Book: Journeyman
Wizard: A Magical Mystery
Author:
Mary Frances Zambreno
Publisher:
Jane Yolen Books, Harcourt Brace & Company, New York, 1994
Reviewer: Adjekpagbon Blessed Mudiaga
Nobody
ever thought the priest of the lord, Eben Allons, was responsible for the
murder of his own mother, Lady Jean Allons. But he did it to fulfill his
selfish desire for fame and political power and concealed it until an
apprentice journey man mystic, Jermyn Graves, unveils the 'holier than thou'
clergy's hypocritical innocence.
Such are the tales of the fictional reality
book, Journeyman Wizard: A Magical Mystery, by Mary Zambreno. The author of the novel
paints a vivid picture of what has been happening in some churches. She brings
to the fore the underhand dealings of some priests who parade themselves as men
of God though they are actually impostors in the corridors of holiness.
But
though fiction, the book makes it evident that magical mayhem is the most
current thing going on in the name of performing miracles to the glory of God.
The hunger for fame, power and wealth leads many people astray to the point of
going to any length to achieve their debased dreams under the umbrella of
chastity. The irony of public posture and real life strikes as the rarely
imaginable situation of a priest in the book who was projecting a seeming
nonchalant attitude towards mundane acquisitions turning out later to be
discovered to be so materialistic as to go to the extent of killing his mother
through magical spells. He was not only out to kill his mother, he was also
prepared to kill others whom he suspected could be stumbling blocks to his
obsessed intention to acquire his mother's wealth.
In
263 pages Journeyman
Wizard: A Magical Mystery is
divided into 14 chapters. It begins with the traveling of the engaging hero,
Jermyn Graves, who had featured in Zambreno's first book titled A Plague of Sorcerers. Graves travels from the city
to a distant village called Land's End, where Lady Allons lives. He went there
to receive training under Lady Allons, who was a magical spell-maker. On
arrival, little did he expect that he will become involved, first in local
intrigue, then in magical warfare, and later accused as well as suspected as a
murderer.
The
novel gives some insight into magical circles. How to and how not to engage in
spell-making, are clearly elucidated with simple diction.
However,
when Lady Allons, a widow suddenly died during a crystal ball communication
with her student Graves, in a mystical dialogue with his aunt who lives in the
city, Graves was suspected of being responsible for his teacher's death. But
with Delia, a squirrel which Graves keeps as a spiritual pet, and Brianne
Campbell, Lady Allons's grand daughter, the innocence of Graves was proven
while the identity of the murderer came to light in a superb awe-inspiring
magical narrative of suspense-marked skirmishes. Any lover of dramatics
suspense and mesmerising tales will appreciate the pulse of the prose.
The
author comes across as someone who is very conversant with the magical
sciences. Her adept ply of the tales with explicit details give this out. She
captures the dynamics involved in practical and theoretical magical rudiments.
These include penetrating expose of the vital bits of the arts of spell-making
and healing techniques.
Journeyman
Wizard: A Magical Mystery, is
an eye-opener to the inherent mystical powers in some animals like cats, dogs
and squirrels, which could remind conversant readers of esoteric fictions of
the clairvoyant gifts of cats as depicted in such a Lobsang Rampa title as The Saffron Robe,
or the mystical capabilities of owls as portrayed in Kara Dalkey's book
entitled Euryale. The aforementioned books are also very
engaging and enlightening about the activities of mystical sciences such as
witchcraft, spells, hexes, astral migration and the mysteries of things
happening daily and nightly in both low and high places in the name of love. In
a world where people struggle for power, love, fame and wealth, all form of
vices and devices are employed by the desperate ones to achieve their goals; Journeyman Wizard: A Magical Mystery also capture these.
It hints
that those who keep animals as pets should better be well enlightened about the
possibilities of such pets constituting spiritual danger to them, unless they
are psychically interconnected or in tune with the spiritual vibrations of the
pets.
