Tracey-anne McCartney

Awake in Purple Dreams

Purple is used in three book titles of this series because it symbolises magic and mystery.

It is a rare colour in nature and often seen as having sacred meaning. Lavender, orchid, lilac, and violet flowers are often considered enchanted, sacred, and precious. Purple was the colour of the first synthetic, organic, chemical dye made by man. It was called “Mauveine” and made from coal tar. The recipe was discovered by William Henry Perkin in 1856. There is also Tyrian purple. More HERE

The colour purple or violet is seen as uniting the “wisdom” of blue and the “love” of red, symbolising justice and royalty. Leonardo da Vinci believed that the power of meditation increases ten times when done in a purple light, as in the light of stained glass. Violet is the colour associated with the Crown Chakra. This chakra is the main coordination center of the body and ensures connection to universal sources of energy. The saying “purple haze” refers to euphoria. 

More information on purple HERE ~ HERE ~ HERE   

Awake in Purple Dreams ~ meaning dreaming while awake. In the books, it is a place where reality and dreams meet via a thin mystical veil that joins worlds. Reality becomes blurred and partially substituted by a visionary fantasy experienced while awake. 

All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream ~ Edgar Allan Poe

AMAZON U.K HERE         AMAZON U.S.A HERE

How do you grasp a soul?

Bethany's nickname is Bea - (once used by her mother as a term of endearment for reason's unknown)

In Latin the meaning of the name Bea (short for Beatrice) is: bringer of joy, she who makes happy, she who brings happiness, which is from beātus (happy, blessed). In the Divine Comedy, Beatrice was Dante's guide through Paradise, to Empyrean. Beatrice is more than a simple muse. She is an idealized love, the kind of love that transcends physicality. 

Empyrean (similar to the Sindria, Calageata), in ancient cosmologies was occupied by the element of fire (or aether (Light) in Aristotle's natural philosophy). It is the dwelling-place of the blessed, celestial beings so divine they are made of pure light, and are the source of light and creation. This paradise is depicted as a series of concentric spheres surrounding the Earth, which includes the Empyrean. 

Calageata is a haven for souls. The entrance is often referred to as Swan-Gate, which represents an ethereal swan-type bird (Benu) in the Otherworld creation story. A sacred bird that could cross time and space on a cosmic sea. 

Sacred Bird of Light

However, there is a secret to access these ancient tales. 

Shall I tell you what the secret is? 

Where all secrets can be found?

In your soul.

Now that you have the key, you need only to find the lock.

What you seek is seeking you ~ Rumi

Your hand in mine, remember?

A Love Square or Rectangle.

Love rectangles tend to be more complicated than love triangles. They may be a spin-off from the main love triangle, as a sub-plot. It describes a romantic relationship that involves four people, analogous to the typically three-sided love triangle. Many people use this term for a romantic relationship between two people that is complicated by the romantic attentions of two other people or one person who is complicated by the romantic attentions of three other people, but it is more frequently reserved for relationships where there are more connections. An example of a love rectangle in classic literature is in William Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, between the characters Lysander, Demetrius, Helena, and Hermia. More HERE

In 'A Carpet of Purple Flowers' Series )Books 1 & 2, the love rectangle is composed of: Bea - Chance - Karian - Alithia

The crow, the deer, and the fox ~ A Children's Story HERE

A story told by Vishnu-Sarma to young princes. Original source: Fables and Proverbs from the Sanskrit, being the Hitopadesa. Charles Wilkins (1787).

I was inspired by the tale and images below and further developed the idea but in a different way, which added an extra little twist to the book ~ Reminds me of The Deisi and The Heaven Stone Warriors way of life/thinking.

Spirit Guides ~ In the shamanic belief everything is alive and carries with it power and wisdom. Shamans believe that everyone has a power animal/animal spirit which attach to individuals adding to their power and protecting them, acting similarly to a guardian angel. Everyone is thought to have a few of these guardian power animals over a lifetime. A particular power animal can help you with an issue that is very specific to you. More HERE

It is said that a Spirit Animal will come to you with a message when you need it.

 Image Source Tommy Pinterest Character Board HERE and Kitty's HERE

Tommy's Songs HERE & HERE

Elemental Sindria of Calageata

Image Source Board HERE

Tell me, what makes you human?

Your outer skin is but a fine coat woven from an earth mother's womb. 

