MAPS: Chapter 5
Eritrea, The Knight of Disks, Magical Realism or Myth, and Tree Speaks
View the CHAPTER 5 Character MAP
Asmara, City in the Clouds
While I had done a LOT of research about Eritrea and Asmara once it became clear that this was the birthplace of Asmeret* I found this JUST NOW as I was searching for a photo of Asmara circa 1945 to show you what Charlotte would have seen on her arrival. Wild, right?
The name Asmara derives from 'Arbate Asmara', the name given to a village on today's site of Asmara. The name means “the women have united the four villages” and relates to a foundational story in which women forced the men of four villages to consolidate their villages into one.
-https://www.wikiwand.com/en/History_of_Asmara
A small but important note: I am fascinated by Eritrea’s history and consider myself a ‘Friend of Eritrea’ who wants them to have their autonomy and independence. I am so grateful for the way this country offered itself to my story, including borrowing from one of their ‘common’ languages, Tigrinya, for names. It is perhaps most accurate to say this story was INSPIRED by events, people, and places and is purely a work of (mythic) fiction. I seek only the highest good for this country with its difficult past, its raw landscape, and its beautiful people.
Eritrean Views
Lower right is from the travel blog of Clara Vanucci.
*Eritrea: Birthplace of Asmeret. How in the world did I come up with that? When this story emerged from my personal journal writing (with a sudden shift to third person) “She stood on the edge of the cliff . . .” I knew we were in Africa, but I had only been to South Africa and I sensed that we were north. At around the same time, National Geographic made DNA test kits available for their Genographic Project and I sent one in.
Their hypothesis is that all humans migrated out of Africa (I dreamed I was from Africa from the time I was a kid and that was confirmed when I stepped foot on that continent!) and my lineage took the route across the Straight of Bab el Mandeb. This is also the region where the oldest human remains were discovered. The evidence added up and as the story unfolded there was no place else in the world we COULD be!
As Charlotte flies Anbessa from London to Asmara, I am struck by the ‘full-circleness’ of this voyage.
The story-shape of myths and fairy-tales is CIRCULAR!
You can find Pinterest boards for many of The Ash Girl characters @alisbly—inspirational images and links to some research if you feel so inclined. Please tag me if you make Ash Girl boards of your own!
Knight of Disks
wherein we meet Anbessa, the Red Lion and,
once more,
contemplate the power of names
Knight of Disks | Earth
“There was no one to teach her (Asmeret) after she (Grandmother) was gone and only Anbessa could protect her. There had been no sign of his return.
No signs at all. Not since she heard the whispers about the two ravens—one black and one white—dueling over his fate in the faraway sands. He’d lived, that much she could divine. Where and why he hadn’t come home remained hidden to her.”
“The girl had her father’s love of animals, and even so young understood the exchange that happened between hunter and prey. Death begets life—hunter and hunted taking turns in the cycle.”
“Anbessa, away at war. He was alive but the rest was hidden from her—where he was, what he had become. Hunter. Soldier. Not the same things.”
“Anbessa laughed, his voice was thick and deep, which belied his size. “I was educated for several years in Asmara in my youth. Chiefs are ambassadors, politicians, emissaries, and need many languages. Besides, I was in London for many years.”
“And as such (Chief), I am the agent of the will of our God, and a legacy keeper of our tribe. I am beholden to maintain our beliefs and our way of life, making difficult choices as the world changes around us.”
“Yes, in the common language it is the feminine of Asmara, She Who Unifies. Tigisti and I agreed before I left that we would name a son Asmara and a daughter Asmeret; we share a dream for the tribes in our land to be many and to act as one people, with no need of borders, and free from foreign rule. We weave our hopes for our children into their names, to always remind them of who and what they are. To live into our dreams. Anbessa means lion, as I was born to be chief.”
- CHAPTER 5 | THE ASH GIRL
These excerpts show you some of the heart of the Red Lion, Anbessa, and what I have come to hold as the heart of the archetype for The Knight of Disks. He grew as the story thickened, from the absent father, away at somebody else’s war when his children are born, to the central stand-in for the Divine Masculine in its most earthy form. NOT a King, (as Crowley intuited, then named them Knights), but a steward and protector of the land and all of its inhabitants. One who rides the ever-shifting line between local tradition and sensing the way forward (given an ever-expanding point of view - having seen more and more of the world), with as much clarity and grace as he can muster. Always tapping into his highest voice for guidance.
