Gate: Two of Wands
I passed through the vision gate and heard the rhythmic sound of a hammer striking an anvil over and over again. Clang… clang… clang. I followed the sound out of the void I found myself in and beheld a giant with a hammer, who was hard at work. I stepped into the giant’s reality and envisioned myself growing larger, as large as he was, and I approached the industrious spirit. When I was large enough to see the giant’s face clearly, I recognized Hephaestus, the endlessly creative smith of the gods.
“Well met, Great One,” I said with a smile. “Thank you for guiding me out of the shadows. What are you working on today?”
“Sound is such a curious thing and travels between the worlds as easily as the Fae,” the god replied. “You never know who’s attention it will attract. Hello again, small Heidi. Sleipnir has slipped a shoe and I have been tasked with crafting him a replacement.” Hephaestus paused for a moment in his work to wipe the sweat from his brow.
“Sleipnir!” I exclaimed. “Is that the eight-legged horse of Odin? I have seen his depiction many times and have always wondered how he would appear to my sight.”
Hephaestus looked at me strangely but then bent again to his work. “Eight legs? No, friend. He has only four but they move so quickly that from a distance it appears that he has more and that is what the artisans of your world were trying to capture. Go and see for yourself if you want, he’s harmless to those with no malice in their hearts.”
I cast my attention about the god and I, and discovered an enormous horse tethered nearby. He was grazing on some grass and seemed completely unconcerned by the sounds of the smithy or our spirited conversation. To my eyes, Sleipnir was as white as newly fallen snow and just as lovely. I went to the side of the noble beast and ran my hands over his head. “I bet you are as swift as you are beautiful,” I said and he blinked his long lashed eyes at me in response.
“How did he lose his shoe?” I asked Hephaestus, speaking over my shoulder.
“Dwelt too long on the surface of some sun or another I suppose,” grunted the smith and with one last clang, quickly dipped his handiwork into a bucket of cold water. “He melted the thing into slag.” Now the horseshoe was cooled, Hephaestus also came over to Sleipnir who daintily lifted his front hoof so the new shoe could be applied. With minimal effort, the task was soon done.
“Return to your master,” Hephaestus directed the horse. “That should last you awhile, barring any unforeseen lava flows. I’m through here.”
“Would you like to meet Odin One-Eye?” the smith asked, turning to me with a twinkle in his eyes.
“I know very little about him,” I replied. “Do you think he would like to meet me?”
“Now is as good a time as any to learn,” the god said. “Go Heidi and meet the wandering god. From what I know of Odin, you two might have much in common. Ride Sleipnir. He knows the way and moves as swiftly as the wind.”
“Thank you, Hephaestus,” I said. “May your hammer always strike true and your creations last as long as you desire. I hope we meet again soon.”
With the god’s help, I climbed aboard Sleipnir’s smooth back and with a whisper of sound we were off like a shot. We tore across the flat plains of that world in the blink of an eye and before I even knew what was happening, we were headed toward an enormous tree that appeared in a flash of light upon the ground. Before I could even consider the full height of it, Sleipnir rode through the side of the tree as if it were a doorway instead of solid wood.
“I hope Hephaestus spoke true about you,” I yelled to the horse as we rode up the center of the tree as if it were a road on Earth. “It’ll be a wonder if I can find my way back home again.” I wrapped my arms around Sleipnir’s neck so that I didn’t slip and held on. After a few dizzying moments of upwards travel, I shut my eyes with the thrill of it and long before I was tired of the ride the motion of the horse stopped.
When I opened my eyes, I beheld a world wreathed in mists. We were standing beside the trunk of the giant tree which had provided a portal to that realm and a pool of clear water was near. I climbed off of Sleipnir and approached this pool, drawn by the light reflecting off the water and the promise of a refreshing drink after our wild ride through the worlds.
“Who stands before Odin All-Father?” a powerful voice came from the far side of the spring, startling me as I knelt beside the pool. Out of the mists, a spirit in the shape of an elderly man appeared who wore a concealing dark cloak and hood. In his right hand, he held a staff which was shaped of a single twisted branch. On one shoulder, I beheld a giant raven and circling around the god’s head I spied another raven who was so like the first that they could have been one avian spirit in two forms.
