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ILLIANNA's NAME
In my initial draft, I called Karan's mentor "Illianna." The name had occurred to me during meditation. It had symmetry and rolled nicely off the tongue. "Additionally, I thought it was a lovely variation of the name of the volcano called Iliamna that rests 225 km from where I had lived in Anchorage.
However, I convinced myself that the name had too many syllables and I changed the character's name to Cybele.
Several months later, I was getting a massage. I told the therapist about Ancient Pact. The therapist said aspects of the plot sounded a lot like the one referred to in The Crone Oracle. I had never heard of this book, but on the way home I stopped at a bookstore and bought the only copy in stock. That night I read only the first few pages before I put the book down. The message had been delivered.
The authors claim to channel the spirit of a priestess from Turkey. The name of the priestess was Illianne and yes, the plot bore eerie similarities to my story. I promptly changed the character's name back to Illianna.
"ALL IS ONE"
During my research phase, I examined various religious traditions for their associations with the four elements. One particular philosopher, Empedocles of Acragas, captured my attention.
He died around 432 BCE. Zeno of Elea (sounds somewhat like Illianna) was his mentor, who purported that many things that appear to exist are merely a single eternal reality. He called this eternal reality "Being."
His chief principle was that "all is one," and that change or non-Being is impossible. There is no escaping One.
To my knowledge, I have never heard of Zeno of Elea or his principle. How odd that I would be researching placement of the four elements and stumble upon this philosopher! Most remarkable is that his principle is worded exactly the way I had written my primary lesson.