MAGICAL REALISM
. . . is a literary term used to describe stories that mix elements of reality with elements of magic. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Columbian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez is the most iconic example.
I find the term troubling. It implies that the magical elements aren’t real. When one EXPERIENCES the holistic nature of that which can be explained and that which cannot, it is ALL REALITY.
The term was coined at a time when the literal had been elevated to the only legit form of literature (written predominantly, no surprise, by white men) and they needed to name works that couldn’t be denied but didn’t fit SOMETHING. (To a TROUBLING degree we are still in that time.)
So, I bristle at the term Magical Realism although I humbly and gratefully sit at that genre table alongside Marquez, Rushdie, and Morrison!
Names are everything. I prefer . . .
MYTHIC FICTION
A sketch of Tree by A’Lis Bly
I drew this sketch of Tree very early in the writing process, probably seven or eight years ago. It captures something of Tree’s essence or aura although it isn’t how I picture Tree in my head when I write or read it.
When a story comes like this, one doesn’t ask too many questions at first for fear of scaring it off (or scaring yourself!). But when writing mentor extraordinaire, Sherry Simpson, was gifted to me at RWW, she wasn’t one bit afraid to ask the big questions!
Whose story is this? Why now? Why you? Who is telling it, and to whom?
And then, what methinks sets her apart, is that she gave me a thought and told me to ‘try it on like she had given me a blue sweater’ and if I loved it and it fit, GREAT, and if it didn’t, well one step closer to finding the sweater that did . . .
“What if the narrator was the tree?” she wrote and I wrote back, YES! (because I had secretly known the truth of it myself but didn’t think I could get away with it as a writer, esp. in an MFA program, particularly in the AGE OF LITERAL literature as the gold standard (see above). So TREE SPEAKS. You’ll catch glimpses of that voice more as the story deepens in the African spaces where the rules about who and what have ‘real’ voices are much much looser.
GODDESS ENERGY ON THE RISE
Perhaps to emphasize that the rise of the Divine Feminine is not a demise of the Divine Masculine and the royalty archetypes are non-gendered, I offer you this VOICE for the new age from Thirty Seconds to Mars. Notably for me, this video was posted in September of 2010, the fall after my encounter with Hyena in Africa and my father’s death—the events that triggered The Ash Girl. At this posting “Kings and Queens” has over 57million views. Holding the vision that The Ash Girl may have 57 million readers in 10 years.
The documentary, ARTIFACT, by Jared Leto is a fascinating story of the band’s WAR with the music industry. Commerce needs Art - does Art need commerce? Yes. But can fans supporting artists be enough?
The Ash Girl novel online reading eXperience is asking that very question. Have you shared 3x3x3? Have you considered making a donation? I ask myself the same when I consume art (and don’t always act—I too am a work in progress). How am I moving the gift? What value am I adding before I do? Maybe this turns a few of you on to this incredible band and you (gasp) pay for some of their music. (I have purchased three of their albums - kickin’ it old school).
Lyrics
[Intro]
Ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh
[Verse 1]
Into the night
Desperate and broken
The sound of a fight
Father has spoken
[Chorus]
We were the kings and queens of promise
We were the victims of ourselves
Maybe the children of a lesser God
Between heaven and hell
Heaven and hell
[Verse 2]
Into your eyes
Hopeless and taken
We stole our new lives
Through blood and name
In defense of our dreams
In defense of our dreams
[Chorus]
We were the kings and queens of promise
We were the victims of ourselves
Maybe the children of a lesser God
Between heaven and hell
Heaven and hell
[Bridge]
The age of man is over
A darkness comes at dawn
These lessons that we’ve learned here
Have only just begun
[Chorus]
We were the kings and queens of promise
We were the victims of ourselves
Maybe the children of a lesser God
Between heaven and hell
[Outro]
We are the kings
We are the queens
We are the kings
We are the queens
Song by Thirty Seconds to Mars
Produced by Steve Lillywhite & Flood
Album This is War
WHAT’S NEXT?
For your personal quest, book club, or gathering of friends, QUEST(ions) are offered here.
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