse religion. The pagan priestess, in an extreme situation, summons beings from the earth and the sea to help her. The berserker warrior communes with his god in a vision.

The above wasn't a great surprise, both from my previous recollection of her books, and because I knew that Marillier claimed to be a pagan herself. The second thing I point out is that there is a Christian priest, who is presented as if Christianity, too, were real. Marillier says: "A discussion of religion and spirituality creeps into every book I write, because it's important to me. It was especially interesting in Wolfskin, because here we have three different sets of beliefs in potential opposition to one another." Her sympathetic portrait of a Christian was a surprise.

Here's an important passage:
". . . Doesn't your god love even sinners?"
Tadhg regarded her gravely. "Indeed. God is in all of us. Some are clothed in the brightness of the Holy Spirit, and goodness shines from them, a goodness which has its source deep within. Such a sweet wellspring never runs dry. No force or evil can pollute its clear water. But some are weaker vessels, and that small spark of the divine is hidden far within them. It takes a brave man or woman, Nessa, to open up his very being and examine what is there: to lay his soul bare to that burning light. Such a choice is fearful indeed, for one must recognize the fear and anguish, the deceit and duplicity, the lust and the violence, all the wretchedness that mortal man bears in his essential clay. Yet, if a man dare open himself to God's love, his sins are forgiven and the path made new. That is the wondrous truth of which our Lord Jesus told. It is the way of light. . . ." Wolfskin (New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2002) p. 149.

C. S. Lewis said, in several of his writings, that paganism wasn't entirely wrong. (He did not propose that paganism was meant to be the way to God -- Christianity is that way.) Perhaps Marillier is a modern-day example of that.

Here's what David C. Downing had to say about this matter (in Into the Wardrobe: C. S. Lewis and the Narnia Chronicles. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, an imprint of John Wiley & Sons, 2005):
. . . Lewis rejected both universalism and predestination as negations of free will. His position is better described as "inclusivism," the idea that Christ's reconciling work may sometimes apply even to those who are not aware of it. Lewis did not feel that he was being unorthodox in this matter. He refers several times in his letters to Christ's portrayal of judgement in which he welcomes those who fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and visited the sick, saying that all such service done for the least of his brethren is accounted as service done to him. (84-5)

and

In The Discarded Image . . . he spends two pages showing that pagans and early Christians had far more in common than either shares with modern thinkers. Pagan is one of those words . . . that has a specialized meaning in Lewis's books. In common usage, pagan and Christian are practically contraries, the first representing a secular, this-worldly attitude, and the second representing its opposite. Lewis saw no such antithesis; he called paganism "the childhood of religion . . . a prophetic dream" For him, paganism was an anticipation, Christianity the fulfillment. (109)

Added July 28, 2010: 

". . . Has it ever struck you what an odd creation Merlin is? He's not evil; yet he's a magician. He is obviously a druid; yet he knows all about the Grail. . . ." (Dr. Dimble, speaking to Jane Studdock, in That Hideous Strength, by C. S. Lewis. New York: Collier, 1962, p. 31.)

The third aspect of Marillier's writing that I want to mention is that her characters often suffer great hardship, and have to make difficult choices. That's not unique to Marillier, of course. But the main thing I recall about the Sevenwaters trilogy is the excruciating anguish of the heroine, Sorcha, over a long period, as she tries to perform a most difficult task, under difficult circumstances. (This was in the first book.) Marillier's main characters can be heroes, in the definition given by R. A. Salvatore.

The second part of this post is here.

* * * * *

I added the quotations from Downing on April 15, 2008.

On April 2, 2009, E Stephen Burnett wrote an essay, asking questions about how far a Christian author could go in writing fiction which has a God who is significantly different from the Christian God, and whether a Christian could legitimately create a fictional character who is in defiance of God. I posted tentative answers to these questions, which are related to the subject of the post above, on April 13, 2009.

Thanks for reading!