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WARNING!
Today Peter lives in Muswellbrook, NSW, where he composes songs and dreams of a better world.
She has won awards for her animal welfare work since she was 11 years old, and today she lives on the Gold Coast of Australia with her parents and her dog, Chelsea.
Read these reviews: I stayed up all night to finish this
remarkable saga, having reached the point where I just couldn't put it down! Oberon Zell-Ravenheart is a Wizard and Pagan Elder.
He was the first to apply the term "Pagan" to the newly emerging
Nature Religions of the 1960s, and through 30 years of publishing Green Egg,
Oberon was instrumental in the coalescence of the Neo-Pagan movement. In 1970, he formulated and published the theology of deep
ecology that has become known as "The Gaia Thesis." Oberon is the primary sculptor of The Mythic Images
Collection (www.MythicImages.com), and
author of "Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard". He has been called "the real Albus Dumbledore to
aspiring Harry Potters!" - Lee Prosser, Fate Magazine, September, 2004. PROFESSOR MIDNIGHT INTRODUCTION FACTUAL
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
(WITCHES,
THE INQUISITION & THE AGE OF AQUARIUS)
The
concept of an inquisition and inquisitorial procedure lies deep in the roots of
world history. Inquisitions were
used during the decline of the Roman Empire until the Spanish Inquisition’s
collapse in the early 1800s. They
were run by both civil and church authorities in order to root out non-believers
from a nation or religion. The
Spanish Inquisition was used for both political and religious reasons.
Spain was a nation-state born out of the religious struggle between a
range of belief systems including Catholicism, Islam, Protestantism and Judaism.
Following the Crusades and the Reconquest of Spain by the Christian
Spaniards, the leaders of Spain needed a way to unify the country into a strong
nation. Ferdinand and Isabella
chose Catholicism to unite Spain, and in 1478 asked permission of the pope to
begin the Spanish Inquisition to “purify” the people of Spain.
In
1483, Tomas de Torquemada became the Inquisitor General for most of Spain. He
was responsible for establishing the rules of inquisitorial procedure and
creating branches of the Inquisition in various cities.
He remained the leader of the Spanish Inquisition for fifteen years, and
is believed to have been responsible for the execution of around two thousand
Spaniards. Accused heretics were
identified by the general population and brought before the tribunal.
They were given a chance to confess their heresy and encouraged to indict
other heretics. If they were
cooperative the accused could be sentenced to prison or released all together. If they refused to co-operate, these hapless souls were
publicly executed as part of a large ceremony.
The Spanish Inquisition’s reign of
terror was not suppressed until 1834, after nearly four centuries of bloodshed.
*** Since
before the time of man made and organized religion there has always been magick
– an empowering belief that in the modern world is known as “Wicca”.
The words “Magick” and “Wicca” conjure up images of witches
murmuring over bubbling cauldrons, fragrant herbs drying near old stone hearths,
and covens joyously dancing under the moonlight while chanting their spells into
manifestation. The ancient
spiritual traditions of Western Europe have survived the ages, the Inquisitions,
and even laws of the modern world that have tried to demonize and make
“illegal” the practice of “the craft”. One
of two roots of the modern word “witch” is the Old English “wyk”, which
means to bend or shape, in this case bending and shaping energy.
The other origin is the Anglo-Saxon word “wit”, meaning to have
knowledge or wisdom. These roots
imply that those who best made magick were people who studied and worked with
their craft, all the while gaining wisdom to perfect it.
By using this wisdom witches can shape and bend the physical world to
reflect their will, actually altering the landscape of reality.
Magick is a natural force drawn upon for thousands of years to help shape
lives for the better. It heals,
comforts, and gives hope in the face of despair.
It offers positive focus while working towards goals, permitting the
witch to recognize self-control over reality.
Witches
care for and work with nature, recognizing that all things contain an energy
force that they can tap into and harness. They
recognize and work with Deity in many forms, but reject utterly the notion of
the devil. Rather witches accept
the universal concept of balance, that is to say for one to know pleasure one
also has to know pain, to balance light there is dark, for yin there is yang
(male and female) and that for good to exist there must also exist evil.
As with all power, be it political, financial, emotional or spiritual,
there is always the potential for abuse … a slide to the “dark side”. Various
paths to Wicca and Paganism are gathering momentum in modern times.
