The Heart of Red Jade – Light and Darkness #Crystals #Writing #Inspiration #Self-harm #Anxiety

Red Jade is one of many intriguing crystals in my debut novel. Of course, the crystals in my novel are extraordinary gems, magical crystals conjured up by my imagination! They represent the light, or potential happiness of the protagonists within, whereas shadows represent darkness, deception and sadness. The Curse of Time is a novel of light and dark, so be prepared for both if you decide to pick up a copy. I do not shy away from difficult topics as reviewers on Goodreads have highlighted in their comments:

‘The story bravely tackles issues of mental health and self-harm, but in such a sensitive way that it can only help improve understanding.’ Book Review – Author Richard Dee.

‘There is a multi-layered mystery to be unravelled, spiced with supernatural hints and mixed with some very current issues such as family dysfunction and self-harming.’ Book Review – Blogger Samantha Murdoch.

Here is a short excerpt highlighting the light in the form of the red jade crystal.

‘There are so many delightful ones. How do I decide which one to choose?’ I turned in a circle trying to take in the dazzling gems as they spun before me.

‘Many of the stones have healing properties, but you must follow your instinct and find one you know is right for you. The defenders of the Cottage will guide you.’

Again, I wanted to ask about the defenders of the cottage but left the words unsaid, and they remained stuck in my throat. A jumble of incoherent sentences tumbled around in my thoughts.

Unsure of how to proceed, I followed Leanne’s advice, running my fingers up and down the crystal wall, caressing the gems. I felt a warmth generating from the crystals as my hand brushed over them. I stifled a giggle when they tickled my fingertips. Eventually, a crystal responded to my touch by easing itself from the wall to find a new home in my palm.

Mesmerised by the experience, I realised that above all else, the feeling of the stone on the wall had guided me to choose it. I sensed that the gem belonged; it spoke silent words of encouragement as if it claimed me. I relished the feeling of power that emanated from the crystal as it radiated a warming light that caressed my skin, hugging me like a dear old friend.

‘Wonderful choice my dear. The Red Jade is a lucky crystal. It is the most passionate and stimulating of the Jade stones. It will urge you to go beyond your comfort zone, to be courageous.’ Leanne beamed a bright smile and stared deep into my eyes as if she would find an answer to some unanswered question there. With an abundance of confidence in her voice, she continued. ‘There are those amongst us, corrupt souls who will try to follow you into the cottage. So, you must take care. The cottage will rise up to greet you but you must not encourage others to enter, or terrible things might befall them, so beware.’ With those words of warning ringing in my ears, Leanne turned back to tending her birds, dismissing me without a final goodbye.

I knew this was my cue to depart, so I moved toward the door. Placing a foot outside, I felt the beginnings of an earth tremor beneath my feet. I jumped as far as I could, dreading that I might fall to my death in the crack that appeared. There was no way I could have leapt so far and yet somehow, I had. The magic that bound me to the cottage lifted me high in the air and ensured my safety. In a blink of my eye, the cottage drew back, claimed by the depths far below. Nothing remained of the old ramshackle building apart from a few loose pebbles scattered on the ground where the cottage had stood only moments before.

To read about the properties of the Red Jade crystal do pop over to the Sisters of The Fey blog: https://sistersofthefey.com/2019/04/14/crystals-the-heart-of-red-jade-light-darkness-writing-crystals-properties/

Hope you enjoyed the excerpt. If you would like to find out more please leave a comment or follow the following links:

Buy Book: myBook.to/TheCurseofTime

Unique Selling Point: Unique, Imaginative, ‘Charming, enchanting and richly layered this is purely delightful.’

“This delightful book will appeal to teens and young adults who love stories filled with magical crystals, dark family curses, and mysteries waiting to be solved around every corner. Each chapter leads you on a journey of discovery where Amelina earns the right to use three wizard stones to reset the balance of time and finally break the curse that holds her family hostage. A captivating tale!” – Colleen M. Chesebro (Editor)

Social Media Links

Authors Website: https://mjmallon.com
Collaborative Blog: https://sistersofthefey.wordpress.com
Twitter: @Marjorie_Mallon and @curseof_time
#ABRSC: Authors Bloggers Rainbow Support Club on Facebook
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17064826.M_J_Mallon

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mjmallonauthor/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjmallonauthor/

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April 14, 2019 1

Chiastolite – Writing Excerpt The Curse of Time Book 2 – Golden Healer #YA #Fantasy #Crystals #Magic

Today, I am thrilled to share with you details of a crystal that I have recently discovered.

