Inspiration comes at the next bend in the road. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

In the fall of 2010 I, along with a number of colleagues and friends, participated in a Lorian Association intensive program that led to our ordination in October of the following year. During that time, we met on several occasions. At those gatherings my friend, Jeremy Berg, displayed the watercolors he was painting to form the images for a card deck related to the Sidhe. The images radiated light and intensity. Each time we met he had new images to display. Though he had never painted before, his images were vivid and skillfully composed.

In the Card Decks of the Sidhe Manual, David Spangler describes a Sidhe unexpectedly “showing up” in his living room that winter and presenting the idea for a Sidhe card deck. Jeremy decided to try his hand at painting the images for the cards.

The topic of the Sidhe began to infuse the program. David and Jeremy’s collaboration rekindled and fueled my interest in the Sidhe work. Central to the concept of the card deck was a stone circle with four gates located at the cardinal directions. Late one summer afternoon at a meeting, we recreated the layout of the card sequence. Each person was assigned a spot on the lawn representing a stone in the circle. I took my place. David was leading the exercise, but I’ve forgotten what was said. What remains in memory is the sun shining brightly upon us, then a surge of energy flashing through me. I don’t cry easily but I felt tears well up in my eyes.

It was another enigmatic event connected with the Sidhe. I believe that the Sidhe do try to get our attention. However, unlike David, they never showed up in my living room. They were prodding me though.

Why? Or why me or why you? Perhaps it’s neither me or you. Humanity and Sidhe share this world. And there’s a bit of a “situation” right now. Humanity is crashing the climate, Gaia herself may be going through a midlife crisis, and the Sidhe have expressed they have some issues too. We and the Sidhe share a common history. In Engaging with the Sidhe - Conversations Continued Mariel, David’s Sidhe contact says:

“As you know, we were once one people. We share a common ancestry in spirit. When we came to this world, long before there were humans or Sidhe, it was in part to learn how to work with the creative impulses that were forming this planet.”

If we can reconnect, together both peoples can share the capacities and understandings that each has acquired during the millennia we have lived separately.

Back to my story -- As summer waned to fall, that bend in the road was coming closer. It was a Sunday morning in late October. We had finished breakfast at Jeremy’s home and were driving to our formal ordination ceremony. Driving on a windy road leading to the ordination site, a thought poured into my mind - ELVENGATES. The hair stood up on my arms as “goosebumps” covered my body. My imagination began constructing wooden gates or portals leading people to new magical inner places. Excitement coursed through me. It was a call to action.

First thing upon returning home, I registered the domain name elvengates.com. A new chapter in my relationship with the Sidhe had begun.