Deoch Mass 7-13-2025 - Fresh Perspectives

 

It pleases me when Aislings take an interest in the past; in our race’s shared culture and history. We are, after all, in the twenty-sixth cycle since the dawn of Aisling kind. A lot of time has passed and countless Aislings have walked these lands during that time. I can imagine that coming to Temuair at this late age can be quite overwhelming with the weight of everything that has come before.

Oftentimes I hear advice given to new, inquisitive Aislings. They are told they must bury themselves in the libraries and read the works of those that have come before. It is only then that these new Sparks will be properly equipped to contribute their perspective to Temuair.

I can certainly agree that you should read the works of the most enlightened. Even us old Aislings have a deep respect for the wisest of those we walked alongside. So, by all means, read the treatises of the great Philosophers. Study the chronicles of the eminent Historians. And be enthralled by the imagination of our most skilled Storytellers. These Aislings have helped set the basis for continued debates and the stories we still tell to this day.

But I impress upon you not to allow appreciation to give way to worship and idolatry. Realize that just as you have, even the most enlightened Aislings were once stumbling around Mileth in peasant clothes, picking through the molds of the crypt. Understand that nobody is beyond reproach and not a single work in the library is unassailable. Just because something has been written in the past does not necessitate that it must determine the future.

Such rigidness is the domain of Gramail or perhaps Luathas. The creative spark shines brightest when possibilities are unshackled.

I tell you this: Do read the works of the past; allow them to enrich you, but do not slavishly attach yourself to every word that crosses your eyes. Even better, challenge accepted thinking. Shake the foundations of ‘accepted’ knowledge with the fresh perspective that you have coming into Temuair for the first time. Allow your fresh ideas and your fresh voice to rise above dusty tomes written centuries ago.

It is new ideas and novel perspectives that keeps Temuair from stagnation. This is why I still dream of Temuair, to see this very thing. I will look forward to the fresh thinking this generation here today brings to Temuair.

Deoch Mass 7-6-2025 - Learning from Failure

I count myself fortunate to have been blessed with both the inspiration and opportunity to make an impact on Temuair. It is important to remember that success in such things does not come easy or without hardship. Although we might try our best, we must accept that not every endeavor we embark on is going to be a triumph. Yes, there will be failures. And if you are lucky, spectacular failures. If you are wise, you will heed well the lessons that failure can teach you.

When something I worked hard to bring to life didn’t turn out how I hoped, I was naturally quite disappointed… not always at myself. My younger self was often misguided, prideful, and even arrogant at times. If I failed at something, I didn’t always look at myself first. Instead, I blamed outside factors and then continued on, forgoing the lessons that failure was so eager to teach. The recklessness of youth, perhaps.

Each time I encountered failure it became harder to blame others. Mistakes, lack of foresight, misunderstanding the people around me… I started to see my follies clearer every time they were repeated.

I remember perhaps my biggest failure...

I attempted to bring back the worship of Danaan and I wanted it to be a spectacle. My head was so full of lofty ideas that I completely lost sight of what mattered. To the casual observer, the gathering may have seemed a success. However, the reality was that I had badly misjudged so many factors and disappointed many people with the way I had approached everything. It was a devastating blow to the ego… perhaps one that I badly needed at the time.

After that it might have been easier to leave Temuair behind… and I did hesitate with that thought for a moment. But I did not. Instead, I opened myself to the lessons that such a debacle had earned me and I made myself better by confronting them. I persevered and I moved forward with a better understanding of myself.

In this journey to old age, I have tempered the brazen aspects of myself through much self-reflection on the mistakes of my past. My failures have made me humble and measured; they have given me a better understanding of my limitations and helped me refine what I truly want to accomplish in this dream.

If you continue to dream as long as I have, you will have many opportunities to leave your mark on this place. If there is any single piece of advice I could give, it is thus: Do well to accept your failures, learn from them. Take your newfound knowledge and grow yourself with it. For it is only when you are willing to accept change within yourself that you are able to bring change to Temuair in the way that only you can.

Deoch Mass 6-29-2025 - Far Away Times

 

Frequently I sit near the Undine Lake and think about far away times. The other day I was remembering when friends from the first guild I ever joined in Temuiar, Vaillaire Cura, held a gathering on the newly discovered Lynith Beach. My memory is of a picnic where we sat on the sand and celebrated our growing friendship over various fruits and plenty of spirits. Mieri, CoriLynn, Kamshisha, Jherek, Gido, and Lybrae; how fortunate I was to have so many cherished friends.

