Gate: Six of Pentacles
I entered the vision gate and found myself walking leisurely down a long, winding path but then I was suddenly being rushed forward by a power outside of my own. I felt like I was moving far too fast to notice the details around me as the scenery flashed by.
“I hope I’m not missing anything too important,” I said to myself. “If I am, then perhaps I’ll take this path again some day and discover whatever it is that is passing me by.”
Suddenly, I found myself sitting in an old fashioned train car and the flashing images resolved themselves into magnificent vistas through large paned windows. The train rattled through a lush, green forest with snow-capped mountains whose tops seemed to reach as high as the heavens. I drew the symbol of the sun, a circle with a dot in the center, on one of the windows and the glyph turned the glass into a bubble which I passed through as if I was a shadow rather than a woman and then found myself floating high above the forested landscape towards the distant mountains.
As I admired the pristine landscape, it felt like the mountains were calling to me. “Come back to me,” they whispered. “Come back to me.”
“That voice is so familiar,” I said. “I have to know who is calling me.” So, I flew as fast as I could towards the distant peaks, but no matter how fast or far I traveled, they remained in the distance, a promised safe harbor and the voice of one who loved me on the horizon that I couldn’t reach yet. As I came to this realization, I stopped traveling towards the mountains and floated in the air, contemplating what to do next when an enormous bird with sparkling red plumage appeared in the sky next to me. His feathers were on fire and flame flowed from his bronzed beak.
“Hello, Fire Bird,” I said. “My name is Heidi and I come from another world to this place seeking its true nature. What is your true nature?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” said the bird. “I am a primordial spirit of fire and the sky. I represent renewal and change through sacrifice and trial. You shall call me, Phoenix. What are you thinking, Heidi Bird, that you keep heading towards the mountains of water and cold when you could dwell with me here in a world of air and fire? One element is much like another in my experience. You should appreciate where you are rather than forcing yourself to go somewhere else.”
“One element is certainly not like another, Phoenix. They all have their innate strengths and weaknesses and, furthermore, I never ‘force’ myself to go anywhere,” I said. “Someone is calling to me in the mountains. I want to go to them but I can’t seem to get there at this moment in time.”
“Maybe some day you will,” Phoenix said. “Until then, come with me, Heidi Bird, and I will show you the wonders of this world. I still say fire and air is far superior to water and earth.” After a few moments of appreciating my new and beautiful companion’s feathers and with no better ideas, I climbed aboard his back.
“Please, Phoenix, take me wherever I need to go,” I said as I wrapped my arms around his blazing neck to secure my seat. “Everything moves so quickly here I feel a little lost but, as someone who lives in this place, I’m sure I don’t have to explain myself to you.” The creature of legend did not answer me with words but instead, with a mighty surge of his wings, we sped together across the sky, trailing flaming feathers in our wake.
The phoenix landed at the edge of an empty, sunny glade. A crowd of people materialized suddenly upon this field, filling the whole area in a mass of celebrating humanity. They faced a distant stage and the general atmosphere was raucous and wild like a modern rock concert. As the crowd screamed in ecstasy, flailing their arms and stamping their feet, I covered my ears in an effort to retain my sanity as well as my keen hearing.
“This is absolutely insane,” I shouted to the phoenix who bent his head closer to me so that he could hear over the crowd as well. “We cannot pass through this crowd as there are far too many of them. Please, my friend, take me to the stage so that we may discover more of the true nature of this place.”
The great bird gestured with his beak towards his back so I mounted him once more and we flew above the mob towards the lights in the distance. Strangely, the crowd went on and on for miles. “Thank goodness I have you,” I yelled to Phoenix as we traveled above the madness upon the ground. “This journey wouldn’t have been nearly as fun by myself.”
As we finally approached the stage after what seemed like hours of air travel, I saw a being made of brilliant light dancing and singing for the mesmerized crowd. The phoenix deposited me safely on the ground in the dark and absolute quiet area behind the stage though how the noise of the concert did not invade that place as well was beyond my comprehension. The legendary bird bumped my cheek with his flaming head feathers in farewell and returned to the skies of his home.
