A New Mayfair Witches Family Tree Video

As Talamasca premiers on AMC and the Celebration of Life for Anne Rice is finally here, I put together this video of an animated family tree of the Mayfair Witches.  It also includes some NightCafe creations to represent each of the Legacy witches and some of the men.  This video and its animation were done on Canva.  Because I shared it to Facebook and Instagram first, it has no audio.  Have a look...

For Your Viewing Pleasure...

 Throughout the Parlor, there are videos embedded on pages according to topic.  These videos are on YouTube, as well.  There are also some playlists and videos from other platforms like Vimeo and Behance.  It's pretty amazing how hard it can be to tell what the video's screen resolution, bit rate and stuff is, but many of the Parlor's videos are much larger than what you'd see on YouTube's player.

The Mayfair Witches in 3D

 

Now that I've been able to build (for the most part) a 3D model of the Mayfair house with interiors that can be shown even while the entire house is incomplete, I'm turning more attention to...the Mayfair Witches themselves! 

I've included this image and some details about its creation on both Come Into My Parlor In 3D and The Face of Come Into My Parlor's Mayfair Witches.  I am working on some other models of the Mayfair Witches alongside the ongoing 1239 First Street in 3D project.  From what I can tell, it looks like the Witches themselves are what people really want to see.  I can't disagree with that!

That is my ultimate goal--to create the Mayfair Witches as Anne Rice described them.  As we begin to look toward a possible Season 2 of Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches on AMC (actual status unknown), I am reminded that reactions to Season 1 were most definitely mixed.  People either really loved it or really hated it.  Some of the most important main characters were missing completely, there were jumps from one plot line to another that made no sense, among other things.  Most of all, there was a diversion from the source material (the novels themselves) that was too much of a diversion and made people ask a number of times, "Did the writers even READ the books?!"

To be fair, The Witching Hour is a long book.  It's challenging to bring a book so long with four different parts to it to the screen, even as a television series.  There is so much material there that I would imagine it's hard to determine what to somehow translate to the screen and what not to.  I don't know; I am not a filmmaker.  

One thing I keep meaning to do is to expand more on the differences between the books and the series so far.  There are some things from the series that I actually loved seeing, because they did give me a new feel for the atmosphere of the settings of the story.  Another was that Suzanne, the village midwife of Donnelaith, Scotland and the first Mayfair Witch, was brought to the screen.  Then, though I was confused about a few details at first, there was the inclusion of the Mayfair Emerald as a literal key.  Which, symbolically speaking, is what the Mayfair Emerald was.

I decided to limit what I included from the series in the model itself.  One thing I did decide to do, since recreating the mural on the walls of the dining room would be a challenge, was to find a suitable panoramic image for the mural.  Also, I would include framed portraits of each of the Mayfair Witches on the walls of the dining room, which is what was done in the AMC series.  

One of the photographs Rowan finds in Ciprien Grieve's cellphone is an old one that appears to have been taken in the 1920's.  Guess who that has to be?  Yes.  Stella.  The novels refer to photos taken of Stella's Roaring Twenties parties in the Mayfair house, including the last party she threw before her murder in the parlor of the house in 1929.  Photos are mentioned again in connection with some pearls and a Victrola once owned by Julien Mayfair.  The photos were also of Stella and others, like Ancient Evelyn as a young woman.

That photo is one you'll no doubt see tucked in somewhere.  The other photos and portraits, such as the ones seen in the opening credits mounted on crumbling walls with twisted branches of the family tree, I think are one of the ways the Mayfair Witches' tale has spanned generations of this family.  Indeed, there is a lot of interest in the Mayfair family tree. 

But let's get back to The Witching Hour.  As stated, it is a long book.  I understand cast members themselves read the books and are longtime fans of Anne Rice.  At the same time, reading a book that long, with so much in it, seems to be something some readers struggle with.  That's not a criticism of them as readers, however.  The book has so much in it that it can be hard to keep the flow of the story in mind while reading.

