Chapter 16Ah, to shed the crude facsimile of flesh—this was the greatest joy. This was purity and light, existing as thought and spirit.
On this plane Hera was greater than herself. She was in touch with every facet of the One. Here she could retreat, cleanse herself of the pettiness and ugliness of the mortal world. There had been a time when all her brethren knew this bliss. But that was before man had first stirred from the mires of the earth. Nowadays most of her kind preferred to entangle themselves in the sordid affairs of mortals. Hera could understand why, of course, for she could sense her devotees in their world even now. They made their strength hers, and she basked in the glow of their prayer.
She gave herself to the cosmos, stretched out her consciousness, sensed the energie
