{"id":36,"date":"2013-07-23T10:49:57","date_gmt":"2013-07-23T10:49:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.brinakatz.co.uk\/?page_id=36"},"modified":"2018-03-07T08:20:21","modified_gmt":"2018-03-07T08:20:21","slug":"gods-i-have-known","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.brinakatz.co.uk\/?page_id=36","title":{"rendered":"Gods I Have Known"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Seven stories set in a variety of cultural backgrounds explore human relationships as they become entangled with magical influences. Written in a range of voices, these contemporary stories move effortlessly between the realms of both romantic and erotic love. A woman finds herself enraptured by the folk traditions of Shinto when she travels to Japan to discover the hidden meaning of a strange necklace. A young Wiccan uses her mother&#8217;s Tarot cards to find out more about the nature of love. A young girl realises that there is more to growing up when she discovers an unusual painting by a Jewish artist, in her local art gallery. A chance encounter with a rune reader leads to a chaotic adventure for a young archaeologist searching for an ancient stone in the bleak fells of northern Britain. In these and the three other stories in this collection we are left with a warning; that we must tread with care, because sometimes you can choose your Gods &#8211; but sometimes they choose you.<\/p>\n<p><script charset=\"utf-8\" type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?rt=tf_ssw&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Ftemplumkabbal-20%2F8003%2F6281635a-abc4-4b7c-b0ab-07b05ebf97d8&amp;Operation=GetScriptTemplate\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n\n\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/p>\n<p><noscript><A HREF=\"http:\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?rt=tf_ssw&#038;ServiceVersion=20070822&#038;MarketPlace=US&#038;ID=V20070822%2FUS%2Ftemplumkabbal-20%2F8003%2F6281635a-abc4-4b7c-b0ab-07b05ebf97d8&#038;Operation=NoScript\">Amazon.com Widgets<\/A><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0EXCERPTS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b>Taking a God for a Ride<\/b><\/p>\n<p><i>Deep in the heart of Arcadia, hidden in the rocky mountains of central Greece, lies a cave &#8211; and at its mouth, a tree.\u00a0 Bleached white from centuries of cloudless summers, there is little to distinguish this tree from any other growing upon that scrubby hillside.\u00a0 Neither is there any indication of its spiritual heritage.\u00a0 It has not for instance, had a great prophet seated under its boughs, nor has its wood been used to fashion a cross.\u00a0 And yet, although the tree appears to be quite ordinary, a god once made his home there and that god was Pan . . .<\/i><\/p>\n<p>\u201cGood Lord, is he actually shagging that goat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stopped typing; my fingers motionless above the keyboard.\u00a0 Turning from my desk I saw my boss, Michael, regarding with horror, our most recent acquisition.<\/p>\n<p>We, the staff of <i>Outreach Art<\/i> had already begun to regard with some affection, the current object of our boss\u2019s scrutiny.\u00a0 The small statuette which had arrived from Italy earlier that morning, along with several other replicate pieces, had been placed with some reverence, upon a large desk in the centre of our office.<\/p>\n<p>Michael leant over the statuette, as if a closer inspection might somehow reveal some redeeming feature.\u00a0 He shook his head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are an educational charity specialising in bringing art to those who can\u2019t get to see it for themselves,\u201d he reminded us. \u201cHow can we show <i>this <\/i>to the residents of Fernbank Retirement Home?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt least we know the residents will all be over eighteen this time,\u201d I said (our last visit had been to a school).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOver eighteen,\u201d he repeated, \u201cover eighteen?\u00a0 They\u2019ll be over eighty!\u00a0 This will most likely give them a heart attack.\u00a0 Look at it &#8211; you can actually see his penis going into the goat\u2019s . . . the goat\u2019s . . .\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Behind me Mary, Outreach Art\u2019s large, bubbly, receptionist, waited an agonising five seconds before delivering him from his discomfort,<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVagina!\u201d she hollered across the office cheerfully. She was sitting with her back towards us and out of the corner of my eye I could see her broad, round shoulders shudder from the effort of trying not to laugh.<\/p>\n<p>Michael rubbed his forehead.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo be honest, I\u2019m surprised it even made it through customs,\u201d he continued.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s probably classed as illegal porn this.\u00a0 What\u2019s it called?\u00a0 Yes that\u2019s it, bestiality &#8211; that\u2019s what this is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cActually, that\u2019s not strictly true,\u201d I said, feeling a sudden urge to explain.\u00a0 \u201cYou see, the God <i>is<\/i> half-goat himself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGod?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPan: The guy who\u2019s fu- the guy who\u2019s having sex with the goat?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh and he\u2019s a God is he?<\/p>\n<p>I nodded, then raising my eyes heavenwards to access my mental notes I began to recite;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA shepherd God in Central Greece, who was also worshipped in ancient Persia . . .\u201d\u00a0 <b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Where the Cards Lie<\/b><\/p>\n<p>A spell sprang into being.