When I was about 25 years old I went on a family holiday to Port Macquarie and I was reading through a book similar to “The Purpose Driven Life” and talking to God about my desire to write novels. I asked him to give me ideas for books that people would actually enjoy. So I thought about what was popular at the time and Harry Potter and Supernatural came to mind.

I decided to write about witchcraft, but unlike Harry Potter, I wanted to expose its roots in Satanism. I brainstormed how I would depict the supernatural realms including angels and demons, gleaning from writers such as Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker.

Over the past 2 months I have watched Supernatural seasons 1-5 and, in the past 2 weeks, 7 out of 8 of the Harry Potter movies. Apart from some of the violence, I really enjoyed them and I remembered why I they inspired me so much. It is because the main characters have a cause and will not let any evil or doubt or fear stand in their way. They wield faith like a sword and know the power of their words. Spiritual forces submit to them and are thwarted because of their persistence.

We have a power similar to this, but we struggle to realise this spiritual power. Our eyes boggle at the likes of Harry Potter and we wish we could fly as he does and overcome the powers of darkness with the flick of a wand and a spell. Then we tell ourselves that it’s not real and there is no war going on, no need to fight and no reason to attempt the impossible.

We see Sam and Dean Winchester fight demons with salt, charms, special bullets, and words of incantation. We all know that magic bullets don’t exist. Salt is a metaphor for the purification of God, but salt in and of itself will do nothing to a demonic spirit. However, our words do indeed have power. It’s a pity that Sam and Dean never once use the name of Jesus Christ in their exorcism rituals.

I use the name of Jesus in my novels. I have explored the power that we have as spiritual beings against other supernatural forces at work in our world. I have revealed footholds that may allow a demon/s access to one’s household and how demons often manifest as something similar to what many would call a ghost. I have written about how tarot prophecies come from demonic whispers and then demons go about proving them true to suck people in.

I also describe Satanism and witchcraft in nightmarish detail. Many people have asked me how much research I did or how I discovered this information. The truth is that my research was very minimal and surface level. One reader even asked me if I am a witch. It got me thinking that maybe there is a witch in my ancestry because in all honesty, I feel as though I have always known more on the subject than I “should” naturally know. Similarly as to how I was born with musical talent (or at least, I believe I was) that was then developed when I learned to play piano and began singing along and composing music and lyrics etc., is it possible I was born with information about the spiritual realms that some people do not have?

I have always believed in God, since before my earliest memories of life. I almost feel as though I remember God from before I was conceived. Like I existed with him before time but it’s more like a feeling than a memory. I know how ridiculous it sounds. I know how creepy it is for me to suggest that I was somehow born with knowledge about evil and supernatural things that people want to ignore, suppress, avoid or gawk at and accuse. But I think it’s possible.

I also understand that some Christians no longer believe in the existence of Satan or angels and demons. I respect them and I understand why they don’t believe yet remain worshippers of God. I however, choose to believe in spiritual beings and the powers of evil.

Personally, I feel that I have brushed up against evil too many times not to believe in it. We’ve all heard of the atrocities of World War II – the concentration camps, the gas chambers, the slaughter of millions of human beings. More immediately, there are children starving to death in third world countries and being sold into the sex trade – which shouldn’t happen to anyone, let alone a child. Sexual abuse has touched my life as I daresay everyone would know at least one person who has experienced something similar. Then there are the evils of disease. Watching my mother die of cancer convinced me that it’s root cause is something evil or at the very least unhealthy and that cancer is not rooted in the love and goodness of God.

Not only do I believe in evil, but I believe there are forces behind evil. My sister has seen angels and demons with her own two eyes. I had an experience as a teenager in which I sensed the presence of evil spirits, lurking unseen in my cabin on a high school camp to the ACT. I later learned that Canberra has one of the highest witch populations in Australia. I set my third novel in the ACT and mentioned in passing the very camping ground I stayed at as a thirteen year old.

Some other places known for witchcraft in Australia are Katoomba and the Adelaide Hills. I set my first two novels in South Australia after having lived there for 3 years and observing a spiritual climate of lethargy and depression that stood out in stark contrast to the hustle-bustle-busy-stressed atmosphere of Sydney. These are my opinions and gut feelings about the spiritual energy that I believe surrounds people wherever they live. It seems to differ in each major city or perhaps even suburb.

My spiritual intuition has helped me mould the events and characters of my novels. The three heroines of my books: Victori, Rebequah and Samantha, have traces of my personality in all of them. Tori is the mother I want to be someday, who frets over her children a little bit too much. She is prone to some level of anxiety. She longs for purpose and finds fulfilment in her work, her ministry and her family.

Beq is someone I really want to be more like. She is impetuously brave, headstrong and independent. She wants to choose what she believes based on her own experience and exploration, not on other people’s opinions or manipulation and she wants to fashion her own relationship with God.

Sas is the most intuitive, intelligent, talented and relational of them all. She is musical and mathematical. She is anxious over many things, because she picks up on other people’s vibes – their emotions, doubts, fears etc. She loves so deeply that it terrifies her and she feels unworthy of the gifts and abilities God has given her. She hides them a lot of the time. She doesn’t want the attention. She has premonition-like dreams and sees angels and demons as commonly as you or I would see a tree. She feels like a freak and has few deep relationships.

I used to be a lot like Sas. In my younger years I felt like an alien who didn’t really belong on planet earth. I based my happiness on other people’s happiness. I was okay if my family was okay. I could cope as long as no one hated me. I was always trying to be perfect and not upset anyone. I faced conflict head on so that I could resolve it, and became mediator in some friendships. I belittled my own talents and opinions so as not to appear conceited.

But I am becoming more like Beq every day. More bold and full of crazy faith that tells mountains to move and they move, or demons to flee and they flee. And that’s what Covenant-999 is really all about. In the Harry Potter series, witches and wizards speak one incantation and immediately their words are manifest. We, human beings, are not so unlike wizards as one might be inclined to think.

Satan does not hold the onus on power. His power is counterfeit. The sorcery of Harry Potter pales in comparison to the authority Christians have in the Holy Spirit. The practises of Satanism, as depicted in my novels, are overcome by the power of faith-filled prayer and the presence of Jesus. For Jesus said that Christians have authority to heal the sick, cast out demons and overcome evil.

Through the Pentecostal influences in my life, I have learned about this authority and the power of our words. We are all created in the image of God and what we speak has the power of life and death. What we see in our mind is substantiated in the physical realm. What we believe becomes our reality.

This year I am challenging myself to activate the power within, just like the characters in my novels. If you haven’t read Victori Song or Rebequah Victori, get ready for an awakening to supernatural things. You will face evil head-on and experience the tragedies and triumphs of ordinary people just like you. Join me on this journey of becoming a deeply spiritual human being. Books 1 and 2 of Covenant-999 are available from amazon.com.