Saga of a Soul

nce upon a time in a kingdom in the ancient Middle East, there was a beautiful little girl whose parents dedicated her to the temple. As was the custom, the fate of such girls was decided by the priests. Some were given for sacrifice, which was considered a great honor in that society, and some for other various services. Kara was an exceptionally beautiful girl, who attracted the attention of all who saw her. Many of the priests insisted that she would be a special gift to the gods and should therefore be given for sacrifice. However, the chief physician of the temple, Abba-Moreh, saw something more in her and differed strongly with that opinion. “Give her to me to train,” he said.

Knowing that Abba-Moreh had an uncanny ability to see into the inner character and gifts of people, the priests conceded. Thus Kara became Abba-Moreh’s protege. Under his tutelage she learned secrets of healing and proved herself to be as gifted as he had first thought. As time went on, he trusted her with more and more, bringing her into the fullness of the spiritual gifts that were born in her.

Also in the temple was a boy named Ori. He, too, shared a special connection with Abba-Moreh, but the most important was one only known to the two of them. For Abba-Moreh was a member of the brothers of sages of the mountains, a sect of mystics that few even knew of and even fewer ever saw. Ori was Abba-Moreh’s secret messenger, running between the mountains and the city. Abba-Moreh was capable of visiting the brothers in the mountains without ever physically leaving his rooms in the temple, but the brothers wanted to see Ori periodically. He, too, was a uniquely gifted child, so they used these occasions to gently introduce him into the world of their wisdoms.

Ori and Kara grew up in the temple with Abba-Moreh acting as a father to both of them. They played together in the temple, in the city, and as they grew older, in the countryside. They would go out to the fields, play among the trees, and swim in the streams. They would pick flowers and throw them at each other, or weave them into crowns to playfully place on each other’s head. Ori wove the flowers through Kara’s warm, brown hair, singing bits of a song that only he seemed to know. She turned her beaming face to him, then snuggled into his arms. She listened to the sound of his voice reverberating in his chest and hummed along with him. After a while she joined him in song, lilting the phrases in a way uniquely her own. Ori loved hearing her sing. Many a person had gasped at the clear beauty of her voice, and he was no less charmed.

One day, among the dignitaries of the new Egyptian ambassador’s entourage, a magician named On came to visit the temple, where he saw Kara singing and dancing in a sacred ceremony. Just like Abba-Moreh, he, too, could see her potential. Once he saw her, he knew he HAD to have her. Charming and handsome, On was extremely intriguing, and Kara was soon captivated. She spent more and more time with him everyday. He amused her with tricks such as throwing sticks into the air and turning them into flying birds. He showed her how to use her own gifts in ways that Abba-Moreh had never suggested, and she quickly realized a depth of her power greater than Abba-Moreh had allowed her to see.

On one occasion, On gave her a necklace with a large, luminous black stone. He kissed her passionately and told her that no distance would ever separate her from him. That made her feel secure and uneasy at the same time.

Developing her powers, Kara became more and more prominent in the temple, until she finally stepped into the position of high priestess. Abba-Moreh was very concerned about her methods and tried to convince her that she was treading a very dangerous path.

“Don’t you see?” she argued, “The king himself honors me. I can foretell anything he needs in order to make decisions, so he listens to whatever I tell him. Ori, we could essentially rule the country! Stay with me. We could have anything we want!”

“No. I can’t be a part of what you’re doing. I always loved hearing you sing, but now you use your voice to beguile. You’re probably the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, but you’ve used this to seduce men to do your bidding. I couldn’t believe it when I first realized these things! Kara, what happened? Can’t you see that it was On? Can’t you see his influence has changed you? Abba-Moreh taught you to heal, but you use the things you’ve learned to control people and destroy any who cross you. Do you know people are afraid of you, Kara? That’s not the way of a healer. Doesn’t it bother you that Abba-Moreh is so disappointed in you? Please, stop all this.”

Kara shook her head. “No, no!” she cried at him. “What a fool you are! You really can’t see that there are no limits to how far we could go?” She heaved a sigh and looked at him with hard determination. “I don’t need you.”

“I was afraid of that. Very well,” Abba-Moreh answered. “You can’t stay here any longer, Ori. Once she has a chance to really think about it, her anger will be fierce. In her mind, by not going along with her, you’ve betrayed her, and she’ll stop at nothing to destroy you. You have to go to the brothers in the mountains--never to return.” With the last phrase Abba-Moreh pointed his finger at him and waited for Ori to nod his agreement. He took Ori into his arms, and the two cried together. “I’ll miss you, my son. You are one of the rare pure souls.”

Ori left the city and went high into the mountains. He sat with the sages in the cave, and after he had learned all they could teach him, they sent him higher, to the next cave. Abba-Moreh had only known the sages of the first cave, but Ori was progressively sent higher and higher, to cave after cave, learning many truths too lofty for men of earth. The higher he went, the less dense his body became, until finally, as a being of sheer light, he passed from the very highest peak into the heavenly realms.

