Tom Edwards | Blue Jesus

October 10, 2009 | Comments Off

Dr. Kent: My next guest on the show is the author of ‘Blue Jesus,’ a novel by Tom Edwards. Fascinating. It’s about a group of blue-skinned people who live up in Kentucky. So come on back for that. Later on in the show we’ll be talking to Peter Mulvey, so come on back.

[Commercial]

Dr. Kent: Welcome back to Sound Authors. My next guest on the show today is the author of ‘Blue Jesus.’ His name is Tom Edwards. This is a fascinating tale, and a gorgeous cover. Welcome to the show, Tom.

Tom Edwards: Nice to be here.

Dr. Kent: Tell me about this. There’s a race of blue people in your book.

Tom Edwards: Yes, how about that?

Dr. Kent: Do they have any relation to the folks that are inbred and sort of appear bluish?

Tom Edwards: It’s sort of an inbred thing. I read a story years ago in the ‘Atlanta Journal Constitution.’ They were called the blue people of Troublesome Creek, Kentucky. It’s a recessive gene trait. They discovered the blue people about 1820. The civilization moved into the mountains. The blue people kept going back further into the hollows. As a result of their isolation, they became more and more inbred, which meant there were more and more blue people. I just found it fascinating.

Dr. Kent: Tell me about the story. It’s a fascinating tale. How did you fashion it?

Tom Edwards: Years and years ago, there was a story in my home town about a woman that threw a baby away in the dump. I was too young to be told any details at the time, but just the image stuck with me. I thought it would be interesting to see what happened if the baby came back to life.

Dr. Kent: Yes. What’s the process then that you go through? You’re a very experienced writer of many different kinds of subjects, including plays and scripts, and all sorts of things. What was it like fashioning this tale?

Tom Edwards: It was strange, but I bought Steven King’s book. It’s called ‘On Writing.’ His generosity is just amazing. I still can’t believe he was so generous with his tricks, how he fashions a story. I’d never written a novel before, and I thought, well, shoot! Stephen King sells a bunch of stuff. Let’s see what I can do. This was the first time I’d ever worked without an outline. Doing plays and documentary films, things like that, you just work strictly from an outline. Gosh, years and years ago, I wrote for soup operas. They’d give you an outline that you could not vary from. I just let the story write itself. It was the strangest process I’ve ever been through. There were times I was so surprised and so creeped out, I had to get out of my office. Like, I can’t believe this guy’s doing that! When Buddy tries the slip on, I didn’t know that was going to happen. Man, that freaked me out! It’s like, oh, gees! It’s like the story led me along. Believe me, I’m as surprised as anybody.

Dr. Kent: Did you come up with your cast of characters, and then they just sort of walked around your brain?

Tom Edwards: Exactly. You know, new characters kept coming in. The only thing I really, really knew was that there was going to be a revival scene. That makes me laugh. That was it! Truly, the story just sort of happened.

Dr. Kent: So can you give us a little tip from the book without revealing too much? Why is it ‘Blue Jesus’?

Tom Edwards: It’s about this little boy, Buddy, whose mother dies of cancer. So he moves from Atlanta to the north Georgia mountains to live with his grandmother. That’s where he meets the blue people for the first time. His best friend is this little boy named Early. He’s a blue person, and he’s got special powers. The boys find a baby in the dump that’s been discarded, and the blue boy brings him back to life. That’s how he gets the nickname ‘Blue Jesus.’ His father takes advantage of him and tries to hock his wares all over the town and all over the county.

Dr. Kent: Wow. It’s so fascinating. Of course, the term, ‘Jesus,’ is so loaded. I shouldn’t say ‘term;’ the word, ‘Jesus,’ is so loaded. The Appalachians are so charged with Christianity of a certain kind, you know, very fiery. In exploring this, I’m sure you were surprised at the things that were coming out. Where do you think they came from - the well that you took this story from?

