Author2Author: Juliet Marillier & Jules Watson, pt. 3

Jules Watson wondered about the elaborate Pictish spirituality Juliet Marillier depicted in her novel, which led Juliet to explain herself and then turn the question around:

Juliet Marillier: I did create the spiritual system for the Picts in The Dark Mirror, because we don't know much at all about what it was other than that they were not Christian before the advent of missionaries from Ireland a little after the time in which the novel is set. Because the Picts were a different culture from the Gaels and the Britons, I decided they needed their own deities and observances, based on the seasonal and solar/lunar patterns that were the basis of most pagan observance in the Western Europe of that time. For my story it was important to include a strong religious element, as Bridei's life was tied up with the struggle between old and new faiths in what later became Scotland. Because I belong to a druid order myself, I created something which is, in essence, quite close to my own beliefs, but made it appropriate to the sixth century. Am I right in thinking your own beliefs colour your approach to spiritual matters in your writing?

Jules Watson: I think I instinctively possess interests and ideas that fit in well with what we know of Celtic belief. The main thing I am attracted to (and think we are missing) is that for the pagan Celts there was no split between religion and secular life. They saw the sacred in everything: every tree, stream, pool, rock. The sacred was wound all through ordinary life, the gods were close by, and there were little rituals and prayers attached to the most mundane things, cutting crops for example. I think feeling so embedded in the landscape, so intimate with the gods and goddesses, helped people to feel sure of themselves and their place in society. Also, it appears they revered many female goddesses and representatives of feminine power, and I think that gives a lot of balance to society.

So this concept of male and female, god and goddess, is at the heart of my trilogy. Many of the Celtic statues and carvings we have left are unnamed, general representations of the "Mother Goddesses." As a woman, I suppose that feels balanced and inclusive to me. I also love that everything was cyclical: the seasons, the four great festivals to mark the year, the way the soul died then was reborn here. The Celts loved the symbol of the spiral, which many people think represents this cyclical nature of the soul. Perhaps it's comforting to know that change will happen, but then everything wheels around again, so nothing is lost. In small ways I have tried to bring those ideas in through my trilogy, as the characters journey through pain and back to love a few times.

I suppose the other thing which I love from Celtic mythology is they had this mixture of fate and free will. They believed in destiny, yet the failure or success of mythical characters is based less on capricious gods, and mostly on their own wise or foolish choices--the qualities they promoted were things like generosity, wisdom, hospitality, respect of the gods, self-sacrifice etc. I have made that a central point of The White Mare and The Dawn Stag: No one will rescue my heroine but herself, and she must find the sterling qualities in herself to do that.