Guest Blog, Author Jennifer Lawrence
Today we are joined by author Jennifer Lawrence. Jennifer was recently published in the Morrigan Books dark fantasy anthology The Phantom Queen Awakes along with best-selling authors Anya Bast, C.E. Murphy and more. Below, she gives us some insight into what inspired and led her to submit to the anthology.
“I originally stumbled across a call for submissions for this anthology in a community on LiveJournal that centered around the Morrigan. I’m familiar with the Morrigan from a life-long love of the different mythologies of the world. Additionally, roughly three-quarters of my ancestry is rooted in Ireland and Scotland, the ancient home of the Morrigan. I’ve known since I was fairly young (14 or 15, perhaps) that the Catholic faith I was brought up in wasn’t a good fit for me. It wasn’t that I didn’t necessarily believe in those things; it was more that they didn’t sing to me. I could believe in them the same way that I could believe that the earth revolved around the sun, but they didn’t inspire me with the deep faith that so many saints and mystics have written of.
When I turned eighteen, I began a long exploration into the various faiths of the world, trying to find the one that was really meant for me. I looked into Judaism, and Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism and Taoism. Wicca was interesting, but still not right…and then I discovered the existence, around the age of twenty-four or –five, of the various reconstructionist pagan faiths. These faiths—Asatrú and Hellenist Polytheism and Celtic Reconstructionism and similar paths—all seek to reconstruct or restore, as nearly as possible, the old ethnic pagan faiths of these various countries (Greece and Ireland and Norway and so on) to a modern standing.
And all of a sudden, I had found what I was looking for. I read the old epics like the Táin Bó Cúailnge and the Battle of Magh Tuireadh. I learned about the old gods of my ancestors from Ireland—Danu and the Dagda, Lugh and Brigid, Manannan mac Lir and the Morrigan. I researched their holy places like Tara and Kildare. I dreamed of some day making a trip to Ireland.
And so I embraced the worship of the pagan gods of Ireland, including the Morrigan. There are many ways to honor Her. One way I chose to do so was to go back to taking martial arts lessons, which I had enjoyed when I was younger, but stopped doing as I got older. Learning to better defend myself should I be attacked seemed a perfect form of homage for a goddess of war.
The story I have written for the anthology The Phantom Queen Awakes ['The Washerwoman'] is another devotional work. The Irish honored their bards over almost every other class in their kingdom, save perhaps the druids. Passing down the epics, songs, poems, and other tales from one man to another, preserving their history and literature, was considered one of the noblest acts a person could do. The tale I wrote for this anthology is not an old traditional one, but in sharing it with an audience, I am stepping for a moment into the shoes of those long-dead bards, and I think that in telling it, the Morrigan has paused for a moment to smile in approval.”
Jennifer, thanks so much for being here and for sharing such a personal part of your life and writing with us. If you’d like to ask Jennifer any questions, please do so below in the comments section, as she’ll be popping in and out throughout the day to chat with our readers.
And be sure to pick up a copy of The Phantom Queen Awakes, which includes Jennifer’s amazing short story among others, online or at your local bookstore. Our review of the book is coming soon, so stay tuned to RAO.
