Ashley Beach-Author and Storyteller

Beauty Revealed: A Fall Equinox Chronicle is the 4th book in my fairytale series The Solstice Chronicles. The first three books in this series are all based on different fairytales and myths and I had a pretty clear idea of what story I was going to base them on long before I started writing them. Beauty Restored, Book 1 of The Solstice Chronicles, is based on the fairytale The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson and takes place in the Winter realm. Beauty Redeemed, Book 2 of The Solstice Chronicles, is based on the Greek myth Hades and Persephone and takes place in the Spring realm. Beauty Reborn, Book 3 of The Solstice Chronicles, is based on the mythical Phoenix bird with elements of Rapunzel and Aladdin. Every story I pulled from to write these books carried deep spiritual truths that I was eager to discover and delve into as I wrote these books and I’ve shared in other posts about the deeper truths found in the stories I used and why I used them for this series. When I was writing Beauty Revealed, the 4th book set to come out early in the new year (hoping by the end of January), I didn’t really have a clear story I wanted to base this one on. I knew what story I was planning on telling in this 4th book and knew I wanted to incorporate Biblical elements like the garden of Eden and the fall and things like that, but didn’t have a fairytale or myth to base it on at the start. I saw something about Pandora’s box one day–it was so random, I think it might have even been a commercial or something, so not even something I was even looking for, but something about when I saw it struck that a-ha chord and propelled me to research the story.

Pandora’s Box is a Greek myth that was imagined to explain the presence of evil in the world. It is crazily similar to Adam and Eve in the garden and their sin and made a good basis for my 4th story since I wanted to have this 4th story revolve around the garden and the fall. Join me as I share this story and why I chose it for Beauty Revealed.

Pandora was crafted as the first woman from the dust of the earth by the gods. She was gifted many things by the gods and was very beautiful. One of the things she was given was a box. She was told that the box had great power within and special gifts from the gods inside. Tempted by the great power promised within the box, Pandora opened the box and unknowingly unleashed all the evils into the world. Realizing what she had done, she immediately closed the box, trapping hope inside.

“Let there be Light.” Those are the words spoken into the universe. The earth was dark and formless. A blank canvas for an awesome Creator to fill with His beauty. The Creator painted the formless landscape with plants and flowers of many kinds, filling the world with color and food that would provide sustenance for His other created beings. He went back over the canvas with brushstrokes that became countless animals and creatures, teaming both on the land and in the sea. He painted the landscape with a beautiful sunrise each morning to wake the day and start each day anew followed by a guiding light to rule the night in the moon and stars to make the sky glisten with His glory. Everything was perfect, but the creation wasn’t complete. The Creator reached His hand down to the dust of the earth He had created and crafted a human being. A creature made in His image and in the image of His Son and Spirit. This creature was the only one that would reflect the Creator’s image, giving a visual to the world of what the Creator was like. This creation was special and carried the essence of its Creator. It had the ability to think and reason and love. The Creator crafted the man from the dust of the earth and set him up as the ruler over all the things in the earth. The Creator brought each of the animals to the man to be named by him. The man looked for a mate he could call his own among the many things the Creator had made, but there was no suitable mate to be found. The Creator caused the man to fall into a deep sleep and gently pulled a rib from the man’s side to make the crowning jewel of His creation. Woman was formed from the side of man. She was flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone and bore a beautiful reflection of God’s beauty. Both man and woman carried different characteristics of their Creator. Characteristics meant to compliment each other and challenge each other to grow. The Creator loved this man and woman with an undying love and spent time with His creation in the garden He had crafted just for them. Everything they could have ever wanted or needed was in that garden. Life was perfect.

One day, the man and woman were approached by a serpent that asked a simple question. “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’” The man and woman had been told they could eat of any tree in the garden. All except one. So they told the serpent they could eat of any tree except for the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for they would die if they touched it or ate its fruit. The serpent scoffed and told them that was a lie. “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The seeds of doubt had been planted. Their trust in their Creator, who had given them everything they could have ever needed or wanted, had been discounted. Suddenly, they were questioning everything they had been told. The desire to be like God filled them and tempted them to eat of the one fruit that was forbidden to them. The fruit looked good. It appeared to be good to eat. What harm could come from eating that fruit? Surely one bite wouldn’t change anything.

