Copyright (C) 1997 by William Mistele. All rights reserved.
The Gnome Muscar
Bardon has said of Muscar: "In the kingdom of the element
earth, Muscar is one of the most respected of spirits. He may be
called a genuine magician of the earth." As a specialist in the
magic of the earth, Muscar studies the electro-magnetic drifts
moving through the ground whether caused by storms, natural
formations, or the orbiting moon. He knows how to attune himself
to these energies and direct them to practical ends.
Muscar feels that the fault lines and mountains talk to him
and answer his questions about their origins. He perceives the
history of a mountain, its internal stresses, its erosion
patterns, and the forces which have shaped it and which will wear
it down. Muscar can dip his finger into a subterranean stream
and instantly identify the minerals' present, their
concentration, and the sources of the stream. He senses forests
and the evolution of trees and plants and how they affect the
earth. You could say that Muscar is a master of Feng Sui, the
Chinese art of understanding how space and energy are related.
Muscar's hearing is as sensitive as high tech seismographic
equipment. Analogous to a bat or dolphin, Muscar emits something
like a sonar pulse. But no sound is reflected back. Rather
Muscar feels energy in the far distance as though his aura is
itself capable of scanning and determining what exists many miles
away. What he senses translates into visual images which define
for him the structure, quality, and composition of geologic
formations.
If you meditate with masters from different wisdom
traditions, one of the things you may notice they share in common
is their level of internal silence. If they are good at what they
do, at any moment and under any circumstances they can stop all
thoughts from entering their mind. They can put off to the side
their concerns and their assumptions about life.
In this state of complete receptivity, they can observe what
is in front of them without being swayed by personal bias or
illusions. When they speak they take great care to see that
their words are accurate and true. This is not to say that they
are solemn or grim. Such acute sensitivity and inner silence
does not exclude being funny or vivacious.
Muscar is like this. He can sit watching the stars moving
through the sky from dust to dawn and feel no more than a moment
of time has gone. You can gaze into his face and see reflected
therein ages and epoches of time and not feel in the least old or
weary. For Muscar, everything that has shape, form, and weight
is fascinating and full of wonder.
Unlike a mountain or a plateau, Muscar never grows old. He
is constantly full of enthusiasm. For Muscar, there is no need
to hurry; there is no need to worry--each moment is satisfying;
each moment is a treasure of the heart. The silence in which he
dwells is a magic well from which he sips and drinks the beauty
of the earth.
Warm Up Exercise
Let us pause and seek the part of ourselves which
appreciates the earth in a way similar to Muscar.
Sit comfortably and notice the weight of your body. Notice
how gravity has hold of you and connects you to the ground.
Imagine your body is growing slightly heavier. As your weight
increases, feel even more relaxed.
Feel also that your physical body has an energy connection
to the earth--your body is wrapped in the earth's energy. This
energy is cool, magnetic, and grounding. The top soil, the roots
of trees, the flowing streams, and geologic formations also
contain an energy you can feel. Like Solomon the morning
after God had granted him wisdom, imagine you too can hear what
the blades of grass are whispering to each other and the stories
the stones have to tell.
Feel now the earth's silence and the vast ages of time it
encompasses. Consider the time frame which raises up a mountain,
gives birth to a sea, and calls ice ages to come forth and then
to depart. Consider how the earth in its enduring presence
shelters, nourishes, and supports all life.
Now imagine that your consciousness has become subtle and
penetrating. With your mind you can pass into a rock. As you do
so your body attunes itself to the rock's atomic structure and
mass as easy as the shadow of a plane flies over the ground.
With ease you can travel into limestone and pass into granite
with its crystalline structures, into coal with its dream of
ancient forests, and in diamond with its symmetrical
arrangement of carbon atoms.
Now visualize the land which surrounds you. Feel that it
spirit flows into you--that you are not separate from it. This
is no more difficult than relaxing and letting the beauty in a
Celtic song resonate within your heart.
Feel the earth now--its mountains, its valleys, its rivers,
its forests, and its trees. There is a peace here in the silences
of the land--deep, rich, wondrous, and magnificent. The mind
that contemplates the earth does not enter a cold, desolate, or
lonely place. Rather, it approaches one of the sources of
compassion which never fades away.
It is time now to ask Muscar to appear. I have the feeling that
he ascends a great distance from beneath the ground like a miner
riding a elevator up from a deep cavern. Muscar appears in my
room standing six feet away. He looks like a middle aged man who
is robust and active. He is about five feet tall, sturdy, and
strong. His muscles seem to be made of steel though they are not
at all bulky.
There is also something about Muscar's presence which is
reminiscent of a Nordic king. His poise is that of royalty. You
can sense a power present which is hard to identify. He is one
of those gnomes who can be absolutely still as well as completely
engaging. His personality is warm and friendly yet he radiates
dignity and virtue.
Muscar's voice is deep and resonate as if the rocks of a
mountain were given a voice with which to speak. I have the
distinct feeling that Muscar spends a great deal of time walking
down ancient pathways on the inner planes or through subterranean
caverns.
When Muscar speaks it is like he has a speech already
prepared--a speech he has developed and delivered to other
magicians with whom he has spoken in other ages. Muscar says to
me, "The earth knows my voice and reveals to me its secrets: its
past and its future, the nature of its transformations and its
changes. I know the peace in which mountains rest, their
histories, and what is hidden within their inner recesses. I know
the force and life which gave birth to them and the forces which
will erode them and wear them away. I know the strength within
their cliffs and their journeys through time.
