Chương 34: Chapter 31 ~ Yolkaa and the Mirror

10/11/1111 EotTS 09: 00 Beams of sunlight arrived through the bay windows of room '547' dim and diffused; all the vibrant feathers of orange and yellow had been plucked by Aeska, leaving what remained molted before spring. The weak light gently glinted off the silver illustrations of Gysel's divination deck. Yawning, she set it down on the desk, placed her hand on the top card and asked her daily question.

"What was the point in reading all of those stories for Spiritual Magick?" She drew the card, and flipped it around: the Mirror, number fourteen, but it was reversed. The illustration of a small body of water, with someone peering in, gazing at their own reflection—just like one of the stories in the book that Professor Ihvilakh assigned, the illustration is probably referring to that. Gysel added the card back to the deck, and returned it to its box, then stood, heading to the wardrobe.

It was beginning to get annoying how immensely subjective the cards were; what was the point of doing this every morning if one does not know what they mean, or one has to guess about what they mean—maybe it would be best to just acquire a book on the meaning of these cards, take one out from the library...

it was decided yester-day to go to the library to see what the meaning of the conjunction was after class, so perhaps the book could just be taken out, or maybe just checked in the mornings on the way to the cafeteria if it was not on some absurdly high floor—either would work as long as the desired information was attained. Putting on her loafers, Gysel left the room and headed to class.

10/11/1111 EotTS 10: 00 Professor Ihvilakh sat in the same spot, in the same rigid position, with the bit of his pipe clenched between the same teeth, giving Wyohla the same slight smile, and wearing the same expression as he did a quarter maiden ago, but to-day, his eyes followed Gysel a little longer, from the doorway to the steps of the aisles between the chairs. Once the hall was filled, Ihvilakh set his pipe down, and began to speak: "In Vlishathelby there was the story of Gewyoshskletkaa and Rhihykho.

If these names do not seem familiar to you, this is because Gewyoshskletkaa's name has been simplified to Yolkaa over the years, and Rhihykho's has been transformed into the word 'rhihykhost' to mean egoist, or Rhikho-Like. For the sake of proper understanding, we will be referring to Yolkaa as Gewyoshskletkaa. We will be focusing on this story specifically and discussing it." Well... this is fortuitus, that was the story referenced by the illustration on the card.

There were murmurs from the class; no one was willing to speak or seemed sure whether they were to speak to the class, to the Professor, or to their neighboring student. Lyvahn broke the silence." Vlishathelby was seven-hundred pages," he said.

"Why did we have to read it twice, only to discuss a twenty page myth?" Gysel nodded in agreement, some before her nodded as well. The stories themselves were enjoyable, especially when one read them in such a quaint setting, but Lyvahn was right; what was the point of reading all of them to only discuss and analyze one; especially Gewyoshskletkaa and Rhihykho, it blended in with the rest being a simple fable about the dangers of self-obsession.

Ihvilakh reached into his jacket, and produced a white silk cloth, then removed his monocle and wiped the glass with the cloth; he took his time with the task, focusing on Lyvahn the whole time (it would have been quicker for him to focus on the cleaning).

Once finished he set the monocle back in its spot between brow and bone and returned the cloth to the inside of his jacket, then he spoke: "That is a valid question, and I will address it: the whole book was assigned because I expect those whom I teach to be aware of the multifaceted nature of how the Lower Quaternary connects with the Higher Triad, there is never one connection going on at a time, so to only focus on one and ignore the others, would be horrifically detrimental.

Now, tell me, what did you think of the story?"

"Rhihykho represents the masculine, and the water represents the feminine. The story shows how men view women; not for the woman in themselves, but as how they reflect the man. Gewyosh—" Lyvahn stuttered and paused, struggling with the pronunciation.

"Yolkaa—""Try again," Ihvilakh interrupted, "You do not brush off things you cannot do, you try again until you dominate them. The first man to ride a horse did not give up upon being bucked off. Try again."

"Gewyosh... Gewyoshskletkah."

"No, you left out the suffix. That is a different word; she was not 'the whispers of water,' she was 'the Lady of the Whispers of the Water'. Try again."

"Gewyoshskletkaa." Third time was the charm (or the ninth or thirteenth); Gysel turned to Lyvahn: he was smiling.

"Good. Now continue," said Ihvilakh.

"Gewyoshskletkaa in her attempts to distract Rhihykho from himself, is the feminine form within the Higher Triad of the man, trying to distract the man from his own reflection in the feminine and address the feminine within himself."

"So in your reading, what is the moral?"

"The man who only recognizes the masculine in the feminine, but refuses to acknowledge the feminine in the masculine will only be able to find love in material joys and desires." This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

This was a very different reading, much more complex; to those who had read the book accompanied by a stuffed bear and the Rain, or by finches, the story was a simple cautionary tale of what happens when one ignores warnings, Rhihykho ignored the calls of Gewyoshskletkaa, even if they were the simple sounds of the dew falling to the lake shore and soft susurrus of the leaves, he was not aware of his surroundings, thus, his death by drowning was the simple synthesis of his proximity to the water, and refusal to acknowledge his surroundings: there was little more than that.

"Good. Now, these stories—which some of the more secular folks will incorrectly describe as 'myths,' or cultural artifacts of our ancestors—exist as moral teachings, but also as an investigation into how the High Triad communicates with the Lower Quaternary. In the case of the reading from the last quarter, that of Gewyoshskletkaa and Rhihykho, inside everyone there is a Gewyoshskletkaa and a Rhihykho.

