Gate: Seven of Cups
I stepped through the vision gate and found myself running in a misty world where the ground was made of clouds and the sun streamed lightly upon me from far above. I couldn’t see the path ahead and had no idea where I was going but something called me silently forward as surely as a beacon.
“This way, Heidi,” I could almost hear the mists say. “Don’t stop. Don’t look back. Keep going this way.”
As I ran, Badger coalesced from the mists into his human form and joined me. We ran and ran through the mist and clouds without a spoken word between us, following the voice that only we could hear. “Badger, are we running away from something or towards something?” I said. “I feel like I’m following guidance towards a destination but the voice speaks so often about not going back that I feel like it could be either.”
“In my mind, we’re not so much ‘running away’ as ‘running towards’,” said Badger. “I’m very interested to see what happens to you at the end of this path. And now, we are here.”
From out of the mist, a castle rose into my vision, shining in the bright sunlight with many turrets and towers of polished stone. “Welcome to the Castle of Skye,” Badger said. “You’ve been here before, of course.”
“No, I haven’t,” I said. “The palace of the sky giants wasn’t called the Castle of Skye and it was made of cloud, not stone. Who dwells in this place?”
“Knock and see,” Badger said. “It boggles my mind.”
“What does?” I asked as I walked across the great drawbridge and found a small door to the right of the main entrance.
“Your memory troubles,” Badger said, seating himself upon the clouds. “Good luck with the gate guardian. I’ll monitor your progress from out here.”
“Gate guardian?” I said as I knocked upon the side door. “Why on earth would a fortress like this need additional safeguards?”
Badger made a motion as if he was zipping his lips shut when a voice came from beyond the shut door of the Castle of Skye. “Who is there?” the voice of an elderly man cried. “What do you want?”
“My name is Heidi,” I said. “I have come from another world to this one to learn more about this place and its inhabitants. What is your true nature?”
“Maybe these inhabitants don’t care to know you or share their true natures,” said the gate guardian in some irritation. “If that is all you have come for, Other Lander, you can go right back to where you have come from. We don’t want any visitors today.”
“So your true nature is a bit prickly,” I said, speaking through a small eye slit that had opened up in the door. “I talk to a lot of spirits who aren’t very friendly but it is no big deal because I’m not in their worlds long enough to truly cause a problem. That being said, I knocked out of courtesy. I will come in if I wish to come in, your permission or no. I have not discovered a door yet that can keep me out when I desire to enter. This is not a threat, Guardian, just a window into my true nature and functionality as a messenger.”
“I would like to see you try,” the spirit said and shut the viewing window with a snap. Badger burst into laughter as I frowned at the door.
“What’s so funny?” I said as storm clouds began to gather in the far distance. “I really don’t like rudeness. You know that.”
“The look on your face,” Badger said, wiping a tear from his eye. “It’s priceless. I wish I had a camera.”
“Laugh it up, Badger,” I said as the sound of thunder from the distant storm washed over us. “When it’s your turn to pass the castle guardian, I’ll be sure to return the favor.” Wrapping myself in a storm cloud of pique, I walked up to the solid looking door and stepped through it, pretending I was a shadow rather than a woman of flesh and blood. As I came through to the other side, I saw a spirit in the form of a wizened elderly man hop down from a tall stool that had allowed him to reach the level of the eye slit.
He gasped as I materialized in the castle. “Intruder! You do not have permission to be here,” he said. “Shame on you, Shadow Walker. I shall tell my masters!” Then he ran, surprisingly fast for one of such advanced age, down the hall and further into the fortress.
“That wasn’t a real shadow, it was a storm cloud,” I called after him. “Please convey to your ruling powers my apologies for entering without permission. I would not have walked through the door like a shadow if you had just let me in like a polite person of form and worth.” I could still hear Badger laughing outside in the clouds as I turned my steps further into the castle.
