The Glove of Zosimos
CHAPTER 142
The Glove of Zosimos
The story for the full moon time:
Aug 19 – Sep 1
MOON DETAILS
Full Moon
27°15′ Aquarius
Aug 19, 2024
2:25 PM EST
REFLECTION DATES
Feb 10 – 25, 2017
Aug 20 – Sep 6, 2021
Feb 5 – 22, 2022
Feb 9 – 23, 2024
11 MINUTE READ
You did as the queen commanded. You planted an acorn in the earth.
She promised that afterwards, your path would be revealed to you, that all would be clear. What she didn’t mention is that magic does not move in a straight line. It weaves through time and space, traveling in golden threads beneath the surface of the earth, flowing like the liquid metal that runs through the earth’s core and fills the veins of igneous rocks.
The earth’s gold was first forged in the belly of exploding stars. It fell to the earth in a rain of meteors billions of years ago and wasn’t discovered until people went digging in the dirt.
In the ancient Egyptian city of Panopolis, a man named Zosimos (meaning “survivor”) lifted bits of gold from the desert sand and watched as the sun flickered off its surface. Illuminated earth, he thought, before rushing back to his rooms, filled with beakers and brooms.
In one fell swoop, he cleared a long wooden table of every scrap of paper and every device — all the notes and tinkerings of the last thirty years of his life — and he started anew.
He rolled out a piece of crisp papyrus and lifted his pen — both crafted from reeds that had once grown tall along the banks of the Nile — and he let the gold flow. It flowed through the image of the rock, still flickering in his mind, and it flowed down his arm and out the pen and onto the page:
“As the sun is, so to speak, a flower of the fire and (simultaneously) the heavenly sun…so copper when it blooms — that is when it takes the color of gold, through purification — becomes a terrestrial sun, which is king of the earth, as the sun is king of heaven.”
And so began the first known alchemical manuscript.
Zosimos dedicated the rest of his life to his alchemical studies. He explored the nature of gold — that earthly stone through which he believed heaven shined. And if the dirt of the earth was capable of such magnificence, then so too, he believed, were we.
Without knowing a thing about the combustion of stars or the meteors that fell, he found himself looking up and gazing at the sky. He somehow knew — just knew — that what was shining there was the source of the stone’s radiance. A radiance he too desired.
He lifted his reed and wrote symbols for the stars in ink made from ground lampblack. The symbols covered the page in column after column of alchemical glyphs, and then, he rolled up the sheet, whispered over the page, and placed it in the fire. He let it burn, seemingly lost to the world forever.
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Sweat drips down your face as you remove your coat and carry it in your arms. The afternoon sun burns so hot and fast it melts the snow coating the forest floor.
You’ve been winding through the trees for nearly a month. Ever since a crow appeared and led you into the oak field forest.
What shall I call you? You asked the crow not too long ago, after having grown weary of simply calling it “bird.”
Andra, the crow answered, and the name floated into your mind through whatever telepathic connection seemed to exist between you. You opened your mouth to give it sound — Andra — and the bird blinked in recognition before soaring towards the tops of the trees.
It hopped from branch to branch, and you followed, had been following it now for weeks as the queen’s promise echoed in your mind: “Your path will be revealed to you.”
And every time the bird flapped its wings and guided you deeper into the woods, you felt her promise was true. But still, you were expecting more. Some great moment of clarity, some undeniable proof like the hand of God, reaching down to show you the way.
Little did you know that deep beneath your feet, a golden thread of magic was weaving. It was traveling from some far corner of the globe, occasionally getting tangled up in other wishes and destinies, but now, it was traveling straight.
Straight towards the oak field forest.
It arrives and senses your feet, walking above. It zooms forward — half a mile ahead — and there, in the middle of the endless expanse of oaks, the golden thread breaks through the surface of the earth. It sprouts in the form of hemlocks and flowers, and eight minutes later, when you meet its creation, you stop.
You take a deep breath.
Tall oaks surround you on three sides — as they have for weeks — but now, up ahead, you are facing something altogether different: a crossroads.
To your left, hemlocks line a red dirt path.
To your right, a field of wildflowers — purple, pink, and red — make way for the sky to shine. A vista of blue.
After a month in the shade, the blue sky beckons. You step towards it and Andra caws — an alarm blaring in your ear. You pause and realize, Flowers don’t provide any shelter, and soon, they will fade. But the hemlocks, they will remain — strong, secure, forever green.
You change direction and walk towards the trees. Their needles are soft against your skin as you step onto the red dirt path. Red — like the blood in your veins — thanks to the presence of iron.
Iron, like gold, was forged in the fiery furnace of stars before falling to the earth and weaving itself through your heart, your veins, and now, the dirt beneath your feet. According to the ancient alchemists, iron is one of the seven planetary metals. Long associated with the planet Mars, its alchemical symbol and the planet’s remain the same: a circle with an arrow pointing straight. ♂️
Straight ahead, you notice flecks of gold shining through the path. You kneel down and start to dig. Beads of sweat cover your arms as you implore your hands to dig deeper. You stop when you see an ivory cloth peeking through the iron-rich dirt. You pull it out and dust off the patches of red clinging to its surface.