A snowy white beard emerged from the god’s hood but other than that I couldn’t see very much of his face. Within the cave-like hood, I beheld a reflection beaming from one shining eye, but it was much brighter than a normal eye should be. Odin’s left eye shone in the darkness and through the mist like a lone star in the night sky, a beacon to those who needed a light to guide them home.
I blinked my own eyes to clear them of the god’s influence and bowed my head in respect as I rose to my feet. “My name is Heidi, Great One,” I said. “Hephaestus of the Grecian pantheon sent me to your door. I have traveled to many places and spoken to many beings, but I have never had the honor of meeting you, Odin.”
“Oh yes, a very great honor indeed,” the god chuckled to himself as he reached the edge of the pool. “Why have you come, Heidi? Few seek the gods’ wisdom anymore, let alone communicate with different pantheons.”
“Hephaestus and I have known each other for a very long time and I consider him a dear friend,” I said. “I travel the worlds, learning the mysteries of creation and the patterns which move us all so that I may share that information with those who wish to evolve their soul consciousness. Today I seek the nature of this place and your wisdom, if you would deign to share it with me.”
“Ah, my wisdom,” Odin said. As the god reached the edge of the pool of water, a throne made out of wood appeared behind him and he sat. Both ravens settled as well, gripping the arms of the chair in their dark claws. “Many value my wisdom though few seek it as I said, making it somewhat of a precious commodity. What would you trade for it?”
“What would you consider a worthy trade?” I said. “I’m from another world so I carry very little with me though I can dream and imagine whatever you desire into existence.”
“Treasures have little appeal for me because there is nothing in heaven or earth that I have not experienced at some time or another in my long existence. However, a story for a story, I believe would be fair,” said the god, stroking the feathery neck of one of his ravens. “Unless, of course, you would rather give an eye as I did.”
“Perhaps a story would be best,” I agreed and seated myself on another wooden chair that had appeared opposite to Odin’s seat. “As I’m quite fond of both my eyes. What sort of tale would you like to hear?”
“You seek my true nature and wisdom,” the god said. “I desire a story that gives me an equal insight into yours.”
“Then I shall speak to you of my life in my waking world,” I said. “What I say next is true and a window into my nature that none in the myriad Inner Worlds has yet heard from my lips. Attend my words, oh Great One:”
Once upon a time, there lived two friends who had known each other for many, many lifetimes and had many, many adventures. They decided one day to have yet another life experience because they were eternal beings and enjoyed seeking and finding each other in a world far different from their own. It was almost like a game to them and a way to learn more about themselves and each other than they would by remaining in their own realms.
The two friends decided that in this life experience that they would share time together and a child and through the varied up and down movements of their lives paths, learn again that they were eternal beings, untouchable by time and death, though the world that they would live in and their own bodies would try to convince them otherwise.
In order to truly appreciate the experience of finding each other again, they both agreed to forget their eternal natures when they moved into the flesh. They would forget how long they had known each other and even that they were deathless. They would forget everything except the knowledge deep in their hearts that their friend not only existed but lived for the moment that they would meet again.
Thus the game that was not really a game but life itself began once more.
As I spoke, two figures made of light appeared on the surface of Odin’s pool and they began to move and dance to my words.
The one of the two, who decided to embody the male in this life, went first. He had many experiences and almost lived an entire lifetime before the female came to Earth. He worked various jobs, had a family, and through time and circumstance, bravely entered a dark shadowy valley of the mind, created from his own forgetting and desire to remember his true nature.
One fateful day, he even faced his own mortality because of the depths of his despair, but into the valley of shadows, a single thought appeared and kept him alive. That thought was the beginning of his remembrance of himself.
Meanwhile, the female of the two began her life as her friend was battling shadows. She grew up protected and cared for, oblivious to the struggles of her distant friend. Through many adventures and false trails, she abided by her original agreement with her friend to forget her eternal nature too. But, she retained the desire to find both her nature and partner, and so, for years, looked and looked for the missing piece that would return her memory to her.
