Year – “Origins”

Calliope opened the door to the library. This was her first assignment as a young goddess of story, and she’d been given the task of being a scribe for Peter Fae, a worldwalker just coming back from a twenty year Quest to bring the magic to the masses. They were meeting in the Akashic Library, in a place between the mortal and the godly planes where they could interact and share his bardic telling.

Peter entered and bowed slightly. “Lady Story” he said.

“In-training” she replied. “I’m still in my younger aspect, not yet the Saga you’ve come to know, but I appreciate your respect nonetheless. Shall we get started?”

“Sure.” he said, moving into the library. “This is new for me. How does it work?”

“Well, you’re a special case.” she said, “And I recognize your devotion, so i’m coming here personally to assist you. I know it’s been hard to be a vessel for a new style of storytelling, and you’ve done so well. So, I want you to teach me what you’ve gained from your devotion to Story.”

He paused for a moment as if confused. “But … you’re the goddess of Story! Don’t you already know?”

“Yes and no.” replied the goddess-in-training. “I know what my character is supposed to know in any given moment in order to serve other characters in their story. In this case i’m here to be your scribe, to help you articulate what you’ve done and why.”

“”Is it to help the people?” Peter asked, and she smiled. “Partially. But it’s also to help you. To give you the reward for what you asked for.”

“So you’re my personal muse.”

She grinned. “I’ve always been your personal muse. I was there when you first devoted yourself to me and my sisters Terpsichore and Euterpe in the lightning, I was there when you traveled through the Norse and Fae mythlands and discovered my aspect as Saga, and i’ve been with you every moment on the Quest.”

“Which has been brutal.” Peter said, raising his eyebrows for a moment.

“Of course!” she said cheerily. “All true heroic journeys are brutal! That’s what makes them heroic.”

She smiled again. “A true story of course! The tale of the modern myth in service to the New Earth! So, let’s begin!”

They walked deeper into the library, moving past endless shelves of books towards a vast hall lit up by candles. Shimmering stars played out in the ceiling, causing the flickering candles to sparkle with miniature galaxies.

“It’s beautiful here …” Peter said. “Just like I imagined it.”

“Yes. The Library shifts and changes to reflect the stories of her occupants. She holds all the stories in the world you know.”

“So, the library will change to reflect what we’re talking about?”

She nodded. “Yes. The Akashic Library exists in the ethers, so everything we say, think or feel has an effect here.”

“Right” he said. “Just like I imagined it again.”

“So.” she said. “It’s your story. How do you want to tell it?”

He considered this for a moment. “Well, because the journey into the Mythica is meant to teach the people what i’ve learned in my devotion to story, she’s a kind of yoga. A way of witnessing one’s path and it’s landscape that explores what it means to be human. To have a body, an ego and all of that. To be a soul living in a body for a time.”

“That’s awesome.” said the young Goddess, pulling out a blank book over which hovered a glittering golden quill. “So she’s a teaching story. And how will you do that?”

“Well, I designed the Mythica website to act as a temple of story to do that very thing.” said Peter proudly.

She beckoned him to continue.

“Okay … so over the course of my journey I discovered there were principles, constant gravities which existed beneath all our stories, and that those principles had expressions. The unique way in which those things expressed themselves as our story – as our individual ego. Our character in what I call the Great Story of our collective unfoldment. To show these to the people, I documented my quest for twenty years, gradually building out the Mythica website and the teachings to help the people understand their own heroic quest to reach a new reality.”

“Admirable.” said Calliope, bowing her head slightly.

“Thank you. It’s been a major effort. So, at the core of this is the idea of the self. Of self-identity itself and how that manifests in the incarnate plane, and to really anchor that we have to look at the Stars and the Soil.”

“Why?”

“Because to understand the self you have to understand the soul. To recognize that we are not the character we are playing, not the ego that we identify with, but something much greater. We have to realize that what we are experiencing in the soil is made from the substance of the stars“

The View from Above

The structure of the library flowed around them, and suddenly they found themselves standing on the edge of a platform floating in space. “This is the view from the akashic.” said Peter, looking out an opening between the shifting bookshelves. “It’s looking down at the world from the altitude of the stars.”

She looked around. Stars floating in the expanse around her alongside strange constellations reflective of Peter’s journey. Far beneath them and yet simultaneously in front of them was the planet earth.

