May 13, 2026 • 51 mins
What happens when the story you’ve been trained to tell can no longer hold the truth you’re living? In this cinematic and deeply human conversation, journalist‑turned‑storyhealer Candace Lynn Talmadge joins Michael to explore grief, myth, reinvention, and the power of narrative to transform emotional trauma.
After decades in the disciplined world of journalism, Candace’s life was shattered by the loss of her wife — a moment that revealed the limits of reporting and opened the door to something deeper. From that fracture came “storyhealing,” a structured narrative method for processing emotional pain, and Stoneslayer, her dark high‑fantasy series blending political intrigue, demonic warfare, spiritual awakening, and psychological depth.
Together, Michael and Candace explore:
- Why myth often explains the human experience better than realism
- How grief reshapes identity and creative voice
- The moment a lifelong journalist realizes imagination can reveal deeper truth
- What “storyhealing” is — and how narrative can transform pain
- How Stoneslayer emerged from loss, awakening, and reinvention
- The tension between fact‑trained discipline and soul‑level storytelling
If you’ve ever stood at the edge of a story you didn’t know how to tell, this conversation offers clarity, depth, and a new way to understand your own narrative.
Find us on Apple, Spotify or your favorite listening platform; visit us on our YouTube channel Find everything "One More Thing" here: https://taplink.cc/beforeyougopodcast
Want to be a guest on One More Thing Before You Go? Send Michael Herst a message on PodMatch, here: PODMATCH Proud member of the Podmatch Network of Top Rated- Podcasts
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hey, one more thing before yougo. There are moments in life when
the story we're living refusesto fit inside the lines we've been
trained to draw. Moments whenfacts feel too small, when language
feels too literal, when thetruth of an experience is so enormous,
so human, that the tools we'vealways relied on suddenly fail us.
My guest today spent decadeschasing facts until life handed her
(00:25):
a story that couldn't bereported. It had to be mythologized.
And that's where her healingbegan. We're going to learn about
that journey and how mythologyand storytelling might help you heal.
I'm your host, Michael Hirsch.Welcome to one more thing before
you go. Candice Lynn Talbodgespent decades as a journalist, a
(00:59):
world of deadlines, accuracy,and verifiable truth, while privately
studying the emotional andspiritual layers of human experience.
After losing her wife tocancer, the tools of journalism can
no longer hold the depth ofher grief, leading her to develop
Story healing, a structurednarrative method for for transforming
(01:19):
emotional trauma. That workunlocked the fiction she'd been trying
to write for years, resultingin Stone Slayer, a dark high fantasy
series rooted in psychologicaldepth and spiritual awakening. With
over 1400 good read ratingsand 4.4 star average, Candice Lynn
(01:42):
brings a rare blend ofnewsroom discipline, mythic imagination
and soul level insight toevery conversation. Welcome to the
show, Candice Lynn.
Thank you, Michael. I'mdelighted to be with you to talk
about one more thing beforeyou go.
Yeah. Well, your life has hadan amazing journey actually getting
(02:04):
to this point. So thank youfor being here. I appreciate you
joining me.
Thank you.
Like any good story you haveas an author should appreciate, I
like to start at thebeginning. Where'd you grow up? What
was your family like?
Well, I was born in SouthernCalifornia and I was the youngest
(02:26):
of four siblings. And I had avery, I guess on the outside I had
a very sort of normal middleclass upbringing. All right. But
for me it was kind of anemotional desolation because I didn't
feel loved or wanted by myfamily. And that's kind of the emotional
(02:51):
reality I have found in a lotof people, you know, because love
is a two way exchange. Whatfeels like love to you may not be
the love that your parents oryour siblings or your extended family
or friends can give to you. Sothere is often a disconnect. So I
(03:12):
grew up feeling very isolated,but I also grew up with lots of advantages
because When I was 14, myfamily moved to England for what
was supposed to be a two yearassignment, but turned out to be
four because my parents wantedme to finish high school in England
(03:33):
because I was getting afabulous education as a result. I
spent all my high school yearsin England. And I have a. US culture
is a complete mystery to mebecause apparently it all stems from
high school, which I didn'tattend. So popular culture just in
America is just not. I don'tget it. So. But that's, that's, you
(03:56):
know, that's kind of helped mejust do my own thing and develop
the story that I needed andwanted to tell over decades and decades.
Well, I'm happy that you havethat story to tell and I'm grateful
that you're here. Thateducation in England, I'm sure has
launched you in many differentdirections. And I know that you spent
(04:19):
decades in newsrooms from thatperspective. What drew you to journalism?
Basically, you consider me aone trick pony. Writing was the only
quasi marketable skill that Ihad. When I graduated college, I
(04:42):
could write pretty well. Andof course, writing in the business
world is the Rodney dangerfield because it don't get no respect
and it still doesn't. Youknow, numbers are king in business,
but writing, not so much. Sojournalism just seemed like a place
(05:02):
where I could at least getpaid a little bit. And that I do
mean a little bit to practicewriting. And I am glad, I mean I,
I was consistently underpaid,consistently over performed, blah,
blah, blah. But I am glad thatI got that journalistic background
(05:22):
because I ended up in 1981 atthe late lamented Dallas Times Herald
at the height of the infamousnewspaper wars between the Herald
and the Dallas Morning News.And it was a, it was the place to
be and I learned to writequickly, fast, on deadline, just
(05:42):
get it out and get it written.And that was invaluable training
for when I finally was able tostart writing Stone Slayer more than
a decade later. I wasfreelancing. I had a lot of work.
I was, I was doing business tobusiness PR on one hand and writing
(06:03):
for Reuters on a freelancebasis on the other. And yes, Reuters
knew all about my pr and Inever pitched any of my clients or
did anything like that. I justwrote the stories that I needed to
write for Reuters aboutadvertising and marketing. But anyway,
in between all that, I wasstarting to write my story. So being
(06:24):
able to write quickly and fastand get it out was a real skill that
was useful.
It absolutely is. I mean, Ican relate to journalism. I appreciate
journalism because my father,my father was a journalist. I grew
up in a newsroom actually, andI say grew Up. I mean, literally
spent much of my childhood ina newsroom, then worked for the newspaper
(06:45):
myself once I got about theright age, worked for the same place
that he did. I lost him at anearly age, but I went back to the
Gazelle Telegraph in ColoradoSprings and went in there, and some
of the same people he workedwith were still there. And I started
working with the GazetteTelegraph. So I used to go on calls
(07:05):
with my father when he gotcalled out to go cover a train crash
or a car crash or a crime orsomething along that line. And so,
yeah, I appreciate journalismfrom a very personal perspective.
So I'm happy that you did that.
Well, I am, too, because itgave me great training and it also
(07:29):
taught me something that Ihope. I wish more people would also
adopt. Question everything.Too many people these days just see
a video or a post on theInternet and think it's true. Well,
maybe it is and maybe it'snot. So I always question everything,
(07:51):
and that includes theprevailing orthodoxy, whether it's
from religion or science,which has devolved into an orthodoxy.
You know, don't tell me totrust the science, because many times
the science has been boughtand paid for by the very organizations
and companies whose productsthe science is supposed to be examining
(08:15):
and certifying. All right,there are always at least two sides
to every question. Usuallythere are more. And when I was a
journalist researching astory, it's amazing how slippery
facts can be if you make onemore call, one more interview, and
suddenly the dynamic andperspective changes. So don't take
(08:38):
anything at face value. Dosome questioning.
And I think that's a valuable.A valuable lesson that they taught
you, that journalism taughtyou about the truth and the limits,
I guess, in. In regard to thatand how it's presented and how it
could be skewed so easily.Unfortunately, yes. So, yeah, yeah,
(09:02):
that's a good message foreverybody. I know that when I'm doing
a little bit of research onyou, you said that you live two parallel
lives. When did you first kindof feel that split that you understood
you were doing those twoparallel lives? Was it kind of touching
on what you had just saidabout. About trying to write. Write
for Reuters, for example, froma freelance perspective, but then
(09:24):
trying to write your ownpersonal stuff?
Well, the split really goesback to my. Maybe when I was around
in my early teens, 12, 13, andI had a. An instantly prophetic dream.
My mom and I had been visitinga woman, my mom's dream, in the hospital
(09:48):
every so often because she wasdying of leukemia. And One Friday
night I had a dream. We wentto the hospital and the nurse said,
oh, I'm sorry, you can't visitMrs. Smith. She died at 3 this morning.
And then I woke up and it wasSaturday morning and it was my job
to set the table for breakfastand everything. And the phone rang
(10:14):
and not long after my mom cameinto the kitchen red, red eyed and
crying and saying Mrs. Smithdied at three in the morning. And
I, I just couldn't sayanything. I. I couldn't say. I know
I couldn't say anything. Butthat hit me like a ton of bricks.
And I've only recently startedto talk about it, but it was a big
(10:37):
fat clue. If you want to saythat maybe reality isn't quite like
we are conditioned to programto regard it. Maybe it's not all
logical and sequential andanalytical and rational something.