The Rhihykho is infatuated with the material beauty of his body, yet the Gewyoshskletkaa calls out to him, in an attempt to save him from his own obsession and inevitable drowning in the water of her lake, but, as she cannot interact with him physically, she must do so in subtle means.

This is how the Higher Triad interacts with the Lower Quaternary; it connects only through the Lower and Higher Mind, through the soul, meaning it has no ability to interact with the physical, only with your perception of it, only on the Symbols you see within it. This leads us into your second exercise and first project."

"Your second exercise will be split into three parts. First, you will sit in silence for one hour a day for the next seven days, envisioning a white circle in your mind's eye, and record what distracts you, then research what part of the Lower Quaternary that distraction originates from. An itch—the Physical Body; an intrusive thought—the Lower Mind; a sexual desire—the Desire Body; as some examples.

"After one week of this, you will move on to the second step: acquire a mirror and a bowl full of water, the bowl must be deep enough to submerge the mirror in, then for one hour a day, at night, gaze into the mirror at an open window, focusing on your face and record what distracts you.

"Once you have completed the seven days of gazing into the mirror, compare the results between step one and step two, then submit all to me." A student in front of Gysel raised his hand and spoke unprompted.

"What are we looking to find between the two steps?" From below his brow, Professor Ihvilakh looked at the student, the corner of his lip twitched. Ten small clicks of the second's hand of the clock above the door passed, then Ihvilakh continued.

"As for your project, I want you to write a five hundred word summary of yourself using only information an outside observer could gather, then using only these outside observations, make conclusions about yourself. For example, if you have a habit of speaking unprompted, this is something you can record, as outside observers will notice this about you, this can lead to many conclusions about the individual, perhaps he does this because he had to fight for maternal attention.

Regarding your results for both exercise two, and project one, do not discuss them with anyone, do not show them to anyone, and certainly do not ask any outside observers about yourself." He returned to his pipe, and people filed out. 10/11/1111 EotTS 14: 00 Gysel padded along, looking over the crammed library shelves—where could it be... the librarian said it would be on the sixth floor, under divination, a thick brown book titled 'The Basics of Divination'...

there it is—removing the book, and sitting down on the carpeted floor, Gysel crossed her legs, evened her skirt and set the tome in her lap.

She flipped through the book: there were about ten pages for each card, but there was no time to read all of it now, so it would be best to read the simple meanings that were listed at the start of each chapter, and go more in-depth after figuring out the meaning of the conjunction is, but maybe it would be best to check the mirror first, just to make sure this book was accurate in its readings.

Gysel checked the table of contents at the front of the book and found 'The Mirror' easily; the section began on page '167,' so Gysel flipped to it and read the summary: Upright the card meant self-knowledge; reversed it meant narcissism and a lack of awareness outside the self: that made sense, that was the point of the class: a good prediction. There were soft footsteps behind Gysel, but the padding was ignored.

The person began to search the shelf behind her, removing books and flipping through the pages at a pace too fast to gain any sort of useful information. Gysel flipped back to the table of contents—what was the card yesterday? ah yes...

'The Conjunction'—the sections on the Conjunction began on page '155'. The Conjunction upright meant the union of opposites, so regarding the question about who Lyma was with, the answer provided very little insight; of course there was a union of opposites, she was with a man: a bad prediction from the deck, but half was not bad. Gysel placed the book open on the carpeted floor, and stood, turning around to see Lyma leaning against the shelf across from her. Gysel's eyes went as wide as the rims of her glasses.

"Did you draw that today, Gysel?" Lyma asked, pointing to the open book.

"No," Gysel answered.

"I drew it yesterday."

"Hmmm, so what did you draw today?"

"The Mirror, reversed."

"And what did you ask?"

"I asked what the point of reading all of those stories was."

"Lyvahn said the discussion was on Yolkaa. So that makes sense. Glad you and the deck are getting along."

'Getting along' was not quite correct, but there was no point in correcting Lyma.

"Why are you here?"

"I'm looking for a book." Lyma rolled her eyes.

"Why in this section."

"Because the book I want is probably in this section."

"Why did you not say hello to me when you first entered the section?"

"Because you were sitting on the floor reading, Gysel," Lyma said, and turned her back on Gysel, returning to her search.

"You startle easily, and this is a library. The last thing I want is a repeat of what happened in the bathhouse the other day." That was as good an answer as any—but in order for a repeat of what happened at the bathhouse, the library needs a bucket of water, and wet tiled floors... splish-splash, scream crash—being disturbed while reading or thinking was certainly not on the list of enjoyable things. Squatting down, Gysel lifted the book off the floor, shut it, and returned it to the shelf.

"Not going to take it out?" Lyma asked; she was now holding a smaller blue grimoire. Gysel adjusted her glasses; that was the intention, but the book is far too detailed, and far too thick, so it would be best to acquire a personal copy.

"No, I need my own copy."

"If you want to look, we are going to go into town." This was a tempting offer, but Gysel had to start on the tasks assigned by Professor Ihvilakh.

"No, I have to sit alone in my room in silence."

"Different strokes for different folks, as Wyohla would say." Lyma started to leave.

"If I don't see you tonight, have a good night."

"You too." Gysel looked around the library for a little longer, then returned to her room.