Making Love with the Goddess

Author Interview with Sirona Knight
interview by Neal Levin

PM: Sirona Knight, tell us about Dream Magic. Why did you decide to write this book?

SK: Dreams have continually been an integral part of my spiritual process. My dreams are always in color, always elaborate, interesting, and always stay with me during the day. My dreams have smells, feeling, and other sensations in them. Often I dream something, and it will happen the next day, or the next week, or in a year. Because of my experiences in dream, I have often pondered the question of whether we are dreaming the dream, or the dream is dreaming us. For over 20 years, I have been recording my dreams on a hand-held tape recorder. Then I transcribe them into my dream journal. Many of my creative ideas have come through dreams, including the idea for writing "Dream Magic." The marriage of dreams and magic to me seems perfect; dreams let your mind move to places uninhibited by the bounds of normal reality, and magic gives you the framework (intention, expectation, desire, and merging), to turn your dreams directly into reality. Magic can make your dreams come true! It's real, not some ultimate fantasy-and something everyone can do. This is what makes "Dream Magic" work both as a book and a practical technique for improving your life. It's a way to create more magic in your life by dreaming smarter, not harder!

PM: What thought process do you consciously go through before writing a book of this type?

SK: When I first get an idea for a book, I like to start by coalescing my ideas and writing out the various pieces. I always dialog with my husband Michael. We brainstorm the idea, and ask whether it's current, helpful, interesting, and so forth. Often I use dreams by giving myself a suggestion, "What is the best book I can write, right now," when I go to sleep, and then I write everything down I remember from my dream when I wake up. The reason dreams work is because this part of my writing process is very intuitive, particularly in a creative sense. Once the ideas have come together, writing the book is a natural florescence, a blossoming, like flowers moving from spring into summer. Now that I have written 13 books, the process is much smoother than it used to be. I don't throw the manuscript against the wall in pure frustration anymore.

PM: What kind of research did you do on this book?

SK: The amount of research being done on dreams is fantastic. Lucid dreaming is the practice of being aware that you are dreaming, and thus utilizing your dreams as a psychoactive tool. I loved researching this book because all the information was particularly interesting. This was the first book where the Internet became a valuable research tool. The important thing in the research process is disseminating the good information from the bad. Again, intuition is a big part of the process. I make every effort to write about what works for me. My logic is that if I can do it, most everybody can do it too.

PM: What do you hope readers will take away from the book?

SK: I want to readers to get a sense of empowerment from reading "Dream Magic." I want them to enrich their lives in some way using the book. The spells and rituals are designed to get people working with their dreams, using them to attain their goals and deepest desires. Magic, a technique perfected over thousands of years, offers dreamers a chance to make their dreams come true. In magic, you use intention joined with expectation, desire, and merging as a technique for getting what you want. In modern business visualization techniques, prospective executives are told to visualize what they want to become, and then become it. It's much the same thing with dream magic. Readers need to understand with the right tools they can create any life they want for themselves. We either create our reality or it creates us. The act of creation is magical.

PM: Tell us about your previous publications, you seem to cover a wide number of topics.

SK: Genetically I have and feel a strong kinship with the Celts. With the recent decoding of DNA patterns, it gives new meaning as to why I was always drawn to the Celtic culture. My family is Scotch-Irish, Welsh, and English, accounting for my Celtic background. The Celts originated from the Danube Valley, as did much of Indo-European culture. From this came the "Children of Danu," who became the Gods of Ireland. At this point, I have written five different books on the Celts. They include: "Greenfire- Making Love With the Goddess (Llewellyn)," "Moonflower_ Erotic dreaming with the Goddess (Llewellyn)," "The Pocket Guide of Celtic Spirituality (Crossing Press)," "Celtic Traditions (Kensington Books/Citadel Press)," and "Exploring Celtic Druidism (New Page Books)." I was first trained as a Druid, and later came to embrace more Wiccan practices. Every book draws me closer to my roots. I've always felt that writing books is the most cost-effective form of self-therapy.

PM: Who are you when you're not writing? What kind of work do you do?

SK: I'm that rare sort of bird (I should say cat) who makes her living from writing. I'm a full-time writer. Besides books, I have written articles for magazines such as Aquarius, NAPRA Review, New Age Retailer, and Magical Blend. I have been a Contributing Editor Magical Blend for the last seven years, and Michael Langevin has been instrumental in supporting my writing through reviews and advertisements. My job at Magical Blend was particularly synchronistic as I applied the day before they put the ad in the paper. During my tenure at Magical Blend, I have interviewed a wide variety of musicians, such as Donovan, Brandon Boyd, Chi Chong, Steve Vai, Michael McDonald, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Crispian Mills, Jay Farrar, Ravi Shankar, and Perry Farrell, and authors, such as Starhawk, Trish Telesco, Neale Donald Walsch, James Redfield, Dr. John Gray, Judith Orloff, Margo Anand, Mark Victor Hansen, and Phyllis Currot. When I'm not writing, I'm homeschooling my son. I feel strongly that parents need to spend more time with their children, and homeschooling is a terrific way to do this. Besides, it's a lot safer for your children these days. It's a way to bring more family happiness into your life, and a way of sharing your ideas and values with those you love.