After traversing many long hallways and discovering quite a few dead ends, I walked through a great, empty throne room filled with mirrors which pointed in all directions and reflected each other and me. I passed so many of the giant mirrors that I lost track of their number and at the end of the mirror room, I discovered a wooden door with a black iron handle which opened under my touch.
Walking through the door, I found an enormous library where books lined the walls on every side. “What a happy surprise, I love books!” I exclaimed.
“We know,” a reply came from the walls of the room as if the books themselves were speaking to me. “We know all about you, Book Sprite.”
“My name is Heidi and I can assure you the inhabitants of the Great Library would greatly object to a label like ‘book sprite’. ‘Spirit of Learning’ might be a better appellation,” I said. “Who are you, Talking Books?”
“We are the Castle of Skye,” the walls said. “As you enter our rooms, we show you those things that you love the most. We are an endless experience of delight. Manifesting a library was the lowest hanging fruit for you but we knew it would be a pleasant introduction all the same.”
“Pleased to meet you, Castle of Skye,” I said as I found a chair in the depths of the library and sat down. “I need to rest my legs for a minute. Your outer rooms were a confusing maze which I wandered through for far too long and were completely empty to my sight, lacking in guides or inhabitants. Castle, do you have a guide or ruling power I could speak to? Your gate guardian and I had a disagreement and I find myself a little lost in your walls.”
“We were guiding you,” the castle said. “If we hadn’t been, you would have never made it to this room. We are sorry for the outer maze, Heidi. We thought you would appreciate the old forms of this palace the most.”
“Well, if I think about exploring your grounds as a meditative walk through my waking world with its confusing twists and turns of fate rather than a timed race against Badger through a castle in the clouds towards a desired destination, I appreciate the symbolism of the experience more,” I said. “However one views it, it does wear one out all the same. Would it be possible for me to meet your ruling power without too much more seeking?”
“Yes, anything is possible,” the walls said as I stood to go through the doorway into the next room. “But you will not meet the guardians of Castle Skye that way.”
“Why not?” I asked. “It is a doorway to another part of your building, isn’t it?”
“The rooms through that door are filled with things and experiences that you will love. You will find many treasures both physical and spiritual, but not the guardians of the Castle of Skye which is your stated destination,” the walls said. “Here, try this doorway instead. It is one you know and love already, Spirit of Learning.” A book came from the shelves and slid into my hands. I seated myself in the comfortable chair again and read the title aloud.
“A Message of Love to The Castle of Skye.” On the cover was a picture of a castle in the clouds. I opened the book and read:
Once upon a time, there was a messenger who traveled to many realms and saw many things, interacting with all of the spirits she encountered there. One day which was very much like any other, she was sent from her ruling power with an important message to a castle in the sky.
“Who is there?” asked the Guardian of the Door as the woman stood before the castle gates.
“I come from the Farthest Reaches bearing a message from Love herself for the masters of this castle,” said the messenger. “Please let me in.”
“Venus sends you?” the Guardian said. “If this is true, then you will know the secret words to open this gate. What is the passcode?”
“Love conquers all things,” said the messenger. The door opened to her without further challenge and, following in the steps of the Guardian, she entered the Great Hall. The messenger passed by many mirrors that reflected a number of couriers and other courtly dressed persons who somehow stood in the hall but also other worlds at the same time, and followed a clearly carpeted path to two thrones at the far end of the hall.
The Guardian, a spirit in the form of a wizened elderly man, walked before the messenger and announced her presence to the two beings seated on the thrones. “My Lord and Lady of Castle Skye, here is a messenger from the goddess of Love,” he said. “I have verified her identity and stand ready to bear witness to her words as Guardian and Gate Keeper of this sky palace.”
“Thank you for your service to our household, Guardian,” said the Lord of Castle Skye. “You may speak your words, Messenger of Love.”
