Gate: Nine of Cups
I entered the vision gate and found myself in a verdant forest beneath a waning moon. I had only walked a few paces through dense and thorny underbrush when suddenly, ahead in the woods, I heard the sound of a horn blowing mournfully. Arhoooooo, arhooooooo. It drifted through the trees, summoning the spirits in the woods but for what purpose I did not know.
Compelled by its mysterious power, I moved towards the sound and discovered a large company of elves riding on horses as quickly as shadows beneath the trees. They were headed directly towards me and I experienced a momentary panic at their approach.
I began to move out of the way with some idea of hiding behind or within one of the many trees nearby but, before I could run, one of the riders grabbed me by the upper arm as he raced by and pulled me up on the horse behind him. “Welcome to the Great Hunt!” he said as we barreled forward through the darkness.
“Is that what this is?” I said. “I didn’t realize that was the source of the horn’s call or I may have wandered the other way. I’m not entirely sure I want to go on this hunt. What exactly are we hunting? If it is some helpless forest creature or, worse, a mortal, I don’t want any part of it.”
“Calm yourself, forest wanderer,” said the elf. “My people hunt nothing this night. We ride together beneath the trees for the love of it and the feel of the wind in our hair. Be welcome to our gathering.”
The host of the Great Hunt didn’t move like riders of flesh and blood for they didn’t go around trees or other woodland obstacles. Though their bodies and mounts looked as solid as anything on earth, they were incorporeal and passed through the landscape we traveled upon as easily as forms made of mist and starlight. I relaxed into the hypnotic movements and began to enjoy the ride among the elves, gazing up at the moon as it was revealed and then hidden through the upper branches of the forest canopy.
“What is your name?” I asked the rider as we rode through a small hill. “My name is Heidi and I am pleased to make your acquaintance.”
“I am called Oberon. My mother thought that name sounded appropriate for a king but I fear she dreamed above her station,” he said with a laugh. “There is very little that is king-like about me.”
“What is it that makes a king, a king?” I mused. “Is it an object like a status symbol? An accident of birth?”
“I would say it’s a way of moving through the world and how one treats those around him,” Oberon said. “Frankly, I have given up on the idealized role of kings and leaders in general. I have yet to see someone embody what I believe a king should be.”
“Oh, then you are not the leader of this host?” I said. “With a name like yours, one can forgive me for making assumptions.”
The elf gave a long sigh. “It’s a common enough misconception, you are forgiven,” he said. “Though there is one among us whom I would follow into the depths of hell itself. Royalty travels at the front of our host, Heidi. Can you see the glow?” I looked where Oberon indicated and far ahead, leading the riders, there was a bright light emanating from someone who shone like a star moving upon the surface of the earth. “You can go speak to the blue bloods if that is what you desire,” Oberon said. “I suppose that they would have more to say to you than I.”
I considered this briefly. “As brightly as that spirit shines, I would rather remain with you,” I said. “I believe there is a reason you and you alone drew me into this hunt. Let us share our knowledge and understanding with each other, if that is agreeable, and maybe together we can learn this reason.”
Oberon broke away from the tireless host and began to ride in a different direction through the forest. His horse never seemed to tire and he easily negotiated every obstacle that appeared in our path. After we crossed a wide and quickly flowing river, the elf and I dismounted from the horse on its far side.
“Welcome to my home,” said the elf and he led me into a low doorway in the riverbank.
The interior of Oberon’s abode was actually a wide and low-ceilinged stone cavern that cut deeply into the hillside. In the center of this underground chamber was a clear, flowing spring that rose from the earth and created a circular, reflective pond. The water was perfectly still and a hole was cut in the stone ceiling above the pond. The moon, shining from far above, reflected on the smooth surface of the water at its very center. Around this pool, two stone chairs, carved out of the rock of the floor, sat facing each other. Beyond this, I observed shelves of books built into the walls of the cavern and other personal possessions of Oberon tucked here and there throughout.
“You have a lovely home,” I said. “I especially like your book collection. What do you do for a living, Oberon?”
“A living? What’s that?” the elf said.
“I mean, what do you do as a profession to help others?” I clarified.
