- THROUGH GATES OF HORN -
by
Bob Webber
Edgar Allen Poe once said, "All that we see or seem Is but a dream within a dream." In a manner of speaking, that is the situation in which I have existed for some six years. The usual run of dreams may be considered a phantasmagoria - the subconscious workings of an over-tired mind - but how can one explain dreams with continuity?
Imagine seeing a movie, based in a land you have never heard of, a land endowed with a seemingly historic culture, with Arts and sciences related to the ones with which you are familiar, yet not the same, combined into patterns that are strangely different. Imagine then seeing this land night after night, the same setting, the same city, the same faces about you. In time that city would grow to be your second home, that life as much a part of you as your normal waking life. It would be only normal if you would wonder which was reality and which was dream - or if all were but "a dream within a dream."
No claims are made as to the occult origin of these dreams. I do not know. They have existed for six years and are still continuing. A small part of the factual material accumulated in this period of time is here presented, in the hope that it may prove interesting to readers of the Round Robin. No conjectures have been drawn. However, where similarities are apparent between the dreams and facts recorded by history in its generally accepted sense, the analogies have been pointed out.
In these dreams one personality is utilized as the "Seeing Eye" through which I view the alien scenes. I assume not only the body of Agnor, son of Varulo, but I think his thoughts and feel his emotions.
Due to the fact that speech is seldom used in the dream, telepathy being the usual mode of communication, it is rather difficult to translate into English the mental impressions received. The city wherein I reside as Agnor is named Ictal, located in one of the Ten Kingdoms which comprise a great maritime Empire. The exact connotation of the name of the district in which Ictal is located is "Land Protected by Maia", or "Land Dedicated to Maia," Maia being one of the seven Elder Gods worshipped in the Empire. The only reference I have been able to find in recorded history to a land or district named Maia comes from a reference by A. Hyatt Verrill to Spaniards who were cast away on the shores of a district named Maia; however, the similarity extends no further than the names of the districts. (There is, of course, a verbal similarity to the word Maya.)
Ictal is the largest city and cultural center of this small district. It is not a large city by modern standards, but it is important in the general scheme of things in the Ten Kingdoms. The history of Ictal relates that the city was one of the first colonies founded by the Mother Islands, and the general lay-out of the city and its architectural style seem to indicate that this is true. The older portion [7] of the city lies across the Ander River from what is now the more important, the business and fashionable residence sections of Ictal. Slums have crept into the older portion, though it bears many evidences of former beauty - wide streets, houses that must have been mansions and temples whose very Gods have now migrated to newer and more elaborate temples on the right bank of the Ander. Here one finds a city of gardens and beautiful homes, centering about a plateau on which are erected temples to the Holy Trinity, as well as the Sacred Pyramid, the site of many religious ceremonies.
The viceroyship of Ictal is an honorable position. Maia, like the other kingdoms, is ruled by a direct representative of the Mother Islands. While he does not bear the title of King, he rules in absolute power and holds a court of truly regal splendor. However, Agnor, as the son of a merchant, sees little of this glory, other than occasional glimpses of the nobles passing through the streets. His activities are confined to his father's warehouse, located on the Marketplace of the Slaves.
In order that a general picture of life in Ictal may be gleaned from these few notes, it is necessary that we touch briefly on the religion of these people. To the masses the religion of Ictal may not seem to be highly elevating, and they do not seem to take it very seriously. However, its basic doctrines are very similar to those basic philosophies which underlie all great religions of our day. There are seven gods worshipped as the Elder Gods, whose origin the analytical observer might trace to the broad principles of Nature. Donai the chief God of the pantheon, is now generally regarded as the God of Good and of Honour, but would seem to have been originally the God of the Sky, very like to Zeus or Odin, some of whose attributes are similar to his own. The Sun is particularly sacred to him, and he is worshipped as the Giver of Light and the Preserver of Life.
His daughter Maia is given the function of protecting fertility, and is known as the Mother of Earth and Sea. The genealogies of these Gods are quite as confused as those of the Greek and Roman deities, and Maia is regarded by some as the Mother, and by some as the Sister of Itzal, the third God of the Holy Trinity. Itzal is worshipped as the God of eternal existence of the Life Principle, and is very similar to Osiris, there being a re birth ceremony in the spring which somewhat resembles our Easter festival.
It is very difficult to give a picture of life in Ictal in a few words and yet draw a complete representation. This other life of mine is quite as full of details as life in America is. Imagine trying to write a resume of the life and civilization of the United States in a few sentences. At times I become so wrapped up in Ictal and its daily life, that I wonder whether I dream of Agnor, or whether I myself am not the phantom, who exists only in the nightly wanderings of a youth in some far-off city. What else can a person feel who is an exile in thousands of miles of space and thousands of years of time?
----- -----
Mr Webber's experiences constitute the most remarkable account of the 'continuity dream' we have ever come across. But we hold that there is more to them than dream, and that Gates of Horn (thru which true dreams issued) is the right title for them. We hope Mr Webber will give us further articles. Address him in care of the RR editor, if you wish to write.