..“Is that Wild enough for you?”

“That’s pretty wild.”

“Glad we brought it on?”

“No, not really.”

“How can the One be evil?”

“Say what?”

“The One is the One.”

“Oh.”

“The evil is a disguise to win back the mead of inspiration, remember?”

“Oh yeah.”

“If you’re disguised as evil in an evil world and the giant world in this schemata is inherently evil, you’re not evil… you’re good..”

“Oh.”

“You’re not convinced.”

“He killed all the farm-hands.”

“They killed themselves through their wholly misplaced desire to outdo each other in an evil world. He just presented them with an opportunity, and in any case they all went willingly into the employ of the thief of inspiration… and inspiration, remember, is the key to real life.”

“Oh yeah.”

“Okay, okay what if we call the nine farm-hands the ennea-types?”

“Well now… you’re making a bit more sense…although I’m not sure we’re advocating complete and utter annihilation of all the personality types.”

“Strictly speaking we’re not, no, I’ll grant you that…”

“Go on…”

“But in effect, we may just as well be. For all the differences between the One and the Nine.”

***

The Hanged Man, Tarot des Imagiers

…Deep in the greenwood the trees weave shadows into dappled night. A tall figure picks his way carefully through the trackless tangle, following the song he hears in his bones. The glade opens out before him, a mark-stone and a great ash in the centre, and here he sits to wait, his back against the stone, neither meat not drink will he taste, only the

herbs that open the gates.

On the first day he speaks no word but watches the great tree, learning its lines and movement, listening to its song as the windless branches dance.

On the second day he speaks no word, embracing the tree he is rooted in green earth, held in the misty air, head in the blue, marrying the worlds.

On the third day he hangs bat-like in its branches. Droplets of blood fall like rowan berries to the earth and blood sings in his ears, a sacrifice of self to Self; the darkened mind hears the songs of the nine lands. Songs of power. Songs of wisdom. Songs of healing. And they are his.

This is the second death…

Giants Dance: Rhyme and Reason

Stuart France and Sue Vincent

Available in Full colour paperback and for Kindle

Amazon US, Amazon UK and worldwide

• ISBN-10: 1493675672
• ISBN-13: 978-1493675678