How the Gods Help

SCHOLA AETII·TUESDAY, 26 JUNE 2018

The title of this note is, as you can see, not “Lesson”, for it is not the official teaching, more a personal insight, I want to pass on. Call it “How to fight nightmares”, for it was in a Dream that the Gods gave me this lesson, so I pass it on.

It began regularly enough, me traversing an unknown land, until I came to a high cliff upon which were the ruins of a Castle. It was night and moon shone upon it, when I came to the large courtyard, and out of a fountain a plethora of watery demons emerged. But, so I thought, I am a Priest of Apollo, nothing can happen to me! So I called the names of Apollo and Neptune, and walked over the courtyard, being sure to be protected. I was quite shocked to see, the Demons charged unto me to attack me, and when the first of the was almost upon me, I was whisked away by a light and a voice spoke: “This is not how this works!”

So I sneaked around sideways, when I met a mother and her two children, a son and a daughter, hiding from the monsters in distress, but I comforted them and told them to follow behind me. We sneaked by further, until we came to a plaza were a giant Dog or Hell-Hound was, terrible and the size of a bull. So this time I called Mars Ultor my Patron God, and in my hands appeared a Spear and a Shield, so I confronted the Hell-Hound. Alas, the encircled me, and always quickly jumped out of the reach of the spear. Once and again his claws banged into the shield, once and ahain he jumped away, until the boy tossed a rock at the hound, and he was distracted for two seconds, and those were enough for me to close the gap between me and him, so I charged the spear all through the dog’s head and his body, pushing forward and nailing him to the wall.

And even still in the dream, the meaning became clear to me. The Gods are not wishing wells, whom you just call and they do all the work for you. They lend you tolls and skills, but you have to do the fighting. And not for vanity, but you are truly strong if you fight for something greater than just yourself, as symbolized by the mother and the children. So, I pass on the lesson Mars Ultor gave to me in the dream for your benefit.
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