A moment later, a young man exited the stage, pushing aside its hanging red curtains which were of a color of the phoenix who had brought me safely to the stage. The performer was covered in sweat from his efforts for the crowd. “Who do I have to kill to get a drink around here?” he called out grumpily. “I’m sweating like a pig as well. Where’s my wife?”
Wisps made of clear light like the attendants from the Garden of Venus appeared and wiped the being’s face and neck down with soft towels. One of the wisps bore a tall glass of ice water and deposited it in the musician’s right hand. The performer drank the water down in three large gulps and let out a sigh of pleasure when the glass was empty. Then, he threw the glass carelessly over his shoulder as he turned to me and said, “Who are you and how did you find me? I was expecting to meet my beloved here and you look nothing like her. You can’t fool me with your fairy tricks and glamour for I’ve seen it all in my time.”
“My name is Heidi, Great One,” I said, inclining my head in respect. “I am seeking the nature of this place and never intended to fool anyone. I have the greatest admiration for music and those who perform it. Your audience loves you. That much was very clear to me as Phoenix and I had to travel for ages to find you at this time and in this hidden space. I’m sure your beloved is here somewhere, maybe we can find her together.”
The spirit laughed at my declaration. “You are so lost,” he said. “If you thought I was any great mystery to discover beyond my music and family life. I’ve led with my heart upon my sleeve my entire existence, silly Heidi. But, if you truly desire to observe my secret nature, follow me through the shadow, if you dare!” The being made a challenging face at me by sticking his tongue out and squinting his eyes in a grimace then he motioned with his hand and I began to follow in his footsteps to a new place.
As the musician walked further into the new world in which we found ourselves, his feet scorched the ground beneath him and left steaming footprints of flame in the grass. The fires of his presence did not burn me, a fact of which I found myself profoundly grateful as I could not have found my way outside of his footprints alone. After some time and a few paces more, the landscape changed abruptly from tropical rain forest to a volcanic wasteland.
After winding our way through fiery rivers and lakes of molten rock, the spirit led me to a hidden pool filled with bubbling lava. A massive lava flow came from a volcano above and a waterfall of fire poured into the pool. “This is mine,” said the musician as I admired it. “Mine and my beloved’s alone.”
Figures danced within the fiery depths of the spirit’s pool. At times, the beings within the lava appeared as flaming serpents to my eyes and at other times they looked like tiny, sparkling human figures made of living flame.
There was an upsurge of lava and the molten rock shaped itself into a crowned and flaming king holding a baby in his arms. The child grew rapidly and, for a brief moment, two identical kings made of lava stood side by side but then the original king grew old, bent, and fell back into the pool. The newer king of fire now held a baby of his own in his arms. This transition happened over and over again within the pool which was shaped out of the flaming stone of the mountain itself.
“I have never beheld a more beautiful sight,” I said, the fires from the pool somehow reflecting in my heart as well as my eyes. “Your wife must be one of the most fortunate women on Earth to share this secret place with you. What is its purpose?”
“This is the pool of Eternal Flame,” the musician replied. “Its purpose is growth, death and renewal. I occasionally bathe in the lava because I am made of its living fire and emerged from its depths long ago. Once I’ve absorbed its light again, I go to the stages on Earth to give this sacred place’s energy to the multitudes who desire its innate power as much as the physical body desires water to live.”
The spirit took a few steps more and came to the edge of the pool. As he leapt into the lava before my wondering eyes, the musician screamed in defiance but, to my ears, the scream formed the words, “Call me, Flame!” The musician disappeared below the surface of the living fire and his shape changed. He was no longer a man but a black-winged dragon and he re-emerged with lava dripping from his newly-born monstrous form.
The dragon crept from the pool and circled me with his black scaled body. When he had me completely surrounded by his bulk and heat, he rose up on his hind legs with a roar. “Do you not fear me, you ridiculous woman!” he shrieked. Lava spilled from his throat and down his teeth and jaws to land in a puddle at my feet. “Tell me where my wife is or I will eat you whole!”
“I swear, Great One, I have no idea where your wife is but I will help you find her again in the fullness of time. I understand completely how important it is to have the ones you love around you. Despite your majesty and grandeur, I am not afraid of you,” I said, dodging to avoid droplets of fire from the dragon’s jaws. “For you and Phoenix are of the same element and he brought me unscathed to your door. Should I be afraid of you, Flame of the Eternal Pool?”
