Priest Alchemist: (to Twin Apprentices) The true alchemist looks within for the Hidden Voice, “Filia Vocis”, the Shekinah. Let us invoke the Presence that inspires Great Jehovah.

Priestess Alchemist: I invoke the Shekinah, Inspirer of all prophecies, the Great Sea, the Consuming Fire, the Tree of Life, She Who is veiled upon the Throne of Grace.

Oracle: I am called Mightiest of the Mightiest, yet I am She Who reveals the Mysteries not to the proud, the ambitious, the hypocrites, but through an old woman living lonely on a hillside, through a small girl hiding from unkind elders. Know the secret of prophecy, which is no secret! All Time, past , present and future, is spread before you as the Promised Land. As you travel upon your path through life, you only know your past way. You cannot know of unexpected love, new friends and enemies, who await you round a hidden bend in the path. Yet all these are already there, hidden from your sight.

To see beyond the veil is to know the future, and how it stems from the past. I am She Who was and is and shall be, containing all time and place. Do not attempt to lift My Veil. This way is presumptuous and may bring madness or death. Rather earn My Grace and then you shall eat of the fruit of My Tree of Life.

Priest Alchemist: We give thanks to the Shekinah for Her Oracle.

Priestess Alchemist: (to Twins) Aiden, you have for too long studied the occult traditions with your analytical mind. You need the magic of Urania. As for you, Elaine, you avoid study and texts, preferring inspiration, so you are often inaccurate and so miss useful knowledge. You need to learn how to make informed hoices and abide by them, not swayed by a desire to please. So now, enter the realm of the planet Saturn, Seat of Judgment, ruled by the Titan, the God Saturn.

Priest Alchemist: We shall accompany you through your ordeal.

Elaine: I make my way up the avenue leading to the Temple of the Sacred Planets. I enter and acknowledge the Golden Orb set in the High Place in the centre, sending forth rays of Divine Light. I approach the Portal of Saturn in the Southwest. *** Above is the sign of Saturn, an equal-armed cross over a waxing moon. On one side is a painting of a man surrounded by implements, a set-square, a pair of compasses and a crystal pyramid. On the other side of the threshold is a blindfolded woman holding a pair of scales. On one pan is a ruby heart, on the other, a feather. I realise I am entering the Judgment Hall, to face the throne of the veiled Shekinah. I feel solemn as I pass through the gates. ***

What a delightful surprise! Here is no terrible Veiled Fate, but a laughing young Queen surrounded by courtiers enjoying a sumptuous banquet. Amidst the glittering profusion of food, is a stuffed peacock with outspread tail; a palace of icing sugar and gilded cupids holding bowls of fruit. I gather I am in the seventeenth century, because I am wearing a pretty pink dress of the period, and rather silly ringlets. Indeed I must be about fifteen years old, because I am taking such childish pleasure in the party. Behind me is a soberly garbed man, looking grave.

Suddenly there is a fanfare of trumpets! All gaze at a doorway through which footmen arrive, carrying on high a gigantic pie on a dish. This is led before the Queen and her ladies and the noblemen about her. The pie is set before her. Are w to find singing blackbirds within? Suddenly I feel uneasy. A minute human arm breaks through the crust … At first I think I see a tiny baby climbing out of the pastry. But no. This is an adult midget. He bows to the Queen. The company roar with laughter. But I do not. I feel cold anger. I stand up and utter these words:

“Wretched fools, you laugh at those who are born unlike yourselves and make their lives a torment, targets for ridicule. You jeer at the antics of the insane in your asylums. Your executioners cut off the ears of those who you call heretics - imagining yourselves to be Christians. Hear my Prophecy! Your kingdom shall be destroyed; your Queen shall flee, penniless; your nobles sold into the very slavery you inflict on others. As for cropping ears - you shall lose your very heads, even your King.”

I feel heroic, ready to be burnt or beheaded! Instead the whole company burst out laughing! The giver of the feast says ‘Hearken to the pretty little maid, now she is drunk! She should be put to bed by her nurse, with a posset to restore her own head!’ I burst into tears, humiliated - then the tiny man put his hand into mine. And I am glad I spoke out.”

The serious man is bringing me back to the Gateway of Saturn. He says: “Those who make others feel small, fear this for themselves.”

How quickly I am back here with you all! It was so real.

Sources: Entries for “Hesiod,” “Apollodorus,” “Sanchoniathon,” all taken from “Lemprière’s Classical Dictionary of Proper Names“, John Lemprière, D.D., London, 1812. “Goddesses of Chaldea, Syria and Egypt,” Lawrence Durdin-Robertson, Cesara Publications, Clonegal Castle, Ireland, 1975. The Apocryphal New Testament.

Note: Sanchoniathon (also spelled Sanchuniathon, Sanchoniatho or Sankunyaton) The Phoenician author of three famous works, that were originally written in Phoenician, now only surviving to modern times in partial paraphrase and a summary of a Greek translation by Philo of Byblos, according to a written account of Eusebius of Caesarea. The few fragments attributed to Sanchoniathon comprise the most extended literary source today concerning the practices of Phoenician religion in either Greek or Latin texts.

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