Remove the cloth skin and...

we are light, 
we are one, 
they, you, and I

*A~me~us~ou~ya*

"All organic matter containing carbon was produced originally in stars."

"We are a way for the universe to know itself. Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return. And we can, because the cosmos is also within us. We're made of star stuff." 

~ Sagan 

Carbon, nitrogen and oxygen atoms in our bodies, as well as atoms of all other heavy elements, were created in previous generations of stars over 4.5 billion years ago. Because humans and every other animal, as well as most of the matter on Earth contain these elements, we are literally made of star stuff, said Chris Impey, professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona. So, all life on Earth and the atoms in our bodies were created in the furnace of now-long-dead stars.

A philosopher once asked, "Are we human because we gaze at the stars, or do we gaze at them because we are human?" 

"Do the stars gaze back? Now, that's a question.” 

― Neil Gaiman, Stardust

The Mists of Calageata

The veil amongst the first stars.

Awake in Purple Dreams

“Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven, Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels.” 

― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The First Star & Flower of Life ~ Art by Capstoned on DeviantArt.

“Not just beautiful, though--the stars are like the trees in the forest, alive and breathing. And they're watching me.” 

― Haruki Murakami

 The Port of Menteith Area - Scotland

Folklore: Bogle Knowe is a hill traditionally seen as a fairy abode and on the Southern shore of the lake, opposite the Priory, is a long finger of land called Arnmach, said to be built by the Sith/Sidhe.  

It is said that an ancient Earl of that place, intrigued by the legends of their race, read a magic tome releasing them into the world. The greatest of the Sidhe possessions was a well. A sacred spring whose waters were prized for its great healing powers. Every evening a local girl, a maiden, was charged to watch over the spring. She would climb the crag and ensure the stoppers on the sluices of the well were safe and secure, so none of the precious waters would be lost. More Here

Play the above MP3 link to hear a ballard called 'Keep your light bright' 

~ created via the background of spiritual ideas I had for the initial trilogy

Inspired by "The Song of Amergin" -  

(more details are below with lyrics)

Sung by Addison Rice - please take the time to visit his WEBSITE. 

Thank you.
(lyrics below) 

As an artist and writer, I love to share with people where I draw my inspiration. Maybe it helps in understanding the many layers that exist beneath a story. Like a painting, where each creative stroke will cover the previous until finally, the picture presents itself as a whole. 

Each person will see/experience something different via the same story, and right there... is the magic. 

Who was Amergin?

Amergin was a Bard of the Milesians, lays claim to the Land of Ireland.

The Milesians had to win the island by engaging in battle with the three kings of the Tuatha Dé Danann, their druids and warriors. Amergin acted as an impartial judge for the parties, setting the rules of engagement. The Milesians agreed to leave the island and retreat a short distance back into the ocean beyond the ninth wave, a magical boundary. Upon a signal, they moved toward the beach, but the druids of the Tuatha Dé Danann raised a magical storm to keep them from reaching land. However, Amergin sang an invocation calling upon the spirit of Ireland that has come to be known as The Song of Amergin, and he was able to part the storm and bring the ship safely to land. 

Some of the early medieval Welsh poems on mythological themes attributed to the 6th century poet Taliesin in the Book of Taliesin have similarities to those attributed to Amergin.

***

The Tuath(a) Dé Danann (usually translated as "people(s)/tribe(s) of the goddess Danu"), also known by the earlier name Tuath Dé ("tribe of the gods"), are a race of supernaturally-gifted people in Irish mythology. 

The people known as "The Sidhe" or people of the mounds, or "The Lordly Ones" or "The Good People" were descended from the "Tuatha de Danann" who settled in Ireland millennia ago.

They came from four cities to the north of Ireland–Falias, Gorias, Murias and Finias–where they acquired their magical skills and attributes. 

The aos sí (Irish pronunciation: "ees shee", older form aes sídhe), "ays sheeth-uh") is the Irish term for a supernatural race in Irish mythology and Scottish mythology, (usually spelled Sìth, however pronounced the same) comparable to the fairies or elves. 

This world is described in the Book of Invasions (recorded in the Book of Leinster) as a parallel universe in which the aos sí walk amongst the living. In the Irish language, aos sí means "people of the mounds" (the mounds are known in Irish as "the sídhe"). In Irish literature the people of the mounds are also called daoine sídhe ; in Scottish mythology they are daoine sìth. They are variously said to be the ancestors, the spirits of nature, or goddesses and gods.