Although not all Pagans are Wiccan, all Wiccans are Pagan and many
believe that the Pagan faith is the fastest growing “religion” in the world
today. In this, “The Age of
Aquarius”, Pagans recognize a cosmic energy shift from Pisces (the Christian
fish) to Aquarius, the energy of the water bearer, seen as pouring the light of
higher consciousness onto the earth. As Aquarius is an air sign, this indicates that change is in
the air in a big way. Those stuck
in illusory comfort zones are gradually discovering the populous will no longer
blindly accept that elements of their lives are beyond their ability to control.
According
to Astrologers, “The Age of Aquarius” was ushered in January 23rd,
1997, at 17:35 GMT. Is it
coincidence then that at precisely 17:35 GMT on January 23rd, 1997,
the star chart for Jerusalem cast the most perfect Star of David ever seen in
history? The odds of this happening
by chance are over a billion to one. Many
felt this heralded the “end of times”, as written in the Bible, but rather
it appears to be the end of an era and the dawning of a new world order.
This
is also the age of the Indigo and Crystal children, children born with
significantly enhanced psychic abilities and spiritual awareness.
In an attempt to classify these children by society’s accepted
standards of “normal”, many have often been labeled as having Attention
Deficit Disorder (ADD) and other conditions deemed untreatable.
Children who hear voices are branded as having over-active imaginations,
or worse being clinically abnormal. These
children are multi-faceted and able to “see” outside of our “normal”
sphere of reality. Often these
children feel isolated and alone, rather than understanding they have a special
gift. Instead of being nurtured,
the Indigos and the Crystals are frequently misunderstood, leaving the doorway
open for troubled minds to develop in adult life.
One
theory about the Crystal and Indigo children is that they are the physical
incarnations of souls who have lived in human form many times before, hence they
have developed a higher level of cosmic wisdom and psychic skill.
It is also said that up to the age of sometimes six years old these
children have memories in this life of their past lives.
One of the vast numbers of examples on record that tend to prove this
theory came from someone very close to the author.
Two brothers, aged five and seven, had seen a news report that troubled
them. When they went to bed in their bunk beds that night, the
older brother became panic stricken, screaming hysterically in fear of his own
mortality. No matter what the
parents did they couldn’t calm him down.
The younger brother listened to his big brother and his parents for some
time, calmly taking in all the Catholic doctrine that was being taught. When
finally the younger brother realized the older brother would not be appeased, he
climbed onto the upper bunk bed and said in the most composed manner, “Don’t
worry. You don’t die.
You just come back in a new suit.” His
parents were speechless. They
didn’t believe in reincarnation, and no one had ever discussed the subject,
much less described it in terms of coming back “in a new suit.” From where does such a concept enter the mind of a five-year
Catholic? Humanity
has developed many skills as it has evolved, skills that in the past may well
have been considered supernatural and/or abnormal. Such it is with the Crystal and Indigo children, and such it
is with magick (aspects of which are increasingly being proven under scientific
study and research). Contrary
to what the church and its cohorts would have the public believe, magick is not
evil. It does not draw on the devil
or the anti-God as a catalyst for its success, and it does not attempt to thwart
the natural laws of the universe. These
ideas were planted in people’s minds in a concerted effort to take away
personal power and replace it with groveling loyalty to the church and the
state, which at one time were inextricably linked. In the St James version of the Christian Bible the word
“witch” was used in place of “poisoner” in a key passage of Exodus in
order to give the Church authority to carry out their witch hunts … FOREWORD -
THE YEAR 1496 (500 YEARS
BEFORE …) The
night was building to a fierce crescendo as Tomas de Torquemada strode
purposefully into the town square. An
imposing figure of man, Tomas dominated the landscape.
People, the rabble as he thought of them, cleared a path as if the ocean
itself was parting for the most feared man in all of Spain.
The moonlight glinted off his highly polished black leather boots.
He paused briefly to light a pipe. Glancing
over the finely crafted wooded bowl of his mouthpiece, Tomas noticed with some
satisfaction that the gathered crowd was larger than usual … and it was
restless. He
sucked deeply on the dark tobacco, leering at the young witch tied to a stake
awaiting her fate. His eyes
hungrily contoured her buxom shape, wistfully considering the many good uses she
could be put to if not for her date with destiny.
