I have noticed in my life that all men have a liking for some special animal, tree, plant, or spot of their own. If men would pay more attention to these preferences and ask what is best to do in order to make themselves worthy, they might have dreams which would purify their lives.
Brave Buffalo
By the Power of Their Dreams
. . . .
..::It is predestined that the golden age shall come again; that men shall live together in love and understanding, and the earth shall become once more a garden of surpassing beauty as it was in the beginning.
But unlike preceding generations this era shall not pass away; for the God of it shall be Beauty and where Beauty, in its various aspects rules a people, that people shall be as permanent in eternity...
When we love the beautiful as we now love the dollar, we shall have a great and enduring civilization. When we adore the god of harmony as we once worshiped a god of vengeance, we shall know the inner mystery of life.
When we create with symmetry, preserve with integrity, and release with joy, then only are we good. Never until we have become one with the good can we be happy, for happiness is the realization of the internal beauty that joyously goes forth to mingle itself with the beauty that dwells in space.
Manley P. Hall
Lectures on Ancient Philosophy
. . . .
Chivalry was a rigid moral system and strict code of proper conduct for a feudal knight in the middle ages. Its main values were those of courage, loyalty, charity, courtesy, respect for women, honesty and benevolence. Enshrined in...many of the Arthurian Grail romances and chansons de geste of the troubadours, chivalry was especially required of all men of the knightly class.
Karen Ralls
Knights Templar Encyclopedia
. . . .
I died from minerality and became vegetable
And from vegetiveness I died and became animal,
I died from animality and became man.
Then why fear disappearance through death?
Next time I shall die
Bringing forth wings and feathers like angels;
After that, soaring higher than angels --
What you cannot imagine...
I shall be that.
Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi
. . . .
A ministering angel shall my sister be.
Shakespeare
Hamlet
. . . .
'So you have discovered a way to bypass the chip?'
Thelene leaned toward Axelis, elbows on table, as the Order gathered in the antechamber. Yeats joined them, taking a seat beside Thelene as they all concentrated their focus upon the monitor on the wall.
'Better. It can be ethericaly dissipated. We were able to access some abandoned tech from the Others...' Axelis pointed to a dark spot on the screen which appeared to be slowly disintegrating. 'You can see there, where the sound is being concentrated. In another 10 minutes or so it should be completely dissolved.'
'We should make this available to Athena and Jack as well.' Yeats was impressed.
'-- Not to mention Emlyn,' Thelene noted.
'Of course.' Axelis frowned. 'Time walking, even once, that's all it would take to get chipped.' He sighed, turning his gaze back to the screen. 'And this one never seemed to know when to stop. It is necessary for us to dwell here with him in this null zone between dimensions, however, for it to function successfully. His constant cravings are proving...troublesome.'
'Daryl was at the vanguard,' Yeats reminded them, 'and that same pioneering enthusiasm for discovery can sometimes slip into obsession.'
The company was silent for a moment as they watched the dot upon the screen slowly disappear. A soft chime sounded.
Axelis stood. 'That should be that, then. I will go fetch him to us while his body recovers.'
'You wouldn't rather I...?' Yeats lifted a mighty eyebrow in inquiry.
'No. It is time for some harsh truths, for he and I.' And with that enigmatic pronouncement, Axelis rose to his full eight feet and exited the chamber.
. . . .
Daryl lay motionless upon a bed table, with several instruments of unknown origin or purpose aimed his way. Axelis touched a couple of the screens above the bed and they went dark, a certain low rumble ceased.
'Get up.' Axelis crossed his arms before him, waiting. Still, Daryl lay unmoving.
Sighing, Axelis lay a broad hand upon his forehead and intoned an odd low chant which sounded somewhat Lakota-ish: 'ehka ona na esha nayee...ehka oahn...'
Daryl's body lay still. But, a lighter, brighter Daryl, not so solid, arose slowly and opened his eyes.
Axelis regarded this fantome. 'Come. We have business to discuss.'
Daryl stood, staring back at himself upon the table.
Axelis stopped at the doorway, glanced back.'Your body needs the rest. It has been healed of the implant.'
