{"id":12561,"date":"2016-05-01T01:10:17","date_gmt":"2016-05-01T06:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=13186"},"modified":"2016-05-05T11:28:32","modified_gmt":"2016-05-05T16:28:32","slug":"interview-with-singer-writer-kellianna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2016\/05\/01\/interview-with-singer-writer-kellianna\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Singer & Writer Kellianna"},"content":{"rendered":"

Song Inspires Book:\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Story of \u2018Warrior Queen\u2019 Moves Kellianna from Singing to Writing<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"keli3\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot remember my name<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

as I lay on the battlefield<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

and hear the war drums.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I died here with honor today,<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Warrior Queen with my sword by my side.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So begins one of the nine songs on Kellianna\u2019s first album, \u201cLady Moon,\u201d released in early 2004.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"keli1\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The song, \u201cWarrior Queen,\u201d tells the story of a hero\u2019s death on a battlefield.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I played the song for my mom back in 2003, she said, \u2018I love it. What\u2019s the story?\u2019 I said, \u2018That is the story. She dies.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Kellianna remembers her mother saying, \u201cNo, that\u2019s the story about her death. I want to know about her life.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

That planted a seed. For 11 years, Kellianna thought about the backstory \u2013 who Warrior Queen was and what her life was like.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI never let go of a good idea, even if it takes me a long time to pull it off. It marinates until the time is right.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The time was right two years ago.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

While performing at the Australia Goddess Conference with her good friend Wendy Rule in 2013, Kellianna met Kaalii Cargill, the author of \u201cDaughters in Time.\u201d The following summer they met again in England at the Glastonbury Goddess Conference. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Picking up a copy of Cargill\u2019s self-published book, Kellianna said, \u201cIt was a stunning book, a novel. I loved it. The next morning I was talking to her about [Warrior Queen]. By the next day, she and I had already started doing research on Nordic names. I already had a timeline. In the vending room, we started writing it.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Cargill insisted the Warrior Queen have a name, and chose Llianna.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy ego did cartwheels,\u201d Kellianna said. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A year later \u2013 after many telephone calls and Skype sessions \u2013 the rough draft was completed. In the process, they got close. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo much so when she tore her rotator cuff, my shoulder hurt for a week,\u201d Kellianna said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"keli2\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It took another six months to produce the finished version. \u201cTapestry of Dark and Light: Book One of the Warrior Queen Chronicles (Volume 1)\u201d was officially released in late March.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first day, Kellianna said, she got 400 likes on its Facebook page. Two weeks later, that number had doubled.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In this first book, Llianna learns she comes from a line of women that were given powers to help beat back the darkness 1,000 years earlier. The darkness is rising again, and at age 14, she realizes she is descended from warrior queens and that she, too, is a destined to become one and save the land. She finds her shield and begins to gain self-confidence.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was that age, this is the stuff I wanted to read,\u201d Kellianna said of the young adult fantasy. \u201cYoung girls need to know that you can step into your power, that you can be strong you can be self-sufficient … and do great things. \u2026 The time it right for a woman of power to come forward.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You can read an excerpt at <\/span><\/span>http:\/\/www.warriorqueenchronicles.com<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/span>, where you will also find book tour information and an interview. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe started the second book already,\u201d Kellianna said of brainstorming sessions she and Cargill have had to develop the story line. \u201cWe think we need to kill someone off and we\u2019re debating on who needs to die.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe decided to self-publish,\u201d Kellianna said, confident that after getting her music into every corner of the globe, she could do the same with the book \u2013 three cases of which are at her home in Western Massachusetts.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Her home on a mountain surrounded by forest, she said, is her sanctuary and her source of inspiration. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI love the solitude of my environs. I could not survive in the city.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