You are holding an ivory glove. Its fibers so thin they’re almost translucent. Its texture is rough like the ancient scrolls you saw in museums as a kid, and on its surface, are faded black marks.
Andra begins cawing at your side, but you don’t hear a thing as your eyes widen and you slip the glove onto your left hand.
The tips of your fingers reach the tips of the cloth, and the glove grips your hand, magically squeezing every molecule of air out from the gaps between it and the glove. As the glove tightens around your hand, you fall back in the dirt, your eyes slam shut, Andra caws, and the glove begins to glow.
A voice booms through your mind as if chanting a spell:
A flower of fire
The heavenly sun
When copper blooms
And takes on the color of gold
It becomes a terrestrial sun.
And in your mind’s eye, you are back. Back in time. You are seeing your life from three years ago today — in August 2021. Events flash through pictures and words as you remember what happened then and you see the burning sun in the sky, a flower of fire — just like in February 2022.
Your eyes open, and you raise your left hand to your face. The glove is now a perfect fit. Its ancient fibers have woven into your skin, and the faded black marks that before were barely visible are now blazing blue. Glowing like the ultraviolet crown of the sun.
Andra reaches for the glove with her beak. She tries to pull it from your skin, but its enmeshed. The cuff of the glove no longer has an edge to pull. Where it stops, your forearm begins. The boundary between the two has blurred completely.
You wiggle your fingers and see that you can move your hand with ease. It feels no different than it has for all your life. You brush the red dirt from your clothes and look Andra in the eyes, silently asking her why she seems so upset.
Her answer sounds in your mind in her usual crackly cadence: You’ve agreed to something you don’t fully understand, and there’s no going back.
You return your gaze to the glove for further inspection. You run your right fingers down your left palm, and the glyphs along your life line shudder.
You lift a finger and press it firmly against one point on the life line — a glyph in the shape of a crown. It conjures a memory, taking you even farther back in time, to February 2017, and the booming voice returns:
When the moon was crowned by the asteroid Regina and the earth’s dark umbra eclipsed its disc, gold turned to black and Pluto took the Queen, conjunct in the sign of Capricorn.
You lift your finger and press down on another glyph — this one in the shape of an upside down horseshoe — and in your mind you see calendar pages flipping to August 2021, and you hear:
Persephone sat on the throne of destiny as Chiron healed your birthright, and you prepared for what’s to come.
You lift your finger again and your eyes become glued to yet another glyph. This one is farther down the line, shaped like two crescent moons framing a circle — a triple moon.
You press your finger to it and your mind travels through the tunnel of time, to a season you have yet to live, and the booming voice explains:
The harvest moon will rise as the eclipses begin, and Hecate joins forces with the sun. The magic of your past is returned to you — in October, as the moon’s made full and you and the sun become one.
You lift your finger and open your eyes to see that an eerie blue haze has permeated the air. The sun is setting in the grove of hemlocks and a full blue moon is rising in the sky.
Deep beneath your feet, all across the globe, golden threads of magic are weaving. Faster, faster now. They’re spiraling through the earth, carving invisible channels through the mantle and the crust, preparing to unleash a spell cast long ago.
Terrestrial sun!
You hear the words again — this time with eyes wide open — as you and Andra walk along the red dirt path. Evergreens obscure your view, but you can see a yellow light shining through the trees. After just a few minutes, you arrive at the edge of the trail and stop as a car rushes by. Its headlights illuminate a dark green sign on the side of the road. It’s hanging between two brick columns, each with a glowing lantern on top, and in gold, it reads:
welcome to
Hemlock Grove
est. 1734
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To be continued…
Key Takeaway
This Aquarius full blue moon time lasts through September 1. It’s considered blue because it is the third of four full moons in a season (i.e., summer). The last seasonal blue moon came with yet another Aquarius full moon — on August 22, 2021. It fell at almost the exact same place in the sky as this blue moon now.
This time is intricately woven with events from your past. Turn to the reflection dates, spanning from 2017 to now, to see what story is arching through these periods in your life. Compare your experiences with the messages from the glove (given in the story above) and know that all of this is connected to the Harvest Moon and the start of Eclipse Season on September 17.
YOUR POWER IS BEING RETURNED TO YOU.
YOUR POWER IS BEING RETURNED TO YOU.
YOUR POWER IS BEING RETURNED TO YOU.
IT IS COMING.
*Note for new readers: For all reflection dates, look at the exact date(s) and then also a few days before and after. Sometimes something significant falls just outside. I recommend turning to your calendar, camera roll, journal, IG feed, etc. to help you remember what you were experiencing. Whatever jumps out at you as important probably is. Stay tuned! You just may be surprised by how it becomes relevant.
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