Welcome, Heln of the Plains

         Wonderful and unique, that feeling of mud squelching between ones toes. In his youth he and some others had found a patch off in the corner of a field where fresh water-course lost its banks. The thick grass was stained with shallow pools, and the kids delighted in splashing around until it was all a brown mess. There would be places in the muck where a plate of earth held together and could be rocked back and forth with comical sounds adding to the playground effect. The smell of cool splashed mud and trampled grass under a clear sun were among his favorite memories of childhood.

Though the weather and place could hardly be more similar, he found it difficult to compare the joys of then and now. The mud made the same sound, as they dredged it up from the hole, but the smell was different. Coming from so deep, and forced from its bed in the marsh, it had an overpowering richness that stank of decay. It was good earth, as much as the clay-plain could offer, but it resisted its transition to the open light of day and the process gave none of that childhood sense of ease. The sun burnt down, more noticeable now in his older age. Every now and then he would feel the coolness of the water, dirty yet soothing all the same.

In crews of four they worked, spaced along the muddy shoreline, in part creating it as they progressed. Reeds towered up on either side, sheltering the open expanse of their work-pit. Between the shore and the shallows of the marsh stood an open expanse of muddied water, dug out steadily by their efforts. As they brought the rich clay up from the depths, other crews came to take it away for use in various places. The mine served a dual purpose of providing earthen material and solidifying a long-overgrown shoreline of the swampy lake. Where the crew had already been, the shoreline was clear and solid; a rough open lawn with a view to the cattail forest.

Tough work, and he would be covered with mud by the time his shift was done, but Heln Borringar enjoyed his assignment. His interest lay in the historical studies, specifically those relating to the Natural Cults. Residence at the Sanctuary's academy was an obvious choice, and he had since spent much of his time working hands-on with the local cultural artifacts. There were many aspects to the maintenance of a natural temple, especially one as large as the labyrinth here at the Sanctuary. Much as when he was a child, he delighted in working with the land and building something meaningful in union with that land. That it had a spiritual and cultural connection to a storied past (and future?) of mystery cults only deepened his commitment. He relished his studies in the library nearly as much as his work out in the muddy fields.

The digger plunged back into the water, gliding as smooth as the machinery could manage, and scraped for another load of clay. Uncountable insects called from the forest of cattails and marsh grass, and the distant shadows of birds flitted across the golden sun. the scoop came up only partially full this time, and that was an indication that they would be moving position soon. The open pool would be left to regrow vegetation, and the new shoreline monitored for stability. The digger, anchored out in the marsh, slowly moved toward its next spot, and soon the work had begun again. At the end of his shift, Heln climbed the grassy bank and stood looking west across the roadway. An irregular line of rocks, thirty feet tall or so, stood beyond: the outermost ring of the labyrinth. Most of the rocks were overgrown with grass between them and along their sides, so only the jagged peaks showed through. Here and there though places had been cleared, and he knew that a lot more work had been done in the inner rings. Eventually the whole labyrinth would be cleared, cleaned, and fortified so that maintenance might be easier in the future. A well-maintained labyrinth could bring pilgrims here for both worship and study – all to the continued health of this sanctuary community. As the sun gleamed golden in the western sky, Heln felt grateful to be a part of this work, and for the place he had found in the world.

Green Sea

Students filed out of classroom buildings arranged under the tall sweetwood tree. Little dark ants down on the green lawn. Some hung around, gathering in small groups or heading off to read in a nearby grove. Others boarded hoverbikes and shuttles bound into the city or off to an afternoon class in some other part of the Sanctuary.

This place has such a different feel to its school atmosphere, Ayleah thought as she sat watching the scene. With her morning off, she was relaxing at her favorite spot on the sunset deck. The sun didn't reach this side of the city until after lunch, so it stayed pleasantly cool later into the day. From here there was an excellent view of the entire lower boulevard, the long-distance landing pad, and the outdoor classroom pod with its pretty groves. In the distance, out to the west, vast green fields stretched as far as she could see, rising to a higher horizon capped with forest. The tall grasses of the field waved hypnotically against the wind, and bushes bloomed like mysterious islands on the valley floor. The Sanctuary sat in a great shallow bowl of land, its sweeping fields dotted with small groves of verdancy and crossed by lanes cut into the grass. It was so different from where she had come on the shores of the lake, and it took some getting used to not having so many trees nearby. Ayleah's favorite places were on the decks that extended out from the city. Here she could feel like she was on the edge of a cliff, with something solid behind and above her. The city walls were not at all like a tree or a rock, but there was a comfort to their presence nevertheless. From the inspiring vantage points on the decks, she enjoyed watching the people of the Sanctuary going about their business. All around the city the workmen, scholars, monks, and other interesting folk went about their days in a communal coexistence. It was a wonderful place, full of life and honest promise.

At Telon's request, Ayleah had now spent a couple of weeks getting to know the land of the Sanctuary, and trying to understand its energy. She had hardly seen him since though, and it was frustrating not having someone with whom to discuss her insights. The land here was so different from what she had known her whole life, and was consequently giving her difficulty. For one thing there were no rocks here. What few she had seen had all come from somewhere else, trucked in from glens in the mountains. Instead the land of this place was a foundation of deep, fine-grained clay. It clumped, and stuck when unearthed. It was like always being on a very firm wet sponge that slowly sucked everything under- the energy below was hard to sense. Water, wind, and sun were plentiful everywhere one went in the Sanctuary though, and even the non-scholarly folk of the city seemed to enjoy their life in this place.

