Gate: Six of Swords
I stepped through the vision gate and found myself standing under a bright sun in a desert world dotted with cactus that had been stunted by the tremendous power that was pouring from the sky. Heat rose from the ground in waves and caused distortions in the air which took the shape of hovering salamanders who circled in space, perpetually swallowing their own tails. I found myself wiping the sweat from my face and forehead mere moments after entering the gate.
“I so hate being overly warm,” I said as I began my trek through the sand. “Hopefully there won’t be any dangerous spirits here too.” I carefully watched my steps as I proceeded, looking for telltale signs of any form of stinging or biting desert creatures and thankfully found nothing.
After marching past a particularly tall sand dune, a great ziggurat, with a staircase that led up the side of the structure, burst from the sand to stand beneath the scorching sun. “How lovely,” I said, admiring the construction and well-placed blocks that made up the monument. “I wonder how long it took the engineers and builders to make that. I imagine quite a lot but since I’ve never made one of these things myself maybe I’m being overly pessimistic.”
I approached the ziggurat and began climbing the stairs, noticing serpentine artwork running along both sides of the steps. It came alive as I made my way upwards so that two mammoth emerald green snakes climbed the stairs with me on either side and I was no longer alone in my journey from the ground towards the sky.
The moment the accompanying serpents appeared, my sun-reflecting clothing of white linen disappeared. A cloak made of brilliant red and orange feathers appeared on my shoulders and bracelets made of the same feathers materialized on my ankles, upper arms, and wrists.
“Would you look at that?” I said as I took a twirl on the temple steps. “It doesn’t do a thing to protect my skin from the sun but this attire should be much cooler. Where are your feathers, twin serpents?”
The snakes did not respond in words but halted their climb all the same to wrap themselves around my ankles and arms. One brought his face level with my own and stuck his forked tongue out at me. I laughed and stuck my tongue out back at him. Then, both snakes melted into my spirit to become one with me. As I felt their strength animating my limbs and assisting me on the seemingly endless steps, a rhythmic chanting began, the sound drifting down from the top of the ziggurat.
After more climbing and sweating beneath the merciless sun, I finally reached the top of the monument which was shaped like a square platform. Other dancers appeared when I reached the summit and they were also dressed in bright feathers like me. As they chanted and swayed to the beat of many drummers, I went among them and we danced, swirling our limbs and feathery cloaks about ourselves in a primal coordinated pattern which the serpents in my spirit knew as well as their own names. I allowed the twin snakes to move my limbs in the ancient rite, trusting that they knew what they were doing, and lost myself to the dance.
The raw beauty of the song and dance absorbed our consciousnesses, making the many dancers and I into one being as our living energy rose from that sacred space and sent its unclaimed power up into the sky. As soon as I joined the collective consciousness upon the platform, I felt the two serpents from the steps separate themselves from my spirit and they changed into lithe young men who were dressed exactly like the rest of us. They took my hands and danced on either side of me as they had on the steps, creating a smaller circle of the three of us within the center of the ecstatic feathered dancers upon the platform.
A crowd gathered around the base of the ziggurat far below. They did not dance as those of us upon the platform but they chanted with the song and so added to the energy of the ceremony through their voices. As the energy built into a frenzy, some of the dancers began to wail, losing control of their minds in the ancient and powerful ritual of the ziggurat. Just as I began to fear for my own sanity because of the unclaimed and uncontrolled power rising all around me, the song ended abruptly with three massive drum beats. BOOM BOOM BOOM.
My two dancing serpents were changed back into their animal forms and pulled back into my spirit. All of the other dancers and the observing crowd threw themselves to the ground as a dark shadow moved in the sky above us and began to descend from on high, circling down from some immeasurable distance. As the shadow plunged, it changed into an enormous bird with feathers the color of our cloaks and landed atop the platform to survey his worshippers.