Chiastolite

Chiastolite is such a fascinating crystal! I have chosen to feature it in the second book in the Curse of Time YA Fantasy series. This current work in progress stands in the region of 70,000 words. I am very excited about how it is progressing.

Chiastolite exhibits may be brown or green with a black cross pattern. The meaning of its name comes from the Greek word “chiastos” meaning cruciform or crosswise.

It has many wonderful properties: stone of balance, harmony, creativity. It is spiritually grounding, an excellent tool for meditation, psychic protection, problem solving, understanding aging, death, and is considered to be a stone of prosperity.

Let me share with you the unedited prologue/first chapter of The Curse of Time Book Two – Golden Healer. I hope you enjoy! Any feedback would be gratefully received.

Prologue

Eruterac wore a round knitted rasta cap embellished with bright sun-cured palm leaves. At the centre, he’d attached a shining Chiastolite – otherwise known as the death crystal.

The Chiastolite shared the brown colour of the earth he inhabited apart from a distinct black cross in the middle. Other than that and several cakes of mud he was naked, if you can call such a creature naked.

His filthy, matted dreadlocks tumbled forwards as he picked off a wriggling worm which dared to crawl across his bony frame. He held it inches from where his mouth used to be and dangled it in front of Leanne’s nose.

‘Dinner,’ he joked, as he bobbed his skeletal head.

‘No thanks, dearest creature,’ replied Leanne, as she tucked a strand of her silver pink hair behind her ear. ‘I prefer caviar. But I do like your new hat – that Chiastolite is very fetching!’

Leanne picked up her teapot and poured the liquid into a cup. It flowed slowly, twinkling with the brilliant colour of a thousand crystals. When it filled the cup, it turned the colour Leanne expected. She’d thought of green tea and magical green tea it was.

Eruterac reacted by choking and spluttering on clods of earth as he laughed. ‘That’s foul. Green tea, how can you drink such muck? Stinking Caviar. Sturgeon’s excrement.’

‘Huh, you can talk! You’re the one infested with worms.’

‘Worms… yes… I don’t blame you for hating worms. Worms are a wriggling nuisance but heavens to cemeteries they are nowhere near as bad as rats. Disrespectful Vermin!’

‘Poor you! Take heart, look, it must cheer you up to see such beauty every day,’ Leanne turned and pointed at the rose and myrtle garden and the cottage beyond with its walls of brilliant crystals.

‘My heart beats no more but I adore the tranquillity and beauty of this magical garden and cottage.’

A white dove landed on Leanne’s shoulder, she turned and smiled. But the dove thought better of it and alighted on the Creature’s hat. It pecked away at the worms making the creature smile.

‘Cheeky doves, always favouring you and your sunny hat when you’re around.’

‘They know who provides them with a constant dinner of worms. And who’s… boss.’

‘Huh! Yes to dinner, but a boss? You? That Chiastolite’s making you big-headed. Oh, my days. The mythological protectors and my dearest doves are all I – and my dear cottage need. And… to return to our earlier conversation, the mythological fly is up to his tricks.’

‘Where’s that stinking fly from hell been to this time?’ asked Eruterac, leaning forward, sending a bunch of worms tumbling towards Leanne’s teacup. Her eyes grew wide as she placed a protective hand over the top but a few swift worms landed in the saucer. She swiped them away.

‘Oh, anguish me. Worms in my saucer! How my flesh crawls. Ugh. I feel giddy,’ she placed a trembling hand on her forehead.

‘Leanne, forget the innocent worms. We were talking of the fly?’

‘Yes, we were. Now let me see. The fly has been to Amelina’s,’ she paused for a moment, her eyes wide. ‘He flew in the window but I am at a loss to figure out what happened next. My naughty crystal ball refuses to grant me a vision. I do know this – I placed my trust in Amelina – but I fear I was hasty.’

Leanne sighed.

‘Your heartfelt sigh makes me glad I’m dead. I no longer experience human stress and with time to waste, I’m a master at pontificating about nothing. But, I have a gurgling sensation in my once gut which tells me that the Grasshopper and the fly are in cahoots. Either way, I could suggest this or that, but it would all be for nought. Amelina is young, she will learn to master the magical crystal gifts you have entrusted to her. Time is on her side. I have every faith in her.’

