Gate: The Eye of Horus
I stepped through the vision gate and landed in the center of a stone pyramid. Clear moonlight streamed down from a skylight in the pyramid’s apex and filled the center of the space. As I approached the light, I saw a falcon flying through the carved entrance from the sky and the predatory bird landed gracefully on the stone floor of the pyramid. As I gazed upon it, the spirit changed into the shape of a man with the head of a falcon and the being raised his hand in a welcoming gesture.
“I am the god known as Khonsu and this is a place of my power,” he said. “Wanderer, upon whose authority did you enter one of my most sacred spaces?”
“Great One, I was issued no invitation. I found you through the natural course of time,” I inclined my head in respect. “My name is Heidi and I have come to your threshold seeking your nature and wisdom.”
The god held up his hand and above his palm, in miniature, I saw the vision of a badger and snake fighting over an egg, the same image that had called me to explore the inner worlds. “I know exactly who you are, Wanderer, and I see all you have seen,” the god said. He lowered his hand and the vision faded; then Khonsu glided towards me, his feet hovering inches above the floor. As he did so, the pool of moonlight changed to water and, within the liquid, I saw monstrous crocodiles swimming my way.
“Call off your guardians, Great One, for I am not to be threatened,” I said. “Even by one who can see my current path and all that may result from it.”
The god waved his hand and the crocodiles turned away, vanishing within the deeper shadows of the pyramid. “They are merely my pets, Heidi,” he said. “And as curious about you as I am.” Khonsu began to glide around me, outlining where the moonlight lay on the floor.
“You are wise,” the god said, circling me like a wolf examining his prey. “In your journey, you ask for knowledge and not power. This is a rarer motivation than you know. Come and I shall share some of my mysterious nature with you.” He turned and gestured towards one of the slanted brick walls where a tunnel opened in its side, then he disappeared through it.
I made my way into and through the low tunnel, pulling myself awkwardly along with my arms but, despite my best efforts, I couldn’t keep up with the god as he slid within the darkness of his temple. So, noticing my struggles, he turned me into a huge serpent and, slithering along behind, I easily navigated the hypnotic twists and turns, following Khonsu deeper into the waiting shadows.
We came to a space deep underground where a huge, uncut gem shone with an inner brilliance. I was changed from the serpent back into myself.
“You see before you a lost treasure of the ancient world, the Great Moonstone of Khonsu,” announced the god. As he neared the gem, the light intensified in the underground space and he began to chant in a language that I did not understand. I shut my eyes so that I was not blinded by the power of the god awakening in his inner sanctum.
“Be not afraid. Open your eyes and gaze within the stone, Wanderer,” said the god’s voice in my ear. “Then you will see as I see.” Khonsu placed one hand on my forehead and the other on his own temple as I opened my eyes and peered into the shining gemstone. At first I could see only light and it filled my entire vision but then I saw the sun rising over a pyramid in the desert.
Khonsu spoke in my mind:
“Once long ago in the land of Eternal Summer, there lived a young man whom I loved as much as a son of my own blood. I called him Moshe, but he is known to your people as Moses.”
Within Khonsu’s projected vision, I saw a dark-skinned child, dressed in a linen loincloth with a lock of hair bound by a gold ring upon his forehead, playing next to the Nile.
“I first saw Moshe as he floated down the river in a basket and in his future I saw a devouring light that consumed him and possible greatness, but it was all ephemeral and unsure as prophecies can be. I turned all of my river-bound pets away from his basket, saving him from countless dangers and carrying his weak cry to the daughter of the Pharaoh- all in service to a potential destiny that shone like the primal light of creation through my stone.”
I saw moonlight shining down upon a burlap-dressed servant who presented a baby to a woman dressed in rich robes who stood on the river’s edge before the steps leading to Pharoah’s sumptuous lodgings.
“Moshe was a bright child who learned anything he set his mind to but he was unpopular with the other children in the palace because he had a terrible stutter. They teased him mercilessly, so he spent much of his time by himself at the riverbank. I felt compassion for Moshe because I could feel the loneliness of his situation coming off of him like a dark cloud.”
A young man threw stones into the Nile while a falcon watched from the reeds nearby.
“I took it upon myself to become his closest friend, coming to him in a disguise of humanity so he would not fear me. I played childish games to raise his spirits and taught him how to read the future in the flowing of the Nile’s waters. In time, to my delight, Moshe became almost as accomplished at this arcane skill as I.”
Two boys practiced skipping stones across the water, roughhoused through the reeds, tumbled through puddles, and swam in the cloudy depths of the river. Finally, exhausted from their fun, they sat next to the water, staring intently into its surface, and the light from the river’s reflection filled both their eyes so they glowed like small moons in their faces even in the bright sunlight.
“Great One,” I interrupted. “I know the story of Moses. There are very few on Earth who do not.”
