Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I’m delighted to be guest blogging here! I’ve got my green on, and the Guinness is chilling (green dye optional) and there’s corned beef and cabbage simmering on the stove!

I have those wily leprechauns to thank that my blog date fell on this most interesting and appropriate day.

St. Paddy, as most everyone knows, is one of the most colorful saints. He is the patron saint of Ireland, famous for driving out the snakes, planting a staff that grew into a sacred tree, and preaching the gospel of the Trinity with a shamrock for a visual aid. His day is an amalgam of revelry, leprechauns, pots of gold, and, in America at least, everyone is Irish for the day!

As with so much early Christian history, the legend around the “historical” St. Patrick is an interesting mix of myth and faith, colored by pagan traditions that lived for centuries on the Emerald Isle before the first monk set foot there,

So why is this an appropriate day for me to be blogging – especially since it would probably take the Human Genome Project to find any Irish in this blood of mine? Well, for one thing, while the shamrock is a symbol of the Christian Trinity, some scholars believe it was also a symbol to the ancient Celts of the three aspects of a goddess – the three faces of woman – the maiden, the mother, and the crone.


Last year, I wrote a story called “Standing Stone” for the upcoming Drollerie anthology called – appropriately – Maiden, Mother, Crone. I am very proud of this tale and pleased that it was chosen for inclusion in this collection of erotic stories that focus on the feminine energies symbolized by the three aspects of the goddess.

“Standing Stone” tells the story of a valley in Northern Europe over a time period that spans more than 2,000 years. With three parts, one set in the prehistoric past, one during the expansion of the Holy Roman Empire, and one that takes place in the near future, I tried to show the universality of the feminine principles through the history of a local goddess in one little corner of the world. Each vignette explores an aspect of woman’s spirit and sexuality – from the exuberance of a maiden, to the nurturing and compassion of a mother, and ending with the wisdom and experience of the crone.

In his classic study of mythology, The White Goddess, noted author Robert Graves (who wrote I, Claudius among many other books) gave voice to the concept that much of Western culture revolves around the worship of a feminine divinity. Although many scholars today do not regard Graves’ book as serious anthropology, the volume is a wonderful collection of stories and interpretations and I had Mr. Graves very much in mind when I wrote “Standing Stone”.

Like St. Patrick, the goddess of our European ancestors is with us today, transformed by time, blending myth and faith, illuminating our understanding of our own nature and our own desires.

So, while we may all be feelin’ a bit o’ the Irish this day, join me also in a celebration of the eternal natures of woman. Enjoy this short excerpt from “Standing Stone”, and look for Maiden, Mother, Crone from Drollerie Press on or near March 25th!

Happy St. Pat’s, everyone! Be Green!


“Standing Stone” by Angela Caperton
Maiden, Mother, Crone - Selected Erotic Fiction

Excerpt (unedited)

She growled, feral and hungry. When she spoke, her voice flowed like golden honey.

She repeated the words and Ost understood them, not so different from his own tribe.

“Who am I?” she asked.

The moon crowned her like a halo, but Ost felt the god's power now, knew his will and his way. Quick as a striking wolf, he arched and twisted. Hands freed, the knife nicked again as he grabbed her wrists and rolled atop her, pinning the woman beneath him, the doeskin soft against his chest, his legs twining with her bare ones, his weight trapping her.

He smiled, lust and curiosity the very blood in his veins.

"I will tell you who you are," he said carefully, so she would hear him.

“You are mine.”



Angela Caperton
Elegant, Eclectic Erotica
http://blog.angelacaperton.com