Greetings!

And welcome to my newsletter for October, 2014! Please feel free to forward this to anyone whom you believe might be interested in keeping up with me! To receive these newsletters regularly, drop me an email or subscribe online from my website ( http://www.JefMurray.com ) or at: http://groups.google.com/group/Mystical_Realms .

 Pitchers ===============

•      “A Long Expected Party III” (AL3P) has concluded, and Lorraine and I had a magnificent time, as always. While at the gathering, minstrel Marc Gunn interviewed me, and we discussed life, mythology, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, painting, sketching, music-making, and just about any other topic one can think of. To hear us, click on the following link: http://marcgunn.com/2014/cg056-jef-murray-interview-at-alep-and-thoughts-on-painting/

•      The 2015 Fantastical Beasts & Beings Calendar is complete and now available! To learn more and to purchase your copy, you can go to my website and click on the Fantastical Beasts Calendar image on the front page slider, or go directly to the following link: http://sales.jefmurray.com/books/calendar_2015_Jef_Murray_Fb.html

•      I’ve added 4 new painting images to my website at www.JefMurray.com . These include Balrog, Scatha the Wyrm, Forest Dweller, and Moonrise. The first two of these can be found in my Middle-earth -> The Third Age -> Lord of the Rings gallery. The second can be found in my Fairy Tales gallery, and the third can be found in both my Narnia and Fairy Tales galleries. You can also find them all by going directly to http://www.JefMurray.comand clicking on the “Newest Works->Paintings” link at the top, left.

•      In addition to the above, I’ve added 7 new sketch images to my website. These can be found in the Middle-earth Sketches, Narnia Sketches, Fairy Tale Sketches, and Soul & Spirit Sketches galleries, or you can see them all by clicking on the “Newest Works->Sketches link at the top left of my website.

Prospects ===================

• “A Long Expected Party III” (AL3P) has concluded, and Lorraine and I had a magnificent time, as always. Many, many thanks to Grey Wizard, Tim White, the Shaker Village Staff, Michael Drout, Amy Sturgis, Marc Gunn, Samantha Gillogly, Jamie Haeuser, and the dozens and dozens of other musicians, singers, players, volunteers, Trading Post managers, and guests for making this the best ALEP ever!

Ponderings ==============

[From a letter penned by Brother Azarias to his godson, Luke Lester. The letter is dated September 2, 2014, the Feast of the Guardian Angels]

My Dear Godson,

You have asked me in the past how I came to be acquainted with your father and with his father before him. Now that you and your brother, Charles, are older and you know me and our order better, the time has come to oblige you.

But let me begin by saying that what I am about to share with you may stretch your credulity, since it deals with the topic of dragons. And here I’m primarily speaking of the real thing: the proverbial immense scaled lizard with wings, claws, fiery breath, and an inordinate fondness for feasting on young maidens. Such creatures are described in all cultures and in all mythologies, but the ones that have most concerned me over the years were those that were not mere beasts (such creatures are most common in the far east), but rather the cunning, sentient beings that are capable of just as much mischief through deceit and trickery as through brute strength. They were and are true disciples of the “Father of Lies”, and are peculiar to the history and traditions of the west, and to Europe in particular.

In my travels in the east, and in Europe, I often sought out dragons, usually following word of their whereabouts from local townsfolk and knights errant. And I have, in fact, laid eyes on many, but it has been more than half a century since last I did so. The most frequently I encountered dragons at any time in my life was during the late days of the 19^th century, after the waning of the Romantic era and at the height of the glory of the British Empire. It was then that I came upon a unique individual in London who went by the name of George Robert Leicester: a scholar, explorer, and zoological collector. He was, of course, your great-great-grandfather. You may or may not have known his name, but you certainly will not have heard much of his history, for we live now in a day that no longer gives credence to the field of his greatest expertise.

But here allow me to quote an excerpt from a history of his business enterprise, which was at that time called the Western Cryptozoological Specimen Company of London…later of the Commonwealth of Mississippi:

“Western Cryptozoology has been in the business of finding, conserving, and placing unusual and previously-unknown live creatures from around the globe since 1870, when Dr. G. R. Leicester, our founder, discovered his first clutch of “Kyle of Lochalsh” dragon hatchlings off the Isle of Skye. These were painstakingly raised, as befitted such unique specimens, and were presented to the British court in 1876, the year Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India.

