Flower in the River: A Family Tale Finally Told

Past Shadows, Future Hopes: Zara, Magda, and Family Mysteries

• Natalie Zett

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Welcome to Episode 13 of Flower in the River.
This episode focuses on Aunt Magda as she continues sharing insights and guidance with Zara—while trying to give Zara space to make her own discoveries.

Here’s what we discuss in this episode:

  • Aunt Magda’s Principles & Personality: Magda, a powerful  clairvoyant, balances providing guidance without fostering dependence. She encourages Zara to consider moving from her current living situation, advising that it’s not truly her home.
  • Zara’s journey: Magda hints at the hard choices Zara must make. The message from Magda is clear - there are some choices that are life-affirming and others that aren’t.
  • The role of spirituality: We explore Zara's spiritual roots, profoundly shaped by her Eastern European kin, who consistently remind her that life encompasses more than just the visible world.
  • Another lost Family Tale: I share a compelling story about my grandfather’s village, Oľšavica, in East Slovakia. The people of the village courageously hid 50 neighbors, including 35 Jews, from the Nazis during World War II. A link to a comic illustrating this story is shared in the notes below.
  • Reading Passage: I’ll read another passage from “Annie’s Granddaughter,” the second chapter of Flower in the River. This passage is a conversation between Zara and Aunt Magda, revealing more about Zara’s family history and hinting at a tragic past.
  • The power of stories: We reflect on the power of stories, how they can inspire and motivate, and how they can plant seeds of curiosity and strength. Aunt Magda employs this power to motivate Zara, sharing just enough information about a family tragedy to keep Zara engaged.


Links:
FEARLESSNESS | VALOR - OLSAVICA, SLOVAKIA

Music:

  • i like it when you're here - idokay  (Artlist)
  • Driving Home - Noam Zaguri  (Artlist)

(00:12):

Why hello again. So we are at episode 13, lucky 13, and I'm going to continue discussing the Aunt Magda character, our very special, supernaturally inclined relative. And we'll be talking again about more of her insights and her interactions with the protagonist. Zara, as I mentioned last week and probably throughout this podcast, although this is very much fictionalized, the foundation upon which the stories built are real characters and real people. And I didn't have to fictionalize too much when it came to conversations and interactions because I did definitely have a very colorful cast of relatives on all sides of my family. Um, but what I did do that makes it fiction is besides changing names, I actually, I combined and continue to combine real people and create these characters out of so many real people that I have known. But I still wanted to keep the essence, the spirit of who these people were and their interactions with the main character and with life itself.

(01:34):

And I also get a lot of insight as I go through reading the book again. And I should say, I've read this book so many times in my own book so many times in part due to creating the audio book, which is a very different experience than creating the podcast. The audio book, I can just say, has a lot more stringent requirements, and it's difficult to meet those in a home studio, but it's happening very slowly, and I will let you know when it is published and out there and available. So as I was reading this chapter for the umpteenth time, I got a different perspective, believe it or not. I mean, I wrote the story from the perspective of the protagonist, but I was also able to step back a bit and understand the perspective of the Aunt Magda character with a little more depth this character, Magda can also see the future, and she also sees that this child, uh, that she loves is in for some really hard, difficult times in life.

(02:48):

And she wants to give the child just enough information to move her on the, the checkerboard of life. But, um, she doesn't wanna give her so much direction that the child is completely dependent on her either. And this is quite the, the balance to strike. And you don't have to be a parent to be an influence in somebody else's life, but treading cautiously, being careful with that, and not being too domineering or controlling, it's sometimes difficult to find middle ground in these situations. So it's not just the Zara character who is struggling in this, uh, chapter, the Magda character who can see ahead also is struggling to see, how much do I tell this child? But she starts to take some risks and tell Zara just enough to get Zara intrigued. So Zara will take seriously the fact that Zara, you have to get out of where you're living when you become old enough, because this is not really your home.

(03:53):

It's the place your parents moved you to, to survive economically. But this is not where you belong. And there is another place where you will belong, but it will take some effort and some pain for you to find that place and make your way to it. That's Magda's main message to her niece, and she's planting these seeds in the child's head. And again, it is a tricky thing when sharing advice or guidance with someone when there's a power imbalance, when you're the older person, they're the younger, when you're the one in authority and they are not. I think the ethical thing is to share just enough information as the Magda character did with Zara. Magda also understood that the Zara character was going to have to get out there into the world and make all kinds of detours, I hate to say mistakes because I mean, what's a mistake?