PM: What are your hobbies?

SK: Besides reading and watching classic movies, I love the art of cooking. I feel that anyone who loves to eat should equally love to cook. Cooking is an art that ties my both to my writing and music. Music is my second hobby. There is no better way to get out stress than to sing a song, or pound on a drum and/or keyboard. I use Cakewalk, so the computer is an integral part of my process. Music is a thing that most people feel connected to innately, without allusions to ego. Whenever I hear music, I move toward it. It draws me--body, mind, and spirit. My third hobby is gardening. I love to see things grow and become florescent. Helping others is what the craft is all about. Teaching others to grow and flower to their wildest dreams that is my greatest ambition. I'm also active in keeping the forests around me from be cut down. Thank Goddess and God for the golden eagles on the Feather River in Northern California, or they would have logged the hillsides long ago. Money and common sense are unfortunately no longer bedfellows when it comes to preserving the Sierras. In fact, it seems they would rather burn it down if they can't cut it down. And if they burn it down, then they can cut it down after it burns and sell the timber anyway. It's very hard to get people to be aware of the politics of our forests, and my very real concern is there just won't be any forests left for my grandchildren. That would be a very sad state of affairs.

PM: When and why did you make your move to writing? How did you get started?

SK: I'd written songs and poems since I was ten years old, but my decision to write a book came in 1994, when, with my book "Greenfire," I decided connect Celtic training together with sex magic. The combination was explosive and was one of the hottest books of 1995. It's now considered not just a cult classic, but an OCCULT classic. I sent a proposal into Carl Weschcke, the publisher of Llewellyn, and he wanted the book. In fact, he'd been waiting for someone to write just such a book. Carl gave me a life, and I'll always think of him fondly because of that. In fact, we still continue to correspond over the Internet.

PM: Who or what has most influenced your writing?

SK: Quite frankly, I'd say my husband Michael has influenced my writing most of all. I have always devoured books. I read all of the time. Everyone from Kurt Vonnegut, Stanley Kripner, to C. S. Lewis, and Jeffrey Mishlove. I began investigating Parapsychology when I was seventeen. It started with Kirlian Photography. I thought everyone saw auras until I brought Kirlian photos into class and said, "This is a photo of that light we see around everything." Everyone looked at me like I was crazy. I then realized that everyone didn't see that light. Over the years, I have progressed through much of the New Age, which included becoming a Certified Hypno-Therapist, to a belief in the Goddess. I never did buy the Adam and Eve thing, and I knew the creator wasn't exclusively male. After all, I've never seen a male, of any species, give birth. Who ever thought up this male creator idea was a little out of whack.

PM: What is your spiritual path, and how does it influence your writing?

SK: I believe in both Goddess and God, and that their sacred union makes Oneness. All life involves polarity from the smallest to the largest scale. The creative process is one of bringing these polarities into some semblance of a whole. We are the divine, and the divine is us. It is our accumulated energy that creates divine energies. Individual energy when combined creates an energy that extends beyond itself. This is why mobs are sometimes so effective because there is an energy in a group that is stronger than its individual parts. In Earth-Spirited traditions such as the Celts, the connection is to the Earth. My particular path is what I call California Celtic Druidism. It's sort of a spiritual stew of Druidism, Wicca, and New Age techniques.

PM: What are your favorite books and authors?

SK: Right now, it's J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter books. Her writing is fabulous, and I'm all for creating positive witch and wizard personas like she has with Harry and Hermoine. I also love reading authors like Ursula Le Guin, Anne MacCaffrey, Silverberg, Farmer, Clarke, and Asimov. And then there's Kurt Vonnegut and Douglas Adams, authors I hope live forever so they will keep writing the books I love! Throughout my life, reading has always been a best friend. I prefer reading to watching television because you can immerse yourself in a book and make it your own. It's a personal, unique kind of experience. Also, I read a great deal faster than most people, so it's a skill I have built over the years and enjoy using. One of my dreams as a child was to be able to read all the books in the California State University, Sacramento's library. When I told my mother that, she said that there were probably a lot of books in the library that I didn't want to read because they were sooooo boring. I have to give her credit, there were a lot of those kinds of books on those University shelves, which is one of the reasons I always make an effort to write something interesting in all of my books. In college I read the Old Testament of the Bible from cover to cover, and a lot of existential authors like Camus and Satre. Then I devoured all of Barth, Salinger, and Goldman. When I'm between books, I sometimes read about 5 romance novels in a day-you know the red, sensuous ones. Other times, usually between books, I read a lot of mystery novels, especially ones written by women. Right now, I'm going through a historical interest phase, so I'm reading things like "Profiles In Courage" by John F. Kennedy. He was a real future-thinker in many ways, and a lot of the things he said about staying true to what you feel in your heart are relevant today in regards to the Wicca Movement. When I'm writing, I read as much non-fiction as I can get my hands on, especially New Age, Celtic, and Pagan books. There some great new information coming out that can be very useful and can help people on a day-to-day basis. I'm all for practicality! That's why I love writing about magic-it's practical and it really works! Most of the time, you really do get the results you want, depending of course, on the strength of your intention.