Dr. Leicester was keenly aware of the value of conserving dragons, not only for their novelty and links to European and world traditions, but also for the greater cause of scientific research and understanding.  Setting up a team devoted to the field study of dragons and other uncaptured but rumoured creatures in the late 1870s, Dr. Leicester eventually settled his main operations in the United States. Headquarters were established outside of Jackson, Mississippi, and from that original location, forays into surrounding swamps and the Louisiana bayous were conducted. Preliminary explorations of the jungles of Central America and the Caribbean islands followed. All of these expeditions yielded evidence for and the occasional capture of a number of rare and often dangerous creatures (e.g., several instances of satyrs, vampires, lycanthropes, etc.), but no new dragons.

G.R. Leicester’s son, Lewis Washington Lester, took over the reins of the company in the 1890s and expanded exploration for elusive creatures below the equator. The capture of the first Weddell Sea Dragon, a legendary serpent that had never before even been photographed, was among his greatest triumphs.

Lewis Washington Lester eventually passed operations of the enterprise on to his son, Robert Van Lester, who attempted to expand operations into Africa as well as the eastern Pacific Rim. But with the ever increasing global population and loss of remote habitat, the successful study and capture of unusual cryptozoological specimens became ever more difficult, leading to the shuttering of Western Cryptozoology in the days leading up to the Second World War.”

This history may come as a bit of a shock to you, Luke, I realize, but you and Charles were quite young when your father died, and we thought it best to explain more fully about your family’s history when you were old enough to appreciate it.

The last live dragon I personally saw was released by Robert Van Lester, your father, into the wilds of the Appalachian Mountains in 1945. As you know, the Appalachian Mountains are the oldest in the world, once dwarfing the Himalayas, and even today there are many vales and grottos that have never been fully explored. I heard rumours that the dragon released by your father survived as recently as the 1970s, so I traveled at that time through some of the wilder reaches of the Smoky Mountains in search of the creature.  And I did, in fact, come upon some evidence that it was still extant.

In particular, near the summit of one of the larger peaks of the mountain ridge I was hiking on a late October’s day in 1977, I came upon a clearing at the center of which stood a half dozen enormous boulders. These weighed many tons each, and rivaled the largest stones in Stonehenge. Whereas I perceived that they had once formed part of a single large grouping, one of the boulders now lay toppled to one side, with huge claw marks gashed into the living rock. More claw marks marred the surface of other stones, and I could only suppose that the dragon (for I can imagine no other beast capable of such raw strength) had torn the boulders apart to reach some unfortunate person or creature that had attempted to find shelter within.

That said, I never was able to tease out the actual dragon from the surrounding woods and vales, despite all my best efforts. I even considered seeking the aid of a local maiden to volunteer as bait, until prudence prevailed in arguing against taking such a risk.

Thus, with that last attempt to locate a dragon, I closed the book. The glory days of the dragons that your sires and the medievalists knew are now, I fear, no more.  It is tempting, as a result, to conclude that dragons — in our own day at least — remain simply the stuff of myth and legend, and that we ought to abandon fear and concern about them along with our worst childhood nightmares.

But this is not so. We still live in a world with dragons; they simply no longer appear in their most recognizable form.

Dragons survive in human guise in our own day: as evil forces that slaughter innocent victims around the globe and in our own back yards; in the form of men and women who seek profit, pleasure, and power by harming others; they exist in the form of sin and evil in our own hearts and in our own deeds. Just as many of us may have, in the course of our lives, entertained angels in the guise of strangers, so may we also have entertained dragons….

And deceit remains, as it ever was, the single greatest weapon of the dragon. Though the creature in our day may not have scales and breathe fire, it is no less a dragon, despite its appearances, and we must recognize it and understand it in order to fight it.

I hope none of this has troubled you unduly. You come from a long line of courageous explorers and visionaries, and thus have much to be proud of! Your brother, Charles, being older than you, knows something of this history as well, and there are additional tales I can share with you both in the future, whenever the opportunity presents itself.

In the meantime, keep well, my dear boy, and be assured of my continued prayers for you and Charles.

Your loving godfather,

Br. Azarias

[This interview appeared on the Tolkien Brazil website at:  http://tolkienbrasil.com/artigos/entrevistas/entrevista-com-o-ilustrador-jef-murray/. Here, however, is an English translation of that article ]

In this interview with artist Jef Murray, the translation was made by Sergio Ramos. Jef is is a regular contributor to the the Tolkien Brazil site on various topics, so it is a joy for us to publish this interview. Jef Murray (www.jefmurray.com) is an artist, author and internationally known illustrator. His paintings, drawings and writings appear in fantasy publications and cultural journals worldwide. His artwork has been featured in calendars, on websites, in video courses and television specials on J.R.R. Tolkien, and in logo and book cover designs. His paintings and drawings have been exhibited in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. His first book of short stories, poetry and weights, Seer: A Wizard’s Journal (was published by Oloris Publishing in 2012 – See more at: http://tolkienbrasil.com/artigos/entrevistas/entrevista-com-o-ilustrador-jef-murray/#sthash.SQsANPEx.dpuf and at www.OlorisPublishing.com.

