Judith Moffett's catalog of themes in The Holy Ground Trilogy:
I: The Ragged World
II: Time, Like an Ever-Rolling Stream
III: THE BIRD SHAMAN
1. Alien-encounter SF, always my favorite kind. The trilogy introduces four generations of humans with whom the Hefn Humphrey has formed the intense “bonds” that matter so much to him: Carrie Sharpless’s generation (I), Terry Carpenter’s (I), that of Pam Pruitt and Liam O’Hara (I, II, III), and that of Lexi Allred and Liam’s little daughter Jiffy (III). Each generation includes other bondings with Humphrey (and with two other Hefn, Godfrey and Elphi). I find the idea of these laddered friendships—all different, all formed in the face of tremendous negative pressure from both sides—very moving.
2. The time-transceiver technology whereby the Hefn and the human Apprentices are able to recover information buried in the past; also, associated questions about the nature of time.
3. Gaia theory, James Lovelock’s original hypothesis that the Earth behaves like, and perhaps is, a self-regulating organism. The fascinating possibilities suggested by this, such as (here) the mandates of the Gaian Mission. Sustainability.
4. Child sexual abuse, in general and within the Mormon community.
5. Hunter-gatherer cultures, their ways of conceptualizing and relating to the world as recorded in the rock art pecked or painted by their shamans. How shamans were chosen, how they functioned within their cultures, the means and meanings of their "birdlike flights of the soul."
6. The rock art itself, which so profoundly impacts modern people, even those who know nothing whatever about the lifeway of the cultures from which it emerged. A nonverbal, nonrational human connection across millennia. Utah has some of the best rock art in the world. By letting Pam’s atypical math intuition morph into shamanistic-type sensitivity, I got to explore the questions raised in #5.
7. Mormon history and theology. My earlier novels tackled the strengths and limitations of Quakers and Southern Baptists; here it’s the Mormons’ turn. Environmental stewardship also becomes a brand new religion, one that as of 2038 hasn’t made many converts because it hadn’t yet discovered its transforming myth. (Thirty years later it’s a different story.)
8. The nature of human nature, how people respond to impending crisis and coercion. This was designed as a thought experiment. The answers I arrived at were with denial and with resentment, respectively. Not what I’d hoped to discover, but how things came out in this book anyway.