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. 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 mirrored room, I discovered a wooden door with a black iron handle which opened under my touch.