“I’ve always loved the idea of the occult,” Canadian horror writer and ‘eclectic’ witch, Sèphera Girón tells me. “I’ve had ghosts come to me for other people through the tarot cards. My dead grandmother was hanging out for a bit when I first started taking classes. It freaked me right out. I also told her that if she ever materialized in front of me, I’d probably have a heart attack, so please don’t.”

Ghosts, witches, monsters...key ingredients in the fictional world of Sèphera Girón. Her first mass-market novel, The House of Pain (described as ‘Rosemary’s Baby meets the Poltergeist’) was inspired by the real-life monsters, serial killer couple Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, who lured school girls to their Ontario home and videotaped torturing them. The Birds and the Bees followed. A novel where the monster is nature run amok, where the city is under siege from birds, bees, hornets and wasps; its also a novel where Sèphera gives full reign to her obsessions of love-relationships, adultery, chaos and sexuality. Her latest novel, Borrowed Flesh, has a young woman’s search for victims to satisfy her need for eternal youth -- a novel of dark forces and witchcraft.

Witchcraft...

“I call myself an eclectic witch, as I only draw on certain aspects of the craft instead of following one discipline solely,” she tells me. She strongly believes in astrology - not the newspaper kind, but “knowing sun, moon and rising sign and reading all of those. I’m not one of these people that stops my life when mercury goes retrograde but I watch and see what happens. Everyone has the ability to read tarot, see auras, talk to the dead, if they want to, if they open themselves up to the possibility of it. I’m still chickenshit about a lot of stuff. I won’t use a Ouija board. I’m not too keen on ever going to a séance either.”

Ever since she was a child she loved reading, encouraged by her mother to write poems and stories in a notebook her mother bought. “I still remember thinking that I couldn’t write a story longer then one page, or it wouldn’t be a ‘short story’ and therefore I would ruin the book. However, one day I actually said something to my mom and she set me straight -- a story is as long as it needs to be.” She grew up surrounded by books and music (both her parents are classically trained musicians), and was encouraged in all her creative activities. But high school was an unending nightmare for her. “I wore glasses, I was a bookworm, I wasn’t pretty, I played violin, I was involved in orchestras and community theatre outside of the high school, as I couldn’t stand to be on the property any longer than absolutely necessary. It was a terrible time and one that I would never want to relive. I actually took extra courses to finish in four-and-a-half-years instead of five and never went to my graduation.” Her teachers encouraged her too, “maybe they could sense that I would just snap if I couldn’t express my creativity! I was already doing a lot of horror, and weird science fiction plays - they would say it was ‘melodramatic’ but didn’t discourage me.” She wrote constantly, inspired by writers such as Stephen King and Clive Barker. But she still didn’t know whether to be an actress or a writer.

In 1982, Sèphera went to York University in Downsview Ontario, just north of Toronto. “It was my original intention to major in Creative Writing, but then I chose Fine Arts Studies, where I could still play in the orchestra, sing in the choir, act and dance and I attempted to paint (but that was horrible), and studied film making.” She started her first novel, Eternal Sunset, on a manual typewriter, and after graduation wrote for video trade magazines. “I wrote four or five novels and rewrote them many times until years later, I finally started to send them out.” Shortly after breaking up with her husband, Sèphera was approached by Nancy Kilpatrick about co-writing two Amarantha Knight books with her. “Nancy and I had become friends over the years, running into each other at local cons. She had short deadlines that coincided with her move to Montreal, so she was looking for a bit of help.” This proved to be a fantastic learning experience. “Working with a mentor taught me tons about novel writing. After that, I sold House of Pain (which had originally been a movie script) to Leisure and Eternal Sunset to Darktales.”

