Lord of the Deep: In to The Deep.

After we had returned from ancient Sumeria that Saturday night we all, everyone of us, got changed and fought the biblical weather the thankfully short distance up the hill to the local pub.

We all deserved a break, I was there, just behind the lense. The cosy warmth in the bar was matched by the warmth of these beautiful people who had been traveling along the same path with me. This was every bit as important as a learning curve as the entire workshop itself. Different but just as important.

*******

Sunday dawned bright dry and no wind. We had weathered the flood. Today way the last day of The Silent Eye Workshop.

Had the weather really been that bad that we could not climb the hill and greet the dawn. Had it lashed with rain and wind since our arrival Friday afternoon. Mm ..Yes.

I got up early and sat in the temple for a chance to meditate on where I have been for the last two days. Strangely as I thought over the story I found it difficult to comprehend I had only been here two days. It felt like eons.

After breakfast we had the Triad Ritual which I found very moving, we were asked to speak for voices that are not often heard. Everyone spoke for someone or something, I chose to speak for Mother Nature.

And so In to The Deep.

We returned to the temple to witness what was to become of the big ego, Gilgamesh on his last quest.

We, the Fates, had all the way through this journey been alluding to a huge flood, and a boat that was built. It was to me like the story of Noah and the Arc. Though the names were different the story was the same. Instead of Noah and his wife it was Utanpishtim and his wife Shiduri. They were rewarded by being allowed to live for eternity at the source of the rivers. In a place very similar to the garden of Eden.

******

Tired with travel and full of woe

Gilgamesh meets Shiduri who

Asks, where do you go.

Holding fast her brewer’s vat her fear she hides.

After many days travel Gilgamesh meets Shiduri who asks who he is and where he is going. He tells her is the king of Wall-Girt-Uruk and he is seeking Utanpishtim to gain some of the Herb of Immortality, so his people may live forever.

Shiduri asks why is he so sad, he tells her the sad story of his brother Enkidu.

Shiduri tells Gilgamesh that none but Shamash are brave enough to traverse the sky. Immediately the ego kicks in and Gilgamesh sites his triumphs, which I as a Fate see only as failure.

Gilgamesh is then told by Fate Ash that he may gain help from Urshanabi, Utanpishtim’s boatman. He is in the forest cutting wood in the company of the Stone Men who are very fearsome.

So very wearily Gilgamesh enters the forest in search of the boatman.

It is not long before the Stone Men begin to question and threaten Gilgamesh, who cannot land a blow on any of them before the next distracts him. Eventually he collapses ..

Urshanabi, tells him that the journey is not a simple ferry ride. He must out run Shamash, the sun, for nine hours through the deep of the underworld.

The ego that is Gilgamesh says he can do this… Despite warnings that Shamash is fast and will not slow for any man be he king or not.

Urshanabi leads Gilgamesh to the Deep Underworld. And so for nine hours Gilgamesh has to out run the sun.

To be continued.