1. Tell us about your life

I was born in Melbourne, Florida, in the USA, but lived much of my childhood in northern Georgia, in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. These are, BTW, the oldest mountains on earth, and they still hold many mysteries; I feel very blessed to have been raised in such a wild place!

I was educated in Atlanta, and worked in the business/engineering world for nearly two decades before I stepped back and began to explore deeper questions; about life, about art, about mystery and magic…

2. When did you begin to paint?

I first took “serious” studio art classes when in college, but had to do so secretly. Art classes weren’t even called that at the Georgia Institute of Technology; they were called “visual communications” courses. And I was one of the few non-architects to take them. But, even in my engineering days, I drew and sketched, did pen and ink work, and created company logos. I only began to paint in the mid-1980s, when I attended oil painting studio classes at the Atlanta College of Art (now the Savannah College of Art and Design). And I continued painting from that point forward, but I only started doing so professionally beginning in 1999.

3. When did you first come to know the works of Tolkien?

I first recollect being read The Hobbit  by my mum when I was in 2^nd grade. She recited one chapter per night to me and my younger brother as a bedtime story, along with chapters from the Narnia tales; and I’ve ever since conflated the two in that enchanted and mysterious realm of childhood glamour that is remembrance.

We were also told at the time that there was a sequel to The Hobbit, but that we were not yet old enough to read it at bedtime. Happily, in this instance, my mum was quite right; the nightmares that might have ensued had she relented to our protestations would have been epic in proportion! What my childhood imagination might have conjured upon her reading to us about the ring-wraiths, I’d prefer not to reflect upon!

But, I did at last tackle The Lord of the Rings in high-school, and like so many others, fell in love with that fuller world that Tolkien created. This was abetted by the fact that my high-school was, as I said, nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, and to step past the Edge of the Wild, all I had to do was plunge into the heavy woods that surrounded the campus.

Nevertheless, I do not feel that I truly began to fully understand and appreciate The Lord of the Rings, nor The Silmarillion, until I came back to both works as an adult. And as with any classic novel, each subsequent reading teaches me a bit more about myself, about the greater world, and about the nature of life and mystery; because at each reading, I approach the texts as a different person.

4. What do you most like in Tolkien s works?

There are too many wondrous places and people in Tolkien’s legendarium for me to give an adequate answer, so let me turn your question on its head and suggest scenes that do not inspire me.

Throughout his writings, Tolkien takes the point of view of free folk who choose to withstand and overcome wickedness, the will to power, and hatred, rather than taking the perspective of evil’s allies. We typically only get “into the head” of the corrupt and degraded characters (Morgoth, Sauron, the Witch King, Smaug, Saruman, the orcs, etc.) through the experiences, insights and counsels of the Wise; and even in these cases, it is clear that they are expressing their best sense of how the Enemy operates rather than intimate personal understanding of evil’s workings.

So, Tolkien takes the stance that I believe all of us should take; that is, of decent, though fallible, people struggling against evil. He does not wallow in horrible scenes and images, though horrible events are certainly depicted in his writings. Rather, he dwells on hope, on perseverance, on faith, on honour, and on love.

As a result of Tolkien’s own stance, I have rarely painted or sketched a scene from Middle-earth that was deliberately ugly, or dark, or that I intended should in any way glorify or honour the power or the triumph of evil. I wish to follow Tolkien in highlighting light, and life, and the deeply-felt longing we all have for the good, the true, and the beautiful.

And, as I’ve said, Tolkien’s tales are suffused with scenes that allow an artist to render such things: autumnal forests and sparkling morning mists; the rolling Shire hills; the sweeping plains of Rohan; the craggy peaks of the Misty Mountains; the beauty of the Fair Folk and their dwelling places; the valour of the Dunedain; the poignancy of resolute struggle against overwhelming odds; the peace that comes with acknowledgement of weakness and of the need for the help of a greater Providence.

These were the things that were important to Tolkien, and they are the things that are important to me as an artist.

5. What do you think of Peter Jackson movies?

When I think of Peter Jackson’s work, I’m reminded of the children’s poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that reads:

“There was a little girl,

Who had a little curl,

Right in the middle of her forehead.

When she was good,

She was very good indeed,

But when she was bad she was horrid.“

There are many, many things that Jackson and the other writers and artists who contributed to his version of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit  that were fantastic and filled with magic. But, there were just as many other things, to my mind, that were horrid. Some aspects of the original noble tales seem to have been dumbed down, sensationalized, and sometimes just muddled.

