What has Skott been up to?

Death of a true Master

Skott — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 05:25:24 GMT

RIP Arthur C. Clarke No one did what he did as well as he did it. He will be missed. His words will live on.

Civil Liberty

Skott — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 01:05:34 GMT

Today, I had my civil liberty violated and I am not happy about it. I wear a pentagram with a yggdrassil around my neck I have done so for quite some time. Recently I have taken a new position at the company that I work for. For as long as I have worked for the company, I have worn pagan jewlery and it was never an issue. Now, in my new position, my supervisor's boss asked that I not wear it at work. I was taken off guard. I did not expect to hear this, as the jewelery in question has been permitted all along. What makes the matter worse, is that many people wear a crosses and crucifix and this is permitted. My civil rights have been violated and I am not going to sit down and be persecuted.

My Novel on Amazon

Skott — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 15:47:13 GMT

My novel has finally made it to the big book sites. It can now be purchased on Amazon.com, Barnes And Noble, Borders, ABE and others. You can find it using my name Skott Holck, the title of the book, "The Goddess' Son," or the ISBN, 978-1-4357-0376-6 It is also still available at: http://www.lulu.com/content/1379471 Check it out!

A first experience

Skott — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 04:58:31 GMT

Today I had an experience that I have never encountered before. I found myself being witnes to a discusion about my novel. Certainly, I have participated in discusions with people that have read my book. Today was diffrent. People that have been reading my book were discussing elements of the plot. Watching the work through some of their ideas about where the story is going, as well as what they have read was really cool. The two people have just begun my book and are only a small portion into it. I look forward to seeing them read and hearing what more they think as the story unfolds. It is a little like being a voyeristic author who watched his book being disected by a book club. As I write, the idea of the reader is always present. What will the reader think? How will the reader respond to things that happen in the stroy. I have never considered what it would be like for multiple readers who are reading the book at the same time. I myself often find myself discussing books with other people, bouncing ideas off of others as we read. Never had I considered my own book being the object of discussion. I feel like I have crossed a milestone. As I have published this book, I keep finding new milestones as I go through the process. Things like the first person to read it, the first time I was asked to sign a copy, and now today, the first time I see people in discusion of my book. The next milestone I can look forward to would be for the first stranger to read it. I am sure I wqill discover more milestones as time progresses. It is all very interesting. I seem to be enjoying the ride. http://www.lulu.com/content/1379471

The Goddess' Son

Skott — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 01:57:54 GMT

After agonizing over weird format issues, my novel, The Goddess' Son has been published. It may be purchased at: http://www.lulu.com/content/1379471 In a few weeks it will be available through many online booksellers with the ISBN: 978-1-4357-0376-6

Publishing my novel

Skott — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 22:44:37 GMT

After long internal debate, I have decided to publish my novel on my own. The publishing world is not what it once was. Publishers are looking for the next huge book, something on the order of Harry Potter or DaVinci Code. Some of the bigger publishers receive literally thousands of unsolicited manuscripts each year. Of those they release a meager handfull. Since each book they publish is a financial gamble, they are much less willing to take a chance than they once were. What this means for authors everywhere is that it has become harder than ever to get a book published in the conventional way. Even more so if the book is controversial or experimental. My novel has some very controvesial elements, as well as being somewhat experimental. Because of these reasons, I am going to publish the book myself. I expect it will be available in the near future, withing the next couple of months. I currently have hired a photographer to assist in the design of my novel's cover. When I am satisfied with the cover, the book will be off to press.

