Crystals IV

Zeus’ final trial-1

Zeus’ final trial

When Zeus was nineteen and a half years old, he had already successfully completed the four Paths and the five Plagues. They were difficult but also instructive spiritual trials. It was an investment in spiritual property that he would need on a daily basis. In full awareness of himself, he was ready for his final trial which would last a week and through which it would be decided whether he was ready in every respect to take up the general responsibility for the revolution of the Natural Forces against the Supernatural ones.

Up until that point, all of Zeus’ spiritual and practical trials had been successfully completed. Now, he would have to go through all those practical trials that would complete his perfection in every respect, either spiritually or physically. It would be a trial based on real-life situations and not of an instructive nature as such trials had been up to that point. Gaia’s altar was ready and adorned. That would be the start and the end point of every trial. It would be here that the judges would pronounce whether the trial had been successfully completed or not. In the end, it would be here that he would give the sacred oath. It was a very difficult process which had been completed only by the very few. The Kourites, the Diktaies and Iades Nymphs who would witness the trials as simple spectators were filled with anxiety and experiencing a range of feelings.

At long last, the week of the trials came and everyone were there, at the Diktaion Cave, before Gaia’s altar. Following the chanting of some hymns in honor of mother-Earth Gaia, the Diktaies, the Iades and the Pleiades Nymphs danced a few terrestrial sensual dances, while the Oceanid Nymphs danced fluid, liquescent dances. Then the Sacred Pyre was lit on the altar which would continue burning up until the end of Zeus’ trails. It would go out after Zeus’ oath-taking.

At the age of twenty, foresighted Zeus was simply and athletically dressed, wearing a simple short white tunic and was shining by an inexplicable divine light, while on his completely serene face not a trace of anguish could be seen. Not even a shadow of doubt. All the answers had been given the previous night in the grove. He was calm and assertive, fully self-confident and with strong self-respect. Steadily and in full awareness of the task, he was treading along the most difficult path a mortal or immortal or a titan could every walk on. During the short, solemn ceremony in honor of mother-Earth, he was simple, calm and humble. Not a trace of arrogance could be seen in his eyes, but his look was sparkling, lively and intense, full of anticipation for the trials that would follow the next days. It was unarmed, since it would be the trials themselves which would determine the level of the warrior he would become and the weapons that he would be allowed to have. That ranged from a simple laurel to the full-fledged armor with all its trimmings.

The levels of the ‘Warrior of the Light’ were seven, just as the trials that would determine what level of warrior Zeus would become and what weapons he would possess. Yet, despite the fact that he was simply dressed and without weapons, one could tell from his general countenance that he already looked like a warrior, mighty in his vigor of the flesh, the vitality of his youth, the assertiveness and the modesty of the face and his humility and unpretentious look. Everything was in good measure. All in good measure! Measure just before crossing the border into arrogance. That was the threshold point, just as much the demands were just at the threshold of endurance for a warrior of any form. How could he distinguish himself if he had not found himself at the threshold? The measure that singles out mediocrity is for those who are impotent and timid, even if they love justice and beauty. True warriors have no fear even if they cross over into arrogance some time, when the circumstances demand it. They would quickly resort to the good measure when that need no longer exists. The warrior needs that little slippage so that he would be able to surpass himself in the difficult situations. Because the Warrior of the Light cannot be immortal. He is a mortal! And as a mortal, he cannot be infallible. How else would he be able to face the unrelenting hardship that he meets in his daily struggles in life? It is not arrogance to be precise, but this is how it looks to the timid, the cowards and the crafty.

Ingenious Zeus was creating a wonderful, awe-inspiring sight. He was radiant all over. It was as if a self-produced luminance was emanating an inner light that was covering his whole body. He was already presenting a phantasmagoric and magnificent spectacle. But when he would take up arms, then that already radiant appearance would appear too poor as compared to the divine appearance that he would acquire then. His brown-blond hair was unkempt, not particularly cared for, but the small waves on it were so balanced that it appeared as if someone had deliberately concerned himself with it. His hair fell behind in a small brown-blond mane, while some shorter locks scattered lively across his brow. Just before he appeared before the altar, just prior to the commencement of the solemn ceremony of his trials, he was already shining like a solar god. He had been named ‘Warrior of the Light’, confirming Pythia’s Delphic oracle confidently expressed many years ago and repeated in different ways many times. But now, after the end of his trials and oath-taking, and in full war gear, he would appear as a solar god. But he would remain a mortal.

During the whole week of his trials, he would remain unarmed and dressed only in his short tunic. No other garment was allowed. The rules were strict. Nor was the use of weapons allowed, either of those which were precut or makeshift ones made by himself, except of course when specific weapons were given to him for the particular trial, such as archery, which he would have to hand back after the end of the trial.

The trials commenced one morning at the first rays of the sun. He would have to be successful in all of them. In the first day, he was tried in etiquette, in reciting poems, mathematics and music. In the second day, he was tried in gymnastics, hunting moves, horse-riding, javelin throw, archery, shot put, fencing, boxing and the long jump. In the third day, he was tried in the crossing of the gorge and the capture of a wild aurochs with his bare hands. In the fourth day, he was tried in the capture of a lion. In the fifth day, he was tried in the sacred and martial dances. In the sixth day he was tried in philosophy. Finally, in the seventh day, Zeus’ oath-taking ceremony took place.