Daryl stared at himself. 'I feel...different. Sort of...open. It does seem like something is, missing.'
Axelis looked darkly at him, frowning. 'You have been a puppet without consciously realising it. You should sleep better now, at least. But, much has to change.' He held up a large palm, stopping Daryl's questions.
'-- Later. The others are waiting.' And turning on his formidable heel, left Daryl to follow his considerable wake.
. . . .
Back in the antechamber, the others were all staring eerily at Daryl. He felt like a bug under a microscope.
'What? You can see a difference now?' he asked.
'Yes. Of course.' Thelene answered. 'Your entire aura has brightened with new colors. You have more blues and violets, pinks now and even some gold about the edges.'
'What was it before?' Daryl stared down, worrying, not wanting to meet anyone's gaze.
'Rather darker. More red.' Yeats answered evenly, saying no more.
Axelis deigned to take a seat at last. 'On to business, then.' He nodded to Thelene who held Daryl's gaze for some minutes. He looked away. Hard to meet that deep pool of her eyes which seemed to see all.
'-- No more timewalking.' Her steely frown leveled him. She nodded, in punctuation.
Daryl laughed, nervously. 'I, ah...that --'
'-- WILL be the end of it!' Axelis slammed a fist upon the table.
Everyone jumped. Daryl was silenced.
Thelene began again: 'What you just did, nearly killed you. Was that your intention?'
Daryl opened his mouth. Shut it. He actually...wasn't sure. But he lied, 'No.'
Everyone noticed his aura change color. 'You can no longer, hide, I assure you,' Thelene advised him, voice weary.
'All or nothing. Is that it?' Yeats queried, 'You would really rather die than be without Anara, you think?'
'There is no fool like an old fool, it's true.' Axelis added. 'More so now than when you were a boy, certainly.'
Daryl felt a flush and return of familiar feelings; he was no stranger to being called on the carpet. He shook his head and began his rebuke: 'I --'
'--YOU, will never see Anara again!' Thelene held up one hand to silence him; her statement as dire as her visage. '-- Not in this life or any other.'
She looked like the otherworldly queen that she was, as she pronounced his sentence, much worse than anything he had imagined.
'This is no game.' Axelis looked like thunder. 'And Anara and the Merlin both know this better than anyone. They had to learn a hard lesson as well. And their payment is costly. Your small transgression was nothing compared to the treaties which were broken by them.'
'I never realized--' Daryl began…
'-- No.' Thelene interrupted,'You did not. However they did. They knew very well.'
Yeats spoke up then,'You have heard tales of the "fallen angels"?'
Daryl nodded.
'Where do you think they came from, eh? Legends of matings between the daughters of men and the nephilim? As Shakespeare noted, "by that sin fell the angels".'
A heavy silence settled upon the room. Axelis finally spoke, 'For that particular calamitous transgression we are still paying, and the karma, as you would call it, is monstrous. To pass oneself off as gods is one thing; that was bad enough. But to defile the office of sacred messengers comes close to being...unforgivable.'
The great giant seemed weary now, his brow lined with worry. 'We do NOT interfere in the light realms above, nor in the world of the devas and nature spirits. Even if possible, it is not done. To amd for your realm are they. You can see the confusion and misery such past transgressions have brought upon the peoples of Terra.'
He held one vast hand to his forehead. 'And you have hardly been the least of my worries, son.'
Daryl caught that last statement, right between his transubstantial eyes. Frightened now, he dared to glance up and noted Yeats nodding at him seriously.
Suddenly he knew the truth of having a sick feeling in one's stomach, even while inhabiting a non-corporeal state.
It was not a good feeling.
. . . .
'I am NOT going...down there!'
Emlyn stared into the Stygian darkness outlined beyond the hidden entrance Athena's nosing about had uncovered.
'Suit yourself.' Athena sat back, folding hands in lap. 'You know...' she began, 'my father also was a member of a secret society.'
'Truly, Athena?' Emlyn couldn't wait to hear.