The Fabric Of The Cosmos by Brian Greene

Skott — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 13:47:27 GMT

For quite a while now I have taken pleasure in reading books on theoretical physics. I have little math to draw on so I seek out books that attempt to get to the meat of the matter without bringing along all the equations testifying how the ideas got there. Brian Green did a wonderful job at this. The book is essentially an attempt at explaining the way the universe works and what it is made of. In doing so, there is a detailed examination of both Special and General Relativity, the rules governing the big; and an examination of Quantum Mechanics, the rules governing the very small. Green artfully ellucidates these principles allowing light to shine through to areas that had been previous darkened in my own personal understanding. Through the course of the book the reader see the evolution of concepts involving our perception of space and time, eventually coming to how the ideas merged into Spacetime. When we examine things on the very small scale, Greene demonstrates the four fundamental forces of the Universe as well as sciences quest for the Grand Unification theory. In this search, he introduces the reader to the Superstring theory as well as some of its offshoot concepts like M-Theory and its various interpretations. I found myself a bit frustrated at String Theory. It seems if the dream of a Unified Theory is to find an elegant and simple equation that brings the four fundamental forces together, then String Theory has missed the mark. Indeed the concepts of String Theory seem to expaling all the complextiy of the sub-atomic particle zoo, bit to do so requires ten spacial and one temporal dimension. This all seems very interesting, but I feel misses the mark on an elegant simple Unified Theory. I also found myself frustrated with the idea of the Planck length, a notion where a fundamental smallness is reached where space can no longer be divided. I have long been a lover of Zeno's paradox, and to me have long taken comfort in the notion that infinity extends in bot directions; the large and small. I am unsettled by the idea of a unit of space that can nolonger be halved. Greene is among the best at presenting these concepts to the lay reader. Not only does he deepen my understanding, but he encourages me to explore further and to perhaps correct my defecincy regarding the math.

Dreamcatcher

Skott — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 23:29:15 GMT

It has been well over a decade since I have read a Stephen King novel. I grew up reading his work and always had a good time doing so. At some point, he lost me. I found myself in a place where I just did not care what he had to write. It had gotten tired, and I had moved on to other types of reading. A few months ago, one of my daughters became interested in King and began to collect a few of his novels. We talked aout one as she read it, and I found that I sort of missed his style. I decided I wanted to read a King novel again, but I did not want to read one I already had. I came across Dreamcatcher and gave it a chance. I read the first three hundred pages in a weekend, and found that he still had the ability to spin a good tale and keep ones interest focused. But then the rest of the book took me much longer to get through. I am not sure why. The story was good - I would recomend it folks who enjoy the genre - but something had me reading slowly. This is the story of four men who grew up together (Remember IT?) and had over theyears grown apart. Their only real bond is through an anual hunting trip, and and common bond with a remarkable fifth friend. The story begins on one of their hunting trips when the group encounters a visitor. Without really spoiling anything, this a King story of an alien encounter. Like much of his work, the story unfolds with diffrent perspectives on the same thing, and the narritive jumping about a wide span of time. It done with eloquence and skill. The next book I read will not be a King novel, but I will not wait ten years for the next one either.

Moody Blues

Skott — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 04:32:37 GMT

Last night the Moody Blues came to Denver. It was an amazing experience. I have seen the Moody Blues three time now and last nights show was the best ever. Each time before, they were touring with an orchestra. Lat night it was simply the band. The music was pure and powerful. The Moody's have always had a powerful impact on my life. Some of the most signifigant moments of my life had the Moody Blues playing in the background. Thay have become an almost spiritual experience for me. My freinds closest to me know the story. Last night I got to see them with Dian for the first time. Though each of has seen them before, it was our firt show together. It was special. I met Dian on line with a lyric from on of there songs on my profile. To hear them play this song with her beside will prove to be an eternal memory for me. If you get a chance to see them on this tour, do so.

Time Travel

Skott — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 01:20:59 GMT

The other day I finished reading Time Travel by Jenny Randles. I have often thought there was need for a sober clear look at Time Travel and its possibility. This book comes close to what I was hoping for. Jenny Randles aproaches the subject looking time travel as it occurs in popular fiction, television, and film as well a speculation about how it might be accomplished using ideas from the new physics. There a number of weird case stories from people who have reported temporal anomolies. Some of them sound rather crdible while others seem the ramblings of crackpots. She also wrote about some of the problems of time travel, notably, the problem of paradox. As might be expected froma book of this subject, there is also a look at the Philadelphia Experiemnt, and some of the bizzare ideas that have come about around this unusual experiment in US Navy history. I wanted more from the book. In many ways it felt like it was on the verge of being the book I expected. Not badly executed, just lacking the depth I had hoped for.