I did not bow down with the others and the sky spirit spotted me immediately as I stood amongst the featured dancers in a place of prominence within his earthly temple.
“Why do you not worship me?” the massive spirit croaked. “I am a god and deserving of your obeisance. I do not allow those with the inferior intelligence of crawling worms to enter my service, only the best from the ones upon the ground are mine.”
“I did not come here to worship you or bend my knee in your service, Great One,” I said. “But to learn from you whatever wisdom it is that you may have to share with the observing crowd below. My name is Heidi and I come from another world, seeking your true nature. You err, sky spirit, by dismissing the wisdom of those who move upon the earth in a manner that is displeasing to you. Everyone in creation has knowledge that can benefit the good of all which they have been given from the Creator of All to impart before their existence is through, even the ‘crawling worms’.”
“The worm has a tongue and it assaults my ears. To worship me is to know me and you do not require a voice for that because the crowd below speaks my will,” the spirit intoned and spread his sky-darkening wings over my head. “I should take your tongue from your mouth and consume it before you as a lesson to the other aspiring snakes from the ground. I did not have to come down from the heavens, worm. Show some respect for your superiors who allow ones like you to continue to breathe the exalted air of our presence rather than grinding you beneath our claws like the pest you are.”
“There are other ways to know you beyond abject devotion and slavish bowing, Great One,” I said. “Though I do not worship you, I have great respect and admiration for you, otherwise I would not have joined in the ritual dance to call you from your home. Though I did not even know that was what we were doing until you appeared, the twin serpents upon your temple steps knew your knowledge and wisdom was worth seeking and they moved me through the secret process to call you forth. I can’t help but think they were right to do so, for one need only look at the monuments built to your greatness and the number of spirits who showed up to witness your descent from above to understand that you are a sky spirit of immense power. Call me what you will, but please share your wisdom with me so that I may take it to the multitudes.”
The sky god ruffled his feathers around his neck in a display of majestic beauty. “I am pleased to hear you recognize my power and authority in this world and many others,” he said. “If you had not, I would have consumed both your tongue and your fellow worm dancers in front of you as punishment for your lack of humility. It is true that I know secrets that could unchain your crawling race from the ground. My wisdom is worth falling to your knees and speaking the words of praise that were inscribed upon this temple to honor me. Worship me, worm, and I will give my knowledge and lineage to you, making you a god like me.”
“You should not keep your knowledge hidden from those upon the earth because of my unwillingness to prostrate myself before you,” I said. “I seek the one who put the stars in motion for me and accept no other dominion over my life. Please take whatever lingering anger you may feel at my words and beliefs out on me and spare these other dancers. I promise they did not know what or who they were taking on board when I walked into their midst nor the extent of my self pride. I will not bow nor serve you, Great One, now or in the future. However, I will exchange my knowledge of the worlds for yours and it is a worthwhile trade, I assure you of that, as the sky blesses the earth so can the earth bless the sky. It can be a meeting of equals between us rather than an unbalanced audience of domination and fear.”
“What knowledge might a worm share with a sky spirit? Your view of reality is so far off-base that it veers into the absurd. The earth bless the sky? It is unnatural. Be that as it may, you shall have your meeting of equals, Unbent One,” the god said. “Follow me then, if you can, flightless worm, and you shall know me and my hidden wisdom, much good may it do you among the unforgiving desert sands of the waterless worlds.” The sky spirit gathered himself and took off into the air on his massive wings. As I moved to follow, my feathery ritual cloak changed back into a garment of wrapped linen. The god was so fast that even with my augmented wings I struggled to maintain his pace as we barreled through a sky that changed from bright day to graying dusk above the unforgiving and heat-baked landscape.
After much journeying in the shadow of the god, a mountain range with snow-capped peaks rose from the ground beneath us. As the sky spirit and I approached one of the tallest peaks within the range, I heard a scream of fear and panic rising from the ground. At the summit of the mountain, I beheld a spirit in the shape of a giant man whose arms and legs were spread wide and chained to rings that were sunk deeply into the ground. The sky spirit and I landed next to this heartbreaking figure as shooting stars composed of fiery red light and energy and then coalesced back into our physical forms of a bird and woman.