One day through what seemed like a series of coincidences but was really anything but, the friends met each other again. One look at each other’s face and they didn’t remember their eternal natures but they began to share a happiness of being and a purpose for living that seemed quite heavenly in its origins. This happiness was a reminder of who they really were and a trail of breadcrumbs that led back to the eternal and the great game of existence.
And so, the friends began to follow this new trail together and through their companionship it led them back to themselves. They learned and experienced everything they could have hoped for and more. They learned the eternal experience is to become the temporary and to pass back into the infinite.
Along the way, they remembered that they were embodiments of love and that all in existence is the same. They realized all who walk the paths of life are held, raised, and developed by a love that guides their steps whether they are aware of it or not. And, they were content at last for theirs was a game that never ends and their friendship became something more than either of them ever dreamed.
Odin looked up from the pool where the small figures had sunk back into the waters they had emerged from and gazed carefully at me. “This is a good story, Heidi,” the god said. “Whose is it?”
“I told you the story of my husband and me,” I said. “It is our story and I hesitate to speak it because it brings me grief.”
“Why should a story like that fill you with sadness?” Odin said. “It seems like a victory to me, a triumph of the light over the shadows of the world through a shared life experience.”
“Because our marriage ended,” I said. “It is not something I wished for him or myself and the shadows from its dissolution still walk in my mind and heart. I seek to alleviate suffering, not cause further harm through my life journey but in that instance I failed miserably.”
“A story’s ending, happy or sad, does not determine its worth to those who lived it,” the god said. “Only the ones who walked the path have that power.” Odin put the end of his staff into the waters of the pool and began to stir it lightly in circles. “You have earned your wisdom, Heidi, do not let grief cast a shadow over your heart. Which cheering adventure do you wish to hear from the life of Odin, Rune Reader and Far-Seeing?”
“Truthfully, I know so little about you, Great One,” I said. “Perhaps it would be best if you chose the story.”
“As you will it,” Odin replied and when he raised the end of his staff from the water, I found myself gazing into a field of grass and flowers on a bright, sunny day upon the surface of the pool as if looking in a mirror.
“Once upon a time, the world was a very fresh and young place and the true natures of man, woman, beast, and plant dwelt close to the surface where you could see them with your own eyes. Granted, I had two eyes then but anyone who wanted to could see things how they really were. True sight was a common ability for all beings rather than the exception.”
A young man with blonde hair and eyes of the bluest sky was seated in the grass of a meadow sheltered within misty mountains. The god gazed outwards at the world as the wind stirred his hair. He plucked a single blade of grass and brought the dew drop that hung from it close to his face. There was a rainbow shining deep within the surface of the dew and that multi-hued light was reflected in the god’s eyes.
“I loved the simplicity and truthfulness of that time, and would have valued it all the more if I had known it would one day end. But at that time, I saw nothing ominous in the twisting and turning paths of future events as I wandered in the meadows and forests around the Great Tree, seeking new experiences and new truths. I was free from any worry or care, and very happy.”
The god stood in the field of grass and dusted himself off. Then, as he began to wander into the woods past the meadow, Odin started to sing and the trees and plant life moved about him as he did so as if they were dancing in his presence.
“Oh, I am the one called Odin. My life is blessed and free. I seek out the sun and wander and run through the forest that borders the tree. Hear me, gods of wilds and also those of folds. Come walk with me and you’ll also be free to seek the worlds untold.”
A patch of flowers bowed to the god as his song ended and as he passed them by he gave them a smile in return.
“I went everywhere in my sphere of influence. Through my exploration, I had seen many strange sights and beings. But on this day, I found one stranger than I had ever imagined.”
The god reached a portion of the forest that was darkened with shadow within which a great dead tree sat in the midst of the blight and the sun didn’t reach the ground through the thick fog which shrouded the area. Odin shivered in the chill wind that emanated from the place, so different from his blessed meadow and protected glens.
“Hello! Who dwells here?” the god called. “I thought I knew every corner of this world. I see I was mistaken.”
