The following entry is based on a dream which occurred the evening of Monday, November 11, 2013 and is the sequel to my previous entry (The High Priestess and the Rite of the Sash).
The time arrived for my group to head over into the hall of darkness in order to discuss an ongoing issue that was affecting our organization in its entirety. I hurried along with the others while taking care to take along staff. We entered the hall with reverence by keeping quiet. We wondered what it was we needed to do next, as we stood there feeling as though it was necessary for us to fight against something. The question was: who or what was the something we needed that we needed to stand up to? I headed off towards a short row of chairs placed alongside the wall. A sole window which was floor to ceiling length looked over the mountains. I kneeled then sat, leaning my staff against the rough surface of the stone wall. I closed my eyes in meditation, waiting patiently for instructions to come through on my next course of action. To my surprise, all was silent as there were no instructions. I found this to be peculiar and very different from all the other times I have been in this place. The moment I came to this realization, a voice in my head spoke loudly yet calmly informed me to stay put where I sat and to remain silent, no matter what it was I heard from this point forward.
After some time, I stood and faced the group ahead of me which faced the front of the hall. I wondered what they were contemplating and saw two large cages which hung drearily by chains from the stone ceiling. The cages were built to hold a number of people at one time, but I questioned why they were here and who brought them? One of the younger women in the group, dressed in a white robe jumped into the cage while encouraging others to do the same because according to her, “this was the only way to find a solution.” I watched as one by one, my colleagues jumped on board into the trap set by the unknown person(s). After all these years together I wondered why no one in the group bothered to ask, why these cages were set up. I could not come to an understanding behind my colleague’s irrational decisions to jump into something whose origin remains a mystery. Once neatly tucked inside the cages, a dark robed man appeared. He seemed to be an elder of which I have never seen around here. He walked by while looking straight at me. I fixated my eyes on his and acknowledged him with a nod. I took care to move aside as he continued to approach the cages. A true air of darkness embodied this elder, but I obeyed the voice which advised me earlier to remain silent and observe. His presence was intimidating to all whom were within his vicinity. He then proceeded to address the hall. He admonished my colleagues for being incapable of understanding why they were summoned to come here to the hall of darkness, furthermore stating they would remain trapped in the cages of ignorance for an eternity. I found his following phrase quite peculiar as he mentioned how “they were worth their weight in gold.” Sadly, the exact measure of gold was extracted from the vaults of the Magical School we attended. When I looked through the large window overlooking the steep mountain sides, an image of our village at the foot of the mountain appeared as if I were watching a reel of film.
I heard cries from afar as the students realized how the Magical School had officially gone bankrupt. There were no more funds to sustain it, nor could students continue their magical studies. Overall, the scene was grim. One of the high priestesses in our group mentioned how this was bound to happen. Pools of tears formed in her eyes as her disappointments were now made visible. After seeing this revelation, a door opened which afforded me the opportunity to descend a stone stairwell which connected directly to the school’s village below. Students moved about in a chaotic manner and despite the hectic nature of the emotional environment, I located one of my former colleagues whom I absolutely adored. I told him that I loved him and that all will turn out fine, but as I spoke with him, his appearance began to morph from that of a man, to a young man until eventually I was staring directly at a child. He became immature and at the end of it all, I no longer found it viable to effectively communicate with him. Realizing this, I said goodbye and though it hurt so much to do so, I let him go. I saw how he too became caught up in the hysteria of the moment. Meanwhile, I had no other choice left but to walk away with the metallic sash gleaming about my waist. There was no more to accomplish here. All had been taken, greedily. It was time to move on.