<\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cHail Hecate; Dark Mother, Queen of night.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/i>Four naked young women shuffled to their assigned positions.<\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cHail Hecate, we beseech you, pour down your blessings upon us your children.\u201d <\/i>The floor of the wooden summerhouse creaked.\u00a0 Upon a small table draped with a black velvet cloth a pack of tarot cards glimmered in the candlelight.\u00a0 Stella, who stood in the centre of the room, raised a dagger above her head,<\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cHail Hecate, Wise woman and Crone, protect us as we enter this, the darkest time of the year \u2013 all hail and welcome.\u201d <\/i><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll hail and welcome,\u201d the other three young women replied.<\/p>\n<p>Hannah watched through a black veil.\u00a0 Of all the women present, she was the only one not entirely naked.\u00a0 She felt nervous and wished she had not been encouraged to play such a central role.\u00a0 A draught rolled in from under the door behind her.\u00a0 She shivered and tugged the ends of the veil forward so that the thick tasselled edge covered her breasts.\u00a0 Working skyclad had always been a problem for her.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps if she were more content with her body she wondered and watched the light from the moon shine directly from the skylight in the roof onto Stella\u2019s hair and breasts.\u00a0 Stella always appeared happy to expose parts of her body no matter what she was wearing, Hannah thought ruefully.<\/p>\n<p>Behind Stella stood Janice.\u00a0 Her startling red hair and long angular limbs also made her stand out but Janice never seemed to notice.\u00a0 And if she had she certainly wouldn\u2019t have bothered about it.<\/p>\n<p>That left little Karen, who at that moment was standing next to Hannah.\u00a0 Karen, ever eager to do everything right with her teeth which slanted ever so slightly inwards, pale grey eyes which were spaced almost too close together and naturally curly hair which was kept cropped to her neck to stop it from sticking out at odd angles.\u00a0 Karen was &#8211; Hannah considered her options \u2013 Karen was, curvy, although she would never be accused, as Hannah frequently was, of being plump (well-rounded if people were being kind &#8211; fat &#8211; if they were not).<\/p>\n<p>Janice stepped forward,<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPsst, Hannah it\u2019s you now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hannah shook herself from her thoughts and realized with horror that everyone was now looking at her expectantly.\u00a0 Her toes gripped an invisible branch under her feet.\u00a0 To her left she heard Karen snuffle and clear her throat, (the dust inside the old summerhouse must have set off her sinuses again).\u00a0 In front of her Stella nodded impatiently,<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGo on!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hannah shuffled forward and stopped.\u00a0 She lifted a piece of paper to her face, which until then, she had been using to conceal her crotch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t see,\u201d she said, her voice muffled under the silk shawl.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d\u00a0 Stella dropped her arms.\u00a0 The knife hung loosely at her side.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI said, I can\u2019t see a thing through this bloody material,\u201d Hannah repeated and pulling the shawl away revealed a pretty heart-shaped face with large blue eyes, a pale, creamy complexion, which was now slightly pink from having been under the veil.<\/p>\n<p>Stella rolled her eyes,<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor heaven\u2019s sake,\u201d she muttered.<\/p>\n<p>Hannah pursed her lips.\u00a0 She took a deep breath, steadied herself and then, raising her eyes to the piece of paper, began to read aloud the poem which was written upon it.<\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cWho calleth me doth call darkness to the land and winter to the skies, yet I come in love, this night when the veil is thin. . . \u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Immediately the girls fell silent.\u00a0 Soon, charged with the spirit of the invocation, they stopped behaving like bickering school-girls and became what they purported to be; regal Priestesses of the Moon or as more commonly known, <i>Wiccans<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Seven stories set in a variety of cultural backgrounds explore human relationships as they become entangled with magical influences. Written in a range of voices, these contemporary stories move effortlessly between the realms of both romantic and erotic love. A woman finds herself enraptured by the folk traditions of Shinto when she travels to Japan [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-36","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brinakatz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/36","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brinakatz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brinakatz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brinakatz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brinakatz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.brinakatz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/36\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82,"href":"http:\/\/www.brinakatz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/36\/revisions\/82"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brinakatz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brinakatz.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}