'Indeed.' Athena smoothed her skirts. 'The Grand and Ancient Order of Firmly-Clenched Sphincters.'
Emlyn whooped, then began to choke on her tea, laughing.
'-- You probably know them by their casual address: "'Tight-Arsses."' As they say, in the vulgar tongue...'
Pouring more tea, Em drank and coughed, then taking her hanky, blew her nose and dried her eyes.
'Oh, THAT order! Yes, my father was also a member...'
'Right then.' Athena stood and tucked her skirt into her belt and grabbed a lantern. She glanced over her shoulder at Em. 'If I'm not back in an hour, send in the Marines...'
'Athena!' Em's hand shot out, grasping her shoulder. 'You know I can't let you go alone...wait while I find another lantern, yes?'
Athena said nothing, and as soon as Em was gone, she started down the steep stairway, coughing a bit at the dust.
'Athena!' Em called from above.
'Oh, and do bring a broom, also!' Athena called, 'The cobwebs are quite robust here!'
Wonderful, Emlyn thought, robust cobwebs...this had not been her idea of a relaxing evening at home with friends.
Still, she took both lantern and the broom, using handle to knock off the worst of the offending dust magnets as she followed Athena down into the Cellar of Mysteries.
'I'll take that,' Athena turned and relieved Em of the broom, as she combed the low ceiling above, and they advanced on downward, slowly clearing the way, sneezing and coughing en route.
'It smells musty...' Em's nose wrinkled as she held her pocket handkerchief over her face, wishing she'd brought a bandana.
'Could be worse,' Athena set the broom down, and advanced into the cellar proper. 'Let me find another light, maybe. I suppose...we should be wired for electric down here?' She set her lamp upon an old file cabinet and turned up the wick, glancing round the grey dusty piles that looked like nothing but sheets tossed over who-knew-what.
Em joined her then, and held her lantern up, inspecting the walls for anything resembling an electrical light switch or outlet, anything other than dust and mouse droppings...
'I wonder if this could be...?' Emlyn grabbed a large black knob mounted upon the wall with her hanky and turned it to the right.
Light crackled to life as lamps mounted overhead were juiced up, casting a grey light upon the grey dusty humps surrounding them.
'Eesh,' Em looked about disgustedly. 'It's even nastier in the light.' She rubbed her arms, 'And freezing down here!' She walked over to a large besheeted lump and peered under the cover.
'Put a hanky over your nose!' She called to Athena, and tugging the sheet, uncovered the object in a cloud of dust and debris.
'What the deuce is this?' She asked.
A table of sorts, outfitted with an odd sort of lamp over one end, while various metal claw-like contraptions surrounded it, looming like vultures hovering to strike.
'Didn't Daryl say that he saw this cellar being used by your father for...some sort of experiments?' Athena's enthusiasm seemed to have quickly morphed into fearful caution. Having had first-hand experience with the Others, this seemed altogether advisable.
'Exactly,' Emlyn frowned, stalking about the room, now intent upon her surroundings. As she worked her way through the maze of dust heaps, she lifted off a sheet here and there from the unknown shapes which, when uncovered, remained unknown still, so odd and unlike anything in the known world were they.
Athena was silent now, and stayed where she was, frowning about her, no longer a Pandora eager to satisfy her raging curiosity. Occasionally she would look over at Emlyn's progress, but she followed her not.
'I cannot imagine what any of these things are for...' Em thought that perhaps they were best left in the dark, after all. Then she came upon something under a corner table, something sans sheet.
A large chest it seemed to be.
'Hel-lo.' Emlyn bent over it, scanning the grimy surface for something like a latch. 'It looks rather like your pirate chest, Athena, back at the gatehouse.'
'Indeed?' Athena bestirred a bit at this. She had always had a fondness for buried treasures and piratical Pandora's boxes...
Finally, she joined Emlyn at the chest.
'Do you see a handle, or lock, or anything...?' Em asked, taking the broom to the dusty hulk, stirring up clouds and coughing.