She\u2019s committed to spending every other summer in the United Kingdom. While there this summer, she will do a vocal retreat in Holland and, for the first time, will be a tour guide for 13 women: Walking with the Goddess 2016: A Sacred Journey To Avalon.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI started my career in Glastonbury [England] at the Goddess Conference in 2003,\u201d Kellianna said. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Although she\u2019d been singing, playing in clubs and joining assorted bands, it wasn\u2019t until she swapped classic rock for magical themes that her career took off. With guitar and vocals, she tells stories about Gods and Goddesses. Chanting while beating a frame drum, her primal rhythms and captivating lyrics honor the earth and the ancestors.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBlessed Are We\u201d was another of her songs that \u201cdownloaded in my head in a second,\u201d Kellianna said, adding, \u201cI\u2019ve had other songs that took three years to write.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe Is Crone\u201d was written for her friend Leandra Walker\u2019s croning ceremony in 2009.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWho says the crone has to be dirgy and dark? I wrote this as a celebration for a woman stepping into her power,\u201d is how it\u2019s described on Kellianna\u2019s website.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe was there way before the beginning; she helped me,\u201d Kellianna said of her longtime friend who also inspired what is probably the best-known pagan anthem, recognized around the world: \u201cI Walk With the Goddess.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Walker once mentioned she\u2019d never written anything except, \u201cI walk with the Goddess and the Goddess walks with me.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOn the way home from that meeting we were at,\u201d Kellianna said, \u201cI was writing the chant in my head. Then I called Leandra and I sang it to her. She wouldn\u2019t take any credit.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Where there is a song behind \u201cBook One of the Warrior Queen Chronicles, there is also a story behind the song that inspired it. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Kellianna recalled playing music with friends when Donna Horn, the artist who drew the \u201cLady Moon\u201d cover art, told her, \u201cOh! You have to write some lyrics to my song.\u201d Picking up a guitar, Horn played \u201cthis little two chord thing,\u201d Kellianna said, \u201cand all of a sudden this entire epic vision flooded my brain. \u2026 It was like a purging. It happened in five minutes.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

She took a recording of Horn\u2019s music home and on a Saturday afternoon, she arranged it and wrote the lyrics. Monday she recorded it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Keli\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been singing and performing that song for 12 years and every single time, I get the chills all over me,\u201d Kellianna said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>A shamanic reader in Seattle once told her that the Warrior Queen was an ancestor whose story was not yet done being told.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think everything I do is colored by the ancestors somehow,\u201d Kellianna said. \u201cI come from Norse, Viking and Canadian Indian backgrounds, so I think there\u2019s a lot of my strong spiritual ancestors guiding me in this life.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The first 10 years of her career were solo years as she wrote songs and promoted her albums. The second decade has been marked with collaborative projects. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to the book, she released a CD this past December with Jenna Greene, \u201cFairy\u2019s Love Song.\u201d Their two voices harmonize perfectly in the 12 Irish and Scottish traditional songs.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

She\u2019s also involved in the \u201cGreen Album,\u201d a collaborative project with 13 other bands to raise awareness of the natural world and to support the organization Rainforest Trust with 25 percent of the proceeds from album sales being donated to land conservation. Each artist wrote and recorded a song for the compilation.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI love this era of my career,\u201d Kellianna said of the \u201cmany wonderful projects with friends.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Greene said she smiles when she thinks about the 10 years she\u2019s shared a stage with Kellianna.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe first word that comes to my mind is fun. Fun because besides having an exquisite singing voice, she is a gifted storyteller. Whether sitting in sacred circle during her workshop, out to dinner after a show or introducing a song, she tells stories that evoke inspiration and laughter. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was so excited to hear of the release of her book because it gives people around the world the ability to experience this gift.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnother word that describes Kellianna is dedicated. She is dedicated to every word she weaves in song, every note she crafts in the studio, every step of her journey across the world. It is all done with such great heart and passion. She is truly a fiery Warrior Goddess!\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If a movie deal evolves from the books, Kellianna said,<\/span><\/span> \u201cI would want to do a cameo, perhaps the old seer in the cave.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

