 |
Journey to Kithnglas |
|
|
Journey to Kithnglas |
December 28, 2001
Stopped by to visit Cardea, and she sent me to Kithnglas almost before I could say "Hello".
"Just ride the gray-green wind from the courtyard of the winds. It will get you there the fastest"
I learned a long time ago not to argue with Cardea when she decides I need to do something so like any good member of the royal court, I nodded my head in acknowledgement and went down the stairs from her fourth story Solarium to the courtyard of the winds on the first floor. The courtyard serves as the main entrance for the palace since most of the citizens of the Magh Ildathach come and go by riding the winds. The floor of the courtyard is done in a mosaic of 12 colors for each of the lands. Transport is simply a matter of walking onto the colored section of your choice and the wind will do the rest.
Reaching Kithnglas, I found myself in a large room completely decorated in a pale shade of green. A beautiful woman in a softly flowing gown comprised of many layers of sheer silk greeted me. "Welcome" she said holding out a finely boned delicate hand. "I'm Gendenwith. Cardea told me to expect you."
"My Lady" I replied and offered my own hand. She wrapped my hand through her arm and began leading me out the door. "Come let's go somewhere comfortable so that we can talk" Moments later I was safely settled in a comfortable chair with a cup of honeyed tea.
"Love is many things you know. In the Kingdom of Air, love doesn't stop being love just because air lives so much in the mind and not in the heart. It is both our challenge and our curse. We love consciously. Though the decision to love through blood is always open to us if we chose."
"Blood is a carrier of ancestral memories" I reply, finally understanding something that had eluded me in the past. I had always wondered why blood was considered part of air but as with most things the literal isn't the essence. There is a deeper teaching when one looks beyond.
"Yes, it rather appeals to us around here. And of course we're very comfortable with a matrilineal society but outside of Magh Ildathach, where everyone has more conscious access to their memories, the blood mysteries don't have quite so much appeal."
I nod in agreement. "Was there more I've come to learn about love?"
Her laughter was musical and without condemnation. "What is it about Midgard, that makes you all so pressed for time?"
"A lifetime as short in comparison to yours as the blink of the gnat's eye" I respond with a smile.
"True.. So on to the reason Cardea wanted you to come. Have you ever wondered why Kithnglas which is a gray tinged wind, rules love and friendship and not Erc, the red wind?"
"Yes" I answered. "In fact the first map I was given of Magh Ildathach had them reversed. I spent three years trying to reach either Kithnglas or Erc and couldn't get to either until I realized the map was wrong; once I aligned the right color with the right tone or vibration in my mind's eye, the the journey was easy."
"Many of the old ones both in your world and here still believe that knowledge should have to be earned. Anyone who can't work out the puzzle pieces on their own doesn't really desire to play." She set her cup down and poured some more steaming green tea into both our cups. "By the way the secrets of tea are here in this land in case you've been wondering, but we'll save that discussion for another visit shall we? Back to our topic, the teachings of Kithnglas all revolve around the right use of judgment and the impact that has on the heart. If you love someone can they do something so awful you'd stop loving them?"
"Of course. I would never stop loving the person they were, but if they turned to the darkside I wouldn't be able to love the person they had become. I'm talking about personal, intimate love not universal love for all mankind." Again I heard that wonderful rippling laugh.
"Other's might give a different answer or have thought longer before giving their answer, my dear."
"Why? I've given you an honest answer that is right in my scheme of things. You might show me over time that I'm wrong and I will give a different answer then but that still won't change the answer I give today."
"And so you have chosen to exercise judgment with regard to love. Now tell me at what point do you stop loving? Do they need to murder someone or does simply no longer meeting your needs count as turning to the darkside."
By the tone of my answer I had moved the conversation into the normal sharp repartee that is the standard mode for logical conversation any where in Magh Ildathach. The Irish response would be "simple, love never stops, only the moment in which the love exists for all time", but if I answered that we'd be into riddle mode and I'd probably end up tied up with my own tongue. Instead I answered. "The darkside is the darkside. We've no need to debate that now. Short of that, love continues. The degree of intimacy of that love might change but love once given exists in some form for all time."
"Are there no shades of gray?"
This time it was my turn to laugh. "Gendenwith, you are delightful. Actually there aren't but we spend our whole lives fighting through the gray mists in terms of love to prove that to ourselves don't we? Tell me, do those of you who live in Kithnglas see the gray, or are you immune?"
"So I have something to teach you after all. You see the gray as doubt and worry and negative possibilities that you should see beyond if only you were strong enough. Let me suggest another possibility. What if you see the gray and let it tell you that the moment is always malleable and can be interpreted and hence influenced into a positive manner? Blath the dragon has much to teach on this subject."
Setting down my cup of tea, I reached across the small table for her hand. "My dear Lady Gendenwith, thank you for taking the time to talk to me. I hope I may come back at another time to continue this conversation. I see possibilities that I've only seen hints of before and I know with your help they can become realities."
"It's something Librans are suppose to understand instinctively but most of them simply don't. The cardinal modality provides the energy to smooth the situation but for 90% of all Librans it just gives them a razor sharp tongue"
"Gendenwith, that's what diplomacy really is, isn't it? Understanding that the shade of gray allows a valid positive interpretation of what has been said. Why didn't anyone say that? I always thought it meant making harmless sounding mouth noises and having no relationship with the Truth." I could barely contain my excitement. I've always known that there was something I was missing, but I could never put my finger on it (the mercury finger that is, not the Uranus finger). I knew a path had opened up for me in this moment. Whether or not I would chose to walk it remained to be seen, but Gendenwith had just offered me a new technique, a new arrow in my quiver of life skills if I chose to accept. "And here I thought we came to talk about love, or friendship or something entirely different than diplomacy."
"You're married. Have you not found that diplomacy is the secret to marriage?" Her grin was broad and warm. Only in the land of Magh Ildathach can verbal tweaking be done with such affection and engender no hard feelings, after all this is the land where Truth is one of the Primary Aspects of the God/des. "Now Go, since I know your time is up. You've found something you have been seeking and you now know how much more there is for you here if you chose to visit us again."
Formally taking my leave of this wonderful woman I said, "Thank you, and my thanks to Cardea for sending me here. I would be honored to come back. May the Blessings of the Gentle Breeze surround you, Gendenwith."
"And may the Gentle Breeze surround you also and may the spirit of the wind speed you journey. Now Go."