"I am going to walk with you through the Tradition of the Moon," said the Magus. And at once the wheat field around them became a gray desert, in which there was a temple with women all in white dancing before the temple's vast door. Brida and the Magus were watching this from high up on a dune, and she didn't know if the people could see her.
She felt the Magus's presence beside her and wanted to ask him what the vision meant, but she could not speak. He saw the fear in her eyes, and they returned to the circle of light in the wheat field.
"What was that?" she asked.
"A present from me to you. That is one of the eleven secret temples of the Tradition of the Moon. A gift of love and gratitude for the fact that you exist and because I have waited so long to find you."
"Take me with you," she said. "Show me how to walk through your world."
And together they traveled through time and space, through the two Traditions. Brida saw meadows full of flowers, animals she had only read about in books, mysterious castles and cities that seemed to float on clouds of light. The sky lit up as the Magus drew for her, above the wheat field, the sacred symbols of the Tradition. At one point, they appeared to be in the icy landscape of one of Earth's two poles, but it was not our planet: other smaller creatures, with long fingers and strange eyes, were working on a vast spaceship. Whenever she was about to say something to him, the images would vanish to be replaced by others. Brida understood with her woman's soul that the man by her side was trying to show her everything he had learned over the years, and that he must have been waiting all this time simply to present her with this gift. He could give himself to her now without fear, because she was his Soul Mate. She could travel with him through the Elysian Fields, where the enlightened souls live, and which are visited now and then by other souls still in search of enlightenment so that they can nourish themselves with hope.
She could not have said how much time had passed before she found herself back with that luminous being inside the circle she herself had drawn. She had known love before, but until that night love had also meant fear. That fear, however slight, was always a veil; you could see almost everything through it, but not the colors. And at that moment, with her Soul Mate there before her, she understood that love was a feeling completely bound up with color, like thousands of rainbows superimposed one on top of the other.
"How much I missed simply because I was afraid of missing it," she thought, gazing at those rainbows.
She was lying down, and the luminous being was on top of her, with a point of light above his left shoulder and filaments of light pouring forth from his head and his navel.
"I wanted to speak to you, but I couldn't," she said.
"That was because of the wine," he replied.
The pub, the wine, and the feeling of irritation were now but a distant memory to Brida.
"Thank you for the visions."
"They weren't visions," said the luminous being. "What you saw was the wisdom of the Earth and of a distant planet."
Brida didn't want to talk about that. She didn't want any lessons. She wanted only what she had experienced.
"Am I full of light, too?"
"Yes, just as I am. The same color, the same light, and the same beams of energy."
The color was golden now, and the waves of energy emerging from navel and head were a brilliant pale blue.
"I feel that we were lost and now are saved," said Brida.
"I'm tired. We should go back. I had a lot to drink, too."
Brida knew that somewhere there existed a world of pubs, wheat fields, and bus stations, but she didn't want to go back there; all she wanted was to stay in that field forever. She heard a distant voice making invocations while the light around her gradually faded, then vanished completely. An enormous moon lit up the sky, illuminating the countryside. They were naked and in each other's arms. And they felt neither cold nor shame.
The Magus asked Brida to close the ritual, since she had begun it. Brida pronounced the words she knew, and he helped where necessary. When the last formula had been spoken, he opened the magic circle. They got dressed and sat down on the ground.
"Let's leave this place," said Brida after a while. The Magus got up, and she followed. She didn't know what to say; she felt awkward, and so did he. They had confessed their love to each other, and now, like any other couple in those circumstances, they were embarrassed to look each other in the eye.
Then the Magus broke the silence.
"You must go back to Dublin. I know the number of a taxi firm."
Brida didn't know whether to feel disappointed or relieved. The feeling of joy was giving way to nausea and a throbbing head. She was sure that she would make very bad company.
"Fine," she said.
They turned and walked back to the village. He phoned for a taxi from a telephone booth. Then they sat on the curb, waiting for the cab to arrive.
"I want to thank you for tonight," she said.
He said nothing.