Walking through Walls, Part 2

Now that we've returned from our vacation in Mexico I am eager to dive back in to the writing I began in the writing/SoulCollage® workshop with Deena Metzger in October.  I am grateful for the explorations that began there and are still calling to me.

One of the exercises we did was to draw three of our SoulCollage® cards and tell their story.  It felt very synchronous to pull my "Walking through Walls" card as the first one of the three.  Clearly, this theme of needing to break through to the next phase is up for me in a big way.   And, of course, pulling my Persephone card is always meaningful for me. The third card pictures the temple of Athena at Delphi.

So, here is the second story I wrote (the first is in the previous post).

            She knew she was a magician.  There was magic in her hands, and at times, when she was very clear and able to release her doubts and negative thinking, she could send energy through her hands and whatever she held, and things would move and shift.  When she woke up in a dark mood, she could do none of this unless she was able to lighten her emotions.  The energy demanded her clarity, her openness, her love.

            The piece of magical work she decided she needed to achieve was this: she wanted to walk through walls.  She procured aardvark parts from African magicians having heard that they would confer this ability.  She prayed over them, offered them tobacco and cornmeal and asked for their assistance.  The, one day when she felt ready, she stood under her tall staff, placed her hands on the wall and willed herself to pass through to another world.

            She saw a field of grass, brown in the autumn twilight, and a cave, which she entered.  The path led down, down, to an underworld cavern large enough to be a palace, and suddenly before her stood a woman dressed in red, a powerful woman.  No, a goddess.

            “Welcome!” the goddess said.  “It’s remarkable to see you.  Only a very few living souls ever come here.  And you didn’t even cross the river.  In fact, you seemed to just emerge through the wall.”

            “Excuse me for asking,” the magician said.  “But where is ‘here’?”

            The goddess laughed and held out a broken-open pomegranate.

            “You are in Aidoneus’ realm.  You know that name?  No?  How about Hades?”

            The magician paled.   “This is not where I expected to end up.”

            “Oh, don’t worry, child.  You will not end up here, at least not yet.  Your magic is strong but needs discipline.  I will send you somewhere where you can learn.  Somewhere…say…a bit lighter.”  She laughed again and touched the magician’s eyelids, forcing them closed.

            When the magician opened her eyes again, she knew immediately that she was back on the earth’s surface.  The wind felt cool on her cheeks, and the air was crisp and clean.  She saw and felt that she was in the mountains.  She stood besides the ruins of a temple.  Three columns remained standing in a circle of broken ones.

            “Whose temple is this?” she wondered.  She closed her eyes again and opened her other senses.  There was a presence here.

            “Athena, Athena, Athena,” came the whisper in her mind.

            “Athena,” she said aloud.  “Please accept me as a student, as a devotee.  Tell me what it is I must learn.”

            “I am known for intellect,” came the response.  “And intellect you must have.  But mind without heart is only trouble.  You have cords wrapped around your heart.  Your heart is bound up, restricted, unfree.  Untie the knots and release these cords.  Your magic will avail you not if you cannot do this.”

            The magician bowed her head and wept, for she recognized the truth of this.  No brain power, no magic, no mental effort could save her.  Only the hard work of unwrapping what bound up her heart would do.  When heart energy flowed through her hands she would be able to walk through walls of blessing.  And that would be the true magic.