The Lady watched the Men and Women, looking thru the eyes of a myriad of Women, children, young girls, mothers, daughters, wives, lovers....all of the Women there were in the World. And She saw that, in many places, the Men had forgotten that the Women were to walk by their side as equals and partners, working as a team, but regarded Women as
not-equal, and as possessions.
"This must not be," she said. "What shall I do to teach them?" She thought, and remembered that the Fool would teach Men and Women, in His own way, and that Way might work for Her, too. She turned, and was the Maiden, and was in the World.
A Man saw Her beauty, and seeing not Her Divinity caught and raped Her. Another took Her, and put Her in chains, and set Her to serving him. In the midst of the night, a band of men broke into the house, killing the slave-maker, and took Her away. They forced Her to serve them as a prostitute, and took the money she was paid for themselves.
On and on it went, with humiliation and degradation piled higher and higher, until, on a still, dark night She spoke, and said, quietly,
"Enough!" And the quiet coldness of the Word was enough to freeze the Moon in its path, and the singing insects of the night stilled their
song. And the Maiden turned, and moved to the other side of the Coin, and became Lillith.
She embodied the pleasures of the flesh, and the animal wildness of the wilderness; the lust of the bitch-in-heat and the fierceness of a mother defending her young was Hers, and Her eyes were mad. And She enslaved the men in Her turn, enslaving them to Lust and Passion, making
them mad to possess Her, She that cannot be possessed, and fettering them in silken chains of desire.
She showed the women Herself, and taught them Freedom, and Wildness, and all the secret places where Wildness lives, and the Mystery of being
Woman. She was Lillith and Diana, Artemis and Athena, Scatach and Morrigan, and all the Wildness of Woman was in Her. She took the women to the secret places within themselves, and looked back out at them with feral eyes. She ran with the wolves, and howled. She flew with the hawks
and ravens, and hunted with the owl. She crawled with the serpent, and stalked Her prey with the lioness, and all of this was put into Her Dance.
"Know you that you are free," She cried to the women, "And let none put chains upon you not of your own making. Live as you will, not as
another would force you. You are partners with Man, not his slave, and I am in you forever!" And the Wild was in the women, singing in their
blood, and, so long as they remembered, they were free.
"That was pretty spectacular." said the Fool. "A bit severe for my style, though."
The Lady grinned at Him, and said, "Well, you're not the only Teacher around here, You know."
The Fool rolled over on His back and swatted at a stray piece of dandelion fluff that had settled on His ear, and said, "Never thought I was!" He seemed a bit huffy.
"I just hope they can handle it," said the Lord. "They sure can make simple things complicated fast."
"Oh, they'll mess it up a bit, as usual," said the Lady, "But it will all come out right eventually."
"I hope so," said the Fool. "They sure can get balled up in non-essentials. By the way, I just invented ice-cream. Want some?"
"Sounds interesting," said the Lord and the Lady.
And They all smiled at each other.
Thus it was, and so it is, and evermore shall be so!