“Why are there two planets?” she asked.

“I think … it may be the library showing the difference between my personal world and the larger world I share with others, which makes sense in the context of the Mythica.”

“Tell me more.” she said, her quill taking notes quickly on the pages.

“Well, from the perspective of the Stars we are souls incarnating into selves, living the grand adventure of being human. Anchoring that understanding is crucial to living one’s myth, and so I designed the Mythica outpost of the akashic library to show things from the viewpoint of both the Stars and the Soil, to look at our personal and collective story from above and below.”

“There’s a difference?” she asked innocently.

“Yes and no.” he said. “What we experience in the soil of the mortal plane is a reflection of the patterns in the stars bent by the lens of our current architecture. It’s the foundation for our mythos, one of the seven thunders of Story.”

“Ooooooh. I like that.” said Calliope. “The seven thunders of Story. That’s a great concept.”

“Thank you.” Peter said. “It’s what came to me on the quest – a way to explain the lightning of the soul meeting the soil and the reverberations of it’s echo upon the world.”

“And how are you you showing that to the people?”

“Through showing the perspective from the Stars and the Soil in the narrative … creating a way to view my story from above and also from below.”

“Why?”

“It has to do with divination. With how we perceive and receive information in the world. When we’re in our higher aspect things look at a certain way. When we’re deeply entangled in the mortal plane they look considerably different. I wanted to show the people my own progression through that thing, to give them a grounding point for their own journey of soul within the soil of the self.”

“That’s fascinating” said Calliope. “So you built a way to showcase the lightning of life in the context of our stories.”

The library shifted around them as they spoke, the room changing to incorporate a desk dreamily blended with a map.

“It’s all about the geometries.” he said. “About the synchronicities which define our path and the land it traverses. There’s the world of my personal story, made of the synchronicities that have happened along my timeline, and there’s how that timeline fits into the larger expanse; where it connects with the timelines of others in the mortal plane.”

“What is this?” she asked.

“It’s the map of my myth” he replied. “A representation of my twenty-year quest.”

Calliope smiled broadly. “So you’ve done it.” said Calliope. “Impressive.”

Peter bowed. “I have. I’ve gone on the true heroic journey, and have returned with the gift of the Goddess in my hands. I fulfilled what i’d promised you I would do, building a window to wonder for the people.”

“And for yourself as well” she replied.

“Aye” said Peter. “That too. Perhaps that most of all, and rightly so.”

“Why?” asked the deva.

“Because I built the Mythica to help myself.” he said. “At least at first. Because I had to, in order to make sense of the world.”

Around them the library started to change, the ethers shifting to reflect their conversation. What were solid walls became another scenery, one which showed a middle-aged man standing alongside what looked like another version of himself.

“Interesting trick” said Peter, as they now stood looking at the image together.

“Yes.” said Calliope. “The library changes shape to match the vibrations of story. It helps us to visualize our journey. What can you tell me about this image?”

“There are many layers to the world.” Peter said. “This is me at fifty-three having just returned from the quest and in the mountains of Lake Tahoe. And yet, this is also me, standing in the realms of the Mythica.” he said, pointing to the picture appearing in the space.

Calliope studied the image. “Are you younger there?”

“Sometimes” he said. “Sometimes i’m older. It depends. The Mythica is the layer of stories, the place where the archetype we are embodying in our life can be seen … where the subtle energies that make up our self and our world can be perceived.”

“So are we in the Mythica now?” she asked, gesturing around the library.

“We are. We’re in the depths of the Mythica, in the planes closer to Source consciousness where we appear as our soulful selves.”

“I think we should be specific for our readers.” said Calliope. “Is the Mythica a fictional place? Like a made-up story?”

He smiled with hard-won gnosis. “No. She’s a factual place that gives birth to fiction, and exploring the Mythica has been my life’s work.”

“And it has been a great work indeed.” replied the goddess, “Which is why I have arrived here to help you broadcast that gift to the people.”

She smiled then, and opened her hand. A flush of magic flickered in the space, and she was suddenly holding a blank book and a glittering quill. “So. She said. Tell me what you have learned from your story.”

A Tale told through Time

He looked down at the map beneath them. “First off, my journey into the Mythica can’t be told in a linear fashion. She has to unfold, coming into form like a blooming flower.”

“Why?”