Tom Edwards: I think it’s directly from my hometown. I grew up in a small town in northern Michigan. It had about 600, 700 people. In that small town, church life ruled. I mean, it governed our social activities, and pretty much everything between church and 4H. I think it’s more small-town living than it is mountain living, and this universal truth to be drawn from that.

Dr. Kent: Race has come up hugely in the last several weeks and months with our first black president. It’s gotten so charged again. It’s something I’ve not seen in my lifetime. So here you have a blue kid and a white kid.

Tom Edwards: Isn’t it interesting when you put blue into the mix, determining who’s colored and who’s not? I found it fascinating myself, I really did.

Dr. Kent: Did you end up confronting race in here?

Tom Edwards: Yes, I did. Only in the fact that Early insists that the black people, the blue people and the white people congregate together: a revival scene; that’s one of his caveats for making a miracle.

Dr. Kent: You wanted to start this book with the revival scene. What inspired you to do that? Why did you want to start there?

Tom Edwards: It’s not that I wanted to start there, it’s just that I knew there was going to be a revival scene. I was sort of aiming toward that. The book starts with the dead baby, and then goes along.

Dr. Kent: Why the revival scene? Why was that in your brain as a point? Is it something that you’d experienced at some point - you were thinking about?

Tom Edwards: Not at all. It was all about the cross. [Laughs] I had heard a story years ago about people that were doing a passion play. The person who was playing Jesus got sick in the middle of the play, so they had the substitute Jesus go on. But the cross was rigged to lift to the ceiling with fly weights. Well, the new Jesus weighed much less than the other Jesus, and so when they tripped the fly weights, the cross shot right up to the sky.

Dr. Kent: Wow.

Tom Edwards: And that made me laugh like a fool! I knew I wanted to include that, and really that was the only thing. You know there’s the whole essence about bullying too, which I think has gained some prominence. I grew up being bullied every day. It’s a wonder I can see, speak or hear. Just beaten up every day for being a sissy. I wanted Buddy to go through that. I wanted to, I guess, rid myself of some demons from my youth.

Dr. Kent: So some of that came in here, then? How does your own personality come through when you’re writing fiction? How does that happen?

Tom Edwards: I’m not that skilled a writer. I’m 100 percent Buddy. Even down to my crush on Tony Dow from ‘Leave It to Beaver.’ I’m sure more skillful writers could craft something that’s distinct and different from their lives, and I did to a certain extent. But, no, Buddy is really me.

Dr. Kent: Let’s talk about bullying. I experienced a great deal of bullying myself. I think a lot of kids do. It’s a real problem in this country, especially - I guess in school systems. I remember the terror that I would have going between classes, you know: what would happen to me today. So talk about bullying a little bit. It is an issue these days.

Tom Edwards: It’s the whole thing about being different. I was a little sissy boy, just a momma’s boy. And boy! In a small town where sports rule, I was just fodder for the bullies. They beat me up every day. Then the beauty of that is I would go home, and my father would hear that I was beaten up, so he would beat me up. It was hideous! I just remember trying to be invisible just to stay out of the way. Just praying I wouldn’t see Dennis Hawkins after school. Early is bullied. He’s blue, he has special gifts. It’s just about being different, which is so weird because I think in the big scheme of things, everyone feels they’re a little different.

Dr. Kent: You portray him as a blue Jesus, and that’s his nickname. But little boys, when they’re bullied or when they’re in these situations, they have to sort of transcend themselves in some way. It’s interesting: as adults, we almost understand it more, and we can say, ‘Oh, well, I’m being bullied’ or this and that. But kids, they sort of have to suck it all in and have to transcend the world somehow.

Tom Edwards: Well, of course! With kids, it’s a hurt you don’t understand. A hurt you didn’t bring on yourself. A hurt that you can’t fix. It’s horrifying.

Dr. Kent: So this character Early. Has he told his whole story? Have Buddy and Early told their complete expose, or do they still live in your head?