Of course, we can’t judge The Hobbit  fully yet, as we’ve only seen the first two installments, but those installments don’t, to my mind, bode well for the beloved childhood tale so many of us grew up with. As with LOTR, I fear too much license is being taken with the story, and too much emphasis is being given to chase scenes, to battles, and to an obsession with shocking imagery that often borders on glorification of evil, ugliness and horror; and these sometimes to the exclusion of hope, honour, self-sacrifice, loyalty, and so many of the other qualities with which Tolkien deliberately imbued his characters.

But, The Hobbit may yet redeem itself – we can only hope and pray!

6. What character of middle earth do you prefer?

Again, there’s no simple answer to this question. Tolkien’s characters are very rarely simple; they often exhibit great depths of wisdom, nuance, good humour, vanity, humility, intelligence. They run the gamut from difficult, confused and compromised creatures such as Gollum all the way to very high and wise beings like the Valar. And Tolkien convincingly creates not only multitudes of races, but of great variety within those races, so choosing even a handful of favorites is tough.

That said, like most, I am very drawn to Hobbits in particular, because they seem to display the best qualities of good, solid, sensible folk; not high aristocrats, but simple souls with whom you’d love to share a meal and a pint. The other characters that intrigue me are the Istari, the wizards. As incarnate angels, they bridge, in a way, the gulf between fallen mankind and the spirit world, and yet they, too, are vulnerable to corruption and deceit.

A particular favorite character of mine, and one barely mentioned in Tolkien’s works, is Alatar, one of the Blue Wizards that “went east”. I am always intrigued when Tolkien leaves it to the reader to ask questions about characters that he himself has deliberately left open. Who were the Blue Wizards? Why did they travel east, and why did they not, seemingly, help with the battle against Sauron? We don’t know, but it is fun to speculate; and I’ve done so myself in some of my short stories.

7. Do you paint only Tolkien?

Not at all! I also paint and sketch scenes from C.S. Lewis’ Narnia tales and from other fairy tales. In addition, I’ve illustrated a number of books, both chivalric tales like Fouque’s “The Magic Ring”, and childhood stories like Hilary Tolkien’s “Black and White Ogre Country”. Hilary, BTW, was J.R.R. Tolkien’s brother. You can see more of my paintings and sketches than anyone would likely wish to at www.JefMurray.com

8. Tell us more about painting Tolkien

All art is exploration, and there are fewer worlds more delightful to explore than Tolkien’s. And that is precisely what one does when one paints; you are offered the opportunity to imagine what a place or a person might have looked like. And, as you proceed, you often get the sense not so much of “making things up” as in discovering them for the first time –  “seeing” them as they must have actually been.

I rather think Tolkien himself described his own writing and storytelling in similar terms; it’s a discovery of sorts – the discovery of tales and people that somehow are no less real for the fact that they never existed in flesh and blood. In some ways, and if we’re doing our job right as artists, they are more real in our art than perhaps they ever could be in the flesh. And what’s most fun about painting them is that it’s not just for me as an artist; I get a chance to make these places and people real for others, and to share what I’ve learned on my own journeys to Middle-earth. There is no greater pleasure for me than to have someone see a painting or a sketch of mine and say to me “yes, that’s exactly how I always pictured it!”

Greetings!

And welcome to my newsletter for September, 2014! Please feel free to forward this to anyone whom you believe might be interested in keeping up with me! To receive these newsletters regularly, drop me an email or subscribe online from my website ( http://www.JefMurray.com ) or at: http://groups.google.com/group/Mystical_Realms .

Pitchers ===============

•      The 2015 Fantastical Beasts & Beings Calendar is complete and now available! To learn more and to purchase your copy, you can go to my website and click on the Fantastical Beasts Calendar image on the front page slider, or go directly to the following link:

http://sales.jefmurray.com/books/calendar_2015_Jef_Murray_Fb.html

•      After a bit of reorganizing and re-envisioning, Oloris Publishing is on the cusp of announcing a new website with a new store, new initiatives, and much many intriguing new books, prints, and other items that will be becoming available in the next few weeks. Look for their new site at www.OlorisPublishing.com .

•      Related to the above, thenew, revised, and expanded edition of “Seer: A Wizard’s Journal” that was announced earlier this year should finally become available very soon. The 2nd edition of this collection of tales, poetry, images and reflections sports a new cover, many interior illustrations that are now reproduced in full color, plus two “follow on” tales to the opening story, “The Watchman”, that more fully introduce characters that appear regularly throughout the remainder of the book. For more information, see: http://olorispublishing.mymiddleearth.com/2014/03/25/oloris-publishing-announces-expanded-version-of-seer-a-wizards-journal-by-jef-murray/

•      The discerning among you may be surprised when going to www.JefMurray.com. My website has been re-hosted and has a slightly different look and different menu layout. Please let me know what you think!