Neverwhere

Skott — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 23:10:15 GMT

I finished reading Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. This book is very difficult to encapsulate in a few words. It would be easier just ot read it to find out what is about, and even then, who is to say if you will know. Simply put, it is the tale of a man who finds himself in London Below. A place real and not real, a place remembered and forgotten, a place there and not there. The book was wonderful. I was very much drawn into the story and especially the various characters. They all took on a life of their own, as if these were people that I met rather than read about. Upon finishing the book, I am left with a somewhat melancholy feeling. The mundane world we all live in and operate our lives through seems a bit empty. We have our jobs and responsibilities, but is there more? Surely there must be, and Gaiman makes us believe that another world could be as close as the next door. Read this book, you not be disapointed.

Eragon

Skott — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 04:44:26 GMT

On Friday, I finished reading Eragon by Christopher Paolini. My son, who for years was very resistant to reading, picked this book up a couple of years ago, and he devoured it. It was the first book book that utterly captured his atention, but certainly one of the most signifigant to him. Being a fan of fantasy fiction, and seeing his response to this book, I intended to give it a read. I never got around it, and then I began seeing movie trailers. I knew we would see the film, so I decided I need to read the book before I took the family to see it. I am impressed. Paolini was fifteen years old when he wrote it. I expected a child-like tale. I found myself somewhat surprised. Paolini seems to have a way with words that seem a bit beyond his years. His imagery is really very vivid. He developes pictures with his words that is really quite captivating. Paolini also seemed to avoid some of the cliche elements of fantasy fiction. Not completeatly unique, but his story very much feels original. I look forward to reading the rest of his trilogy. Eldest, the second book is allready available, and I understand young Paolini is hard at work on the third part. I think we can expect very good things to come from him, I look forward to seeing what the future holds with this writer.

I Got A Job!

Skott — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 03:58:18 GMT

It has been quite some time since I have had a regular job. I got laid off from my previous job about a year and a half ago. In that time I was being Mr. Mom, as well as working with Loran in our book business. Despite our best efforts, it has been a struggle to keep the business in a positive cash flow direction. So I began seeking employment. I applied for the job on August 17th, and today, I finally got it. Over three months to land this work. I have never had such an agonizingly slow process in getting a job. I start next week. I will be working with adults with developmental disabilites. I will be one of the facilitators at a day program. I have done a lot of this sort of work in the past, and I seem to have a natural aptitude for it. As some of my Oregon friends recall, I did live in foster care for a DD gentleman, and it was work I was well suited to. It will be nice to see a regualr paycheck again, but it will not be until December 30 for my first check. Dian and I have one more month of lean living, and then things will return to normal for us. We may have to postpone our Yule celebration until we recover financially, but I think our children will understand.

Inside A Magical Lodge

Skott — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 05:30:35 GMT

Tonight I frinished reading "Inside A Magical Lodge" by John Michael Greer. Greer begins the book with a look at what a magical lodge may have to offer an idividual. He discusses a wide range of topics including traditional lodge symbolism, what you might expect, the fuction of ritual in a lodge setting, magic within a lodge, the importance and fuction of secrecy and the diferences and similarities between magical lodges and traditional fraternal lodges. In the second part of the book, he explains the whole process of how a magical lodge fuctions and is started by tracing the origins of a fictional lodge from its seed idea to a fully fuctioning initiatory body. I feel the book would serve very well for people who are unfamiliar with what goes on in a lodge. I especially found his thoughts on the importance and benifits of secrecy to be quite interesting.