Tom Edwards: Oh, they’re still there. You know, I can’t get them out. It’s the weirdest thing. A friend of mine said, ‘You’re going to write a sequel?’ This story’s done, but they’re still good friends that live in my head.

Dr. Kent: Isn’t that wild? It’s a pleasure speaking to you. What are you working on now? Are you doing any more films?

Tom Edwards: You know, I’ve just finished a new book. I’ve been waiting tables to support myself. I wrote a book about it. It’s called, ‘Slinging Hash: True Confessions from a Four-Star Toilet.’ It’s an expose of fine dining, but it’s very, very funny, and very, very true.

Dr. Kent: Where can we find out more about you?

Tom Edwards: Gosh, if you go on Amazon, there’s a bio there. Or, I think you could just Google ‘Tom Edwards’ and see what pops up.

Dr. Kent: Great. This book, ‘Blue Jesus,’ has a fantastic cover, amazing premise. It’s so cool. What a great story about a child dealing with religion, race, small town bullying. It’s a real all-American story.

Tom Edwards: Plus, it’s funny, isn’t it?

Dr. Kent: Yes!

Tom Edwards: Good!

Dr. Kent: It’s such a pleasure to talk to you, and I can’t wait until the next time. I hope to hear about the next one, ‘Slinging Hash,’ you said, right?

Tom Edwards: All right. Well, gosh, thank you so much! I sure appreciate this.

Dr. Kent: Have a wonderful afternoon.

Tom Edwards: OK, you too. Bye bye.

Posted by jamie | Filed Under TRANSCRIPTS, Fiction, AUTHOR INTERVIEW, PODCAST

Tom Edwards | Blue Jesus

October 10, 2009 | Comments Off

Interview with Tom Edwards [15:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

From Broadway Play Publishing website:

The first episode of Della’s Diner premiered in Atlanta in 1978 at Showcase Cabaret in Ansley Mall. Fresh off the hit memory musical, Tan Shoes and Pink Shoelaces, Tom continued to write for Showcase, authoring six full-length musicals, among them Mistress of Meadowbrook and Della’s Diner II. In 1980 at Showcase Cabaret, Tom wrote Scarlett Fever, a musical comedy version of Gone With the Wind. This musical spoof prompted lawsuits by the Mitchell Family Estate, MGM, MacMillan Publishing Company, and Trust Company Bank of Georgia. Time Magazine said it was “like going after a gnat with napalm.” Soon thereafter Tom came out of hiding and decided to concentrate on strictly original works. In 1983 Warner Brothers bought Della’s Diner IV: Blue Plate Special and produced it at the Manhattan Theatre Club. Warner Brothers Television moved Tom to Los Angeles in 1986 to develop Della’s Diner for television. Since that time he has written for television’s Search for Tomorrow, Guiding Light, Growing Pains, Divorce Court, and worked extensively in comedy development at Orion Television and Republic Pictures. He co-authored two CBS pilot scripts, Mason/Dixon and Business as Usual and is also the author of the audio script for Bantam-Doubleday-Dell’s How to Speak Southern. Mr. Edwards wrote Sobbin’ Women: The Making of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers for Turner Home Entertainment. Mr. Edwards recently released, Blue Jesus, a Blue Ridge folk tale.

Posted by jamie | Filed Under Spirituality, Fiction, AUTHOR INTERVIEW, PODCAST

Tony Fucile | Let’s Do Nothing

October 9, 2009 | Comments Off

Dr. Kent: Welcome to Sound Authors. We have some great guests on the show today. It’s a brand new show format. This week, the featured guest is Peter Mulvey. I’ll be talking with him for upwards of half an hour later on in the show. He’s put out his latest album called ‘Notes from Elsewhere.’ Actually, ‘Letters from a Flying Machine.’ They’re both recent albums. I’ll be excited to talk to him and play some great music. On this show, I talk to both Sound Authors and Authors of Sound, so before that, I’ve got a couple sound authors indeed on the show, at the very beginning. Right after my first guest, I’ll be talking to Tom Edwards, who’s the author of ‘Blue Jesus.’ It’s an incredible folk tale. It explores faith, miracles and racial divides in Appalachia. That’ll be fascinating. But my first guest is the incredible author and illustrator Tony Fucile. He’s written a fantastic picture book called ‘Let’s Do Nothing.’ It’s absolutely hilarious and beautiful. Welcome to the show, Tony!

