The Doorway and the Thirteen

The symbolism of the doorway and the thirteen torment Michael Curry throughout The Witching Hour, though Rowan repeatedly advises him to forget about their meaning.  Rowan herself learns partially their meaning but doesn't learn their full meaning until it is too late.

The Doorway

Doorways are what we enter and leave places through.  The symbolism of the doorway in the Mayfair series can be partially interpreted as Lasher's means of entering the world.  Indeed, though Carlotta did despicable things to Rowan's forebears, she was right when she told Rowan that Lasher wanted to "be like us."  In order for this to happen, Lasher needs a doorway by which to enter the world.

The question throughout The Witching Hour was, what was the doorway?  The builder of the Mayfair Crypt must have been instructed by one of the previous witches to put the bas-relief of the keyhole doorway on the tomb.  Since Lasher claimed to have put the ideas for the First Street house in Katherine's head, it was probably Lasher who indicated the crypt should have a doorway on it.  Putting the doorway on the crypt was probably meant to be a covert way on Lasher's part of indicating his plan.  He certainly had no intention of bluntly telling his witches what he really wanted as they could have thwarted him through their own free will. 

Of all the witches, Stella Mayfair might have come the closest to understanding what the doorway and the thirteen meant.  She understood Lasher wanted to "come through" and understood that it would take thirteen witches to do it.  She just didn't know which thirteen would be the ones to bring him through, though she was most decidely one of them.  Her parties may also have been a way to kick up enough noise to distract and confuse Lasher as Marie-Claudette had done.

The Number 13

The number 13 has had many associations over time, many of them ill.  In Roman times, the number 13 was associated with bad omens, which is how it is used in the Lives of the Mayfair Witches.  Hints and clues at the thirteen are all over, most notably the Mayfair Crypt - twelve crypts, one doorway.  The principle characters - Rowan, Michael, Aaron Lightner, and Rowan's forebears - spend a great deal of time trying to interpret it's meaning, knowing it is not good. 

Once again, Wikipedia has something to say on the subject of the number 13.  Below is a link to their page, where you may read further on it.

Click Here to go to 13 (number) on Wikipedia

Family Jewels: The Mayfair Emerald

"Put on the emerald necklace, and by its light he will find you." ~Deborah to Charlotte Mayfair, WH pg. 371 1

Described in The Witching Hour as a Brazilian emerald set in gold filigree, the Mayfair emerald necklace has been in the Mayfair family since the mid 17th century. Many of us have created images, graphics, of what such a necklace might have looked like. The Witching Hour also described the pendant as rectangular. Its size?

Page 99 of The Witching Hour has this description on it: "...an emerald as big as a thumbnail!"

But what would such a necklace look like if it was purchased in a store in Amsterdam in the middle of the 17th century? Well, a bit different than jewelers today would have designed it. As I finally managed to find some photographs of emerald jewelry in gold settings from that time period, it was easy to see that people today might just write it off as fake if they didn't know better.

The gold settings look as if the gemstone was embedded in it. Today, prongs hold gemstones--cut and polished gemstones--in place. That didn't mean ornamentation wasn't added on in crafting settings for gemstones. As for the gemstones themselves, emeralds looked more tumbled and polished but not cut. Those unfamiliar with emeralds might not recognize them in jewelry of the 17th century, even mistakenly believe the stone is fake.

I wanted to first correct the emerald and its setting to the rectangular shape described. Also, I wanted to try to create a gold filigree setting that was more like the time period in which Deborah Mayfair acquired it. Right away, The Witching Hour described the emerald as Brazilian. South America is indeed known for emerald mines. And, just for funsies, emeralds were among the favorite gemstones of Cleopatra VII. Lucky thing, because Egypt also had emerald mines.

But why do Brazilian emeralds look the way they do?

Most people today are used to seeing synthetic emeralds. They are cut with well-defined edges. The deep green color makes it one of the less translucent stones. This all looks a bit different when the emerald came straight from a natural resource for them: a mine.

Instead of simply deep in color, emeralds like that appear quite murky. It's a bit like looking at a deep, deep green marble. What's in there are tiny little veins that contain oils. These oils actually help the stone to stay intact. If you were to use a detergent type jewelry cleaner on these emeralds, especially if it's done frequently, that oil can dry up and make the emerald brittle.

One can imagine that such a gemstone making its way to Amsterdam was something incredibly unique. And very expensive. Somehow, Deborah acquired this beautiful piece of jewelry. By "somehow", I mean Lasher helped her. Naturally, she showed her appreciation for this by having his name engraved in the gold setting. I've added an approximation below, although this is subject to change if I ever find out how this would have ended up appearing if this had been a real piece of jewelry.

(Right: Created on NightCafe, this AI image of the Mayfair Emerald is based upon Anne Rice's description of it in The Witching Hour, but the generator does produce this result based upon its own creative contribution and how it interprets the prompts)

"The name of my devil is carved on the back of the gold fitting" ~Deborah Mayfair, WH pg. 306 2

Footnotes

Rice, Anne. The Witching Hour (Lives of Mayfair Witches Book 1) (p. 371). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 1Rice, Anne. The Witching Hour (Lives of Mayfair Witches Book 1) (p. 306). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 2