Prospects ===================

• The game is on for Tolkien fans in Kentucky in just two weeks!!!! A Long Expected Party 3 (acronym AL3P) is completely booked, but you can still be put on the waiting list for lodgings on-site. You can also stay off-site and register to join us. 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 ==============

Alatar Speaks

“It is true that the Hobbits were the first to put pipeweed into a pipe and set fire to it,” said the old man. “But, it is also true that I was the first to make the latter step unnecessary.” Alatar drew gently on the odd device in his hand and blew several smoke rings, each of which neatly threaded its way through the ever-widening circle of its predecessor.

The smoke curled and wreathed the kerosene lamp overhead, and from the thicket beyond the edge of the porch, the evening din of frogs and cicadas was deafening.

“I have to confess that I’ve never understood the attraction,” said the younger man. “I abhor smoking; it’s a filthy habit.”

“It is indeed!” said Alatar, this time sending multiple tiny rings chasing each other around the head of his companion, who laughed at the trick. “That is precisely, Charles, why I was so keen on creating this device. It produces no ash, leaves no lingering smell of smoke, and is entirely benign, health wise.”

He held up what appeared to be a typical tobacco pipe, but embedded in its stem was a glass cylinder. Within that cylinder, a transparent liquid glowed blue in the dim light.

“What was it you called it?” Charles asked.

“A ‘Qalyan’. It is a name I encountered on my eastern travels. Strictly speaking, it references a type of a hookah that is used in the east to smoke traditional pipeweed. But, since the original Qalyan often uses liquid to cool the smoke, I thought I might adopt the name for my own creation.”

Alatar drew deeply at the mouthpiece, and then breathed out the smoke in a large plume. Beyond the light of the porch, the two men could hear laughter, and a dim knot of figures could be seen approaching the front gate. “Good evening, gentlemen!” A tall cloaked man waved his hand as the group passed by.

“Evening, Matthias,” answered Alatar. “Headed to the Pony?”

“Aye! Won’t you come with us…?”

“In time…in time….”

The man nodded, and then rejoined his group. They faded off into the darkness that swaddled the village road.

“You’ve often alluded to your eastern travels,” said Charles. “But what places have you visited over the years?”

“Oh, far too many to recount in one evening; it would take more time than that just to list them all, and most are unlikely to be familiar to you. Some, in fact, are now places whose names have been lost to all but a few.”

“What…you mean there are places you’ve seen that no longer exist?”

“Do you find that so unlikely? I am much, much older than you, Charles, and yet there are towns and villages that thrived only a dozen years ago, but that today have been totally extinguished: by war; by abandonment; by disease. The world is always changing, always sifting its inhabitants, always rearranging the present; yet pressing ever forward: learning; experimenting; searching….”

“Searching? For what?”

“Ah! That’s the real question, isn’t it? What is life all about, after all….” Alatar chewed on the tip of the Qalyan thoughtfully, and then raised his eyebrows at Charles. “What do you think?”

“What do I think? About the meaning of life? It seems that would be a better question for you to answer. You’re the one who’s had so many more years to ponder the issue, after all. And aren’t you the wiser of the two of us?” Charles smiled innocently.

“Dodging the question does not answer it, Master Charles!” said the old man, “Nor is the number of one’s years any guarantee of wisdom, as you ought to know.”

“But you do have some of your own thoughts on the subject, I’m sure. I mean, you can’t have had the experiences you’ve had without coming to some –” Charles broke off suddenly and slapped at his arm. “Damn these mosquitoes! Why don’t they ever bite you?!”

“Obviously because I’m not the one asking the annoying questions! But, here, take a few puffs from the Qalyan, and they’ll leave you alone.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

Charles took the pipe and drew on it, then blew out the smoke. A smile broke over his features. “Hey! It tastes like licorice!”

“Do you like licorice?”

“Very much!”

“Then that’s why it tastes that way. The flavor changes with each person’s whims, you know….”

“You’re kidding, right?” Charles asked, returning the Qalyan.

“Would I kid you?” The old man smiled. “Now, with regard to the meaning of life, I sense that you are going to insist on turning the issue back on me. But, since I’m also in a pleasant mood this evening, I’ll allow myself be baited…this time.”

Alatar leaned forward in his chair, propping his chin atop his fingertips. He lifted his gaze toward the darkened front yard and stroked his short-cropped beard. The lightning bugs were just starting to twinkle in the bushes at the road’s edge.