Tony Fucile: Thanks for having me.

Dr. Kent: How do you pronounce your last name?

Tony Fucile: ‘Foo-chili,’ like chili beans.

Dr. Kent: Fucile. I like that. Tell me about this book; it’s awesome.

Tony Fucile: Well thanks, thanks a lot. The idea of doing nothing didn’t come right away. That was kind of a product of two bored kids. I just sort of invented these two kids that were bored out of their minds, and then had them talk to each other. Out of that came this idea of trying to do nothing.

Dr. Kent: I can recall, when I was a kid, summer vacation was all about doing nothing, to my parents’ chagrin.

Tony Fucile: Oh, yeah. It’s one of those things where I feel like I discovered what I love because I had nothing to do. I was just sort of trying everything on a whim. Drawing was the thing (and eventually the animation) that I found. That may not have happened had I been overscheduled, like a lot of kids are.

Dr. Kent: Now you’ve worked on a bunch of big films, and some really cool stuff. One of my favorite movies ever is ‘The Incredibles.’ You were on that film as well. Now you’re a children’s book author: are there similarities, differences?

Tony Fucile: They’re amazingly similar in a lot of ways because you’re telling a story. In a sense, the picture book is more like a short film. You’re coming up with an idea, and you’ve got a beginning, middle and end. You’re staging everything, and you’re designing props. For me the comfortable part of course was animating the character. If you want, look at the book; you can see that it’s very similar to animation poses: key expressions; what we call ’storytelling poses’ when we’re animating. Every scene in an animated film has a ‘key pose,’ that kind of describes what the character’s feeling or thinking; kind of a mix of a lot of emotions, a lot of the other drawings. So the book is a little bit like a bunch of key poses. So there are a lot of similarities. The one thing that I have to get used to is the solitude because animated film, a feature film especially, takes hundreds of artists. We all do our own thing, so it’s a bit of a shock for me to have to figure out color, because all these years I’ve been drawing basically in black and white. The experts, painters and color specialists, do all the other stuff. Also, staging, that’s something that an animator generally doesn’t do. Also designing the world; in this case, the room or backdrops, and the props and things. It was fun, but very different in that regard. You’re not really collaborating as much. There is collaboration with your editor and art director, but not nearly the same as being on a film.

Dr. Kent: When you’re writing for children, and when you’re animating for children, or drawing for them, what do you think about? Do you get yourself back in that summer vibe of not having anything to do? How do you get yourself back there? What do you do?

Tony Fucile: You know, I don’t have to do anything. I don’t think I’ve ever really left. I started really young; I started making films when I was 12. I knew I just wanted to be an animator early on. I even had the notion of making storybooks too, but animation was the thing that got me going. So I never really got out of that. I never had that thing where I would go to an animated film and feel all sheepish about it: you know, the 17 year old guy going into the Disney film and feeling a little embarrassed. It’s always been a part of my brain; it’s been stuck in that childhood way of looking at things.

Dr. Kent: Tell me a little about this book. What do you do as a children’s author to support it? Do you do readings for kids? How did you end up writing in the first place?

Tony Fucile: I had another idea for a film, for a storybook, that I wanted to do first. Then, while I was working it up, I saw that someone else had done it: Jules Feiffer had done it, ‘The Daddy Mountain.’ I was a little bummed about that. I had such a strong idea for this thing. Then this idea came to me one night in bed, and I told my wife; it was midnight, or whatever. She told me to write it down, and I said ‘I’ll remember it tomorrow.’ Of course, she kicked me out of bed and said, ‘Write it down, write it down.’ So I ended up writing the whole thing that night. The basic beats are pretty much what I came up with that night. I definitely wanted to do picture books; it’s something that I’ve been sort of quietly thinking about for a long time.

