Eros and Psyche by Camilla 10
A/N This chapter is essential, but it could be difficult, unless you like riddle solving …
Chapter 10 - The Gate
Bella
I was in Rome, after a swift and uneventful flight. Before leaving Yale, I had devoted the last hours to hunting, because I did not know how soon I would have another opportunity in Rome. If Carlisle had found it difficult to feed here three centuries ago, I was sure it was going to be even more difficult now. I doubted that flocks still crossed the streets, as it had been the case in his time and I did not fancy going to the zoo…
I checked into a good hotel near the station, the Exedra, and went to buy some books and guides about Rome in a nearby bookseller. On the bookshop entrance, a stack of newspapers reported on the state funerals of some important politician. Nothing could interest me less. I went back to the hotel. It was a beautiful evening and I did not like the idea of spending it in my room, so I went to the terrace on the 7th floor, where there was a bar and a swimming pool. Once there, I occupied a table with my books and my laptop, since the hotel was wired, and prepared to work.
For a while I looked at the city surrounding me, at the many cupolas and palaces, and the Roman ruins just below me in the square. Would I be able to find the answer I was seeking? Fake-sipping the drink I had ordered and slowly watering a plant at my side with it, I admired the fountain in the middle of Piazza Esedra, where sensuous naiads were being showered by a lusty triton. Their expression of mindless bliss was mesmerizing.
OK, time to work. I picked one book, a guide to the mysteries and secrets of Rome. I looked at the index and I froze. Could it be so simple? Well, sometimes the simpler thing is the better option. A chapter was dedicated to the "Porta Magica". Oh God, could it be …
I switched on the laptop and googled the name. Oh yes indeed, there was a Magic Gateway in Rome! At least it was a place to start. Some minutes after I found myself breathless and unmoving, a marble statue, as realization downed on me.
There could not be another Gate better than this. This MUST be the one I was looking for.
It went by different names also, the Hermetic Gate or the Alchemic Door. It originally led to the garden of the Marquis Massimiliano Palombara's Villa, built in the 17th century and now demolished. However, the gate remains were to be found inside a garden in the huge Piazza Vittorio Emanuele. It had been almost forgotten for a century, as an open air market filled the square and the relic was not accessible or even visible. Recently, however, the Municipality of Rome had moved the market somewhere else and created a garden in the square, so the gate was visible again.
There were a number of legends surrounding it, I read, many of them linked to the alchemists' dream of finding the philosopher's stone and fabricate gold from base metals. However, other legends spoke simply of the possibility to pass through the gate to another reality, just what I was looking for. The monument was surrounded by numerous symbols and inscriptions. If you recited them in just the right order, unfortunately unknown, and pronounced them perfectly, you could get through the gate, the legends said.
Many websites offered photos of the Hermetic Gate and the list of the inscriptions. They were in Latin with translations and explanations. I made a transcription of them in hopes that I could figure out the solution.
1. TRIA SUNT MIRABILIA DEUS ET HOMO MATER ET VIRGO TRINUS ET UNUS: Three are the wonders: God and man, mother and virgin, Trinity and unity. Oh well, this was a classical Christian invocation before anything started, a prayer to ensure a favorable outcome.
2. HORTI MAGICI INGRESSUM HESPERIUS CUSTODIT DRACO ET SINE ALCIDE COLCHICAS DELICIAS NON GUSTASSET JASON: The dragon of the West is keeping the gate to the magical garden, and, without Alcide (Heracles), Jason would never have enjoyed the delights of Colchis. Heracles represented willpower, needed for beginning the journey. I certainly had it.
3. QUANDO IN TUA DOMO NIGRI CORVI PARTURIENT ALBAS COLUMBAS TUNC VOCABERIS SAPIENS: When in your house black ravens will father white doves, you will be called a wise man. From black to white, from darkness to light. The symbol designed was the one for Saturn, representing the primal matter. Chaos. The chaos my life, my family's life had gotten into.
4. QUI SCIT CUMBURERE AQUA ET LAVARE IGNE FACIT DE TERRA COELUM ET DE COELO TERRAM PRETIOSAM: The one who knows how to burn with water and wash with fire will turn the earth into sky and the sky into a precious stone. Here there was the symbol of Mars, indicating the willingness to complete the task. Again, I was more than willing…
5. AZOT ET IGNIS DEALBANDO LATONAM VENIET SINE VESTE DIANA: Due to the purifying power of quicksilver and fire over matter, Diana will appear disrobed. The symbol was the one of the god Mercury (quicksilver), the gods' messenger. It meant clarity and the informed action. In this way Diana could be unveiled. This is complicated. I need to think more about it.
6. DIAMETER SPHERAE THAU CIRCULI CRUX ORBIS NON ORBIS PROSUNT: Uh, difficult, but yes, they are the Hermetic words of knowledge, saying that the sphere's diameter, the circle's thau, the orbit's cross are useless to the blind. The symbol was Jupiter, corresponding to the intellect, the nous, the full illumination of the mind. This is what I am striving for.
7. SI FECERIS VOLARE TERRAM SUPER CAPUT TUUM EIUS PENNIS AQUAS TORRENTUM CONVERTES IN PETRAM: If you made the earth fly above your head, you would change the torrent water into stone by using cock feathers. The symbol was Venus. Through love, what is unstable will become solid. This was the goddess' promise I had been given.
8. FILIUS NOSTER MORTUUS VIVT REX AB IGNE REDIT ET CONIUGO GAUDET OCCULTO: Our dead son is living, and will come back as the king of fire and the beneficiary of the occult wedding. Again this was something connected with a Christian prayer.