And that led me, well, thatand reading the Lord of the Rings
(10:58):
and really loving it and thathaving an effect on me too. But that
sent me in the direction and Idaydreamed a lot. You know, I went
to school and I would, youknow, daydream because I was kind
of a solitary kid, I didn'treally have many friends and I, this,
this character popped into mymind. And she was tall and she was
(11:19):
mouthy and she was strongwilled and I thought about her a
lot and I thought about who isshe? What's her world like? And I
followed this over decades.And then in 1978 the Silmarillion
came out and reading it, Irealized that in the Lord of the
(11:42):
Rings the tale that most movedme was the story of the Numenoreans
and how they destroyed theirisland nation. And sure enough, that
is Tolkien's Christianizedversion of Atlantis. So that sent
me off in another direction ofresearching what there is about Atlantis.
(12:04):
Most of the, the material aswell. Did Atlantis exist or if it
did, where was it? That kindof stuff I didn't care about that.
I wanted to know what thesociety was like, what the people
were like. And believe me,when you go down that rabbit hole,
you read all manner of reallyweird stuff. You know, you run across
(12:26):
Edgar Casey, you run acrossthe Theosophists with Madame Blavatsky.
I mean you do, you know, youget into some really strange areas.
But all along, you know, I wasthis journalist or a college student
or whatever I was at the timein the so called real world pursuing,
(12:46):
knowing more about thischaracter and who she was and where
she came from and whathappened to her.
That is an amazing, especiallyGoing down the rabbit holes that
you were going down, I'm surethat you were able to kind of get.
I would love to see yournotes, actually, in regard to all
of what you felt about thepeople were from Atlantis. And my
(13:10):
wife and I have a fascinationwith Atlantis and where it is and
a fascination with the people.And were they really that much more
elevated than we are as theywere written about, and much more
intelligent and much moreadvanced kind of a thing? Did you,
in all your research and yourfindings, did you find that?
(13:32):
Well, the research I ended updoing was within me. All right. In
1986, I met my late wife andwe started doing something that I
now call Sunan story healing,which is basically going into the
emotional body, not the mentalbody of hypnosis. You go in in a
(13:55):
very loving state. You treatyourself like your own best friend.
And whatever you areemotionally prepared to bring up
comes up. And what you do,what you're going for, are the self
judgments and the vows thatare rattling around in your subconscious
slash emotional body that youdon't know about consciously, but
they are really making yourlife miserable. Cycles of repeating
(14:22):
garbage that you just want tobreak out of, but you can't do it
mentally because it's not inyour mental body. You can't analyze
it or. Or, you know, figure itout, you feel it out, you let it
out, you let go. You make anew decision about whatever it was
that you were judgingyourself. And that's what I did.
(14:45):
And as I did that, more andmore, and as I teamed with Jenna
to start the SATVA Institute,which was her school, she was teaching
and healing, and she was doingthat while I was working as a journalist,
then PR person, and as I gotmore and more information and still
(15:07):
daydreamed about my story andHelen, I literally woke up one Saturday
in July of 1980, 1998, andsaid, I can write the story now.
And that's when I startedwriting what became the Stone Slayer
series. But again, that's anevolution over a decade and a half.
(15:32):
And it didn't start out thatway. I had to go through a heck of
a lot more emotional growingand tragedies like losing Jenna to
cancer. And just generally,you know, it's sort of the kick in
the pants I needed to finally,finally embrace the whole story and
(15:55):
write it and name it, what ittruly was.
From that perspective, youknow, I. If you don't mind, I could
touch on this. I. I can relateto this in a couple of different
ways. I lost my father toCancer. So. And he was, he was only
39 years old. I was only like,you know, 17 years old. And I lost
(16:18):
my stepfather to cancer and Ilost my grandparents to cancer. It's
a devastating disease. I'msorry that you lost your mother and
your wife to this, thisdevastating disease. Disease. How
did that change everything foryou? Do you think, do you think that's
what kind of lit your windowopen? And, you know, you said that
(16:40):
you were finally able to kindof, to kind of start writing the
story kind of, oh, go fromthere. Was. Was that the catalyst?
That was one of the catalysts.All right. It certainly was the catalyst
of, well, now you're on yourown, all right? And you, you, you
can either sink or swim here,all right? And there were a lot of
(17:02):
times when I was sinking,because grief has that way of doing
that to you, but I, I guessI'm just too ornery, too stubborn.
I decided I was going to live,but I had to. I mean, there were
complications. I had beentrying to write and publish the story
for. With a small publisherthat went belly up. So I took it
(17:24):
over and tried to publicpublish, publish it independently
back in the early 00s, like 05and 06 and whatever. It didn't work.
Well, that's because as Ifound out 15 years later, 15. More
than 15 years. The story wasincomplete, all right? And I. My
healing was incomplete. Sowriting this tale precipitated major
(17:51):
events in my life, but it alsoprecipitated major healing and self
growth and even some buds ofwisdom in there somewhere. All right?
But it's. It was a veryfraught process, and it still is,
because in 2012, I had mymyelitis, which is an inflammation
(18:16):
of the covering of the spinalcord. Most people who get myelitis
never walk again. I couldstill walk, but my legs were stiff
and tight. That's not ahallmark of myelitis. That was something
else that is emotional andspiritual. Well, five years later
(18:36):
and a move from Texas toCalifornia to be with my aging parents
again. And, you know, Jan andI both moved out here in 2017 after,
you know, my dad died in 2016.My mom followed in 2017. And a month
after my mom died, I had asecond round of myelitis, and it
(18:56):
made the whole situation a lotworse. So again, I'm struggling with
this, I don't know, this, thisdysfunction of my nervous system
that leaves me not able towalk without a walker. And I believe
that all physical disease is aresult of emotional and spiritual
(19:19):
dis. Ease. The physical bodyreflects what's going on in our hearts
and souls and minds. So I havebeen continuing my journey with the
help of a marvelouschiropractor who doesn't. His chiropractic
is nothing like traditionalchiropractic. But then, hey, I'm
(19:39):
nothing. You know, I don't. Idon't do traditional anything. So
it was right up my alley. Itreally helped. And it was funny.
He came into my life not justover a year before Jenna left. So
he was there, and I neededsomeone and something to help me.
And we've been workingtogether ever since, and it has helped
(20:02):
free me. I'm not quite walkingyet, but I see big signs that my
legs are improving. So mine isa story of. I don't know which came
first, the healing or thestory. Or the story or the healing.
It's just kind of thisiterative process where one builds
on the other, and the resultis I am far better off, far more
(20:26):
at peace with myself because,well. Okay, here's where it gets
really weird. I chased off twoinner demons. And I don't mean that
metaphorically, I mean itliterally. I chased off two inner
demons and settled, shall Isay, a relationship I had with the
original Lucifer. I know thissounds bizarre, and it was bizarre
(20:50):
to me. I was like, oh, no,this can't possibly be what's going
on in my psyche. And there itwas. What can I tell you? I mean,
like I said before we startedtalking here, the definition is harmless.
Crackpot. Okay, I'll take it.But the proof's in the pudding. And
the proof is that I am more atpeace, more in tune with myself,
(21:15):
and much healthier. Healthierthan I've been in decades. So I just
have to go where my path takes me.
Well, I don't call it. I don'tthink that you're a crackpot. I think
that, you know, there arethings within this world that some
of us have seen andexperienced that others can't explain,
(21:38):
and that includes demons. Ibelieve in demons wholeheartedly.
So, you know, you being ableto confront that in such a way that
it allowed you to move forwardand embrace the positive and the
white light area within thatis a good thing. And I think that.
Correct me, but I think thatmaybe your grief and your struggles
(22:01):
with this revealed stuff thatjournalism couldn't really capture
because of that perspective.
Well, that talks about thelimitations on our perceptions. All
right, in. In a book calledthe Doors of Perception, Aldous Huckley
Huxley called the consciousmind a reducing Valve. It's very
(22:25):
effective at limiting what weperceive to the physical and the
mental because we can't kindof get rid of it. You know, we have
these thoughts rattling aroundin our heads that we're aware of.
So we've got a. A physicalbody and a mental body, but that's
only half of who we reallyare. We also have an emotional body
or a subconscious mind, if youprefer that label, and a spiritual
(22:49):
body or an unconscious mind,if you like that label. All right?
I'm not really into labels. Ijust use certain terms because I
understand what they mean. Sowe are trying to live in a manner
that is similar to liftingyour. Lifting one foot off the ground
and hopping around and tryingto get places on one foot. You can
(23:13):
do it, but it's not veryefficient, and it's really taxing
and wearing. Because we weremeant to walk with two feet and we
were meant to live with all ofour being. All right? And the answers
that we seek to questions thatwe can't, you know, can't answer
with our conscious mind.
Right.
(23:33):
Are in the emotional andspiritual parts of our being and
in our subjective experiences.All right? But again, everybody says,
no, no, it's not subjectivebecause, you know, that's individual,
and you can't apply it toeverybody. You. You're not supposed
to apply your experiences toeverybody. They are for you, all
(23:57):
right? They are your livedexperience and. And you have far
more than, you know,consciously, but they're for you.
