Adam's Original Sin....or

FOHLMER BECOMES AN APPRENTICE

"I'm no fool", thought Fohlmer Olin, "mom would probably say different...I can hear her now, 'You've always got your head in the clouds, my little Folly Olly'...oh I hated when she called me that!" Fohlmer snapped to the present, "I know wisdom and power when I see them."

Fohlmer had witnessed the great wisdom of Ikhan Trodor on more than one occasion. Today, when Ikhan had boldly faced down Tigon...."He was so calm...never lost his cool..."

"Are you OK, Fohlmer?" asked Ikahn as he looked him squarely in the face.

"Yes", Fohlmer replied. Then, before he could contain himself he blurted out, "Ikhan Trodor, may I serve as your apprentice?".

The wizard stepped back and looked at Fohlmer, then cocked his head to his left...then back right...Just when Fohlmer thought he would melt in the seemingly eternal silence, Ikhan stroked his beard and spoke.

"What makes you think I need an apprentice?", he asked.

Licking his lips and clearing his throat, Fohlmer gathered all the boldness he could lay hold of, and replied, "Whether you need an apprentice or not, I need your wisdom". He stared earnestly into the wizard's brown eyes, awaiting his reply.

The wizard stared back at Fohlmer briefly...then a warm smile broke upon his face, "Let's get it going then", he said, "Be at my rock garden at 6 am tomorrow, and we will get started."

MEDITATION, MEDITATION, MEDITATION

"Draw your breath in slowly", Ikhan whispered.

Fohlmer began the slow count in his head, "One....two....three...four...five...six...seven...eight...nine...."

"And hold it", Ikhan continued.

"One....two....three....four....five....six....seven....eight...(this is where he always struggled)....nine..."

"Control your release", the wizard said calmly.

Realizing he had handled the transition seamlessly, his confidence grew as he began to count his exhale, "One...two...three....four...five...six...seven....eight...nine...now wait...."

Fohlmer felt the clutching desire to gasp for breath ease away as he relaxed into it. Here, where he had found himself literally reaching for his next inhale...instead, he calmly drew his breath in...beginning the count again..."One....two....three....", Fohlmer continued to follow the path of his breath for the next 15 minutes.

"Good breath work today", Ikahn said as they washed for breakfast, "We'll continue until we build up to 30 minutes".

Fohlmer's heart sank. For four weeks, he had done nothing but breathe. First, he had to learn to breathe through his nose. Next he breathed, while visualizing the air as different colors ...then visualized those colors flowing separately and independently from one nostril and the corresponding lung on that side, to the other. The last week he had been working on slowing down his breathing to approximately two complete breaths per minute, without struggling...and today, he had held that place of peace...of complete gnosis for a good part of the 15 minutes. And now there was only more meditation..."Thank you", he mumbled.

The wizard's eyes gleamed, "But tomorrow we will go and gather Arjun bark and I will begin to teach you the Magick.

Fohlmer hardly tasted the buckwheat pancakes, covered with fresh strawberries and honey Chyna served him for breakfast. "Tomorrow I learn the Magick", he told himself.

GOOD AND EVIL

Fohlmer was nervous and excited as he lie in his bed. The day's work had be hard and tedious, pulling radishes and moving the pigs to a new paddock had kept him busy most of the morning. At lunch, when Ikhan didn't show up as usual, Chyna simply said he was preparing for the journey. All afternoon, while he cut and bound buckwheat from the apple guild, he thought about his own preparation. It had finally come to him as he helped Chyna wash the dinner dishes. "Do you know how I can have a...uh..a 'wise' dream?", he asked.

"Ikahn works the Magick", she replied, "but I do know that Wisdom has come to me in my dreams when I have set my intent, and meditated upon the answers I sought before I went to sleep."

That night as he lay in bed, Fohlmer began the process of slowing his breathing, and entering that place of "in between", he set his intent to discover how he needed to prepare. He held the intent in his heart as he drifted off.

When he awakened, Fohlmer remembered Chyna's advice to immediately write down what he had seen. "I saw the Chariot card", he wrote. Fohlmer had often thumbed through Ikahn's books, on occasion asking to borrow several (to Ikahn's obvious delight). A few works on the Tarot had caught his attention, but he didn't think he was quite ready to dive in... he had looked through them enough to be familiar with the cards, especially the Major Arcana. "I saw through the Charioteer's eyes. What could it mean?", he concluded and put down his pen.

The question continued to tumble through his mind as their horses turned from the main road towards the wet humid lowlands of the South. Noticing a strange marking upon a tree, Fohlmer asked Ikahn about it.

"It's a Sigil", the wizard replied. "It's a symbol...a kind of signature for an entity. This one happens to be for Mammon".

"MAMMON!", Fohlmer spat, "Mammon is evil, right?"

"Who told you Mammon was 'evil'?", Ikahn asked with a smile.

"Why, my mother read it in the Bible", he responded.

"Mmmm. I wonder what Mammon would say if you were to ask him", was the wizard's reply.

Fohlmer's brow wrinkled. "This is one more thing to contemplate upon", he thought.

Later upon the trail, they came upon a stone pillar with a marking far more intricate than that upon the tree. "Is that another Sigil?", Fohlmer asked.

"Yes....that is the Sigil for Belial".

At the mention of the dread demon, Fohlmer felt his throat tighten." Surely Satan's own right hand man must be evil", he wondered.

As if reading his mind, Ikahn added, "I wonder if Belial would say he was evil".

The two rode in silence until they stopped to make camp. As they gathered acorns to roast, Ikahn pointed to a great oak tree several yards away. "Look at the size of that beauty. It's hard to believe all of that came out of this", he said tossing an acorn to Fohlmer.

"How did all that get in there? How can every one of those branches fit into that tiny shell", Fohlmer asked.