PM: What do you enjoy most about writing?

SK: I like that each book I write is different in some way, and because of this writing continues to be a "new" experience with each book I write. Also, I enjoy progressing and getting better as a writer. The more I do it, the better I get at putting words together that convey my ideas to the reader. I feel a sense of accomplishment when a book is done. Sometimes it's like giving birth, but once it is done, it takes on a life of its own.

PM: What do you enjoy least? What do you find most difficult?

SK: The editing process can be a little excruciating at times. Usually it depends on the editor, and at this point I've been through many. Some editors go through a manuscript and attempt to make it better while at the some time not disrupting the author's voice or style. Other editors are intent doing it their way exclusively. In particular, I had an editor object to me using "ing" words, and was insisting that I change them all. Thankfully, this person is no longer editing books.

PM: What's the best thing about being published? Tell us the most exciting and memorable experience you've had since your books came out.

SK: I think the best thing is being able to share my ideas with other people. My most memorable experience was when Brandon Boyd, lead singer of the band Incubus, held up my books, "Love, Sex, and Magick", and "The Shapeshifter Tarot," and said how much he liked them. I have a photo of him doing this to mark the occasion. He's a very forward-thinking person and a gifted songwriter, singer, and musician. Besides, he looks OH SO GOOD when he's playing his drum with his shirt off. It's very Pagan pleasing!

PM: Why did you chose to go the route of having Harper SanFrancisco as the publisher for this book, instead of one of the others?

SK: My agent, Lisa Hagan at Paraview (paraview.com) sent the proposal into them, and they loved the idea. They are part of Harpercollins, which means greater distribution, publicity, and a bigger advance-all of which helped me say yes. The entire publishing experience with HSF has been positive and smooth, especially the editing process. My editor David Hennessy is a dream to work with, and a dear friend.

PM: How would you counsel emerging writers who wish to become published authors?

SK: Make every effort to get your ideas out there. There are standard procedures that are explained in most good writing reference books. I suggest you follow these. The most important thing to remember is that you don't have to write the book first. Write the proposal first and see if anyone is even interested. I have found that this saves a lot of time and head bashing. It's essential that you learn to write a good proposal-one that catches an editor's attention. Stay ahead of the markets-so do things that aren't being done yet. Or capitalize on the things that seem to do well. Another tip is to send your proposals into the publishing companies that are publishing the kind of book you want to write. You need to know what their market is. One way to do this is to ask for their book catalog. Every publisher puts one of these out, usually twice a year. Don't send in your proposals to companies that don't publish the kind of books you want to write. Some editors aren't exactly tactful in the manner they brush you off when you are first starting out. But on the whole, most editors will get back to you within a month and let you know if they are interested. Wicca is selling more and more books, so the Wicca market is hot! That is a trend I see continuing for a long time to come.

PM: What's next? What are your plans for the future?

SK: To continue writing and developing as a spiritual person. I see each day and year as a new adventure to be lived and experienced to the fullest. This year I have several new books coming out. Last week "Exploring Celtic Druidism" hit the bookstores. In May, "The Wiccan Web" will be coming out, and in June, "The Witch and Wizard Training Guide," a sort of Hands-On Harry Potter magic manual, will be released. "A Witch Like Me" will be published this fall. It's a book with the personal stories of 13 witches like myself-authors like Phyllis Currot, Marion Weinstein, Gerina Dunwich, Lady Sabrina, Dorothy Morrison, Trish Telesco, Raven Grimassi, J. Drew, and Raymond Buckland, among others.

PM: As a writer, where do you see yourself in 10 years?

SK: A runaway best seller would be really fine! By then I will have written 60 more books at the rate I'm going.

PM: How can readers contact you?

SK: They can email me at bluesky@dcsi.net. My website is www.dcsi.net/~bluesky . I hear from readers all over the world. The Internet is a truly magickal tool for everyone. I've got a book coming out this Spring (2001) called "The Wiccan Web", one that I wrote with Trish Telesco, and it's all about how to use the Internet for making magick. I would venture to say that the Internet is partly responsible for the incredible florescence of Wicca and Pagan spirituality-finally we have a way to connect, communicate, and network. That is why is important to keep the Web flowing.

PM: In closing, is there anything else about yourself that you'd like readers to know?

SK: Keep the faith constant. Keep the faith fair and true, until we ring through to a better day, one where people are really free to pursue liberty and justice for all. I imagine that we shall overcome, and it will be our insights and our courage to pursue our dreams, to embrace love and compassion, that will be the guiding lights that get us through the dark times. And with a bit of luck, we will have a new, more open-minded, administration in the White House in less than four years. Blessed Be!