“Cry aloud again for me, Prometheus,” the sky spirit said cruelly. “It always improves the experience. Where are your gods now?” When the bird began to tear at the bound god’s stomach, I cried out and threw myself between them. Though from a distance the titan had appeared of a size with me, the being was of enormous proportions so that my entire body only covered a small part of his stomach.
“Have mercy, Great One,” I said, fending off the massive bird’s beak with my own body. “This god has suffered long enough for the fire he gave to light humankind’s path through the shadows of eternal bondage to fear. This is not the meeting of equals that you promised me. Gods do not lie, at least not where I come from.”
“First, you will not worship me,” the sky spirit croaked, nipping at my waving arms and legs. “Now, you would deny me Prometheus, who was given to me by the gods themselves for both my entertainment and nourishment. Move aside, you misguided weakling worm. You disrupt the will of the gods as well as the natural order of things as they are destined to be. This is as equal a meeting as can ever be between gods and those who walk upon the face of the earth.”
“Please help me,” whispered the bound spirit beneath me in a voice weakened by screams. “If there is any love left in your heart of stone for humanity, show me now, goddess from the sky. I am at your mercy.”
“I am a messenger for a higher power and come from the earth, not the sky. I have enormous reserves of love in my heart for all in creation and I will not stand aside and witness torture and misery inflicted on anyone even from as being as exalted as you,” I said to the mountaintop in general. “Subjugation and debasement of those within your power is not the natural order. Upliftment of others and eventual enlightenment is the reason the gods gave you a place of dominance in creation, sky spirit. I will fight you until my dying breath to prove that this is so.” I renewed my defense of the titan, pushing the hungry beak of the great bird away from his stomach with both my hands and feet. “Where is your hidden wisdom? You lied to me!”
“I demand my sacrifice!” The sky spirit screeched angrily and beat his wings about my head. “Submit to me, worm. Birds eat snakes, not the other way around.”
“Maybe you’ve never met a crawling snake big enough to eat a sky bird but I bet they exist,” I said, pushing back against the buffeting winds. “All ruling powers have their balancing influence in nature, that includes the sky. You insult me yet you are as ridiculous in your worldview as I, spoiled and coddled by unquestioning worship and sacrifices that you don’t deserve, and as bound to your place in creation as much as this spirit upon the mountain. Can you not see your part and complicity in this great tragedy of existence? Though you fly in the air, your spirit writhes upon the ground, seeking the wisdom that you say you have but you do not. If you viewed and knew the glory of creation as I do, you would never treat another exalted spirit of the divine regions in this way. I say you are the worm, not I.”
“I am a god!” the sky spirit screamed. “How dare you deny my divinity! I will have your heart out of your chest for this sacrilege.”
“Let him have me,” the bound titan whispered. “He’ll never relent until you do. I will not hold it against you, whoever you are.”
“Fine, you big turkey!” I said, losing my temper as I pushed aside the feathers that threatened to go into my mouth. “If I can do nothing to prevent your predations upon the earth but voice my disagreement to your unfair worldview and act as an unwilling witness to the sacrifice of others, then take me in Prometheus’ place and keep your secret sky knowledge for the cruel powers who are willing to harm and subjugate others in creation to get ahead. I have no need of it. That is not my way of moving through the worlds and never shall be and I will not allow such things to occur in my presence. Spirit is spirit whether upon the earth or up in the sky so says this unbound messenger on behalf of the one chained beneath me and that is all of my wisdom that you shall ever know.”