A dark shadow detached itself from the center of the dead tree and came at first on two legs towards the young god. Then, it stretched itself along the ground and changed its form into a creature with four legs, black fur, and a slavering mouth full of fangs. The shadow wolf padded its way quietly towards Odin.
“Who am I? Who are you?” snarled the wolf. “I did not ask to come here. Did you summon me like a lackey? You shall learn your error for I am a power of my world and will not be summoned against my will.”
“Peace, Wolf,” the god said. “If my presence brought you here, I know not how this was accomplished.” Odin reached to the ground and picked up a long piece of sturdy wood that he held in front of him like a weapon. “But I will not be threatened. Therefore come no closer, demon. I am young, strong, and more than capable of sending you back to whatever hell you came from.”
The black wolf paused and shivered. Then, its form changed once more and it grew tall and willowy until she appeared as a beautiful woman with deep blue skin the color of ice, eyes as black as coal, and long, hanging black hair as dark as a raven’s wing. A chill wind came from her skin and moved the spirit’s hair and blue dress about her incessantly.
“No need to threaten me,” said the giantess. “I mean you no harm and I am no demon. I only wish to return to my home and those I love.”
I had never seen a goddess like this in my life and I had seen many, many beings. Her beauty pierced my heart as surely as any arrow and I was astonished by her appearance but also wary. “If you are no demon, you will tell me your name,” the god said. “I am Odin the Far-Seeing, and this is my world.”
The giant who was also a wolf inclined her head in greeting.
“My name is Jormunda,” she said. “I am Queen of the giants and dwell in a world of ice and snow.” She held up her hand and Odin gaped in amazement at the scene that formed above her open palm. Snow glittered brightly beneath a sunny sky as a palace made of ice as blue as the goddess’ skin rose from the frozen landscape to tower high above and within a mountain fortress.
“There is no such land,” said Odin when he had recovered his senses. “If there was, I would have seen it. I see everything in this world, even the most distant places and exotic ruling powers therein.”
“There are worlds you have never dreamed of,” replied Jormunda. “And peoples more diverse than you could ever imagine. I have seen them with my own eyes and speak only the truth of my life experience.”
“How did you come so far from your home?” Odin asked. “Perhaps this will give us a clue on how to return you hence.” The goddess looked troubled.
“I followed the call of the north wind to a deep crevasse in the ground, hearing my name in his breezes and blowing. I have followed the call many times before, but this time he led me to an abyss and then whisked me off of the side of the ravine into the darkness of the void it contained. I fell for so long I feared oblivion but when I came to my senses once more, I was in this world inside that tree.” Jormunda gestured behind her. “This realm seemingly cannot abide my very presence. Everything I touch absorbs the cold from my spirit and suffers from it. I have brought death whereas in my seat of power I am life itself. I want to go home, Odin Far-Seeing, where I am meant to be.”
Odin looked above and below the dead tree but could see no cracks or doorways to another world. “We must devise a plan to send you back,” the god said. “Come with me, Jormunda. I was unaware of the existence of your realms but, if anyone has gone to these places and knows the paths to reach them, it would be my friend the squirrel of the World Tree.”
“A squirrel?” laughed the queen. “How would a squirrel be able to return me to my home?”
“He has talents unlike regular squirrels,” said Odin. “You’ll be surprised and delighted by him just as I was. Follow me, Jormunda.”
Together, the giantess and the god moved through the forest and where Jormunda passed the plants withered and died in her presence, leaving an easily followed trail of destruction in her wake. Odin issued a warning to those in their path of her lethality and many were spared by his words but not all. Finally, they reached the base of the great tree that dominated the landscape of Odin’s realm.
“Ratatoskr!” called Odin up the trunk of the tree. “I have an acorn just for you!”
There was a chattering noise and a small squirrel raced down from the branches of the tree. He skittered off the trunk and up Odin’s body, resting on his closed fist while the god gave him an acorn from his pockets which the squirrel consumed with obvious enthusiasm.
“I have never before asked a favor from you,” Odin spoke softly to the small creature. “But this day I need your assistance. The Queen of the Giants wishes to return to her home world which I believe is connected to this tree. Are you aware of her realm of winter?”