"I am a silence so deep and complete that when I gaze upon a
rock or geologic strata, in comparison to me, it is busy
chattering with thoughts and emotions. Its memories are still
vivid and being replayed--memories of its birth and of the past,
present, and the future to be. You see,
I am a listening silence!
I am consciousness without form or thought
Moving underground.
I both reveal the earth's secrets
And I am where treasures are hidden so well
Only the eyes of a seer
Can divine their location.
Time and age do not burden me.
I am constancy amid change.
I have made sketches of mountains
As they rose steep and new
But which are long since gone
Now but dirt in your shoes.
In my time frame,
The Himalaya Mountains and the Andes are but the tents
A great warrior has pitched in the night
And packs up again
When he breaks camp at dawn.
If you want to attune to me,
To match your moves to mine,
Whether to party, chat,
Discuss, linger, lurk, or socialize,
Then be still and open
Such that the stars are no longer distant and cold
But young again--
Children playing a game of ball,
Dancing, singing, full of laughter and delight,
So excited you notice them shifting
Their constellations
As they run through the night.
Then you will hear me whisper in your ear--
Your race has dreams
Like the dreams of the earth Herself
Like the songs that stream from the stars
Ah, but so few of you listen
To your dreams
Or bother to enter
The gates that lead into the silences of the heart.
But I feed on silence.
It is who I am.
It is my home and my dwelling.
And its transformations are my wisdom.
So, where to find me?
My paths lead to the philosopher's stone
And of nature's quintessence
I have many trade secrets to share.
The conversations I hold with your race
Have been going on
Since before you learned to build towns
You bet I have a few stories I could tell!
So when you are weary or in despair
Feeling lonely or discouraged,
A soul in need of repair
Come round and see me.
I can be most entertaining.
I love parties which celebrate the seasons!
I love the songs of ancient bards
Who train for seven years
In caves of dark isolation.
I love alchemists who spend a lifetime of refining
To hold in their hands the red lion!
Though once we meet
I probably won't miss seeing you
For a century or two--
You see,
My first love shall always be
The earth beneath your feet.
At a later date, I again meditate with Muscar. On this occasion,
I orient myself to the spiritual principle which the greatest
gnomes seek to master. They probe the densest aspects of matter
in search of a gate that leads to the enlightened mind. The
awareness they seek is virtually limitless in its scope of
inquiry. No culture, priesthood, doctrine, or wisdom of any kind
can determine or influence its movement nor chart its countless
discoveries.
Immersing their awareness directly in the atomic
oscillations of the elements, they see matter as empty of
solidity or substance. For them, the material world is
transitory and continually transforming. Everything physical,
every object with shape and weight, appears and then disappears
as if it never existed.
I focus now on Muscar. I do not draw a sigil in the air nor
with care do I inscribe a magic circle on the floor with astheme
or sword. I do not pronounce a divine name nor strive through
prayer to join myself to God to assume His attributes in order to
sanctify my room. The mind that is open, the heart that loves--
what could be a greater wand of evocation than this?
Muscar appears within seconds. He notices my effort to
understand his source of inspiration.
He says, "The geologist measures the geologic ages, but I
experience their changes. I am the ears and the eyes of rocks
and stones. I know how the sun and moon shined a billion years
ago.
"So when I examine a mineral, element, or, say a diamond, my
tongue can taste its molecular vibration, its quality and purity.
I copy and reproduce the energy field of the diamond within my
mind. The diamond responds to me like a woman who has been forced
to conceal her sensuality because her passion is so intense. She
will only give herself to the one whose desire reaches into her
depths. And this power I possess.
"Do you wish to hear more? A diamond is full of secrets,
hidden pathways linking matter and spirit. When I encounter a
great wonder such as this, I search for the source of its beauty.
In this quest, no effort is too great and no obstacle can turn me
away.
"Can you taste with your tongue what I taste? Matter is not
separate from spirit. When you take a substance, examine the
roots of its existence, and then strip away its shape, weight,
form, structure, and density, the essence that remains is pure
light. And this light and the mind which comprehends the light
interpenetrate.
"Let us walk a ways together into the depths of the earth
where I roam and into the mystery of silence which is my home.
My awareness is underneath the mind's images, thoughts, and
feeling sensations, even those within dreams. I am where they
can not go. If you want to work with me, shift your awareness
into a stone, a rock, a block of lead or amethyst, a mountain, a
granite cliff, a limestone formation, or Precambrian schist.
"In such places as these you can get to know me--I am a
patience embracing the ages. I listen and see how the hands of
time have shaped the world. In dirt and dust, I can feel the wind
and rain, the hot and cold, the stone when its fossils were still
living and breathing. And in my eyes I see quite clearly what
has been and how things will one day be.
"But do not think I am an introvert or that I prefer
solitude to company because I can wander for centuries without
the desire to talk, compare notes, or say hello. It is just that
I have many projects to accomplish and the earth is full of
wonders I am constantly contemplating.
"Think of the ground beneath your feet as filled with gnomes
wandering about busy pursuing their crafts or the research
that commands their attention. Unlike your race, gnomes are not
confused, vulnerable, or in need of constant reassurance. And
we do not mine for coal, oil, or precious stones. For a gnome,
every mineral and stone is full of mana and soul--the earth has
that much wealth hidden within it!"
[Since Muscar is interested in the inner harmony of nature, he
is also sensitive to when great beauty manifests in human
experience. To this end, Muscar, who has been trading stories
with human mages for ages, told me a story of how true love first
appeared on the earth. This occurred long ago in what he calls
the kingdom of Ubarim.]
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