Persephone's Loom

The Wheel path, from Netzach to Chesed,  was an exercise in log-rolling - dancing atop the wheel, or letting myself experience its cycles. Chesed was a sky full of clouds, misty and dim. The Heavenly City shone in the distance, an in it was the Temple. The Temple looked much like I imagined the Jerusalem Temple would have looked. Gaudior ( a unicorn met in A Swiftly Tilting Planet ) was there, and I greeted him, joyfully. I talked to the High Priest-looking fellow on the throne, asking what I needed to know. I addressed myself to "King David, King Soloman, kings of Israel and Judah," and they told me about mercy and kingship. Mercy doesn't always look like mercy. Mercy can be severe. Justice is important, but mercy more so. Now that you've been strong with yourself, you can be merciful with yourself - and severity is mercy, sometimes. I went to the Ark of the Covenant, and asked to look inside. Inside, on a scroll, was my covenant with Deity, specifically with Yahweh and his Son. He nodded, and told me that though I'm not exclusively his anymore, I am still his, in a way. He told me that he is a jealous god (he laughed), but that "jealous" means "wants what is his portion," and that Persephone is the same, and it's cool. He reminded me that service to them is authority, and bondage to Deity is perfect freedom. I put my scroll in teh fire, not destroying, but offering as sacrifice. Then Yahweh offered me my own small throne beside his, from which I watched th parts of my life go past, like children. I patted and cooed over them, and was confident of my authority. Then it was time to go, so I went to say goodbye. Gaudior coughed up a pearl, which I set in the center of my forehead as a diadem - a symbol of this merciful, shining authority. And I left.