Athena waved a hand at the clouds of allergens and crouched down, inspecting further. Suddenly, she wasn't all too sure of this venture. She glanced around the dark, dismal room, feeling skin-prickles as though they were being watched. Well, this had been her big idea, she supposed.
'It's in the back, against the wall. The chest is turned backward.' Athena grasped one end, Em took the other and they shifted it a 180.
'There.' Emlyn swept the lock and knocked it off at once. It clatter'd to the floor in a rusty clump. 'Well, here goes nothing...'
Taking one end of the lid, while Athena grasped the other, they gingerly lifted the mouth of the beast and let it fall open in a rush of must, dust and mold.
'Whew!' Em waved a hand. 'Whatever it is, it's moldy and rotten now.'
Athena said nothing but her frown lines increased as she bent over the gaping box.
'Let's see that broom...don't touch anything yet.'
Athena poked the handle about, gently disturbing the thick layer of dirt and cobwebs, and not a few scuttling spiders. 'A Black Widow bite we do not need,' she observed.
'There certainly seems to be a lot of dirt in here!' Emlyn exclaimed. More so than simple accumulation of dust through the years would account for. Was this a collection of gardening tools, then?
Athena was stirring the dirt. Until she found something.
Something white. And looking rather like a large femur, she suspected as she lifted it. Other lumps of white showed through the dirt and mold.
'I don't think we need look any further.' Her shocked gaze met Emlyn's equally distressed look.
Emlyn grabbed the broom, slammed the lid with a bang! And the two women grabbed the lamps, shut the lights off and made their way back up the narrow stairs pronto.
They exited the wall entrance and Emlyn ran into the kitchen, while Athena closed the door to the 'secret' passage.
She blew out the lantern as she followed Emlyn's flight path, finding her setting a kettle on the stove to boil.
'I need tea.' Em's eyes were wild. She needed a hell of a lot more than that.
Athena began to speak, but Em held up a hand, shaking her head. 'No. Tea first.'
Realising her friend was in shock, Athena sat at table and left Emlyn to her own reactive concerns.
Odd, the different ways in which people react to shocking events. Like finding a skeleton, or skeletons, in one's basement.
Emlyn seemed fine, as she methodically measured tea into the pot, setting mugs on the table, putting out honey.
-- The old: 'I'm fine, just fine, everything's fine!' dance of denial, thought Athena.
Hopefully, tea would help.
She waited quietly whilst the kettle sang, and Em poured and took it to table, seating herself finally, across from Athena.
No one said or did anything for some minutes. Finally,
'Shall I pour?' ventured Athena, making Em jump at her voice. Em nodded mutely.
Pushing her mug toward Em, inching the honey her way, Athena poured her tea and stirred, waiting.
At last, after taking a tentative sip, Emlyn spoke:
'I must leave this place.' Her eyes met Athena's. 'And I shall not be returning here, again. -- Ever.
. . . .
Silence reigned round the table.
While the others were brooding in their own thoughts, Daryl felt his world reeling wildly away from him. How had this happened, so...swiftly, so...
-- It didn't seem possible; just when he had found a way to travel sans Cup and Box, to do the right thing... he thought he had acted responsibly, for once.
'You must choose.' Thelene was speaking, he realised.
'What's that?' Daryl was still in shock.
'-- Where you will stay. You may no longer galavant about through time and space. Your wings have been clipped, Icarus.' Thelene's gaze showed no hint of humor.
'Which would you prefer, Daryl?' Yeats inquired, his voice modulated with a softer tone, 'If you choose your eastern estate, where Athena resides, it is there you must stay. Or, if you return to the west and Nob Hill House, you will remain in the 19th century.'
Daryl frowned slowly shaking his head; he couldn't possibly decide, like this, with no time to think --
'But, Athena, I have a responsibility to look after her...'
'I will take that welcome charge upon myself,' Axelis assured him. 'I have been in touch with Thelene's sister for some years already.'
Daryl had forgotten, Athena/Thelene were close. What could he do? It was an impossible situation...surely they couldn't expect--
'-- CHOOSE!' Thelene was adamant.
