Tarot: The Hermit

I stepped through the vision gate and found myself gazing at the sun.  As my sight steadied and the details of the world became clearer, I realized I was actually looking at the pupil of a great eye, gazing fixedly at me with the sun at its center.

I then blinked and found myself standing in a room with a bright shining light beneath my feet in the place of my shadow. It streamed from a carving in the floor that was the exact shape of the great eye I had just beheld in the sky. I only had a moment to appreciate this decoration before the door swung open.

“Heidi, there you are,” said the archangel Michael. “Thank goodness you’re here. There was a curious development in the Treasure House of the Imagination and no one knows what to make of it.” The angel took my arm in his and led me through the pristine marble hallways of the temple.

“It showed up all at once,” Michael continued as we walked. “It appears to be some kind of volcanic disturbance.” He opened a door that led into a cavernous room that had lava streaming from the ceiling and it disappeared magically into the floor.

“Looks dangerous,” I said. “And hot. Has anyone asked the salamanders their opinion?”

Michael laughed. “No, I don’t think anyone has asked the fire lizards what they think about it,” he said. “As if they’d talk to us anyway.”

“Don’t be silly, Michael,” I said. “Of course they talk. I think the trouble is no one takes the time to listen to their reply which sometimes takes awhile to arrive and can be difficult to interpret once it does. What do you think this is?”

“I think it must have something to do with your creative mind,” he replied. “See how the energy moves like water and how it is aflame with potential.”

“Very curious,” I said. “Well, you and I have never backed down from an adventure and this looks to be quite promising. If we go in there, what will we see, I wonder.”

“Your destiny,” the angel said. “And maybe, just maybe, something more.”

“Do you really think that is what is contained within?” I asked. “Something beyond destiny?”

Michael turned to me with a quizzical smile. “Why do you ask me?” he said. “I answer your questions as truthfully as I am able, but, if you don’t know, I won’t know.  I’m a part of you and learn as you learn.”

“I ask because you always seem to know more than I do,” I said. “It’s not fair, really. Why are angels so much more clever than humanity when it comes to the Inner Worlds? It must be nice to have such clarity of vision and purpose.”

Michael unsheathed his sword.  “If I seem wise, it is because that is how you choose to see me,” he said. “The same applies for my cleverness, vision and purpose. Besides, I wouldn’t even be here at this time if you hadn’t decided to explore the realms of the Interior Kingdoms. Perhaps you know more about non-physical reality than you allow yourself to consciously realize.” He took my hand in his. “Shall we brave this place together, Heidi?”

“Yes, together,” I said and followed my angel into the falling lava which Michael and I passed through as simply as parting a curtain. On the other side of the flames, a staircase led down into solid rock.  The stairs were cut straight and true but the sides of the cave that contained them were uncut and unformed.

I ran my fingers along the bumps of the wall as Michael and I went down the staircase into the waiting shadows. “Once long ago,” I said as I went down the staircase. “I followed the god Mercury in disguise through the Great Library and he touched the books along the walls just as I’m doing now with the walls of this cave. I wonder if I will ever visit the library again or walk with the god?”

Michael paused upon the stair. “Would you like to walk with Mercury now?” he said. “I can appear however you desire, you need only tell me your preference. It is a simple matter for me to change my form.”

“Appearance is not the ultimate truth or proof of underlying natures,” I said. “At least, not in the way that people believe in my waking world and this is something I’ve verified in my various journeys. I was just reminiscing, Michael, so please let’s continue as we are and see where we end up.”

“As you will it, Heidi. Onward!” my guardian said and we began our journey anew.

At the bottom of the stairs, we discovered another underground cavern, much larger than the one up above. A lake of fire extended into this cave and the light given off by the flames was such that I could not see the far side of it. The lake bubbled with potential energy but nothing made a sound in that sacred, underground space.

“This room seems to be expecting someone,” I said. “Who is it waiting for?”

“You, I would think,” said Michael and the ground began to shake, stirring the lava until it roiled like a boiling pot. In the center of the lake, something began to emerge from the depths of the fire.

A bubble, strangely made of water and not fire, came from the endless waves of flame, borne aloft by a dragon’s claw. The claw rose into the air until the bubble was suspended at the very apex of the cavern.

“Would you look at that!” I exclaimed. “I wonder if the salamanders have a pact with the undines similar to what exists between the people of the air and water?”

“If they do, I’ve never heard of it,” Michael said. “I expect something like that would be quite difficult to achieve between two elemental peoples of opposite natures. At least the undines and the sylphs have rainbows to bridge the gap between their worlds like mist suspended in the air.”

“True,” I said as Michael and I flew across the lake of fire together. “Though if you think about it, at the conjunction of fire and water such as in this place, you might have the creation of solid rock or earth. The water cools the liquid rock and makes a domain for the earth elementals to exist and create their endless quarries, seeking the mysteries of creation. So we would actually be talking about a pact between three of the elemental kingdoms rather than simply two.”

• Chapter 61: Through the Mirror of Light and Granting a Wish or Two
• Chapter 60: Discovering a Shadow of the Collective Nightmare and Why the Hanging Woman Hangs
• Chapter 59: Walking through Badger’s Dream of Healing into Our Own Reality
• Chapter 58: The Lesson of the Night King’s Mother and the One Dream from the Many
• Chapter 57: A War Game of the Ancients and Reclaiming the Dice of Impossibility