“Be patient,” the god replied. “For we approach the part of his tale you do not know.”
Khonsu continued his narration of the vision: “Moshe saw in the water the all-consuming light in his possible future and became afraid. He did not want to die without fulfilling the purpose for which he had been saved from the river which was another potential path.” The boy and the god blinked in unison and the extraordinary light was banished from their eyes.
“I w-w-wish to r-r-r-remain as I a-a-a-am, in the p-p-palace and with y-y-you,” stammered young Moses. “W-w-w-what do I know of the l-l-light of g-g-gods.”
Khonsu threw an arm around his friend’s shoulders and pulled him close in an embrace. “I will pray to Khonsu to guide your steps,” he said. “Maybe the light is his wisdom imparting itself to you, not your imminent death. The future is not promised, merely suggested.”
“K-k-k-Khonsu only cares for p-p-p-priests,” Moses said. “T-t-this is well known.”
“You’re wrong, Moshe, so wrong. I will speak to him on your behalf and he will protect you,” said the god in disguise. “I will promise him whatever he desires to make this so.”
The boy opened his mouth to reply, but then there was a shout and Moses was summoned back to the Pharaoh’s palace. Khonsu waved as his friend left and then changed into a falcon and flew up into the sky.
“I was determined to face this desert god, Yahweh, and extract from him a promise that he would not destroy my Moshe, which was one of the possible futures that we both foresaw, but instead imbue him with the raw power of his wisdom,” Khonsu said.
The falcon’s shadow raced across the desert sands.
“Like other gods of natural spaces, Yahweh ruled a tribe of shepherds and dwelt on the heights of a mountain, shielding and concealing himself within clouds of fire and storm,” Khonsu said. “My moonlight could not pierce this cloud, so I had to climb the mountain like a human penitent.”
Khonsu changed from a falcon back into a man and began to ascend the rocky hillside, bearing many small injuries in his journey up the mountain.
“Unlike the gods of Egypt, the desert gods were unpredictable and jealous, demanding complete obedience from their worshippers and no recognition of other gods,” Khonsu said. “I knew I took a risk approaching Yahweh at all, but my love for Moshe was such that I did not care.”
Khonsu reached the heights of the mountain where a living pillar of fire burned within a cloud and a thundering voice issued from it: “On your knees, Khonsu: Keeper of Moonlight, Seer of the Gods, Falcon of the Nile, Friend of Man.”
The god threw himself to the ground in obeisance to the fire. “Great Yahweh,” Khonsu said. “You know my many titles, but I do not know yours.”
“I am that which I am,” the pillar of living flame replied. “Go back to your river temples and leave me in peace.”
“I would, Great One, but I come not for myself,” Khonsu said, rising to his knees. “There is a boy named Moshe who will one day stand where I kneel and speak to you as I do now.”
“Impossible,” said Yahweh, his fire reaching out from the cloud to surround the entreating god. “If you were not immortal, you would be burned in the fire of my presence. I permit no living man, woman or child to walk upon my mountain.”
“Great Yahweh, I know this is true and have seen my friend consumed in the fires of your being,” Khonsu said. “But also, I have seen, if you make Moshe your prophet rather than destroying him, he will carry the word of your greatness across the world and make your name ring through the ages. Consider placing your light within a plant or rock or something his human eyes may gaze upon and spare him.”
“It may be as you say,” Yahweh replied. “What would you give me if I let your friend keep his life?”
The light of the mountain stripped away Khonsu’s flesh so that now he appeared as a living flame like Yahweh.
“If you spare the boy, Moshe, I give you the knowledge of my name and any recognition it may inspire in my worshippers,” Khonsu said. “I give you my future and any potential followers I may have, now and forever, so all that shall be left of me in the fullness of time is the cry of a falcon in the moonlight.”
“This is a mighty sacrifice, Keeper of Moonlight,” said Yahweh. “Why do this for him, a mere mortal?”
“Because I love him as my own son and what he may become could help so many,” said Khonsu. “I have seen the name and teachings of Moshe build religions that will live forever, long after my temples have fallen to dust.”
After a moment of silence, Yahweh said, “I will spare this mortal called Moshe and I will also allow your name to remain in your temples and sacred texts. Worship of you will fade, this is true, but the name Khonsu will not disappear from the surface of the Earth and you will have more than moonlight in the fullness of time. I do this because you acted in love for the good of all. Despite my reluctance to engage with the mortals, I too am a Friend of Man, Great Falcon.”
The two pillars of light upon the mountain combined into one blinding entity of living energy.
Then, the vision broke apart and I found myself gazing at the great moonstone once more in the sacred temple space of the god.
Khonsu held a piece of his shining gemstone in his hands. “Wanderer, for seeking me, I would give you a gift,” he said.