The dragon growled in displeasure. “Who told you my true name?” he said. “Best to tell me now before I rip you apart and feed you to the serpents of my pool.”
“You screamed your name as you jumped into the fire,” I said. “Perhaps if I had not been listening closely I would not have heard it but it was you and you alone who shared that secret with me, no other.”
“There is more substance than illusion to you than I thought at first glance. Very well done, Heidi,” the dragon said after a brief pause to study me with his fiery eyes. “You may know my name but if you want to understand my nature, truly understand and not just mouth the words, you must swim in the pool with the elementals of fire as I do.”
“What will happen to me if I do?” I asked, extending my hands to feel the heat of the pool’s inferno. “This seems like a very dangerous idea for I am a woman, not a secret dragon like you.”
“How do you know you’re not like me when you’ve never put yourself through the trial by fire? Do this thing and you will emerge from the depths as a new person,” Flame said. “A new person with talents beyond the norm, this I promise you upon the love I feel for my wife, family, and music.”
“I’m a big believer in the power of love to change the world,” I said. “I will hold you to this vow, Flame. Here goes nothing.” With those words, I cast myself into the lava of the Pool of Eternal Flame and sank down into the fire. I experienced no pain within my innermost spirit but living flames in the shape of serpents flickered over my skin then ran into my mouth, down my throat and within my body.
During my sojourn in the pool, I saw images flashing in the lava but they changed too quickly before I could grasp their meaning. Then, I saw a tunnel’s opening in the depths of the pool and tried to get to it but the lava was too thick and I lacked the strength to swim through it under my own power. “Spirits of Fire,” I said. “Please help me reach the tunnel. I can’t stay here with you because there are worlds and other beings I still need to understand.”
“Do you see us?” whispered the fiery serpents. “Do you hear us? Do you know us? Stay, Spirit of Water. Stay forever with us.”
“Your language moves so fast through my mind and heart that I’m having trouble hearing you,” I said. “But I definitely see you. Please, Fire Spirits, my journey has just begun and I can’t stay indefinitely to learn your words. I’m sorry, but I can’t. That being said I promise I will return to you one day and learn the message of the fire elementals. You have my solemn vow to do so.”
“You do not burn in the fires of our presence,” whispered the serpents. “Stay with us. You belong with us.”
Despite my pleas for freedom, the fire elementals continued to swirl around and within me, their language changing from words I could comprehend to the hissing and popping of fire consuming a flammable substance. As I was about to give up and sink into the endless depths of molten rock, Flame appeared in the pool with me and used his enormous head to propel me towards the tunnel and the exit from that place. With his added power, I easily passed through this difficult passage and emerged from the lava to discover a subterranean cave. Flame came out of the pool to stand with me a moment more and his inner light lit up that underground space with the brilliance of the sun.
“For your help today in my escape from the Spirits of Fire,” I said, touching one of his black and lava-covered claws with my hand. “The Spirits of Music in all the worlds will love you as much as you allow and gift unto you their innate abilities and skill. When you exit from one world for another, you will receive a send off like no other in living memory and a welcome in the next that will ring through the ages. Your name will not be Flame in the place of which I speak but recognizable to those who love you and your extraordinary music all the same. Your wife will carry in her heart the unquenchable flame of her love for you until you meet again, just as you love her. You will meet again, Flame, for there is nothing in all the worlds that can conquer Love, not distance, not time, not even death.”
Flame whistled under his breath. “You are a strange one,” he said. “I will look forward to both your words and to meeting you again. Farewell, silly Heidi and Servant of Love. I am honored to have been the first to give you this designation of service to a ruling power. Now hear and remember my words for I am Flame of the Eternal Pool, you have closer ties to the Spirits of Fire than you know, music too.” The dragon turned his face from me, dove back into the pool and was gone from my experience. I felt a pang of sorrow deep within my spirit at his departure and pulled my eyes from the lava to see where I was now.
Within the cave’s shadows, a stair climbed towards a point that shone like the sun. I began to ascend this staircase, traveling out of the subterranean realm with its fiery entrance towards the sky. “I feel so lonely on these steps, especially after Flame’s company,” I said. “I think I require a guide and companion for this place.”