And I have absolutely noopinion on how other people live
their lives or what theybelieve or whatever. I mean, my healing
(24:18):
is for me. My only wish forthem is that they get the kind of
healing that will make themlive in greater peace.
Is that everything that youjust spoke about? Is that part of
story healing?
Yes, that is part of. Part ofstory healing. And I'm grateful beyond
words, not only for thatjournalistic experience, but for
(24:38):
being trained as a storyhealer. Because all of this came
about through the workingmeditations that you do in story
healing, where you go intoyour emotional body with the help
of your spiritual body, andyou find those places within you
where you have issues andjudgments and maybe joker demons
(24:59):
lurking. You know, I mean, itwas just. Well, let me give you an
example. I have always beenliving in fight or flight, all right?
I didn't know. It took me along decades to. To realize. And
I've always been prone topanicking when I was flying in a
(25:19):
plane or driving in a car andbetween my home and the rest of my
family. There is a low rangeof mountains where you have to drive
up this big windy road. It'stwo lanes either way, it rides over
the mountain and it's a verynerve wracking road. And I was always
(25:42):
panicked and it was, it wasmisery getting over and getting back
on that road. Well, after Icast out my two demons and did some
more healing work, I took atrip over that hill and I have no
panic. And I've done itseveral times since. No panic. It's
(26:04):
like the most amazing freedom.And of course the irony is now I'm
free to go places but my feetand legs still haven't got the message.
So hey, I'm a work inprogress, but I'm making progress.
I can relate to that. And I'mgoing to give you words of hope.
And I was told by five doctorsI wouldn't walk again, I'd be in
(26:27):
a wheelchair for the rest ofmy life. And as I mentioned before
we started, I walked my oldestdaughter down the aisle and I will
walk my youngest down theaisle and I walk two to five miles
every day now, in spite ofwhat five doctors told me. So you
know, there is hope. I believeif you, you, your mind, your body,
your soul is connected likeyou are doing, I, I have faith that
(26:50):
you will achieve that goal.
Thank you, Michael. Thosewords mean a great deal to me. And
I am delighted that youignored the so called experts and
followed your heart. All right.
I am as well.
And here's the thing aboutexperts and expertise. All right,
(27:13):
What Sunan story healing helpsyou do is become an expert in you.
And there is no one else whocan be the expert in you. What the
people with the Alphabet soupafter their name have theories and
methods and protocols andethics, maybe, whatever. But what
(27:39):
they don't know is you. Andthe only person who can really know
you and know what you've beenthrough and feel it and live it is
you. All right, so I, youknow, once I got that diagnosis from
neurologist back In I guess2018, the last thing I wanted to
(28:02):
do was spend more time in moredoctor's office because they couldn't
tell me. They could tell mewhy I had problems walking, but they
couldn't explain the stiffnessand the tightness, all right? And
I just decided I am not goingto waste my time and money going
(28:22):
from specialist to specialistto specialist and getting this kind
of answer. So about a half ayear later I met my chiropractor
and we started workingtogether. And that's when I started
noticing Real healing. Becauseagain, he's not limited to the mental
and physical. He also knowstheir emotional and spiritual realities
(28:46):
and they affect the body verygreatly. And that's what he's helping
me work in. And then I take itand I do all do some stone soon on
story healing, work on my own.And I come back and he takes that.
It's again, it's thiswonderful upcycle instead of a spiral
downwards, it's a, it's acycle going up to health and greater
(29:09):
freedom. So that's my path.
I think it's a wonderful path.And in the fact that you're sharing
it with other people is even abetter path on top of that. So that's
just kind of an icing on thecake or the cherry on top of the
sundae. Let's talk about yourbook. Let's talk about that. Let's
talk about that journey. Andto get into that, why, why myth,
(29:29):
mythology, why fantasy?
Well, I. When I was 12, mybest friend's mother and her parents
were like my second parentsput a Taylor Caldwell novel into
my hand and said, you canwrite like this. And nobody ever
(29:51):
encouraged me. Nobody had eversaid, hey, I believe in you. So that
put the idea of writing a bookin my hand, my head and my, you know,
and then all my thinking aboutHelen and who she was kind of converged
together. So I, I didn't wantto write another Dungeons and Dragons
(30:15):
fantasy quest. Fantasy. A lotof people came after Tolkien. They
did, you know, I'm not. Theydid great jobs, but it was that kind
of fantasy. And I'm like, no,there's something different here.
I didn't know it was my ownstory, but there was something different
here and I, and I wanted to domy own version of it. So that's,
(30:38):
that's the story I followedand that's the story that eventually
became Stone Slayer when Ifinally realized, dread it, there's
a demon in it. Dang it. Youknow, I want to get away from demons.
Well, I keep coming rightback. Okay, so there's a demon. Nasty.
Okay? Not like a lot of theparanormal fiction we have where
(31:02):
a sexy demon wants to matewith me. No, this demon is not sexy.
It's not cute. It's horrendous.
Which is what most demons Ibelieve are.
Yeah, well, they're spirits.In my understanding, they are spirits
(31:23):
who did not trust God enoughto believe in free will and said,
no, no, free will is messy.Free will is this. Free will's that
you can't have it, you know,it's bad. God. God. God was wrong.
No free will. And chief amongthose was Lucifer. But anyway, so
(31:43):
there are a lot of demons andspirits who tagged on with him. And
the problem with that is onceyou do that, there is God's light
and love that permeateeverything. It is an energy that
flows to everything that isliving, organic or non organic. And
(32:05):
without energy, none of uswould exist and nothing would exist.
And if you step outside thatenergy through denial, you then have
to steal other souls energy inorder to continue to exist. And that's
what demons try to do. Theytry to steal your energy by any means
possible. And the wholeconcept of demon possession as it's
(32:29):
been portrayed in movies isnot always what's going on. All right?
But they're just trying tosteal your energy. And the good news
is you let them in, you cankick them out. You just have to know
how to do it. All right?
Exactly. And a choice. That'sa choice.
(32:49):
It is a choice.
Did this Stone Slayer kind ofemerge from your healing in that
knowledge? Did you kind of. Isthere an overlap?
Well, there was an earlierversion of it with a different name
and an incomplete story againthat I mentioned. I tried to publish,
you know, 20 years ago. Allright. But after I was. I was working
(33:11):
with a wonderful editor of asmall publishing company who really
liked my writing. But she saidto me, you're going to have to change
the name. This is not theright name. I'm like, grumble, grumble,
grumble. But I acknowledge shewas right. The name was not appropriate
to the dark fantasy, whatevergenre you wanted to say that my series
(33:32):
is in. So it grew out of ahorrendous experience I had waiting
for a very minor eyeprocedure. And I realized that, wow,
there's something going onwithin me. Well, fast forward about
eight months and sure enough,I cast out the demons, or actually
(33:56):
the emotional body part of mehunted them down and threw them out.
And I kind of watched thisprocess go on. And that's when I
no longer panicked going over,over the hill, so to speak. And I
realized, oh, that's the nameof my series. There's a demon in
(34:17):
it and Stone Slayer is thename. I have been told by people
that there is a whole bunch ofa gaming Stone Slayer in the gaming
world, which I am not part of.I don't, I have no interest in it
and that it's very metal,whatever that means. All right. I
just chose it because the namecame to me. And you know, my inner
(34:41):
writer said, this is It. Thisis the name for your series. So I
said, okay. And then I had togo back and rewrite, you know, six
or seven novels to, you know,books in the series to accommodate
the new. The new character.
From that perspective, do youthink what. What truths did fiction
allow you to speak through.Through your, through that book,
(35:03):
for example? I mean, youthink, do you think it allowed you
the evolution? We all knowthat I watched my father because
back in the old days, when youand I know you started there, where
we didn't have the electrictypewriters, he didn't have the computer,
he had a black typewriter infront of him that, you know, had
(35:27):
little round keys, and youcould just. That's what you would
hear and see. Then you.Sometimes you'd hear him rip the
paper out and crunch it all upand start all over again. So from
that perspective, in the factthat you had to rewrite and re. Change,
do you think your voicechanged a little bit in regard to
(35:51):
storytelling and novel. Novel writing?
Well, I think getting thewhole story didn't really change
my voice, but it did change myperspective and it did make me very,
very aware of the choices wemake because the characters, some
(36:16):
of them get ensnared in thedemons, machinations, through unwise,
imprudent choices. All right?And. And it's not that the demon,
per se, does all this evil. Ithas a lot of willing human helpers
because they think they'regoing to get greater money, more
(36:38):
power, whatever. Okay. Youknow, and they, they sell their souls
to the devil or the demon. Andit sounds so cliched, but that's
actually what happens. And thestory is very dark. And when I realized
it, and I, you know, I'm atthe end of book nine right now. I'm
(37:02):
in the second generation, andI realized where it's going and what's
going to happen and all thethings that are going to come about.