Hocus Pocus

Skott — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 05:36:32 GMT

Tonight I finished read Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut. This is the first Vonnegut novel I have ever read and I can say with certainty, it will not be the last. Mr. Vonnegut has an easy and very readable style that made the pace of the book smooth and quick. There was an almost conversational tone to the novel, as if the narrator was telling you the story personally. Hocus Pocus is the story of a Vietnam vet who comes home and becomes a Professor at a University for dyslexic students, and later - at the same location - a prison warden. Despite the apparent oddity of this brief synopsis, the story does make sense. As the narrator tells the story, the reader gets a glimspe into this man's life through humorous anecdotes as well as melencholy tales. I look forward to my next Vonnegut, now somewhere climbing up my reading list.

Interview

Skott — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:24:37 GMT

I have been trying to find a job lately. I submitted a number of applications to a company in mid August, and after largely being ignored for three months, I find myself doing interview after interview. I had one this afternoon, one tomorrow, and one that we have not set the time for. The one I had today also has a secong session that we still need to schedule. I hate this process. I do not like answering questions that have been pre-written. It makes me feel that they expect "pre-written" answers. I will be glad when it is over. The good point is that I have so many open avenues at this point, I am certain that I will have real employment in the nest few weeks.

More on Writing

Skott — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 05:52:08 GMT

I have been devoting attention to two of my story ideas the past few days. In order to deal with my writers block, I just took two stories that I have been working on over the past years. One of them is in the third person limited omniscient style of narrative, the other in first person. First person come easy to me, as I mentioned, my first novel is in first person. I find I can loose myself in the central character in this form, but it does have limits; being focused on one character, it can be difficult to get a wide perspective. It tends to lend itself well for one type of story, but not so much others. My other work is a complex tale with many layers of convoluted plot threads. Sort of a wheels with wheels idea. I have a clear idea of where this story is going, but have had some difficulty getting there. I have thought of experimenting with a variety of first person views. As if each chapter was focused on a diffrent character, and each one in first. A bit experimental for my general writing style, but it might prove an interesting excercise to get the ball rolling.

Writers Block

Skott — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 18:43:28 GMT

I seem to have been suffering a diffrent sort of writer's block. I never seem to be short of ideas, my trouble lies in finding a voice. When I sit and begin writing, I have no trouble coming up with ideas, but when I string them together, I am often not satisfied with what I have written. There have been many stories where I have literally started them a dozen times. In my mind, I know where my stories need to go, but the getting there is problematic. With my first novel, I had the basic idea in my head for a couple of years. And then one day, I sat at my computer and the voice of the main character started to spill from my fingers. It was as if the novel allready existed in my mind in veiled totality, and it was my task to to place it to paper. As I wrote, it was like I was reading it. I was constntly surprised by what my characters were going through. It was as if I was the reader as well as the writer. For the next six months, I wrote at a feverish pace and ended up with my finished novel. Today I find myself full of ideas and I am waiting for the voice to come through.

Prospero's Children

Skott — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 04:19:57 GMT

Tonight I finished reading Prospero's Children by Jan Siegel. I found the book very charming and something of a surprise. It came to me by chance, just one of the books in a box that I could not sell. It looked interesting and so I picked it up and gave it a chance. It is the story of a teenage girl who finds herself in her deceased uncles English country house. Her father gets called away to America leaving her and her brother to get the house in order to sell. Insted they find themselves drawn into a mystery involving a key to a strange doorway, that either leads to the realm of Death or Atlantis, and possibly the same thing. The plot is so rich and complex, I cannot reveal mmuch without spoiling some wonderful surprises. I can say that by the end of it, Siegel had so briliantly brought the story full circle, I was left rather moved. Her writing style is crisp and elegant. She has a way with words and really can spin a phrase that evokes much imagery. She is also quite deft and building a believable set of characters. Reading the book, you really do get to know them. This is the first book in a trilogy, though she wraps it up so well, it could just as easily be enjoyed on its own.

