Veils are mysterious. They hide, they glamourize. They create barriers, they create allure. They protect, they are provocative.

Veils play a part in many myths and traditions. They divide realms, states of mind, and states of being.

There was the Door to which I found no Key:

There was the Veil past which I could not see:

Some little Talk awhile of ME and THEE

There was -- and then no more of THEE and ME.   [*]

This time of year it is said the veils between the living and dead grow thin and souls can move between dimensions. Ghosts appear, the dead visit the realm of the living, and there is open communication. Samhain, All Hallows Eve, Dia de los Muertos celebrate this. Other cultural holidays mark different times of the year with the same significance, most linked with seasonal or celestial changes.   

Initiatory systems like Masonry, the Mystery Schools, and many religions use veils and blindfolds to symbolize the distinction between inner and outer courts, between ignorance and enlightenment. The Egyptian goddess Isis was veiled with "...a scarlet cloth, symbolic of ignorance and emotionalism which forever stand between man and Truth". [**]

Esoteric anatomy teaches about the webbing or veils between each of the chakras that protect one from the kundalini fires if you raise your energies without proper preparation. The Dance of the Seven Veils sometimes refers to raising the kundalini energy up the entire spine through all of the chakras.  

Checkout Oscar Wilde's version of Salome's Dance of the Seven Veils, which did not end well for John the Baptist.

A well-written story - particular a detective or mystery story - is like a Dance of Seven Veils in that you need red herrings, McGuffins, false clues, prime suspects, intuitive hunches, continuing revelations, and always a sense of not knowing exactly what's going on. It's what makes it engaging and entertaining.

Cloaking devices are veils, whether used to protect proprietary information as with Non-Disclosure Agreements and encryptions, send coded messages, or as in sci-fi and magic, make something invisible, be it Harry Potter or a Klingon warship.    

A net is sometimes a veil. What can the tool and technology of the internet be veiling? Identities, locations, and agendas. Actors work with veils, hiding themselves behind the portrayal of a character. Spies veil their identities behind appearance, demeanor, and language. Marketers veil the triviality or danger of some products and services behind the manipulated desire for same. [Like some ads for drugs warn, side effects can include death.]

The removal of veils - whether by physical destruction, enhanced perception, or elevated consciousness - signals a new state of being.

In the scary Halloween spooky, ghoulish sense it opens the doors to the astral realm where demons and dark creatures are said to reign.

In the Bible story about the crucifixion of Christ, the veil in the Jewish temple that concealed the Holy of Holies from all but the High Priest was rent from top to bottom. Christians often interpret this as symbolizing the transition from the traditional Jewish laws, separation of Israelites from others, and the remoteness of the deity Yahweh to Jesus' message of the way to god being open to all, even Gentiles. Jesus was now the Way, the Truth, the Life and after that, "No man cometh unto the Father but by me".

In the socio-political sense dropping the veils usually means more freedom and increased quality of life for those formerly held back by imposed strictures such as gender, ethnicity, faith, status, etc. Think of the Iron Curtain between the communist east and the capitalist west and  how the balance of world power shifted when that conceptual veil was torn down along with the actual Berlin Wall.

In the personal sense the results of introspection, therapy, coaching and such can help us identify the veils that keep us from seeing clearly, or those behind which we hide from the others and the world.

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APPLIED MYTHOLOGY

Identify the Veils

            What are the barriers we often don't see? Can you name specific examples in each category?

           * Personal - the sense that there's more you need to know but it's not accessible or you're forbidden, the fear of failure or success, societal or religious restrictions? Some personal veils are appropriate and keeping some sense of privacy and mystique can be beneficial rather than today's tendency to tell all and show all.

            * Socio-Political - the old structures fighting to hold onto the old system. Inequalities based on age, gender, finances, education, health, class-caste, ethnicity, faith? One of the oldest political tricks is to veil what's really going on by drawing your attention to something else entirely.

Sacrificing Iphigenia to bring winds to sail the thousand Greek ships to Troy

          * Scientific - what aren't we allowed to know? Why? What would happen if this knowledge were available to all? From limiting capabilities for nuclear weapons to not revealing the secrets of magic, forbidding access to some knowledge can be smart. And what about UFOs and ETs? Real and hidden or a veil for something else entirely?

            * Philosophical - "Those who know, don't say. Those who say, don't know," so the old saying goes. Here the challenge is to become worthy of the wisdom by proving you really really desire it, have been trained to handle it, and will not misuse it.

Pattern recognition is an invaluable skill in dealing with any of these systems: when you can see what's really going on, you usually can't be manipulated by it.

Getting past the Veils

            What are some good ways to deal with different veils? Think past the initial act to your 2nd, 3rd and beyond level consequences to determine the best way to deal with unwanted veils.

            * Direct action - just rip it down, tear it open, or pull it aside like Dorothy and her little dog Toto did in The Wizard of Oz when advised to "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain." A friend frustrated in a harvest season corn maze suggested we, "Just face the sun and break through the blasted walls."