Her ample breasts heaved deeply as she braced herself for the fires of
hell itself to consume her. He
imagined himself caressing those breasts, taking comfort in the fact that
although he would never know the pleasure of her flesh she was certain to put on
a good performance for the audience. She
looked deliciously terrified. Her
eyes, wide as saucers, screamed with a fear her voice could not possibly
project. With over a decade of
blood on his hands, Tomas knew how the crowd became intoxicated on the fear of
another. The regular chant was
gathering impetus, “Burn, witch. Burn!”
Wallowing
in his own power, Tomas didn’t notice a group among the crowd in long dark
robes astride glistening black stallions. Robes
were commonplace in society, as were horses as a mode of transport.
Blending
into the background, with hoods obscuring their faces, occasionally one of the
horsemen would check the night sky. “You
are certain our calculations were correct?” Angelo whispered, still gazing
heavenward. “There
can be no doubt,” the leader shot back, sitting rigidly in his saddle. Francesco,
the leader, scanned the crowd for one he knew would arrive any moment.
Sure enough, by pre-ordained clockwork, a young man in peasant’s
clothing surreptitiously slithered through the townsfolk, his eyes burning with
rage and determination. Seth
Alvarado had seen many so called heretics meet a gruesome end at the hands of
Tomas de Torquemada. He had naively
determined to save at least one poor soul from a torturous death by fire to make
his distain and disgust for the ruling order known. Earlier that day he had sharpened the blade of his knife,
ready to cut the ropes that bound the witch’s hands.
His horse had been painstakingly trained in preparation for this moment,
and stood ready to surge through the crowd on Seth’s command.
Over and over Seth had seen himself sweeping the witch from her funeral
pyre and charging off with her into the darkness, hidden under the cover of
night. This was to be his stand,
his statement that not everyone would blindly accept the harsh rule of
tyrannical leaders. As with many
young men in his village, at the age of twenty Seth believed he could conquer
the world. Little
did Seth know that Francesco and his men knew he was coming. They knew it by the star alignment and by prophecy.
And they knew his attempts would fail. Seth
made rapid progress through the crowd, the entire time keeping his eyes fixed
firmly ahead. He knew that should
his gaze wander, should he look fearful or concerned, someone in the crowd might
consider him suspicious and thwart his well-planned efforts.
The torchbearers had begun their macabre march to the bonfire.
The crowd’s chanting was reaching fever pitch.
Seth seized the moment, leapt onto the tinderbox of chopped wood, and
with one swift flick of his wrist cut away the twine that was eating into its
victim’s skin. “What
are you doing?” Gasped the witch. “I’m
saving you,” Seth snapped back, somewhat annoyed at the obtuse question. “You’re
saving me? Who’s going to save
you?” Seth
looked into the petrified eyes of the young witch and smiled knowingly.
Placing his knife in its sheath, he whistled for his horse.
“Francesco,”
Angelo said urgently. “I
know. I see it,” Francesco
growled. “He’ll
be killed,” Angelo added. “Not
if we have anything to do with it,” the leader replied with conviction. The
crowd was already closing in on Seth, bearing their teeth like wild animals
closing in for the kill. “Stop
him,” Tomas commanded his troops. In
the pandemonium that ensued, townsfolk and Spanish guards merged to pounce on
Seth, as the young witch dropped to the ground hoping to disappear in the
confusion. Seth’s horse was good
to his training, and surged into the angry mob, but it was too late.
In his innocence and blinding anger, Seth had failed to take into
consideration that the numbers were simply stacked against him.
Before he knew it the crowd had recaptured the witch and were preparing
to tie Seth to the stake with her. He
struggled against the grasp of the men holding his arms. “You
fools,” he yelled. “What has
this poor girl done to you? She
practices the craft of the apothecary. She’s
cured many of your children of ailments, and this is how you repay her?” “Silence
that heretic,” Tomas boomed. One
of the townsfolk, all too eager to impress the grand Inquisitor, grabbed a rag
intending to shove it down Seth’s throat.
In that same instant the entire area became a blaze of color and smoke.
Women screamed and men ran as Francesco and his followers galloped
forward. The eyes of their horses
seemed to glow an angry shade of red through the cloudy haze surrounding them.