This might be a bit overdue, but perhaps it's time the Parlor devoted extra space and time to a more detailed discussion of The Witching Hour?  

In fact, I was just reading through parts of it last night when I came across a section I had been meaning to review anyway.  The reason being that I have been working on other parts of the Mayfair house and needed to review details on a few things in it so they will be accurate in the model.  As to what that might be, I'll give you a hint.

It's something that has me doing yet another search to see if I can find architectural details of the second floor of the Mayfair house.  I want to make sure the master bedroom door is in the correct location...

Happy Halloween! A Parlor Special...

Happy Halloween!

This is perhaps the only time of year I feel is appropriate for unveiling this particular 3D model of mine.  It is the Mayfair tomb, which is set to be located in Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, New Orleans.

Here is each Mayfair Witch at her crypt, which for a number of them would only be cenotaphs.  Respects can still be paid though.

Let's have a look at the mystery of the doorway and the thirteen...

You can also see this video on the Come Into My Parlor In 3D page of the Parlor

Le Musée de f.p.c.

One of the things I'd like to do with the 3D model of 1239 First Street is to display items made from the descriptions of them in Anne Rice's novels.  I've already added the first of the framed portraits used for cover art, such as the painting on the cover of Blood Canticle.  The cameos from the front and back of the dust jacket of Blackwood Farm appear in GIF images on the Parlor.  Of course, the Mayfair Emerald was made from descriptions of it in The Witching Hour, and now, I have been working on a model of the emerald key featured in the AMC series.

One branch of the Mayfairs is unique, though.  The branch of Merrick Mayfair.  

"The Snake Charmer" by Henri Rousseau (1907) Marian Goodman Gallery

The dust jacket's artwork, "The Snake Charmer" by Henri Rousseau, is something I'd like to feature in the model, but there are a lot of other things in Merrick that I think would be fascinating to display as well.  Early in the novel, when Merrick met David Talbot and Aaron Lightner, she talked about her connection to the white Mayfairs of the Garden District.  This connection, she said, was through Oncle Julien (of course).  The other was another Mayfair who was already a Free Person of Color, even though she was also a Mayfair--Angelique Marybelle Mayfair.  This Mayfair ancestor was also the aunt of Oncle Julien (again, of course).

Of course, this would not be the same Angelique Mayfair who was the fifth Mayfair Witch, born in 1725.  This Mayfair Witch was the great-grandmother of Oncle Julien.  So no, not the same Angelique Mayfair!

What brought on the mention of Angelique Marybelle Mayfair was the collection of old photographs Merrick had collected of her ancestors.  The oldest in Merrick's collection was indeed of Angelique Marybelle Mayfair, a formal posed portrait with hair parted neatly in the middle, a shawl typical of the period and a pair of spectacles and a folded fan in her hands.  This led me to see what I could find on formal portraits of the Free People of Color.  

The idea is to see if I can create graphics of these old photographs in Merrick's collection by their descriptions in the novels.  Amazingly, I have found that there are indeed old photographs and portraits of the Free People of Color that have survived. 

Le Musée de f.p.c.

Very quickly, I found that in New Orleans is a museum dedicated to preserving the history of the Free People of Color.  Le Musée de f.p.c. is, from the photos on their website and in articles on the museum, full of photographs and portraits of these people, along with other preserved artifacts.  

The museum at 2336 Esplanade Avenue is housed in yet another house similar to the Brevard Rice house.  Images of the house show a lot of smaller details that are astonishing.  So, what to do?

2336 Esplanade Avenue, New Orleans, LA

I've added a new section to the Exploring New Orleans Architecture page on the Parlor.  This section gives an overview and images of the house. Some of the details, both similar and different, are pointed out.  Of course, there are links to the official website of Le Musée de f.p.c. and an excellent article on NOLA.com about the museum.

Going back to Merrick Mayfair herself, although she did not have any association with her relatives in the Garden District, she was aware of them.  Despite this, she continued to live in the same house she had grown up in, a house very different from 1239 First Street.  