“Full transparency? Because it took me twenty years to live the Quest, another 2 to build out the platform and the presentation, and this is the way the spell is unfolding.”

“And you’re publishing it while it’s being written? … bold.”

“Necessary.” he said. “Spells have their own timing, they’re related to any number of factors constantly changing. Once I got back from the Quest, the natural movement was to publish as a work-in-progress.”

“Fair enough” said Calliope. “But for the readers, why don’t you explain what you mean by a ‘spell’ unfolding?”

“Everything we do is a spell.” said Peter. “Every action, every intention, every manifestation. The Mythica is a spell to divine and discern the landscapes of the Mythica and divination happens in moments. Not all things can be known. Because the journey into the Mythica is a true story which speaks to the nature of the world of magic, part of that magic is working with those moments. This means letting the story evolve at her own rate. It means blending the world of real photos with illustrations to show the journey itself.”

“Got it. So we’re writing an biography of real photos mixed with illustrations to showcase the real world of magic?” she asked.

“Yes.” he said. “We’re using the authenticity of my tale to teach the yoga of story, illustrating the principles of the path which underlie all our stories.”

“Got it. So what are we looking at now?”

“Images from my journey.” said Peter. “The quest into the Mythica took me into the realms of Faerie, which is a location in both the surface and the subtle world.”

“So you’re saying that Faerie is a real place, not just something you read about in fiction?” asked the goddess.

He nodded. “That’s what I learned in along the quest. All stories are true on a certain level of perspective. It’s just how we look at them, how deeply we understand the patterns beneath the patterns in our lives.”

“And your documentation helped you to see those patterns?”

“It did. It helped me to see that all of our stories were connected, all made from the threads of synchronicity, and that those threads were themselves part of something larger – a planetary and universal intelligence that supported us all.”

“So these photos are real?”

“They are. They’re shots from various points on my journey, showing how across my path there was a consistent mythos, a consistent story that was happening through me and manifesting as a real-life modern myth. It was a journey across the realms of Faerie and through the stars of the Galactic, along the boughs and branches of the Trees of the Worlds, mapping my way to make sense of the patterns in the stars and the soil.”

“Mmm. And where was this photo taken?”

“Scotland” he replied. “During the ‘Faerie Roads’ adventure of 2009. Just before I left the Academy to make my way to the Vedic realms of Crestone, Colorado.”

“As I continued on the Quest, I came to see that there were others – other heroines and heroes devoted to the transformation of themselves and the planet, each walking their own path through the patterns which defined our changing world. As I came to witness them in this way, I saw my role as a witness, designed by soulful intent to help show the context of that larger world.”

2017 – “Pyramids of Chi”

“Over time the Quest would bring me all across the planet, the road beneath my feet gradually blossoming into an awareness of the subtle patterns which existed beneath the surface of our stories, clarifying the landscapes of what I came to call the subtle earth and the underlands of the Mythica.”

“I lived in both tents and temples, in parked school buses and mountaintop houses, even once in a fifth wheel trailer redesigned as a beautiful sanctuary in the style of the New Earth.”

She looked at the images forming in the space. “That’s beautiful!” she said. “You say you lived there?”

“Yes.” he said proudly. “The object of the Quest has always been to live on a string of synchronicities which led one to the more magical version of their reality. When I arrived in this place I was penniless, yet the application of the mystic arts nonetheless brought me to a sanctuary on the island of Maui where I lived for many months.”

I did what I set out to do, creating a window into the world of the Mythica that the people could use to track their own journey home. It was the true heroic journey, one of difficulty, trial and treasure, and it cost me dearly.

“That’s … that’s amazing.” she said, her eyes bright. “And you did all this in service to Story?”

“I did. I wanted to live a true mythical story and share that with the world, to anchor what I saw as the magical world and share the map to that with others.”

“In the beginning of 2021 I receive a message from my fellow oracle Cassandra Banks that there is sanctuary for me in the homelands of Tahoe, and I make my way northwards, passing a metal knight on horseback along the way. I am no longer the young man I was when I set out on the Quest and am beaten and bruised from the trials. Still, the gift of the Goddess is in my hands, and I set myself to build the artifact of the Mythica to share that with the world.”

“A portal of story” replied the goddess. “Using story to teach the principles of myth. Ingenious. Tell me, how did you build this artifact of remembrance?”