Around my shoulders, a shadow coalesced into the form of a gray lizard with four small legs. The small serpent climbed off my shoulders to walk the stairs beside me. “Did someone ask for a guide?” he hissed, his pointed tongue going in and out of his mouth. “I know these steps well and will perform this service. You can call me, Lickspittle, if you like. In fact, I insist upon it.”
“Lickspittle is not a dignified name,” I said, panting a bit on the steep stair. “Have you no other titles I could use with you? My name is Heidi and I’d like you to call me that.”
“Lickspittle is appropriate for me,” he replied. “And Heidi it is.” Introductions concluded, the lizard and I continued on in companionable silence.
At the top of the stairs which took me some time to climb, an enormous chair sat that shone with a brilliant light. I touched the silken cushion on the seat and it emitted even more light beneath my hand. The back of this chair was shaped like the sun with six rays coming out of it in red and orangish hues.
“Sit on the throne, Heidi,” Lickspittle instructed. “As you catch your breath from the climb, you will be granted a vision.”
“How do you know that?” I asked my new friend as I took the last step up from the stairs.
“Because I’ve walked this way myself before,” the lizard said. “You’ll see what I mean in a moment.”
I seated myself upon the sun chair and gazed outwards into the sky with its clouds. “See with my eyes. Hear with my ears,” a voice murmured from the sky. “Feel with my heart.” Suddenly, the sky disappeared and my vision shifted, images appeared before my eyes too quickly as they had in the lava pool but then the voice said, “The sun has shone on many civilizations of men.” and the vision slowed to a rate that I could comprehend.
I saw men sacrificing their brothers to the sun in order to propitiate a force they did not understand. Then I beheld the sun shining down on a massive library and lighthouse by the sea. I saw castles, hovels, and huts rising and falling within civilizations from many cultures and times; then I saw a bright city made of shining glass floating on the waters of the deepest oceans of the world.
Next, I saw the entrance to a tunnel where a city beneath the ground was filled with spirits who had eyes that were much larger than what I knew in my waking world and they shone within their countenances like lamps, lighting their way through the darkness and shadows. As these images passed through my mind, I heard the same voice that had announced the vision whispering, “Tenochtitlan, Alexandria, Atlantis, Lemuria…” and the images went further and further back in time and place.
Finally, the vision stabilized into one image and I saw lizards shaped like Lickspittle lazing beneath a glaring sun in a desert world with little water but much companionship for there were scores of lizard creatures. They skittered about on the ground, chasing their shadows and each other when they weren’t dozing beneath the scrawny trees which were more like sticks jutting from the ground than a true forest. I smiled at the lizards’ antics until a diamond-shaped conveyance flew out of the sun, landed among the lizards and a door opened in its side. The voice of the vision whispered, “Behold the dawn of civilization.”
A richly robed figure, with his face covered in a golden mask and clothed in the colors of the sun, emerged from the ship. He gestured towards the creatures lazing upon the ground and more robed figures came from the ship, moved down the ramp, and gathered the lizards in their arms which they carried within them back into their spacecraft. Time passed and the sun rose and fell upon the lizards left behind upon the surface of the earth.
Then my vision shifted, I saw within the diamond spacecraft and beheld the sky leader with the sun mask standing next to a young man dressed in white who was like him but shorter and darker with sharp features and serpentine eyes reminiscent of the lizards upon the ground. As they flew together in their diamond ship high above the world, I flew with them in a disembodied state and overheard their conversation.
“All of this shall belong to you, my son Osiris,” the sky leader declared. “I have developed you, nurtured you, and you have my genetic material as well as theirs. In this way, you are truly my son and are destined to rule these lesser beings.”
“Father, teach me your ways,” said Osiris. “I desire to be a son who brings honor and glory to your name in all times and in all things.”
“Lead my civilization, my son,” said the sky leader. “I give it unto you. Remember you are a god. Those you walk among are not. If you forget this truth, I will take it as a personal insult to me as both your father and sky king.”
“I will not forget, Father,” said Osiris. “This I swear unto you.”
“It is best that you do not,” said the sky leader. “For if you do, I will unleash my great wrath upon those who walk the earth, raining fire from the sky as a sign of my power and authority over the lesser beings. I will kill them to remind you of your divinity.”
