You find yourself in the presence of the most beautiful, majestic woman you have ever seen. This must be She, the Great Goddess that you have been told so much about. This is the Queen of Elfhame. You feel like you could stare at her forever. Yet, you’d swear that you had seen her somewhere before. You feel as though you want to stay here with her, forever. The longer you stare at her, the greater the feeling becomes...and then you start to feel strange. You start to realize that with the wonder of her beauty and the power of her majesty, comes a strange fear...you begin to see her face transform, before your eyes. Half of her face seems to be growing sickly, almost rotting, becoming skeletal. You blink your eyes in shock, and find that the frightening image has passed. Her face seems as regal and beautiful as it was before, but her great dark eyes still glimmer with an unseen, almost ominous mystery...and yet you can think of none whom you feel more drawn to. Kind or cruel, you feel drawn to her.

She sits upon a throne, above a throng of gathered people of all ages and varieties, of all races and classes…they dance and laugh and sing and some turn to look at you as you enter. With shock, you recognize some of them. You see relatives and friends that you lost back in Middle-Earth…and long dead people you had almost forgotten…. and some people whom you don’t know, but who react to you as if they had known you forever.

A hush falls over the assembly as the Great Queen speaks. She tells you:

“I am She, come forth from the Darkness which preceded all things.

I am She, the Darkness.

From the great mystery that filled the void of Old Night, I became aware of myself as a being, In the time of Formation. I knew of myself as a being….I Am…truly my name is “I Am”.

I Am the awareness of the Primal Matter. In the darkness, and from my womb, I brought forth the Nine Worlds. From my teats, the creation was sustained. From within me came forth the Giants and the Red Bent Ones, my children. From within myself I shaped a fair being of light. I brought him forth from within. For I am complete unto myself. He, the light, dwelled within me always, as it did, as it still does…but I brought him forth as a reflection of myself. This being I then desired…my Otherself, He was thought, motion, feeling, will, holiness…

He is the Great Father of creation….the impregnator, that which is potential…that key that unlocks the gate of my womb. His great mind derives from my awareness, as does the awareness of all. His great spirit, derives from me. I am his soul, as I am the soul of all.

With me, he fathered all of you, all of the beasts, and the green growing things…I was the waters that nourished the roots of him…the Father-Tree…and you sprang from acorns that he dropped into my watery womb.

He and his fair children, The Gods you worship… They brought order to the dark worlds by the power of naming…they rended the formless and brought them to form by naming them.

They sacrificed the primal matter of creation by naming, and created all you see with its own parts.

They drove forth the Giants, who fought them, to the fringes of the Earth.
They named the Worlds…
They named the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars
They named those that dwell below

They named Mankind…upon you the Father and the Shining Ones bestowed the knowledge of your soul, your divinity…they gave you thought, and motion…they gave you will, and appearance, and speech. The roots of you, however, are from here…Elfhame…the Source…and to here you must return.

And all of this I reign over, for I am the soul of it all…
all events…all beings…all thoughts….
all dreams.
I am the Queen of Every Hive.

The great motion of events since the end of Old Night, these are nothing more than Me, becoming aware of Myself.

I am the great spiral, the great serpent, She that gives the sweet apples of renewal to those who hunger….I follow the spiral, the ever-young flame of renewal and inspiration, the Corn of the Full Earth, the White Owl of cold and darkness….Three yet one, Nine-fold and yet three.

Where there is darkness, outside of the light of your awareness, there lie the ends of my fingers, the lashes of my eyes, the center of my timeless thoughts. I turn continuous...being and becoming, form and the bliss of formlessness, and yet am I aware, not within things, not beneath them, and not beyond, but as all of these things, and yet none of them. I see reality as myself, creation my afterthought, the numberless selves as Myself. Take my hands, the Seven Sisters, the Nine Maidens, keeper of what is Truth, what is real, what lasts. That is Us.

The Hidden Father, My consort…he is here with us now. You cannot see him, but he is here. When you go back to middle earth, you must journey into the Far Weald and visit those who keep the covenant of the Horns. There you will find him.

You will also find me in a cave near them…for I live there as a mortal woman, called Old Isobel. Approach me then, for I will know that you are coming.”

You start to feel like the room is fading, growing darker. You don’t want to leave her, but She smiles to you and says:

“You can’t leave me. Do you understand? We will never be apart. I Am the Owl on your shoulder.”

The scene fades faster. It is very dark. You can still just make out the shapes of the people gathered before the Great Queen. You look for the people that you remembered, but you can’t see them. However, you can still see the shape of one figure…and this person seems intent on getting your attention. You don’t recognize them, but this person seems to know you. You call out, and ask the person to reveal to you an identity, or a name. The person smiles and whispers back to you:

“I’m you…”

And then the scene fades completely