Remarkable are meaningful coincidences.  Take the apotheosis of my mother’s salmon-fly, “The Black Maria”.  She was portrayed as an evil entity worn by the villain in one of my favourite television series: “Murder She Wrote.”  I watched the salmon-fly’s adventures as she made her wicked way through the story until the murderer – murderess – was duly captured by Jessica Fletcher and handed over to The Guards.

Then I decided to try out my new way of dissolving the cloud of gloom and doom enveloping us as we approach 2012.  How about transmuting this sinister salmon-fly – named after police vans twirling evil-doers into “detention facilities” – to a True Self!

Of course!  My mother gained her fame through fishing on the River of Healing, the Slaney – Slainte.  I remember mentioning this to Jack Charlton, the football celebrity, when describing my mother’s skill in killing crocodiles and salmon.  I told him I used the water of our well for healing and psychic development.  So now another name of the Great Goddess Morrigan of all Rivers is The Black Maria.  She is helper for all being brought into prison.  They only need invoke her for psychic awakening.  This truly cheered me up, because I get letters from all over the world from inmates of prisons.

I then turned to Korea.  I received a lovely letter from a devotee of Rose-Isis-Sophia, who heard that I had known W.B.Yeats.  Could I enlighten her with his wisdom?  I wished to do my very best.  So I made my mind blank to receive my answer – to Rose-Isis-Sophia ********

My mind was brought back to my father, Manning Robertson, who had been my Magician Prospero for about 40 years.  Yeats had asked that my father, an architect, should design his tombstone, now in Drumcliffe in the West of Ireland.  He did so, choosing lettering from our Clonegal Graveyard.

When Yeats died, he was duly interred under the tombstone designed by my father.  My mother told me that she met his widow, Mrs.Yeats, a spiritualist medium, and asked had she liked the tombstone “Oh Yes!” she replied.  “And Willie is delighted!”

I was happy that Yeats was active in the next life, but I did not like the message he had carved on the stone.  It did not suggest a greater life or kindness for anyone:   “Cast a cold eye on life and death.  Horseman pass by.”  I thought: “Typical of a cold intellectual.  They get like that when they get older.  They trample on small green shoots.”

Suddenly I felt guided to use my symbolic interpretation.  This language relates to the belief that all this life is a hologram of a greater Reality:  “Sermons in stones and good in everything,” as Shakespeare put it.  How about altering the reader’s perspective?  When we read, we identify with the obvious “I”.  In this case we are the cold-eyed Horseman passing by a tombstone.  No!  We are watching this Horseman.  He is the Rider on the pale horse of Death, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.  As we know we belong to eternity, we bid him ‘pass us by’. So now with confidence I could write to the Korean admirer of Yeats, in the Golden Dawn Order, with a key to unlocking the Da Vinci – Goethe – Yeats Code.

My third challenge came at once.  I received a heartbreaking letter from a Priestess living within what she called “the Pacific Ring of Fire.”  I thought of the ring in Wagner’s opera and of Tolkien’s terrible ring of fate.  She wrote that the ground was still moving under her feet.  She informed me that we were approaching the End of the World and that this was her last time of writing.  She had enough food for two days.  She ended by praying that my death would be quick and painless.  The dreaded Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were now approaching ****

How could I tackle this fear?  All these doomful prophecies – and I have had my own share – deal with the physical earth, passing time and changing space.  How about changing our focus to the real world of the soul and spirit which do not pass away?

Horses are haughty, aristocratic beasts, honoured by all.  Their poor relations, donkeys are jeered at, abused, despised and over-burdened.  And yet these asses have been divinely chosen as bearers of spiritual change.  I remembered from the Bible that Balaam’s Ass was more psychic than his “owner” – it was he who recognised an Angel!

I offer this presentation to add to a Tarot Pack.

The First Divine Donkey comes from the Constellation of Taurus.  He is the God Set and is ever adorned with two long fine ears.  He brought glory to the Upper Kingdom of Egypt for two thousand years.  Rameses II, under his aegis, had hundreds of wives and countless offspring.  A great Pharaoh, Son of Set, he is known as Rameses the Great.

At this dawn of a new aeon this Divine Ass brings human love, and so assures the continuity of the human race.  Where Set is, there are offspring.

The Second Holy Donkey comes from the Constellation of Leo.  It was She Who presided over the birth of a Child from Heaven, born in a stable.  She protected the child along with a friendly Ox.  In these days She comes with thousands of children from the Stars who join with humans to bring love, harmony and friendship. This donkey’s gift is Happiness.

The Third Sacred Donkey comes from the Constellation of Scorpio.  She carried an Avatar on Her back to His initiation of the Dying and Resurrection of the God.  She comes at this time of change to bring courage and compassion.

The Fourth Mystic Donkey emanates from the Constellation of Aquarius.  He is a shape-shifter and appears in the form of the body of Francis of Assisi, who acknowledged him as “my body Brother Ass.”  He has been sped forth from the Cosmic Hierarchy to spread understanding and love between all creatures.  His gift is Peace.

I’ll end on a personal note.  A donkey I loved is in the Spirit World.  She is called Petronella, and is a tiny furry black donkey with a soft white nose.  She has the distinguished ears of the God Set, her forbear, and large, sad kindly dark eyes.

Recommended Reading:  “The Golden Ass” by Lucius Apuleius, Roman Priest of Isis. This priest disgraced the reputation of Asses by his immoral behaviour when incarnated as a donkey. “Don Quixote” Cervantes.  Features Dapple, donkey friend of Sancho Panza, but with more sense.  “Travels with a Donkey,” Robert Louis Stevenson.  “The Demi-Gods,” James Stephens.  His donkey, though asses never attack even cruel humans, by mistake kills the unpleasant ex-angel O’Brien by giving him a huge and splendid kick into the Abyss.  We assume O’Brien is redeemed and joins the Donkey in heaven.



The article and illustration above were sent for publication on this site by Olivia Robertson, via Minette Quick, Hon. Sec. of the Circle of Brigid. This article was originally published in Isis-Seshat Journal.

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