Apr
16
2010
Where did angels come from?
The oldest reference to a being that could be considered an angel is an image on stele dating from app. 3,000 BC. 
Located in the ruins of the ancient city of Ur near Babylon (now part of Iraq), the stele shows a winged figure descending from the heavens to pour water into a king’s cup.
The ancient Sumerians who carved the religious figure believed that water was the essence of life, and they viewed the winged creature not as a god, but as a servant of the gods.
The Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer is believed to have flourished between 5300 – 3500 BC. In addition to producing dozens of cultural firsts – or inventions, Sumerians appear to have been the first to depict winged figures in art, including humans with wings.
Apr
13
2010
Angelology by Danielle Trussoni
Writer friend Joan Mora has an interview with author Danielle Trussoni for her book, Angelology. I love this book so much I’m listening to the audio version AND reading the text version! Beautifully written, compelling as hell. I wish I had written this book 
.
Mar
26
2010
The Golden Fleece
As I researched for a short story involving mythology (this one, The Golden Fleece), I found this lovely picture at Wikipedia. Even in mythology, angels and winged creatures were abundant.
Mar
10
2010
Myths are clues
Joseph Campbell said, "Myths are clues to the spirituality of the human life."
As I’m studying Campbell and his work, I ask myself, “Can a human be human without mythology and religion?”
If we have no mythology, are we then merely animals living to exist?
"Myths are the 'masks of God'," he wrote, "through which men everywhere have sought to relate themselves to the wonders of existence."
The shock of recognition we receive from the timelessness of these images, from primal cultures to the most contemporary, he believed, was an illumination not only of our inward life but of the same deep spiritual ground from which all human life springs.
How do humans conceive of spirituality and mythology? Why do we need to explain the universe? Is it because we have a well-developed frontal lobe?
Cognitive maturity associated with adulthood is marked by related maturation of cerebral fibers in the frontal lobes between late teenager years and early adult years. The frontal lobe reaches full maturity around age 25. Research by Arthur Toga, UCLA, found increased myelin in the frontal lobe white matter of young adults compared to that of teens, whereas grey matter in parietal and temporal lobes was more fully matured by teen years.
The so-called executive functions of the frontal lobes involve the ability to recognize future consequences resulting from current actions, to choose between good and bad actions (or better and best), override and suppress unacceptable social responses, and determine similarities and differences between things or events.
The frontal lobes also play an important part in retaining longer term memories which are not task-based. These are often memories with associated emotions, derived from input from the brain’s limbic system, and modified by the higher frontal lobe centers to generally fit socially acceptable norms. The frontal lobes have rich neuronal input from both the alert centers in the brain-stem, and from the limbic regions.
Feb
21
2010
Scene additions
Slowly, sometimes tediously, I add a scene and I’m always amazed when I do. Sometimes it’s like it just flows through me and sometimes I’m wondering what am I doing? Will writing about fallen angels open up some mysterious conduit to the underworld? Now, that’s spooky.
Zeba, who’s name may change because everyone seems to say “Zeh-ba” instead of how I say it, “Zee-ba”, who was an actual angel, is developing. Right now, she doesn’t know who she is. She thinks she’s a loner, a pool hustler, and loves her Buel bike. If that’s all she was, we wouldn’t have a book, would we?
Poor girl. Sometimes I feel sorry for her because she’s going through so much pain and fear, not knowing what is now happening to her. But she must experience these things to grow and become the “extreme being” that she’s destined to become.
Have heart, Zeba. Change won’t be denied.
Dec
25
2009
New Year, New Words
Has it been a year already? Much has happened for me. I’ve begun and grown a copyediting business and it’s kept me very busy. Thankfully, allowing me some $$ to make the trip to the World Fantasy Convention in San Jose Oct 09, and tour the Southwest.
I needed that tour. I have a whole series of books ( not this one ) that is based on desert life. It’s a fantasy called The Winged Warrior and I’m now working on book two and editing book one. There’s so much that goes into creating a world, religion, mythology, culture, etc., from scratch! Lotsa lotsa work, but oh so much fun!
Which makes this book, The Angel Project, somewhat easier to write because it’s an “urban fantasy”. The world is already created (see it around you , so all I have to do is some research on angels, which includes religions of differing types, and voila! I’m off .(well, that’s not all, but most)
There’s also a book in between those two series, as yet untitled, I’m using “Gog/Magog” as my working title, about an antholopologist who discovers tombs of some very large and ancient people who come alive once unearthed. I won’t say anymore, as this is very fun to write, but I don’t want to give it all away . As I get it more developed, I’ll have a website for it as well.