Dr. Kent: How about the characters themselves? You look at the front cover of this thing: I feel like I know these two kids.

Tony Fucile: Sal is sort of based loosely on me and a little bit of my son, Eli. So it’s kind of a combo. It’s really based on me and my friend, Steve Kerr, who’s my buddy. He’s almost a year younger than me, and we were neighbors. We grew up together. I remember he and I going through moments like that, where we felt like we were losing our minds; we were bored. You just sit there and you lay on the ground and writhe in pain because it’s so awful. So it’s really based on him. He was always much smarter than I was. He was kind of like Frankie; he was always a little bit ahead of the curve. I was maybe the enthusiastic one, but he was a little bit ahead. So they are loosely based on him and I.

Dr. Kent: Cool. Are you the one with the goofy glasses, or the one with the cowlick?

Tony Fucile: I have the cowlick: the skinny guy. He has a little paunch on him. He didn’t have the glasses, though. I added those. I needed a prop for him.

Dr. Kent: You’ve got these characters. In your brain, do you know what they look like from every angle? Because a weird thing for children’s illustrators is of course that as he goes through the book, when you look at him from different angles, he’s got to look like the same guy, right?

Tony Fucile: Yes. Especially the little square-headed guy, Frankie. So I sculpted their heads; I did little sculptures. Starting with a square, and I put some yellow hair on it. Yes, so it was rough. I needed that reference to figure out how to draw him from various angles. We had that in animation a lot, especially the hand-drawn animation. We would have mockups that would help us draw particular angles.

Dr. Kent: You actually sculpt the head, like out of clay, or on the computer, or what?

Tony Fucile: I sculpt them with clay.

Dr. Kent: Wow.

Tony Fucile: Then I’d stick them on top of a pencil. Then I would grab the pencil, and if I was having trouble with an angle, I would use it as a prop.

Dr. Kent: So every character you’ve ever created, do you have little pencils with little heads on them?

Tony Fucile: In the studios we had professional sculptors come in and do work with us and do our characters for us. Then we referenced those during production. It’s one of those things that they’ve been doing since ‘Snow White.’

Dr. Kent: Really?

Tony Fucile: Yes, because when you’re trying to get something, you can get away with it with a children’s book because things aren’t moving through space as much. You want it to feel solid and that it looks like it’s fairly substantial and it’s dimensional quality there. With animation you have to actually move through space. You really have to pay attention to where things are attached, and the perspective of the head. It’s one of those really tough challenges for hand-drawn animation especially.

Dr. Kent: So you do draw by hand? You’re not one of the folks that does the digital animation part of it?

Tony Fucile: Do you mean digital drawing?

Dr. Kent: Yes.

Tony Fucile: Well I do a mix. Strangely, I started this on the computer, on a tablet. I like that because you can maneuver things around quickly, shrink things, and then organize things which is good. But the final art, I like to draw it as much as I can. ‘Let’s Do Nothing’ is drawn and painted: painted with acrylic and ink.

Dr. Kent: This kind of has the vibe of the old Dr. Seuss books. It’s got the real tactile feel of real illustration.

Tony Fucile: Well, thanks! Thank you.

Dr. Kent: Cool. It’s a pleasure to chat with you about this. Where can folks pick up this book? Are you doing any kind of traveling around? I know Candlewick Press put it out, and they’re a great children’s publisher. The book, of course, is called, ‘Let’s Do Nothing.’ What are you doing to back it up?

Tony Fucile: I did a couple of school events, and that’s really about it. I went to the ALA last summer; that was interesting - that was fun.

Dr. Kent: Fun. What kind of feedback are you getting?

Tony Fucile: Pretty good. A lot of Internet blogs are reacting to it well. It’s been reviewed fairly well.

