In the earlier imagined conversation Peeling Back the Unfolding Curtain, you were introduced to a method I employed to communicate with the select few who I trusted to comment on early drafts of Unfolding: Awakening and Unfolding: Nexus.
The setting is Athens, Greece, on the stage of the theater Dionysus, slightly modified and kept in better condition here than in the real world. The names used are pseudonyms to allow my friends to remain anonymous to each other.
In this piece, a short story presented publicly for the first time, are answers to questions of magick (magic) and The Tree of Life referred to within the Kabbalah.
I invite you to imagine being with me on the stage in the above photo. My desk at a right angle to the front of the stage and stone structures on either side of the stage to allow my friends access to various facilities as they have need. It’s autumn, roughly 18 degrees Celsius, and the sun is shining. There is a light breeze and the patrons’ seats are filled with people reading the Unfolding novels.
A Request
One of my readers approaches.
I look up, “You’re here early.”
“And you don’t have any shoes on again. Why is that?”
“I feel more focused, more rooted to the stage and to Greece without them.”
“To Greece, Jeff? Did you spend one of your lives here?”
“I’m not sure. As soon as I passed the port gates at Piraeus on my first trip and made my way into Athens, I felt as if I was home.” I lean back in my chair, “What can I do for you today?”
I’d like to have a name,” she stated, then looked away before continuing. “Last time you named First Woman and described me as her companion. I need something better than that. The way you write, I am sure people are forming ideas. We are companions, but in a higher sense – there, you’ve done it again. Now their minds are really going….”
Peering at my screen, I receive a suggestion from her, “Try not to use as many ellipses, OK?”
“That was my first today, but OK. Do you have anything in mind?”
“I don’t want to be ‘Second Woman,’ especially since I met you first.”
“Yes, but we met first in Second Life, so I think that’s a wash. On the physical plane, I met First Woman first. It’s all relative.”
“Don’t do it, please? I’m afraid people would think of me as less than I am – like Andrea.”
“Do people think Andrea is less? Or does she simply think of herself as less? Or neither?”
“I’m not sure yet. I’m lagging behind in my reading.”
“Don’t worry. Almost everyone except Old Friend is. We live in a busy world and allow it to make demands on us that a wiser society might eschew. Have you come up with a word I can use for her relationship with Tyler?”
“Other than tart?” she laughed. “We agreed that was funny, but not what you had in mind. No, not yet.”
“Well, unless one of us suggests anything else, I’ll leave it as it is. We simply don’t have a good way in our culture to describe her relationship, without cheapening a reader’s opinion of her.”
“She isn’t?”
“Keep reading. You told me you didn’t know.” I pointed to the readers sitting in the millennia-old seats trying to make up their minds, “I don’t want to lead anyone to my conclusions. They need to think for themselves. That’s why we have the bubble around us.” Nodding to the audience, “I may talk to them about it later, as I am with you.”
“I’ve noticed you’ve misspelled magic in the title – like when you prepared the first part of this report, you spelled peeled ‘pealed,’ an oversight, I am sure.”
“I was hoping you’d think of ‘peals of laughter,” sounding more defensive than I intended.
“No chance. You goofed and had to fix it for the blog post. And you did it again – and why do you start so many of your sentences with ‘and.’”
“It’s conversational and you’re the one who did it. Let’s continue to let people make up their own minds about the earlier post; it’s corrected anyhow. This one is definitely intentional.”
“What does it mean?”
“There is a form of magic that is different from the slight-of-hand you see performed on stages today. It’s spelled differently for two reasons. First it makes it mysterious, second it is special. Manufacturers and marketers have caught on, implementing the same idea when branding new products.”
“Do you practice the ‘magick’?”
“It’s all relative again. …How about if I call you – no, that wouldn’t work. I was thinking ‘Technician,’ but that’s too cold. You’re more than that. It’s deserving though, the way you can you put my humble skills to shame.”
The woman smiled, patting my shoulder. “You’re not the first author to tell me that. I could never write the story as you have done. If you’d have studied the written language as well as I, I’m not sure you would have been able to write your story. Reading it is taking me in new directions and I believe I am following your thoughts.”
“Magick?” I repeated, “It depends where you draw the line. I light candles. Some religions would call that witchcraft. Get to know me better and we can talk about it.”
“I’m getting confused. What about Candice and Old Friend? You report in the story and in our last visit that Candice performed magic. She admitted it! In the story, she does it when you first visited Andrea and found Tyler there. Candice uses it in the dreamworld, too. Old Friend, on the other hand, says the events aren’t magic, or is it magick?”
“I’m glad you caught on to that – in the main, Old Friend is right.
“After Drew leaves Andrea’s home there is no more magick in the story.” I hated to mislead this woman; there are people who argue that everything in this reality is magick. “That’s another short answer, at any rate. Ask me again later on. I’d like to keep the talk within the context of our work.
“Candice did perform a ritual in the physical world and in the story. As to which did what, and was more powerful, is not for me to say in the waking world and under these conditions. Visit me in dreamtime and we can talk about it.”
“You’re getting weird….”
“I’m practicing dialogue. That sort of thing is best discussed in other realities, where the mechanisms exist to better describe and comprehend.”
Trying for one more question, The Companion asked me, “Wasn’t Candice practicing magick in the dream when she made the purple shield? – Jeff, please, don’t call me that.”
“All right,” I promised. “I was just testing out loud to see if it would work. I wouldn’t define what Candice did in the dreamworld as magick. In that scene it’s described as a tool. That’s the best way to think of it. What she did in that dreamworld scene is no different than what anyone else might do while dreaming. She has more control over it because she practices. She possesses a certain amount of native talent, too.”
“Is it difficult to experience the dreamtime you describe in the story?”
“It’s not so different from the manner in which we are presently meeting. As Old Friend says, he just goes there, and not to a dreamworld, but to a real place. My mind is too chatty right now, so I have to wait until it quiets down, when I am sleeping.”
Looking behind her, I saw people were entering through the wings of the ancient ruins. “Ah … our company is beginning to assemble. How about if I call you ‘The Consulting Librarian?’”
“You’ve recently seen another new Sherlock Holmes episode, haven’t you? I like the title, but see what you can come up with for a more proper name … at least a first name.”
“I’ll do what I can.” I motioned to the cast to come forward.
She, realizing our discussion was coming to an end, prepared to take her place, “Thank you, I can’t wait to see what you come up with.”
“Wait. I’ve got it!” I shout, causing everyone on stage to stop and listen, straining to imagine what they missed in the conversation. I announce, “Marian! Yes – that’s it! Marian the—”
“Don’t’ say it!”
I smiled at her, You’re so easy to read…
“’Marian the Librarian’ would be a cliché! I won’t be reduced to a cliché!”
“Librarian? No, no, no. I was going to say ‘Marian the Grammarian.’ It has not been used as often. Look,” I typed quickly, “you see there are less than 1,000 hits and quite fitting for our purposes. It encompasses both the image of a stable professional researcher and a person with the technical skills you possess. People will have a picture of you in no time. You may also use the title ‘Consulting Librarian.’ We’ve acknowledged Conan Doyle in mentioning Holms, so it ought to be fine.”
“Yes. I like that,” said Marian. “Marian. I already feel accustomed to the name. It’s a good fit.”
Part II is available as of 04/04/2012.
Thanks,
– Jeffrey A. Limpert
__________________
Updated 04/04/2012
Image Information:
Theatre of Dionysus in Athens
https://secure.flickr.com/photos/jes5199/3279786442
By Ian W Scott
Amazon – Unfolding: Awakening