HEAVENLY SPHERES
The Gypsy is at her table in the dark-clothed tent.
Here for a day, here forever. What is the difference?
Waiting within, dreaming of all the might-have-beens.
A customer arrives, nervous and full of expectations, and soon parts the curtain.
The candles, set a-flutter, soon resume their quiet prayer.
Here the light is dim, a twilight intimate to the passing of secrets.
Here the still enclosed air forms a boundary
where the outer world cannot enter, cannot belong.
Here, at a price, may be revealed the doorway to another world,
another chance.
But all change needs courage.
With two chairs there is a table. The table is small and round.
Round, representing the circling world
that lies closed out beyond the tent.
A circle of life paying respects to an enclosed ground.
“Please sit down”, said the Gypsy, half rising,
an invitation with the grace of her hand.
They now sit, the table a bridge between them, facing each other.
One in veils and one unveiled.
A meeting of two bodies, two minds, two souls, eyes.
The cloth that covers the table is dark.
It has been sown with many symbols, mixed voices from a lost time.
And on it, exposed, there smoothly shines a ball of crystal.
In its aloneness it represents the oneness of the soul.
Its eye flickers with inner flames. It reads the soul of all around it.
It invites each candle on the walls to a dance.
The ball is a mystical sphere of the curve of the earth.
It looks and weighs the depths of each soul.
It sits and waits, but though the Earth turns, the ball does not move.
Prometheus bound, an offering by slaves to the gods.
The pearl of the Dragon.
The walls and candles standing overhead look down.
The table offers up its crystal to the heavens
as two people of different worlds sit around it
immersed in the presence of each other;
but while the visitor is locked in inner thoughts and turmoil's,
the other is freely projecting and appraising.
“Welcome to my tent”, said the Gypsy softly, as she was the master of Hosts.
She took, for a moment, the visitor’s hand in hers.
“You come to seek my help”, she politely said, as she was the master of Ghosts.
Ghosts of the night, of moon, mountain, plain and forest,
And of the ghosts that lurk within each troubled soul.
Sensing that her visitor deserved the truth, she gave it. “Do you know … where the crystal ball is?” the Gypsy slowly and kindly inquired. “Why … it is there — on your table”, responded the visitor logically as if partaking in a game. “What you CAN see and what you CAN know are rarely the same”, advised the Gypsy in a hardening whisper. Her eyes flashed. “No … I AM THE CRYSTAL BALL!” revealed the Gypsy in a Voice that Loomed Out as from a Well. She had lifted the veil between matter and mind, splitting realms. The surrounding Hosts of Dark, of Light, of Time, were called and surged into the room, a tide from a dark unseen sea. Answers awaiting questions. Shells on the shore, awaiting their selection. It was time to begin.
SOME ELABORATIONS:
The function of a Crystal Ball or of any enchanting accessory device such as a magic sword, wand, amulet, potion, cards etc. is to provide a power that one does not normally have. A magician waves his magic wand and wonders appear. However, it is not the wand that is magical, but the talents of the magician. The wand is the distraction for the gullible who know nothing of wonders. A champion sportsman wears a lucky charm and believes that it gives him an extra edge over his opposition. However, it is the sportsman’s own talent that wins. Because of the champion’s belief in the charm, he/she has more confidence of winning, and that indeed is the added magic. In contests some unscrupulous participants will deliberately hide the lucky charm of another and dissolve their confidence thus increasing winning chances. Arnold Schwarzenegger the famous body builder used to do this. Confidence and belief are the extra enhancements that make a winner from amongst other talented participants. The Gypsy is not saying that she is a crystal ball, a thing. She is saying that she has the functions that a novice might assign to a crystal ball or magical object, and that such abilities are in her own personal talents. Thus, she is the magic in the crystal ball and not the other way round. Insight is personal and it is not some occult object of devotion or mysterious rite.
This drama was not meant to have a follow-on. It already contains a high density of meanings. The sequel after all is a universal, that is, what happens next is different depending on the reaction of each separate viewer. The piece’s impact shatters the moment and scatters continuances like an impact-web across glass. From one event multiplies many. We all radiate into the universe and thus expand its creation. The sequence already exists in your own mind. And it is You. We need to know and be shown that we are more than just what we think we are. That is a continuous lesson from religion, the occult, science, art and the martial arts. The Gypsy's spell has already bloomed. I give, but it is you the receiver who generates art and meaning from that.
© 2015 Stephen Cheney, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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