Dr. Kent: Any angry parents who are saying, ‘We don’t want our kids to do nothing!’

Tony Fucile: [Laughs] I haven’t had that yet. Kids, it’s so fun to read it to them. I’ve learned how (well, I’ve only done a couple of these now), but I’ve learned to let them kind of do the page turn. When you see that the dog’s about to take a pee on him, and all that stuff, they really like to get in there and yell at me: ‘Hey, wait a minute! The dog’s in the corner!’ So I kind of play dumb when I read it, and they tell what’s going on. It’s really fun. So that’s a blast seeing the kids react.

Dr. Kent: You actually see your audience, yes.

Tony Fucile: They get the whole idea that you can’t do nothing. There’s no way to do nothing. It’s a lot of fun to see that.

Dr. Kent: That’s awesome. I’ve been chatting with Tony Fucile and his book’s called, ‘Let’s Do Nothing.’ It’s out on Candlewick Press. Thank you so much for chatting with me.

Tony Fucile: Thanks for having me, thank you.

Dr. Kent: I can’t wait to see what he does next. This is a great little book: ‘Let’s Do Nothing.’ Check it out.

Posted by jamie | Filed Under Childrens, Comics, TRANSCRIPTS, Fiction, AUTHOR INTERVIEW, PODCAST

Tony Fucile | Let’s Do Nothing

October 9, 2009 | Comments Off

Interview with Tony Fucile [13:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

From his website:

Tony Fucile has spent over twenty years designing and animating characters for cartoon feature films. During the first fifteen years, he put pencil to paper to help bring life to characters from The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Lion King, and The Iron Giant. And in the last six years, he put mouse to mouse pad for the Oscar-winning Finding Nemo and The Incredibles, for which he was a Supervising Animator. Tony’s first picture book for children, Let’s Do Nothing!, was released by Candlewick Press in Spring 2009. He’s currently working on a chapter book series by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee about two friends named Bink and Golly. He’s also excited to begin work on Mitchell’s License, a picture book by Hallie Durand to be published by Candlewick Press. Tony was born in San Francisco and currently resides nearby with his wife, Stacey, their two kids, Eli and Elinor, and two Chihuahuas (Pedro and Kahlua).

Posted by jamie | Filed Under Comics, Art, Childrens, Fiction, AUTHOR INTERVIEW, PODCAST

Michelle Karen | Astrology for Enlightenment

October 7, 2009 | Comments Off

Dr. Kent: Welcome back to Sound Authors. Well, this is Dr. Kent, and it’s my pleasure to speak to the author of Astrology for Enlightenment. It’s a beautiful book, and her name is Michelle Karen. Welcome to the show.

Michelle Karen: Thank you.

Dr. Kent: And it’s really a beautiful book, on the outside and on the inside. Tell me a nutshell of what this book is all about.

Michelle Karen: Well, it’s a very original book in that it’s an astrology book but it’s way more than that. It’s really a book on enlightenment. On the Mayan calendar what is happening between now and 2012, which is the end of the Mayan calendar, why does the Mayan calendar end on the 21st of December, 2012, what this means to us, and I share very classical insights on how to reach enlightenment in our daily life, in our bedroom and our bathroom and our kitchen, etc. And I also offer excerpts from the prophecy of John of Jerusalem, that was origined 500 years before Nostradamus seen centuries, and which is a very clear prophecy for our time that is absolutely predicting what is going on in our lives right now, and all the drama (inaudible) that we’re exposed to that is the prophecy that’s full of hope, and that’s giving away that this world of darkness that we are exposed to now is actually giving way to a beautiful time of magic and peace and harmony. And I also redefine each sign in a holistic way, so based on the law of similarities, I explain how to understand each sign by referring to the colors, the sounds, the animals, the plants, the cities they are connected to, and I also give a very detailed prediction for each sign between now and 2012 and how to write those changes as elegantly as possible. So it’s basically a memoir. It’s a very handsome kind of book that is going to really help you understand what is going on, why there’s changes, and how to deal with them as positively and effectively as possible.