And I'm like, I don't reallylike where this thing is going, but
this is the story and that'swhat I have to write. I mean, this
is part of my own healingstruggle. All right, because it's
(37:26):
so interesting. I. Not longafter Jana died, a friend, actually
one of her former clients andstudents turned a friend, suggested
that I get in touch with a. Anastrologist because I'd always wanted
to do an astrology reading forwhatever. So anyway, I sit down with
(37:49):
the guy Leo, and, you know, wedo a zoom meeting. And he looks,
he takes one look at my chart,and one of the first things he says
to me is, you don't dosuperficial, do you? And I just cracked
up. No, I'm not a superficialvergence. Well, it turns out, you
know, you have 12 signs, 12houses in astrology. Your sun sign
(38:12):
is the one that all peoplealways talk about, but you have a
moon sign and you have allthese other signs. And seven of my
12 are in a water sign, awater. So I'm like, okay, water is
depth. And I am very muchsomeone who doesn't do just the surface,
all right? I like to gobeneath, far beneath myself and any
(38:34):
issue. So then what Leo alsotold me, and that is what I achieved.
He said, you came here in partto resolve your issue with authority.
And I was like. Because wetalked around it, I would meet with
him once a month. And it wasin the. He was gifted counselor.
(38:58):
I say was because he died inApril of 24, but he was a gifted
counselor. And basically, Ithink he's really a counselor just
using the chart as a jumpingoff point for what's really going
on within a person. And wasgreat because it really helped. And
I did exactly that. And Ididn't realize that the authority
(39:23):
I had to resolve was Lucifer.My relationship with Lucifer that
needed resolution. That wasthe false authority. Because my message
to everyone is that youultimately are your own authority.
All right? You're your ownhealer, you're your own teacher.
(39:45):
And anybody's expertise can bevery helpful to you as you go along
your path. But ultimately youare in charge. And people don't feel
that. They feel powerless,they feel helpless. And I know, I
felt that. But once you startreclaiming all of you and letting
(40:06):
go of those self judgments andbringing your energy back to you,
going through this very deep,soulful healing, you feel, you begin
to feel your power. You beginto feel how much worth you truly
are to you and to yourcreator, God, Yahweh, whatever, whatever
label you on source. Great. Ilike Great Spirit, but I use God
(40:31):
because it's short and sweet.
All right, there you go. Well,Native Americans call it the Great
Spirit. And I have a lot offriends who are Native American.
And you know, when they talkabout Great Spirit, they're talking
about God. I mean, obviouslywe can. We have the option of naming
that entity however we feelcomfortable with. But yeah, it's
(40:56):
all good. It's all good. Iknow I've got three covers of your
book, I believe of the threeof the books, had you always wanted
to write a series or did yourealize it was going to go into a
Series.
Well, after I got to about200,000 words in book one, I said,
(41:21):
this is gonna go. This isgoing long. I think I should probably
chop it up into a series.Okay. Because my book is not the
typical, you know, like, youhave a detective character, and the
detective has mysteries tosolve in each book. This story starts
with Stone Slayer, book one,Scandal. And it continues from book
(41:43):
to book, and new characterscome in and some characters leave.
You know, it's the. But thestory continues and develops based
on the events of the pastbooks. So it's best to start with
Scandal because then you knowwhat's going on. And yes, there is
a map and a glossary ofcharacters, so it throws a lot at
(42:07):
you in the beginning. That'sokay because just keep reading, and
then the storyline and the keypeople will become very clear, and
then you'll meet the demon.Oh, Joy.
Well, I have to smile it. Ithink that it's interesting when
we find our purpose andsometimes it's not what we thought
(42:31):
it was going to be. And itsounds like you contributed to journalism
for a very large portion ofyour life. But, you know, you smile
and you can see joy comingfrom you when it comes to this portion
of your life and your career,this chapter. Becoming a novelist
(42:51):
like that, and getting thesekind of. These characters on paper,
getting the story on paper andsharing that with the world. So I'm
happy for you.
Yes. This is part of mypurpose. I believe that as souls,
we choose to come into aphysical lifetime because there are
advantages to being in aphysical world and there are challenges,
(43:13):
all right? Everything has apositive and a negative, all right?
But when we do, the smart onesamong us choose lessons that we want
to learn. Like me finallyreconciling with authority, all right?
And becoming my own authorityand feeling that. Not just mouthing
the words, I feel myauthority, but we also choose a purpose
(43:40):
or purposes. Like my. My latewife wanted to be a counselor and
a teacher. Those were herpurposes, all right? And she said,
I looked over my life and Irealized I was always counseling
and teaching before I wascounseling and teaching, because
in every job she ever had, shewas always teaching subordinates.
(44:04):
And when she was a supervisorfor fast food, she would career counsel
employee employees. So shenever had to fire anyone. They always.
They. They all realized thatmaybe they should move on to another
job and they left. All right?But that was after career counseling.
And she was very, very good atthat. It was her nature to be good
(44:25):
at that, whereas it was alwaysa mystery to me until I learned to
use my soul senses better andgot some soon on story healing training.
And then suddenly I was muchbetter at it. I wouldn't put myself
in her league. She wasamazing. But so my purpose, writing
this book, telling this story,what happens in Stone Slayer. And
(44:49):
as the years grew by and I,you know, decades passed between
the time I knew I wanted towrite it and when I sat down to write
it. Now, between when I satdown to start it and now, David,
this country hasn't gottenmore and more like Asgard, the country
I'm writing about in the. Allright? There are just absolute polarization
(45:13):
between races. The rich aregetting richer and the rest of us
are getting a lot poorer. Allright? We're at each other's throats
all the time, or at leastwe're depicted that way in the media.
All right? And you have toask, who benefits when we all point
fingers at each other? Youknow, hint, follow the money. Okay?
(45:38):
So this country now resemblesAsgard socially, all right? And legally
and politically, it's movingin that direction too. So Stone Slayer
is basically a timely warningof, hey, guess what this leads to?
It's the road to perdition.You really want to go down that lane?
(46:01):
Or maybe you want to changelanes and try something different?
All right. I don't know. Ican't answer that. I can only know
what I will do and how I willbehave and what I will fill my heart
with and hope by reading this.A, it's entertaining for people and
B, gets him to think a bit.
(46:23):
I would hope so, because rightnow we are living in a world of chaos,
and that chaos is only gettinglarger and bigger and enthralling
more and more people andcountries, and it's not. It's not
a good path. It definitely isnot a good path.
Definitely. Yes. Well, let me,let me enlighten you a little bit
(46:45):
on the demon. The demon is achaos demon, and it used chaos to
destroy. All right? So chaosis a good prerequisite and setting
if you want to destroy something.
I would absolutely agree with.That's what's happening at the moment.
(47:06):
So hopefully there'll be atsome point that we'll be able to
put a stop to that from abetter white light perspective and,
and maybe get back on the pathwhere we should be and where we need
to be instead of taking usback 40 or 50 years and just. That's
a whole different. That's awhole nother show, Candice Lynn.
(47:29):
That's a whole nother show.Yeah. Well, let's tell where can
somebody find Stone Slayer andhelp with storytelling healing?
Well, you can go to mywebsite, Candicelyn Talmage.com there's
a whole bunch of background onthe series and my non fiction books
(47:52):
and they're available in ebookand paperback on all major online
stores. So if you're a Kobofan or a Barnes and Noble fan or
an Amazon fan, you can findthem all there.
As I was standing in your website,.
Please Candicelyn Talmadge.com.
(48:14):
And I'll make sure that that'sin the show notes for everybody so
that they can reach out andcontact you with just a click of
a button. That should help.This is one more thing before we
go. Before you go. So beforewe go, words of wisdom. What's the
one thing you want people toremember if they're standing at the
(48:35):
edge of a story they don'tknow how to tell yet?
You have more power andstrength than you realize. Give yourself
some credit, cut yourself someslack and follow your heart. All
right. Follow your heart.
(48:58):
Brilliant words of wisdom. Infact, you are a testament to that
following your heart. It tookyou decades to get to this point
and you have fully embracedit. So that's very cool. Thank you.
Candice, thank you very muchfor sharing your journey, your wisdom,
your healing with us. Igreatly appreciate it. And you know,
(49:19):
the next couple books when,when you get them published, we should
have another conversation.
I would love that, Michael.Thank you.
Well, I'll make sure thateverything will be in the show notes
and how to find your book andhow to get into your story healing
because I think that it's thebest, it's a benefit for anyone going
through any kind of a journeyor any kind of a, whether it be physical,
(49:41):
emotional journeys. I thinkthat you have an opportunity to kind
of learn from that for thoseof that are listening. And there'll
be a link that you can justclick and follow it like I said earlier,
it'll take you right to it.And once again, again, Candicelyn,
thank you very much for being here.
Thank you.
Today we explored the spacebetween fact and feeling, between
(50:04):
truth and myth. In between thestories we report and the stories
that we live. Candace Lynnreminded us that some truths can
only be revealed throughimagination. And sometimes the deepest
healing comes from rewritingthe story. I did it. She did it.