            Pass and enforce laws and policies for equal rights, freedom, child labor, trafficking, access to education and employment, etc.

            * Redefine the situation - whoever untied the Gordian Knot would become Lord of all Asia. When he too could not untie it, Alexander the Great took out his sword and cut through it. He did become Lord of an awfully lot of Asia. For a while.

            Faced with a no-win character test while in Star Trek Academy, young James Tiberius Kirk cleverly changed the rules of the Kobyashi Maru scenario to his advantage.

             As French novelist Marcel Proust observed, "The real voyage of discovery is not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes."

           * Become the veil - in the ancient wisdom teachings we learn that to pass over the threshold into a new state of awareness we must "become the door" that has stood in our way. Shift your vibration into that next level and the barrier will dissolve around you, we are told.

            Civil disobedience, non-violence, awareness and education can be effective in the public sphere, or as the adage advises, "Be the change you want to see in the world".

None of this is particularly easy, but much of it is well worth the effort.

When You and I behind the Veil are past,

Oh, but the long, long while the World shall last,

Which of our Coming and Departure heeds

As the Sea's self should heed a pebble-cast. [*]

[*] The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, translated by Edward Fitzgerald

*****  

The Entertainment Industries Council works to raise or rend the veil between the stereotypes and the realities of careers in STEAM = Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math.  

c3, Mythic Challenges and the Millennium Project are also working to dissolve the veils between education and women, the gap between rich and poor, ecology and the economy, and others of  the 15 Global Challenges.  

For more on people pointing out the invisible veils and helping others get rid of them, explore the bottom-up progressive movements, environmental groups, the Occupy movements, protests against financial inequalities...  

Find out more about these veil rendings at OpEdNews.

    *****

Given all the ghoulishness of this coming holiday, check out the  

"Love of Death & Destruction"  

chapter in our book   

And for more on how to counter veils, read Chapter 12 "Confronting the Dark Side" in The Power of the Dark Side.     

Yes, it's Harvest season but it's not time to totally relax. It's time to prepare for what's coming next.

Life is cyclic and as we wind up one phase we'd be wise to gear up for the next phase. As a creative person, how do you do that?

You refine your plans for the next season - prioritize projects and set specific goals.

You finalize projects you've been working on - complete that script or book, get it edited, polished, whatever it takes to get it ready for market.

You analyze your resources - assess allies, obstacles, and opportunities such as upcoming PitchFests.

You repair or replace your tools - in the case of media creators, you hone your craft in writing and production with classes, webinars, books, coaching and consultations.

You prepare the soil for the next season - work on those budding story ideas, have brainstorming sessions, research, get feedback. See more here. 

Use these last months of 2014 to complete projects and prepare for 2015.  

We'd be pleased to help you accomplish your end-of-year goals. Take advantage of our FREE 15-minute consultation.

Happy Harvest and a prosperous next season to you all.

The Entertainment Industries Council invites you to "Join us in celebrating the ART of making a difference!"   

The SET Awards are a mixture of Hollywood glamour, really smart people, new technologies, groundbreaking science, and how they all come together to create great media that entertains while it educates and inspires.    

Former winners and nominees include BONES, THE BIG BANG THEORY, HER, TRANSCENDENCE, CAPTAIN AMERICA: WINTER SOLDIER, MYTHBUSTERS, comic books, documentaries and the Student Innovation Exhibition highlighting creative technologies by young students. 

Science Engineering Technology Awards 

November 12, 2014 / 11:30A.M - 2:00P.M. 

Skirball Cultural Center
2701 N Sepulveda Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90049

-- The KURULTAI series is coming in 2015 -- 

History repeats itself so that everyone  

has the chance to be and do everything.

Singapore Media Academy

January 13-16 2015

"Story Tools for Writers"

Learn to use Mythic Themes, Archetypes, and Symbols to create more powerful, engaging, and memorable stories.  

Come join us in the amazing city-state that is Singapore!  

It's a nexus for many cultures, a shining example of how multi-culturalism can work. The bustling harbour, the diversely rich yet clean and orderly city...the history, the future. 

Singapore is in many ways a dream come true that would please Plato, Jane Jacobs, and other pragmatists as well as idealists on how we can best live together in a way beneficial to all.    

*****

Pitch Prep. 

Can't make the live PitchFests yourself?  Don't want to do the Skype pitches? We can do it for you. 

Let our PitchProxy Pros pitch your story for you.Our recent pitching at STORYexpo garnered a 100% take rate for two different clients, and good results for others as well.   

*****

Children's Book Writers LA

Saturday March 21, 2015 1-4pm

Kathie Fong Yoneda & Pamela Jaye  

Photo - Pamela Jaye & Jill Gurr 9-27-14 on "Create Stories that Change the World and Pitch them to TV and movie Producers'

Jill led a great pitch-coaching session and we heard many exciting and touching stories for children.  

Thanks to Nutschell Windsor and the CBW-LA team for inviting us to be there.  