The squirrel looked steadily at Odin with intelligence in his eyes. He didn’t respond in words, but gave a quick up and down motion of his body like a nod or bow.
“Would you be willing to bear me and Jormunda hence?” Odin asked. “It could be quite perilous as her presence has a poisonous influence upon those of our world. I’ll pray to whatever power rules over you that you will be protected and you have been within the myriad areas of the Great Tree already including hers with no ill effects to show for it. In return for your assistance, I will always bring you acorns and sweetmeats for your enjoyment. Is this agreeable to you?”
The squirrel sat for a moment and then bowed once more as if in agreement. He ran from the god’s hand back to the tree where he suddenly grew so that he was larger than both Odin and Jormunda and of a sufficient size to act as a steed.
“Come, my lady and Queen of Winter,” said Odin. “We will return you from whence you came.” Together, they climbed on the back of the squirrel who shot straight up the trunk of the tree.
Jormunda reached her hands around Odin’s back to hold on to him. One of her hands rested on the sleeve of his left arm, but on his right side her hand touched his bare wrist.
The god and the giantess continued up the tree until the squirrel took a turn on a limb far from the place where they had started and sprang through a gap in reality that appeared upon it. There was a flash of light, a burst of snowflakes, and Odin entered the giants’ realm for the very first time in the company of one of their most ancient and noble leaders.
The squirrel stopped at the beginnings of a path that led through winding mountains towards a distant palace made of ice and snow. Odin helped Jormunda down from the squirrel’s back. “Can you find your way from here, my lady?” the god said. As he stood upon the frozen ground of the world of the giants, the snow retreated from his form, causing bare patches of earth to appear beneath him. “I would take you all the way to your doorstep but your world seems to tolerate my presence as poorly as my world tolerates yours.”
The Queen of the Giants reached down and plucked a single flower from where it sprouted at the god’s feet, a demonstration of his power so far from the realm of his influence. “I owe you a boon for returning me to my home, Far-Seeing One,” she said, bringing the unexpected blossom to her face to smell its essence. “Until the day you need the favor and ever after, please consider me your friend.”
“May it be as you say, Queen Jormunda,” Odin said with a bow and stately flourish of his hand. “Consider me an ally of yours as well.” Then the god climbed aboard the squirrel and returned to the world that knew and loved him.
I came out of the trance caused by his words and looked up from the pond at Odin who still sat upon his throne before the water.
“I did not notice her touch on that day with the excitement of the ride up the Great Tree and the discovery of new worlds for me to explore,” he said. “But my body would forever retain the trace of her otherworldly power.” The god rolled back his sleeve and around his wrist like a burn mark or old scar was a handprint with finger marks circling his arm.
“The squirrel and I brought Jormunda back to her home world without incident as you saw and left her there. But as she had changed my body, unbeknownst to me I had changed hers. Recall how I said the world was young and natures floated very near to the surface?” Odin said and I nodded my head in remembrance.
“Just one touch of my bare arm impregnated the Queen of the Giants and she gave birth some time later to a child of both worlds, mine and the giants,” the god said. “She sent a message to me through the squirrel of the existence of our child as well as the consequences she endured for bearing the same. Her husband, Jormund the Terrible of the Mountain Heights and Snowy Woods, never forgave me for what he saw as an unforgivable trespass with his consort.” Odin lowered his sleeve to cover the mark. “My journey into other worlds began on the same day I created an unending war between my folk and the giants. My greatest adventure began with a great sacrifice on her part, a sacrifice but also a gift to the worlds, a child of my line and hers. But the tale of that child and all that happened next, Heidi, is for another day.”
A cookpot appeared next to Odin. “Share a meal and drink with me now that our stories are told,” the god said. “It is an old way of forging new alliances and friendships, and I’d like to mark this day with you.”
“As you wish, Lord Odin,” I said. “It is a ritual that we follow in my world as well.” The god handed me a bowl of thick soup with vegetables in it and a rich broth. We ate together in silence and then he handed me a golden goblet, filled to the rim with a liquid that I assumed was beer but upon sipping it, revealed itself to be a type of apple cider. Around the goblet’s rim, there were many runes carved into its surface and they lit up from within beneath the god’s hand and my own.