The god came close until his falcon aspect filled my eyes and I could perceive nothing but Khonsu himself. Then, I felt the piece of the moonstone he carried enter the center of my forehead where it became one with both my flesh and spirit. Priests carrying bowls filled with incense appeared around us, chanting and swaying in a ritual that I did not know. A new energy filled my being and all I beheld began to waver with the moonstone’s energy like heat rising beneath a desert sun.
“Great Falcon,” I said. “What have you done? All is changed in my eyes. I now see others like their physical forms are dancing with energy.” I touched my forehead and my hands came away splattered with my own blood. One of Khonsu’s priests handed me a towel of soft linen which I used to cleanse my face and hands.
“We are awakening the Oracle in you,” the god said and raised his hands in both command and benediction. “Tell me, Wanderer, what do you see with your newly enhanced inner vision?”
In my mind’s eye, I began to see people and places. At first, the visions passed too quickly to recognize, but then they slowed. I saw my daughter as a grown woman, handing me a baby, bundled in blankets. “I see my grandchild,” I said. “I am perceiving the world from my mother’s viewpoint.”
Then, I blinked and saw an old, bent woman, placing a round stone atop a tombstone that bore the name of my husband. “I see myself mourning,” I said. “I am now standing in the shoes of my grandmother. As fascinating as it is to view reality from my loved ones’ points of view, please, great Khonsu, reveal to me a vision of the world rather than myself.”
The scene shifted and I saw the iconic skyline of New York, then I saw a disturbance happening at the feet of the Statue of Liberty. Khonsu’s voice filled my head, “This will happen within the next four years, so says the Great Falcon Khonsu.”
“Will the statue survive it?” I asked but the vision shifted too quickly to tell and now I stood in front of metal doors set into the base of a mountain. I was propelled through the doors into a room filled with computers where a person sat typing code into a machine.
Khonsu spoke again: “Even now, in the Cheyenne Mountain complex, someone is designing the first functional and evolving artificial intelligence, so says the Great Falcon Khonsu.”
“Conspiracy theories then?” I said. “Is that what gods see in humanity’s future?”
“We see what may be,” he replied. “Remember, the future is not set in stone.” Next, I saw the island of Japan as if from an unimaginable height. “Even now,” said Khonsu. “There is a child being born who will develop the first popular bio-implant, making the bodies of men more compatible with their machines, so says the Great Falcon Khonsu.”
“Khonsu,” I said. “I asked for a vision of the outer world but that was foolish as I will not be able to verify any of this. I ask you now for details of my possible future so that I may know you are the Seer of the Gods that you claim to be.”
I felt a new and powerful vibration beginning in my heart and it moved up into my head.
“Attend my words, Heidi: In January, you will receive an unexpected invitation that will benefit you immensely. In March, you will go on an unexpected journey. In April, you will have a positive return on a long held investment. In May, you will experience a moment of such beauty that it will alter your vision of reality. In June, you will receive news about your magnum opus. In July, your partner will receive the job offer of a lifetime. In August, you will read a book that will change your life, so says the Great Falcon Khonsu.”
My mind ceased vibrating, the energy returned to my heart, and I sat with the god in astonished silence in the waning power of his prophecies.
“Khonsu, I saw many potential futures when I was within your power,” I said after a time. “Some of it seems beneficial but other events I hope do not happen. Was this vision a warning of danger or promise of greater things to come?”
The god lowered his hands which had been held over my head the entire time. “Your vision can be both a warning and a promise,” he said. “Your perception of fixed and ordered time is what prevents you from knowing the difference between the two.” Khonsu drew a line in the air with his finger and along it, there stood many forms of a woman who looked like me. She was a baby on the left, aging in the middle, and an old woman on the right.
“Behold your lifeline, Wanderer,” the god said. He spun his hand hypnotically around my timeline and a phantom badger followed his fingers, running in circles, containing the whole. “You will now see the spirit world in action around you and all potential futures, uncontained in time, perceptible with your unique lens.”
“Do not mistake one reality for potential others, Heidi. Exercise your discernment to stay grounded in the present while you gaze at possibilities,” he said finally. “So says the Great Falcon Khonsu.”
Something jostled my hip and I blinked and found myself lying in the pool of moonlight in a pyramid. Badger pushed his cool nose into my cheek, awakening me further. “Heidi, are you alright?” he said in concern. “You have been lying there for some time. At first, I thought you were asleep but then you were still for so long that I feared you were lost to me.”
I stood, shaking my head to clear it. “Not to worry, all is well,” I said. “Badger, where is Khonsu?” I peered about us in the darkness and shadows of the temple space.
“There has been only you in the circle of light and me standing guard outside of it,” he said. “Who’s Khonsu?” I looked up into the moonlight of the apex of the pyramid and heard a falcon cry.
There my vision ended.
The Light Congress 