The mists part as I start to come to awareness. Dressed in Traveling clothes, I recognize I am dreaming the moment I open my eyes. How else could I explain the wall of glass before me. On my side of the glass was swirling wisps of shadows and drifting tendrils of darkness. From such stuff are the dreams worlds made. On the other side of the glass was a well lit room. Books were opened on the table as a person consulted the diagrams on the paper before reaching up to make wax marks on the glass.
He did not see me, but I saw him. He was muttering to himself about making sure the seal was just right so “that bitch can’t slip through the cracks”.
I smiled and the darkness smiled with me.
I had a reverse view of the huge series of concentric circles he was working on. Some of the letters were upside down as well. Reading English upside down, reversed, or both is a Waking World skill of mine. As he shown no indication of knowing I was there, I had leisure to sort out what he was doing.
A four by four partitioned square was in the center of the circles. As he marked out the numbers, I recognized the kamea of Jupiter. That square was circumscribed by a circle touching all four corners. In the four arcs made by the contact of circle and square, he had written out four names of Jupiter. Interestingly, while I knew they were the full names, I could see them only as the symbol for Jupiter: ♃. I understood what the symbol represented, but the specific names used eluded me.
Around that circle was another one. Again four names were circumscribed in the space between them, this time they were four names of the Abrahamic god in four languages. I recognized Hebrew, Latin, and Greek right off. I think the fourth was transliterated Aramaic, but I was not sure about the language. I was sure these were names of God, meant to invoke a domineering aspect to the working. (As if starting off with Jupiter didn’t give that away.)
Around that circle was yet another circle! And to my surprise, I saw my name in the space between. The diagram being vertical, I shall refer to “left” and “right” from the point of view of the one scribing the marks upon the glass. (Remember, I’m seeing this in reverse.) At the top of the space was what I think is the name of an angel. In the left and the right of the space were names that didn’t have an angelic feel to them, but referred to something not human just the same. In the bottom space, written upside down in the way such seals are written, was my name.
I started to place my hand on the glass, but noted as I approached it my name started to glow. I didn’t want to give away my awareness at that moment so I backed away. The name of the angel and the other two beings felt slippery in my mind as I tried to sound them out. Together the three of them tasted like a binding. The two others are supposed to hold me in place while the angel kept me controlled, maybe?
Gee. Like that hasn’t been tried before.
The magician backed away from the glass to double check his work thus far. He consulted a few books and added stars, double crosses, and triple crosses between the names of God. He then stepped forward and using a tool, drew one more circle around the diagram.
Now he wrote four more angel names in the newly defined space. Between them he carefully drew the seal of the preceding angel. He was very careful to draw the seals precisely.
He misspelled “Michael”.
By now, I’m sure he is going to try to use this diagram as a working against me. One meant to dominate me, to bind me, to make me impotent and unable to repel whatever he has coming up after this. He is not the first to work such against me. I wonder if I should start taking souvenirs after all.
I step up to the glass and tap it. My name flashes in brilliant colors.
He panics and falls over his own feet as he tries to back away. He looks up and sees me for the first time since I arrived.
“Excuse me. I apologize for interrupting your concentration. But you misspelled Michael. It should end with A-E-L, not E-I-L.”
He looked at his diagram and saw where I was pointing to. “Oh. Yes. What was I thinking! Thank you!” He forgot his fear and now scrambled forward to wipe away the wax and correct the error. “Ah! There! Much better.” He looked through the now translucent glass and studied me. “Has God already begun to help me? What angel are you?”
“I’m no angel, though I sometimes moonlight as an angelus. Just passing through and saw your handiwork. I know all the names here but this one…” I tapped on my own. “Which angel is that?”
He laughed. “That one is also no angel. An unclean creature of deviousness and black magic. One that will be bound to serve good no matter how she tries to pervert it.”
“Oh!” I hid my smirk in an expression of concern. “A demon, then!”
“No. Neither angel nor demon. Just a woman. Well, not that being a woman is wrong. But she is full of blasphemy, this one. And she must be held for the greater good.”
“But one god’s blasphemy is another god’s delight. Are you sure that what you are doing is right? What blasphemies has she done that you call on God and his angels to subdue her?”
He did not answer me, but tightened his lips in silent offense. When he did speak again, his voice was low. “She is blasphemous.” I wasn’t sure if he wasn’t trying to convince himself.
I shrugged. “Oh. Well, then. I suppose you have your reasons and not all reasons are good to speak. I can accept that.” I studied the completed diagram. “Are you sure you have the layers in the right order? Something feels off here, and not just her name.”