“Hail, Great Ones,” said the messenger and she bowed her head respectfully. The lord and lady nodded back in the most proper manner for receiving messengers from other worlds. “Venus sends her greetings and thanks you most humbly for your long term occupation and care for her sky bound retreat. She asks me to convey her request to throw open the drawbridge to the Castle of Skye immediately and welcome those who find their way to your gates. She says the Servants of Love will be here soon and she wants you to be prepared with a reception worthy of their presence among you for it will be as if she is here herself.”
The Lord and Lady looked at each other in dismay. “Throw open the gates?” said the Lord when he could find his voice again. “But then, the many treasures of the Castle of Skye would be available for anyone of light or shadow to wander in and sample at their pleasure. Doesn’t Venus wish for her castle to be reserved for the most worthy and best of the seekers from other worlds? What has happened to having standards? I mean really.”
“As you know, Venus’ consort Hephaestus built this castle for her personally and filled it with wonderous creations from his imagination to charm and delight her,” the messenger said. “The goddess knows each brick, each doorway, each room, and does not fear losing any of it to either light or shadow for it is hers and as such has decided to share it with those who walk the paths in her service. The goddess knew this might be a controversial decision so she bid me to remind you that she appointed you two as Keepers of this place, not Guardians. You have turned her Castle of Skye from a treasure house of wonders to a virtual fortress that none may enter because perfection is required for entrance. To view the Castle of Skye through a mirror is not a true experience at all, but merely a parlor trick for those who know shortcuts on the path to eternity. The goddess wishes for you to change this sad state of affairs, immediately. Those who put forth their best effort in her service may freely enter the Castle of Skye, and such efforts shall be judged upon the scales of unconditional love. Lower the drawbridge, Great Ones. So speaks Venus, Aphrodite, and Love through I, her messenger.”
The Lord frowned in disapproval. “If you are truly from Venus and this is her wish, we will do all that she desires and more,” he said. “But first, you must prove that you are a legitimate messenger from the goddess and not some charlatan shadow of another who learned the passcode to Castle Skye through some questionable means. Prove that you come from Love, messenger. Demonstrate to us your true nature.”
“This is a fair request for the Servants of Fear may appear as Servants of Love upon occasion and vice versa,” said the messenger. “Here are my bona fides.” The messenger touched her chest and drew out a round spark of energy from her spirit that changed form into a small beating heart in her hands. “I give you this token in the name of Love.”
The Lord took the messenger’s heart energy and cast it into a large mirror that stood next to his throne. Within the mirror, a warm summer’s day appeared wherein the sun shone upon a paved road and there was birdsong and sweet breezes.
“For your enjoyment, Great Ones, I present unto you one of my favorite memories, a pristine day in late summer when I was walking to school and my mind and heart were at peace,” said the messenger. “Love will give me many more days like it so you may keep this one for your Great Hall of Mirrored Loves to prove that I am who I say I am.”
The Lord and Lady stood from their thrones. “We are very pleased with your offering, Servant and Messenger of Love. Not only will we open the gates of Skye as the goddess requests, but we will also show you an additional room that we have built together in honor of her,” the Lord said. “You will tell Venus of it and she will see that we have helped the cause of Love more than we have harmed it in our protection of this place. Follow, messenger.” The Keepers of the palace joined hands and stepped through the mirror together.
The messenger followed in their footsteps and found herself in a huge room that contained a lake in the center of which was a small island. She levitated herself over the lake and landed on the island’s beach where the Lord and Lady were waiting for her.
“We are Arthur and Guinevere,” the two said in unison. “We had so little love in life that Venus took pity on us and allowed us to dwell in this castle together in spirit to experience the happiness that was denied to us in the waking world. We have reconstructed Avalon therein and spend much of our time on its shores sharing a living dream of the goddess of Love. Be welcome to our hidden paradise, Messenger of Love.”