Abba-Moreh went to see Kara again. Where was the innocent, sweet girl that he had raised as his own daughter? Surely the love she had expressed to him all those years was still in her and would have to make a difference. Once he was in her presence, however, he realized that it was hopeless, too much had happened. He reminded her that it was he who had first taught her the skills she now misused so blatantly. Her response, however, was: “How dare you speak to me so? I am your high priestess!”

Abba-Moreh sat in his room with his head in his hands. How could things have gone so wrong? How could the girl he had loved so dearly have turned into this bitter woman of terror? Suddenly, a strange light filled the room. He looked up and saw the image of Ori bathed in light. “Abba-Moreh, you are favored and loved not only among the brothers of sages, but also in heaven for your honoring the One true Gd even in the temples of this country.

“Don’t fret. All is not lost. In each cave I asked the sages about Kara. We discussed the problem over and over. It was agreed in heaven that she has committed so many crimes that the debt is immense. You must know that this isn’t the first time her soul has chosen this path. Craving power has been the pattern of her downfall, but this has been the worst episode. Yet I pleaded for her, for how could I do anything else? It was decided that one day I will be permitted to return to her only if I agreed to be her test. She’ll have to love me selflessly—even if there are times so hard that it seems impossible. In this way she’ll be able to prove that she can love others selflessly and use her gifts as they were meant to be.”

At Abba-Moreh’s funeral pyre Kara remembered her early days in the temple with him. As the fires licked his feet, she thought of them walking bare on the marble floors of the temple. The fire enveloped his body, consuming the arms that had held her so many times—when she cried out at night with a bad dream, when she ran to him screaming and giggling, when she was sad or hurt, when she was happy—so, so many times. She remembered his gentle correction, his loving encouragement. Through her teary vision, she could see the twinkle in his eyes, a smile lighting up his whole face. She could hear his laughter, his voice. Oh, Abba-Moreh, how things had changed! But she knew her choices were irreversible, that she couldn’t turn back. She fingered the pendent On had given her.

Kara mused on her power over the king, so strong that if she so desired, she could even replace the queen. He loved seeing her dance and hearing her sing. Her predictions were faultlessly correct; her wisdom was shrewdly sound. Where as in the beginning she had always answered his summons, now he would hurriedly come to her any time she beckoned. What she didn’t count on was that the queen also knew all this, as did certain concerned advisors. Together they decided that Kara’s influence over the king had to be broken, but they realized there was only one way this would be possible.

Although On had long returned to Egypt, he was ever present with Kara. He appeared in the fires of her ceremonies and in her rooms. He visited her in her dreams and came to her in meditations—summoned and unsummoned. He warned her that something was amiss, but in her confidence, she ignored his words.

At a banquet for the royal court, Kara sat near the king. A special dish was served to her with compliments of the queen, who smiled and slightly bowed her head to her. Each bite was deceptively delicious. With the wine, Kara felt a bit dizzy and then somewhat drowsy. But she kept up her appearance, flirting with the king for all to see. As her vision blurred, she thought she saw Ori. For an instant, her face softened to its former innocence.

Kara entered the spirit world in a confused and sorrowful state. She was alone. Something was terribly wrong. She was powerless and afraid. Then Abba-Moreh appeared to her. What was happening? He looked at her with intensely sad eyes.

“You made many mistakes, Kara. Your choices have caused much destruction and suffering on the earth—more far-reaching than you could ever completely be aware. You must know that you will have to pay the price—regardless of how long it takes.”

“You have a lot of work to do, Kara... or you’ll be forever lost, forever damned—just as you damned so many so mercilessly. Oh, Kara, you will live many lifetimes and suffer a lot of pain to pay this horrible debt.”

“You’ve always been a princess, a queen, a priestess, or some other highly born person. Now you’re going to have to live a simple, humble life—one of pain and disgrace. You will be the scullery maid, the servant, the herdsman, the slave. You’ll live in rags and filth, knowing hunger, sickness, and cold. You’ll be poor, powerless, and seemingly without hope in the world. You’ll know all the horrors you inflicted on others, Kara.”

So Kara was born time after time into painful, low situations. Once in a while she was allowed a high birth, but even in those cases, she was ruled by others and suffered great humiliation. And into her life reappeared On as father, brother, husband, lover, master, inquisitor, executioner, every time vowing to himself that he MUST HAVE HER. He tempted her, tormented and tortured her, betrayed her, and killed her lifetime after lifetime.

In the meantime, Ori was also born into the world into such positions as king, prince, priest, scholar, doctor, teacher. He was born into many cultures and civilizations, but tended to come in a Jewish form, always honoring the One Gd on the earth. He waited for Kara, vaguely knowing somewhere deep in his soul that one day she would be allowed to return to him. He prayed for that elusive soul-mate that he never seemed to be blessed to encounter, and, because of her absence, could never truly feel loved in the world. Though he had higher births and more opportunities than she, he, too, suffered. However, in his case, there was some ancient memory speaking to him from some far place, prompting him to see his suffering in a broader way, to relate it to the suffering of the world. But still, there was something else, something more particular. When would his pain end?—and his aching soul yearned for the fulfillment of that definitive promise he couldn’t quite remember making.