And you can do it too. Sothat's a wrap for today's episode.
(50:25):
I hope you found inspiration,motivation and a few new perspectives
to take with you. If youenjoyed this conversation, be sure
to like subscribe and followus and stay connected. You can find
us on Apple, Spotify or yourfavorite listening platform. And
you can head over to YouTube,catch the full video version. Have
a great day, have a greatweek, and thank you for being part
(50:47):
of our community. So untilnext time, I'm Michael Hurst and
this is One More Thing beforeyoue Go.
Thanks for listening to thisepisode of One More Thing before
youe Go. Check out ourwebsite@beforeyougopodcast.com youm
can find us as well assubscribe to the program and rate
us on your favorite podcastlistening platform.
Hey, one more thing before yougo. There are moments in life when
the story we're living refusesto fit inside the lines we've been
trained to draw. Moments whenfacts feel too small, when language
feels too literal, when thetruth of an experience is so enormous,
so human, that the tools we'vealways relied on suddenly fail us.
My guest today spent decadeschasing facts until life handed her
(00:25):
a story that couldn't bereported. It had to be mythologized.
And that's where her healingbegan. We're going to learn about
that journey and how mythologyand storytelling might help you heal.
I'm your host, Michael Hirsch.Welcome to one more thing before
you go. Candice Lynn Talbodgespent decades as a journalist, a
(00:59):
world of deadlines, accuracy,and verifiable truth, while privately
studying the emotional andspiritual layers of human experience.
After losing her wife tocancer, the tools of journalism can
no longer hold the depth ofher grief, leading her to develop
Story healing, a structurednarrative method for for transforming
(01:19):
emotional trauma. That workunlocked the fiction she'd been trying
to write for years, resultingin Stone Slayer, a dark high fantasy
series rooted in psychologicaldepth and spiritual awakening. With
over 1400 good read ratingsand 4.4 star average, Candice Lynn
(01:42):
brings a rare blend ofnewsroom discipline, mythic imagination
and soul level insight toevery conversation. Welcome to the
show, Candice Lynn.
Thank you, Michael. I'mdelighted to be with you to talk
about one more thing beforeyou go.
Yeah. Well, your life has hadan amazing journey actually getting
(02:04):
to this point. So thank youfor being here. I appreciate you
joining me.
Thank you.
Like any good story you haveas an author should appreciate, I
like to start at thebeginning. Where'd you grow up? What
was your family like?
Well, I was born in SouthernCalifornia and I was the youngest
(02:26):
of four siblings. And I had avery, I guess on the outside I had
a very sort of normal middleclass upbringing. All right. But
for me it was kind of anemotional desolation because I didn't
feel loved or wanted by myfamily. And that's kind of the emotional
(02:51):
reality I have found in a lotof people, you know, because love
is a two way exchange. Whatfeels like love to you may not be
the love that your parents oryour siblings or your extended family
or friends can give to you. Sothere is often a disconnect. So I
(03:12):
grew up feeling very isolated,but I also grew up with lots of advantages
because When I was 14, myfamily moved to England for what
was supposed to be a two yearassignment, but turned out to be
four because my parents wantedme to finish high school in England
(03:33):
because I was getting afabulous education as a result. I
spent all my high school yearsin England. And I have a. US culture
is a complete mystery to mebecause apparently it all stems from
high school, which I didn'tattend. So popular culture just in
America is just not. I don'tget it. So. But that's, that's, you
(03:56):
know, that's kind of helped mejust do my own thing and develop
the story that I needed andwanted to tell over decades and decades.
Well, I'm happy that you havethat story to tell and I'm grateful
that you're here. Thateducation in England, I'm sure has
launched you in many differentdirections. And I know that you spent
(04:19):
decades in newsrooms from thatperspective. What drew you to journalism?
Basically, you consider me aone trick pony. Writing was the only
quasi marketable skill that Ihad. When I graduated college, I
(04:42):
could write pretty well. Andof course, writing in the business
world is the Rodney dangerfield because it don't get no respect
and it still doesn't. Youknow, numbers are king in business,
but writing, not so much. Sojournalism just seemed like a place
(05:02):
where I could at least getpaid a little bit. And that I do
mean a little bit to practicewriting. And I am glad, I mean I,
I was consistently underpaid,consistently over performed, blah,
blah, blah. But I am glad thatI got that journalistic background
(05:22):
because I ended up in 1981 atthe late lamented Dallas Times Herald
at the height of the infamousnewspaper wars between the Herald
and the Dallas Morning News.And it was a, it was the place to
be and I learned to writequickly, fast, on deadline, just
(05:42):
get it out and get it written.And that was invaluable training
for when I finally was able tostart writing Stone Slayer more than
a decade later. I wasfreelancing. I had a lot of work.
I was, I was doing business tobusiness PR on one hand and writing
(06:03):
for Reuters on a freelancebasis on the other. And yes, Reuters
knew all about my pr and Inever pitched any of my clients or
did anything like that. I justwrote the stories that I needed to
write for Reuters aboutadvertising and marketing. But anyway,
in between all that, I wasstarting to write my story. So being
(06:24):
able to write quickly and fastand get it out was a real skill that
was useful.
It absolutely is. I mean, Ican relate to journalism. I appreciate
journalism because my father,my father was a journalist. I grew
up in a newsroom actually, andI say grew Up. I mean, literally
spent much of my childhood ina newsroom, then worked for the newspaper
(06:45):
myself once I got about theright age, worked for the same place
that he did. I lost him at anearly age, but I went back to the
Gazelle Telegraph in ColoradoSprings and went in there, and some
of the same people he workedwith were still there. And I started
working with the GazetteTelegraph. So I used to go on calls
(07:05):
with my father when he gotcalled out to go cover a train crash
or a car crash or a crime orsomething along that line. And so,
yeah, I appreciate journalismfrom a very personal perspective.
So I'm happy that you did that.
Well, I am, too, because itgave me great training and it also
(07:29):
taught me something that Ihope. I wish more people would also
adopt. Question everything.Too many people these days just see
a video or a post on theInternet and think it's true. Well,
maybe it is and maybe it'snot. So I always question everything,
(07:51):
and that includes theprevailing orthodoxy, whether it's
from religion or science,which has devolved into an orthodoxy.
You know, don't tell me totrust the science, because many times
the science has been boughtand paid for by the very organizations
and companies whose productsthe science is supposed to be examining
(08:15):
and certifying. All right,there are always at least two sides
to every question. Usuallythere are more. And when I was a
journalist researching astory, it's amazing how slippery
facts can be if you make onemore call, one more interview, and
suddenly the dynamic andperspective changes. So don't take
(08:38):
anything at face value. Dosome questioning.
And I think that's a valuable.A valuable lesson that they taught
you, that journalism taughtyou about the truth and the limits,
I guess, in. In regard to thatand how it's presented and how it
could be skewed so easily.Unfortunately, yes. So, yeah, yeah,
(09:02):
that's a good message foreverybody. I know that when I'm doing
a little bit of research onyou, you said that you live two parallel
lives. When did you first kindof feel that split that you understood
you were doing those twoparallel lives? Was it kind of touching
on what you had just saidabout. About trying to write. Write
for Reuters, for example, froma freelance perspective, but then
(09:24):
trying to write your ownpersonal stuff?
Well, the split really goesback to my. Maybe when I was around
in my early teens, 12, 13, andI had a. An instantly prophetic dream.
My mom and I had been visitinga woman, my mom's dream, in the hospital
(09:48):
every so often because she wasdying of leukemia. And One Friday
night I had a dream. We wentto the hospital and the nurse said,
oh, I'm sorry, you can't visitMrs. Smith. She died at 3 this morning.
And then I woke up and it wasSaturday morning and it was my job
to set the table for breakfastand everything. And the phone rang
(10:14):
and not long after my mom cameinto the kitchen red, red eyed and
crying and saying Mrs. Smithdied at three in the morning. And
I, I just couldn't sayanything. I. I couldn't say. I know
I couldn't say anything. Butthat hit me like a ton of bricks.
And I've only recently startedto talk about it, but it was a big
(10:37):
fat clue. If you want to saythat maybe reality isn't quite like
we are conditioned to programto regard it. Maybe it's not all
logical and sequential andanalytical and rational something.
And that led me, well, thatand reading the Lord of the Rings
(10:58):
and really loving it and thathaving an effect on me too. But that
sent me in the direction and Idaydreamed a lot. You know, I went
to school and I would, youknow, daydream because I was kind
of a solitary kid, I didn'treally have many friends and I, this,
this character popped into mymind. And she was tall and she was
(11:19):
mouthy and she was strongwilled and I thought about her a
lot and I thought about who isshe? What's her world like? And I
followed this over decades.And then in 1978 the Silmarillion
came out and reading it, Irealized that in the Lord of the
(11:42):
Rings the tale that most movedme was the story of the Numenoreans
and how they destroyed theirisland nation. And sure enough, that
is Tolkien's Christianizedversion of Atlantis. So that sent
me off in another direction ofresearching what there is about Atlantis.
