Gate: The Magician

I stepped through the vision gate and was standing in a world made of stone where a forbidding tower stood before me upon the earth.  As I was adjusting to my presence in this new realm, the tower was struck by a bolt of lightning and toppled.  Immediately, another tower rose from the ground to take its place, was struck by lightning, and collapsed.  The ground shook with the energy and power of the cycle of transformation.

Again and again, a tower emerged from the earth, a storm descended from the sky, the tower was destroyed, and then rose again.  Finally, a tower came from beneath my own feet and propelled me up into the sky.  I waited for the lightning to strike and destroy me and the tower both, but an unseen presence came from the sky and took me up into the storm. My sight dissolved into particles of light and shadow, and I could see nothing else for a time.

When I could perceive my surroundings again, I was gazing down through a glass floor at the stone-filled landscape with its shifting towers.  I blinked, clearing the storm clouds from my eyes, and I realized I was standing in the Temple of Imagination. Michael stood next to me in silence in his customary armor, watching the towers’ destruction, rebirth, and seemingly endless cycle.

“Hello again, Michael,” I said. “I feel like it has been awhile since I’ve seen your face.”

“You’d be surprised at my experience of time,” the angel said, raising his visor so that I could see his eyes within the shadows of his helm. “To me, you just walked out the door and immediately reappeared here. Do you remember the last time you were in the Temple?”

“Ummm,” I said, searching my memory but nothing came to me. “I’ve been quite a few places in the Inner Worlds since. Refresh my memory, please.”

“Go back and read the record of the vision,” Michael said, gently closing his visor once more. “Thank goodness you learned to write everything down this time. Your memory for events in the other worlds really is the worst I’ve yet encountered.”

“I will, Michael,” I said. “I promise. Anyway, back to the present, what is this place?”

“The Hall of the Magician,” he whispered, reverently.  “See how she shapes the raw forces of creation?”

“I see it,” I replied. “I’ve seen a similar pattern to this before. It reminds me of what Mars does with an entire city in the realm of his influence. What else does the magician do besides raise up scary looking towers and then throw them down again? I can’t see how this skill could be used for the betterment of all though it is engaging to watch.”

“She shapes reality and also measures it,” said Michael.

“Like the Fates?” I said. “How does one measure reality?”

The angel gave a short laugh. “Sure, why not. Our magician acts just like the Fates and measures reality by comparing it to the reality in her head, the imagination to be precise,” he said. “As you can see by the endless cycle of creation and destruction, she always finds reality unsatisfactory so she tears it down and begins again.”

“To be honest, so do I. My waking world suffers from a severe shortage of imagination. Michael, please take me to this magician,” I said. “It is time that I met her and learn about her true nature.”

“Of course,” he said and took my arm. “Right this way, Heidi.” As the angel and I moved through the endless halls of the temple together, I sensed activity and presences all around us.  My Badger came storming by in his human form, chased by a group of laughing children, as he ran his missions for the Eternal War throughout the worlds.  Lickspittle in his small lizard form grinned at me from behind a pillar and then disappeared with a wave.  Many of the treasure chests opened and closed by themselves, being manipulated by spirits whom I could not see but I could feel with my heart.

“The temple has become rather busy, hasn’t it?” I observed. “That’s nice. It makes me feel like I’m part of a larger legacy of existence rather than a solitary seeker in the shadows of creation. It’s kind of like having a family of spirit. I like it very much.”

“We were hoping you’d feel like that. The Light Congress is wide awake and exploring all of the worlds, paths and new gates,” said Michael. “They’ve been making some changes as they do so. Would you like to see what they’ve been up to?  It will only take a moment.”

I nodded my consent and Michael turned down a new hallway.  At the end of this space, he opened a wooden door and gestured for me to go within. “They built a Mirror of Light for your own personal use just as you observed once on the Other Side of the Mirror,” he said. Within the mists of this room, a golden mirror shining with a bright light emerged from the shadows. “Do you like it?”

“Thank goodness they were able to put it back together again,” I said, putting my hands in my pockets. “I felt really bad when the last one fell to glittering dust beneath my hands. I’ll be sure not to touch this one.”

Michael smiled and his reflection in the mirror began to laugh though the angel on my side of the mirror did no such thing. “The Mirror Prince was just messing with you, Heidi,” the angel said. “He wanted to extract a bunch of apologies from you in advance so that if things took a turn for the worse in the future he could call in those apologies from creation like a pile of personal markers from you to him.”