9. CENTRUM IN TRIGONO CENTRI: The center is in the triangle's center. The Holy Trinity and the Virgin. Another Christian invocation here.
10. EST OPUS OCCULTUM VERI SOPHI APERIRE TERRAM UT GERMINET SALUTEM PRO POPULO: This is the secret task of the wise man to open the earth in order to sow the people's prosperity. Oh yes, I had to go under the Earth, to the underworld, hadn't I?
11. SI SEDES NON IS/SI NON SEDES IS: It was a palindrome sentence, it could be read from right and from left. In one case it meant that if you sat you would not proceed, in the other that if you would not sit you would proceed.
Now, what was the right sequence for the inscriptions to be recited?
I realized I was attracting attention, an unattached, good looking young woman with her computer. In minutes, I feared, somebody was going to speak to me, offer me another drink, whatever. Just what I needed. To avoid any hindrance in my plans, I retreated to my room. There, I dedicated my attention to solving the puzzle in front of me.
It was a long night, but at dawn I had made progress. The things that could be accomplished when one had no need for sleep!
It seemed to me that the inscriptions followed two different sets of beliefs. Number 1, 8 and 9 belonged to Christianity. I didn't know if the Marquis Palombara had added them in order to appease the Church, or if he had thought them necessary for religious reasons, but in any case, I was convinced they were not useful to get to the ancient gods' world. So n. 1, 8 and 9 were not to be recited.
Now I had to put the rest in a logical order. It came to my mind that what I was doing mirrored symbolically what Psyche had done in her quest. One of her challenges had been to put a huge pile of different grains in order, species by species, and she had managed it with the help of magical ants. I had only my vampiric brain cells and they would have to do.
The first thing I had to affirm was my intention to do this. So I would take the palindrome, number 11, and recite only the second part, Si non sedes is. I would not stay seated, I would go.
The rest already seemed to be in a logical sequence: 2- Heracles, strength and willpower, 3-Saturn, the chaos that had to be put in order, 4-Mars, meaning that I would not falter; I would complete the task whatever the price. 5-Mercury, the god's messenger, allowing for the informed action that would unveil Diana…Hang on, there had been a messenger who had set me on my course… it had been my beloved, it had been Cougward. What the inscription told me was that, through fire, Diana could be unveiled, laid bare, defeated, that is. Now, the hunter goddess was sometimes confused with Hecate… Hell, I had probably made a mistake, and the right sequence started with number 5, describing the reason for my quest. Therefore, the sequence was 5, 11, 2, 3 and 4. OK, fine. What next?
Jupiter and Venus were the next ones, but I believed that I had to put Venus first, and then introduce the gods' father as the final deity to be invoked, the one that Venus wanted to appease and ask for help, since Hecate was too strong for her alone. Therefore, 7 and 6. Then I would skip 8 and 9, as they referred to Christianity, and 10 would follow.
I had it! Or, better, I hoped I had it. I was all my family could count on. I would recite the sentences in the following order: 5, 11, 2, 3, 4, 7, 6 and10 .
It was dawn and the sun was coming out, albeit I could see in the distance dark grey clouds gathering... I could do nothing outside until night, so I decided to enlarge my research about the inscriptions. What if I had misunderstood something?
And by some miracle I found that there had existed another inscription, now destroyed. I stopped breathing, for a while. What if I had missed it? Here it was, number 12!
12. VILLAE IANUA TRANANDO RECLUDENS IASON OBTINET LOCUPLES VELLUS MEDEAE The translation here was not given, damn it. However, I knew enough to figure it out. Opening the gate would make the adept reach his goal, in the same way Jason managed to find the Golden Fleece. This was the descent to the underworld, said the explanation, that will allow to conquer. Well, I was meant to go to the underworld to close the gate, wasn't I?
I hoped that I had everything now.
Night came, and now it was raining, a real blessing. When I got to Piazza Vittorio, I found it deserted. Previously, in the afternoon, I had asked directions to the receptionist and he had warned me that, despite the garden being fenced and closed at night, it could be inhabited by junkies and drunks. But the rain had chased everybody away, or sent them under the protection of the square arcades. I ran at vampire speed, to make sure I was practically invisible, and I leapt over the fence.
The garden was not enormous and I found the Hermetic Gate easily. I stood in front of it, taking calming breaths. I had to do this properly. With a high and clear voice I recited:
(5). Azot et ignis dealbando Latonam venit sin veste Diana. (11) Si non sedes is, (2) Horti magici ingressum hesperius custodit draco et sine Alcide colchicas delicias non gustasset Jason. (3) Quando in tua domo nigri corvi parturient albas columbas tunc vocaberis sapiens. (4) Qui scit comburere aqua et lavare igne facit de terra coelum et de coelo terram pretiosam. (7) Si feceris volare terram super caput tuum eius pennis aquas torrentum convertes in petram. (6) Diameter spherae thau circuli crux orbis non orbis prosunt. (10) Est opus occultum veru sophi aperire terram ut germinet salute pro populo, (12) Villae ianua tranando recludens Iason obtinet locuples vellus Medeae.
An instinct compelled me to do a final gesture. I touched the symbol of Venus on the right side of the Gate. So help me now, Goddess of love. Had I done it right? Would the gate open for me?
Chapter endnotes
Yes, la Porta Magica is still standing, I did not invent it…
It needed lot of reasoning to find the riddle's solution. Just to be safe, in case you happen to be in Piazza Vittorio in Rome, please don't recite the above…
And please, tell me what you think. Too boring, with all this Latin? Well, in the next chapters there will be some action, I promise…