 *****   

LAWebfest   

April 2-5, 2015  

Hilton Universal City

LA CA 

*****

Great American PitchFest 

June 2015 

Burbank Marriott, Burbank CA

*****

STORYexpo 

September 11-14 , 2015  

Los Angeles  

*****

-- Looking forward to seeing you at these events! --  

Cathy Schmalfuss is multi-talented, smart, and fun. Her new web series is getting 100 views an hour and growing.

Here's what she says about it.

click to watch

"The surprising thing about "Roach TV" to me, is the way people are approaching it.  The most frequent comment after "Eeewww, it's a roach", is "Wow, I never thought roaches could be entertaining or amusing."  Some have gone so far to say that, they never thought they could see a roach as "cute or charming."

It's been fascinating to see who is watching. The people I thought would automatically "get it", have somewhat refused to watch it on premise alone. The people that I thought would be instantly turned off, are the ones that have seemingly, embraced it. It really has said a lot about how we let perception shape what we watch and refuse to watch - simply based on a preconceived notion.

I thought that roaches were a good "blank canvas" for those reasons. You don't get trapped in stereotyping, typecasting, gender bias and things of that nature. People can project what they want onto it - which has been good and bad.

The most challenging aspects have been coming up with new ways to make them entertaining.  There are no costumes and few props, so details to script, dialog, music and other ways of dressing the set, really come into play.  Most probably do not realize that one of the 2-3 minute episodes can sometimes take hours, to days, to weeks, before it is finally completed and ready for the public.

Hopefully, Roach TV will give people a few laughs, and an "a-ha" moment or two. It's been a nice side project to the other screenplays and film projects I've been working on. I do look forward to getting back to the feature-length, fantasy film that I have been working on.

Check out Cathy at her facebook page.  

**** 

CALL FOR NEWS  

Got good news about a project MYTHWORKS has worked on for/with you? Just let us know and we'll include it here.

The MYTHWORKS team needs assistance capitalizing on our successes and expanding into new arenas.  

• Business Development
• Sales
• Project & Product Development
• Marketing
• IT / Websites / Newsletters
• Publications

There is adventure, there is fun, and with your help there will be even more rewards.

Some of our clients and credits include Fox, Microsoft, Disney, Paramount, Universal, RAI-TV Rome, UCLA, USC Film School, American Film Institute, Women in Film, Natl. Film Institute of Denmark, Singapore Media Academy, LA and Marseille WebFests, Pepperdine University, Natl. Assoc. of Broadcasters, film festi�vals and story conferences. Others are American Assoc. of University Women, Junior ROTC, GM, Boeing, Hyundai, Hughes Space & Comm., the FBI, and the U.S. Army.

Part-time, from anywhere, usually on your schedule.

Our last PitchProxy Pro event at the STORYexpo here in LA  

on Sep 6-7 had very good results.  

***** 

When's your next chance to sell to Hollywood?

Check out PitchFests online or be in touch with PitchProxy Pros to help you get your project pitch-ready and out to producers.

-- some events are below in Coming Attractions --

Besides your great book or screenplay, you'll need the "leave-behinds" or "one-sheets" for when production companies ask to see more. From these they can pitch your projects to their company -- and hopefully get requests for the script or book itself.

We can write for you those important selling tools of the Logline, 3-sentence Pitch, 3-Paragraph Synopsis and the 2-page Long Synopsis. You can take that to the live PitchFests as well use it for virtual PitchFests via phone or Skype and also submit it to other websites that list your project for potential buyers.

Unsure about pitching? We can coach you to a more prepared, relaxed, and enthusiastic place so you can better sell your ideas.

Our Pro Mario Bernheim rehearsing client pitches.

Can't make the PitchFest yourself? Our PitchProxy Pros can take it there for you. We have a very good "take rate" with 8 of 10 pitches resulting in requests for the "leave-behinds".

Let us help you take that special project from
Your Heart to Our Hands to Hollywood.

Writers give us the world.

*****  

On the Page Podcast #347 

Pilar Allesandra interviews Pamela Jaye about the  "Show Me the Love!" book by her and Monty Hayes McMillan. 

***** 

Movies Matter - Dave Watson interviews Pamela Jaye about her Power of the Dark Side book [print and e-book]. 

*****

"The Three Levels of the Dark Side" 

for Savvy Authors

*****

SEMINAR downloads/CDs & PRODUCTS 

with Sarah Jorgensen at GAPF

Beyond the Hero's Journey: Other Powerful Mythic Themes. Workbook and seminar.

Creating Our Next Mythologies   

Millennial Magicians: Cycles and Systems

Alpha Babes: Women of Mythic Significance   

What's Love Got To Do With It?   

Other seminars available on CD at Alpha Babe Academy and at MYTHWORKS    

Find all our books and short stories here. 

MYTHWORKS, Alpha Babes & Chosen Man T-shirts, mugs, and gifts  

Pamela Jaye & the MYTHWORKS Team

323-874-6447
pamela.jaye.smith - Skype

email us   

MYTHWORKS   

Mythic Challenges 

Alpha Babe Academy