Merging Reality and Mythology
Eirene - Greek Goddess of peace, expressing her diplomatic nature
Ereshkigal – Sumerian – Goddess of Attalu, the land of the dead and ancestral memories. Her name translates as “great lady under the earth”
Isis – Egyptian – “she of throne” meaning Queen of Goddesses. Isis has so many different aspects, her most important roles being as Goddess of life and magic
Achilles – hero of the Trojan War and a central character in Homer’s Iliad
Endymion – lover of Selene, granted eternal sleep so as never to age or die
WE TAKE fact and fiction, reality and fantasy and combine them. We allow the mind to wander, and our thoughts to step outside boundaries. By so doing debate and discussion are provoked, dialogue established, earnest minds quest more knowledge and having received, seek still more.
With this comes that crucial bridge across the ugly divide. The hope is that communities and nations will speak. That we will see similarities in culture, the homogeneous rather than the heterogeneous ... So that, we may one day, indeed, see that silent but oh-so-yearned for action that has swords turned into ploughshares... missiles melted down and converted to harvesters.
When I set out yesterday - Sunday 1 June 2014 - I had no idea that by the day's end I would be writing about the character Sebastian and studying afresh Greek Mythology and the Bible. Moreover, observing how the two interweave.
I am indeed grateful to Canada, that a friend sent me the image that features at the end. This simple act of sending an image as a response to reading a draft is a great work performed in bringing unity where previously there stood the ugly twins, division and strife.
Ereshkigal, Goddess of Attalu,
Great lady under the earth
gazed upon Sebastian,
Eirene, Goddess of Peace
cradling his hand
And young and troubled
at the feeling of life ebbing from him
Chapter One
Let us tend him, sister
Diocletian should not have done this terrible thing
Leave him be for the moment
He is not dead
Ereshkigal, Goddess of Attalu,
Great lady under the earth
gazed upon Sebastian,
Eirene, Goddess of Peace
cradling his hand
And young and troubled
at the feeling of life ebbing from him
Eirene, my young sister
Be of good courage
Isis, the Queen of Goddesses
Will not permit his life to be squandered
She of throne, She has many roles
Two of which are life and magic
But he is a Christian Ereshkigal
What of it?
His brethren will reject magic
That is just a word
I speak not of magic
I speak not of gods and goddesses
I speak of the powers and principalities
I speak of the Grace of the Holy Spirit
The Ruach HaKodesh
I speak of Endymion
granted eternal sleep so as never to age or die
But I speak also of I AM
Baruch haba beshem Adonai
Yes sister
I understand you now
The Emperor has this very hour been summonsed...
He has seen the writing on the wall
His folly his misfortune
His wickedness his downfall
Fear not Eirene,
The Most High has a way with justice
Think not too hard on books and writings
and literal interpretations
He is far, far beyond that
See!
His Spirit is present
Sebastian stirred
Gazing
Unaware of the arrows within him
Yet anchored to the floor
His eyes glazed over...
Death played...
Endymion stepped in...
And death backed away
Not today my friend
He is not yours to claim
nor ever will be
His spirit is of The Spirit
And he is resting now
Ereshkigal was quiet but firm
In her deliberation
His work has been acknowledged
His fearsome reputation
Protecting the people who look upon
The Most High
Who gaze at the execution stake
And see not death
But see Salvation
See!
The myriad angels in attendance
Who now wait in the wings
Waiting patiently for that one sign
From Him to attend this soul
Already there is a great stirring
In the cities
The people are disquieted
Unhappy
Resentful
And talk of thrones disappearing
And the day of reckoning
Such is the plight of hapless Diocletian
Arrogant in his palace
Evil in his thinking
Who dared to look upon
Righteousness and think he could
Discredit him
As it is written,
It is a terrible thing
To fall into the Hands of the Living G-D!
A Shimmering …
Out of the corner of his eye,
Sebastian caught an image,
An Incredible Being …
A man?
The Man!
Christ Jesus – Yeshua HaMashiach
He of Tanakh fame
I AM the Commander of the Army of the LORD
And Joshua fell upon his face and worshipped
Joshua, take your sandal off your foot
For the ground upon which you stand is holy
Chapter two
Diocletian looked on in his sleep
Hapless, bereft
His bed a blackness, a rack of pain.
Diocletian, learn well from this.
You do not do these things.
But learn too that I AM your Salvation…
In Me and in no other.
You are no god.
Nor is Sebastian.
But he is My emissary,
My Ambassador Extraordinaire and Plenipotentiary
Yes Diocletian!
He stands in My shoes.
I am leaving you awhile,
You are not lost.
But I am giving you time,
Time to study afresh and think upon your misdeeds,
Time to revisit history.
And study the life of Nebuchadnezzar
Seven years he defied me,
Seven years he lost his mind,
Seven years he lived amongst swine,
This once great king …
Where is he now, you ask?
Diocletian study your history.
He is with Me!
I leave you with this thought
As in your sleep,
you gaze upon Sebastian
Wounded and torn, clubbed
And tended upon by
My servants
Ereshkigal, Eirene
Isis and Osiris
And Endymion
Such are your dreams
Fact and fiction
Bemusing you
Frightening you
It is in your hand to put aright
The path by which you have bypassed Me.
Consider afresh
Bring to Me your misdeeds.
I AM righteous.
I AM forgiving.
I make no demands.
I look upon the broken heart.
See!
Achilles –killed by an arrow through his heel
And yet now in your sleep,
he stands before you
Resplendent.
See who stands at his side …
The very man you twice executed
and you defied Me when death was robbed of him.
I stand outside time Diocletian
So I have all the time in the world
As you would have it…
A day is but a thousand years to Me
And a thousand years but one day
And I do not intend to lose you.
I leave you now in your troubled
Fitful slumbering.
Another king did I appear,
A hand,
Writing upon the wall.
Study your history again.
For the writing is upon the wall again.
A Light even greater shone
Come, My daughters
Come Endymion
Leave Sebastian to rest awhile
There is work to do
In this evening hour
I have others who need your gentle nursing too
Walk with Me in the Garden.
I am sending you to attend an entire people.
2 December 2022
All Rights Reserved
© Kenneth Thomas Webb 2022
Composed 1 June 2014 in Stanza Format
Purely as an aside, I find it soothing to play the original recording of the first performance of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Henry Wood in 1938. by Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1938. Ralph Vaughan Williams sits on the steps just below Henry Wood, reading the score. Serenade to Music .
The Banner Image is a Photo by Henrik Dønnestad on Unsplash
Ken Webb is a writer and proofreader. His website, kennwebb.com, showcases his work as a writer, blogger and podcaster, resting on his successive careers as a police officer, progressing to a junior lawyer in succession and trusts as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives, a retired officer with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, and latterly, for three years, the owner and editor of two lifestyle magazines in Liverpool.
He also just handed over a successful two year chairmanship in Gloucestershire with Cheltenham Regency Probus.
Pandemic aside, he spends his time equally between his city, Liverpool, and the county of his birth, Gloucestershire.
In this fast-paced present age, proof-reading is essential. And this skill also occasionally leads to copy-editing writers’ manuscripts for submission to publishers and also student and post graduate dissertations.