She noted, \u201cThere\u2019s no limit on my dreams. I dream big, I really do. \u2026 Anything\u2019s possible.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Purchase Kellianna\u2019s products from her website: <\/i><\/span><\/span>kellianna.com<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/i><\/span>. (More profit is realized when merchandise is order from her directly.) You can also find the CD and book on <\/i><\/span><\/span>amazon.com<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/i><\/span><\/span>. On Facebook, look for Warrior Queen Chron<\/span>icles. <\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Song Inspires Book:\u00a0Story of \u2018Warrior Queen\u2019 Moves Kellianna from Singing to Writing       \u201cI cannot remember my name as I lay on the battlefield and hear the war drums. I died here with honor today, Warrior Queen with my sword by my side.\u201d So begins one of the nine songs on Kellianna\u2019s first album, \u201cLady Moon,\u201d released in early 2004.   The song, \u201cWarrior Queen,\u201d tells the story of a hero\u2019s death on a battlefield. \u201cWhen I played the song for my mom back in 2003, she said, \u2018I love it. What\u2019s the story?\u2019 I said, \u2018That is the story. She dies.\u2019\u201d Kellianna remembers her mother saying, \u201cNo, that\u2019s the story about her death. I want to know about her life.\u201d That planted a seed. For 11 years, Kellianna thought about the backstory \u2013 who Warrior Queen was and what her life was like. \u201cI never let go of a good idea, even if it takes me a long time to pull it off. It marinates until the time is right.\u201d The time was right two years ago. While performing at the Australia Goddess Conference with her good friend Wendy Rule in 2013, Kellianna met Kaalii Cargill, the author of \u201cDaughters in Time.\u201d The following summer they met again in England at the Glastonbury Goddess Conference. Picking up a copy of Cargill\u2019s self-published book, Kellianna said, \u201cIt was a stunning book, a novel. I loved it. The next morning I was talking to her about [Warrior Queen]. By the next day, she and I had already started doing research on Nordic names. I already had a timeline. In the vending room, we started writing it.\u201d Cargill insisted the Warrior Queen have a name, and chose Llianna. \u201cMy ego did cartwheels,\u201d Kellianna said. A year later \u2013 after many telephone calls and Skype sessions \u2013 the rough draft was completed. In the process, they got close. \u201cSo much so when she tore her rotator cuff, my shoulder hurt for a week,\u201d Kellianna said.   It took another six months to produce the finished version. \u201cTapestry of Dark and Light: Book One of the Warrior Queen Chronicles (Volume 1)\u201d was officially released in late March. The first day, Kellianna said, she got 400 likes on its Facebook page. Two weeks later, that number had doubled. In this first book, Llianna learns she comes from a line of women that were given powers to help beat back the darkness 1,000 years earlier. The darkness is rising again, and at age 14, she realizes she is descended from warrior queens and that she, too, is a destined to become one and save the land. She finds her shield and begins to gain self-confidence. \u201cWhen I was that age, this is the stuff I wanted to read,\u201d Kellianna said of the young adult fantasy. \u201cYoung girls need to know that you can step into your power, that you can be strong you can be self-sufficient … and do great things. \u2026 The time it right for a woman of power to come forward.\u201d You can read an excerpt at http:\/\/www.warriorqueenchronicles.com, where you will also find book tour information and an interview. \u201cWe started the second book already,\u201d Kellianna said of brainstorming sessions she and Cargill have had to develop the story line. \u201cWe think we need to kill someone off and we\u2019re debating on who needs to die.\u201d \u201cWe decided to self-publish,\u201d Kellianna said, confident that after getting her music into every corner of the globe, she could do the same with the book \u2013 three cases of which are at her home in Western Massachusetts. Her home on a mountain surrounded by forest, she said, is her sanctuary and her source of inspiration. \u201cI love the solitude of my environs. I could not survive in the city.