(12:04):
Most of the, the material aswell. Did Atlantis exist or if it
did, where was it? That kindof stuff I didn't care about that.
I wanted to know what thesociety was like, what the people
were like. And believe me,when you go down that rabbit hole,
you read all manner of reallyweird stuff. You know, you run across
(12:26):
Edgar Casey, you run acrossthe Theosophists with Madame Blavatsky.
I mean you do, you know, youget into some really strange areas.
But all along, you know, I wasthis journalist or a college student
or whatever I was at the timein the so called real world pursuing,
(12:46):
knowing more about thischaracter and who she was and where
she came from and whathappened to her.
That is an amazing, especiallyGoing down the rabbit holes that
you were going down, I'm surethat you were able to kind of get.
I would love to see yournotes, actually, in regard to all
of what you felt about thepeople were from Atlantis. And my
(13:10):
wife and I have a fascinationwith Atlantis and where it is and
a fascination with the people.And were they really that much more
elevated than we are as theywere written about, and much more
intelligent and much moreadvanced kind of a thing? Did you,
in all your research and yourfindings, did you find that?
(13:32):
Well, the research I ended updoing was within me. All right. In
1986, I met my late wife andwe started doing something that I
now call Sunan story healing,which is basically going into the
emotional body, not the mentalbody of hypnosis. You go in in a
(13:55):
very loving state. You treatyourself like your own best friend.
And whatever you areemotionally prepared to bring up
comes up. And what you do,what you're going for, are the self
judgments and the vows thatare rattling around in your subconscious
slash emotional body that youdon't know about consciously, but
they are really making yourlife miserable. Cycles of repeating
(14:22):
garbage that you just want tobreak out of, but you can't do it
mentally because it's not inyour mental body. You can't analyze
it or. Or, you know, figure itout, you feel it out, you let it
out, you let go. You make anew decision about whatever it was
that you were judgingyourself. And that's what I did.
(14:45):
And as I did that, more andmore, and as I teamed with Jenna
to start the SATVA Institute,which was her school, she was teaching
and healing, and she was doingthat while I was working as a journalist,
then PR person, and as I gotmore and more information and still
(15:07):
daydreamed about my story andHelen, I literally woke up one Saturday
in July of 1980, 1998, andsaid, I can write the story now.
And that's when I startedwriting what became the Stone Slayer
series. But again, that's anevolution over a decade and a half.
(15:32):
And it didn't start out thatway. I had to go through a heck of
a lot more emotional growingand tragedies like losing Jenna to
cancer. And just generally,you know, it's sort of the kick in
the pants I needed to finally,finally embrace the whole story and
(15:55):
write it and name it, what ittruly was.
From that perspective, youknow, I. If you don't mind, I could
touch on this. I. I can relateto this in a couple of different
ways. I lost my father toCancer. So. And he was, he was only
39 years old. I was only like,you know, 17 years old. And I lost
(16:18):
my stepfather to cancer and Ilost my grandparents to cancer. It's
a devastating disease. I'msorry that you lost your mother and
your wife to this, thisdevastating disease. Disease. How
did that change everything foryou? Do you think, do you think that's
what kind of lit your windowopen? And, you know, you said that
(16:40):
you were finally able to kindof, to kind of start writing the
story kind of, oh, go fromthere. Was. Was that the catalyst?
That was one of the catalysts.All right. It certainly was the catalyst
of, well, now you're on yourown, all right? And you, you, you
can either sink or swim here,all right? And there were a lot of
(17:02):
times when I was sinking,because grief has that way of doing
that to you, but I, I guessI'm just too ornery, too stubborn.
I decided I was going to live,but I had to. I mean, there were
complications. I had beentrying to write and publish the story
for. With a small publisherthat went belly up. So I took it
(17:24):
over and tried to publicpublish, publish it independently
back in the early 00s, like 05and 06 and whatever. It didn't work.
Well, that's because as Ifound out 15 years later, 15. More
than 15 years. The story wasincomplete, all right? And I. My
healing was incomplete. Sowriting this tale precipitated major
(17:51):
events in my life, but it alsoprecipitated major healing and self
growth and even some buds ofwisdom in there somewhere. All right?
But it's. It was a veryfraught process, and it still is,
because in 2012, I had mymyelitis, which is an inflammation
(18:16):
of the covering of the spinalcord. Most people who get myelitis
never walk again. I couldstill walk, but my legs were stiff
and tight. That's not ahallmark of myelitis. That was something
else that is emotional andspiritual. Well, five years later
(18:36):
and a move from Texas toCalifornia to be with my aging parents
again. And, you know, Jan andI both moved out here in 2017 after,
you know, my dad died in 2016.My mom followed in 2017. And a month
after my mom died, I had asecond round of myelitis, and it
(18:56):
made the whole situation a lotworse. So again, I'm struggling with
this, I don't know, this, thisdysfunction of my nervous system
that leaves me not able towalk without a walker. And I believe
that all physical disease is aresult of emotional and spiritual
(19:19):
dis. Ease. The physical bodyreflects what's going on in our hearts
and souls and minds. So I havebeen continuing my journey with the
help of a marvelouschiropractor who doesn't. His chiropractic
is nothing like traditionalchiropractic. But then, hey, I'm
(19:39):
nothing. You know, I don't. Idon't do traditional anything. So
it was right up my alley. Itreally helped. And it was funny.
He came into my life not justover a year before Jenna left. So
he was there, and I neededsomeone and something to help me.
And we've been workingtogether ever since, and it has helped
(20:02):
free me. I'm not quite walkingyet, but I see big signs that my
legs are improving. So mine isa story of. I don't know which came
first, the healing or thestory. Or the story or the healing.
It's just kind of thisiterative process where one builds
on the other, and the resultis I am far better off, far more
(20:26):
at peace with myself because,well. Okay, here's where it gets
really weird. I chased off twoinner demons. And I don't mean that
metaphorically, I mean itliterally. I chased off two inner
demons and settled, shall Isay, a relationship I had with the
original Lucifer. I know thissounds bizarre, and it was bizarre
(20:50):
to me. I was like, oh, no,this can't possibly be what's going
on in my psyche. And there itwas. What can I tell you? I mean,
like I said before we startedtalking here, the definition is harmless.
Crackpot. Okay, I'll take it.But the proof's in the pudding. And
the proof is that I am more atpeace, more in tune with myself,
(21:15):
and much healthier. Healthierthan I've been in decades. So I just
have to go where my path takes me.
Well, I don't call it. I don'tthink that you're a crackpot. I think
that, you know, there arethings within this world that some
of us have seen andexperienced that others can't explain,
(21:38):
and that includes demons. Ibelieve in demons wholeheartedly.
So, you know, you being ableto confront that in such a way that
it allowed you to move forwardand embrace the positive and the
white light area within thatis a good thing. And I think that.
Correct me, but I think thatmaybe your grief and your struggles
(22:01):
with this revealed stuff thatjournalism couldn't really capture
because of that perspective.
Well, that talks about thelimitations on our perceptions. All
right, in. In a book calledthe Doors of Perception, Aldous Huckley
Huxley called the consciousmind a reducing Valve. It's very
(22:25):
effective at limiting what weperceive to the physical and the
mental because we can't kindof get rid of it. You know, we have
these thoughts rattling aroundin our heads that we're aware of.
So we've got a. A physicalbody and a mental body, but that's
only half of who we reallyare. We also have an emotional body
or a subconscious mind, if youprefer that label, and a spiritual
(22:49):
body or an unconscious mind,if you like that label. All right?
I'm not really into labels. Ijust use certain terms because I
understand what they mean. Sowe are trying to live in a manner
that is similar to liftingyour. Lifting one foot off the ground
and hopping around and tryingto get places on one foot. You can
(23:13):
do it, but it's not veryefficient, and it's really taxing
and wearing. Because we weremeant to walk with two feet and we
were meant to live with all ofour being. All right? And the answers
that we seek to questions thatwe can't, you know, can't answer
with our conscious mind.
Right.
(23:33):
Are in the emotional andspiritual parts of our being and
in our subjective experiences.All right? But again, everybody says,
no, no, it's not subjectivebecause, you know, that's individual,
and you can't apply it toeverybody. You. You're not supposed
to apply your experiences toeverybody. They are for you, all
(23:57):
right? They are your livedexperience and. And you have far
more than, you know,consciously, but they're for you.
And I have absolutely noopinion on how other people live
their lives or what theybelieve or whatever. I mean, my healing
(24:18):
is for me. My only wish forthem is that they get the kind of
healing that will make themlive in greater peace.
Is that everything that youjust spoke about? Is that part of
story healing?
Yes, that is part of. Part ofstory healing. And I'm grateful beyond
words, not only for thatjournalistic experience, but for
(24:38):
being trained as a storyhealer. Because all of this came
about through the workingmeditations that you do in story
healing, where you go intoyour emotional body with the help
of your spiritual body, andyou find those places within you
where you have issues andjudgments and maybe joker demons
(24:59):
lurking. You know, I mean, itwas just. Well, let me give you an
example. I have always beenliving in fight or flight, all right?