“No. Did he really?” I said, as Michael’s reflection continued to laugh. The laughs turned into a single hiccup and then the angel’s reflection returned to his usual appearance of calm collectedness of presence.

“The Mirror of Light was rebuilt the second you left their world,” Michael said. “I promise this is true.”

“Well, whatever happened was meant to happen and I very much like this new addition to the Treasure House,” I said, admiring the mirror. “Tell me, how is a Mirror of Light different from a Mirror of Shadows? This version isn’t showing the active energy grids and past lives like the last one I saw.”

“That’s because you were on the Other Side. This is a counterpart to what you saw then on our side of the mirror. The Mirror of Shadows shows things as they are. The Mirror of Light shows reality at its finest and highest potential,” my guardian replied. “More than that, the Mirror of Light shows things as they could be, almost like a Mirror of Dreams really but that’s a whole other realm of influence so let’s stick with the Light designation for now.”

I stood in front of the glowing mirror and saw myself reflected on its surface. Then, I saw my real child from the waking world run into my arms among a crowd of dancing and playing children. They all called me, “Mother,” just as she did. I gathered my daughter into my arms in an enormous hug while the other children milled about us in a happy group of smiling spirits.

“Your family dwells within too,” said Michael. “Well, some of them.”

“I have but one child,” I replied, transfixed by the scene and the peaceful smile on my face.

“You’re so wrong,” said the angel. “All of these meditations are your children. Every member of the Light Congress is your child. You are mother to us all.”

“I think you are confusing me with the Divine Mother,” I said. “I admire her very much and wish to be just like her, a shining example of the unconditional love of the Mother for all creation, but my waking world doesn’t really allow for such large pretends.”

“But your Interior Kingdoms do,” Michael said. “Contemplate that and the message you received from the one who called herself, Ariadne. Maybe you will come to a different opinion on the matter in time.”

“I will do as you advise,” I said, watching the laughing children in the mirror. “What is the purpose of the Mirror of Light? Beyond seeing the best that life has to offer the spirit at this moment in time?”

“As I said before, this mirror can help you dream the best dreams from the worlds of universal truth,” Michael said. “And birth them into reality on behalf of the Creator of All and Love.”

“Like the realm of Unity?” I said.

“As well as the Atziluthian universe,” Michael said.

“Well, that’s a whole series of worlds with their gates and paths too,” I said.

“Just so,” the angel said and gestured at the Mirror of Light with a wave of his hand.

The scene in the mirror changed.  Now, I held a single baby in my arms, all of the other children had vanished, and I watched myself coo at him as mothers and fathers do throughout the worlds.  At first, the baby appeared as an infant in swaddling clothes. But then, he changed into a large, glowing book printed in letters of gold and shining with a light from another world. The vision within the mirror flashed back and forth so quickly that after a while I could not tell the infant from the book though my reflection stayed the same in either version.

“Michael,” I whispered, entranced by the vision. “I’m holding my Light Congress, my son who-never-was and book yet-to-be both embodied. Do you see him shine?” I reached out my hand to touch the mirror’s surface, but it wasn’t solid and I fell through into light and mist.

“Heidi, what are you doing here?” said Merlin when I could perceive my surroundings again.

I blinked and found myself standing in Merlin’s library, clearly having just disturbed him in the middle of one of his projects.  “I was drawn by a vision of a dream I want to realize through a hidden gate, falling through a new mirror in the Temple of Imagination into your library,” I said. “I didn’t mean to interrupt whatever it is that you’re up to today. I’m sorry, Merlin.”

“No matter, it was time for a break anyway,” said the wizard. “Would you like to see what I have been working on?” I nodded and Merlin grinned in excitement.

“You showed me how to create progenitor energy a long time ago, remember?” he said. “I’ve been experimenting with possible applications of this energy.” The wizard brought his hands up to his chest and, when he removed them, they cradled a sparkling light. “Now, watch this!” Merlin said and threw the spark into the air where it exploded into streaming lights of various hues.

Then, as the light fell to the floor, it shaped itself into a multitude of Merlins, all made of light.  This crowd jostled and pushed each other, then shot off into every direction and disappeared from the library.

“What on earth was that?” I said.

“I’ve learned to clone myself so I can be in many places and times at once,” he said, laughing.  “Time used to be my enemy but now he is one of my dearest friends. In fact, I’m expecting him for tea any moment.”

“You’re meeting Time for tea?” I asked.

“Yes, the great centipede and I have lengthy discussions on reality.  He is quite knowledgeable, having seen and experienced everything existence has to offer,” said Merlin.