Even when we think the Devil has gone forever, the Devil comes again (New Level, New Devil). The Devil always shows up for each step of our initiation, including our next business uplevel.
When the Devil unexpectedly came again, the girl had cried so much the stumps that were left to her limbs were again clean, and the Devil was once again thrown across the yard when he attempted to seize her.
The father and mother had aged 100 years through all of the stress. With the riches from the Devil, the father offered to keep his daughter in a castle to live amongst great wealth. But his daughter said she felt it more fitting to become a beggar girl, depending on the goodness of others for sustenance. So her parents bound her arms in clean gauze, and at daybreak she walked away from her life as she had known it.
She walked and walked then finally as she walked through the mist of the night, she came to a royal orchard where the moon put a gleam on the fruit that hung from the trees. She could not enter because the orchard was surrounded by a moat. The maiden, starving from hunger fell to her knees. A ghostly spirit in white appeared and shut the sluice gate so the moat was emptied.
As she walked amongst the pear trees she somehow knew that each perfect pear had been counted, numbered, and were being guarded. Never the less, a bough bent itself low so she could reach it. She put her lips to the golden skin and ate standing there in the moonlight.
The gardener recognized the magic of the spirit who guarded the Handless Maiden and did not interfere.
The next morning the King came to count his pears. When the gardener told him what had happened, the King said he would keep the night watch. That evening the King re-entered the garden with his magician who knew how to speak to spirits. The gardener (God the son, Jesus) the King (God the Father) and the magician (God the Holy Spirit) sat beneath a tree (The Tree of Life) and watched.
The maiden floated into the garden and supped on a pear. The magician came close enough to her to ask her a question. "Are you of this world or not of this world?" And the maiden answered, "I was once of this world, and yet I am not of this world." The King was delighted that she was not just a spirit and said he would care for her.
The story continues in my blog post: The Handless Maiden--Initiation #4 Finding Love In The Underworld
Are you of this world or not of this world?
I am both!