The Hatchling—1996
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XI—Dance of the Devas
"What flowers should I pick?" mused Holly. He was weaving circlets of Beltane flowers from the gardens with bright-colored ribbons. "Dark Star's horn will be filled with the magick of our gardens!" and he began weaving the columbine from the basket at hand.
Poppy, Dark Star's new friend, was off with the hatchling. They were dancing through the gardens, Dark Star with a basket handle in her mouth, Poppy with small, garden scissors, gathering flowers for Holly. There were lilacs and daisies and wild dicentra and bleeding hearts and ajuga and the list went on as far as the edge of the gardens!
Arnica was working with the crystals. Four wonderful new specimens had arrived with Gino from Crystal. Holly thought that it was great fun calling them 'Crystal's crystals.' Crystal's gifts included a large, yellow topaz for the East altar; a surprisingly large piece of red garnet for the South altar; a blue tourmaline for the West altar; and a beautiful chrysophase for the North altar. Around the Circle Arnica was setting a mandala of their temple stones upon the large, granite rocks: a large piece of nacre, a jade carving, amber and onyx. Next was a brilliant iridescent crystal cluster no one had quite been to identify. Then were set thirteen ivory carvings brought back from another land by a distant ancestor which had been in the family for generations. Upon the next stone was an amethyst cluster, then a topaz (this one almost golden in color), a ruby, a blue sapphire and a green emerald. These would set the pattern of energy in motion linking the Circle to the faceted crystal set in his bamboo staff. When the Circle was cast for Beltane, Arnica would carry his staff slowly around the perimeter of the garden circle setting the energy in motion, all linked to the radiant crystal in his staff, to be carried to the Beltane 'tree' which had been fashioned from a straight cedar branch Crystal had carved from a straight, slender limb which had come down in the woods the previous Hallows. There would be six of them this Beltane Eve to dance the ribbons 'round the pole, weaving the magick of the gardens' exuberance into a dance which would last until the first killing frost.
"Oh, look," cried Holly, "they are beautiful!" Poppy and Dark Star had just brought him a basket with lilacs, both pure white and deep purple. "There are enough to make circlets for everyone."
"Let me take my staff back into the cabin and give you a hand," Arnica offered, and headed up the path to their little house.
"Would you bring some more spools of ribbon?" asked Holly. Arnica paused, his silver-grey hair catching the sun.
"Any particular colors, my sweet?"
"What about blue for Amethyst and white for Crystal? And I think a bright green for Gino would be just perfect! Poppy, do you have a favorite color?"
"I think a golden color would suit me," Poppy said. "I've been 'retrieving' all afternoon."
They all laughed at this joke. Since Dark Star had brought her new friend home, a changeling of Elf mother and Earthkin father, the young man who shape-shifted into a puppy whenever he was near human civilization, had enjoyed teasing them all with his 'canine humor' as he called it.
"Golden it will be—as wonderful as the warmth of the Sun," Arnica said and turned toward the cabin.
"Holly, they are so beautiful," said Poppy. "Can I try mine on?" Holly handed him the ring of bright daisies with golden ribbons. It was stunning. "Look, it fits perfectly. Dark Star, do you want a turn?" Poppy tossed it to the hatchling and it landed, perfectly around her horn. The hatchling whinnied in pure delight. She loved this curious fellow a lot, even though he had been in her life only a matter of weeks.
Dark Star lifted her head and turned her neck as if to say, 'catch me.'
"You're on," said Poppy, and the two of them went scampering about the gardens.
"It's not fair," Poppy cried, "you leap right over the large beds and I must run around and stay on the paths." He was a bit breathless from the chase, and landed upon the grass.
Dark Star knew her cue and she turned upon her hooves and came right up to him. Kneeling down, she lowered her horn and the flowered hoop landed right on Poppy's tummy. His laugh spilled into the afternoon air like the sound of the many wind chimes hanging in the trees.