'Yes! Alright!' Daryl held up a hand. 'It would seem I have only one choice,' he sighed, 'I must return to the west, and back to Nob Hill, then.'
Thelene nodded. 'Your choice has been accepted.'
. . . .
With that, the company left the table, excepting Daryl and Axelis, whose features seemed carved in stone as he regarded Daryl like an unfortunate spot on a tablecloth.
Nothing was said for some time. Just the two of them, then. 'Confusion worse confounded'; Milton seemed apropo. Daryl squirmed within, but held his own.
At last:
'We have, past business to discuss,' Axelis declared, standing.
Daryl was attempting to join him, but heard: 'Sit.'
Daryl obeyed, like a good pup.
Axelis began to pace the room. He stopped and sighed and then, placing a large hand upon the wall, pushed slightly and the wall evaporated, becoming a window.
It was all Daryl could do to remain seated. He saw that they were many miles above the planet; clouds sailed smooth and billowed below blue empyrean. Land masses rose and fell; mountains of glorious lapis faded to umber plains which drifted into the oceans aquamarine...Gaia's palette revealed in an awesome panorama. Blake's 'fearful symmetry' swam through his overwrought consciousness.
'We're...aboard ship,' he managed to state the obvious.
Oddly, Axelis nearly smiled.
'You must have known, surely.' He looked out over the scene and stopped briefly, studying the view. At last, he took a chair near Daryl.
Daryl looked around him. 'This isn't the same ship that picked up Jack, that time...'
Axelis sighed. '...That time HE was nearly killed?'
He locked his gaze to Daryl's then. 'Looking out for you all has been a difficult and time-consuming effort. We both have better things to put time and mind to.'
Daryl stifled his loquaciousness and instinctively settled into listening mode.
Axelis glanced down upon Daryl, seeming to mull him over. A slight frown creased his brow.
'Tell me this then: how did you come to us here? By "craft"--' he held up a hand, 'or by "craft"?' His hand swept about the room, indicating the ship.
Daryl knew his meaning. He nodded. 'By most ancient craft indeed. No technology needed.'
'Exactly. And your so-called researchers out there, seeking for nuts-&-bolts, stray hairs of Bigfoot...a pity, and a shame.'
Axelis stood and resumed his trek about the room-not-a-room, Daryl now suspected.
'Male-dominated worlds are stunted by this inability to fathom what they cannot see and feel. Had your religions not denigrated and demonized the divine feminine, you would not have created this catastrophe, the dead world which your planet has become.'
He stopped before the window, staring. 'This scene before you is a hologram of earth, prior to your devastation.' He glanced over his broad shoulder at Daryl. 'Everything, everything, you ever needed is WITHIN you, not WITHOUT!'
'All the pollution, garbage, radiation, not to mention the abominations of war! NONE of this is necessary! Had your race simply developed the powers within! The awesome potential of humanity! You could have been as what you call 'gods' and walked among us.'
Axelis gathered himself, and slowly circled Daryl again.
In a soft voice, he continued, 'But no. What did you do? You burned them as witches. Told them they have no souls, which, in your abysmal ignorance, you also assume other creatures do not, with whom you share this treasure of a world...'
'All this negativity and propaganda, mostly from to the long arm of Rome, the 'Holy' Catholic Church. "The Empire never ended!' -- your visionary author Phillip K. Dick intuited this. A man with a very feminine sense of intuition and openness to receive, developing his own inner learning, and gnosis, not aping and swallowing all that the churches hammered into people: 'Believe only us! Your priests and clerics only know the truth! You are all miserable sinners, simply by accident of birth!'
Axelis paused and shook his great head, looked up at the ceiling.
'It is...regrettable.' He was silent for a time and then resumed his seat.
'There has been...a change. We haven't time to delve into details, so I will attempt to be brief.' Axelis looked down, and clasped his great hands together.
'It is true, that you, and Jack, as well as Emlyn, have certain...family ties, to my own.'
Daryl caught his breath. 'You, are her father, I thought.'
Axelis shot him a sideways glance. 'In a manner of speaking.' He then sighed, and stood again, resuming his panther-like pacing.