He lifted his hat in a calculated salute to Leanne. A family of rats who had been resting on his dreadlocks ran free, knocking over Leanne’s cup.

‘Ugh. I wish you wouldn’t do that Eruterac,’ said Leanne. ‘You pretend to honour me but the last time you did that, you broke my precious teacup!’

‘Me! Mercy!’ replied Eruterac, laughing so hard that his eye sockets crunched together producing a horrendous grinding sound.

‘Stop that! You know you have no eyeballs – you devil! The rats devoured both your eyes long ago. Enough, our conversation is at an end,’ she paused for a moment before proclaiming, ‘The Bloodstone will find a way.’

‘Of Krystallos blood and Amelina I am certain,’ replied Eruterac, bowing.

I hope you enjoyed finding out more about Chiastolite and reading a WIP excerpt from The Curse of Time #2 Golden Healer.

What an extraordinary stone!

Do you own a Chiastolite? Let me know… Do pop over to the Sisters of The Fey blog tonight where I will be chatting some more about Chiastolite.

Bye for now!

Social Media Links

Buy Book: myBook.to/TheCurseofTime

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mjmallonauthor/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjmallonauthor/

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February 15, 2019 4

Missing You Amethyst

TO:

SWEET S OMEONE I MISS YOU

W M IGHTY AMETHYST FOR

E I NSPIRING THE SOUL

E L IGHTENING THE HEART

T E NRICHING THE MOOD

TO SWEET SOMEONE, I MISS YOU, A SWEET SMILE FOR YOU. 🙂

I MISS YOU AMETHYST FOR THE SOUL, THE HEART, THE MOOD.

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September 27, 2014 0

Jupiter Artland – The Light Pours Out of Me

THE LIGHT POURS OUT OF ME

Anya Gallaccio

https://www.jupiterartland.org/artwork/the-light-pours-out-of-me

Jupiter Artland’s The Light Pours Out OF ME’s crystal grotto was and still remains one of my greatest sources of inspiration for writing my YA novel, which I hope to publish soon. I was lucky to be invited to Jupiter Artland two years ago by a friend of mine. I didn’t realise at the time just how much impact this magical Artland would have on shaping my novel. In fact I think the Light poured out of that grotto and landed deep in my soul! This wonderful Artland houses many amazing artworks, and sculptures, as well as being a hotspot for educational activities, artist’s talks, and workshops for adults and children. This is one of those truly magical places that you want to devote some time to. So stay there a full day, visit the shop and the café. Enjoy.

“‘The Light Pours Out Of Me’ is a contemporary folly or grotto, a nod to the great tradition of British landscape gardening developed in the 18th century. This is a sculpture, but it’s also part of a garden. I would like it to be unsettling for people when they first encounter it. I’d like them to question whether they should enter the gate or not. Then, when they come into the space it is very formal, quite grandiose but intimate, a quiet place for one or two people.”

“The undulating amethyst walls are very seductive, sensual. The individual crystals grow in unruly clusters producing a deceptively smooth but treacherously jagged surface.”

“The garden is a garden of discovery – an earthwork here, a copse of cradled rocks there, the entrance to a fathomless burrow right before your feet. Visitors to Jupiter Artland are given a map indicating the location of the artworks within the grounds. But there’s no set route. Clockwise or anticlockwise is your choice. As is a left turn here or a right turn there; or the retracing of steps for a second look. The artworks are land marks, events, confrontations on a journey of discovery; an open-ended journey. If you enjoy Jupiter Artland we hope you will return. If you do, over time, you will come across new installations in the park and hopefully come to appreciate more fully the concept of this continual work-in-progress. Come and discover, contemplate and delight.”

“Travelling to Jupiter is easy and we’re only 25 minutes from the centre of Edinburgh. If you are using satellite navigation, be warned you will end up in the middle of a field upsetting our very patient neighbours. PLEASE do follow our instructions on the internet, there is only one entrance to Jupiter and that is via the B7015.”

The above text is taken from the Jupiter Artland website: http://jupiterartland.org

Photos in the body of the text are my own feeble attempts at recording this magnificent grotto.

Click on the link at the top of the page to see the Crystal Grotto in its full glory.

I will be doing a future blog post on the amazing sculptures soon. Can’t wait to tell you all about it.

Have you ever been somewhere special that inspired you? If so, please do let me know, tell me via the comment box below. I’d love to hear your experiences.

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June 15, 2014 8