This is another macro image of a Palm Tree Trunk. Please view this in the large format. My last photograph of my story that takes place in intergalactic space showed Ged swimming the water tunnels on Tandaloor to rescue the princess before she is initiated into the Swift running tribe who plan to brand her with the tribe’s fertility marks. She is unaware that Ged is very close to the phylum where the Princess is sequestered. Time is running out. The King’s army are approaching the planet using navigation technology to precisely locate her to return to her father’s kingdom. His wife, the Queen has passed away and the princess is unaware of the King’s plan to have a royal ceremony to make his daughter Queen to replace his deceased wife. Ged, has traveled through many solar systems risking his life to save the golden haired princess. In the last photograph he is swimming under one of the many waterways to find the phylum where the princess is sequestered. Tonight is her initiation into the Swift Running Tribe who plan to indoctrinate her using mind control after branding her with the tribe’s fertility marks. The princess is unaware that Ged is swimming under the waterways to reach the breeding pool (the graluz) before the initiation rites begin. Time is running out. There are many beasts that prey on humans who enter the gates of Mystic Mountain to ensure that nothing can disrupt the fertility ritual of the tribe who use mind control to achieve their purpose. If any of their ceremonial rituals are invaded by an intruder, he will be killed instantly. Ged knows he must find her before the King’s royal army and the imminent danger that threatens his survival. The Princess feels like a caged animal knowing that at midnight, she will unwillingly become branded as a fertile member of the female tribe. She is walking down the path of mystic mountain (on the left) feeling helpless and in despair of what seems destined to be her fate. Her shadow image represents the Dark Goddess, the final task of soul making; that is to enter the realms of the Dark Goddess in order to bring the secret of beauty to the world. Before the Princess disappeared, she had a mentor who taught her about the Dark Goddess in the transformation of consciousness. Her mentor named her the Dragon Princess and asked provocative questions to help the young princess develop a rich and deep knowledge of the Dark Goddess. Her hidden presence exists in the psyches of men and women. Seen and unseen, appreciated or denigrated, in history, myth, and culture as well as in individuals, the Dark Goddess carries transformative power and feminine wisdom. The last question she asked the princess was, how did patriachy imagine that we could survive as individuals or as species self- exiled from her, the source of life and death? The princess was deeply involved in the wise teachings of her spiritual guide who skillfully and insightfully guided her along the path of a renewed wisdom. Being with her, the princess felt a timeless, spaceless world. She began to see everything from two sides- the side that is totally in life and the side that is already dwelling in an disembodied soul. Maybe this crisis she is facing alone in this unknown and threatening realm is a test to embrace the Dark Goddess that is very powerful and strong enough to guide the men of Tandaloor into the feminine or in Jung’s terms to embrace the anima and animus that exist in all of us. Maybe she could hold the container in which the tribal leaders can experience their own shadow rage without destroying themselves or others. Before she only focused on being rescued by a man as strong as Ged, her spiritual companion. She had not recognized the healing dualities that exist in herself to come to a true sense of interdependence.She realized she needed to let the voice of her inner wisdom speak and let go of fear and despair. Believing that rescue was her only option to deal with survival and the subordination of females to the will of the masculine psyche was an old pattern of thinking. Her mentor had taught her that the forms (order, justice truth) arise out of the creative matrix. This order that rises out of chaos (as archetypal truths rise out of the unconscious) is attributed to the Goddess;it is not the imposed order of the patriarcal (ego) world. The princess began to understand that her destiny depended on her power, the integration of light and dark. She saw an image of the Black Goddess Kali, the terrible one of many names, “difficult to approach,” whose stomach is void and so can never be filled, and whose womb is giving birth forever to all things.” -Joseph Campbell The words of her spiritual guide appeared to her in the form of a poem: “It is time for the invocation: Kali, be with us. Violence, destruction, receive our homage. Help us to ring darkness into the light. To lift out the pain, the anger, Where it can be seen for what it is — The balance-wheel for our vulnerable, aching love. Put the wild hunger where it belongs, Within the act of creation, Crude power that forges a balance Between hate and love Help us to be the always hopeful Gardeners of the spirit Who know that witout darkness Nothing comes to birth As without light Nothing flowers. Bear the roots in mind, You, the dark one, Kali Awesome power.” May Sarton Recommended Reading The Goddesses in Everywoman: A New Psychology of Women Writing for Your Life Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D. Leaving My Father’s House: A Journey to Conscious Femininity Marion Woodman Coming Home to Myself: Reflections for Nurturing a Woman’s Body and Soul Marion Woodman, Ph.D. Jill Mellick, Ph.D. Women Who Run With The Wolves The Faithful Gardener: A Wise Tale About That Which Can Never Die Clarissa Pinkola Estes