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The Handmaidens of Fate, at the Great Cauldron that Provides Nourishment for the Tree of Life

It is said that there are three Handmaidens of Fate who live at the roots of the Tree of Life. Every morning, before sitting down to the task of spinning the Fates of Men and Women, they take up their gardening tasks, for it is their job to make sure that the Tree of Life stays strong and whole. Sometimes they water the Tree of Life with water from the Great Cauldron. Sometimes they mix that water with the soil from rotted fallen stars and make a nourishing plaster for the roots of the Tree of Life. Sometimes they pull weeds and make medicines of them. Sometimes they relocate snakes and squirrels and ant-hills. All this, of course, is allegorical, symbolic.

While they work, they often sing and, if you get up early enough, you might hear them.

Here are four songs that I have heard.

I.

We do not sing a song of cycles:
Now Light, now Dark, now Light, now Dark,
Now Life, now Death, now Life, now Death . . .

We do not sing a song of circles:
Here Light in Dark, there Dark in Light,
Here Life in Death, there Death in Life . . .

We sing, instead, a narrow path
All things are forced to follow:

Darkness.

Light.

Earth.

Air.

Sun.

Truth.

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II.

We accept no offering.
We hear no prayer.
The Pattern is not for purchase.
Rejoice that this is so.

It has kept you from the evils
That you have sought,
And made room for the blessings
That you failed to seek.

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III.

I am the Spinner, Law-of-Beginnings,
I am the Measurer, Ever-Becoming,
I am the Severer, What-Must-Be-Done.

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Toward evening, when the sun is about to set, and the Handmaidens are trying to rush a bit to finish up some handiwork, you may hear them chant in Latin this short, rhythmic, heavy-beated song.

IV.

Ducimus volentem,
Trahimus nolentem!

"We lead the willing,
"And drag the unwilling!"

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*** Blessed be to those who serve the Great Mother and the Horned Father.

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