“It all begins with whether there is meaning to life at all, of course, but I think we can dispense with that issue straight away. Neither of us is an atheist, correct?”

“Correct.”

“Then that’s the tough part dealt with. We needn’t go into the problem C.S. Lewis described: you know, advising a would-be atheist that he couldn’t be too careful about his reading material.” Alatar chuckled. “Alright then, what does that leave us with? Really, simply with whether the meaning of life is individual or collective. That is, whether there is the purpose, or just multiple individual purposes. Your call….”

“The purpose works best for me.”

“Ah! Gabriel told me you were clever! But, why so?”

“Because if there are only individual purposes, that pretty much makes things devolve into no purpose at all, doesn’t it? With everyone’s purpose being equally valid, there’s nothing that can be true and nothing false; everything is subjective, which means that all purposes are equally…well…meaningless.”

“Well done! So, we know there is a purpose. That’s the beginning of all wisdom. And with such a monumental conviction in hand, we would do well now to adjourn to the Pony.”

“What?! But we’re just getting started here, aren’t we? Why head to the Pony in the middle of such a discussion?!”

“Because, there is no better way to contemplate what the purpose of all of our existence is than over a pint.”

“But, wait! Surely you can do better than that! I mean, in all your travels…?”

“In all my travels, Charles, I have seen many, many things, and to recount them all here, whilst the merry companionship at the Pony remains untasted and untested, would be an insult not only to what I have seen, but also to the most important aspect of existence.”

“And that is?”

“And that is, that the Creator has a marvelous sense of humour, and that He desires our happiness.”

“Are you sure about that? I mean, for all people?”

“Yes, for all people. That does not mean that He approves of our conduct along the way, by any means, or that all paths lead equally to Him, or even that all paths lead to him at all. But the desire that we all find joy, friendship, love, and hope; that we learn to want only the best for others; that we come to know that there is purpose to all we do; that there is meaning in honour, loyalty, self-sacrifice, and even suffering; I know that these are all true, and all part of the bigger plan….

“…but right now, part of that bigger plan is also awaiting us…at the Pony.” Alatar winked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that I have an ulterior motive in wanting to get you there, my boy! See, the moon is just rising, and that means we are awaited.”

“Awaited! By whom? I’m not in much of a mood for merrymaking this evening.”

“Ah, you will be with the proper company.”

“But my proper company is unlikely to be at the Pony this evening; she’s in Italy.”

“Are you so sure about that?” Alatar winked again.

“Wait! You mean Sogna’s here too?! How on earth did you manage that?!”

“There are many mysteries in this world, Charles, and it is not my intention to enlighten you concerning all of them. So, come along…”

“Well, alright. But, speaking of mysteries, what about these mosquitoes?” Charles asked. “Are they part of that bigger purpose as well?” He slapped at another of the annoying creatures.

“Ah, that is a different topic entirely,” said the old man, handing him the Qalyan once more. “And it is one that we must pursue in the company of your paramour; the ramifications of original sin and of the Fall.….”

“Hey! Now this tastes like a Guinness!”

“I told you it changes….”

“Then you really are a wizard, aren’t you?”

“I told you that as well.”

“So, if you’re a wizard, and if you know so much, why on earth did you choose this Ranger’s outfit for me to wear to this village? I’m not a Ranger, you know.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, my boy. I wouldn’t be so sure….”

Greetings!

And welcome to my newsletter for August, 2014! Please feel free to forward this to anyone whom you believe might be interested in keeping up with me! To receive these newsletters regularly, drop me an email or subscribe online from my website ( http://www.JefMurray.com ) or at: http://groups.google.com/group/Mystical_Realms .

Pitchers ===============

• The 2015 Fantastical Beasts & Beings Calendar is complete and now available! To learn more and to purchase your copy, you can go to my website and click on the Fantastical Beasts Calendar image on the front page slider, or go directly to the following link:  http://sales.jefmurray.com/books/calendar_2015_Jef_Murray_Fb.html

• I’ve added 3 new painting images to my website at www.JefMurray.com . These include La Traveling East, Echoes on the Road, and The Counsel of Boromir. All three of these can be found in my Middle-earth -> The Third Age -> Lord of the Rings 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 above, I’ve added some nine new sketch images to my website. These can be found in the Middle-earth Sketches, Fairy Tale Sketches, and Soul & Spirit Sketches galleries, or you can see them all by clicking on the “Newest Works->Sketches link at the top left of my website.

