THE YOUNG WIZARDS SERIES
by Diane Duane
People often ask me how I
got started in The Business – seven generations
of psychics in the family? Gypsy ancestors?
They’re surprised to hear it’s
because I bought a pack of Tarot cards as a
senior in high school – but long before
that, in 1964, the spark was first lit by a
wonderful children’s book called THE
WITCH FAMILY by Eleanor Estes. Far from
being either spooked or amused, my first
thought was a nine year old’s version of “…and
your point is?” Even then, I knew there
was magic and wizardry in the world, and
all I had to do was figure out how to find
it to
make it part of my life.
Fast forward to 2007, and
the massive amounts of fantasy and magickal
fiction on the shelves today. Such a feast
to choose from, especially with the Harry Potter
series creating a tsunami all by itself! I
still read such fiction happily, not only to “shampoo
my brain” after a long week of work,
but also to find kernels of Real Truth intermixed
with all the what-ifs.
There’s no better series
for this mixture of truth and wonderment than
the “Young Wizards” books by master
storycrafter Diane Duane. The series has eight
books currently, with Nita Callahan, her sister
Dairine and friend Kit Rodriguez at their center.
(There’s also an adjunct series dealing
with the cat wizards who – yes, you’re
reading right -- maintain the world-gates at
Grand Central Station: THE BOOK OF NIGHT
WITH MOON and TO VISIT THE QUEEN.)
In this series, Nita, Dairine
and Kit, each in their own ways, find copies
of The Wizard’s Manual, and recite the
Wizard’s Oath on the first page of the
Manual. And oh, do things start hopping then!
Duane’s wizards are completely different from Rowling’s.
They exist very firmly in the world that we all know, and they “know
they’ve been drafted,” accepting that their wizardries
are to keep the universes and ALL of us in them –wizards and
nonmagical folk alike – safe. And wizards are chosen by the Powers
That Be, rather than by simple genetics…which is how it feels
with magic and metaphysics in our world as well.
Additionally, it’s
the young wizards that have the most power – they
usually “discover” their Manuals
around the age of 11 or 12, and if they survive
their Ordeal (the Powers’ initial testing
of the suitability and courage of the novice
wizard), there’s a huge spike in wizardly
might before things settle down to a more normal
level. Yes, there are adult Wizards (the local
Seniors, Tom and Carl, often feel like a more
magical and slightly more serious version of
the Car Talk brothers), but it’s the
young ones that are followed here and who take
the most dangerous assignments. Doing a wizardry
isn’t merely a matter of waving a holly
and phoenix feather wand, either – it’s
an amazing amalgamation of every science you
can think of, being able to articulate one’s
desires in the precise wizardly Speech, and
being willing to turn over some of your own
energy and life force to give it muscle.
Duane’s ability to
make remarkable assisting characters is flawless
here – a white hole named Fred, an alternate
Manhattan where the machines run the show,
an entire planet that is a computer chip, and
another Senior Wizard who just happens to be
a humpback whale named S’reee. And always
intermingled with the good and delightful is
The Lone Power – the master of entropy,
the fallen angel, or what you will – it’s
the ultimate Other Side of the Coin. (The standard
greeting from wizard to Lone Power when they
meet is “Fairest and Fallen, greeting
and defiance.”)
And what’s my personal
reason for this series being my favorite one
currently? It all comes down to the Wizard’s
Oath, a beautiful piece of prose that sums
up what every one of us with any metaphysical
bent ought to do with whatever abilities the
Powers That Be have given us:
In
Life’s name, and for Life’s
sake, I assert that I will employ the Art
which is Its gift in Life’s service
alone. I will guard growth and ease pain.
I will fight to preserve what grows and
lives well in its own way: nor will I change
any creature unless its growth and life,
or that of the system of which it is part,
are threatened. To these ends, in the practice
of my Art, I will ever put aside fear for
courage, and death for life, when it is
fitting to do so – looking always
toward the Heart of Time, where all our
sundered times are one, and all our myriad
worlds lie whole, in That from Which they
proceeded…
If you’ve finished
your perusal of Potter and are looking for
something else to keep your head in interesting
places this summer, the YOUNG WIZARDS series
is perfect fare, whether you’re twelve
or fifty.
Until next month, go well – or,
as they say in the Speech, Dai Stiho!
(To purchase any one
of the books in this series, go to “Ma
Feathers’ Knowledge Nest” in
the Products and Services section of the
website.)