For those of us that are quite long in our days, the temptation to dwell in one’s mind can be especially pronounced. It can be comforting to live inside a moment in time recalled as ‘better’. One of the gifts of age is having a large amount of treasured memories to look back upon: memories of youth, adventure, and of course romance.

Perhaps having many positive memories can be a curse if one is struggling to find meaning in the present, but that is not to say that the past is something to be avoided. There can be many comforts drawn from a look backwards.

I like to think back during moments of reflection, when I’m struggling for inspiration, or when I need a reminder about the worth of life. Those far away times are reminders of happiness, friendship, and love. When I need them most, these old feelings support me still.

The people from the memory I imparted to you no longer dream of Temuair, most of them a very long time now. You might think that looking back makes me sad or wistful… and certainly it can…but precious memories like these have allowed me to endure here in Temuair for as long as I have. Without these people and the time we spent together, I would never have formed the ties to Temuair that I did. It is from these memories of far away times that I draw strength and that has allowed me to be with you here today.

For those of you here that are aged Dreamers, think back on your past here in Temuair. About the people you have met and the friendships you have made. Think about the very real feelings you have felt while dreaming in this place. This is the proper role of the past; as a teacher and a companion that reminds you to savor every moment.

For those of you new here to Temuair, I encourage you to live well. There may be a time far in the future that you’ll look back on today for the inspiration to continue on. Be sure that the memories you make now are up to that task of inspiring a future you.

Deoch Mass 6-22-2025 - The Legend of the Aisling Spark (redux)

Greetings to you all and especially the new Sparks that have awoken in our little dreamland of Temuair these past handful of moons. It is a delight to see so many new faces here in this Temple today.

For those that do not know me… my name is Landon, a minister of Deoch. I have held this regular mass at different points over the past 200 years. First as assistant to one of my cherished mentors Carnaugh and then to our Temple’s earliest High Priestess Morrigan. Now I hold regular mass whenever Deoch’s inspiration finds me. For a time, I will be holding this mass at this time every double moon; I would be glad to see all of you here in the future if you can make it.

Now…

Here in Deoch Temple, we have a sort of oral tradition passed down from the first dawning. Deoch, as you may be aware, helped create the Spark… that is, the catalyst that attaches to our former mundane selves and births us Aislings into this dream. Whenever I come back to hold a series of masses, I tell this part of our shared history in hopes that you, too, will carry forward this legend and impart it to others. It is with your help that we can keep this old tradition alive here in Deoch’s fellowship.

