Yes, I will play the game. Continue.
Copyright (C) 1998 by Wiliam Mistele. All rights reserved.
Note: Magicians sometimes take themselves too seriously. Why one of the
earthzone spirits specializes in humor just to offset this very tendency.
This game/story, therefore, is both serious and playful. It is magical
and also humorous. It is based on specific experiences and also contains
fanciful flights of imagination. Some of it is straight evocation. Some
of I have written while in a trance and some of it is late night comedy
because I can't quite get to bed and rest.
READ FIRST: This game is under construction though you can join in
and contribute if you want. I will add a little every week or two with
graphics and audio along the way. Send me clip art if you like.
I can also link my web site to yours if you wish to continue the story
in your own way at any point. The only limitation is to follow the
general theme of exploring the path of magick, mythical quests, the astral
plane, life's great transitions, or, impress me with an exception.
For a Testimonial on this Game
Skip the Intro and start the game
Click on "back" in your browser to return to any previous point.
Introduction: The Hero's Journey
The common theme in all cultures is the mythical journey. Undertaken
supposedly by heroes, it is more likely it is accomplished by those who
are tricked and fooled by fate to make something more of themselves than
others expect.
Still, the basic theme is the same. One story is told throughout the
world in a thousand different ways: Though living in safe, secure, and
familiar circumstances, individuals are called, accidentally stumble, or
tricked, into crossing the boundary demarcating the familiar world and
the unknown world.
They leave the setting of family and protective community. In doing
so, they bypass the shadowy figures or culturally sanctioned guardians who
watch over the boundaries leading into the unknown. Because they travel,
knowingly or unknowingly, beyond the safe limits of conventional
knowledge, they acquire unusual companions--animal, human, or divine--who
aid in the journey. Along the way, they overcome dangers, traps, and
monsters. Finally, after undergoing a supreme ordeal, they discover
various kinds of treasures. But the journey is not yet complete: These
treasures must be brought back and shared with others if they are to be of
value.
The task of returning with their treasures to the familiar world, the
journey back, is another way of saying that the value of what we find is
not fully known to us until we share it with others. The true teacher,
for example, learns as much if not more than the student through the act
of teaching, for in teaching the teacher's own knowledge is consolidated
and grows stronger.
If we are confused, however, we may turn to traditional authority
figures, the guardians of society's boundaries. We may tell them that we
are hurt or lost. Naturally, they will play their role and shepherd us
back to safe pastures and things return to normal. Then we are able to be
socially responsible and productive people. But our deeper needs and
society's needs may be lost in this process. Danger is avoided, but the
essential within us and the new energies which we and society must accept
and deal with, the great treasures of life, are also lost.
This game is an enactment or simulation of what is involved in
becoming a magician. Put another way, it is the path of an individual who
is both a member of his society and also who has attained an inner harmony
with the universe. I invite you to explore and share with others your
process of living life to the fullest and also attaining wisdom.
The reason to speak in terms of mythology is that mythology is a way
of summarizing the collective aspects of our personal journeys. We do
undertake initiation by ourselves. And yet our experience is reflected in
the experiences of countless others.
Joseph Campbell puts it this way--the problem for us today is to "make
the modern world spiritually significant, i.e., making it possible for men
and women to come to full human maturity through the conditions of
contemporary life." To accomplish this task, we need a mythical and
spiritual dimension of thinking which meets the challenges of four tests.
Here I will relate the first.
The first function of a living mythology is the Transcendent
Function. Life has a dimension of mystery. On the one hand, myths always
try to tell us the truth--that nature is deadly, terrible, and monstrous.
At the same time, they also say that living is opening our hearts and
minds to the sheer wonder of existence. Life, therefore, is both
terrifying and fascinating. It is full of horror and wonder.
The first and primary condition any mythology must fulfill, then, is
to awaken and sustain awe and gratitude within us. As human beings, our
task is not just to use our minds but to perceive and experience the world
as new. The Transcendent Function empowers us like nothing else to step
back from our identities and social roles and gain a perspective on who we
are. That is, it enables us to step outside the boundaries of the
social-cultural system into which we are born. We should be able to see
clearly into the depths within ourselves and not be frightened. In
effect, a truly alive mythology should introduce us to the great mysteries
of life.
If Bardon's system does anything, it challenges us to see the universe
around us as full of wonder and beauty. I start out my story introducing
the idea of a stranger who is willing to lead us to Castle Mysterium. In
other ages, this was the Grail Castle or the place where a pot of wisdom
was brewing. It is a procedure for producing the philospher's stone. It
is enlightenment. It is becoming a brother or sister of light. It is
being an initiate into Bardon's second book--joining a community of divine
beings in service to the One Light.
It is all of these things and yet it remains to be found, whatever it
is, within our own lives. It is universal but it is always a new
experience and personal. It is your quest for your better self and your
own way of arriving at your best decisions in life.
Welcome. I start with myself for in truth I am the son of men who
started out by gathering wood and selling it in Detroit.
Yes, I will play the game. Continue.