Dr. Kent: Well I know a little bit about astrology but not too much. Kind of the extent of what I know is, I heard a great lecture on, you know, the three wise men and the Christian bible, and they were three astrologers, so I know a little bit about that. And then also, of course, the horoscope that comes in the newspaper every week. What do you think people don’t know about astrology?

Michelle Karen: Well, I think, well first of all I think you’re way ahead than most people because the fact that you know that those guys were actually soldiers and they followed the star that told them that there was going to be a very special birth on the planet, which was Christ, it’s already way ahead of the game already. I would say that astrology to me is really a tool for empowerment. Because more, it’s totally based on your date of birth and month, day and year, your time of birth and your place of birth in terms of city, state and/or country. It’s going to give a map of the heavens at the time you were born, what you breathed in with your first breath. So that is very much, there is a sense there of something that gives us a tool that enables us to really understand what our weakness is and our strengths, and what did we choose when we walk on this planet or when we in come in groups. And out of that we can direct our lives with more focus, much faster, it’s basically like having a map, you know, and it’s like if you were invited somewhere and you just drove around randomly hoping to get to your destination, you’re probably going to spend a lot of time just scattered around, and getting frustrated and not figuring out where it is that you’re supposed to go and never finding that place. Whereas if you get your GPS and it tells you to go right, to go left, to make a turn, that maybe here there’s a nice museum to look at, or here there’s a nice viewpoint, or here there’s a great restaurant, well you’re going on a much more enjoyable ride and finding much more efficient and you’re definitely going to get to your destination much faster and in much better condition. And that’s basically what having a birth chart is about. Finding the fastest and the most efficient and the most empowering way to become all that you are.

Dr. Kent: And so, you know, I’m a Sagittarius, and people purport to know a lot about me just by knowing my birthday. What does birth date have to do with all of this?

Michelle Karen: Well, the birthday is based on, you know, because (inaudible) priests who wear the ancient astrologers and festive astrologers in Caldea which is present day Iraq, they figure things out by just observing what was going on in the sky and what was going on on earth, and they started to see that there were a lot of similarities between certain configurations and certain times of the year and that people born during that specific time of the year displayed very similar character traits. So Sagittarius in our northern hemisphere is December, and this is the time of the year where usually the trees are barren and it’s cold, but there is still some very beautiful days and there is a hope that the despite all this coldness that we’ll feel great. So this is the time of Christmas, this is the time of Hanukah and all those holidays where we should give to our family and eat together and we have gratitude for life. And this is, and this could be the hardest days you have dealing with this specific time of the year connected to a specific sign reveal what that sign is about. So if you look at Hanukah or Christmas, these are really beautiful holidays of sharing and gratitude, and that’s the basic character of Sagittarius. Sagittarius is a fierce line, so it’s a very dynamic, energetic, full of faith kind of sign. Very philosophical, also very interested in foreign languages and foreign cultures and long distance traveling, and definitely people. And it’s represented by the centaur, you know with the arrow, you know when you have an arrow it’s usually shot and lands much further than where it was shot from, and usually Sagittarians are people who are able to see the silver lining on every dark cloud and who are very adventurous, who are usually quite athletic, and who really take great pride in having a very fit body, and who are extremely intelligent and usually have an encyclopedic knowledge and a great friend who can usually know, you know, connect very easily to people and have this warmth and this very shiny intelligence that embraces everything. So they’re not always very good with details, because they’re always focusing on the great picture. But they’re very dynamic and hopeful leaders in a religious or philosophical way. And they’re very honest people, you can always know the truth from a Sagittarius, they will never lie to you, or if they lie it’s really very obvious.

Dr. Kent: It’s such a fascinating thing. Now, is there a bad sign? You know, if you were born in March did you get hit with the unlucky stick? Or are all signs good in their own ways?