Tarot

Skott — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 21:15:30 GMT

When I was eleven years old, I was given my first tarot deck. It was a gift from my mother, something she bought for me on a whim. It came to me with that tiny little book all new tarot decks have. I either disregared the book, or lost it; but I am certain I never read it. Instead, I was compelled to delve into the cards themselves. Those images on those 78 strange cards stirred my mind. I was pulled into them, mesmirized by archetypical images that tickled deep places in my mind. Intuitivley, I developed a method of using the cards. I would shuffle a cut a few times until I would up with about a quarter or fifth of the deck. I would take this portion and lay them out, one by one. As I did so, a story would unfold as if I was reading a comic book. Each card added to the story, and deepened the meaning. I played like this for a long time - perhaps a year - before my mother started paying attention. She discovered I was telling her things i should not have known, things that were really beyond the understanding of a child. So interested in what I was doing, she began to have me do "readings" for her and some of her friends. Before too long, I found I had a small group of clients who came to me on a regular basis to have me give them readings. It seemed my abilities were uncanny. I started to recieve gifts from them in trade for my readings. One gift was a book on the tarot. Who could have guessed this gift was a bane rather than boon. I began reading books on the tarot and learned more and more. As I digested classic interpretations of the cards I found that the images no longer spoke to me the way they once did. I would look at a card and begin identifying the ruling planet, or the zodiacal associations. Inspiration was lost in trade for knowledge. Twenty six years later I find myself wondering about this. It seems that the more I learned about the tarot, the less good it did me. I have tried using my "comic book" style reading, but the intitial gift that was once there has passed away.

Interview Chain Game

Skott — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 17:19:24 GMT

Another link in the interview chain game- If anyone wants to play and be interviewed 1. Leave me a comment asking for an interview 2. I respond by asking 5 questions, i get to pick the questions 3. You update your blog with the answers to the questions 4. You include this explanation and offer to interview someone else in the same post 5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them 5 questions My answers to Travis' questions: 1 I was born in Denver Colorado and lived there for the first 25 years of my life. It was not great but it was home by habit. Whenb I was in my early twenties, I was working on a novel and was facing a bit of a block. I hit the road to find my voice and wound up in Eugene Oregon. The surrounding Cascades inspired my novel, which I did finish, and I found a place that felt like Home. I love Oregon. And still, as I write these words, I write them from Littleton Colorado. How did this happen? Love is the answer. I met the love of my life online and it turned out that she was living in Denver. I was drawn back, and now have lived for here once again for seven years. At some point in the near future, we hope to move back to Oregon. I am not sure that Eugene will be the place, but somewhere near the Cascades. 2. If I had the resources and man power to build a wonder of the world I was build a great Temple complex in the form of the Tree of Life. I envision a compleate temple for each Sephiroth connected by tunnels apropriate to each path. Every temple would be compleatly done in the approprite symbology of the relevant sephiroth. One could ritually move through the Tree of Life from Malkuth to Kether. 3. If I could place a small toy surprise in a box of a cereal that a child would find, it would be a puzzel of some sort. That way, the childs mind could be stimulated. (This was an odd question and really stumped me.) 4. My favorite place I have encountered in the world is Devils Elbow in Oregon. There is a place along this rocky beach, where you can sit in a small cave with rock all around you, trees all about and the vast Pacific in front of you. It is a magical spot. As far as ugly places, sadly there are too many. Industrial complexes belching out poisonous smoke. Interstate off/on ramps that are a tangle of concrete and asphalt. Streets loaded with garish advertising signs ass far as the eye can see. 5. If my love and I were trapped on a deserted island with all of our needs met and no hope of escape, and God came along and offered me a hand sized object as a gift to my love what would it be? Hmmmm... An apple from the tree of Knowledge.

Mudras?

