14
by Teri Parsley Starnes
Interview with a Mystery 16
by River
Design Your Becoming 18
by Canyon
Skippy Speaks


20
by Skippy
Lonely Hearts

21
by Cynthia Jones
Editors:

Elizabeth Anne Schaefer

Laurie
Dietrich
Layout and Design:
River
Cover Art:
Shauna Aura
Text-Only Version:
Teri Parsley Starnes
Web site:

Elizabeth Wilson Between the Worlds ~ September 2007
Page 3
By Cynthia Jones
Stepping into the Story
My challenge is this...
O
n Samhains Eve, the veil between
the worlds thins. On Samhains Eve,
Magic rides across the meadows of
our mortal lands. Mystery dances freely in
the moon shadows.
I can hear the rattle of bones as those
who have died dance, once again, on the
earth. Can you? Can you hear them? Are
they really there? No. And yes. I think, on
that night, those who have died dream of
us... and we can feel their dreams.
On that night, Life is so close to the
root that it touches those who have gone
on. It touches them and they remember.
Those who have died dream of life and
some of us... I, for one, can hear those
timeless bones as the dreamers enact their
memories. I can hear the rattle of bones
on Samhains Eve when the veil is thin, but
then they say that listening is my skill
and hearing is my gift.
Stitch, stitch, stitch... remember...
I listened to the needle as it parted the
weave. I listened to the thread as it
swished through the cloth. I listened to
the world as I sewed my green mantel,
my green, green cloth of healing hemmed
by stitches stitched in time... time held
sacred for communion with the world. I
listened. I heard.
I have heard that the world of magic
has different laws than our world. I have
heard that the world of magic speaks in a
different language. I heard words, but do I
know what those words really mean?
I heard Tam Lin say Every seven years
there is a sacri ce to keep the magic
alive, to keep the world of Faerie rich
and fruitful. Every seven years there is a
sacri ce. Dear Jennet, it is the seventh
year. It is the seventh year and this year, I
fear the sacri ce will be me. Hearing can
be a jagged gift; words can have edges
that rip silences peace. On Samhains
Eve... he said.
Sacri ce... to make sacred. The rst
trickle of understanding was my realization
that I had been willing to give my heart to
Tam Lin assuming that he would give his
heart to me. I was willing to give my days
to Tam Lin and I thought love meant that
he would also give his days to me.
But, what if... What if I could sacri ce
my heart... not for a heart, but so that
love would be sacred?
What if I were to listen, not so I could
be listened to but because, by listening
hearing is sacred?
What are you willing to give so that something other
than yourself can be fed?
What are you willing to give so that something larger
than yourself can be fed? Between the Worlds ~ September 2007
Page 4
by Cynthia Jones
Cynthia Jones founded Dianas Grove together with
Patricia Storm in 1994. Her unparalleled ability to
weave mythology and philosophy into a pattern for
community and personal development is what makes the
Mystery School program so unique. She will be re-telling
Jennet and Tam Lins story throughout 2007.
Why Mythology?
D
reams left too long in the place of
possibility die. They do. For each
of us, there is a time to do or know
that our not doing will cost a dream its
life. There is such a time as too late and
there is such a thing as no longer. If I had
met Jennet sooner, I might have listened
to some of my dreams that never made
it into this world and faded away in the
world of dreams. If I had known Jennet
sooner, I might have known what my
dreams wanted from me and how to bring
them into life. But that is my story and not
Jennets. For me, the most distressing part
of the prophecy is that it is true. Dreams
are sacri ced after seven years if no one
believes in them. The Mystery, we dont
know when seven years have passed in a
place that has no time.
The world goes on and actions not
taken lose their place in time. Can you
see it? An undeveloped talent fades into
never. An idea waits at the dance bound
by a promise you made six years ago. I am
busy, I tell myself. When the time is right,
I say. As soon as these more urgent and
pressing matters are put to rest, I will
write the book, bring passion to an idea,
add that other dimension to my work, take
time for.
Forget the bitterness of betrayal,
Jennet. Ignore the scars from risks taken.
This is about more than your fear that you
will discover you are once again wrong.
You see, this story is not about an illusive
lover, it is about bringing possibility into
reality. It is about action, risk and the
