Historical setting: 588 C.E. Forest Primeval
Thole and I find ourselves crowded into thatch houses with huge bundles of mistletoe and pine bows along with all these people from places that are unknown to either of us. All of this feasting and celebration is purposed to consider the thin possibility that life goes on even in the winter’s dark. It seems a last grasp at life in winter.
Now the wise magicians, the magi of this cult call on us of the Christian label to tell the stories of our own people. It’s an offer to share in the storytelling neither of us expected. Thole begs off.
But I accept. I would like to speak a Christian story as I do know some of them, and I’m reminded of the oneness of all people by all of us gazing into the same winter sky. This story might have a common thread with these Celtic-gothic tribes.
Christians tell this story often and it is lettered into scripture in Matthew’s gospel [Matthew 2:1-18]
“There was once a group of seers and magicians who could read the depths of sky to know the things of all the created universe. They knew what people needed to know to plant crops at the right times, and to find the critters in the hunt. Christians also called them pagan though they were Zoroastrians from the East. Like the Celts they had the powers to know more than was ever written by human hands, even more about the skies and nature than is told in the most holy scrolls.
“This was a time when the world was at a great hinge – a turning, a repentance, a solstice. The heaven’s promised a new power rising with a new sign, a new star. So these who were magi gathered all of their brightest and wisest; they packed up a variety of gifts — gold, frankincense and myrrh — and they prepared for a very long journey. Who could know how long? They were wise, but how far they would travel was a geometry problem that would require knowing either how high the star, or a distance on land. All they knew for certain was the starting place. Yet they set out anyway, knowing only that something beyond themselves was significant. And it was a very long journey.
[Matthew 2:1-18]
(Continues tomorrow)
Lazarus Ink 