The Myths of Paranormal

By Virginia Nelson

 

Paranormal, the world I write about, combines romance with ancient folk lore. Is it all make-believe or based on truth? Ask this Native American and I’ll tell you there is more truth to the unknown and the unexplained than most of you can imagine.  

Throughout time, every culture and religion on Earth has at one time or another recognized and acknowledged the unexplained, including spirits, ghosts, hands-on-healing, shifters of all kinds, even astral and time travel.  

Virginia Nelson

What today’s society view as Metaphysical or New Age, I grew up with. I’d like to take you back to my early childhood. I’ll bet you, my childhood was quite different from most of yours.

During the early 1950’s, I lived with my traditional grandparents. My grandmother, for all intents and purposes, was considered a medicine woman, a healer in her own right. She instructed me in such a way I never knew I was in school.  On long walks in the forest, she would stop, dig up a root or pick a leaf off a plant and tuck it into her shoulder bag. Young children love to mimic others and I was no different. By the time I was three, I’d walk along side her gathering my own small leafs, stems and roots. When we returned to our camp, we’d sit down at the picnic table and separate our great finds. I soon learned how to make everything from potions, to healing salves, to fragrant incenses which made our canvas tent a wonderful loving home.

While other children my age played tag or hide and seek with their human friends, I enjoyed the companionship of my feathered and furry friends, those that lived in the forest. My grandparents also shared a host of games with me – ones you might expect to experience in an ancient Kung Fu temple or modern day parapsychology training center. Not knowing the things we did were not real games, but training sessions, I happily played along. By the time I was five, my grandmother blind-folded me several miles from our camp then told me to walk home. It was no big deal, she’d been instructing me in third eye development long before I could walk. In addition, I was never told my imaginary friends didn’t exist… my grandmother even sat extra places at the table for them or included them in our conversations. Nights were spent around the camp fire listening to stories of my ancestors which always included some magical elements.

As I grew up, my interest and life changed. I went to a real school and found another love; history. I eventually received my higher educational degrees in Ancient Civilizations and teaching.

I’m getting a little off track here as I never intended this to be an article about my personal journey, but I felt if I explained where I came from, you might have a deeper understanding of where this is going.

A 1996 Gallup poll estimated that 71% of the people in the United States believed the government was covering up information on UFOs. A 2002 Roper poll conducted for the Sci Fi Channel reported that 56% of their viewers thought UFOs were real and 48% believed aliens visited the Earth.

In addition, the 2001 Gallup poll found that 54% of the general population believed in psychic or spiritual healing. Another 42% believed in haunted houses while 41% believed in satanic possession, 36% in telepathy, 25% in reincarnation, and 15% in channeling. A survey by Jeffrey S. Levin, associate professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, found that over 2/3 of the U.S. population reported having at least one mystical experience.

Now I ask you once again, is the paranormal world I create in my romance novels real or make believe? Perhaps a little of both. In my series, Sekhmet’s Guardians, I have combined my love of ancient cultures with the mythical tales and events of my childhood in an unlikely duel, combining Native American lore with European and Ancient Egyptian mythology.

Are the Shifters, Were-wolves, Vampires, Zombies, Ghosts, Selkies, Banshees, and Aliens we are so drawn to in our paranormal romances, simply a creation of the author’s imagination or is there some truth to their existence?  I’ll let you decide.

The perfect blend of tradition, history, romance, action and suspense.

With a love for history, Native American author V.S. Nelson, instructed elementary, high school and college in the U.S. and abroad before launching her second writing career. V has been a story-teller all her life, always creating stories about people discovering the courage to make a difference. This drove her into writing her paranormal series centering on strong relationships and led her to coin the term: Ancient Legends, New Worlds.

She is well known for her “time management and sprint style writing,” producing well over five thousand words daily - consecutively.

V is available for speaking engagements, appearances and is more than willing to share her methodology with others in a variety of workshops.

A member of three RWA chapters she sits on several committees and judges writing contests across the states.  

In Jan, 2013, Eternal Lovers, the first book in her eleven book paranormal series, Sekhmet’s
Guardians launched with a fury. Being a series reader herself, she has held true to her promise by releasing no less than two books in the series per year in addition to her other work.

 

When two hidden worlds collide near modern day Lake Michigan, Jennifer, a young Native American, is confronted with the reality, not everything is as it seems and things do go bump in the night. The questions she has long since asked are answered in this epic tale of self discovery when she meets Gabriel; the director of Guardians Incorporated.

 

Born in New Tuat, Netchkhet, now known as Gabriel, came to Earth some five thousand years ago to protect the human race. Disillusioned because of an unfulfilled prophecy, he has become cold and distant -- even from those of his kind. Secretly, he waits for his enemy to take his head so he may leave this world for good.

 

Can a tiny Selkie melt his hardened heart and restore his faith in a power far greater than himself? When history repeats itself, can he save her from death’s embrace or will they be robbed of a future again?

 

With each passing day Jessica’s consciousness grew stronger. For twenty years she was content to remain as she was—trapped inside another. The life she led came to an abrupt end the moment she laid eyes on Raphael. At first she suspected they were destined to be together--his gentle touch confirmed it. Although he didn’t know it, he ignited waves of a fiery passion that burned deep into her soul. It became brighter every day, giving her the strength she needed. Somehow she would find a way to free herself from her grandmother’s powerful magic.

Since her birth she learned vicariously from observing others of her kind and until now she was satisfied with the life she led. She had everything one would need to live a meaningful life without the stress the human world inflicts on its inhabitants. With each passing day her obsession to be more than she was, intensified. Jessica knew she was gifted with her race's abilities to communicate with others but until now she had never used them. They say practice makes perfect and she was at a point now where she could make her presence known—at least to him.

 

 

Coming Fall, 2013 - Eternal Blades – Sekhmet’s Guardians – Book three

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