choices we make in the name of purpose,
of idealism.
And then, from Oenotheras side; she
sets it up. She lifts him up and offers
him to life. She sacri ces. She sacri ces
her lover to right relationship, to life, to
Jennet. Take him now, she pleads, take
him now before he drifts too far from fact
and esh to nd his way. You who dare to
dream, do more than dream.
What must you save, give life to,
bring into form? Do you really have more
important things to do? There is no promise
that when you say yes, the hard part is
over. It isnt. The rest of the story waits
to be told but it can only be told if you,
Jennet, are willing to say yes.
Every seven years there is a sacri ce to keep the magic alive, to keep the world of
Faerie rich and fruitful. Every seven years there is a sacri ce. Dear Jennet, it is the
seventh year. It is the seventh year and this year, I fear the sacri ce will be me.
Hearing can be a jagged gift; the edge of a word rips silences peace. Between the Worlds ~ September 2007
Page 5
Living the Story
by sisalfish
Who Am I?
The Self in Intentional
Community
T
his year the Mystery School community
is working with the myth of Tam Lin,
and the Celtic Cross tarot spread. Here
in September we come to the seventh card in
the spread, and the question Who do I see
myself to be?
It is interesting to answer that question
as a self who is a member of an intentional
community, like the one at Dianas Grove. I wasnt
familiar with the concept before I became a
Mystery. In my perception, intentional community
at the Grove is based on the assumption that
each of us comes to the community (whether in
person or online) with the intention of changing
- of becoming more of what we each want to
be. Rather than do that work alone, we have
chosen to do the work in community. Because
each of us in the community has impact, we
have intentional guidelines to help us keep that
impact, and our interactions, positive. We rely
on the Groves Cornerstones, and we emphasize
direct communication and respect for self and
others. In intentional community, the things I do
are done with intention as well kitchen clean-up
is done with the intention to serve, ritual is done
with the intention to connect with the elements,
the divine, and others in the community.
Who I am outside my intentional communities
that self, that sisal sh is not without its lessons
and surprises. But the sisal in communitythats
the one, I realize, that has the most to offer me.
I believe what the Grove teaches: that each
of us must give up just a bit of ourselves to exist
in community. When I rst read that suggestion
in the Groves guidebook, Myth, Magic and
Community, I didnt believe it. It didnt seem
right. Surely the community I was looking for
would accept me just as I was; surely I could do
the same for others, if the community was the
right community for me.
What Ive come to realize, though, is that any
community that completely accommodated me,
idiosyncrasies and all, would not be a community
that fostered change. Any community that thought
I was perfect would doom me to live and die just
as I am, never growing, or risking. Or changing.
So I began to accept that I could choose to
give up a little of myself to exist in and foster
community. Giving up a little of myself took a
lot of different forms. At rst, it meant something
as simple as letting someone else have the last
cup of coffee. It meant I sometimes responded to
what someone else said in a post to the Mystery
email lists, instead of launching off on my own
tangent. Small things, at rst; but my experience
In my perception, intentional
community at the Grove is based on
the assumption that each of us comes
to the community (whether in person
or online) with the intention of
changing - of becoming more of what
we each want to be. Between the Worlds ~ September 2007
Page 6
of being in community at Dianas Grove is that my
ante gets raised on a regular basis.
Year by year, giving up a little of myself
became more challenging. It meant letting go of
an idea I had (a really good idea, too) for the
ritual, to let others go a different way. It meant
participating in a discussion on politics without
demonizing one political party or the other (my
usual approach) so that I could, instead, help
foster an atmosphere of safety and inclusivity.
In time, giving up a little of myself asked
me to recognize the parts of myself I had to let go
of for once and for all the parts that acted out
of anger or envy. It meant choosing, each year, to
let a little more of me be chipped away.
What I didnt realize, when I agreed to give
up a little of myself to exist in community, was
the gift Id