I took another long drink and handed it to Odin, who consumed the rest in one swallow. Then, he placed the cup in my hands and whistled through his teeth. Sleipnir came to his call and knelt while Odin climbed astride the horse.
“You have tasted my cup of Truth and Far-Seeing, Heidi,” he said. “You can only speak the truth of what you see in the other worlds but with that requirement comes a very great gift. You can see as far as I can into the past and future. You must speak the truth about it, but you can see it if you choose as well as I, a spirit of a time long forgotten.”
“Thank you, Great One, for your stories and your gift,” I said. “I will use them both for the betterment of all I meet in the myriad worlds. Someday when I have new stories to tell, I will find you again and we will speak of happier times rather than old memories filled with regret and sorrow. Before you go, may I ask one more question?”
“One,” the god said, holding Sleipnir back as the mighty horse prepared to gallop away.
“If you could change anything about that day with Jormunda, what would it be?” I asked. “Would you have avoided her touch? Would you have taken a different path through the woods?”
Odin’s eye sparkled at me from beneath the hood of his cloak. “I confess I have spent much time considering this very question and the answer is I would have spent more time admiring the rainbow in that drop of dew in the meadow before my journey even began,” the god said. “Destinies find us all in their appointed time. I would have spent more time in appreciation of the wonders of existence before the fulfillment of the fate of the Queen of the Giants and I.” With those words and a smile in a flash of teeth as fierce as a wolf’s, the god departed in a burst of motion and bright energy. Sleipnir took the god through the trunk of the Great Tree and he exited my reality.
I looked once more at Odin’s cup in my hands and it fell apart as I gazed at it. Instead of a cup, I found myself holding two handfuls of runes which had been etched upon it. I opened my hands and the runes fell into the pool of water which began to bubble and froth violently. Snowflakes rose from the surface of the water and I felt a chill wind on my cheek.
Then very softly as if from a great distance, I heard my name coming from the waters. “Heidi… come to me and I will teach you the songs of ice and winter,” a voice said. “Come to me and I will teach you of the snow and the frost and the mountain peaks. I will share with you the fate of the progeny of Odin. Heidi… Heidi…”
I considered leaping within the pool but then out of the corner of my eye I saw something flashing with bright energy. On the ground beside the pool, I discovered a four leaf clover and in its very center a dewdrop shone with light. I brought my face as close to the clover’s leaves as I could. Within the dewdrop, a rainbow appeared and sparkled at me so I smiled and leaned even closer to see the multi-hued light.
“Heidi…Heidi…come to me,” whispered the pool insistently and my attention was drawn from the rainbow in the dew back to its mirrored surface. A hand with skin the color of ice was emerging from the center of the pond. In his fingertips, the speaker held the flower that had sprung from Odin’s presence in the world of the giants. Frost lined its edges and they shone with a light as brilliant as the rainbow in the clover. I was mesmerized by its wintery beauty and took a few steps back towards the pool.
The giant continued to emerge from the water and, when his dark-haired head broke the surface, his eyes appeared just as Odin’s had when the world was young. They were the blue of the midday sky on a cloudless day and lighter than his skin which was the ice-hued colors of his mother’s folk. The power pouring from the eyes of the being of two worlds blasted me away from the pool’s edge as surely as a winter wind moves the snow upon a mountain peak.
Under his influence, my form shifted into a simple snowflake and shrank as I flew through the air and I fell into the clover with its rainbow dewdrop, my essence joining the water within it. I felt the giant pluck the clover from the field and he brought me close to his face, seeking me within the dewdrop itself.
“In honor of the favor my father never asked my mother to repay, I will take you to my world and instruct you in the ways of winter, Heidi,” the giant said. “Don’t be afraid, I will let no harm come to you.”
“I’m not afraid of anything,” I tried to say, but I was too small as a water molecule to be heard as the giant sank back into the pool with the clover containing me and Odin’s flower in each hand.
There my vision ended.
The Light Congress 