Zambreno,
describes Graves pet, Delia thus: "Delia was his wizard's familiar, the
animal that allowed him use his own inborn abilities to pull magical power from
the natural world. She was also a skunk. He loved her, but there was no denying
she tended to cause problems. Most familiars are cats or birds of prey; any
other animal was considered unusual. A skunk was worse than unusual- it was
downright peculiar."
The book
also paints a picture of how a spell maker appears. Lady Allons the spell-maker
is described in the following manner: "Lady Allons was a tall woman; with
silver hair curling around a stern face. Her eyes were deep blue and very
bright; she wore a sapphire silk dress, and earrings that exactly match its
shade. Although her feature were lined with age, her gaze was level and
penetrating and her chin was very firm... she used a cane as she came down the
stair, but her step was steady- measured, not slow." This description is
perhaps the American author's impression of a spell-maker.
Apart
from the intricacies of magical mysteries discussed in the book, a subtle
romantic touch is also used to spice the story with the admiration of Miss
Campbell's personality by Graves, the journeyman trainee as both of them are
teenagers. The author says Graves liked the way the little tendrils of hair
escaping around Miss Campbell's face caught the light. He also admires her
courteous but cool smiles.
One hint
in the fiction is that witches and wizards are not necessarily always poor,
gaunt and wretched people who live in dirty environments. Some rich and powerful
people too practice witchcraft. Maudie, a character in the story is depicted as
a hedgewitch. Hedgewitches are described in the book as those who scrabble for
a living in remote areas, while healers are also described as wizards too, like
spell-makers, if of a different order. In the novel's views, much of magical
persuasions and spell-making is an art. "The practice of this art, as of
all arts, requires skill, knowledge, and understanding, as well as observation
and experiment - the tool of science. These things assist the spell-maker in
the practice of his or her profession as a comprehension of the laws of
perspective and studies in anatomy benefit the painter...."
References
were made to some magical books in the novel such as Venturi Encyclopedia which, according to the author,
listed several variants of crystal spells.
Beneath
the thrust of Journeyman
Wizard: A Magical Mystery is
a creatively veiled non-didactic but instructive web of stories to remind the
reader that, no matter how one pretends to be good or holy, whereas he is evil
minded, a day of reckoning waits at the corner, even though the world may have
been looking at the person as a saint. The result of Graves' mystical
investigation to find out the cause of Lady Allons's abrupt death established
this. Graves was surprised when the truth dawned on him that his teacher was
murdered by her own priestly son, Eben. Hence, Graves was dreadfully amazed in
his inner mind saying, "So Eben is the black artist...
Nonetheless,
when the hour of revelation came, Eben screamed a terrible gibbering sound. He
lurched backward against a table. Taking shape in front of him was the
spirit-form of his late mother, tall elegant, and uncanny. She looked down at
her son with contempt in her eyes..."No" Eben said, holding up his arms
in front of his face in a futile gesture. "Mother, no! Don't!" late
Lady Alloons's spiritual voice registered on Graves mind that moment like the
sound of rushing water as she accuses her son thus: "False, Eben Allons...
false son, false brother false wizard, false priest. Bear the burden of that
falseness- take back your broken oaths." With this occurrence, power
poured through the room where the incident took place. Eben screamed again, a
keening, an eerie sound that went on and on and on until all the world seemed
swallowed up in it, and he was put in a state of "Catatonia mysticae."
A
character in the story, Master Eschar, describes "Catatonis mysticae"
as "a magically induced condition resembling certain forms of
insanity." Moreover, Eben also earned a prison sentence where he has to
spend the rest of his life with insanity.
Though
the book is a fictional work, it contains a lot of societal realities that can
easily be related to things happening among some so-called men of God. It also
brings to the fore the dangers inherent in magical practices and its
consequences, like what happened to a character named Doctor Faustus, in
Christopher Malowe's play, Doctor
Faustus.
Journeyman
Wizard: A Magical Mystery, is
a readable material for all who may be interested in identifying strange
vibrations in any environment they find themselves, and how they could repel
such negative forces by taking full control of their will power and astral
energies as they wish, with telepathic artistry and mastery of their environment
and the developments around them.
