Wood-Nymph Seeks Centaur – My Interview With The Fabulous Francesca Lia Block

Botticelli – Pallas & The Centaur

Just the other day, I was raving on re how wowed out i was/am (The Ultimate New Dating Book For The Auspicious Aqua-Weirding) by the premise of Francesca Lia Block’s Wood Nymph Meets Centaur.  It’s a mythological dating guide, using the archetypes from ancient legend to inform and inspire us on our love & relationship sagas today. I am thinking like a more readily accessible and modern version of the Robert Johnson He, She and We Books.

Anyway, I interviewed her…!

Mystic: You have exactly the same Rising Sign and Degree of Sagittarius as my friend the Scorpio Sex Academic. Do you also tell really risque stories/gossip at mega-decibel volume level in crowded restaurants?

Francesca:  No but I write really risque stories and share them with my friends in my kitchen or bedroom.

Mystic: Your book wowed me out the moment I read about it in Jezebel.   It is a sensational idea. And a fresh voice in what has become a swamp of treat-him-mean-to-keep-him-keen OR Law of Attraction dating books.  Are people just adoring it? Does this magical approach  to dating work?

Francesca: It has worked for me. It helped me gain perspective and not take things as personally. It helped me to laugh at weird situations and I found it comforting to turn to the mythologies I love so much while I was trying to understand the strange world of dating.

Mystic:  It must surely have a crossover to astrology, do  you think?

Francesca:  There is a brief astrology section that tells which signs often match up with or govern the different types.

Mystic: My copy has not arrived yet but I from what I glean, I think I might be a mermaidenly type and I came out of a long marriage to a Woodsman and then proceeded to have affairs with Satyrs…How easy do you make it to figure out the archetypes and does it also go into the classic relationship patterns the different ones form?

Francesca: I give a quiz and detailed descriptions of the types and then it pairs up all  twelve female types with all twelve male types (with a few same sex couples at the end)

Mystic: You are having a Neptune-Moon transit right now – your Moon in Aquarius with Neptune conjoining it, are you finding that your approach to mothering has morphed, you’re super sensitive to substances (even just coffee) and your dreams are really lucid? Fab for writing.

Francesca; I’m always changing my approach to mothering, with the one constant being my intense love for my kids.  I’m always super sensitive to substances. My waking dreams h ave been amazingly lucid lately.

Mystic: Saturn is on your Midheaven at 3 Libra – this is major, like a climax of a trip that began back in 1980. As a teenager then, did you think in
terms of mythology and dating? And can  you see the Saturn progression and links?  I would have LOVED to have this book as a teenager because I read a lot of myth and I thought like that.

Francesca: I didn’t date as a teenager; I just  fell in love or was alone.  I didn’t connect mythology with my relationships per se but now that I look back I can define the boys and men I was with using this system.  I see the links between that time and this because at that age I was facing a similar crisis to the one that I am now and a little after that I was experiencing a similar magic that I am experiencing now.

Mystic: Saturn on your Midheaven is also about success, more fame and it is  being squared by Pluto – do you think your relationships/self image is
altering due to success/career. What changes are you noticing with Saturn-Pluto so powerful in your chart right now?

Francesca; I am feeling more connected to the outer image I put out into the world (promoting myself, being in touch  with my readers online) but I try to stay focused on the work first and foremost.

Mystic: You’ve got Mars in Leo in the 8th house – is Mars in Leo now until next June turning you into a power-crazed megalomaniac? And if so, how are you reconciling that with the witchier, more solo Neptune-Moon vibe?

Francesca: I am a power crazed megalomaniac in the realm of writing stories and I am witchy at night with my beloved.

Mystic: What are, please, the main archetypal characters?

Francesca; Male types: Centaur, Giant, Urban Elf, Woodsman, Werewolf, Hob, Faun, Tree Elf, Vampire, Garden Elf, Merman. Satyr.  Female Types: Wood Nymph, Tess, Urban Elf girl, Pixie, Weregirl, Hobby, Brownie, Dryad, Vamp, Mermaid, Banshee, Fairy.

Mystic: What would Blanche in Streetcar Named Desire be? And what do you think  Brad and Angelina are? Jennifer Aniston?

Francesca; Brad is Woodsman Angie is Mer-shee (mermaid and banshee)   Jennifer is a Pixie. I am thinking that Blanche is a Mermaid/Weregirl?