“I tell my people’s futures in the moon-kissed waters of my home,” Oberon said. “I am a stargazer and a fortune teller among other roles.” He walked to one of his book shelves and removed a tome. “I saw long ago that you would be coming to see me and I wrote it down. Let’s see, it’s here somewhere.” He ran his finger down the center of the journal’s page. “Ah, here it is,” he said. “A child of man with golden hair…” He paused and looked at my short, dark hair cut. “Inaccuracies already. The future is a tricky thing.” Oberon went to a wooden desk set near the wall and took out a cream-colored feather quill. He hastily corrected the page.
“A child of man with dark hair will come to you on the night of the wild ride,” he read. “She is a traveler of the inner worlds and her mind will be filled with questions, some of which you will be capable of answering and others that you will not. You will teach her what you can and she will have a lesson to share with you in return.”
He closed the book and led me to one of the stone chairs beside the moon pool. “Well then, Child of Man, ask me what you have come to ask,” the elf said. “We cannot keep our destinies waiting forever.”
“It must have taken you a while to carve this home from the rock,” I said. “How long have you been reading the stars next to the river, Oberon?”
“How long..” he tapped his chin with his hand in thought. “I have been in this place since the animals could speak and the men could not. This may seem like a long time to someone like yourself, but it is not nearly as long as my mother’s timeless existence. She can remember the time before there were stars in the sky.”
“Before there were stars in the sky, it must have been very dark indeed,” I said. “I feel fortunate that I was born in the time of celestial light. Do you have any other names so that I can learn more of your essential nature?”
“Someone who has lived as long as I have has borne many names,” the elf said. “I am Oberon, Star Gazer, Fortune Teller, and Rune Caller, as well as many others.”
“I wish I had a few more names to describe myself,” I said. “I like my name well enough but sometimes I feel like the spirits I meet in the other worlds want a further window into my nature that I am not yet prepared to give.”
“Self knowledge comes in time,” Oberon said. “Be patient with yourself, Heidi. You will find both your way of moving through the world as well as a way to name it. One does not have to read your star chart to know this.”
“Thank you for your vote of confidence,” I said. “Someday, when I know my secret names, I will share them with you as you so freely gave yours to me today. If you could teach me one further lesson, what would it be?”
The elf filled his hands with water from the moon pool and it remained curiously dark and still in his palms. “Cup your hands, Heidi,” he instructed. When I did so, Oberon deftly poured the liquid from his hands into mine. “Look deeply into the water and clear your mind of any errant thoughts or emotions. Tell me, what do you see?”
I focused, making my mind and heart as still as the water in my hands, and was surprised to see the waning moon reflected clearly on its surface though I did not sit beneath the opening carved into the ceiling. Then, the image shifted and I saw myriad stars shining from the void of creation. “I see stars set in the night sky,” I said aloud. “Their light drives away all shadows and nameless fears in the dark.”
“And what else?” The elf encouraged me. “Excellent start, keep going.”
I gazed further and the water became like a mirror into another place. The stars faded from the mirror and I found myself staring into a reflection of my own eyes. “I see my eyes,” I said. “As the stars shone brightly from the void, so too do I try to banish all shadows with my perception of reality. I wish to see as the Creator sees and to know the patterns of existence as well as the one who made them.”
“Keep looking,” Oberon said. “There are further lessons here for you, Heidi. Keep looking.”
My eyes in the moon water blinked as I did. Then, I moved into their depths within the watery mirror and I saw more stars, galaxies, and the movement of the heavens above the earth. “I see stars in my eyes,” I said. “I see the movement of the universe within my spirit and all that is outside of myself is within. All that is within myself is without. Reality is far more interconnected than what I have allowed myself to believe.”
“This interconnectedness is one of the great mysteries of the universe and how I tell the future to those who seek my wisdom,” Oberon said. “I do not gaze at the actual heavens or at the bodies of those in front of me, I look beyond simple forms into the movement of the stars within their spirit. Though others have claimed that these celestial motions are too subtle or imprecise to measure, I have found if you are just patient, patterns are revealed to you in time.” Oberon rose from his stone chair and pointed at the wall where he had a drawing of the Tree of Life hewn into the rock’s face. “I think that you have learned some of these patterns in your own studies with the qabalah and your visionary work.”