•      A new, revised, and expanded edition of “Seer: A Wizard’s Journal” has been announced and will be available for sale later this year. The 2nd edition of this collection of tales, poetry, images and reflections sports a new cover, many interior illustrations that are now reproduced in full color, plus two “follow on” tales to the opening story, “The Watchman”, that more fully introduce characters that appear regularly throughout the remainder of the book. For more information, see: http://olorispublishing.mymiddleearth.com/2014/03/25/oloris-publishing-announces-expanded-version-of-seer-a-wizards-journal-by-jef-murray/

• The discerning among you may be surprised when going to www.JefMurray.com. My website has been re-hosted and has a slightly different look and different menu layout. Please let me know what you think!

 Prospects ===================

• The game is on for Tolkien fans in Kentucky! A Long Expected Party 3 (acronym AL3P) is completely booked, but you can still be put on the waiting list for lodgings on-site. You can also stay off-site and register to join us. 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 ==============

This month, instead of providing a written reflection, I wanted to share a video that I created to introduce Fantastical Beasts & Beings: A Wizard’s Calendar 2015. This is my first full venture into storytelling in film, so, although I apologize for it being a shameless advertisement, I hope you will enjoy the look and feel of this “teaser trailer”. If folks enjoy this, I may venture into video “Ponderings” in the future. In any event, do let me know what you think!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPX2quUYoi8&feature=youtu.be

Greetings!

And welcome to my newsletter for July, 2014! Please feel free to forward this to anyone whom you believe might be interested in keeping up with me! To receive these newsletters regularly, drop me an email or subscribe online from my website (http://www.JefMurray.com ) or at: http://groups.google.com/group/Mystical_Realms .

Pitchers ===============

•      Layout of the 2015 Fantastical Beasts & Beings Calendar is under way! We have contacted the peoples of the Earth, Air, Fire, and Water seeking their counsel and input, and are excitedly assigning individual months to the Elves, the Dryads, the Halflings, the Mer-folk, and many others! We hope to post occasional updates on our progress via videos on Facebook and at www.JefMurray.com; stay tuned!

•      A new, revised, and expanded edition of “Seer: A Wizard’s Journal” has been announced and will be available for sale later this year. The 2nd edition of this collection of tales, poetry, images and reflections sports a new cover, many interior illustrations that are now reproduced in full colour, plus two “follow on” tales to the opening story, “The Watchman”, that more fully introduce characters that appear regularly throughout the remainder of the book. For more information, see: http://olorispublishing.mymiddleearth.com/2014/03/25/oloris-publishing-announces-expanded-version-of-seer-a-wizards-journal-by-jef-murray/

Prospects ===================

• The game is on for Tolkien fans in Kentucky! A Long Expected Party 3 (acronym AL3P) is completely booked, but you can still be put on the waiting list for lodgings on-site. You can also stay off-site and register to join us. 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 ==============

“No, that’s not the way it works.” The old man looked pointedly over his spectacles at Jill.

“But why not?! I mean, if magic really exists, why doesn’t everyone know about it? How come it’s so ‘Hush hush!’?”

Father Hildebrandt took off his spectacles and polished the lenses for a few moments. “I can offer you many reasons, but they would only be speculations.”

“Speculations? Aren’t they the same thing as guesses?”

Father Hildebrandt smiled broadly. “Yes, my dear, that’s exactly what speculations are. And that’s because, in this life, and about such matters, none of us can ever be certain. But, since you’ve asked, here is what I think….”

Jill sat forward in her chair to listen.

“What I think,” said Father Hildebrandt, “is that God made the world a very strange and immensely wondrous place. We don’t pay much attention, because we tend to fixate on our own little concerns; but, there are cracks in reality, and that’s where the magic fits in. It’s also how miracles happen. And, when push comes to shove, it can be very difficult for us mere mortals to easily distinguish the one from the other.”

“But isn’t magic always bad, whereas miracles are always good?”

“You might think so, but those are labels we tend to add after the fact.

“What if I were to tell you….” Father Hildebrandt reached across his desk and touched the heart-shaped pendant around Jill’s neck. “What if I were to tell you that this very pendant that you are wearing is enchanted, and that whoever owns it will be instantly healed of all disease and despair….”

“That would sound like magic to me….”

“Yes, but what if you, knowing this, were to take that necklace and freely give it to a destitute old man in an alley downtown; someone who is forgotten and alone, and who is suffering from addiction and mental illness. Suppose you did that…and he was cured?”

“Wouldn’t that still be magic?”

“No, it wouldn’t. It would be a miracle.”

“Why?”

“For this reason. That, knowing what the necklace was capable of, you still freely gave it away…in the hopes that it might help another.”

“Then that’s the difference between magic and miracles?”

“That, my dear, is the very heart and soul of the difference.”

Greetings!