The messenger looked around the island, exploring its many mysteries and saw that it was indeed lovely. Among the abundant flora and fauna, she discovered a white painted house with an ancient tree in front of it that was so twisted and bent under the weight of its time that it almost formed a complete archway out of its living wood. “Who lives in your heaven next to a woodland gate, Great Ones?” the messenger asked. “Rarely have I seen a tree of such advanced age and I have seen many such in my time, for the forests of the Inner Worlds are some of my favorite stomping grounds.”
“That is the last dwelling place of Joseph of Arimathea,” the Lord and Lady spoke as one. “He guards the Holy Grail in the Castle of Skye as he was instructed to do by his ruling power on behalf of the Light.”
“May I go speak to him?” the messenger said. “His cup is the stuff of legend and I would see it with my own eyes.”
“The cup is not his cup as this palace is not our palace,” the Lord and Lady said. “You may try to speak with Joseph, Messenger of Love, but do not expect a warm welcome. He does not like outsiders nor tolerate their presence willingly within our shared dream.”
“Thank you for the warning and your guidance to this hidden place, Great Ones,” the messenger said. “I will faithfully report back to Love on your generosity of spirit and epic contributions to her castle.” So saying, the messenger left the Lord and Lady upon the island’s beach and entered the shining house of the Cup, Tree, and Palace Guardian.
Its simple furnishings consisted of a wooden chair, table, and brightly-lit fireplace where a spirit in the form of the older man from the gate sat hunched over a book. “Hello, Thrice-Guardian,” the messenger said. “We met once before long ago, but I don’t expect you to remember me for I was only a child. Now fully grown, I have become a messenger for Love, and Arthur and Guinevere have agreed to lower the gates of this castle to honor the goddess’ wish which I delivered moments ago.”
“Hmmph, Messenger of Love, is it?” said Joseph of Arimathea. “Tell her from me that Venus cheapens her treasures in this way. She should only give entrance to those who are worthy.”
“You will soon have many more visitors to this place. Just think of all you will meet from the myriad worlds and the mysteries of creation you will learn from each other,” said the messenger with a sigh. “I wish I could stay and experience all this with you as it unfolds but as a messenger I must deliver the words given to me and continue on in service to Love. Maybe you could keep a journal that I could read if I am sent this way again, which I promise to do if such happy circumstances come to pass.”
“This is no hardship for I keep a journal of all my days from the first to the last so that when the Creator of All returns to their creation they will see that I have been a good and honorable servant to their unknowable will always and at all times,” Joseph said and reached into his robes and drew forth a cup. “In addition to guarding the gate both of the palace and tree, and keeping the record of days, I have hidden this particular treasure for time untold and few have actually seen it to store it in their personal archives of memory. I think that its worth has been increased exponentially by this scarcity.”
“Thrice-Guardian, I’m sure the Creator of All is very pleased with your service unto them but I disagree with the manner in which you conceal Love’s great treasure from all the worlds,” said the messenger. “Love and its healing waters of eternal life aren’t cheapened by being shared. They lift the spirits of those within the worlds both Inner and Outer, especially those who have been injured in the Eternal War against the shadow. Therefore, I believe Love’s Cup should be freely offered to all who find their way to this castle as a further service to the one who put the stars in motion.”
“You speak of universal truths that you do not understand, messenger. Can you imagine,” said the Cup’s Guardian. “What would happen if, when every mortal from now until the end of time is born, a Holy Grail was gifted unto them as a birth rite? They would soon lose them, break them, give them away for something else in exchange with the shadows. If something is common, it is not worth seeking or having. Why hand to the Great Nemesis one of our strongest weapons in the Eternal War? This path forward you suggest is madness.” Joseph reached behind him and pulled forth a bottle of dark ruby liquid which he proceeded to pour into the cup. He drank deeply and a flush of life returned to his countenance as he did so.