'Yes. Like Anara, she is my daughter.' He paused, looking out the window as they cruised silently over vast mountain peaks casting blue shadows below.
'But, she was also, his.' Axelis admitted. Daryl took that to mean, the Professor's child. 'We have much not only to address, but to redress. By "we", I mean, all my people.'
'Your people?' Queried Daryl, curiosity winning out over discretion.
Axelis gazed down upon Daryl from his Himalayan height.
'I appear somewhat different from most people, you must have noted.' The slight quirk of smile edged the corners of his mouth.
He then resumed his journey round the room. 'Some tea, perhaps...' Arriving near the exit, he pressed the wall and a counter top materialized, with two steaming mugs. These he took to table. 'It is a calming blend. Camomile and vanilla. With a touch of honey.'
Daryl was amazed to find his astral hand could grasp a cup and he could actually drink the hot liquid.
'Thank you. It's quite good.' Why he wasn't more terrified just now was a mystery. Sitting here, having 'tea' with Axelis whilst hovering over the planet seemed oddly quite natural.
Daryl wondered again if he was perhaps dreaming, or even dead?
'No. Not dead.' Axelis glanced over, snagging Daryl's eye. 'Not yet.'
Dauntless, he continued his disclosure:
'In the Long Ago, yes, we did make contact with your species, and yes, we did make some, what you might call 'upgrades' to your genetics. Your own scientists have performed similar procedures, you know of which I speak.'
'And, we did take certain liberties. Much to our...eternal regret, we now know. The onus has fallen upon us therefore, to attempt a settlement. What you call our 'karma', has returned...to bite us in the butt, as you would say.'
Daryl nearly choked on his astral tea. He never thought to hear such from the high and mighty Axelis, who continued unfazed...
'We knew we had to take more of an overt hand in affairs in the time period of your late 1930's.'
Daryl set down his mug, mind racing as he inwardly gaped at Axelis' announcement-cum-confession.
'-- The war.'
Axelis stared at his feet. 'Yes. The war.'
Again he rubbed his forehead, looking pained. 'A rogue element of our people had been somewhat instrumental in aiding the Axis powers at that time. They had been exiled by the High Council, but we were too late in discovering they had somehow returned and had infiltrated the German government, with the combined forces of another...shadow element.'
Daryl recalled that he had actually heard rumors of this before.
'Yes.' Axelis confirmed. 'The time now, is not for secrets and lies, but disclosure. Long overdue, really.'
Sighing, Axelis returned to his seat and sipped tea, resuming his elucidation.
'When your country...unleashed that abomination upon Japan, simply as an experiment!' He stared swords and daggers Daryl's way, 'That was not needed! The Japanese were near to surrender! And you KNEW this!'
'The government knew it.' Daryl was of the same mind as Axelis on this. 'And yes, it..it,' he shook his head, words failing, '...it was inhuman.'
To Daryl's surprise, Axelis then lay a warm hand upon his arm. 'I do not mean to accuse you, personally, of the horrors of World War II.'
'Jack...has Jewish blood.' Daryl stated after a period of silence.
'Oh, yes. As do you. And Emlyn,' was Axelis' nonchalant reply. 'Many in the German army did, and hid it.' His jaw clenched, and he removed his hand from Daryl.
'Ignorant fools! The suffering! The awful waste...' Axelis looked pained. 'Einstein, Oppenheimer...brilliant minds. Brilliant Jewish minds. And Jewish hearts...such brilliance from your classical musicians and composers.
'Your race has since suffered from the lack of such creative and resourceful brilliance. This, was the aim of the shadow element aiding the Nazis. To bind you to this dying planet, planting ideas of dominance over nature, and subduing it, and choking any influence of the divine feminine that might have mitigated the evil...to command that you multiply until you suffocate in your own garbage, without any 'exit strategy'.'
'To bring your race to its knees, then: to beg for their 'help'; making it seem as if you had done it to yourselves. Which you had done, of course, with some help. The inflated egos of your corrupt leaders bent upon despoiling all resources for a quick profit, knowing that tomorrow would never come, oh, yes, in your anything-for-a-buck, throw-away society, greedy men were eager to join forces with such unadulterated evil.'
