Guest Post at Sandra’s Blog: Witches of the Syn-iverse

The original topic of this post was going to be “the beliefs of today’s witches.”  I would’ve been happy to write something about that, but I don’t have a clue.  Despite a period of time in my youth when I wanted to be a witch or at least magical (my “spells” didn’t work otherwise Tommy Kingston would’ve turned into a two-headed frog in fifth grade), I’m not a member of the witch or Wiccan societies.  So, I don’t feel qualified to try to represent their current beliefs.

What I can talk about are the witches in the world of my Synemancer series.  Their world is similar to ours except supernatural beings live side-by-side with normal humans.  The major groups are witches, wizards, Nightkinds (vampire-like beings), and werewolves.  The witches and Nightkinds are organized into Houses who act like governing bodies for their kind.  Houses are often associated with major families and affiliated beings or humans, much like small kingdoms.  Werewolves form packs.  Wizards are too independent to want to belong to any organized group.

The supernaturals have a major law enforcement group called the Portalkind Security Council (PSC) which serves as their highest criminal justice organization.  The PSC is like the human system’s Federal level and the Houses are the State and Local levels

.  In Angel of Syn, the PSC are trying to capture Cara.

The major witch religion is called Druccan, which is a combination Druid, Wiccan, and other religions.  Druccan’s believe in preserving nature, the divine is both feminine and masculine, and there is a universal life-force that surrounds and connects every living being.  Druccan’s are not prudish about exploring sensuality or multiple relationships before marriage.   But vows are taken seriously once a commitment is made.

Witches are born with a wide variety of abilities and different levels of power.  One of the rarest and most powerful is the Synemancer.  Only witches can be Synemancers.  Synemancers draw power from other supernatural beings to fuel their own magic.  They can weave multiple energies together to create power more potent than any of the individuals could have achieved on their own.  The Synemancer exchanges a piece of the other person’s soul with her or his own to form a strong emotional, spiritual, and physical connection.  Cara Augustine is the only living Synemancer of her generation.  In the middle ages, witches were hunted down and killed by humans during the Great Purge.  Synemancers were especially feared for their ability to bind others to them so were completely wiped out. This history is a major problem for Cara because there’s no one left who can teach her to harness and use her abilities.  There are many legends and mysteries surrounding Synemancers that have yet to be brought to light.  Like, what the heck are all those orbs? Why are they attracted to Cara? And why do they always pop in at the worst possible moments?

I hope that this provides some insight into Cara Augustine’s magical, dangerous alternate reality.  Would I want to live in that world?  Um, yes but probably more as a visitor than a resident.  A tourist perhaps.  Maybe a foreign-exchange student.  But even for a short amount of time, it would be exciting.