On the face, the Mayfairs in the Garden District and Merrick's Mayfair line appear very different from one another.  And in many ways, they are.  However, there are other smaller details that tend to create small but significant links to details of a shared history.  It's a bit like comparing the French Creole manor houses of the sugar plantations on Saint-Domingue to the later plantation mansions built in Louisiana and the South after the Haitian Revolution.  

Or that Haitian Voodoo seems to have survived down Merrick Mayfair's line while Stella Mayfair had by some accounts been a practitioner of New Orleans Voodoo.  Merrick's collection of old photographs and her ancestors having been Free People of Color tends to hint at The Feast of All Saints.

Hmmm...

Parlor Roots--Let's Talk Genealogy

When you visit some of the pages of the Parlor, those pages might have a bonus section at the bottom, before the footer, called ~Parlor Roots~.  I've set this section apart in its own section from the main area of each page it will appear on as I have with occasional factoids and funsies.  These bonus items are set in their own section.  They aren't necessarily a direct part of the discussion on the Mayfair Witches, but can possibly provide an additional perspective on the topic of that particular page.

One thing I am very passionate about is researching my family history.  I started this about five years before I first read the Lives of the Mayfair Witches series.  Yes, I first read the series about five years after The Witching Hour was first published.  When I did read the series, the detailed accounts of the history of the Mayfair Witches from the Talamasca's files is one of the things that really resonated with me.

Throughout the Parlor, you might see ~Parlor Roots~ on some pages as a sort of "Easter Egg".  Some might relate directly to the topic of the page.  Others might be fun factoids that can help to give a general idea of historical events and places the Lives of the Mayfair Witches are set among.  There might be things that might help us better understand the pedigree of the Mayfair Witches in the context of history.

Mayfair Family Tree Graphics

I have been focusing on other areas of the Parlor lately.  However, there's a lot to say about the Mayfair Family Tree.  I like to make graphics that are appealing, creative, and help present the topic of the page.  So, I have a couple of new graphics on two of the family tree pages.  Here is an example of one:

This is a cute little family tree graphic I made on PicMix.  The only Mayfair Witch NOT shown here (besides Julien) is Deborah.  Her portrait is different from these as it is made to appear as if it were a painting from the 17th Century.  This new graphic appears on the Mayfair Family Tree page.

There is another "family tree" oriented animated graphic on the site.  That can be found on the Mayfair Family Tree Tutorial page.

I have been trying for a few months now to make an animation like this!  I wanted to make something where it's the vines that grow, but I had to do it a bit differently.  I'll keep trying, though!

The Legacy Mayfair Witches

As a rule, family trees can be a bit tricky to read.  Especially when it's the family tree of the Mayfair Witches.  So, I've made an attempt to show the line of the Mayfair Witches who are the Designees of the Legacy from Suzanne To Rowan Mayfair.  

I put together a short video with some music from the promotional clips by Immortal Universe to help make the Legacy Witches line a bit easier to follow.  The video is on the Mayfair Family Tree page, and on the Parlor's YouTube channel.  Or, here:

The Mayfair Family Tree--More New Stuff

As I've said, one thing I have noticed is a lot of interest in the Mayfair family tree.  I can certainly understand why.  With what we now know about what our DNA can tell us about who our relatives, our ancestors were and are, it's certain to have raised all kinds of new questions about how our DNA tells us these things.  Certainly, not everyone has gotten a pleasant shock from DNA test results.  We've learned things about our genetics that has caused us to approach our family trees in new ways, forced us to ask difficult questions.

In the process, we've learned new terms, like "endogamy" and "pedigree collapse".  We've learned to understand our ancestors in the context of the time periods they lived in, through history.  We have seen celebrities on TV shows learning things about their ancestors both known and unknown, both fascinating and troubling.  We have even learned, to our utter shock, that many of us have not one, not two, but many ancestors and relatives who were more than mere footnotes in the pages of history, even famous.