Silence reigned as the two men pondered, in mourning, the terrible past.
Then Daryl spoke: 'I once asked Athena, 'How is it that Athena is the goddess of both war and wisdom?' And she answered, 'Wisdom, abides. It is a knowing, deep in your soul, unlike mere knowledge, which can be forgotten. After a war, men were supposed to have known wisdom. The wisdom to never, ever war against one's brothers and sisters again.'
Axelis toyed with his empty mug, staring into it as he mused, 'Athena, is right. While it is true, that you did it to yourselves; the influence of the Others was great.'
He shot an odd look at Daryl then. 'The picture, though, is never altogether black and white. Perhaps, you may one day find, that you may have had a hand in the creation of the Others.'
With that enigmatic aside, Axelis inhaled and resumed his rant: 'After that, even the Council saw that we had to take bold steps. Envoys were sent.'
Daryl nearly smiled. '"Space Brothers"?'
A great sigh again from Axelis. 'Yes. At first, we came from 'Venus'. And then, later, as your science caught up, as it was bound to, our origin changed to the Pleiades, or Cassiopaea, or Clarion.
'Whatsoever humans believe, or are trained to believe, so they shall be. You do make your world, and can unmake it as well. You understand this; it is how you make your 'magic'. Should your life be ruled by fear instead, your fears would become manifest also.'
Daryl knew all these tales well. Abductee that he was, the search for answers was one of his foremost endeavors.
'Not another planet then.' This was a statement, not a question.
'Why would we be concerned if we were light years away from your backwater world?' Axelis looked out the window, his face lined with care.
'But, your scientists had no idea of the ramifications of atomics. Still haven't. It affects all dimensions, and much that you haven't a whisper of an idea about. ' He paused, pondering.
'But, speaking of our role in things, we saw that the time had come to redress what damage our influence had done.'
'Nag Hammadi. The Dead Sea Scrolls.' Daryl was a quick study.
Axelis regarded him, rearing back. He paused, smiling at last. 'I knew you had a working brain behind all that bluster of yours! Ah...' He looked into his empty mug, set it down.
'Everything began with Genesis, and went downhill from there...stripping all mention or teachings of the Divine Feminine. Without Her to blend, offer Her input into the world, men foundered on their own.
'Wisdom is not termed 'Sophia' for nothing. You have great need of the Divine Feminine. Of great and wise women invested with the power of the goddess and nature, intuition, creativity... Einstein stated that 'genius lies in the power of receptivity'. -- The Lake, The Receptive Feminine of the I Ching; the pause, the rest.'
'Otherwise, it is all bombast without peace,' murmured the musician in Daryl, 'like a symphony of kettledrums and horns; no strings, no harps...no voices of angels.'
Axelis spoke then. 'The angeles, yes.' He looked at Daryl.
'They are here you know, were here long before humankind. Weeping for you when you would not heed their urgent whispers. Always have been; world without end or beginning, like the fey and spirits of nature; they belong to this planet, spirits of the air, they are part of the sylphs and the Shekinah, the sacred breath of spirit, but so much more.
'They were here, long before the tales of the blood lust and human sacrifices of Jehova and the other warrior gods of men. When certain saints and mystics 'discovered' them, the church co-opted them for its own power plays and threats. They never had wings, much like the fey, until you gave them to them. And they certainly never 'fell'.
'Such nonsense, Axelis scoffed. That was us, as you know. Our matings with humans...thus interpreted, to give lie to their sacred glory, the glory of Terra, your Great Mother, whom you spurned.'
He closed his eyes then, voice dropping to a low throaty whisper...
'Had you embraced your sweet mother earth and taken your sisters into your arms in true brotherly love, cherishing them both, you would have joined them, perhaps. I know that you have ears to hear, and I would have you listen their song...'
. . . .
CLICK BELOW TO WATCH AND LISTEN!
Neil Young's "After the Gold Rush'
by a different Trinity:
Emmy Lou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton Live