“Foolish, foolish worm, I shall have all your wisdom for that is what you have given to me by agreeing to take the titan’s place,” the sky spirit said. “You shall be my willing sacrifice unlike this bound and tortured god. What a gift for those in the sky. Do you not understand that you were born to be consumed and lost within the turning wheels of civilization, the very civilization that Prometheus started so long ago? You are a fool to martyr yourself for a cause that is your very doom. How happy for me that this is so.” Then the bird tore into my chest as I lay over the god, protecting him as well as I could even as my flesh was torn in two. Though the experience should have been agonizing, I suffered little to no pain as the sky spirit ate my heart and then flew away at great speed without a further word or backward glance.
“What have you done?” the titan beneath me whispered as I stared at the night sky, feeling my spirit fleeing from me as my heart was borne far away upon the winds of the upper realms. “Do you yet live, argumentative spirit from the sky?”
“I come from another world,” I said. “And may not be harmed while delivering the messages of the one who put the stars in motion.” I put my hands to the empty center of my chest and imagined myself whole and unconsumed by the sky bird. “It is a protective blessing given to those who roam creation, seeking its mysteries for the good of all. I know for certain that one was not a god if he did not even know this universal truth.” One of the stars began to move in the firmament, descending as swiftly and surely as a fairy thought from the Divine Mother in her place of power. It came from on high like a shooting star and found its rest in the center of my chest, replacing the heart that the sky bird had consumed. My flesh knit itself back together as I pushed myself to my feet off of the titan.
“Maybe he knew you would survive the required sacrifice as I do,” the bound god whispered. “Maybe he knew this was only a temporary victory and desired your wise heart anyway.”
“Who knows what the sky bird knew or did not know? I’m not going to call him back here and ask him because I found his company both unpleasant and unenlightening. Now for your rescue,” I said, yanking on one of the chains that yet bound the titan. “There must be a way to undo this. I wish I was stronger or as big as you; it would be quite helpful to our current situation.”
“My godly strength has never been sufficient to free me from bondage,” Prometheus said as I puttered around him, pulling on the unyielding metal. “So you should not expect that of yourself either. You demonstrated great bravery in your physical defense of me and your refutation of the sky god. Who are you again, a messenger? From who?”
“My name is Heidi,” I said, kicking one of the rings in frustration. “I travel the worlds seeking the true nature of all I encounter and I never seem equal to the tasks that I am confronted with. Why aren’t my best efforts good enough? My heart always wants the idealized version of reality but that’s not what I manage to bring about in my own life. It’s a never ending struggle with myself and the sky birds and God only knows who else and sometimes I just want to give up. Temporary victory over the shadows is all I seem to manage as much as the sky spirit tonight and his nightly demands upon the earth-bound. I couldn’t even make him leave without a concession to his power of some kind. It’s a hopeless cause, trying to shift reality from its persistent collective nightmare of bondage to fear. I may as well be in chains along with you because that’s the truth of it.”
“I know something about carrying around a spark of hope that your situation will one day change,” said the god with a laugh. “In fact, I’ve spent millennia in that very predicament. Maybe you need to approach my chains as you would any other problem you confront in your day to day existence. What is the first thing you do, Heidi from another world, when you discover something in your life that you want to improve or alter?”
“Good question,” I said, sinking to my knees with my hands on one of the massive chains. “When I find something that I want to change, I use my imagination to solve the problem in my mind first, by simply visualizing the issue away and a better reality in its place. Then, I set about finding a practical solution through books or scholarly research on the topic so I know what real life steps I need to take to make the vision a reality. Finally, I appeal to a higher power for their unseen assistance in making the vision a reality. It’s hard to have faith when you can see life and its issues as starkly as I, but I pray for the ruling powers to change the hearts of those who have the ability to make a lasting difference. So, you see, in my method of viewing and moving through reality, humanity’s failures can be placed directly at the feet of those who put the stars in motion as much as our triumphs because they are ultimately responsible for all outcomes, changed or unchanged hearts. Whatever happens, they allowed it to be so.”