The man and woman ate the fruit, and immediately, their lives changed. Their eyes were opened to what they had done and they knew they had done wrong. Before they ate the fruit, they had no reason to be ashamed. No reason to feel guilty or insecure. Once the fruit was eaten, all of their feelings of perfect peace were immediately replaced with shame and guilt. They covered themselves and hid from their Creator when He came to walk with them in their garden. The Creator asked why they were hiding. The Creator knew why they were hiding, but wanted to hear it from their own lips. Their shame caused them to blame each other for their misdeed. The Creator could no longer dwell with his creation in the garden. His being of Light prevented Him from interacting with sin and darkness, and sin and darkness had entered the world, sentencing the world to death. There was no going back. The box had been opened. Evil had been released into the world. Nothing they ever did would restore them to the relationship they had once had with their Creator. They were banished from the garden and cursed to live a life of hardship and heartache that would carry down into every generation to come.

The Mage’s Son will share a similar story with the main character in Beauty Revealed. Early on in the book, a daughter of the Fall realm will be approached by someone in the Dark Lord’s service with a tempting offer. She was ripped away from her family and her place on the throne in Havilah as a child, kept hidden away in the depths of the woods for most of her life, not because she is a danger to the realms like Erianna was touted to be in Beauty Restored, but because she has the ability to open a mysterious box housed in a beautiful garden. When she is approached by the Dark Lord’s servant, she is told that the box will give her the ability to regain her rightful place on the throne in Havilah. Endless power will be released from the box and with that power, she’ll be able to do anything she pleases. She is also approached by a long lost family member that invites her to come home, but seeds of doubt are planted in her mind about the intentions of why this family member is seeking her out now and whether she will gain what she desires if she goes with him. Seeds of temptation and desire are planted within her. Doubts run wild through her mind, watering the seeds and making them grow until they become something she can’t quench. Her mind becomes consumed with only the promises made if she opens the box. The choice she makes will change the fate of the realms forever.

Pandora’s Box carries a very similar storyline to our original story. The promise of good things if the box is opened or the fruit is eaten. The desire to have those things and doubts that life is not complete without them. How much greater will their lives be if they open the box or eat the fruit? In the end, the box was opened, releasing all the evils into the world. Some even say the seven deadly sins were what were really contained in Pandora’s box. Adam and Eve also ate the fruit and opened their own Pandora’s box, causing sin and death to enter the world. The same way, the character in Beauty Revealed will be faced with the same decision–to open the box or trust the life promised to her by someone who genuinely cares for her. We are all faced with the same decisions day after day. The enemy tempts us with things we don’t have, filling our minds with doubts about our Creator God. He feeds on our desires and gives us opportunities to find ways to fill those desires. And more often than not, we give into those desires and open our own Pandora’s box.

In the original myth, Pandora closed the box before hope could escape. That is a sad fate for Pandora and the world to face. A fate with no hope of a better future. Luckily, the Greater Story has a Greater Ending. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit and sin entered the world, we were all immediately condemned to death. Though they didn’t die physically right away, their spiritual death and separation from God was immediate, and they knew exactly what they had done. Their one action condemned the whole world to death and no one would ever be able to save them from their cursed fate. No one except the God that had created them. Immediately after they fell, God gave them a promise that a Savior would come. A Savior that could take the penalty of their decision on Himself and set them all free. This Savior did come and laid down His life for those condemned to death, taking their place. Not only did this Savior die in their place, pardoning them from that fate, but He rose again, closing the box on death forever. We have hope and the promise of a future with no more death or pain or tears. We have been given this hope and this gift freely. Our Savior is reaching out to us. We only need to reach back and accept his gift of redemption, knowing we can’t ever pay for that gift, but that He loves us so much that He gives us this gift out of His own free will and desire to have us home and a part of His family again.

Beauty Revealed, like my other books in this series, offers a picture and story of hope and second chances and my hope and prayer as you read this 4th book in The Solstice Chronicles, is that you will see the beauty of the second chance we’ve been given in this life. There is a great beauty waiting to be revealed in your story. May you find the beauty of that revealing and may the world see that beautiful revealing in your life.