I didn't know. It took me along decades to. To realize. And
I've always been prone topanicking when I was flying in a
(25:19):
plane or driving in a car andbetween my home and the rest of my
family. There is a low rangeof mountains where you have to drive
up this big windy road. It'stwo lanes either way, it rides over
the mountain and it's a verynerve wracking road. And I was always
(25:42):
panicked and it was, it wasmisery getting over and getting back
on that road. Well, after Icast out my two demons and did some
more healing work, I took atrip over that hill and I have no
panic. And I've done itseveral times since. No panic. It's
(26:04):
like the most amazing freedom.And of course the irony is now I'm
free to go places but my feetand legs still haven't got the message.
So hey, I'm a work inprogress, but I'm making progress.
I can relate to that. And I'mgoing to give you words of hope.
And I was told by five doctorsI wouldn't walk again, I'd be in
(26:27):
a wheelchair for the rest ofmy life. And as I mentioned before
we started, I walked my oldestdaughter down the aisle and I will
walk my youngest down theaisle and I walk two to five miles
every day now, in spite ofwhat five doctors told me. So you
know, there is hope. I believeif you, you, your mind, your body,
your soul is connected likeyou are doing, I, I have faith that
(26:50):
you will achieve that goal.
Thank you, Michael. Thosewords mean a great deal to me. And
I am delighted that youignored the so called experts and
followed your heart. All right.
I am as well.
And here's the thing aboutexperts and expertise. All right,
(27:13):
What Sunan story healing helpsyou do is become an expert in you.
And there is no one else whocan be the expert in you. What the
people with the Alphabet soupafter their name have theories and
methods and protocols andethics, maybe, whatever. But what
(27:39):
they don't know is you. Andthe only person who can really know
you and know what you've beenthrough and feel it and live it is
you. All right, so I, youknow, once I got that diagnosis from
neurologist back In I guess2018, the last thing I wanted to
(28:02):
do was spend more time in moredoctor's office because they couldn't
tell me. They could tell mewhy I had problems walking, but they
couldn't explain the stiffnessand the tightness, all right? And
I just decided I am not goingto waste my time and money going
(28:22):
from specialist to specialistto specialist and getting this kind
of answer. So about a half ayear later I met my chiropractor
and we started workingtogether. And that's when I started
noticing Real healing. Becauseagain, he's not limited to the mental
and physical. He also knowstheir emotional and spiritual realities
(28:46):
and they affect the body verygreatly. And that's what he's helping
me work in. And then I take itand I do all do some stone soon on
story healing, work on my own.And I come back and he takes that.
It's again, it's thiswonderful upcycle instead of a spiral
downwards, it's a, it's acycle going up to health and greater
(29:09):
freedom. So that's my path.
I think it's a wonderful path.And in the fact that you're sharing
it with other people is even abetter path on top of that. So that's
just kind of an icing on thecake or the cherry on top of the
sundae. Let's talk about yourbook. Let's talk about that. Let's
talk about that journey. Andto get into that, why, why myth,
(29:29):
mythology, why fantasy?
Well, I. When I was 12, mybest friend's mother and her parents
were like my second parentsput a Taylor Caldwell novel into
my hand and said, you canwrite like this. And nobody ever
(29:51):
encouraged me. Nobody had eversaid, hey, I believe in you. So that
put the idea of writing a bookin my hand, my head and my, you know,
and then all my thinking aboutHelen and who she was kind of converged
together. So I, I didn't wantto write another Dungeons and Dragons
(30:15):
fantasy quest. Fantasy. A lotof people came after Tolkien. They
did, you know, I'm not. Theydid great jobs, but it was that kind
of fantasy. And I'm like, no,there's something different here.
I didn't know it was my ownstory, but there was something different
here and I, and I wanted to domy own version of it. So that's,
(30:38):
that's the story I followedand that's the story that eventually
became Stone Slayer when Ifinally realized, dread it, there's
a demon in it. Dang it. Youknow, I want to get away from demons.
Well, I keep coming rightback. Okay, so there's a demon. Nasty.
Okay? Not like a lot of theparanormal fiction we have where
(31:02):
a sexy demon wants to matewith me. No, this demon is not sexy.
It's not cute. It's horrendous.
Which is what most demons Ibelieve are.
Yeah, well, they're spirits.In my understanding, they are spirits
(31:23):
who did not trust God enoughto believe in free will and said,
no, no, free will is messy.Free will is this. Free will's that
you can't have it, you know,it's bad. God. God. God was wrong.
No free will. And chief amongthose was Lucifer. But anyway, so
(31:43):
there are a lot of demons andspirits who tagged on with him. And
the problem with that is onceyou do that, there is God's light
and love that permeateeverything. It is an energy that
flows to everything that isliving, organic or non organic. And
(32:05):
without energy, none of uswould exist and nothing would exist.
And if you step outside thatenergy through denial, you then have
to steal other souls energy inorder to continue to exist. And that's
what demons try to do. Theytry to steal your energy by any means
possible. And the wholeconcept of demon possession as it's
(32:29):
been portrayed in movies isnot always what's going on. All right?
But they're just trying tosteal your energy. And the good news
is you let them in, you cankick them out. You just have to know
how to do it. All right?
Exactly. And a choice. That'sa choice.
(32:49):
It is a choice.
Did this Stone Slayer kind ofemerge from your healing in that
knowledge? Did you kind of. Isthere an overlap?
Well, there was an earlierversion of it with a different name
and an incomplete story againthat I mentioned. I tried to publish,
you know, 20 years ago. Allright. But after I was. I was working
(33:11):
with a wonderful editor of asmall publishing company who really
liked my writing. But she saidto me, you're going to have to change
the name. This is not theright name. I'm like, grumble, grumble,
grumble. But I acknowledge shewas right. The name was not appropriate
to the dark fantasy, whatevergenre you wanted to say that my series
(33:32):
is in. So it grew out of ahorrendous experience I had waiting
for a very minor eyeprocedure. And I realized that, wow,
there's something going onwithin me. Well, fast forward about
eight months and sure enough,I cast out the demons, or actually
(33:56):
the emotional body part of mehunted them down and threw them out.
And I kind of watched thisprocess go on. And that's when I
no longer panicked going over,over the hill, so to speak. And I
realized, oh, that's the nameof my series. There's a demon in
(34:17):
it and Stone Slayer is thename. I have been told by people
that there is a whole bunch ofa gaming Stone Slayer in the gaming
world, which I am not part of.I don't, I have no interest in it
and that it's very metal,whatever that means. All right. I
just chose it because the namecame to me. And you know, my inner
(34:41):
writer said, this is It. Thisis the name for your series. So I
said, okay. And then I had togo back and rewrite, you know, six
or seven novels to, you know,books in the series to accommodate
the new. The new character.
From that perspective, do youthink what. What truths did fiction
allow you to speak through.Through your, through that book,
(35:03):
for example? I mean, youthink, do you think it allowed you
the evolution? We all knowthat I watched my father because
back in the old days, when youand I know you started there, where
we didn't have the electrictypewriters, he didn't have the computer,
he had a black typewriter infront of him that, you know, had
(35:27):
little round keys, and youcould just. That's what you would
hear and see. Then you.Sometimes you'd hear him rip the
paper out and crunch it all upand start all over again. So from
that perspective, in the factthat you had to rewrite and re. Change,
do you think your voicechanged a little bit in regard to
(35:51):
storytelling and novel. Novel writing?
Well, I think getting thewhole story didn't really change
my voice, but it did change myperspective and it did make me very,
very aware of the choices wemake because the characters, some
(36:16):
of them get ensnared in thedemons, machinations, through unwise,
imprudent choices. All right?And. And it's not that the demon,
per se, does all this evil. Ithas a lot of willing human helpers
because they think they'regoing to get greater money, more
(36:38):
power, whatever. Okay. Youknow, and they, they sell their souls
to the devil or the demon. Andit sounds so cliched, but that's
actually what happens. And thestory is very dark. And when I realized
it, and I, you know, I'm atthe end of book nine right now. I'm
(37:02):
in the second generation, andI realized where it's going and what's
going to happen and all thethings that are going to come about.
And I'm like, I don't reallylike where this thing is going, but
this is the story and that'swhat I have to write. I mean, this
is part of my own healingstruggle. All right, because it's
(37:26):
so interesting. I. Not longafter Jana died, a friend, actually
one of her former clients andstudents turned a friend, suggested
that I get in touch with a. Anastrologist because I'd always wanted
to do an astrology reading forwhatever. So anyway, I sit down with
(37:49):
the guy Leo, and, you know, wedo a zoom meeting. And he looks,
he takes one look at my chart,and one of the first things he says
to me is, you don't dosuperficial, do you? And I just cracked
up. No, I'm not a superficialvergence. Well, it turns out, you
know, you have 12 signs, 12houses in astrology. Your sun sign
(38:12):
is the one that all peoplealways talk about, but you have a
moon sign and you have allthese other signs. And seven of my
12 are in a water sign, awater. So I'm like, okay, water is
depth. And I am very muchsomeone who doesn't do just the surface,
all right? I like to gobeneath, far beneath myself and any
(38:34):
issue. So then what Leo alsotold me, and that is what I achieved.