(04:54):

There are some choices that are life-affirming, some choices that are not life-affirming. That is what Magda is trying to do for Zara. And hopefully that's evident in the passage we're about to hear. I had an insider, maybe an aha moment this week as well as I put these podcasts together. I'm reviewing the book again, and I always see something different because it is a multi-layered experience. Even for me. I can't explain what it's like to write something and feel like in a sense you're outside of it and to be aware, oh, I wish I would've said this or whatever, but also realizing this book has everything but the kitchens sink in it. So I had to leave a lot of things out. But one of the things I certainly imply because for Zara's sake and for for the sake of the story, although the book is dedicated to the missing side of Zara's maternal line, there's more to it than that.

(05:59):

Zara's father's side and those magical, mystical people from Eastern Slovakia definitely factor heavily into the story. As they provide guidance, they provide a foundation. The message from Zara's paternal relatives is that this is not all there is, there's also a life after this life, and our job is to figure out how to keep that communication going even when someone has passed away. And this past week, I was thinking a lot about my father's father's family and the village that they came from, which is called Ceviche Slovakia. And I'll spell that one in the show notes as well for you. And one of the things this week that I was inspired to do, we have so many lost stories or under publicized stories or what you wanna call that, I don't know, but it really is quite,  a shame because some of these stories are quite extraordinary.

(07:06):

So there's a, I'm going to talk very briefly about this story that I've known for quite a while about the village in East Slovakia, my paternal grandfather's village ceviche. Here's a quick summary of what happened. So Slovakia, during World War ii, as you may know, Slovakia or what was Slovakia at that point, became a Nazi puppet state. And it was all that this implies, I'm not going to go into any detail because that's not what this podcast is about, but what I want to say about my grandfather's village is that although, um, people were turning their Jewish neighbors and their romany neighbors and anybody else who was different over to the authorities, and we all know what happened there, um, the folks in my grandfather's village did something completely different, the priest and his parishioners. And he was a, a byzantine priest, a Greek Catholic priest, and he decided, no, this is not right.

(08:17):

We're supposed to love all our neighbors no matter who they are. And our job as followers of the faith is to protect our neighbors. And that is just what they did. The priest and parishioners hid approximately 50 of their neighbors, 35 of whom were Jewish. And this priest also had the blessing and the support of his wonderful bishop. And so after liberation, all the people who were hidden were saved, and even the rescuers also managed to get through without getting caught and having bad things happen. The only person who was punished was the bishop. And that's an entirely different story. Unfortunately, that's a super condensed summary of what actually happened. Why I'm telling you this is that last week's episode inspired me to look at that history again and realize that while the story has been somewhat documented, a lot of the details and transitions of the story are nowhere to be found.

(09:26):

And I don't mean to imply that it's not been written about or documented at all. It's just that seems to be a lot of disconnected stories that I really wish could be brought together in a cohesive unit. And how to do this, I have no idea, but that has never stopped me in the past. So here I go. So what I did was create a comic book, not that it's a comic, but it does illustrate the information that I already know so far. It's just 17 panels. And I figured that an illustrated version of this story would get more attention because I really believe that a story like this at a time like now needs attention. Our heroes can come from some very unlikely and humble circumstances. So I put the comic out there via social media and am hoping to get some feedback from people who know what happened. Stay tuned on the progress of that one. I'll leave a link in the show notes so you can see what I've done. And by all means, understand that it is a work in progress and not completed. So in summary, although the paternal line is the secondary story in flower in the river, it does provide the spiritual foundation for the character Zara, to move forward. So without further ado, we will continue with the Magda story by reading a passage from Annie's granddaughter, which is chapter two In flower in the River.

(11:10):

You'll always have more to fear from the living than from the dead. I prefer the dead not knowing how to respond to Magda's proclamation. Zara changed the subject. I wish I could talk to my mom the way I can talk to you. Sometimes it takes years for mothers and daughters to develop a common language. This was so with my daughter, said Magda. My mom is just so serious, said Zara. She's sad, darling. She covers it well, but she's very sad. Sarah stopped walking and said, sad. Why is my mom so sad? Oh, let's see what I can see about your mother. Magda leaned against a large oak and closed her eyes. Zara never disturbed Magda when she did this. This was her private consultation time when she talked with the spirits, opening her eyes and nodding. Magda said, well, of course my guides tell me that it's easy to figure out. Your mother's family is so tragic.

