Author: C. LaVielle

Hell’s Gate and Forging the Blade, Second Edition, Are Now Available on Amazon!

Posted C. LaVielle2 CommentsPosted in Forging the Blade, Getting Published, Hell's Gate, Mainly by Moonlight

You have no idea how happy I am to announce that Hell’s Gate, the book I’ve been working on for the past three years, and a much better version of Forging the Blade are now nestled snugly beside the second book, Mainly by Moonlight, on Amazon. They are ready to read in either paperback or eBook format. It was a long, head-banging process. If someone had told me how difficult and confusing it is to set up a series with a second edition as one of the titles for Amazon books, I would never have believed them. Fortunately, KDP has patient and knowledgeable techs. Hell’s Gate is a popular title with authors, so be sure to also type in C. LaVielle, and if you want the second edition of Forging the Blade, be sure to get the 2021 edition. I have author copies of all three books if you’re in town and want to buy them from me. But if you buy them on Amazon… Read More »

Forging the Blade, Second Edition

Posted C. LaVielle2 CommentsPosted in Publishing and Marketing, Tarot, Writing

I have always thought that the first edition of a book is special, the one to own if you’re going to buy the book. Maybe I somehow convinced myself of this because first editions are often quite expensive, due to the fact that they are no longer in print. However, I never bothered to follow this logic one step further. Usually, the first edition is no longer in print because the author/publisher has created a second edition and taken the first edition off the market. I know from first-hand experience that creating a second edition is a pain, and no one in their right mind would do this unless they firmly believed that there were major flaws in the first edition. And there was a major flaw in the first edition of Forging the Blade, not to mention a few niggling errors that we didn’t catch first time around. I have been told from the time I began studying tarot that the major arcana, when… Read More »

The Demon in the Computer

Posted C. LaVielle6 CommentsPosted in Demons, Hell's Gate

My last blog asked a question that’s been on my mind since I began writing Hell’s Gate, which will be available very soon—really. I asked, “What if demons are real?” I should have known better. Never ask a question unless you really want an answer. And, of course, I got an answer. After I finished writing the blog, one of the images that I’d used, a picture of a demon from a 14th century Arabic manuscript, remained on the monitor. In fact, it was on both of my monitors. And I couldn’t figure out how to get it off. There were no Xs in the upper right hand corner. Contol-alt-delete didn’t work, and neither did the escape key. The demon remained, grinning out at me from the screens. I have been writing this blog and inserting images into it for over ten years and nothing like this has ever happened. Totally weird. And I was beginning to get just a little bit freaked out. Well,… Read More »

Happy Beltane!

Posted C. LaVielleLeave a commentPosted in Wheel of the Year

“Hurray, Hurray for the first of May. Outdoor [loving and living] starts today!” No one is quite sure where this charming piece of doggerel came from. It’s apparently been around for centuries. But it’s still appropriate today. I’ve modified it to fit these pandemic times and a broad internet audience. Wishing everyone a glorious summer filled with sun, fun, and friends.

What If Demons Are Real?

Posted C. LaVielle4 CommentsPosted in Hell's Gate

What if Demons aren’t just the product of overactive minds?                    What if they aren’t just grumblings and backlash from the unconscious? What if they aren’t just another name for our psychological challenges? What if they are actual, malevolent beings from another dimension, Hell-bent on possessing our bodies and souls and using them for their own evil pleasures? “Impossible!” you say. And most folks would agree with you. Except for the millions of people who, over the course of thousands of years, have claimed to have seen them or experienced their presence. And the ancient Egyptians, Hebrews, Sumerians, and Greeks; and some modern Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, and many Magicians would also disagree with you. The Catholic Church trains some of her priests as exorcists, and they have been ridding people of demons for centuries. In fact, according to a December, 2018 article in The Atlantic, “Priests are fielding more requests than ever for help with… Read More »

The Gates of Hell

Posted C. LaVielle6 CommentsPosted in Hell's Gate, Writing

In 2015 my husband and I spent several days in Paris. The friends we were traveling with were surprised that, out of all the amazing stuff to do in the City of Light, we decided to visit the Musee Rodin, a relatively small museum that was in the throes of renovation and that featured only one artist. I went because I was plotting Hell’s Gate (which will be out soon) and needed to have a picture in my mind of what the Gate, a device that strips away the magic of anyone who walks through it, looks like. Years ago, I had seen portions of Rodin’s “The Gates of Hell” at the Rodin exhibit at Maryhill Museum of Art , and decided that my Gate would look something like this. But I really wanted to see the entire piece. My husband went because he’s my husband and he loves me. He also likes art museums. Rodin began work on “The Gates of Hell” in 1880… Read More »

Ghosts and Souls and Spirits

Posted C. LaVielle4 CommentsPosted in Hell's Gate

It’s the bitter end of October, and all of Nature seems to be intent on dying. Leaves have lost their vital greenness and are falling from their trees. The last green tomatoes hang hopelessly on their withering vines. The flowers have faded, leaving behind brown seedpods, their visible prayer for continued life. Even the weeds have showed down to a near halt. The life-giving light is fading and the nights are longer. And those who are sensitive to such things say that the darkness is alive with ghosts and spirits. The souls of the dead. Over the past few years I have been thinking a lot about ghosts and spirits and souls because I’ve been writing Hell’s Gate*, my next book, which will be out soon. Hell’s Gate is a structure that strips away the magic of anyone who walks through it. But I couldn’t just say it does this, I needed to give the reader some sort of explanation of how it does it.… Read More »

Gold, Bats, and Native Colombian Shaman Priests

Posted C. LaVielle9 CommentsPosted in Colombia

GOLD Beautiful, rare, precious gold. It has the power to drive us mad with desire. It drove the Spanish conquistadors to kill off nearly the entire native population of Mexico, Central, and South America. A visit to our adventuring son and daughter-in-law in  beautiful coastal Colombia made me look a bit more closely at this mystical substance. The Momas are the Shaman priests of the Kogi, members of the Tairona culture that controlled the Colombian Sierra Nevadas and the coast of Colombia long before the Spanish arrived. They remain alive and well, despite our best efforts, and have much to teach their “little brothers”. One of their teachings that caught my heart and imagination is about gold. They know that gold is an excellent conductor—but not just for heat and electricity. The Momas use it to journey between the worlds and bring back both practical and spiritual knowledge for their people. It seems that all the indigenous people of South America understood this and prized… Read More »