Skott — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 22:20:01 GMT

In trying to come to a deeper understanding of the Ogham, Fries recomends going into a place out doors and coming to a tree. He recomends absorbing as much of the tree energy as you can, using whatever methods you find best. (One of the best things about Fries techniques is him presenting only the barest skeleton of an idea and leaving it up to you to develope for your own ends.) Once you have come to the know the tree and what its energy is like, you imprint it on your hand. As you can see, each finger has three segments and each hand has twelve. Each one can be a specific energy. When you have come to the know the tree, place your thumb on one of the spots and focus on what the energy feel like. Use you powers of intent to mark this mudra according to the tree you are trying to understand. Later, you will be able to recall the tree energy by activating the mudra by repeating the specific gesture say during meditation or trance. It occured to me, that I could use this technique for much more than understanding tree energy. I can use it to "store" energy from other things as well. I have been doing this with ritual. Each day I perform a ritual called the Sphere of Protection. At the conclusion, I impress the sensation in a specific point on my hand using this mudra-like technique. In a sense, I can quickly perform the ritual in need by placing my fingers into the postion in which I imprinted the sensation. I can see there are a great many uses for this technique.

Trance/Meditation technique

Skott — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 04:13:33 GMT

As noted in my previous blog, I recently read Jan Fries Cauldron Of The Gods. Throughout the book, he drops little excercises and techniques that I have found very interesting. One that I have begun working with seems very simple at first glace, but I have found it to be quite illuminating. He advises you to place a stone on your belly as you meditate while lying down. I began working with the technique using my meteroite but later switched to a stone that weighs six or seven pounds. The first thing I noticed was how it effected my breathing. Having this weight compelled me to breath much more deliberatly. Since lately my meditative work has been using a gate technique to explore using my astral body, I decided to continue this with the addition of the stone. From the first experiment, I found things were much easier. I think the stone sort of grounds your physical body and makes slipping out much easier. At least it is working for me.

Cauldron Of The Gods

Skott — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 04:15:10 GMT

Cauldron Of The Gods: A Manual Of Celtic Magick by Jan Fries Rarely does a person get a chance to read a book such as this one. You find yourself in a specific place in your life, with a specific set of experiences, and just the right book comes along. The experience of reading the book when the circumstances are just right can not be duplicated. Who can say if the book would have moved me five years ago. But the time was right, and by good fortune, this book came my way. Jan Fries writes to magicians, not novices. His language is technical and assumtions about the reader are high. This is no 101 magick book. Fries makes the assumption that he is writing for a magician, and then he begins to challenge him. Using the Celtic people as a backdrop for exploring magick, he takes a look at modern misconceptions, and upends them. He calls to the mat modern dogmas that have grown and dares the reader to explore for themselves, and not to accept the word of experts or even himself. The book provides a wide base to experiment with through numerous excercises, some presented out in the open, others veiled in the text. Trance techniques, rituals, divination concepts, and much more. This is much more than a book to be read. It is to be worked with, studied. I am certian that in years to come, this book will always have a place on my shelf as an important occult reference. Through my reading of it, I have found myself questioning long held notions within myself. I have examined rigid stances that I have held for a long time, and find myself standing on new ground magically. I find myself energized to expand my practices, wandering down paths rarely trodden by my own feet.

Thelema And Polytheism

Skott — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 18:51:42 GMT

Is Thelema a polytheistic system? Are the Dieties of this system actual beings or are they a metaphore for a specific set of concepts? If Nuit is the complete universe, and Hadit each point of individual Will within the universe, and Ra Hoor Khuit the binding principle between the two, is this a trinity of sorts? Hadit is said to be the individual star. Each of us a star with our own orbits. Each of us a part of the cosmic Nuit. Each of us a god within the body our Queen Of Space. Divinity is then everywhere, at each point of Willful sentience. There are thus billions of Gods, each being a small part of the Universe with the Holy name of Nuit. As a metaphore, this concept illustrates our place in the Universe. We are each a part of the whole, each as signifigant as the other. If the universe is one divine being compossed of billions of other divine beings, is this monotheism or polytheism? Or is it something else?