“Clever way to work with universal truths,” Prometheus said. “By allowing solutions and the powers that be to enter your mind and heart first and then your physical reality, it mimics my ancient trespass of bringing fire from the heights and down to earth. Let’s try an experiment. Both you and I will visualize my chains disappearing at the same time. Maybe, through our focused attention and appealing to your gods and mine, we can change our current reality, my being chained to this rock, with the power of our imaginations. Then, we will not be forcing my freedom from bondage through brute strength but by our shared idealized version of what we and those who put the two of us in creation would like our world to be. We shall use the power of the collective nightmare against itself to dream a new dream.”
“I like the way your mind works, Great One, and I dream as large as anyone alive today,” I said. “Let’s give it a shot.” Together, the god and I shut our eyes and I sent a prayer up into the skies, a visualization of the proud giant before me standing tall and free from the chains of never ending punishment. “Please God, Creator of us all,” I murmured softly. “Please remove the chains from this titan so that he may rest from a lifetime of suffering and bondage. Please, Lords of All, make it so in my world and his and everywhere else that is under your dominion. As I gave my heart in lieu of a further sacrifice by him, so too can you share your hearts and their hidden wisdom with us. Let this mighty work be an equal trade made for the love of all rather than another pointless sacrifice to those who rule the worlds with fear and chains. Thank you in advance for your mercy in ending this particular pattern.”
When I opened my eyes, Prometheus’ chains had disappeared. He gave a groan of unimaginable suffering as his body shrank to the proportions of a regular sized man and he shivered in the cold mountain air. Though I did not suffer from the elements as he did because I existed in only a spirit form rather than a physical one, I laid a fire, produced a warm cloak and nourishing food by imagining that they were there. Prometheus was clearly shaken from his ordeal but recovered his poise as the food and fire warmed him. The salamanders in our small fire danced as the titan warmed his hands above their flames.
“That worked wonders,” he said. “My thanks for your contribution to the eternal struggle for the greater good of all. But why are you here, Heidi? I can’t have been simply to free me.”
“I’ve come to this world and many others to learn what I may from the spirits I find there,” I replied, spreading my fingers over the flickering flames of our fire as well and the salamanders nipped at my fingertips. “Why did you take a torch from the gods and give it to humankind in the first place, Prometheus? We haven’t yet realized the extent of your gift even after all this time and this repeated failure makes me question your motivation for giving us that kind of power.”
“I pitied you,” the god replied. “I saw mankind and all of its great potential for progress, then I saw all of the gifts the gods held jealously for themselves. I knew it was unfair.” He smashed one of his fists into an open palm. “It is not as if I put out the hearth fire of the gods, I simply shared it. For that small thing, my generosity of spirit and my pity, I was given an eternity of sacrifice on this mountain.”
“Was it worth it?” I asked.
Prometheus gazed into the flames. “To know that I am the founder of civilizations makes every moment of this torment worth it, from now until the end of time,” he said. “I would do it again today if given the chance. Humanity may not have realized their potential yet but one day, Heidi, I believe that they will and when they do they will astonish even the gods themselves in their creations and mighty works in the cause of bearing the torch of Prometheus. Take this message back to your world and take heart in what we were able to accomplish together, this night’s temporary victory. It can be the first steps towards a new collective dream if, to use your words, the ruling powers allow it to be.” The god turned towards me and took my hand from above the fire, shaking it gently in his. “Because of your sacrifice and imagination, I am free to go home for a night and rest among those who have not enjoyed my presence for time untold. Thank you for imagining a better world for all of us!” The god released my hand and disappeared from my sight.
I sat by the fire for some time, studying the patterns of the spirits who danced within it and looking upwards at the clear sky and its twirling stars, dreaming of possible futures and a path of freedom and happiness for all who dwelt beneath the sun of existence. Then, drawing my gaze from the heavens and looking at the snow, I had the passing fancy to build a snowman and let my inner child come out to play in that ancient place of suffering and hope.