Now that the scampering was done, Arnica and Holly brought the garden altar from the storage shed next to the greenhouse. It was a fine old desk with the legs removed. When it was sitting in just north of the garden circle's center, it was a wonderful piece of furniture. They carried it through the lattice archway at the Northeast portal and set it in place. Holly opened one of the drawers to bring forth the altar cloth and together they spread it carefully over the walnut altar top. They worked so well together, knowing just what the other would do. Poppy had found this a constant source of amazement. Sometimes Arnica and Holly seemed to share their very thoughts!
Arnica had opened another drawer to bring forth the altar stones. He wanted to be certain the cloth would not be carried away in a flirtatious afternoon breeze before they set the altar early this evening.
"Bring them all here, Poppy, would you please?"
The man-puppy loved 'fetching' in any form. He jumped to his feet and strung the circlets upon his left arm. One each for Crystal and Amethyst, one for Arnica and one for Holly. He put his upon his head, Gino's in his left hand. The last one, the best, was Dark Star's and he carefully laid it around her horn and they both went into the garden circle.
Holly and Arnica took the ribboned hoops and laid them lovingly upon the altar, then all went into the cabin to rest and meditate in preparation for the evening.
A gentle knock at the kitchen door announced the arrival of Crystal, Amethyst and Gino.
"Look who we met on the way. Did you get the parcel?" asked Crystal.
"Oh yes, and wait until you experience them tonight in the Circle. The mandala has grown and should be quite amazing," answered Arnica.
They hugged and talked a bit as they changed into their ritual robes. When all was ready they embraced as one and sang a song together. Then Arnica picked up his cobalt blue chalice and aspurged the path before them as they sang their way through the gardens into the circle.
Holly removed his athame from its scabbard and scribed the Circle as Arnica lit the two, white altar candles. Gino stood at the center, his gloved hands holding Arnica's powerful staff. Poppy sat near his feet and they turned as each of the other four invoked, in turn, their respective element. Dark Star moved from one to the other as each of the four cardinal directions was set in motion. Crystal was very pleased. The stones she had sent integrated their energy and evoked a very strong magick.
Now the Circle was prepared. Arnica took his staff and walked carefully to the East. Holding it out so that it's crystal crown extended over the perimeter of stones (upon which were set the mandala of crystals and gems), he moved slowly. One by one the crystals and gems seemed almost to change hue, as if glowing from within. All the gardens and trees outside the Circle seemed to move a bit into the distance, as if a sheer veil was being dropped from the starlit sky. As Arnica completed his walk around the Circle, Crystal set the Beltane pole in place, right at the center of it all. Arnica walked in a spiral, bringing all the magick together and then, at the climax, touching it to the pole.
"Oh," they all gasped, sounding as if fireworks had been set off, for at the very top of the pole appeared the most beautiful flower. The magick had worked and the pole had been transformed into the Beltane Tree. The others stood, transfixed, as Arnica and Holly moved the altar to the north.
"Is it now?" asked Poppy.
"Oh, yes, we may begin," answered Arnica. Holly placed the circlets of flowers upon each person's head. Dark Star stood in the archway, right in the northeast portal and waited as Holly took hers to the altar, blessed it with sacred water and incense, then set it over her horn. They stood, then, around the pole, each taking in hand their ribbon.
"Blessed Be the dance of May," they began, as the chant grew and the dance started. Holly, Crystal and Poppy danced deosil as Arnica, Amethyst and Gino moved counter. They wove in and out until the pole was braided with ribbon and the Circle was filled with glowing Magick.
Arnica went to the altar to get the silver chalice and Poppy stood up, proud.
"I wrote an invocation," he said. "May I say it?"
They nodded, and Arnica set the chalice back down so he could listen carefully.
"Blessed Be the stars in the night skies.
Blessed Be the Moonbeams surrounding us.
Blessed Be the God and Goddess here in our hearts, Their spirits divine.
Dance in the Circle and give Them honor
Up in the Astral they do outshine.
Heavenly parents, we invoke you for blessings here in the Circle, scribed for you tonight.
Shine in our lives so all can be arisen.
Blessed Be the Child of Light, for he is the master of heavenly flight."