“We are gods, they are not,” Osiris said. “Spare the mortals, Father. I hear and attend to your words. Your message for humanity shall be preserved with me.”
The vision skipped ahead and I watched as Osiris was returned to the Earth along with the other lizards who had been taken with him in the time before. Those who had been chosen, trained, and given physical forms in the sky were far more developed than their peers who had remained behind but none approached the near-perfection of the hybrid boy, Osiris. I did not understand how this could be but the actions of Osiris and his companions across time in the name of their sky king proved that this was so. “One need only look at the greatness of his civilization to understand his divine genesis,” the voice of the vision whispered.
Eons of time passed within the vision. It was marked by the cycle of the rising and setting of the brilliant sun above the Earth. “Father, see how I remember and honor you,” Osiris said as he raised his hands in worship to the sky. “I am a god just like you.”
Glowing cities were constructed all over the Earth with flat pyramids so Osiris could fly and live in comfort among his subjects. He was immortal, living for ages compared to the lifespan of the less-developed lizard beings who had the privilege of walking beside him throughout time. “One day you may be like my father and I,” Osiris said to his companions. “Stay in my illuminating presence and remember your godly origins. Leave and be consumed by the shadows of forgetfulness and mediocre mortality. It is your choice. I care not.”
As his brothers in arms and life lived, died, and kept slowly evolving, the favored son of the sky king remained the same as the fateful day he returned from the sky. Though his countenance was as fair as any I’ve ever seen in the waking world, Osiris was a cruel ruler and unkind, beating and abusing those who walked beside him because they were not like him. “You are not gods yet,” Osiris said, spitting upon the ground towards those who displeased him. “You are not like me. You are not like my father. Bow down and worship me lest the sky king see your hubris and rain destruction down upon you all.”
Suddenly, the images flashed and I found myself standing within the vision in a rock chamber with walls covered in Egyptian hieroglyphs. A figure dressed in gold with a mask that covered his face sat in a square of sunlight at the far end of the room. “Who approaches the throne of the immortal Osiris, the sky king’s representative upon the ground?” The words echoed around me. “None have dared to walk this path in eons and for good reason, puny Earthling. You will now worship me.”
As I stood at the base of the steps that led to the throne in Osiris’ sacred space and beneath his dominating power, I suddenly could not remember how I came to be there or even my name. The silence began to stretch overly long and I felt my embarrassment growing until I heard a quiet whisper come from the air around me. “Wake up, Heidi,” the voice of the vision whispered and all that I was came back to me in a rush of memory.
“I am named Heidi, Great One, and I come from another world,” I said, bobbing my head in respect. “You are the first spirit I have encountered who knew the planet of my origins and I’m curious to know why this is so. In all my life and visions, I have never met anyone named Osiris and I am pleased to make your acquaintance as I hope you are pleased to meet me. What is your true nature?”
“Why do you not bow down to me, Earth Child!” the figure screamed in response. “I am an all-powerful and all-knowing god. You will grovel in my presence because that is what you were born to do.”
“I’m sorry but my knees don’t bend that way, Osiris, and that is definitely not what I was born to do,” I said. “If you are truly all-powerful and all-knowing, have you taken a good look in the mirror of reality lately? You were great once perhaps but now where are your cities? If you are all-powerful then why do you no longer rule the world of men but instead exist only in this forgotten place of silence and shadows? You are no god anymore than I.”
Osiris seemed taken aback at my words, sitting for a time in menacing silence and contemplation. “Perhaps I just returned to the stars to commune with my father and will come back one day to your eternal sorrow,” he said, finally. “Then Heidi, I will find you, break you, and all of your blood will bow to me as a god. You will weep an ocean of tears, multiple oceans in fact, before you dare approach me again. Fire will rain from the sky. The seas will flood the ground. My presence will haunt your mind both waking and asleep. All will know of your disrespect to my godhood and my father’s before me. ‘Look what happens to those who do not bow down before, Osiris,’ they will say and you will become a symbol and figurehead of failure for the entire human race.”