The first day was the easiest trial for Zeus because to everyone who was kind-hearted and had been exposed to high culture education all those trials were simple daily routines. They were part of his everyday way of life. So, during the first day he was tested on etiquette, reciting poems, mathematics, music, the lyre, astronomy and on botany and medicinal herb lore. For all that he was helped by the Diktaies and Iades Nymphs, while Gaia and Rhea contributed to his test on botany and medicinal herb lore. All that was necessary for the spiritual weaponry of a Warrior of the Light. It was important to be polite, generous and brave. That trial was not meant to show how he should behave but how he felt and experienced all that. That is, he should be polite and brave and not just appear that he was so. He had to be imbued with ‘Wisdom’, ‘Prudence’, ‘Valor’ and ‘Justice’, the four main virtues that predetermined that all those virtues would be part of him. A Warrior of the Light loves truly, timelessly, without contradictions and conflicts. He loves nature, life, man and the universe. Among those, the defense of the weak and naturally of the defeated ones would be a sine qua non. Besides, it was there that the courage, generosity, high culture and the special feeling in the body and spirit and in the end, the spiritual level and humanity of every intelligent being could be shown. The umpires ruled that Zeus had been absolutely successful in that set of trials, while he would be free for the rest of the day.

The second day was not particularly difficult despite the precision it required. Whoever had had tough training could pass those trials. So, during the second day, he was tested in precision gymnastics, hunting moves, horse-riding, javelin throw, archery, fencing, boxing, track events and long jumps across gorges.

Zeus was successful in all of those trials, tests and processes that began in the morning. Last there remained the most difficult of all which was jumping across gorges. This particular trial demanded that he could jump over the Gorge of Samaria. Just after noon, Zeus with the trial officials was walking up a dangerous rocky path leading to the summit of the gorge, at a height of about 1200 meters, on either side of which was lush vegetation in which blooming Cretan orchids dominated that continued into the interior of the gorge, going all the way from the top to the bottom. It was like a flowery army marching along the exterior of the gorge and descending in its interior.

That particular trial would be really useful to Zeus when he would be crossing into the country of the Centaurs, but also in the duels he would engage, particularly that with his father, Cronos. So, he went to the edge of the gorge which was above a drop of 700 meters and 100 to 150 meters wide at a certain point. Deep below was a chasm pinned by sharp rocks that gaped horribly, while upon the sharp cliffs there were enough wild goats grazing on the short, tender grass and added a calming brush on the wilderness of the scenery. Zeus would have to jump at a point where the opening of the gorge would be about 50 to 100 meters. He made up his mind to try the jump at its maximum opening of one hundred meters. He carefully observed the gorge at the point where the opening spanned a hundred meters, examined the distance, stepped back about a hundred meters and started running gaining momentum as fast as he could, reaching a speed that no one else could ever reach. Running like that, he reached the edge of the gorge and made a forceful jump that was so powerful that he landed ten meters further than the point he was supposed to land. The umpires again ruled that the trial had been absolutely successful and following the completion of the trial, they all returned. During the rest of the day, Zeus fell asleep because his next trial would begin at night.

In the third day, he had to start again in the middle of the night long before the crack of dawn would sweeten the wild surroundings, because he would have to cross the Gorge of Samaria at night, an 18 km walk. In the gorge there were caves on either side that harbored wild carnivorous animals. But despite all that, he would have to cross it completely unarmed, sparingly dressed, without food or water. On his walk, he was only allowed to get water and food he would find in that environment, up until the end of the gorge. Then, once he reached the exit of the gorge under present-day area of Portes or Iron Gates, he would be allowed to use only plant fiber rope. As he was walking in pitch darkness that would strike terror in the heart of every living being, since the light of the moon was playing in the nooks and crannies and on the trees, creating hundreds of shadows, creating forms of wild predators. For a scared soul that would be forced to tread on the bottom of the gorge at that wild time of night, fear alone would have enlarged and multiplied imaginary monsters in its imagination, since fear comes from the past and is so strong that it feeds on itself and gets reinforced at every which moment. The result would be for that soul to lose heart and come running back after the first few meters into the gorge. But Zeus had no fear in him. He had had clear knowledge and knew that all that were just phantoms created by the light of the moon. So, he walked the path fearlessly. Some predators that got wind of him almost ignored him, having been filled and tired from the hunting effort of the day, clearly preferring to get back to their necessary sleep. They just half-opened their eyes, and growled unenthusiastically, just to scare off the walker of the night and ward off his entering their lair, after which they went right back to sleep. Some were a bit more aggressive but Zeus’ yells were wilder and scarier, since he used his hands to amplify his voice. So, all wild animals just cowered, preferring not to challenge him. Right at the time the black night was giving way to the crack of dawn, Zeus was reaching the exit that was the narrowest point of the gorge. Thus, he passed that part of his trial that had to do with fear, since a Warrior of the Light, if nothing else, had to be fearless and timeless. Because fear is knowledge, knowledge is memory, memory is time and time acts negatively. So, whoever has been consumed by fear, he must have been fighting in the past. So, he has little chance of successful end to his efforts, whatever those might be, since he is living in the present.