And with that a loud sound, almost like thunder (but the sky was clear) shook the very ground upon which they stood. There, next to Dark Star, was the Goddess, looking beautiful and wild all at once. She looked upon them and spoke. "It is time. The changeling must come with me. His mother cries for she misses him. Poppy, as they call you, you may no longer wander in this world but must return to your own."
Dark Star neighed loudly, her cry of anguish tearing at everyone's hearts.
"Dark Star, you above all must understand that he cannot remain here. He is of elven blood and he must return to his own world. Take his place Dark Star and dance, all of you dance now for the Magick is upon you."
And they did, unbraiding the Beltane Tree then winding it up again before they stopped. And when they did, a voice called out from the distance, "Blessed Be the Child of Light…" and there, just outside the edge of the Circle's stones, the devas, spirits of the flowers, were seen dancing on this Beltane Eve, a vision none had ever before seen and one which none would forget. Poppy's spirit would always be there, among the dancing devas.
XII—Jewel and Lotus' Surprise
Summer was arriving in the gardens and grove. The first firefly was spotted just a few nights ago and the borage continued to brighten the gardens with a multitude of five-pointed blue flowers. Dark Star, last year's hatchling unicorn, had discovered just how tasty borage can be.
"It's a good thing, too, for it's coming up everywhere," said Holly. He and Arnica had been encouraging Dark Star to carefully reach and pluck all the borage she could find growing everywhere but in the new borage bed. After dealing with last year's borage 'experience,' they decided to create one large bed for the borage and declared 'that's it.' Borage found growing any place else would have to go. Dark Star didn't seem to mind one bit!
"Remember a year ago Midsummer? That was when Jewel and Lotus first brought baby Dagon here. He was so tiny then," Holly mused, pausing while dead-heading the brilliant red Chinese poppies.
"Yes, I remember well," answered Arnica. "He's certainly grown fast. We should polish his bell and ring it tonight. He's so quick for his age I must believe that he would recognize the sound." Last year at Midsummer a silver bell was hung for Dagon. In fact, the trees around them contained numerous bells and wind chimes sent by friends and students scattered all throughout the lands. Some were hung so that their music would remember the birth of a baby, some for the passing of a loved one, some to remember a singular event and others just for the pleasure of their sound.
"Dear Sirs, may I take the candles?" Gino's face was radiant with freckles and his ever bright smile. He had become an apprentice to Arnica, learning all there was to know about herbs and magick. His special relationship with the hatchling had grown since he first saw her horn despite the powerful herbs which led all others to see her as a horse.
"Yes, son," answered Arnica kindly. He had grown very fond of this lad. "Take them and set them out with love and song."
Last year they had used votive candles placed in jelly jars to line the path from their cabin through the woods to the stone Circle. But this year would be different. A week after Beltane a huge carton arrived. Their friend Amber, now living in the River Mountains, was dating a steelsmith. Together she and the man (what was his name, Quicksilver?) designed and crafted a set of twenty-four wrought iron hooks to set into the earth. At the top end each hook curved like a shepherd's crook to hold the hangers for the candles. Amber had also sent a set 24 glass bowls to place in the hangers. How beautiful this would look. Gino would need to make many trips.
As the boy went along, setting the candles every so often, he stopped to offer a simple blessing for the redbud which Holly had planted several years before. Further along, he gave honor to the rowan, a sacred tree of Arnica's. It looked to be recovering. It had provided its first growths of leaves for the deer family. The gardens around their cabin and grove had been visited by the deer often this year, for they had lost their feeding ground when the trees at Fern Hollow had been cut down. In fact, the deer had done serious damage to the dogwood and to the prized pussywillow last Eostara but now, at Midsummer, everything looked to be doing just fine. The last candlestake placed, Gino went to tell Holly that the path was readied.
Now it was Holly's turn to prepare the stone Circle. He carried a large basket with their ritual tools. A small jar contained fresh-dried salt sent to them from Cloverville by Pearl. In her last letter she wrote that Phoenix' health was somewhat improved but that he still had bad days. The Pictish couple had been well known among the Earthkin for their skill with needle and thread and she had sent the salt jar in an embroidered bag. Holly set the salt bowl, water chalice and censer upon the altar.