“You are wrong, Thrice-Guardian,” said the messenger. “If every child on earth was given unconditional love, eternal life and abundance without measure upon birth, then there would be no war. There would be no suffering. No one would try to take from others what had been freely given to all. I can imagine all this and more for the living. I foresee eternal peace and joy and beauty, Love herself descended upon earth and moving through her blessed patterns in the heavens as well. Throw open the gates, says Love, and offer all a drink from my cup. It is as if she stands with us now. Can you hear her words and speak her will as clearly as I do?”
“Dream yourself out of my home, Messenger of Love,” said Joseph. “I hear nothing but the fevered imaginings of one who has walked through light and shadow so often that she can no longer discern between the two. But I know the difference, I was given the sacred duty to guard this treasure and the cup stays with me. Not even Venus herself may claim it for the sacrifice to create it was made by two who are one, not one alone.”
“I may not take this cup to Earth, Thrice-Guardian,” said the messenger. “But you cannot stop the transmission of the story of it, the way those who hear these words will see the cup clearly in their imaginations, or concealing your reluctance to share it, for that is done even now. If a dream can be imagined, it can be realized in the waking world. So you see, even in this small, secret battlefield of the Eternal War between Love and Fear, Love conquers all things.” She reached out to the guardian spirit, removed the cup from his ancient hands, and drank deeply from it.
The book ended and the last page was a picture of the messenger from the story drinking from the Holy Grail. Love’s messenger bore my face and form. I sighed as I closed the cover and the picture on the front changed from the Castle of Skye to a plain, unadorned cup. The title changed as well to “The Unrealized Warriors of the Servants of Love: a History of False Promises”.
“No wonder Badger laughed at me,” I said. “I look so ridiculous when I can’t remember the simplest things like the places I’ve been before or the spirits I once knew. Castle of Skye, is this palace yet the resting place of the Holy Grail?”
“Yes, we are,” the castle said. “We opened the gates as the goddess desired but only children or shadows arrived as her newest servants. The Arimathean closed the gates again in his mighty anger at Love and what he perceived to be her false promises of warriors for the Light. He still keeps his record of days as you just read and hands a copy of it to any who arrive in this entry room as evidence of Love turning her favor from the cause of Light to that of Shadow in the Eternal War.”
“That’s a major accusation to make without speaking to Love herself. Children grow into the warriors of tomorrow and shadows usually arrive before their light, at least in my experience,” I said. “Love’s promised servants and soldiers could be on their way even now. May I see the Grail anyway?”
A different door appeared among the walls of books. “You may see the Grail, Spirit of Learning,” said the castle. “But you must go looking for it. If you do not focus, you will wander endlessly among the spoken and unspoken desires of your heart in our rooms. Be absolutely clear in your heart and mind about what you seek and you will find it.”
I touched the handle of the door and opened it. Immediately, I was assailed by memories of passionate kisses and physical love in my waking world, and could not see through the shadows and faces that clouded my vision or the path forward. Even though I knew I was experiencing the protective and treasure obscuring power of the Castle of Skye, it was so tempting to indulge in the false reality simply for the pleasure of it, but I didn’t because I knew this wasn’t what I actually wanted. “Seekers could spend their whole lives in these entry halls, lost to bliss,” I whispered to myself. “Let’s not be one of those.”
I paused and shut my eyes tightly until the other worldly visions and memories passed. When I opened my eyes again, I saw I stood in a relatively large, empty room that had a box sitting on a pedestal in the center of it. Behind the pedestal, a tall mirror like the ones in the Great Hall stood sentinel over the pedestal. Tentatively, I approached this box and opened it, revealing a cup which rose into the air by its own power. It shone and sparkled from within with its own light, drawing my hands towards it without conscious thought on my part. As I reached for its loveliness, the cup put itself into my hands.
My attention was drawn from the cup by movement in the mirror beyond the pedestal. The ancient Guardian of the Palace, Tree, and Cup raised his eyes from the endless record of days he was keeping to see the latest seeker of the treasure under his protection.
“What do you love, Passing Shadow or Child of Love?” said the Guardian within the mirror and I heard the words echoing in my mind.