How is that possible?!

Endogamous marriages, particularly if they happen multiple times across several generations, is what largely explains that one.  

What was once extraordinary, mindboggling, utterly confusing, is becoming normal.  But what can it tell us about the Mayfair family tree?

If you've checked back on the main website in the past day or so, you might have noticed I've added more regarding the Mayfair Family tree.  The three new pages on Rowan and Mona Mayfair and Michael Curry can also be accessed from the list of the Mayfair men on the Mayfair Family Tree page.

There is a link for each that will take you directly to that person's table on each of the three pages.  For example, to see how Daniel McIntyre and Rowan Mayfair are most closely related, you'd click on Relation to Rowan Mayfair under Daniel McIntyre in the list of the Mayfair men.

The paternity of the Mayfair Witches is something that is controversial, even to the Witches themselves.  Which is why there was some uncertainty as to who had fathered Antha Mayfair: Lionel Mayfair (Stella's brother and Antha's uncle) or Cortland Mayfair, who was also Barbara Ann Mayfair's father.  However, it was Cortland who fathered Antha Mayfair. 

As you can imagine, this makes for a very interesting and twisted family tree either way you look at it.

On Mona's page, I've added Lestan Mayfair, who was the brother of Marie Claudette and the patriarch, I guess you'd call it, of the Fontevrault Mayfairs.  Those are the Mayfairs who branched off the main line to establish their own plantation, Fontevrault, after Augustin Mayfair lost a duel with Julien Mayfair.  

To indicate Lestan Mayfair is the "patriarch" of this branch of Mayfairs, and just for funsies, I put a little bitty version of this under his name:

Belle Grove Plantation was the plantation shown in The Witches' Companion as an example of what Fontevrault might have looked like.  You can see a bit more at the bottom of the page Amelia Street--The Fontevrault Outpost

The "Mayfair 500", Michael Curry's term for how many Mayfair cousins there are, is now part of the name of a new page, Mayfair 500--How Cousins Are Made

This page, with some graphics I made for a video, is a basic overview of...well, how cousins are made.  Hopefully, I've put it together in a way that makes sense!   

All of these pages can be found under the subcategory The Mayfair Witches, where the Mayfair Family Tree page is found.

The Mayfair Witches Family Tree~Mona Mayfair Page Begun

I've been doing a lot with the family tree of the Mayfair Witches.  We know a lot about genetics today than we did when the books were first published, beginning with The Witching Hour in 1990.  I have used my family tree maker software to not only build the tree, but also to calculate relatedness. 

As you can imagine, the software has its own names for relatives and degrees of relatedness.  On a tree like the Mayfair tree, this can be problematic because of how many inward twists and loops the tree makes between the same individuals.  Like this:

For Michael Curry and Rowan Mayfair, I have hourglass and extended family charts on their individual relatedness pages, one that has Lionel Mayfair as Antha Mayfair's father, and one with Cortland Mayfair as Antha Mayfair's father.

Mayfair Relatedness~Rowan Mayfair

Mayfair Relatedness~Michael Curry

The software also wants to tell me about Morrigan Mayfair, Michael Curry's Taltos daughter with Mona Mayfair.  And Mona Mayfair is described as a "twentyfold" Mayfair.  I am certainly going to see if I can get the software to tell me more about this twentyfold thing, but I thought I'd also include Morrigan Mayfair (on her own page).

Until then, I've begun the page on Mona Mayfair, which is by no means complete...

Mayfair Relatedness~Mona Mayfair 

As stated on Rowan Mayfair's Relatedness page above, don't be shy; if you have any questions or you'd like to make a suggestion, alert me to an OOPSIES, I can be reached by old fashioned email at:

mayfair_95@yahoo.com

Because Lycos ate my webmistress@comeintomyparlor.com email 

The Family Tree Does Not Fork. Much.

I have updated the Mayfair Relatedness page.  A lot.