Then he brought forth the crystal chalice. Every year it would appear clear at Candlemas but now, for Midsummer, it shone with a golden glow to honor the Sun as He neared His zenith. Holly carried the chalice slowly around the Circle and offered a prayer for Weaver, whose cremated ashes were buried beneath the great cedar just east of the stone Circle. Then he went to the west to honor Ladstar, whose ashes were placed with his athame where the two firs grew from a single root. Both were now guardians of this sacred space.
The chalice set upon the altar, Holly unpacked the incense and thurible and carried them to the south. Holly sighed, gazing beyond the south altar stone. How he loved the trees, and how deeply it pained him to see the loss of these elders. The Politicos still held the majority vote in Parliament and, at the Users' urging, more and more of the protective laws for the woodlands and forests were being voted down. Rumor in Merrydale was that they wanted to cut down even more trees and sell the lumber for more houses. The Earthkin people were increasingly upset. At the last election two Politicos lost their seats, replaced by Conservers, but it still wasn't enough.
"Houses," Holly snorted, "there are too many people moving here. Holy Mother, please do something…"
Holly was nudged out of his reverie by a wet nose at his ear. Dark Star had come to get him and they headed back to the cabin. Tonight would be a night of magick!
Holly adjusted Arnica's robe. They were gathering near the cabin, preparing for the night's journey. Jewel was adjusting the straps on the baby basket which Lotus wore upon his back. Jewel wore daisies woven into her rust-colored hair and looked so lovely as she fussed with the straps. Lotus stretched and moved, adjusting to the weight and checking to make sure that Dagon's carrier was secure.
Gino toyed with Dagon, keeping the baby happy and occupied. Gino looked so fine in his new, first robe. Although he had studied from her only briefly, Pearl remembered him with many gifts. Hand-stitched of cloth she had woven herself, Pearl had dyed the fabric a medley of colors from dyes she made of flowers grown in her southern garden. She felt it was time for her former student to have his first robe. Gino was excited to be part of this year's ritual held back in the stone Circle. It was to be a smaller procession than usual, for Amethyst and Crystal were unable to attend Midsummer with their friends. Their lives were busy and they often had to be there in 'spirit' only.
"Are we ready?" asked Arnica.
Everyone nodded and Holly rang his ritual bell once, then set it carefully in the pocket of his robe as he took up the censer.
Arnica took his staff and led the procession along the path. "And the Goddess breathed gently into the void, behold, the gentle breezes caressed the soul of the Universe…" Holly swung the censer gently as they passed the entrance to the woods. Their voices all blended in a chorus so gentle that not one bird stopped its chirping.
The chanting continued along the path and the Circle was cast in a flowing choreography of sound and imagery. As the time neared for the Midsummer invocation of the realm of the faerie, fireflies began to dart in and among the trees around the stone Circle. As Jewel walked to the center of the Circle to invoke the Mother Goddess, Lotus set the baby Dagon in his wicker carrier upon Dark Star's back.
Jewel's voice sang out into the dusky sky. Although only two hours until midnight, the sky was still light. "Call unto thy soul, arise and come unto me…."
At this the portal to the Realm of the Faerie opened. It first appeared as a hazy mist at the northeast edge of the Circle. Everyone felt uneasy and thrilled at the same time but just then, Dark Star started and leapt right through the portal, baby, basket and all, and disappeared into the mist as the portal closed quickly behind.
They were stunned, but before anyone could speak Jewel was transformed. A tall woman to begin with, she seemed to have grown in stature and it was not her voice at all which spoke: "Patience. He will return." The Goddess, Herself, was speaking through Jewel.
And just as quickly the sacred presence left and Jewel fell to the pine-needled floor of the Circle as Lotus rushed to her side. Holly quickly closed the Circle.
"Hurry, bring me valerian and scullcap," Arnica told Gino who ran off to the cabin. As Lotus held a sobbing Jewel, Arnica and Holly comforted both, reminding them to trust in the Goddess.
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