“Now, Child of Man, you will answer the question that I have for you since I have shared some of my secrets with you,” Oberon said. He seated himself again in front of me in the stone chair and placed his folded hands upon his lap. “Who was it who taught you how to walk the inner worlds?” he said. “Who was your teacher?”
“I read many books about the art of going into trance,” I said. “Their instructions were as child’s play to me because I found the practice as easy as breathing. I do not know why but I seem to have an innate talent for it.”
“Impossible that you could reach this place with a few books on the subject,” the elf said, looking mildly irritated. “You cannot lie to me, not in my place of power, so don’t try to protect your teacher. I will not harm them, whoever they are. But I must know, who taught you the secret of opening the gates?”
“I swear to you, Oberon, I taught myself through the writings that western mystics left behind,” I said. “I found the knowledge of one who called himself, Israel Regardie, to be quite helpful. He gave the method of building the gate and I improvised upon this information to build portals. It was as easy as imagining a door and then walking through it. My imagination is something else entirely and I believe others have this ability too, they just aren’t aware of it yet.”
“Gaze into my eyes and answer me one last time,” the elf said. “I need to know the truth of your ability and I believe you when you say you improvised upon the work of others. I am most curious to know where this improvisation came from.” Oberon took my face between his hands and drew my eyes close to his hazel ones. His eyes began to take up all of my vision like I was gazing into the water mirror cupped in my hands again. “Who is your master, Heidi?”
“I taught myself through the written word,” I said, ensorcelled by the elf’s eyes. “There is no one else other than those who have been with me my entire existence and I do not know who this may be. I wish I knew who helped me reach this point, for I would thank them and, if I ever do discover this truth, I will thank them then and tell you their identities.”
Oberon rose abruptly, angrily, breaking the charm. “What is your intention then, one-who-taught-herself?” he said. “The type of knowledge you are discovering may be used for good or ill.”
“I’m sorry if I have angered you,” I said. “I only came here to know the nature of this place and you. Any secrets I discover will be used for the benefit and evolution of any who desire to make the world a better place through their own spiritual development. Through self knowledge and unconditional love, I believe we can change the worlds, all of them.”
“And will you teach others this way?” he asked. “What if their intentions are not your own?”
“If they are interested and willing, I will share what I have learned,” I said. “I am not a judge of the heart of others, only my own. I cannot control what they do with the knowledge and wisdom given to them, only what I do with it. I can only speak for myself, Oberon. Why do you ask?”
From somewhere in the room, Oberon produced a wooden covering and slammed it down over the spring, covering the moon’s reflection. “Then they will come here and ask their pointless questions of me,” he said, anger flooding his tone. “Who will answer my questions, Heidi? Who will instruct me that I may better myself? I despise mortals and their endless longings for knowledge of futures that are as short as a grasshopper’s span and as meaningless.” The elf ran from the cavern as speedily as a leaf upon the breeze and was gone.
“Oberon!” I called after him but he did not respond to my cry. Wrestling with a vague sense of disappointment in the state of the inner worlds, I sat and ruminated in Oberon’s home until I found myself levitating through the hole in the cavern’s ceiling, propelled by a power outside of my own.
Next, I was floating above the trees in the moonlight, dancing through the leaves of the upper branches as nothing more corporeal than mist. Then, as moon-lit mist, I was drawn onwards through the woods until I landed in the middle of a clearing filled with elves and I was thrown back into my own body. The merry company were feasting and singing and I recognized some of them from the Great Hunt.
I found myself in the presence of the bright light that I had seen before and it emanated from a beautiful elf who glowed with an inner brilliance, illuminating the glade with her presence. Next to this being, I beheld a spirit wrapped in shadow. “Hail, Great Ones,” I said and bowed my head in respect. “Forgive my intrusion. I was a forest mist and suddenly I am not.”
“What brings you to this place? Why do you interrupt our feast?” asked the glowing elf. “Not all are welcome here, you see.”
“I did not mean to interrupt any merriment,” I said. “I am a harmless being who wishes to know the nature of this world and yourself.”
