Hi all,

Can I just say I still cannot believe I wrote the Crystal series? It’s so not ‘me.’ The romance is right up my alley, but all this ‘craft’ and scary stuff is just not how I usually roll. I don’t read or watch dark stuff because I hate it, even if it’s ‘Christian’. I’ve been told the Crystal series, and my book Bondage (Pure Passion Series) are similar to some of Frank Peretti’s books, so I’ve been wanting check him out and see. I downloaded ‘This Present Darkness’ months ago, but still can’t bring myself to read it. Yet I’ve been writing about practitioners and craft and angels and demons. Go figure.

Today we’re talking about:

• Craft of Different Nations
• SOT Hierarchy vs. other craft within the world of the Crystal series/Robe Colour
• Energy release

Craft of Different Nations

I felt it was realistic to make different nations have different forms of craft. The way practitioners in the Crystal series practice their craft is influenced by their culture. This is the case with most things in life. For example, cultures with a ‘respect culture’ tend to be very respectful towards their politicians, pastors, or anyone in a position of power. While here in the UK, where we don’t really have a culture of respect for elders etc., we treat people in power in ways that people with a respect culture would find shocking. That’s just one example of how culture affects behaviors and practices. Juda learns his ‘superior’ craft in India, where he undergoes intense training and discipline. Shola Cardoso mixes and matches craft techniques from many different nations. This made Juda a tough opponent for anybody unfamiliar with his Indian craft, and it enabled Shola to sneak around behind Luke’s back.

SOT Hierarchy vs. other craft within the world of the Crystal series/Robe Colour

The SOT Hierarchy, from highest position to lowest, is:

Grandmaster

Principal

Spirit Ruler

Dark Lord

Obviously, Luke was a Grandmaster. Other crafts in the world of the Crystal series have different hierarchies. Because of the nature of the SOT craft, practitioners within the SOT graduate to a white robe faster than they would in other crafts. In most crafts of the Crystal series, people stay at the black robe for much longer and some never attain to the white robe. This is because the SOT craft is big on death and blood covenants. A white robe is a sign of being an elite practitioner of uncommon discipline and submission to the occult. I didn’t want the fact that there are so many white-robed practitioners in the SOT to make the white robe seem common, or easy to attain. Rather, I wanted it to portray the fact that those in the SOT are very high level practitioners and make incredible sacrifices for their power and position in society.  Crystal gets a white robe after making a blood covenant and taking an oath.

Regarding robe colour, I wanted a way to make the hierarchy of the craft visual. Rather than saying someone is a deeper/more powerful practitioner than another person, this fact is automatically conveyed to the reader by the color of the robe they wear. By the way I only mentioned black, white and red robes in the Crystal series, but there are other colors too (purple, gold etc.)—not in real life. Just in my fictional Crystal series world 🙂

Energy release

There is a lot of talk of conserving energy, and mental energy, and energy release, among practitioners of the Crystal series. This was a way of limiting the practitioners. Just because they have occult power doesn’t mean they are invincible. Just as the strongest man in the world gets tired if he exerts too much energy and may be overcome while tired, so also the practitioners get tired if they exert their craft muscles too much.

Anyway, I hope you’re having a good week. The closer we get to launch day, the more excited I get 🙂

God bless.