“It was probably her imagination that freed Prometheus anyway,” I said to the spirits of fire as I rolled the snow in my hands. “It’s perfectly appropriate to indulge in a moment of whimsy in the midst of an eternal quest. I have been accused of taking myself too seriously in the past so maybe this playful moment upon a sacrificial god’s mountain will rectify that.” The salamanders chased their tails in the flames, which, in my as-yet rudimentary understanding of their language, indicated their agreement and laughter.
My inner child must have been closer to the surface of my mind and heart than I thought because, as I put the finishing touches on him, my snowman came to life and started to dance around me, slipping and sliding gracefully across the sparkling snow. “Well, I didn’t expect that,” I said, following his progress with my eyes. “I wonder where the collective imagination will lead me next.” As if in response to my words, the snowman gestured for me to follow him away from the fire and down the mountain’s slope.
“Farewell, Spirits of Fire,” I said, covering the salamanders in snow which made them hiss at me in disapproval. “Thank you for warming the titan. I look forward to our next meeting.” Then, I left the spot of Prometheus’ imprisonment and followed the dancing snowman down the mountain slopes.
After some time and a few trips and twice as many falls, we reached the base of the peak and the snowy fields ended in a grassy meadow. The snowman slid gracefully from the snow onto the grass and broke apart into numerous pieces. From the broken and melting snow, an antlered stag arose as if he had been contained within the snowman and I gasped at both his otherworldly beauty and sudden appearance. The stag turned from me as if I was nothing more than a shadow and began walking away into the wide world beyond the mountain. I left the remnants of the snowman to melt into the ground as is nature’s intended path for snow and followed the stag into the meadow and the promise of spring it contained.
When my feet hit the grass, the lower half of my body turned into that of a horse and I adjusted myself to the sensation of having four legs instead of two. The transition wasn’t too difficult because my upper torso remained human and female. “This new form might have been incredibly useful a half hour ago on our journey down the mountain,” I said, startling the stag with the sound of my voice. He took off in a flurry of motion and I followed in his wake easily with my new body. We ran madly as if we were being pursued until, all at once, the woodland meadow ended in a steep and rocky ravine.
I tried to descend into the ravine in my new shape but I nearly fell over the side as my hooves could get no purchase on the stone. So, rather than injure myself by clinging to a new form, I turned myself back into a woman with two legs instead of four. “I will explore this rocky area while you dwell in safety in the meadow,” I said to the stag whose demeanor had changed from fearful to curious and seemed to be viewing my transformation with some interest in his dark eyes. “Thank you for sharing the path through this world with me even if it was just for a little while. Don’t forget, you came from the slopes where Prometheus was unbound as much as I.”
The stag snorted once in my direction which I took to be an acknowledgement of my changed presence if not wordless agreement about our origins and then bounded away as I waved in farewell. When I could no longer see the stag, I got down on my hands and knees and began my descent down the rocky slope. Halfway down, I heard furious roaring begin within the ravine and increased the speed of my progress, taking some small injuries to my hands and knees in my hurry.
Below me through the scrubby plants and straggly grass of the ravine, I glimpsed a tiger who had something stuck in his paw. He tore at his flesh but could not remove the offending material and his struggles caused him to roar in agony again and again in that otherwise silent and still place. I finished my descent of the ravine and tumbled the final paces to land before the massive tiger with a thump and a groan of pain that was all my own.
“Not one step closer,” the tiger moaned. “Or I will tear you to pieces! Stay back, whoever you are!”
“Just a moment,” I said, crawling away from the tiger’s jaws and potentially deadly claws. “I have only just arrived myself and need a second or two to recover.”
“Who sent you to torment me in my infirmity?” the tiger growled, ceasing his worrying of his paw to vent his fury at me. “I will not accept defeat at your hand or any other.”