This is the Legend of the Aisling Spark.


~~~~


Deoch was a shifting, shapeless being born of the Darkness. He held incredible power, much more than that of a normal Dubhaimid creature that crawled the lands at the time. He was one of the favored of Chadul and was deployed not to decimate the enemy but to tempt them -- to lure them to the side of Darkness. If Deoch at the time was a mindless drone like his lesser brethren or not, we do not know for certain… but nevertheless, during his mission he happened upon something unexpected that would change his very nature forever.

For you see, one day Deoch encountered Danaan seemingly by chance. She was cloistered away; no allies tending Her. She was alone, vulnerable, and looked to be calmly working on something that was taking Her full attention. Being the powerful force of Darkness that he was, this would have made a tempting target for Deoch but he did not take the opportunity to attack his vulnerable foe. Something instead compelled him to watch in secret.

What he saw was Danaan pulling threads of Light out of thin air and weaving them into something which Deoch could not see from his vantage point, but still he remained motionless. Transfixed by the Goddess engrossed in Her task.

For days... months... years... time passed. This time changed Deoch; Chadul called to him many times. But he did not answer. He chose to forsake his servitude to his Dark Lord instead of pulling his gaze away from Danaan and the mysterious work She had occupied Herself with.

Over a century had passed since Deoch ignored the call of Chadul until one day Danaan disappeared, mysteriously and without warning. In the years leading up to this, Her work had started to become frantic as if She was working against a deadline. Deoch, either through habit or cautiousness, continued to wait. But Danaan did not return. He slowly emerged from his hiding place and stood before the creation Danaan had left behind. It was a Spark of Light. Delicate in its weaving yet strong but… it was incomplete. If something wasn’t done, it would soon wink out of existence. The work Danaan had done would unravel and be lost forever.

Deoch knew he couldn’t let this happen; for he had come to love Danaan and this Spark was all that remained of Her. Filled with sorrow at the disappearance of the Goddess he started to work, inspired by the dedication he had been witness to for so long. Although he wasn’t able to see the full picture of how She had been weaving this creation, the decades he had been watching her outside motions… he was certain he could at least approximate Her design.

For us, it would seem not much but a blink of an eye. But in that moment Deoch spent lifetimes completing Her work. A delicate blending of style and form – two very different creators with very different energies – an impossible union of Light and Darkness. When he stepped away, satisfied with what he had done, Deoch thought back on his time watching Danaan and felt contentment for the first time. A brilliant flash enveloped him, rebirthing Deoch as the God of Inspiration for his role in giving life to Danaan’s final work: The Aisling Spark.

Deoch Mass 1-24-2024 - The Darkness and the God of Terror

As a teacher of the college, I do not often stand here giving sermons on topics that may be better covered in a classroom. But it has recently come to my attention that some may not know of Danaan and Chadul; what they are, where they came from, and what they represent. 

Deoch has strong ties to both of these entities so a better understanding of them can lead to a better understanding of our patron as well.  

In this sermon, let us cover perhaps the simpler of the two…  Darkness and it’s God, Chadul.

The fifth element, Darkness, was harnessed in the 1703rd year of Danaan. It was not the first encounter with Darkness that history had recorded but it was the point that brought devastating understanding to this element’s capabilities in the hands of mortals.

You see, Darkness is not a traditional element.  Do not think of Darkness akin to the night. Think of it instead as the shadow that stalks in the night. Darkness is grown from the minds of all living beings; feeding itself on fear, hate, anger, and jealousy. In the earliest Aosda civilization and the golden age of Hy-Brasyl, Darkness existed only in Kadath because man was not conscious of such things and thus lived peacefully with one another and with nature as they knew no other way.

But even the peaceful and innocent can be foolish. Early mortals looked to Kadath and those that survived were often crazed; returning with poisoned minds. The desire to understand these corrupted led to an inevitable taint that slowly altered the minds of mortal men over many eras.

Just as people had discovered the ability to chain the basic elements nearly seven hundred years prior, shrewd magicians engaged in reprehensible study for centuries to understand this unique Darkness and how to command it.

Although this isn’t widely discussed, it has been proposed that the Darkness allowed itself to become chained for use in mortal magics as part of its desire to birth a corporeal form. Overconfident magicians were overwhelmed by the true nature of the Darkness. Dubhamid, the physical manifestation of the Darkness, devoured the magicians that called them forth along with thousands of inhabitants of many towns.

Perhaps it could have been contained there, but the foolish reign of kings eager for power continued to use the Darkness in their wars. The power was too tempting to resist.  

The more souls they reaped, the more powerful the Darkness became. The Underworld, the land of Terror and Darkness, was manifested for the first time to store these souls. No longer did the dead drift off peacefully at death, now souls were claimed by the Dubhamid to languish in their Underworld, their suffering bringing even greater strength.

It was a combination of this suffering of souls in the Underworld and the terror of the living that finally gave birth to Chadul, the new god of this Underworld.  The god of Darkness and Terror. Darkness spread with new found power and direction. 

It was then, finally, that the people turned to the worship of an old power for salvation. The power of the Light. Which we will cover next double-moon. 