“I love so many things,” I said. “And I am no shadow nor child, not at this moment in time.”
“List them,” said the Guardian. “Your true nature will be revealed thus.”
“I love sunlight, laughter, flowers, family, drinking, eating, dancing, sleeping, beauty and truth, peace, abundance, smiles and joy, passion, excitement and life,” I said.
“Another child for Love’s sham of an army,” said the Guardian, turning back to his record with a weighty sigh. “Then drink, Child.” A fountain rose from behind the pedestal. “These loves will live within your heart forever or until you grow up and your values change, whichever comes first.”
“I also love discovering the mysteries of the universe, its patterns, and the unknowable will of the Creator of All,” I said as I put the cup in the fountain. “It’s true that my Inner Child rejoices in all that I listed before but, as a grown Servant of Love, that Eternal Quest is another of my great loves. Well, possibly my greatest one if I’m honest with myself.”
“Wait just a moment,” the Guardian said, raising his eyes from his book to peer closely through the mirror at me. “Speak those words again for a Shadow or Child could not express a love like this and then drink from the fountain for I have put up insurmountable guards against such things. What you speak of is not something that is valued by the Shadows who desire to place their will upon creation above the one who put the stars in motion and a perspective that usually only comes with time, failed loves and the eyes of a jaded warrior rather than a sheltered child. Tell me truly, what do you love, Seeker of the Holy Grail?”
“I love discovering the mysteries of the universe, its patterns, and the unknowable will of the Creator of All,” I said again. “I love meeting other Servants of the Creator of All and I love living my life among them as a tribute to Love herself.”
“Then kneel and drink of the Cup of Everlasting Life, Servant of the Creator of All, so that these values may live in your heart forever,” said the Guardian. “And rise as a Warrior of Light in the army of Love. May the Creator of All smile when they read the record of this moment from the hand of the Ancient of Days and may your path to their unknowable will always reveal itself clearly unto you.”
I took the cup and put it into the fountain, then knelt and raised it to my lips and drank of its clear water. A tremendous energy ran through me, filling my eyes with a bright light like sun through rippling water, and I felt as if the fountain standing before me became manifest in my heart.
“Those who drink from the cup you already carry will receive Love’s blessing from you as if they are drinking with you from this sacred fountain today,” said the Guardian as my vision blurred. “You may call yourself a Messenger of Love or Servant henceforth under the auspices of I, Joseph of Arimathea and her Thrice-Guardian from the time before. None shall challenge you on this matter now or in the ages to come. Go in peace and serve the Creator of All.”
“I shall do so and I ask you to change the title of your record, Thrice-Guardian,” I said as I rose from my knees. “Love’s Messenger asks this of you so that those who follow on the paths behind me may take heart that any past failures upon this particular battlefield by the Warriors of Light were passing shadows and not incontrovertible evidence of Love submitting to Fear’s dominion in the Eternal War. She never will nor shall I.”
“I will consider your request,” the Guardian said and waved his hand at me in dismissal.
I blinked once and suddenly found myself outside of the Castle of Skye, looking at the drawbridge with Badger seated upon the clouds by my side. “What a strange place,” I said as I gathered my thoughts.
“You don’t know the half of it,” replied Badger with a laugh. “Folks are always in such a hurry to get here that I find them running on the road. It happens every time.”
“Have you had the opportunity to traverse the mystery that is the Castle of Skye?” I said. “Please tell me that you have, for I so want to speak with you about what just happened to me in there, but I don’t feel like it’s appropriate unless you’ve already run that gauntlet too.”
“Take a drink from my cup first, Heidi,” Badger said, pulling a cup from the clouds beside him with a grin. “Then we’ll talk.”
“Only if you drink from mine at the same time,” I said, drawing out a cup from a rift I made in the air. “Seems only fair.”
I accepted Badger’s cup from his hand as he took mine, and there my vision ended.
The Light Congress 