I stopped some distance away from the monstrous tiger and stood from my reduced position upon the ground. “I torment no one in my journeys,” I said. “At least, not on purpose. Tell me, Great One, have you ever met Paralda and his people, the sylphs? If not, know that I am about to give you a gift from him and those who live with him in the air and skies of the myriad worlds.” With those words, I opened my mouth and a song flowed forth unbidden from my lips.
“Great tiger, do not fear me. I have come to set you free. Lay your head down and take a rest. I will help you do what’s best,” I sang, my words and song skipping as lightly along as one of the fae among the clouds. The great tiger blinked his golden eyes once, then twice, then laid his mighty head down and surrendered to some much needed slumber.
While he slept and dreamt of what I hoped were happier days, I removed a sharp, black claw from the pad of the tiger’s paw. Then, I healed the festering wound by laying my hands upon it and offering a quick prayer for mercy from anyone who could hear me. “Whoever gave this tiger his stripes,” I murmured. “Please restore his paw unto him.”
Suddenly from behind me, I heard movement and it startled me, causing me to drop the tiger’s paw. I turned and beheld a mammoth-sized badger emerging from the rocky sides of the surrounding ravine walls. “Well done, my new musical friend, I will finish the tiger while you keep him asleep,” the badger said. “I only managed to sink my claws into him before but, with your help, this will soon be over and we can all go home.”
I put myself between this new spirit and the tiger. “Home is where you say it is, whether that is in this ravine or a mountain top or wherever you roam. So, welcome home, Badger. Now that issue is settled, I will not allow my gift from the Fairy King to be used for murder,” I said. “I put the injured tiger to sleep so that he would feel no pain while I assisted him, not to prepare him for your claws. I didn’t even know you were in the ravine too until you declared yourself and your murderous intent.”
“You would deny me my vengeance!” the badger said and glared at me in anger. “That beast you protect crept into my den and devoured my young. He must die for his trespass and their deaths at his hand. Don’t you care about the defense of the innocent?”
“Of course I care about children having been a child once myself as well as a mother to a child of my own. However, Badger, if you do this thing, even in your justified anger, the descendants of the tiger will swear revenge upon you and it will become a cycle of killing that will never end,” I said. “No, do not kill the tiger and punish him for his inescapable hunger which haunts all upon the earth from time to time. Instead, walk with me and forget your anger over old hurts and lost loved ones. Because we found each other today in a world where Prometheus was unbound, I believe it is a sign that I need your unique wisdom for envisioning the dream of the greater good of all and I beg for you to value the sharing of that knowledge over revenge.”
“I will share what I know about the patterns of creation with you and gladly for I remember a time when you walked among my people and shared stories from the sky. Badger Friend, are you certain you won’t allow me to vanquish the tiger?” the badger said. “I promise on my steadfast heart and warrior spirit, he is not worth the mercy that you are asking me to show this day. My family and I have personally suffered repeated predations at his claws and because of his ceaseless hunger for our flesh. This is not some friend of a friend whom we speak of, but my own family and innocents who were under my protection.”
“The strong always feed upon the weak and unprepared, Badger,” I said, beginning to walk away from the tiger. “I wish the world was not this way but until this wish is manifest I suggest we forgive past wrongs but we do not forget. We shall try to do better in the future, making a safer space for our children, and expecting the same self improvement from those who have wronged us, but preparing our defenses all the same in case they or we fail in our great endeavor. We shall pretend that all wrongs have been made right, all losses have been repaid in kind, and maybe some day they will be because we chose a path of forgiveness rather than vengeance. Though neither path forward will bring your lost ones back to you, choosing forgiveness will leave the world in a better place than where either of us or the tiger found it. Vengeance has an easily predicted outcome, which is a cycle of more vengeance, suffering and pain for all. Let’s choose the path of the greatest good for all instead.”