He said, you came here in partto resolve your issue with authority.
And I was like. Because wetalked around it, I would meet with
him once a month. And it wasin the. He was gifted counselor.
(38:58):
I say was because he died inApril of 24, but he was a gifted
counselor. And basically, Ithink he's really a counselor just
using the chart as a jumpingoff point for what's really going
on within a person. And wasgreat because it really helped. And
I did exactly that. And Ididn't realize that the authority
(39:23):
I had to resolve was Lucifer.My relationship with Lucifer that
needed resolution. That wasthe false authority. Because my message
to everyone is that youultimately are your own authority.
All right? You're your ownhealer, you're your own teacher.
(39:45):
And anybody's expertise can bevery helpful to you as you go along
your path. But ultimately youare in charge. And people don't feel
that. They feel powerless,they feel helpless. And I know, I
felt that. But once you startreclaiming all of you and letting
(40:06):
go of those self judgments andbringing your energy back to you,
going through this very deep,soulful healing, you feel, you begin
to feel your power. You beginto feel how much worth you truly
are to you and to yourcreator, God, Yahweh, whatever, whatever
label you on source. Great. Ilike Great Spirit, but I use God
(40:31):
because it's short and sweet.
All right, there you go. Well,Native Americans call it the Great
Spirit. And I have a lot offriends who are Native American.
And you know, when they talkabout Great Spirit, they're talking
about God. I mean, obviouslywe can. We have the option of naming
that entity however we feelcomfortable with. But yeah, it's
(40:56):
all good. It's all good. Iknow I've got three covers of your
book, I believe of the threeof the books, had you always wanted
to write a series or did yourealize it was going to go into a
Series.
Well, after I got to about200,000 words in book one, I said,
(41:21):
this is gonna go. This isgoing long. I think I should probably
chop it up into a series.Okay. Because my book is not the
typical, you know, like, youhave a detective character, and the
detective has mysteries tosolve in each book. This story starts
with Stone Slayer, book one,Scandal. And it continues from book
(41:43):
to book, and new characterscome in and some characters leave.
You know, it's the. But thestory continues and develops based
on the events of the pastbooks. So it's best to start with
Scandal because then you knowwhat's going on. And yes, there is
a map and a glossary ofcharacters, so it throws a lot at
(42:07):
you in the beginning. That'sokay because just keep reading, and
then the storyline and the keypeople will become very clear, and
then you'll meet the demon.Oh, Joy.
Well, I have to smile it. Ithink that it's interesting when
we find our purpose andsometimes it's not what we thought
(42:31):
it was going to be. And itsounds like you contributed to journalism
for a very large portion ofyour life. But, you know, you smile
and you can see joy comingfrom you when it comes to this portion
of your life and your career,this chapter. Becoming a novelist
(42:51):
like that, and getting thesekind of. These characters on paper,
getting the story on paper andsharing that with the world. So I'm
happy for you.
Yes. This is part of mypurpose. I believe that as souls,
we choose to come into aphysical lifetime because there are
advantages to being in aphysical world and there are challenges,
(43:13):
all right? Everything has apositive and a negative, all right?
But when we do, the smart onesamong us choose lessons that we want
to learn. Like me finallyreconciling with authority, all right?
And becoming my own authorityand feeling that. Not just mouthing
the words, I feel myauthority, but we also choose a purpose
(43:40):
or purposes. Like my. My latewife wanted to be a counselor and
a teacher. Those were herpurposes, all right? And she said,
I looked over my life and Irealized I was always counseling
and teaching before I wascounseling and teaching, because
in every job she ever had, shewas always teaching subordinates.
(44:04):
And when she was a supervisorfor fast food, she would career counsel
employee employees. So shenever had to fire anyone. They always.
They. They all realized thatmaybe they should move on to another
job and they left. All right?But that was after career counseling.
And she was very, very good atthat. It was her nature to be good
(44:25):
at that, whereas it was alwaysa mystery to me until I learned to
use my soul senses better andgot some soon on story healing training.
And then suddenly I was muchbetter at it. I wouldn't put myself
in her league. She wasamazing. But so my purpose, writing
this book, telling this story,what happens in Stone Slayer. And
(44:49):
as the years grew by and I,you know, decades passed between
the time I knew I wanted towrite it and when I sat down to write
it. Now, between when I satdown to start it and now, David,
this country hasn't gottenmore and more like Asgard, the country
I'm writing about in the. Allright? There are just absolute polarization
(45:13):
between races. The rich aregetting richer and the rest of us
are getting a lot poorer. Allright? We're at each other's throats
all the time, or at leastwe're depicted that way in the media.
All right? And you have toask, who benefits when we all point
fingers at each other? Youknow, hint, follow the money. Okay?
(45:38):
So this country now resemblesAsgard socially, all right? And legally
and politically, it's movingin that direction too. So Stone Slayer
is basically a timely warningof, hey, guess what this leads to?
It's the road to perdition.You really want to go down that lane?
(46:01):
Or maybe you want to changelanes and try something different?
All right. I don't know. Ican't answer that. I can only know
what I will do and how I willbehave and what I will fill my heart
with and hope by reading this.A, it's entertaining for people and
B, gets him to think a bit.
(46:23):
I would hope so, because rightnow we are living in a world of chaos,
and that chaos is only gettinglarger and bigger and enthralling
more and more people andcountries, and it's not. It's not
a good path. It definitely isnot a good path.
Definitely. Yes. Well, let me,let me enlighten you a little bit
(46:45):
on the demon. The demon is achaos demon, and it used chaos to
destroy. All right? So chaosis a good prerequisite and setting
if you want to destroy something.
I would absolutely agree with.That's what's happening at the moment.
(47:06):
So hopefully there'll be atsome point that we'll be able to
put a stop to that from abetter white light perspective and,
and maybe get back on the pathwhere we should be and where we need
to be instead of taking usback 40 or 50 years and just. That's
a whole different. That's awhole nother show, Candice Lynn.
(47:29):
That's a whole nother show.Yeah. Well, let's tell where can
somebody find Stone Slayer andhelp with storytelling healing?
Well, you can go to mywebsite, Candicelyn Talmage.com there's
a whole bunch of background onthe series and my non fiction books
(47:52):
and they're available in ebookand paperback on all major online
stores. So if you're a Kobofan or a Barnes and Noble fan or
an Amazon fan, you can findthem all there.
As I was standing in your website,.
Please Candicelyn Talmadge.com.
(48:14):
And I'll make sure that that'sin the show notes for everybody so
that they can reach out andcontact you with just a click of
a button. That should help.This is one more thing before we
go. Before you go. So beforewe go, words of wisdom. What's the
one thing you want people toremember if they're standing at the
(48:35):
edge of a story they don'tknow how to tell yet?
You have more power andstrength than you realize. Give yourself
some credit, cut yourself someslack and follow your heart. All
right. Follow your heart.
(48:58):
Brilliant words of wisdom. Infact, you are a testament to that
following your heart. It tookyou decades to get to this point
and you have fully embracedit. So that's very cool. Thank you.
Candice, thank you very muchfor sharing your journey, your wisdom,
your healing with us. Igreatly appreciate it. And you know,
(49:19):
the next couple books when,when you get them published, we should
have another conversation.
I would love that, Michael.Thank you.
Well, I'll make sure thateverything will be in the show notes
and how to find your book andhow to get into your story healing
because I think that it's thebest, it's a benefit for anyone going
through any kind of a journeyor any kind of a, whether it be physical,
(49:41):
emotional journeys. I thinkthat you have an opportunity to kind
of learn from that for thoseof that are listening. And there'll
be a link that you can justclick and follow it like I said earlier,
it'll take you right to it.And once again, again, Candicelyn,
thank you very much for being here.
Thank you.
Today we explored the spacebetween fact and feeling, between
(50:04):
truth and myth. In between thestories we report and the stories
that we live. Candace Lynnreminded us that some truths can
only be revealed throughimagination. And sometimes the deepest
healing comes from rewritingthe story. I did it. She did it.
And you can do it too. Sothat's a wrap for today's episode.
(50:25):
I hope you found inspiration,motivation and a few new perspectives
to take with you. If youenjoyed this conversation, be sure
to like subscribe and followus and stay connected. You can find
us on Apple, Spotify or yourfavorite listening platform. And
you can head over to YouTube,catch the full video version. Have
a great day, have a greatweek, and thank you for being part
(50:47):
of our community. So untilnext time, I'm Michael Hurst and
this is One More Thing beforeyoue Go.
Thanks for listening to thisepisode of One More Thing before
youe Go. Check out ourwebsite@beforeyougopodcast.com youm
can find us as well assubscribe to the program and rate
us on your favorite podcastlistening platform.
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