An Unearthing of Goddesses

An Unearthing of Goddesses Part 20

Dona waved Kate away from the liminal fields where she reluctantly left Pippin, and they headed into the gateway of trees leading into the forest. The trees grew thicker, and it grew darker and darker. Kate felt a torrential rain starting overhead. As the rain increased, she started to feel a power building up inside of her.

Then suddenly, with a jolt her feet left the ground and her body stretched up – like one of those childhood rubber action figures you pulled until they felt about to snap – higher and higher until her arms were touching the sky – yet her feet were still dangling right over the grass. She grew thinner and longer and she crackled with electricity, leaving sparks at her toes to singe the ground. She snapped up into the sky and then – a moment later – she flashed back down, lighting up the night sky with her strike. A moment later the thunder pealed out angrily, her partner in the storm. As lightning, she was bursting with power, throwing out her tendrils like she was cracking a whip from the skies. Dona hung beside her, creating a duet with her strokes that mirrored Kate's, pulsing a heartbeat away and reverberating with their shared sisterhood as they entangled their fiery tails in the next strike.

And after Kate was spent and her spark was calmed then – rest came. She lay, crackling and hot as a campfire, her flames licking up at the night sky now clear and fresh with the tang of ozone. Her fiery fingers calmed and she nestled down into embers, glowing and toasty and silent. There she lay, warm and soft, spreading and rising. She was deliciously comfortable, the heat surrounding her and enveloping her with the most delectable smell, nutty and yeasty and golden. She realized that the smell was coming from herself – she was puffing and growing over the coals of the fire below into a crusty and hearty loaf of bread.

"This cannot be good for my low-carb diet," she thought. "I am actually made of gluten now." She was pulled from the oven and split open along her crest, her soft, chewy fleshy innards exposed. The smell of freshness wafted up from her open chest.

Dona laughed and ripped off a hunk, slathering it with creamy butter. And then Kate was sitting by her at the fireside, and the goddess handed her a piece to share.

"I thought I was a goner" she laughed too, popping the piece into her mouth. "Umm, I am luscious."

"The food of life," said Dona, holding the loaf. "Created by fire. The element that made humans human."

"How so?" Kate tore off another hunk of bread eagerly.

"Human evolution was accelerated by fire. By cooking meat, your brain size grew. Fire took humans out of the trees. It protected you, it warmed you, it lit your nights and it brought you together. You forged the origins of your society sitting around the fire, communicating, learning, sharing stories and discovering the magic that would grow into your myths, rituals, and religions. When a tribe would move, the embers of their fire were their most precious resource, protected from the rain and carried to the next hunting grounds to be reignited."

Kate nodded. "I see. I love that image of the spark traveling – it reminds me of the Olympic torch, being carried around the world and never allowed to go out."

Dona nodded. "The ancient games honored Zeus and the sacred fire came from Olympus. And that fire was given to mankind by an old friend of mine. Perhaps you would care to meet him?"

Kate had loved reading mythology as a child. She looked at Dona in amazement.

"Prometheus?"

"Yes, c'mon – you'll enjoy him. He loves talking to humans!" Dona took her arm.

They rose and Dona guided them through the darkness, holding out her palm which a flame rose from, acting as their lantern. They walked through roads that opened to a seaside pasture. The moon shone down on the calm water and their path became lined with clay lanterns. They led the way to a cottage, stone sporting a thatched roof, with a hen house and vegetable garden beside it. Dona called out as they approached.