Ikahn smiled wryly, "Chyna tells me you asked about Wise Dreaming. Did you have any success?"

"Yes....", Fohlmer hesitated.

"Go on", prompted the wizard.

"I had a vision of the Chariot card. Then it shifted. It was as if I was seeing through the Charioteer's eyes." he continued. "What could it mean?"

"Let us eat and we will talk."

HOW A TREE BECAME A NUT

As they scraped the last of their meal into the fire, Ikahn began. "I believe you are familiar with the Biblical story of Adam...how the Elohim gathered together to form 'man' in Its own image, and how They placed Adam in a Garden with everything He needed. The Elohim even endowed Adam with Their own creative ability, in that whatever Adam called a creature that is what it became. Adam was living in abundance as the full expression of the Elohim."

"The Kabbalah says the Tree of Life is fully expressed in every Sephirot, does it not?", Ikahn asked. "The Tree of Life represents all life. Every cell of every being carries the potential...the 'nut'... of the entire being. Adam carried the full expression of Elohim, the All, the Collective Conscious in just such a way. When Adam placed his focus on what he didn't have, his vibration slowed from the heart set of abundance to one of lack...causing him to fall out of the realm of creator into that of creation. Adam had been placed into perfect knowledge of Who He was, the singular expression of the Divine Will. Now, that expression would be separated and individuated so that each soul born would be a unique and separate expression of the Divine. Every other creature the Elohim (through Adam) had created lacked the awareness of self, so that the Elohim could not experience Itself through them. Adam, the Man, alone among all created beings was able to "imagine"...to experience and observe all things without bias. But, he had also been endowed with the will and desire to discover. If Elohim was to truly experience Its creation through Adam, he must be infinitely curious. It was this innate curiosity that led to, what we have been lead to believe, was a 'fall'."

The two remained silent for quite some time, Fohlmer chewing over the words he had just heard. The wizard simply holding space for his young apprentice.

As the fire began to die, Fohlmer finally spoke. "So, it was necessary that Adam 'fall' in order for the Elohim to fully experience this life objectively. So that It could experience what it was like to go through this process of ascension?"

Ikahn nodded and smiled.

The apprentice continued. "And the vast complexity, the infinite expressions of the aspects of Elohim could not come forth in one...or one hundred...or even one hundred million....", he paused, "there is no end to the possible perspectives..."

"Yes. Each individual born follows the path of Adam. We are placed in a garden, the womb. Soon we have experienced all that we can from this existence. We question if 'this' is all there is. Our drive forward carries us violently into a new existence. Surely, we surmise (as did Adam), we have 'died'. As we open our eyes we realize we have been planted in a new 'garden'. The rush of new external experiences overwhelms us, and we soon lose memory of who we are and from where we have come. We begin the journey of becoming individuated expressions of the collective Divine. We are, essentially, the Divine observing the Divine becoming the Divine." Ikahn finished.

"And the nut?", Fohlmer asked. "The nut has every part, every limb and leaf the tree will ever create, inside itself..."

"And each tree is exactly like all others, genetically. But it is as individual as are you and I", the wizard added.

Fohlmer's head was fairly swimming. He drew two deep, centering breaths, exhaling slowly. Just as he was preparing to ask Ikahn about his dream, and the Sigils, and what it all meant, the wizard stood and stretched.

"Good night, Fohlmer" he said.

THE CHARIOT

Fohlmer worked in silence as they gathered the Arjun bark. He had hardly slept, contemplating all the wizard had spoken the night before. He could not wait until they broke for lunch so he could ask him about his dream. And those Sigils..."How could Mammon and Belial NOT be 'evil'?", he thought.

Several villagers from the surrounding area, catching word that the Wise and Powerful Ikahn was nearby had sought him out. Fohlmer could only watch as his mentor provided counsel and 'workings' for any and all. Finally, Ikahn nodded to Fohlmer as a signal that he should begin packing for the trip home.

The sun was wall into the afternoon when the last of the villagers was leaving the camp. They would have to camp one more night. Ikahn wasted no time, turning to Fohlmer, "It's time to go."

That night the two made camp less than 100 yards from the markings of Belial upon the stone pillar they had seen before. That night, over dinner, Fohlmer brought up the demon again. "What about Belial? And Mammon? How do they fit in? If they aren't 'evil', does that mean they are 'good'?"

The wizard stared intently at Fohlmer, "Tell me about your dream", he said.

Fohlmer struggled to bridle his impatience. "I saw the Chariot," he replied.

"And...", Ikahn asked.

"And I saw from the perspective of the Charioteer...." his voice trailing off as the realization hit him. "The Charioteer holds the path between the Black Sphinx and White, equally controlling both. He gives no preference to which is 'good' or 'bad', but steers his course".

Here he paused as the realization exploded in his being and began to slowly reassemble. After a moment, he looked up.

"The two represent perspectives, and there are two equal perspectives inside those, and two inside those, and into infinity", again he paused, "Just as the nut contains the same genetic material as the tree so do we contain the genetic material of the Elohim."

"What about Mammon and Belial?", Ikhan asked.

"There is no 'good' or 'evil'", the revelation lit upon him, "there simply is. That is the perspective of Elohim."

"Yes!", the wizard exclaimed. Then he grabbed his young apprentice and held him close. "You shall make a fine wizard", he said.

As Ikahn moved toward his bed roll, he turned. "The key", he said, "is to maintain that central focus. The moment we veer into judgement of anything, especially ourselves, we lose that perspective and find ourselves...once again...a NUT!". At this the wizard threw back his head and laughed. "Good night young wizard", he said as he pulled the blanket under his bearded chin.

"Good night, Ikhan."

That night Fohlmer slept well.

THANK YOU

Thank you for reading. I hope you found as much joy in the story as I.