Chapter 2
The Beginning
THE TOR, GLASTONBURY, EARLY 1600's
The day she was conceived was a day of celebration across all the villages, for Bealtaine has always been a time for rebirth and rejoicing. Fires were lit at dawn and were kept stoked through to the following dawn. There was merrymaking, feasting and coupling in the fields, the forest, by the river and all lands surrounding the Tor at Glastonbury. The people followed the Gods and Goddesses biddings and prepared for the summer.
It mattered not who fathered her, nor who gave her life, for Anu was a child of the village, born to be guided and groomed as a High Priestess. Her family was all the village. As with all the other children, when she had fever she was cared for by whomever was available to do so, sometimes several of the elders at one time. When she fell and skinned her knee, she could run to the nearest elder for comfort and cleansing of the wound. She never hungered for love or nourishment but thirsted for knowledge and vision, and Calum was her guide.
A tall man, both of stature and esteem, she remembered him as stern but loving. As a very young girl, she often crawled up into his lap for her lessons and felt safe in his strong embrace. However, when her attention sometimes strayed, he was quick to snap her back to the task at hand, followed by a reassuring look or gentle touch. As she grew to adolescence, she sought his lap less, her eye often on the occasional young man wandering through the village instead. Calum was not blind to this; he gathered the elder Priests and Priestesses to discuss the issue, for Anu was becoming a majestic young lady of soft and bright eyed beauty. While many girls her age played the coy innocents, Anu was a challenge to the boys, for she was just as athletic knowledgeable as they, if not more so at times. Anu was also soon to become a challenge to the elders. While she often had her eye on the boys, they certainly were not blind to her beauty and desirability. There were times in the village garden, where she was supposed to be studying herbal lore and gardening, that Calum would find her sitting cross-legged on the ground surrounded by several village boys, a princess holding court. It was determined that Anu would be cloistered with the Priestesses until such time as she was old enough to unite under the watchful eyes of the Goddesses.
Anu did not feel constraints in this confinement for her time was spent performing many tasks and learning the ways of the land. She grew to be quite the expert in herbs and their meanings, powers and magickal uses. She was proficient at creating the various dyes for the fine wool that she gathered, spun and wove. Her grasp of healing both animals and people was far reaching. The animals also became her friends, as she developed and honed fine farming skills. She was able to maintain goats and cows for milking, chickens for egg-laying, while also tending fruit trees and vegetables in the garden. She learned how to use herbs, grasses, flowers and leaves, pounded to pulp and mixed with water in order to make paper. But by far the most difficult lessons were those in divination and spell casting. It took every fiber of her body and soul to learn, perfect and perform these magickal tasks. She gazed into the sacred well or sometimes into a blazing fire and was given glimpses of the past, present and future. Her spell casting was poetic, the powerful words coming from the core of her being. With all that she learned, she had the tools to become self-sufficient, yet would instead be prepared to become one of the leaders of the village. And the people would follow, for she was much loved and trusted. And yet she remained humble.
Anu’s life was not all learning and practicing; there were special times when she escaped the watchful eyes of the elders and would lie in the meadow amidst the flowers, watching the fluffy clouds skim by. Or she would borrow her favorite village horse and she would ride through those same meadows. The wind in her face and ears was the flute while the pounding of the hooves was the bodhran and the music of the ride vibrated through the center of her being and down through her toes.
Oft times her dalliances into horses or cloud gazing would bring a strong reprimand from the elders, especially Calum. Yet she felt no shame, only regret at having displeased them.
There came a day when many of her soul-siblings were sent away for fosterage. Anu was brave as she said her farewells to them. Among them there was Liam who spoke to animals, Brighid who knew her lessons so well, Gawen who was gentle and could communicate with anyone and Mairi who was quiet and shy. Anu felt her very own earth shaking but she stood tall and strong. Calum was pleased with what he saw in her behavior. He smiled, recalling his decision to keep her in the village as one of the chosen scholars. And when Gawen returned from his fosterage, he would be joined with Anu; it was the call of the Goddesses. But for now, she was only in her twelfth year and had much to learn.
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
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