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© 2006 Diana's Grove

Wild places don’t succumb to the laws of civilization...or reality. There are wild places in your heart and wild places in your soul. Sometimes, a wild place calls your name. This is a story about a young woman who answered such a call.

Sitting in a tower, winter landscape all around her, Jennet was sewing when she heard her name on the wind. The scent of roses filled the room and she knew … she knew she had to go. She threw down her sewing and raised her skirts and she ran. She ran to a forbidden place, an enchanted place. She ran to Carter Shay.

“Maiden fair,” the balladeer sang, “don’t go to Carter Shay, for young Tam Lin lives there. Many a maiden has gone to Carter Shay and when they return, they are maidens no more.” Jennet knew this tale; she knew the song. She knew the dangers, but nothing is as dangerous as ignoring magic’s call and the scent of wild roses riding on a January wind.

Enchanted by the land, so close to a dream, Jennet went back to Carter Shay every day. She lived the tale well. I won’t tell you what happened but, yes, by summer Jennet was with child. No husband, no explanation, no promise to stay home where she belonged, Jennet’s father begged, “Save your name and our reputation; marry a man you do not love. All he will ask of you is that you never return to Carter Shay. Not ever.”

Jennet believed in love. She believed that Tam Lin would find a way to show that he was right and true. She returned to Carter Shay to tell him so, but he wasn’t there. No sight, no sound, no smell of roses, just briars sharp with thorns that bite. What was she to do? Over and over she returned. Over and over, no one was there. Jennet lost her belief in Tam Lin, in love, in magic, and—most of all—in herself.

How could she get herself back? If not her heart or soul, surely she could take back her own body. Jennet decided to find the bitter herb that would rid her of the child and return her, if not to her world, at least to herself. She went searching for the poison and she found it; somehow we always do. When she went to pick the herb, the leaf spoke to her in Tam Lin’s voice. First, just a whisper, “Jennet, I beg you, believe in me”. Then louder, “Jennet, I beg you, believe in me even though you have no reason to believe.” She reached for another leaf. “Jennet, it does not require faith to believe in what is real. Believe in me even though I am not real.”

Tam Lin told Jennet even more. A prophecy revealed his fate. On Samhain’s Eve (Samhain is Celtic for summer’s end), three riders will come from the land of magic. “Let the first two pass,” he said. “The third rider will be me.”

On Samhain’s eve, the horses came. Wild horses, they galloped out of the night. She pulled the third rider into life and held him tight, but dreams change shape when they come into reality. There is more to making a dream real than pulling it from the land of dreams. Will you hold on when your dream changes shape? Will you hold on while form finds form? Will you continue to believe in love, yourself and that which you love, when it shows itself to be something other than you thought it would be? Jennet did and next October I will tell you what she did.

Dreams aren’t tame when they come into life. Dreams challenge us, they test us, they teach us about ourselves. Love, be it for a person or a possibility, will require us to hold on even when the dream isn’t what we thought it would be. There will be times when you will be asked to give your dream back to the world of illusions. “Just give up and I will give you....” At the end of the Mystery School year, we will live the end of the story.

I will use the Celtic Cross to tell this Celtic ballad. The Celtic Cross is a magic formula that invites you to create your world with the stories you tell. This is what covers me. This is what crosses me. This is what is beneath me, behind me, over me and before me. This is who I am. Here is the world around me. Here are my hopes and my fears. Our story begins at the end. It begins with the last card, The outcome.

Step into a myth. Discover yourself. Live a story and, as you do, retell your story. Answer the call to the wild places in your own soul. Fall in love with a possibility, a dream or a calling. Bring a dream into reality and hold on. Hold on. Hold on until the tale ends and magic gives you her blessing. Listen.... Did the wind just whisper your name?