That title was not ominous at all..... (did you read my sarcasm?)
In many ways, this has been the best... and worst... Full Moon ever.
We created a Horizon Realm. In some way, I kept thinking this would be like a Mirror Realm like in Dr. Strange. It isn't. It is much more like a dimensional pocket that we alone have access to. Not sure how only we have access to it and others not. A question for later.
However, we all forgot to consider a name for it. I think that is magically important. Words have power, Names are important. yaddayaddayadda. The pause of OOPS around the room was profound. Then we named it Seiiki, Japanese for Sanctuary. I am amused that my parents apparently name things like toddlers do. So... the sanctuary is named Sanctuary.... just in Japanese.
Welcome to The Sanctuary - Yōkoso Seiiki
Everyone but Levi and I went out to explore. I stood on the outside deck and surveyed everything from there. If this were a clock, I stood South at 6:00 at the large round Dojo. In the center of the clock was the Zen Garden. At 9:00 in the west was my idealized version of Terrasol. AT 10:30 or Northwest was the very traditional teahouse. In the North was the strangest house I ever saw, yet beautiful. Then I remembered a picture my parents had of a Frank Lloyd Wright house called Waterfall. It looked very much like that. Wow. There was a stream in the Northeast and the whole sanctuary was surrounded by forest.
Levi seems young and yet, it had not escaped me that sometimes the others defer to him. Anyhow, he had this very youthful AHA moment and dropped himself down to do something in his notebook. I stepped a little closer to see what he was doing. I didn't want to draw too much attention to myself. I already feel like the odd one out, like I know less than everyone else, or like... I am the different one. Maybe that is just my shyness talking. Levi was sketching in a leatherbound notebook... with a fountain pen. On this alone, we have something in common and I like him just for this! I almost said something about our possible mutual geekiness, but he was so focused, sketching a circle and symbols and sigils. What was he doing? Was this his form a magic? Like tea and my teacup are mine? Maybe I should dedicate my fountain pen and journal, too.
OOooooooooo...... He cast some form of levitation.... sort of. Graceless thumping then floating and bobbing, uncoordinated form of levitation. He has the hugest shit-eating grin on, proud of this. I guess he has never done that before. Now I don't feel so bad for being a noob. Maybe he isn't far advanced from me and we are actually peers. He flipflipped between excited grin and uber-concentrated. I stuck around to be his spotter... in case he fell or crashed into a tree or something. The lecture about just because I have so much familiarity with the Life Sphere and CAN grow myself wings and fly, does not mean I should. Although... the thot did cross my mind of doing so here. Once he safely stood on the ground again, I headed off to check out my version of Terrasol.
It looked very much the same on the outside with the curved bay window screens and more squared inside, the wooden deck, the little firepit on the right with logs to sit upon, a large ancient looking momiji tree. It looks so AWESOME! And that was just the outside. It seemed a bit bigger that the original Terrasol. I hope it was bigger inside. That was my intention. I slid open the main door nice and wide so Levi (who was with me) could come inside. I confess, I was a terrible host. I should have offered him tea. I was just so .... I needed to see everything... to TOUCH everything! It was indeed larger, almost 4 extra feet on either side of the bed. The futon was already opened out like a bed, a spate healing cot was tucked like a trundle under the bed. The bed mattress was blessedly a nice firm futon with just the right about of fluff to it. The walls were not the white on white like the original, which I like, but I prefer some color. The tree on the left of the bed was a rich dark brown and the leaves were not bare but in full foliage of red, orange, gold momiji leaves. The yin-yang above the bed remained the white on white with only the contracting Yin in black and the line and dot in Yang black. On the right, the Celtic knot has a twist in each corner and were colored for the elements of Earth (green), air (yellow), fire (red), water (blue) and with the central knot motif in deep chromatic purple and silver. It was so AMAZING! I touched everything, willing it all to vibrate as MINE. Mine... mine. MINE... MINE!! My cheeks hurt. I must be grinning too much. Big trunk of medical supplies... everything in my medical wishlist was in it.... except the knew weird bag I just received that can reattach a severed head and still save a life. THAT is decided too weird for me to imagine well enough to put in here. The tall tea cabinet with a collection of teacups ... I will add to it. And tea canisters. I had to open them and smell them all. I almost want to live here forever! I need to bring Brighid here!
I ran to the Dojo, but.... uhhhhh... I had no idea how to get back to the mundane world. Nor back here again. Levi didn't know either. He suggested we explore and sense and try to experiment. Is he really one of those guys that presses the random button because it is there to be pressed? I opted for finding my parents and just asking. One day, I hope I will know enough to not need to call my mom or dad. Apparently, the answer is to meditate our way in and out, ideally when there isn't a class going on in the Wellness Center in the real world.
Levi then wandered off to explore the woods. I advised him not to anger the potentially angry aurochs. Why? Why did dad create aurochs? Did our woods actually need big hairy cows? Why couldn't we have mutant deer with too many antlers instead?
I went back to the Dojo, meditated, managed to get into the Wellness Center, ran off to Terrasol, and hunted down a still grumpy Brighid. I smothered her with my affections, then I brought her back to Seiiki. She was giddy and excited and I loved watching her sniff and explore everything. Then I thot that maybe this modified Terrasol needed a better name: Mo Tearmann! Brighid was miffed by that as it wasn't just MINE but ours. Ok... so Ár tearmann. In hindsight.... I apparently come from the same school of naming things like a toddler as my parents do. Ár tearmann is just Irish Gaelic for Our Sanctuary. Oh well.
OFF TO THE HOUSE!
We explored the house grounds and then all the rooms. It was very much like my parents. It suited them well. There were lots of guest rooms, too. Seems they were planning. And... a room for me. It held much of the orientation as my own room, but felt more... blank. I should tell them to just turn it into a guest room. I have my own place here. AWE... that is all I have for my parents' house. AWE!!! Why have they never just built places like this in the real world? This is ... beautiful. I never knew I wanted a house like this till now. I stood out on one of the balconies looking out across the Zen Garden to the woods. Levi stepped out just that moment, glancing back frequently, but nothing stepped out after him. I wonder if he encountered the aurochs. I watched him return to the Dojo and sit to meditate. He didn't vanish, so I guess he is just resting.
I quietly headed down the stairs as I overheard my parents talking with our other guests. So I sat, like a child does on the stairs to listen but remain unseen. They were talking about the impending War. The Proteus, Awakened AI was top of the debate. Is it alive? Does it have a soul? Is it worthy of our compassion? Should we try to liberate it or kill it? Where do we stand ethically? Dad adamantly wants it dead. some want to save it? Andrew is on the fence. I stood up and asked a bunch of obnoxious questions, because I do not understand this war and these technocrats. Some offworld location, planet on other side of sun, is being used to develop this Proteus, along with other weapons that are intended to wipe out ... mages?
Part of me wants deeply to fight this in the only ways I can. And part of me isn't sure if the Technocrats are wrong. Just... maybe... wrong about killing us. I don't like being forced into things. Do I have a choice? Sure I do. If I am a moral person and hold to my virtues and honor... then no. I do not have a choice.
Bottom line. I am a healer.
