The struggle between the forces of good and evil are rich in story telling and folklore throughout the world. Parables, fables and fairy tales depict characters struggling to gain control over a repressive environment. Much of art and literature, past and present,could be interpreted as the expression of the soul's struggle to free itself from hostile forces. In the face of tyranny, self expression will find its way into any creative medium available, and it is often clothed in symbolism.

Witches, cruel stepmothers, wolves, evil kings and queens and other beasts, all conspire to bring down the innocent. Often the protagonist must undergo a series of trials or transformations in order to achieve self actualization. Dorothy, in The Wizard of Oz, finds deliverance in the magic shoes she has won the right to wear through a series of trials. When she returns home, she is no longer the innocent girl - she now contains a strong sense of self. Cinderella also attains her freedom through a series of trials that lead her to fit into the glass slipper.

The movie Star Wars fully fleshes out how evil is formed, and the extreme need of the dark side to suck the light from the vibrant to absorb power. Darth Vader, in the trilogy of Star Wars, represents this force. Vader experienced unbearable loss, shame and guilt when, in a fit of rage, he caused the eventual death of his wife. The burned and charred remains of his once passionate and loving nature are covered by a hard black mask and his body put together with artificial limbs covered in black. The only emotions now felt by Darth Vidor are the toxic remains of his self exhumed body. He feeds off the fear of others, and has an insatiable need to control  everything in his Universe. Through projective imagination he is capable of creating a vast army of supporters in harnessing the dark energy forces of the Universe.

Luke Skywalker conversely represents the light. He is the son of Darth Vader, but has been raised by another, so he is not contaminated. He has been taught to view Darth Vader as the enemy, as he represents the death of Democracy in the Universe. Luke Skywalker spends most of his formative years learning how to use his inner strengths to gain power over The Dark Ones. His education is taken in secrecy - and inside a safe haven he learns the Secrets of the Masters. By mastering his internal powers, he draws in the energy of the universe. In this final battle, Vader and his Master are destroyed and the union of Brother and Sister preserved- Democracy and Freedom for the Universe

Homer, in the Iliad and the Odyssey, spends seven years facing horrendous trials, growing and developing as a man, before he finally finds his way home. With every trial, it appears that Homer is a dead man, but he perseveres because the powers of passion and resolve are greater than the forces that seek to contain and destroy.

Stories of the struggle for personal freedom and self expression have been with us since the dawn of mankind. Both ancient and modern, they share the painful burden of the oppressed and the steps that must be taken for transformation to occur. The exposure to truth is the first step towards personal freedom. The journey begins with a commitment to oneself to begin the task of transformation.

The characters of Black Lake, are all moving along this continuum.  One will fall into a pool of darkness, one will be sacrificed, and one will find redemption.  All will be affected as each evolves - and so it is with all of humanity.

When Alexandra  arrrives at Black Lake she feels her life has been shattered.  She sees no way out, no hope for the future.  But sometimes the most dreadful things that happen in a life are exactly what one needs to turn off the known path and move in another direction. 

"Sweet are the uses of adversity which, like a toad, ugly and venomous,

The following message from the past, from the desk of Goethe, has been my guiding light in the years I have worked on my book and remains a strong inspiration. In the moments I lack belief in a  particular course of attact, I remind myself that it is boldness that creates opportunity. It is this lack of commitment and trust in herself that has kept protaganist, Alexandra, stuck and unable to move forward in he life . Her journey will teach her the power of commitment to oneself. 

Until one is committed

there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back,

always ineffectiveness. 

Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation)

there is one elementary truth

the ignorance of which kills countless ideas

and splendid plans:

That the moment one definitely commits oneself

then Providence moves too.

All sorts of things occur to help one

that would never otherwise have occurred.

A whole stream of events issues from the decision

raising in one’s favour all manner

of unforeseen incidents and meetings

and material assistance

which no man could have dreamt

would have come his way.

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genious, power and magic to it.

Begin in now.

Goethe

If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you.  If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.

Ancient Mysteries

Ramey Sandeley, the central male character in The House on Black Lake, has lived his life controlling his environment. He brands his animals with his own tools, runs worldwide entrepreneurial pursuits and his wife and children live by his rules. But Ramey has a lesson to learn. Although that was not his intent when he made plans for Alexandra’s visit.

