<\/p>\n
In the earlier imagined conversation\u00a0Peeling Back the Unfolding Curtain<\/a>, 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<\/em> and Unfolding: Nexus<\/em>.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n I invite you to imagine being with me on the stage in the above photo. My desk at\u00a0 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<\/em> novels.<\/p>\n A Request<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n One of my readers approaches.<\/p>\n I look up, \u201cYou\u2019re here early.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you don\u2019t have any shoes on again. Why is that?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI feel more focused, more rooted to the stage and to Greece without them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo Greece, Jeff? Did you spend one of your lives here?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m 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.”\u00a0I lean back in my chair, \u201cWhat can I do for you today?\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019d like to have a name,\u201d she stated, then looked away before continuing. \u201cLast 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 \u2013 there, you\u2019ve done it again. Now their minds are really going\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n Peering at my screen, I receive a suggestion from her, \u201cTry not to use as many ellipses, OK?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat was my first today, but OK. Do you have anything in mind?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to be \u2018Second Woman,\u2019 especially since I met you first.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, but we met first in Second Life, so I think that\u2019s a wash. On the physical plane, I met First Woman first. It\u2019s all relative.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t do it, please? I\u2019m afraid people would think of me as less than I am \u2013\u00a0like Andrea.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo people think Andrea is less? Or does she simply think of herself as less? Or neither?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not sure yet. I\u2019m lagging behind in my reading.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t 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.\u00a0Have you come up with a word I can use for her relationship with Tyler?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOther than tart?\u201d she laughed. \u201cWe agreed that was funny, but not what you had in mind. No, not yet.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, unless one of us suggests anything else, I\u2019ll leave it as it is. We simply don\u2019t have a good way in our culture to describe her relationship, without cheapening a reader\u2019s opinion of her.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe isn\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cKeep reading. You told me you didn\u2019t know.\u201d\u00a0I pointed to the readers sitting in the millennia-old seats trying to make up their minds, \u201cI don\u2019t want to lead anyone to my conclusions. They need to think for themselves.\u00a0That\u2019s why we have the bubble around us.\u201d Nodding to the audience, \u201cI may talk to them about it later, as I am with you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve noticed you\u2019ve misspelled magic in the title \u2013 like when you prepared the first part of this report, you spelled peeled \u2018pealed,\u2019 an oversight, I am sure.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was hoping you\u2019d think of ‘peals of laughter,\u201d sounding more defensive than I intended.<\/p>\n \u201cNo chance. You goofed and had to\u00a0 fix it for the blog post. And you did it again \u2013 and why do you start so many of your sentences with \u2018and.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s conversational and you\u2019re the one who did it.\u00a0Let\u2019s continue to let people make up their own minds about the earlier post; it\u2019s corrected anyhow. This one is definitely intentional.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat does it mean?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a form of magic that is different from the slight-of-hand you see performed on stages today. It\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo you practice the \u2018magick\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all relative again. \u2026How about if I call you \u2013 no, that wouldn\u2019t work. I was thinking \u2018Technician,\u2019 but that\u2019s too cold. You\u2019re more than that. It\u2019s deserving though, the way you can you put my humble skills to shame.\u201d<\/p>\n The woman smiled, patting my shoulder. \u201cYou\u2019re not the first author to tell me that. I could never write the story as you have done. If you\u2019d have studied the written language as well as I, I\u2019m 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.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMagick?\u201d I repeated, \u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m getting confused. What about Candice and Old Friend?\u00a0You report in the story and in our last visit<\/a> that Candice performed magic. She admitted it!\u00a0In the story, she does it when you first visited Andrea and found Tyler there. Candice uses it in the dreamworld, too.\u00a0Old Friend, on the other hand, says the events aren\u2019t magic, or is it magick?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m glad you caught on to that \u2013 in the main, Old Friend is right.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter Drew leaves Andrea\u2019s home there is no more magick in the story.\u201d I hated to mislead this woman; there are people who argue that everything in this reality is magick. \u201cThat\u2019s another short answer, at any rate. Ask me again later on. I\u2019d like to keep the talk within the context of our work.<\/p>\n \u201cCandice 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.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re getting weird\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m practicing dialogue. That sort of thing is best discussed in other realities, where the mechanisms exist to better describe and comprehend.\u201d<\/p>\n Trying for one more question, The Companion asked me, \u201cWasn\u2019t Candice practicing magick in the dream when she made the purple shield? \u2013\u00a0Jeff, please, don\u2019t call me that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll right,\u201d I promised. \u201cI was just testing out loud to see if it would work.\u00a0I wouldn\u2019t define what Candice did in the dreamworld as magick. In that scene it\u2019s described as a tool. That\u2019s the best way to think of it.\u00a0What she did in that dreamworld scene is no different\u00a0than what anyone else might do while dreaming.\u00a0She has more control over it because she practices. She possesses a certain amount of native talent, too.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIs it difficult to experience the dreamtime you describe in the story?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking behind her, I saw people were entering through the wings of the ancient ruins.\u00a0\u201cAh \u2026 our company is beginning to assemble. How about if I call you \u2018The Consulting Librarian?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve recently seen another new Sherlock Holmes episode, haven\u2019t you? I like the title, but see what you can come up with for a more proper name … at least a first name.\u201d<\/p>\n “I\u2019ll do what I can.\u201d\u00a0I motioned to the cast to come forward.<\/p>\n She, realizing our discussion was coming to an end, prepared to take her place, \u201cThank you, I can\u2019t wait to see what you come up with.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWait. I\u2019ve got it!\u201d I shout, causing everyone on stage to stop and listen, straining to imagine what they missed in the conversation. I announce, \u201cMarian! Yes – that\u2019s it! Marian the\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t\u2019 say it!\u201d<\/p>\n I smiled at her,\u00a0You\u2019re so easy to read\u2026\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em>\u201c\u2019Marian the Librarian\u2019 would be a clich\u00e9! I won\u2019t be reduced to a clich\u00e9!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLibrarian? No, no, no. I was going to say \u2018Marian the Grammarian.\u2019 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.\u00a0It 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.\u00a0You may also use the title \u2018Consulting Librarian.\u2019 We\u2019ve acknowledged Conan Doyle in mentioning Holms, so it ought to be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes. I like that,\u201d said Marian. \u201cMarian. I already feel accustomed to the name. It\u2019s a good fit.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n