In listing the various relations between Rowan Mayfair and several of the Mayfair ancestors, the family tree software I use seems to prefer the most innocuous description possible.  You'll see a lot of "half this, step that".  Considering the fact that it won't let me show Cortland Mayfair on the pedigree chart as Rowan's father if I have Dierdre Mayfair as the mother on it, this isn't all that surprising.

I've kept the additional relations, the ones related to Michael Curry as well, in the lists.  That is actually a large part of understanding how Rowan and Michael could have produced a Taltos with 92 chromosomes on the DNA instead of the usual human 46.

In other words, we can see more clearly how Lasher carried out his own brand of genetic engineering.  The idea was to produce a witch strong enough, mostly in terms of genetics, to be his "doorway" back into the world.

This is the kind of family tree that I wish I could figure out how to make an interactive tree, where you can click on buttons to see all of this in one tree.  And now that I've written this, I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up giving it a shot!

So far, I have focused on Rowan Mayfair.  Since Mona Mayfair was the witch with the most lines of descent, she became the new designee of the Legacy.  Mona, according to the research she did on her family tree and using her computer to count the individual lines of descent, learned she was a "twentyfold" Mayfair.  Twenty different lines of descent.

That will most likely be next.  Mona Mayfair.

Update:

Added to the page above is a link an hourglass chart I made for Rowan Mayfair from family tree software.  It is in poster format and spreads across 8 pages.

Because the software WILL not allow me to add Cortland Mayfair as Rowan's father when Dierdre Mayfair is listed as her mother, you won't see her linked to Cortland Mayfair.  Oddly enough, the Relationship Calculator still calculates based on Cortland and Dierdre Mayfair as Rowan's parents.

Assuming that Lionel Mayfair was Antha Mayfair's father, you'll see the same omission for the parents of Antha Mayfair, which lists only Stella Mayfair.  I get this charming little nastygram if I try to add either Cortland or Lionel Mayfair as the fathers of Rowan and Antha, respectively:

The Mayfair Family Tree

One thing I have noticed is the interest in the genealogy of the Mayfair Witches.  So, I have been making some preparations to go into the subject on a deeper level.

There has been a great deal more interest in genealogy in recent years, and I think that is largely due to the use of genetic genealogy and what it can do.  So, I've begun by adding a new page to the site, a Mayfair Family Tree Tutorial, I guess I can call it.  So far, I have found some charts that most start with.  They give the average percentage of genes inherited down the generations of the direct line, and the amount of shared DNA (on average) that can potentially be found in cousins by generation.

Different DNA testing kits have different thresholds, so the second chart I found, which is from an online article in Family Tree Magazine (there is a link provided), shows those averages by testing kit.

Now, I wish this had turned out better than it did, but I did manage to make a transparent image of the family tree by Katherine Ramsland that appears in The Witches' Companion.  The trees I've shown before are only sections of the Mayfair tree.  This tree is where they all come from, and will be handy if we were to, say, apply averages using the charts.

There are pages on the site that also might help to give a better idea of what's going on when it comes to the genetics of the Mayfair Witches.  When we look at this data for ourselves, the charts are typically referring to only one line of descent from an ancestor.  

It's when you start to identify more than one distinct line of descent from the same ancestor that things get...interesting.

I'm also trying to provide some basic information on genealogy that people might have anyway.  If we start with the basics, the genetic picture, mind boggling as it already is, might become more clear.

Please note that some of the things that I will discuss are sensitive in nature, and might possibly be upsetting for some.  So I will try to be as careful as I can when discussing those things.  

I anticipate that to illustrate real life examples as much as I am able, I will be using branches of my own family tree.  How much information I provide about the people on it will depend upon several factors.  The first is living or dead.  The second is how close the person is to me in terms of time and generation.  Beyond that, other things that will influence the amount of information I share will be whether or not that information is relevant in some way to current events and/or living people, and if the person was well known in life and/or after death.

Hopefully, what it will amount to is a better understanding of the Mayfair genealogy that plays such a role in the lives of the characters and the events in the novels...