Religious belief and experience fascinate me. Much of how we experience God is based on where we live and how we are brought up, but there are many common threads across the world of spirituality. I am also deeply interested in psychology and neuroscience, and in particular, the intersection in the new field of neuro-theology.
We know so little about the brain and consciousness, let alone what exists beyond the physical. All of this leads to my interest in the God Helmet, whose technology I modified to become the headsets in Prophecy. The crude device from Persinger’s experiment is shown right but nevertheless, stimulation of the temporal lobe using a low magnetic field has resulted in some people experiencing religious visions.
As the character of Dr Maria Van Garre explains in my novel Prophecy, both sides of the religious debate claim a victory from the results. Atheists claim God is just a neuro-chemical response, and believers claim God put that area of the brain there so we can experience Him. I leave your own interpretation up to you.
This slightly sensational video [6:58 mins] is quite crude but you can get the basic sense of the experiment. I used some of the experiences in Prophecy.
If you want to explore this further, you might like these books (affiliate links to Amazon):
Setting is incredibly important for me in my writing.
Joanna Penn in the Paris catacombs
I often start with setting and then write a scene to fit the place, rather than the other way around. I’m primarily a visual person and the aspects of place in terms of resonance and spirituality are also important. For my novel Prophecy I wanted to have the theme of bones throughout the book so these places were great inspiration. For a villain who wants to kill a quarter of the world, the dead are important witnesses.
Paris Catacombs
In June 2011, my husband and I took a trip to Paris and visited the Catacombs which contain the remains of around 6 million people. By the 17th century, graveyards throughout Paris had become full up and the dead were poking from the ground. Decomposing remains were causing sanitary issues in the city at multiple locations. So it was decided to move all the bones to one location. After years of horse-drawn carriages moving the dead at night, the catacombs were full of bones. In 1810, it was decided to make the site more of a mausoleum and the bones were arranged into the designs that can be seen today.
I just had to use Sedlec as a key setting for my bad guy and his evil deeds. It’s a church but such a macabre place. I haven’t been in person but the images available are fuel for the imagination.
This video includes some great images including the chandelier that features in the climax of Prophecy.
Capuchin Crypt of Palermo, Sicily
As I investigated the ossuaries of the world, I found Palermo. Again, I haven’t been there myself but the amazing pictures and video online made it easy to write about. It’s definitely on my list to visit! You will see how I have used many of the images in this video in my chapter set in the crypt. Rosalia Lombardo is the little girl with the ribbon – yes, she is real. I personally found the more fleshy bodies of the mummies far more disturbing than the bones at Sedlec which I have reflected in the way Morgan feels when she is down there looking for the Devil’s Bible.
Exciting times! My next novel, Prophecy, will be coming out at the end of December (final edits still to come!) and I wanted to share the cover design and also the back blurb for the novel. I’d love to know what you think! It’s the next in the ARKANE series, kind of Dan Brown meets [...]
In the last month I have been working at the London Library a couple of days a week and it has made all the difference to my new life as an author-entrepreneur. Founded in 1841, it has been the writing home of many great English creatives. Here’s why I love writing there these days. (1) [...]
As part of my Masters in Theology at the University of Oxford (1994-1997), I specialized in the psychology of religion. I was always particularly drawn to Carl Jung, because of his extensive investigation in the subject but also because of his personal struggle with the big questions of life. The main character in my ARKANE [...]
We all have special places that mean the world to us. Oxford is my spiritual home and the place I return to again and again. I went to University there, studying Theology at Mansfield College 1994-1997. My father lives near there so I still visit it regularly and I have my heart set on living [...]
This is a little bit about my personal journey for the last few years. Back in 2007, I was very unhappy in my day job. In fact, I’ve never been happy in my day job but it paid the bills, enabled me to travel and I met a lot of great people. It was a [...]
We know so little about the brain and consciousness, let alone what exists beyond the physical. All of this leads to my interest in the God Helmet, whose technology I modified to become the headsets in Prophecy. The crude device from Persinger’s experiment is shown right but nevertheless, stimulation of the temporal lobe using a low magnetic field has resulted in some people experiencing religious visions.