As well as fiction, Sèphera writes non-fiction under the penname Ariana. Her book, House Magic: The Good Witch's Guide to Bringing Grace to Your Space, was described by the publisher as an ‘eclectic mix of witchcraft, astrology, crystals and feng shui to show readers how, by using a little bit of each of them, they can activate positive energy in their homes, and therefore, in their lives.’ Which takes us back to magic again. “I’ve always been interested in the occult and a lot of what I read from an early age were books on ghosts, witchcraft, astral projection, dreams, astrology and so on. After my husband left, I wanted to explore all the ideas that I hadn’t had time to before, as I had been raising small children - but now they were older and now I had weekends to myself.” Sèphera took courses on mediumship and tarot reading, and eventually, with a friend and business partner, got more involved in feng shui and witchcraft, and became an expert on utilizing the positive ‘energy’ in the home; ideas eventually incorporated in the published book.

Positive and negative forces…Is there a danger that the negative can overrule the positive? Can the ‘negative’ be corruptive? “Definitely people can become corrupted by negative in so many different ways,” she tells me. “The idea of having a lot of power, like that famous quote, ‘All power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely’, can certainly turn from a positive situation to a negative situation if you are trying to control other people to do your will. If someone believes they are cursed, their life will start to fall apart because they have subconsciously given away control, or aren’t taking responsibility for their actions. If you go through life continually finding fault with people, situations, lack of money, hating your job, then you will find life is a bumpy hellish ride. I’m not suggesting people go around being fake Pollyannas, but if you try to find joy in something simple every day, it will brighten your mood and people will be drawn to your natural happiness. People like being around people that make them feel good. If you are negative, have a lot of negative thoughts, have selfish motives, then you will find that eventually, people won’t want to be around you which will continue to contribute to your negative thinking, a self fulfilling prophecy.”

How can the ‘negative’ be prevented, and what is its relationship with what is known as ‘evil’? Surely evil is psychological rather than attributable to some supernatural force? “I love writing about magic and manipulating people’s wills. I think real life magic is a bit different. However I do believe that some people on this earth are pure evil, aberrations of society, genetics, maybe God itself? Scientists have been trying to study the brains of serial killers and psychopaths, and they are discovering that there are in fact actual brain formation differences between aberrant behavior and what is deemed socially acceptable. However, which came first? The brain formation causing the behavior or the behavior causing the brain abnormality?” She believes in balance, so if there is good, “there must be evil. I think there are negative energies out there that we don’t want to pull into our lives, which is why I don’t play with Ouija boards. It’s the easiest gateway for negative energy to enter us. If you believe something negative has entered you, then it can really mess with your mind.” So, how best to prevent evil energy, or ‘psychic vampires’ from draining you? “Imagine yourself surrounded by white light or in a blue bubble. I do this before tarot readings and reiki, so that I don’t absorb my clients’ problems. If I'm going somewhere where I feel there is something ‘evil’ (like if someone thinks their house is haunted) I do that as well. And praying of course.”

Sticking to this topic, I asked whether animals can tap into the positive/negative power? Can animals use magic? Or can only humans? Is this important? “Animals are a great source of energy,” Sèphera tells me. “Cats have always had a reputation for their mysterious ways. I believe cats can see/sense ghosts, energy, etc. Cats have the reputation of nine lives and a host of other superstitions because of their ability to escape death and their uncanny instincts. Dogs, as we all have observed, can often sense if something is wrong, or if someone is ‘not quite right’. Rats jump off a sinking ship long before the humans clue in there’s a problem. Instinct is another way of feeling energy. Going with our gut. I have no idea if animals ‘cast spells’ or if it’s important! I guess it would be important if they all banded together to get rid of us humans! Most of us have had the experience of sitting and crying and a pet jumping on to us to comfort us. There have been studies done that people live longer if they have a pet. There is something soothing about having a creature around, to take care of, to love unconditionally. This may be part of the magic that animals have to teach us.”

How do others feel about her being a horror writer? “Some of the parents at the dance studio where I work admire the fact I write horror but say they would never read it as they are too scared. Some seem to think all horror is ‘slasher’ stuff and I try to educate them on that idea. People will think what they want. As long as authors write the best damn books they can, then they should stand proud behind their work and maybe, slowly, horror will be thought of as the art form it is.” In general though, she has found that people either love horror fiction or hate it; and those that hate it often say there’s enough horror in the world, without having to read it.

