Mystical Realms Newsletter for March, 2014
Jef Murray
Greetings!
And welcome to my newsletter for March, 2014! Please feel free to forward this to anyone you think would be interested in keeping up with me! To receive these newsletters regularly, please drop me an email or subscribe online from my website (http://www.JefMurray.com ) or at: http://groups.google.com/group/Mystical_Realms . Notices of events and items of interest are at the bottom of this email.
Pitchers ===============
• For those who have requested it, I’ve begun adding prices to those original paintings that are currently available for purchase on my website (www.JefMurray.com), beginning with the most recent. Updating my gallery pages, including prices for original sketches as well as paintings, will be an ongoing process, and I’ll be adding prices as I am able. If you need to know the status and/or price of an original work that does not yet have a price, please contact me directly and I’ll add that information. All works can be shipped internationally.
• I’ve added 3 new painting images to my website at www.JefMurray.com . These include The Arkenstone, A Canticle for Elessar, and Piper of Dreams. The first of these can be found in my Middle-earth->The Third Age->The Hobbit gallery, the second can be found in my Middle-earth->The Third Age->Lord of the Rings gallery, and the third can be found in my Fairy Tales->Paintings gallery. You can also find them all by going to http://www.JefMurray.com and clicking on the “Newest Works->Paintings” link at the top, left.
• In addition to the three paintings, I have added four new graphite sketch images to the Middle-earth, Fairy Tale, and Soul & Spirit sketch galleries. You can see all of the latest together by clicking on the “Newest Works -> Sketches” link at the top, left my home page, www.JefMurray.com .
• The current 1st edition of Seer: A Wizard’s Journal is being reviewed in the upcoming issue of the St. Austin Review (StAR). For more information about StAR, see: www.staustinreview.com. Also, look for news on a new edition of Seer: A Wizard’s Journal soon! Watch this space!
Prospects ===================
• The third great gathering of Tolkien fans in Kentucky is being planned for September, 2014! A Long Expected Party 3 (acronym “AL3P) is completely booked, but you can still be put on the waiting list to attend on-site. You can also still register, and offsite lodging is available. I’m delighted to announce that I will be one of three guests at the event, along with Dr. Michael Drout and Dr. Amy Sturgis. For more information, see: http://www.alep-ky.us/
Ponderings ==============
"It protects you from all physical
harm, my dear Sir, and even from death itself; but it cannot protect you from
evil," said the old woman, holding up the necklace to the light. It was
fashioned of silver and jet, and the dingy shards of sunlight that struck the
petrified stones cast a rainbow of hues against the opposite walls of the shop.
"What do you mean, it can't protect me from
evil itself?What evil exists beyond physical
harm?" the young man, well-dressed, and in the latest fashions, smirked
slightly.
"Ah!" said the crone, "that, you
would know best. But, I've had this trinket in my keeping since I was a girl of
your age, or even younger. Yet I can assure you that not all evil is
physical...."
"Well, be that as it may, I'll take it, if
only as a curiosity to amuse my friends. What will you charge for it?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?! It is not for sale, then?"
"It is not for sale, but it can be had. Such
as this may only be passed on; it cannot be bought. Not for money, anyways."
"Well, then, must I do something in exchange
for it?" the young man began to grow wary.
"Yes, indeed! You must do me a favor; a simple
thing, really."
"And what favor is that?"
"You must bring me a single drop of blood from
a child; one of no more than two years of age."
"What absurd nonsense! Why on earth would I consent
to such a thing?"
"Ah, again, you would know best. But, let me
demonstrate...." The old woman rose and stepped toward the fireplace. She
thrust her hand into the coals and picked one up in her bare hand. Then she
turned and walked toward the young man.
"You see what I am holding?" she asked.
"Yes."
"And you see that I take no harm from the
coal?"
"Yes, I see that, too."
"Well, then, such is the virtue of this
necklace that neither coals, nor hail, nor flood can harm me or any who holds
it."
"Ha! Or it could be, woman, that this is just
sleight of hand! Here, let me handle that coal that you claim harms you
not."
The crone smiled. "Certainly," she said,
and placed the glowing ember into his palm.
Immediately the young man screamed and flung the
cinder away. Sparks flew from the corner where it was cast.
"My God, woman! You've maimed me!" he
cried, holding up his seared palm.
"Nay, Sir, I've but let you observe the power
of the necklace. Here, place it about your neck, and you will find that all is
healed once more."
The woman lifted the necklace over his head, and
immediately the searing pain in his hand ceased. He held his palm aloft and
looked at it; there was no sign of the charring that he had just experienced.
After a few moments of wonder, he looked craftily
at the woman. "One drop of blood, you say?"
"Just one," she responded.
"But...from a child? Must it be from a
child?"
"Aye, else it becomes but another trinket. Its
power will fade, even from you ere long, unless the pact is made."
"The pact?"
"Yes, the pact required for you to have it. A
single drop of blood from a child...and your own soul in the bargain."
"I don't believe in the soul, so that part is
easy...."
"Ah! Neither did I, good Sir, neither did I!
But, since I've held this trinket, I've come to,change my mind."
"That, I shall never do!"
"Then you're the right one to have her next
then, Sir; the necklace, I mean. Sure as I'm a sinner, you are her next owner!
But, mark my words, you need not commit your soul at the start; just the drop
of blood of an innocent is required. The rest will come in due time...."