Michelle Karen: Every sign is good in its own way. And sometimes the Sagittarius is going to be easier for you to connect with an Aries or Leo who are other fire signs, than it might be to a Pisces who is born in March who is more sensitive, more imaginative, more inner mystical, meditative, very concerned with music, or who loves peace and solitary and who could be a little more secretive. So it doesn’t, so there is different qualities specific to different signs, and each of these qualities create the tapestry of life so they each have a very important role. It’s as if we had this society that only has accountants, where probably our finances would definitely be in order, but nobody would eat. We need a baker, we need a school, we need teachers, we need accountants, we need all sorts of artists, we need all sorts of people with different skills and gifts that are going to enrich our experience of life.

Dr. Kent: So your book Astrology for Enlightenment, you mentioned it’s sort of like a guide or an encyclopedia. Tell us about, how does one read the book?

Michelle Karen: Well for example, there’s a lot of ways to read the book, but there is one very unique feature to this book, which is on the last page, and which is a guide to the planetary rulership of every hour of every day. So the nice thing is that you don’t need to look into and count zones, time zones or summer time or wintertime. It’s going to be just the time that’s on your clock, and you’re going to look, for example, if you want to create successful meetings and you should always, and I explain how to use it with the meaning of every planet, but you should always use the sun hour. And the sun hour happens, each planetary hour happens four times every day of every week. So for example, if you want to start a fitness hour, well the Mars hour would be the right one. If you want to have a successful date or you want to create harmony with someone with whom there’s been discord, then you would use the Venus hour. And then you can also look at, for example, when somebody calls you and emails you, and check at what time they called you or they emailed you, and that’s going to give you a sense of their hidden agenda or what their real purpose was in contacting you. So that’s one way of looking at it. Another way to use the book is to use the prediction for the next four years and I did it sign by sign, and I created a (inaudible). So for example, as a Sagittarius if you want to know what’s going, what are going to be the major dates or shifts in your love life, for example, your career, then you would go to that specific segment of the book. And then I also used that, you know we usually, you’re Sagittarius so you go and read Sagittarius. But I explain in my book that we are the 12 signs. So as you read Sagittarius, well you might also want to read Capricorn if you’re interested in your finances, or enhancing your finances. And Capricorn, and I explain exactly on the grid on which sign corresponds to what are of life for every single sign. And for example, if you start to use a tool for enlightenment of each sign, for example the colors and the gemstones and the scents and the perfumes and the plants, as we see with the Capricorn, you start creating something in your life that’s going to help you enhance or empower the area of finances. So it’s a very complete book, and then I give also predictions based on the Mayan calendar, and based on or in relation to with our Western astrology, which I believe brings much deeper depth to what the Mayan calendar talks about and the various stages and cycles we are in between now and 2012. So it’s really a book that you can have fun with. It’s a book that you can go back and forth with, it’s a book that you can use in all sorts of ways. So that’s why it’s sort of a manual you want to have with you at all times, because I know some friends who have bought like four different copies of Astrology for Enlightenment for each member of their family. Because there’s always someone who is using the book and (inaudible) very different ways. So it’s one of those books that you know, you don’t necessarily read from cover to cover. You can, of course, and reading for first read it will help, but after that you’re just going to go back and forth and flip through the pages.

Dr. Kent: Well, it’s been such an honor chatting with Michelle Karen. Her book is called Astrology for Enlightenment. Again, it’s a gorgeous book, it’s something you definitely could leave sitting around the house and be proud when people see it. It’s a beautiful looking book. And it’s been such a pleasure to talk to you.

Michelle Karen: Thank you very much, and people can also order it on my website if they want, and I’ll sign every copy personally. And it’s michellekaren.com.

Dr. Kent: So michellekaren.com, and the book again is Astrology for Enlightenment, and it was a real pleasure talking to you.

Michelle Karen: Thank you very much.

Posted by jamie | Filed Under TRANSCRIPTS, Medicine, Spirituality, Entertainment, AUTHOR INTERVIEW, PODCAST

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