(12:31):

Zara thought of her mother as reserved and intense, not tragic. Well, her own mother died when your mom was just a baby. No older than three, I believe. Then Fritz, your grandfather was ill-equipped to be a mother and a father. So he moved in with his brother and the brother's wife. Gertrude. Gertrude took care of your mom. But I can hardly say she raised her awful woman. Good lord. I used to call her the bride of Frankenstein. Cruel. Cruel. Yeah, she had bad vibrations. But why did my grandmother die so young? She had a heart attack or so they say. I tell you what, though, a heart doesn't attack anyone much less itself. More correctly, her heart shattered. Shattered. Didn't your mother tell you the story? I don't know much about mom's family. There's more to your mother's family than her father's relatives. Those people you didn't like.

(13:49):

Your mom had a mother whose people were quite high spirited. You may be more like them than you realize. Really? Ask your mom about the story. Said Magda. Well, on second thought, maybe don't. She might get angry with me for mentioning it. We'll just keep it between us. All right? Said Zara, here's the story. Your grandmother's younger sister, who was about 20 years old, was killed. I don't know the details, but she was on a ship that capsized or wrecked in Chicago, and your grandmother blamed herself. What? Yes, said Magda closing her eyes again. I can see it as it's happening. Your grandmother blamed herself for her sister's death. Aunt Mata, I'm confused. Who died in a shipwreck in Chicago. Your grandmother's sister, she would be your great-aunt. And Magda closed her eyes again. Not yet. Not yet. You say, I understand my guides tell me I can't talk about it with you.

(15:10):

The timing isn't right, but I want to know about what happened. Said, Zara, the story is too heavy for you to carry now, but when the time is right, they promise me that the story will reveal itself. In fact, I can tell you, she'll be waiting for you. Yes, your great-aunt just told me she will wait for you said Magda. Who's waiting for me? And what's this about? A shipwreck in Chicago. I want to know about it now. No, this family story would be lost on you. Forget about Chicago's shipwreck and your great-aunt spend your time growing up and enjoying being young. You have so many places to see people to meet and adventures ahead of you. Your biggest challenge will be to know yourself and after you've grown into who you are supposed to be, your great-aunt and her story will be there for you.

(16:19):

Tell me more, please. I'm so confused, said Zara. But that was the end of that conversation. Finny Zara never pushed Magda, but after Zara went home, she asked Helena about the story. Magda exaggerates said Helena. That was as much as Zara gleaned from her mother for a long time. Zara wondered, f Magda concocted the story. So as usual, this little episode packs a lot of punch because we're drawing from so many areas, not just from the book, but also from the background of the book, the Eastern European influence, the spirituality, the magic. But we also have the character, Magda, who is very much the mistress of the unexplained. She's trying to help her niece navigate the present time in the future. Magda can very well see what is going to happen, and some of it isn't pretty. But she also has to give her niece just enough to motivate her to keep growing and to keep taking risks.

(17:39):

And although Magda is not part of Zara's maternal line, she nonetheless knows the story of the Eastland. We don't know how or why Magda knows the story of Zara's great-aunt Martha. We don't know how Magda knows about the Eastland, but she does. The person upon whom Magda is based did know the story, but she kept it vague. And her way of dealing with the story is to give Zara enough information to plant the seeds in hopes that there will be a garden from which Zara can draw many years later. But she also knows that the story, the magnitude of it, is too deep and too heavy for Zara to carry. But she nonetheless repeats enough of the high points, the talking points of the story to make it somehow take root in Zara's brain and imagination and memory. And then down the road, when Zara is at this crossroads that we find her in, she can pull up that story and just say, wait a minute, this is not totally unfamiliar.

(18:49):

This is not totally lost. The story was inside this character all this time, but she didn't understand it. And so we're off to the races and Zara is going to get moving. And although she is a dominating character in this case, Magda will not medal in the fate of somebody else. Mata believes that everyone comes into life with these missions or sealed orders that only they can fulfill. And Magda understands that there are certain people in one's path that are there to help, but they're not there to stay forever. They just move them along and give them advice and guidance. And Magda understands because that's her life as well. And now Magda has to learn to dance. That dance of giving just enough information and then learning to let go and watch to see what happens with Zara. Next week we will continue, but for now we are done with Magda. But she'll return maybe a few times more next week. Now that the foundation has been poured by Magda, we're going to move on and go into some different areas.

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Natalie Zett

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