Masks on the faces of the men gave them a zombie-like appearance. “Wizards,”
shrieked someone from the crowd. “Wizards,”
another echoed in unashamed terror. “Wizards,
wizards,” the chant went up, as people scattered for their lives. Ignoring
the chaos around them, Francesco and his men swooped on Seth and the witch, as a
falcon effortlessly grabs its prey, whisked them astride their horses and rode
off into the night. Seth couldn’t
help feeling that his rescue by these unknown masked men was precisely as he
planned his own escape, and he was somewhat indignant that another had stolen
the moment from him. Still, he
needed to remind himself that if not for his mysterious saviors he would have
shared the witch’s fate. And in
any event, all he could do in the current circumstances was hold on tight and
wait to see where these strangers were taking him. With
Spanish guards in hot pursuit, it took all their guile and knowledge of the
forest for Francesco’s men to elude capture.
It was more than an hour later before they would contemplate slowing
their pace, and in that entire time not a word was spoken. Finally
they reached a clearing in a part of the forest unfamiliar to Seth.
A humble looking log cabin, which appeared to be in some disrepair, stood
ahead. “Where
is this place?” Seth asked cautiously. “Somewhere
safe,” Francesco announced in a manner that suggested no further questions
would be welcomed. As
the men dismounted from their steeds, the witch was lowered to the ground. “There’s
a path over there through the forest to a village where you will be accepted,”
Francesco pointed. “How
far is it?” Seth asked. “You
needn’t concern yourself with that,” Francesco told Seth, removing his mask.
“The girl can go, but there is much we need to discuss.” Bemused
and exhausted, the young witch looked from Seth to Francesco, not knowing
whether to be fearful of or grateful to these strange men. “Go,”
Francesco ordered. She
didn’t wait to be told twice, and scuttled off into the night. “You
can’t let her roam around in the woods at night unescorted,” Seth snapped at
Francesco. “She’s
a witch,” Francesco replied simply. “She
knows the ways of the forest. No
harm will come to her.” “And
what of me?” Seth wanted to know. “Why
can’t I simply go with her?” “Because
there is much you need to know.” Seth
studied this extraordinary assembly, noticing that the horses had blinkers on
with red glass fragments embedded on the outside.
It was this that had reflected the light, creating the illusion of the
horses’ eyes glowing red. The
men’s masks were simple but effective designs too, producing an image of the
living dead. “Who
are you?” Seth demanded to know. “We
are followers of Gaia,” Angelo replied proudly. “Gaia?” “Please,
come inside. We will explain
everything.” Curiosity
overcame Seth’s nagging concern about his captors/saviors.
He followed Angelo, Francesco and the others into a surprisingly large
room, sparsely furnished save for a circle of wooden chairs, and a large wooden
table in the center with a pentagram carved on it.
In the corner of the room a large cauldron smoldered over hot coals.
The men in turn each ladled some of the contents into tankards. Angelo offered one to Seth.
He looked at it apprehensively. “What’s
wrong?” Angelo asked. “Do
you expect me to drink that?” Seth inquired, with a tone of repulsion. “Certainly.” “What
will it do to me?” “Do
to you?” Angelo repeated, before
realizing the basis of Seth’s concern. “It’s
broth. It will warm you and nourish
you,” he smiled. “Broth?” “Is
there an echo in here? Yes, it’s
broth. What did you think it
was?” “Perhaps
he thought we were going to turn him into a toad,” Francesco laughed. With
the first awkward moments out of the way, the men gathered around the table.
Seth took the one empty seat, wondering if it had always been kept vacant
for him, and listened as in turn the men told him the most astonishing tale he
had ever heard. To
begin with they explained that the color and smoke they’d used to disburse the
crowd was nothing more than a clever combination of gunpowder and natural
berries. They explained how easily
the uneducated could be fooled into believing parlor tricks were something
supernatural. But, they added, Seth
should make no mistake about the fact that magick was very real … and very
much a part of his own future. To
Seth’s astonishment, the men then admitted that they were indeed wizards, as
the crowd had suspected. They were
in fact part of an ancient order that worshipped the Goddess Gaia. They had long
known that a man would appear on this night, in this place, to save the life of
witch, for it had been foretold for generations that the ancestor of the “Lord
of the Future” would be tested on this night.