I waved off the god’s words as if they were nothing more than air and began to ascend the stairs towards his throne. “There’s no need to be rude or issue threats. If you say you are a god, then I will address you as such in this time and place though do not expect my worship now or in the times to come. Be reasonable and we can meet each other halfway in both of our visions of reality such as it is,” I said. “Please what is your true nature, great Osiris? I do not fear you, I do not kneel before you, but I would know your wisdom. For, though you may not say it with words, you seem to have a great deal of knowledge of the world and its civilizations and I would like to understand you as well as I know myself.”
“You will live to regret this day,” Osiris said. “Stop now before I make your future even darker. Do not make me hurt you.”
As the god spoke, I continued my ascent of his stairs. “If you will not share your true nature then at least remove your mask and let me see your eyes, Great One,” I said. “I need to know if I saw you once in a vision. Have you the eyes of the lizards or man?”
“What new nonsense is this?” the god said. “On your knees, you impudent woman of dust and ash.”
“I am a woman,” I said. “I was always honest about that. Now, who are you?” I reached the top stair and found myself very close to the seat of Osiris’ throne. He held perfectly still like a statue as I reached out to remove the mask from the god’s face but as I did so the spirit, the chair, and everything on the dais turned into ash.
As I ran my fingers through the dust seeking the god even in his earthly remains, I suddenly found myself back on the Throne of Far Seeing where my visionary journey had begun. “Well, that was weird,” I said, blinking the remnants of the vision from my eyes. “Weird and disturbing.”
“What’d you see, Heidi?” said Lickspittle, climbing the chair’s arm to resume his place around my neck. “You weren’t under for very long, just moments. Did you see anything at all?”
“I saw so much, Lickspittle,” I said, standing from the chair. “Tell me, do you believe in aliens or spirits in the sky? If you don’t, then what happened to me doesn’t make any sense at all. But I’ve read about other’s experiences with forces beyond what is known on Earth and, for me, I think there’s something real and true there but to call it ‘alien’ might be an oversimplification.”
“I am a simple lizard with a simple way of viewing reality, Heidi,” Lickspittle said. “So, for me, it’s a simple question. I think aliens are real and maybe you just don’t have the eyes and ears to see and hear them yet.”
“Or the heart to understand them,” I said with a sigh. I prepared to leave the heights but as I did so I noticed I had dust and ash from the vision upon my hands. “That interaction left its traces upon me,” I said. “I wonder if I made a similar impression upon the god.” I wiped a little of the ash that remained on my hands upon the cushion of the lofty chair in the sky. “If any of Osiris’ greatness remains in his dust, Lickspittle,” I said. “Maybe this throne and its visions will help him remember how to be kind.”
“That would be a surprising developmental process for a cold-blooded lizard,” Lickspittle said. “But perhaps a happy one. Watch your step, it’s a long way down from here.” As Lickspittle wound himself securely around my neck and shoulders once more, I took the staircase back to Earth.
To my surprise, Phoenix was waiting for me at the base of the stairs and as my foot touched the last stair he burst into flame and burnt completely away leaving a large, shining egg whose surface shone with a living fire all its own. I picked the egg up from the ashes of his father and discovered it was untouched by the flames of its fiery birth.
“I wonder if you will be as magnificent and helpful as your progenitor,” I whispered to the egg. Then, before my astonished eyes, the egg hatched in my hands and I held another phoenix, a baby bird and one destined for greatness though I could not tell if the legendary creature was male or female.
“I imagine when this one heads back to the world, it will not matter if they are male or female,” I said, stroking the baby phoenix’s small head with its closed eyes delicately with one finger. “At least, I pray this is so.”
“He’s definitely a male,” Lickspittle said, coming from around my neck to view the baby bird more closely. “A big, bouncing baby boy destined to burn his way through the skies and bring wonder to all who behold his majesty.”
“Don’t eat him!” I said, cupping the bird in my hands protectively as a premonitory shadow passed across my heart.
Lickspittle laughed and returned to his post around my shoulders. “Lizards don’t like the taste of phoenix, didn’t anybody ever tell you that?” he said. “It’s astonishing to me the things that you don’t know. I better stick close to you to make sure no one takes advantage of you in your ignorance.”
“I may be ignorant now but I learn new things everyday,” I said softly, running my finger down the bird’s head once more. “You’re welcome to walk with me any time you desire, Lickspittle.”
There my vision ended.
The Light Congress 