Deoch Mass 1-10-2024 - A Geas

 

From time to time a star will fall from the heavens, an unusual occurrence but not altogether unheard of. Fallen stars are unfortunate little things. Left without the protection of the sky, they are destined to be devoured by denizens of the night that come out to hunt when Danaan's light dips beyond the horizon.  

In this particular case however, a fallen star was discovered in a farmer's field by a child drawn to its cries. Knowing nothing of the ways of the world or the dangers of her actions, she gathered the wayward star and took it home to sooth its sorrow. 

Carrying a satchel filled with soft fabrics fashioned around her shoulder, the child arrived at Glioca's temple the next day. I had been musing with the priest on duty, a very old and dear friend of mine, when our visitor announced her intentions without prompting. 

"Surly Glioca can return it to its place in the sky," she said to him with expectant, tear filled eyes.

My old friend smiled with a sage wisdom and turned to me, motioning toward the open satchel the child was presenting with arms stretched high. I shook my head, knowing the fate of the celestial was to expend its last light and fade from this plane -- unless twisted forces were drawn to absorb the power first. 

"My child," he said, only in a thick and nearly indecipherable accent, "This is a test given to you by Glioca. Care for this lost creature as if it were your own and it may yet find its way back to the sky when the night is brightest."

As if she understood she was given an important mission, the child marched off with a head full of purpose. I questioned my friend, cautioning him that he had sentenced the girl to a dangerous and impossible geas. His reply was simply, "The answer to the unthinkable is faith."

And so then it was that every day the child would stand atop her family's home with the star in her hands held aloft. Allowing it to soak in the light of the sun.  Then every night she would soothe its endless crying like an attentive parent of an infant until dawn broke on a new day. 

On the night of the full moon in the week of Glioca when the sky was ablaze with the shining of the moon, the child again arrived at the temple. On that holy evening, the congregation was waiting for my priest friend to speak. For his part he remained motionless perched against the temple statue until he saw the child walking down the aisle. Her skin had been seared unearthly crimson by the elements and her hair was torched white by exposure of constant light. 

As before, she approached opening her satchel and thrust it up to our attention. In contrast to the weak and pitiful being she had shown us before, the star shined bright and strong. It blazed with iridescent light that filled every corner of the temple. The priest nodded and then reached down, turning the child around to face the congregation. 

The light that had filled the temple started to bend and reflect toward a singular spot of the aisle. In that location an avatar of Glioca materialized. Flowing robes of otherworldly purple adorned the fair skinned, transcendent goddess of compassion. 

The younger Aislings in the temple not used to such omens supplicated themselves in reverence but the child stood steadfast. She took the star from its satchel and held it up toward the image of the goddess. Free of its shelter, the star's output was nearly blinding as it pulsed with renewed energy. 

Glioca's avatar stepped forward, taking the star in its hand with a gentle caress and a serene survey. With a flick of her wrist, the star shot up and through the temple ceiling accompanied by what I imagine must be the sound heard inside a bolt of lightning. 

Unaffected by the sound that sent the rest of us reeling, the child stood looking toward the last location of the star before it disappeared through the unharmed temple roof. Now without the celestial being, the residual light in the temple was starting to dissipate and with it Glioca's image was beginning to fade.  Looking down at the child, the avatar held out its hand; without hesitation the girl rushed forward and grabbed ahold of the goddess' waist with both arms. Glioca's image looked to my friend with appreciation. In a moment more both the girl and the goddess were gone.

By the accounts of the library's skywatchers, two stars appeared in the sky that night.  One that had been missing for many days and another never before witnessed star that appeared just beside it.

The acolytes the priest had tasked with protecting the homestead of the girl through this time reported seeing Glioca's avatar appear to the family outside the home. What the goddess said to them no one but them ever knew, but to this day the descendants of that family bring an offering to Glioca's temple every spring in the little girl's name. 

Deoch Mass 1-3-2024 - A New Path

 

We have begun a new cycle yet again. The 26th cycle since the dawn of Aisling kind. 

It's easy to look back at the end of a cycle and be exhausted. This is true even if you found yourself on a favorable path. For even a smooth path is dotted with stone and divot. But those that found themselves on a treacherous path the end of a cycle can be a crushing experience. There is a harsh self-infliction of blame that comes with grief and misery that can wash over you once again as a cycle closes itself out and you pause in its final moments to remember back the path you have walked.

It can be tempting to hide from this pain, but moments of reflection such as these can help
us shed those burdens we carry heavy on our shoulders. The arduous task of not only forgiving others but also ourselves begins with these moments of introspection.

Now that the calendar has turned us over into the blessed year of Glioca, what better time to look ahead for renewal?  For even in these old ages, there is always the chance to begin anew. A path to find your passion, your inspiration; that something that speaks only to you.  To rediscover oneself, breaking away of the thorn and thistle from a path too long walked in hardship. 

No matter what your situation, whatever sorrows have come before… know that the future holds the possibility of wonderment and happiness. I will pray that this cycle be the one that holds this for you. 

Let us pray, together, for the cycle ahead.