Men have forgotten this truth. But you must not. You are responsible forever for what you tame.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Alexandra Brighton first takes the eyes of Ramey Sandeley she is newly married and believes she is in love with her husband. She has been taught to accept a superficial concept of what love means, and her husband,Matthew Brighton, has the perfect pedigree. He is highly attractive, successful, well educated, and offers all the worldly goods one could desire. Yet, when she looks into the eyes of Ramey, she feels a dormant part of herself come alive, and nothing matters except the wild brilliance of this feeling. Ramey is also wildly handsome, successful, and newlywed. But there is a vast difference between the two. At their first meeting something both terrible and wonderful happens.

 
For the first time in her life, Alexandra comes viciously alive and experiences an explosive desires to run away with this stranger and free herself of the material world.   She's seized by fantasies of riding with him on a winged Pegasus or flying carpet to a world devoid of society - where there are only the two, nature, and nothing else but candlelight, moonlight, bonfires, forbidden writings, crashing waves, thunder, chilling rain, strange bazaars, burning sands, exotic plains, skin on skin, dangerous animals, bareback rides, swinging through trees, danger, inside and out.

 
In a startling flash, she realizes she is daily judged and heavily reined in by the world around her and nearly owned by a husband who is more master than equal lover. It's now infinitely clear she doesn't even know her husband, let alone understand the nature of his soul. Yet Ramey speaks to her without words - and those unspoken words are powerful. Alexandra has found a true love for her lost soul, but the possibility of their union cannot be achieved until she has claimed the right to this kind of love. And, this will involve many years of great hardship, trials and sorrow.

 
True Love comes unexpected and unbidden, and when it strikes it  both destroys and creates. It will not be denied. For those who settle for less there is no journey. For those who are bestowed the gift and choose to follow, there is a heavy price to pay. It will be nearly thirteen years before Alexandra once again lays eyes on the man who destroyed what she believed an idyllic life, and awakened the brutality of  true love.  Her days on Black Lake will further peal away the layers of her encased soul to release the divinely idyllic within - the spot where True Love unites. 

Anastasia Blackwell

At the moment Alexandra Brighton takes the eyes of Ramey Sandeley in the desert, she sees all the mysteries of the universe and also a terrifying demon that mirrors something she fears in herself.

When I first began to fly on the trapeze, I was dealing with my own fears, while attempting to fully understanding and convey the fierce struggle Alexandra was undergoing. One day, after weeks of failed attempts; I forced myself to disengage my fear and trust another to catch me in mid air. I came home after my first catch and wrote this:

It stood high above me, this wild and beautiful creature - a species unknown to me before this moment. Its body was powerful and crouched in a manner unlike a human animal, and had the most magnificent pair of wings of had ever seen. My mind could not comprehend the attraction for this strange being - yet something in me did. I wanted to escape, to bolt to safety, because it terrified me in a way I wanted to be terrified - but dared not! I gazed into unfathomable eyes that brought to life a darker being lurking within me. In that moment, I realized my demon must be released, or it would devour me from the inside out.

The creature beckoned me to ascend to its perch. Fighting against a wall of near impenetrable fear, I began the climb, beyond mortal heights, to the place where only creatures with wings would dare to land. When I reached edge of the pedestal, he pulled me up and drew me against him. The energy radiating from his body was overwhelming. The intensity of my internal struggle forced me into a fugue state, with flashes of dreams, as though I were about to fall into a deep sleep.

"Take the leap," I heard it say from somewhere far away.  "Accept your fear. It will always be with you, but you must learn to make it your friend. I promise I will catch you. Give me your trust and you will be safe." The creature descended and I was left alone - standing on what seemed the earth's highest peak.

 Nearly drunk with trepidation, I let out a strangled cry and jumped with wild abandon into the abyss.  Flying into the void, like a bird taking its first flight from the nest,  I soared into the sky for a breaf moment and began to fall. As I began my descent, I felt the grasp of the most powerful hands imaginable.  It was the first time in my life I felt the grasp of hands that pulled me up. My heart exploded in that moment, as I looked up into the eyes of the Creature. We flew together, in union, in an eternity of seconds, until he told me I was safe to let go.