“I am Titania, Queen of this host,” the elf said. “I am Laughter, I am Star Light, I am Dance.” So saying, she rose from her wooden throne and rushed down its few steps to me. Grabbing my arms, she spun me in circles in the company of her folk until I was as breathless and laughing as she naturally was.
Then, Titania gestured behind her at the shadowed presence. “That is my husband, Oberon,” she said. “He is my king and my heart, also called Star Gazer by those who come seeking his wisdom.” The shadows parted to reveal the elf from the river cavern and he frowned at me in disapproval.
“My Queen, why are you so free with this one?” Oberon said. “She intends to loose humankind upon our hidden spaces and to freely allow them to walk in our midst whether they merit such access or not.”
“King Oberon, if it is your nature to be secretive with your knowledge, then it is mine to be free with it,” I said. “I am a gate maker, a way finder, a path breaker. I find a way when there is no way and then I make it wider so that others can follow. I am also a light bringer, one who banishes the shadow.” With those words, I burst into flames made of moonlight and mist. “What is hidden, I bring to light. What is hurting, I help heal. This is who I am. What I can teach others, I can also teach you and gladly,” I said, as the flames further wreathed my body. “Behold, oh King!”
My physical form grew in the woodland glade, fueled by the energy pouring from my spirit, until I was as large as a giant and a cup of gold appeared in my burning hand. I reached this cup towards the waning moon in the sky and the moon replicated itself. A mirror image appeared alongside the original and it descended into my cup becoming captured on the surface of the liquid it contained. Then, spirit flames fading back to wherever they had emerged from, I grew small again and handed the cup to Oberon.
“Drink from my cup, great king,” I said. “I have drawn down the moon for you. It represents imagination, which is the faculty that you have lost, and the reason why you cannot travel the inner worlds as you once did. This drink will restore that to you and then you can travel where you will, when you will, and you will no longer hinder others from this ability either. What has been freely shared with you, may also be shared with others without fear. The Light Congress ensures that this is so for, under their guiding influence, the paths protect themselves. I promise this is true.”
“Who is The Light Congress?” Oberon said. “Why should I trust ones I do not know?”
“You know me, Oberon, and have viewed at least part of the universal pattern within my very spirit,” I said. “I have only recently joined their number but, if you trust the Creator’s servants at all and I think you do from your ability to read the patterns of reality and knowledge of its hidden secrets, then please accept this gift from all of us and learn the truth of my words in your own experience.”
The elven king considered my words for a moment in that sacred space. Then, nodding his head once, Oberon took a sip and then offered my cup to his lady. Suddenly, Oberon disappeared and a chorus of gasps went up from the host of the glade. The Queen herself inhaled in shock. “What have you done with the lord of my heart?” she said. “I cannot be without him.”
“Great One, he will return in moments,” I said. “He is walking in another world. I do the same but always come back to those I love.”
Even as I finished speaking, Oberon appeared in the place where he had been. He smiled as he ran from his throne to stand beside me. Then, taking my hand, he raised it above his head with his own in triumph.
“My people!” he yelled to the observing crowd. “My friends, my family, my anointed ones! This being will henceforth be known as a friend to elves, so says I, Oberon, Shadow Walker.”
“She has restored me to my former glory and I will teach you all how to walk the inner worlds again,” he said. “With imagination and unconditional love, we, the elves of the woodlands, will return to the places we abandoned in our fear of the shadow we discovered there. We will fight against the darkness once more because she has restored my faith and hope in the future.” The crowd exploded with joy and celebration.
“Thank you, Heidi,” Oberon said to me softly. “May well you fare until we meet again.”
“I am embarrassed by all of this attention, King Oberon,” I said. “However, I am glad that I could be of service to you and your host. Peace to you and your queen and may your hearts be free from the shadows.”
I blinked and the exultant elves disappeared from my sight. Then, I found myself floating in the moon-lit air above Oberon’s cave once more. I sunk through the cavern’s hole until I was at the wooden covering that the elf king had placed above his moon spring.
Through the power of my descent, my feet broke the protective covering apart and I sank into the fathomless depths of the waters of the Star Gazer. There, my vision ended.
The Light Congress 