And welcome to my newsletter for June, 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 ) orat: http://groups.google.com/group/Mystical_Realms .

Pitchers ===============

•      A new, revised, and expanded edition of Seer: A Wizard’s Journal has been announced and will be available for sale later this year.The 2nd edition of this collection of tales, poetry, images and reflections sports a new cover, many interior illustrations that are now reproduced in full colour, plus two “follow on” tales to the opening story, The Watchman, that more fully introduce characters that appear regularly throughout the remainder of the book. For more information, see: http://olorispublishing.mymiddleearth.com/2014/03/25/oloris-publishing-announces-expanded-version-of-seer-a-wizards-journal-by-jef-murray/

Prospects ===================

•      The game is on for Tolkien fans in Kentucky! A Long Expected Party 3 (acronym AL3P) is completely booked, but you can still be put on the waiting list for lodgings on-site. You can also stay off-site and still register and join us. 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’s humid, and in the 90s (the mid-30s for folks who favour Celsius over Fahrenheit). There’s no breeze. It’s too early for cicadas, but otherwise I’d guess we were in August rather than June. Hills are hazy in the heat, and nothing twitches at high noon save flitting flies.
These are summer days in Georgia; when air is thick and breathing burdensome.

My old high school once had a summer work program that allowed poorer students (or those who just wanted extra pocket money) to earn some summer change. There were paint crews that refreshed dingy dormitory rooms, cleaning crews that stripped floors and washed windows. Pretty much anyone could get one of these jobs, even overweight bookworms such as myself.

I was in high school during the 70s, when the liberalism of the 1960s was coming home to roost. From age 13 to 18, many of us found ourselves in a culture that was retooling social, political, and sexual mores, and “do your own thing” was the guiding principle. We were cast adrift in a sea of hormones at a time when no one believed
in solid land.

J.R.R. Tolkien himself had just passed away, and on a hot, Georgia summer’s day, on a wooded high-school campus that evoked images of the Shire, I first opened the pages of The Fellowship of the Ring.

What I encountered there was startling. This was not a simple story of good guys versus bad guys, but a nuanced tale that stressed values that perplexed me: values like the deep truth of human dignity, the need for restraint, honour, and courage. Like the ghosts in C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce, I read for the “fun stuff,” but tried to studiously ignore those things that went against all the rules of the Love Generation.

Nevertheless, the seeds were planted.

Over the ensuing years, I lived out the itinerary of casual sex, gluttony, deceit, envy, jealousy, and acquisitiveness that were all part and parcel of the “if it feels good, do it” protocol. And if the lessons of Middle-earth didn’t prevent this, they certainly provided a canvas against which the depravity of our generation could be more clearly discerned. Like so many teenagers in the 1970s USA, I was never given the grounding in goodness that might have guided me more gracefully through those tough years. Like so many teenagers then as now, I was taught _not_ to believe in the seven deadly sins, and as a result, I sampled them all.

But Middle-earth always beckoned. And the stories of the Shire, as the stories of Arthur and the Round Table, would whisper to me on muggy summer days from the depths of deep green forests. Here Elves, like all noble creatures, continued to walk the open glens, well beyond the reach of the house-of-cards zeitgeist of the scoffing seventies.

In The Return of the King, Eowyn says to Aragorn, “Too often have I heard of duty….may I not now spend my life as I will?”

To which Aragorn replies, “Few may do that with honour.”

Today, with so many of us, I see no belief in honour; I just see a continuation of the insanity of the seventies. True virtue is hardly ever modeled for young folk in our society, unless they are fortunate enough to be raised in a deeply religious home. And even these men and maidens are struck on all sides by a culture that seems to have collected the worst aspects of the 1960s and 1970s and made them into a commodity; corrosive “truths” that are pushed from every TV set, every radio speaker, and every movie screen.

Eventually, I can put it no more plainly that to say that Someone led me back to the Shire. And J.R.R. Tolkien became, for me, that human being whom I respected enough to listen to, even if my “listening” was to his letters, written decades before to folk I would never know. Those things that he treasured, I was eventually able to see as sound; those things that he found unworthy, I became willing to discard.

And now, on sultry summer days, I can intensely sense the presence of something greater, something more stable, something richer…just past those oak trees, and deep within the pooling shadows of the woods of summer. I can sense that True Middle-earth trying to tease all of us away from the porn sites and the shopping malls and back into an adventure that can only be unlocked through virtue, patience,
sacrifice…and prayer.

Take a walk in these summer woods. Breathe the ripeness of earth growing and mysteries milling. Model nobility, honour, courage, and restraint for those around you; and I promise you that, some day, you’ll find that you, too, will have found your way home to Middle- earth.