“Something about your words is causing my anger to leave me,” the badger said. “Are you certain you’re not a living weapon sent by some god or other to lull me and mine into submissive peace? The tiger gods have been known to do things like that to promote their civilization over the badgers’.”
“Peace benefits all, whether strong or weak,” I said. “And no, my friend, I am no weapon of the gods nor do I care to be. My name is Heidi. I am a messenger who seeks the mysteries of creation and I would know your true nature to bring your wisdom back to my waking world. Let’s be on our way.”
The badger took one last look at his sleeping foe and followed me away from the path of vengeance. As we moved deeper into the ravine, the light began to fade from the sky and all became peaceful and quiet. When we had reached the deepest part of the valley and were as far from the tiger as we could be in that place, I sat upon the ground and invited the badger to do the same.
“Badger, why do you keep appearing to me?” I said. “Recently, well recently in my experience of time, you and your family encouraged me after I gave my apples to the sky giants and helped me laugh when my spirits were at a very low ebb. I appreciate your help and would like to know why you’re so willing to assist me in my exploration of the inner worlds. What is my part in your pattern of existence? If you tell me, then maybe I can assist you in return if you ever require it.”
“I would have counted all past and future debts paid if you had allowed me to kill the tiger,” the badger said after a moment of silence. “Be that as it may, I have some talent at prophecy myself and I see, Messenger Heidi, that you have reached a time of great change. Events shall conspire to bring about the dream you have been chasing for the betterment of all. If you embrace the energy of my people, you may succeed in your endeavor. We do want you to succeed for reasons that will become clear to you in time. Our civilization is not as codified as the tiger’s, this is true, but we are scrappy and from what I have seen in you, you would fit in with my family as if you were born to us. Perhaps in the future, you will be. It is not for this badger to say.”
As he gazed into my eyes in the shadows of the ravine, the badger grew even larger than his already mammoth size. “I will bring you focus and tenacity as you travel throughout the worlds,” he said. “But, you must be aware of others as you move forward because you may inadvertently injure them in your search. The untested strength of the unbound titan can be used for good or ill. I’m afraid I can’t help you with that cosmic balancing act because the main attribute of the badger is not one of gentleness but perseverance. Perhaps you will find others who can help you be kind and thoughtful while I help you to embody unstoppable progress and clarity of purpose.”
The badger finished his speech and then came close and suddenly bit me on the ankle and neck. “Ow! What was that for?” I asked as a great energy began to rise through my body.
“Badger initiations are not subject to anyone else’s oversight other than our own,” he said. “Therefore, I owe no explanation to you nor apology. The mysterious symbolism contained therein will become clear to you in the passage of time.”
“I’m sure you have your reasons but a little warning would have been nice,” I said, rubbing my injuries. “Do what you will, friend badger. I may have enough kindness and gentleness already for the both of us. I will teach that to you while you share your gifts with me. Maybe we can help each other.”
“This is your last chance to declare yourself if you are a living weapon forged for a specific purpose or god in disguise,” the badger said. “I will know the truth ever after even if what you speak next are lies. Know, Heidi, that you will never be able to lie to me again after what follows and I will remember exactly the next words out of your mouth. They shall forever direct our association.”
“My name is Heidi and I was given a vision from God wherein a badger fought a snake over an egg. The badger swallowed the egg and the cycle began again,” I said. “I come from another world seeking the meaning of this vision and the true nature of all I encounter. I intend to use the knowledge and patterns I discover to help make the worlds a better place for all. Help me find my appointed place in the patterns of creation and I swear I will be ever your friend and ally until the stars cease their motions in the heavens and time itself comes to an end.”
“So be it,” Badger said. “May all the ruling powers witness your words and my acceptance of them on behalf of all badger-kind.” Badger opened his mouth wide, then wider, then wider still until his mouth appeared to be as large as the sky above me. Then Badger swept his earth-sized claws around me and swallowed me in one gulp, sending me through the portal of his heart and into his reality.
There my vision ended.
The Light Congress 