\u201d She\u2019s committed to spending every other summer in the United Kingdom. While there this summer, she will do a vocal retreat in Holland and, for the first time, will be a tour guide for 13 women: Walking with the Goddess 2016: A Sacred Journey To Avalon. \u201cI started my career in Glastonbury [England] at the Goddess Conference in 2003,\u201d Kellianna said. Although she\u2019d been singing, playing in clubs and joining assorted bands, it wasn\u2019t until she swapped classic rock for magical themes that her career took off. With guitar and vocals, she tells stories about Gods and Goddesses. Chanting while beating a frame drum, her primal rhythms and captivating lyrics honor the earth and the ancestors. \u201cBlessed Are We\u201d was another of her songs that \u201cdownloaded in my head in a second,\u201d Kellianna said, adding, \u201cI\u2019ve had other songs that took three years to write.\u201d \u201cShe Is Crone\u201d was written for her friend Leandra Walker\u2019s croning ceremony in 2009. \u201cWho says the crone has to be dirgy and dark? I wrote this as a celebration for a woman stepping into her power,\u201d is how it\u2019s described on Kellianna\u2019s website. \u201cShe was there way before the beginning; she helped me,\u201d Kellianna said of her longtime friend who also inspired what is probably the best-known pagan anthem, recognized around the world: \u201cI Walk With the Goddess.\u201d Walker once mentioned she\u2019d never written anything except, \u201cI walk with the Goddess and the Goddess walks with me.\u201d \u201cOn the way home from that meeting we were at,\u201d Kellianna said, \u201cI was writing the chant in my head. Then I called Leandra and I sang it to her. She wouldn\u2019t take any credit.\u201d Where there is a song behind \u201cBook One of the Warrior Queen Chronicles, there is also a story behind the song that inspired it. Kellianna recalled playing music with friends when Donna Horn, the artist who drew the \u201cLady Moon\u201d cover art, told her, \u201cOh! You have to write some lyrics to my song.\u201d Picking up a guitar, Horn played \u201cthis little two chord thing,\u201d Kellianna said, \u201cand all of a sudden this entire epic vision flooded my brain. \u2026 It was like a purging. It happened in five minutes.\u201d She took a recording of Horn\u2019s music home and on a Saturday afternoon, she arranged it and wrote the lyrics. Monday she recorded it.   \u201cI\u2019ve been singing and performing that song for 12 years and every single time, I get the chills all over me,\u201d Kellianna said. A shamanic reader in Seattle once told her that the Warrior Queen was an ancestor whose story was not yet done being told. \u201cI think everything I do is colored by the ancestors somehow,\u201d Kellianna said. \u201cI come from Norse, Viking and Canadian Indian backgrounds, so I think there\u2019s a lot of my strong spiritual ancestors guiding me in this life.\u201d The first 10 years of her career were solo years as she wrote songs and promoted her albums. The second decade has been marked with collaborative projects. In addition to the book, she released a CD this past December with Jenna Greene, \u201cFairy\u2019s Love Song.\u201d Their two voices harmonize perfectly in the 12 Irish and Scottish traditional songs. She\u2019s also involved in the \u201cGreen Album,\u201d a collaborative project with 13 other bands to raise awareness of the natural world and to support the organization Rainforest Trust with 25 percent of the proceeds from album sales being donated to land conservation. Each artist wrote and recorded a song for the compilation. \u201cI love this era of my career,\u201d Kellianna said of the \u201cmany wonderful projects with friends.\u201d Greene said she smiles when she thinks about the 10 years she\u2019s shared a stage with Kellianna. \u201cThe first word that comes to my mind is fun. Fun because besides having an exquisite singing voice, she is a gifted storyteller. Whether sitting in sacred circle during her workshop, out to dinner after a show or introducing a song, she tells stories that evoke inspiration and laughter. \u201cI was so excited to hear of the release of her book because it gives people around the world the ability to experience this gift. \u201cAnother word that describes Kellianna is dedicated. She is dedicated to every word she weaves in song, every note she crafts in the studio, every step of her journey across the world. It is all done with such great heart and passion. She is truly a fiery Warrior Goddess!\u201d If a movie deal evolves from the books, Kellianna said, \u201cI would want to do a cameo, perhaps the old seer in the cave.\u201d She noted, \u201cThere\u2019s no limit on my dreams. I dream big, I really do. \u2026 Anything\u2019s possible.\u201d Purchase Kellianna\u2019s products from her website: kellianna.com. (More profit is realized when merchandise is order from her directly.) You can also find the CD and book on amazon.com. On Facebook, look for Warrior Queen Chronicles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12561\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}