But real atrocities have impinged on her fiction. “9/11 changed the slant of The Birds and the Bees”, she tells me. “It was less apocalyptic, much less killing and war stuff than I had originally planned because I was depressed and terrified about what the future held for me and my children. It became more about the characters than the events.” With the threat of terrorism, war and man’s inhumanity to man, what do you think we need to do as a species to make it into the next century? “I wonder about this a lot. I don’t know. As an Aquarius, I have all this, ‘why can’t we all just get along?’ stuff going on in my head. However, when people can’t even be nice to their own family, if men can’t even have the balls to talk to women they’ve slept with to say it’s not going to work out, if people own guns (why the hell does ANYONE need a gun? Guns are for killing. No one hunts anymore). If kids still bully each other on the playground, pick on each other because they are fat or have glasses or call boys a fag because they take dance or theatre classes, if people can’t have tolerance for people choosing to love someone forever just because they are the same sex - somehow that is wrong? If people break into people’s houses and cars, if former spouses can’t even be civil for the sake of children they created in love, then I’m not sure that there's much hope anyway.”

“People need tolerance,” she continues. “I’m not sure man is truly wired for that. I was so hopeful and optimistic about the world when I was young. I thought peace, love and grooviness would eventually win. But men are programmed for conflict, for fighting, I think. Survival of the fittest. It is that survival instinct that keeps us loving each other long enough to procreate, but we live too long now to put up with the bullshit of every day life. The lack of organized religion probably doesn’t help the moral Babylon that is going on. (Believe me, I am NOT for organized religion, just trying to see patterns). However, in university I marched in peace marches protesting the nukes. I marched against the war on Iraq. Though I write horror, I still believe there is good in us all. No matter what your skin color, language or religion, we all have a right to live on this earth. But we’ll destroy it soon anyway, so it’s all moot.”

Sèphera is still a big believer in mind power and positive thinking. “Since I was a kid, I made lists of what I want to do and need to do. I believe that a lot of times, we can set things in motion in a positive way by having the belief that gosh darn it, it WILL happen. There is magic in everyone’s life.”

Bibliography

Novels

  • Eternal Sunset. Darktales Publications, 2000
  • The House of Pain. Leisure Books, 2001
  • The Birds and the Bees. Leisure Books, 2002
  • Borrowed Flesh. Leisure Books, 2004.

Short Stories(selected)

  • "I Stand Alone", in Queer Fear 2: Gay Horror Fiction (ed. Michael Rowe), Arsenal Pulp Press, 2002
  • "Wrench", in Hot Blood: Fatal Attractions, Kensington Pub Corp, 2003
  • "Absinthe Makes the Heart Beat Stronger", in Absinthe (eds. Joe Nassise and John Turi), Medium Rare Books, 2004 [forthcoming]
  • "Mother Knows Best", in Family Plots (ed. Randy Wiggins), Wild Rose. [forthcoming].
  • "Light Reign O're Me", in The Black Spiral: Twisted Tales of Terror (ed. Richard D. Weber), 2003
  • "Mmmm...Chicken....", in Tooth and Claw 2, (eds. Jesus Gonzoles and Garrett Peck) Lone Wolf, 2004
  • "Release" in Asylum Volume One, The Psycho Ward, (ed. Victor Heck), Darktales 1999
  • "Lyin' Eyes", in Asylum Volume Two, The Violent Ward, (ed. Victor Heck), Darktales 2002
  • "White Noise", in Asylum Volume Three, House of Dominion, (ed. Victor Heck), Darktales 2003
  • "Somebody Put Me Together", in Random Acts of Weirdness, (ed. Brian Knight), Prime Books 2002
  • "Sycophantic Rapture", in Decadence 1, (ed. Monica O'Rourke), Prime Books 2002
  • "Cyber Prometheus", in Unnatural Selection, Prime Books (ed. Gord Rollo), Prime Books 2002

Non-Fiction

  • House Magic: The Good Witch's Guide to Bringing Grace to Your Space, by Ariana, Conari Press, 2001
©Tony Mileman 2004