Which reminds me, I need to make a website for The Winged Warrior. I’ve maps and all that fun stuff to add.
Now, back to The Angel Project….
Researching more on angels, especially in the Jewish and Islamic areas. Amazing how these religions (and Christianity) can be so much alike, yet our current political status doesn’t reflect much of that.
Some places in the Bible put angels between God and man, some equal. I’ve heard from one priest who was taught that man is God’s favorite and angels are just there to serve. Course, the angel Satan didn’t do his job very well, did he? LOL and so he was the first fallen angel.
(I could title the book “Fallen Angel”, but there are already so many with that title, blah) The etymology of the Hebrew word נְפִילִים (nephilim) means “fallen ones.”
So, from all my readings, angels have freedom of choice. They are expected to do their duty(ies), as God requires, but like humans, they can choose to do rightly or not-so-rightly.
And apparently the daughters of men were quite alluring. I mean, who could resist being wooed by an angel? How sexy could that be, eh? (OK, here goes another book idea
Hybrid children of two of God’s creations–angels and humans. How can one not make a fantasy novel out of so much fertile history?
And so the story continues.
Check back often as I update the site with novel and research progress.
Alley
aka Pat Hauldren
Dec
04
2009
Who are the Nephilim?
According to Wikipedia:
“Nephilim are beings who appear in the Hebrew Bible; specifically mentioned in the Book of Genesis and the Book of Numbers; they are also mentioned in other Biblical texts and in some non-canonical Jewish writings.
The etymology of the Hebrew word נְפִילִים (nephilim) means “fallen ones.
Abraham ibn Ezra proposes that they were called fallen ones because men’s hearts would fail at the sight of them. Some suggest that they were giants and when they fell, the ground shook, causing others to fall too. Jean Leclerc and Peter of Aquila among others suggest that it is derived from the warlike nature of the Nephilim, comparing the usage of Naphal in Job 1:15 “And the Sabeans fell upon them” where Naphal means “to take in battle”. Alternatively, Shadal understands nephilim as deriving from the Hebrew word פלא Pele which means wondrous. Another possibility is that the term is a generic term for “giants” in general, which is consistent with the Septuagint and Vulgate translations of the word. Some expositors believe it may refer more to the ferocity and strength of the people who are referred to, rather than their physical height, though in the Book of Numbers intentional stress on height is apparent, whether metaphorical or actual.”
The Nephilim are part of Biblical history, does that make them real?
Depends. I’m not going into faith and religion here other than to use this information in my fictional writing. I don’t tout any particular religion, but pull from those that work best for my fiction. So it depends, on what you believe. I don’t want to change that. I feel there are no right or wrong beliefs, only right and wrong ways to implement them, but we won’t go into that here.
The wonderful thing about writing fiction, is that everything imaginable is your playground. Of course, to set up a book, which has to have a history of its own, some things must be “assumed” to get things rolling in the story.
What do I assume for the book, The Angel Project?
I assume that the Nephilim exited. I use that as a basis for the whole story. If the reader cannot assume this as well, then he or she will not enjoy this book.
But it’s fun, to wonder what the Bible is saying when they speak of the Nephilim and all that happened or didn’t happen or might have happened. And I’m using this amazing, intriguing history to lay the foundation of my novel.
I hope you enjoy what I learn as I do the research and writing for The Angel Project. Ideas? Suggestions? I’d love to hear them. Write me at pat@ pathauldren.com (no spaces) or catch me on Twitter
Sep
09
2009
The Angel Project
A contemporary fantasy
by Pat Hauldren
“The Nefilim were upon the Earth in those days and thereafter too. Those sons of the gods who cohabited with the daughters of the Adam, and they bore children into them. They were the Mighty Ones of Eternity, the People of the Shem.”
– Genesis 6:4
“There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they; bare children unto them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.”
– Genesis 6:4 (King Jame’s version)
Sep
09
2009
War in Heaven, War on Earth
It doesn’t matter whether you “believe” in Heaven and Hell. It doesn’t matter whether you believe in God, or an afterlife, or reincarnation. It doesn’t matter. But here is the story of what happened, whether you believe it or not.
“The ealriest account of rebelling angels is contained in the apocryphal Book of the Secrets of Enoch. According to Christian legend, there was a great battle fought at the beginning of time between good angels, who supported God, and teh rebel angels, who supported Satan’s attempt to take God’s place. It is believed that this tremendous battle took place on the second day of Creation.”
~ Angels A to Z by James R. Lewis and Evelyn Dorothy Oliver.