Should he fail, his bloodline would end and the earth, of which Gaia was
Goddess, would suffer untold pain. But
should he succeed his descendant in generations to come would have the power to
perform wonders beyond imagination. This
night was a pivotal moment in history. “I
am the ancestor of the ‘Lord of the Future’,” Seth scoffed. “What nonsense is this?” “Not
nonsense,” Angelo replied calmly. “Prophecy.
It is pre-ordained as we have read it in the stars, and in the cards, and
in the runes, and in our own visions. Each
has confirmed the other since our order began.” “And
when was that?” Seth asked, with more than a tone of skepticism.
Francesco
proceeded to enlighten Seth about the worshippers of Gaia, detailing how in the
time of Socrates and Plato a place now known as Athens was called Attica.
The whole of the Athenian empire spread through the Mediterranean from
this ancient city. Those who were called citizens of Athens were in fact people
living throughout Attica, not necessarily in the city of Athens itself, although
they all had to visit the capital from time to time to accomplish their civic
duties. The
organization of Attica in the time of Socrates and Plato was the result of
reform by Cleisthenes. All citizens
of Attica entitled to participate in the political institutions of Athens were
divided into ten tribes, named after the ten eponym heroes, chosen by the oracle
of Delphi. Attica as a whole was
divided into three regions: a peripheral zone along the coast called Paralia, a
central area called Mesogeia, and a third area including Athens called Astu.
In all regions followers of Gaia, the Goddess of the earth planet, were
active. Francesco could trace his
lineage back to the first high priest of Delphi.
The
oracle at Delphi was the first Gaia province before the march of patriarchal
gods gave it to Apollo. According to legend, Gaia stretched out at the beginning
of time and became the earth’s land. The
soil itself was seen as Gaia, and was so sacred in ancient times that an oath
sworn or a promise made with one hand on the ground was irrevocable.
The
followers of Gaia believed in the beginning there was formless chaos then
chaos settled into form and the form was Gaia, the actual Earth. She existed before time began, and Time (Kronos) was one of
her many children. Gaia
desired others around her, and gave birth to a son (Uranus) who became her
consort in the continual round of life, death and rebirth. Uranus was so jealous of his mother’s other children that
she feared he would destroy them and hence kept them hidden.
Her son Kronos eventually sliced off his brother Uranus’s genitals and
the blood that spilled fertilized the earth and the cycle continued. Gaia
realized her work was imperfect, she considered it a work in progress as
evolution is part of nature, and mankind’s ability to evolve into something
that can enhance evolution was a part of that process. Before
any other religion there was Gaia and there was magick working in harmony with
nature, the power of the supernatural and the natural working together as one
… the supernatural being only an extension of the natural that the
“average” person didn’t understand. Seth
listened quietly, unable to absorb much of the enormity of what he was being
told. In an attempt to get a grasp
on what it meant to him personally, and why these men should have taken such a
particular interest in him as an individual, he stated simply, “But there is
nothing special about me.” “Ah,
but there is,” Francesco said softly. “I
don’t understand.” “You
have the power – it is in your bloodline.
It is still weak and unfocused, but it is there make no mistake.” Without
another word of explanation, Francesco stepped outside, picked a leaf from a
tree, and returned to the circle. “Look
at this leaf,” he instructed Seth. Seth
looked. “Now
look beyond it.” “Beyond
it? I don’t understand.” “Focus
on the wall behind it, defocus your eyes on the leaf – look through it.” Seth
tried to do as he was told, and to his astonishment noticed a glowing aura
around the leaf. He stood up and
backed away in shock. “What
you are seeing is the living essence that is in all things,” Francesco
explained calmly. “Sit down.
It won’t hurt you.” Seth
returned to his seat. “Now,
look into the leaf itself. Become
one with it. Feel its life
force.” Seth
tried to do as he was told. “Now
see your life unfold. See yourself
as an old man, ready to pass over into the next life.” As
Seth followed his instructions the leaf withered and died before his eyes. “It’s
a trick,” Seth spluttered. “It’s no trick,” Francesco
assured him. “This is reality. It’s your control over reality.
You need to learn and master the gifts you’ve been given, because you
must pass this knowledge down through the generations.
When the one with great power is born he must understand how to use his
birthright responsibly …”
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