“Uh… yes?” I heard the question in his voice and looked up at him. He coughed and reasserted himself. “Yes! I do! I know she has an interest in Jupiter so that is my bait. She will yield to Jupiter, and who is Jupiter but an emanation of God! So she will yield to God and be held by his servants. But I know she is hard to grasp, so I will call on these angels here to complete the seal and bind her!”
I nodded as he explained the order of his layering. “And what will you do once you’ve caught the bird in the cage? Will you make her sing just for you? Will you silence her? Will you bury her? You have this elaborate trap and no plans for what to do after!”
He blinked in deep thought. I resisted the urge to cover my face in shame. This is my enemy? Seriously?
“Um. I never really gave that much thought, because once she is sealed, she is nothing. She can do nothing. She can’t hurt anyone. So… what is there for me to do with her?”
“Fair enough. Another question for you. Are you sure that the right name to use?”
“Yes! I divined it just for this seal!”
That explains why I didn’t recognize the lettering of it but felt the connection. “That works.”
“This is just the prototype seal, right? Not the actual working one?”
“No, this is the one I’m going to work with. Why?”
“Well, considering the framework you’re using, aren’t you supposed to be making ritual preparations before getting down to the meat of it? This wall, for instance, is it sealed from interference on my side of it? And the wax you are using, is it ritually pure since you’re writing out the names of God with it. Also, aren’t you supposed to call on the angels to purge the space and protect you once you get started. What if she gets wind of this before you start and she launches a counteroffensive of her own? Are you prepared for that? I doubt she’ll just quietly bend the knee. I’m sure there will be some kind of blowback against you. You say she is beseeching Jupiter, have you considered using that same paradigm against her instead of trying to drag her into something else that she has already grappled with and escaped before? If she has such power that it’s going to take two layers of angels and one layer of God-names just to bring her to a knee, are you prepared to withstand when she makes this… personal? Because she will, you know. Whatever justification you may have doesn’t matter. If you make yourself a weapon against her, she will seek to break you because that is what people do when they are under assault.”
He shifted uneasily from foot to foot as I peppered him with questions about his methods and reasoning. “I am in the right, and that is my shield.”
“Not good enough, son. It is going to take more than self-confidence and blind faith to preserve yourself when she turns her eye towards you. You read her public writings and have been studying them for weaknesses. But you don’t understand what you read or you would understand what you are seeing right now.” I stood close to the glass. The seal as a whole started glowing softly. The marks of my name sizzled as the wax was burning in place. He stared at it as if watching a butterfly emerge from a chrysalis. The moment of realization was sweet to watch.
“YOU! IT’S YOU!”
I bowed with flourish.
“Wait! The seal! It’s working already! Or you wouldn’t be helping me!”
I laughed. “No, son. The seal is almost completely inert. It is merely an indicator of something present, that is all. It’s pretty, but that’s all it has going for it. For now. Maybe if you actually channel some oomph from your god it might have a little sparkle to it. But this doesn’t even make my nose itch, much less compel me.”
He approached the glass, making sure to keep the seal between us. “Then, why are you helping me? If you know that I am to conquer you, why are you helping me?”
I answered without mirth. “Because when I decide to move on this game board, and I break your ass in two, I do not want it to be said it that I succeeded because of trivial mistakes on your part. I want everyone to know that you did your best. I want everyone to know that it still wasn’t enough. Now then, are you sure putting those angel names there is the right place? That doesn’t look like the seals I’ve seen elsewhere. You’re starting off with the kamea of Jupiter on the inside and layering out…”
I look up at him just in time to see him throwing a bottle of alcohol at the glass. It shatters, dousing his side of the wall with the clear liquid. He shouts something that sounded like drunken Greek to my ignorant ears and throws a lit candle at the sopping mess.
The puddles of alcohol ignite immediately. The wax on the wall burns brightly. The seal glows in place for a minute. It is beautiful to watch. Inspiring. I regret that I am unable to convey the sight in visual media.
Smoke starts to fill the room. The wax he was using the mark the wall with has melted over the books and the table. The fire leaps at all three greedily. I am unable to affect anything on that side of the wall. I can only watch helplessly as he destroys what is his in a futile effort to hurt me.
The heat of the fire shatters the glass between us. But instead of allowing me to enter his world, or allowing him to escape the flames by joining me, the link between me and him is broken and the sight of his room fades.
I am alone in the dark and clinging mists. I am a little upset. I really wanted to learn his reasoning for assembling the seal the way he did. I’m sure I could have learned something useful from that. Oh well.
I walked along into the mists, allowing the dream to take me deeper and away from lucid awareness.