For Ayleah, it was still difficult to get used to the openness as well. She had lived her whole life up to this point under the shelter of trees, only knowing the open sky on those occasions she had been on boats off the shore. Here the trees rarely grew close enough together to create any sort of canopy. They were few, and placed far apart, each on its own. Many of the groves had gathering spots, or buildings clustered near their trunks, and it was clear that even people out here preferred to be under the trees. Perhaps, she thought, it was also due to their landmark status. Out beyond the city lawn the fields are an impenetrable jungle, with grass growing over two hundred feet high, and so thick that it becomes an impossible tangle to walk through. The calm grassy roads that snake out into the Sanctuary provide access in an otherwise bewildering landscape. High above it all rises the city, a prominent bubble of a structure dominating the surrounding fields, the trees and groves nestling it in the picturesque valley.

Within the city it was a closed-in bustle that Ayleah visited only out of necessity. She much preferred being outside in the open air, even if the expanse of blue was a little unnerving. When she did look up at the sky, she would marvel at the sight of huge, fluffy clouds; their billowing flanks uninterrupted by branches and leaves.

Lesson I

 

“Well yes, in a sense that's right, but let's expand on that. The magician invokes the three colors because of their relation to light, but why is that relation significant?

The professor, himself dressed in a light robe of mottled green and brown designs, continued: “Light is half of the essence of all things. It is the creative side; the side of manifestation into what we usually call 'the world' or 'reality'. Again, none of this is in the strict meta- physical sense, but rather in the perhaps more real sense of our lived relationship with reality.

“When the natural light we perceive is broken down into its most basic spectrum, we meet with the qualities of red, blue, and green, or some variation of the same from which all other coloration stems. Coloration of the world, combined with how we have learned to interpret those designs, leads us to the understanding of consensual reality that we have.

“The three elemental qualities are relevant beyond the simple optical associations because of the basic importance of light to our wider reality and its effects on our own beings. The most common understanding of this is in the psychologies that deal with color associations. Most of us know that certain colors, when encountered as qualities of a part of our reality, can affect emotional or other mental states. Could it be though that these effects are not just a superficial conditioned response to stimuli; that the influence of a color is actually invoking a deeper aspect of our lived experience, and that any change to our conscious state is nothing more than a symptom of the underlying encounter?”

The teacher paused to allow his students to catch up, and pressed a button on his remote. The lighting in the classroom changed.

“Red usually invokes a primal, animal feeling. We think of blood, and earth, and the rawness of mortal things. It is deeply connected to our life-force; the fire within us that makes us continue to be. It can be the electrical sparks that propel your body and thoughts forward. It can at the same time be the internal sun some of you may call a soul, that produces no heat, yet constantly seeks purpose. It is our metabolism and the warmth of our veins. It is a never-ceasing element of our existence that presents itself concisely here, in this quality.”

The lighting in the room changed again. “What about blue? What does blue invoke for us magicians?”

A hand raised in the dim light. “It feels relaxing, and yet scary. Like when you can't see the bottom of an otherwise very pleasant lake.”

The teacher gave a slight nod. “While there are no right or wrong answers here, I daresay that is a very good one. You have identified the underlying duality that exists in perhaps all qualities, and it is in this manner that we should be generally thinking in our work.

“To the point though, blue is the color of seeing beyond. The unknown is potential knowledge, and that is frightening. We never quite know how what we may soon learn will affect our reality. Nevertheless, knowledge can be a relief when it reassures us or allows us to plan for what is to come. Furthermore, by referencing the future, this blue is giving us reason to hope, which allows us to plan a reality we want to come into being. While red brings us into this reality, blue shows us that it is infinite.”

“Based on what we have now said about the first two qualities, what might we be able to say about green?”

When a student finally responded there was hesitation in his voice. “Logically...it should be some form of control. I mean, we don't just all go expanding into infinity.”

The teacher gave the thought a nudge: “Right, so what's the underlying principle behind our organization?”

“Looking around at much of the world there doesn't seem to be one. Everyone organizes things differently based on their codes, whether they're moral, scientific, or philosophical. Shouldn't a unifying element have some harmony to it?”

“Well there you've hit it right on the head!” the teacher grinned. “Green represents the harmony of this reality as inhabited by all these forces engaging in the activities of living and learning. Now you notice where it often fails, and we find conflict, disruption and consequently, suffering. Where the quality of harmony succeeds though, in those places we have a vision of what an ideal reality may be.

“You must not however, mistake this green element for a placidity. The turbulence of the world, insofar as it does not bring harm to the inhabitants of reality (which are not separate from it anyway), is a necessary component of proper harmony. It is the double-sided coin again; each quality in the world carries its extreme state and the opposite. It is in the balancing and the middle path that our lives should take their course. It is in understanding the shifting of that balance that we succeed.

“When all three of the elemental aspects are engaged in a positive way, the manifestation of reality will be only in a positive light. It is part of our job as practitioners of this way of seeing to engage with our life force, seek clear knowledge, and establish harmony as much as we can in the world. It is humble task, because in taking on these pursuits, we realize that we are not taking any special perspective on the world. These three elements of life are so basic that they are taken for granted in the complications of peoples' consciousness. We are seeking a path towards paradise by re-focusing on what is really real, and building the world from that point.”