The next day, Bébinn said it was time to once again take up Aífe’s instruction. “For this lesson, we must walk to a very special hill at the north end of the island.”

Aífe no longer felt fear or reservation. She had mastered the elements and knew she could transcend the needs of her body. “Is this fearlessness a permanent state of mind?” she asked Bébinn. “Or will I forget when I am back on Ériu and dealing with life’s challenges once again?”

“You will always have these experiences as strength to draw upon if you but choose to remember them. They are a storehouse for the rest of your life. They will even stay in your memory when you are reborn in future lives. Your mind may not consciously remember, but your spirit will always know these things.”

Aífe was content, saying nothing more as they trekked their way through the woods to the hill in the north. When they reached it, Aífe saw that it was not really a hill but rather a large knob of stone that towered over the trees. They climbed its gentle slope easily and stood together at the summit, peering out in all directions. The view was magnificent.

“I can see the ocean on every side and the whole island spread around me like a carpet!” said Aífe, marveling. She saw the south beach where she had first landed, the Druid settlement with its earthen ramparts, and all the way up to the shore beyond the hill on which they stood, to the northern tip of the island. She had never had such a vantage point before—it was like standing over a three-dimensional map.

“This must be the way the gods see all of creation. They look at us creatures and hold us all in their sights. The vast sea and the waves around this island are like the great Ocean of Being—raw energy and power not yet manifested as form. The waves come into shore inexorably to create life and change,” said Aífe.

“How do you feel as you take in the entire island at once?” Bébinn asked.

“I feel great love and affection, not only for the people below but for every inch of the island: its plants, its trees, its animals, the invisible nature spirits, even the wind and the stones. It’s all equally sacred to me and equally beloved. I can feel the divine essence within everything I see.”

“Very good. You have reached the spiritual plane of divine love for all beings. This experience is called corann, because divine love rises from the crown of your head like an umbilicus to your higher self, which is actually connected to the higher self of all creatures, like the petals of a great flower.”

“Yes, it’s as if there is only one great Being with no separation. Now I understand that the divine exists like a seed within every speck of creation. I feel a divine union with all forms of life and existence: mineral, plant, animal, human, spirits, and gods. It is all One,” Aífe said, with wonder in her eyes.

Bébinn reached into her pocket and produced a beautiful piece of ametis for Aífe’s crane bag. It was filled with color and fire.

“You have no need of these baubles any more, but perhaps one day, when you are sorely tested, they will help to re-anchor these experiences in your mind.”

“Oh, Bébinn, these gifts from your hand are precious to me. I will never forget the lessons you have given me!” Her eyes filled with tears as she looked at Bébinn, who now appeared as a goddess, ineffably beautiful, with eyes that blazed love and a divine fire that illuminated her face.

“There is one more secret I must share with you on this sacred island that mimics all of creation.”

“There’s more?” Aífe was thunderstruck. How could there be more magic than the god-consciousness she had just experienced?

“Focus on your heart as I speak,” Bébinn said. “What do you see with your inner eye?”

Aífe turned her vision inward to her beating heart. “I see a white flower.”

“Tell me what it is doing.”

“It is slowly unfolding, one petal at a time, filling my body with light.”

“How do you feel as it does this?”

“Like a still pool under a cloudless sky on a high mountaintop, with no up or down, nothing to strive for, and nothing to do or say. I am at one with everything.”

“Excellent. This is the station called solus, where your physical form diffuses like a cloud. There is nothing beyond this. Once you are in this state, being is enough. It is a place of bliss, the abode of the Goddess Mother within all creation. There is no physical part of your body connected to this awareness, but there is a pool of energy called the Soul Star that rises above your head. Once your Soul Star is awakened, the world becomes endlessly beautiful and every second of life, no matter where you are, appears as a precious miracle, a gift. The world is your food, the ambrosia of the gods, and you are drunk with it.

“Within this feeling of bliss there is a great mystery. In the center of the great ocean of being is an island of nine gems. This island is your body and also all creation, where life rises and falls in and out of existence like the waves at your feet. You see the divine in everything and know all things are possible because you are supported by the divine within and without. You will never again push the waves because no matter what happens, you will know that the universe is unfolding as it should and that all things will come to you in their time.

“Never again will you accept spiritual intimidation from anyone. You know that you and they are equally divine, and if you but remember this, you will never again have need of fear or guilt. Your life will be devoted to cultivating joy and serenity in yourself and on behalf of others.

“As a symbol of this state of awareness and peace, I have one last gift for your crane bag.” Bébinn pulled out a spear of cristall glain, flawless, without blemish, and shot through with rainbows of refracted light.

“Use this stone to focus your will, as a tool of manifestation. Now that your Sight is pure, you will act on behalf of the highest good of all creation. I know this to be so.”

“What if I get off-track? It is so easy to be blissful here, where everything and everyone conspires to aid me. But I know that it won’t be easy to keep this inner peace when I leave the shores of this place.” Aífe was already thinking of the world beyond Innis nan Druidneach and of the potential challenges and distractions she would inevitably face there.

“You will know you have gone astray if you experience sadness, sickness, anger, fear, or grief, or if there is a breakdown of any of your bodily organs. When that happens, you must return to the state of innocence and see the world again through each of the states of awareness you felt here on the island, until you re-experience joyful union with all existence.”

“That is a lot to ask. I know that at some point I will become angry or sad,” Aífe said.

Bébinn smiled. “You are allowed to be angry for as long as a line can be drawn upon water. Then you must bless the divinity within whatever or whomever has pushed your patience.”

Aífe looked far below at the surface of the sea. She imagined a staff in her hand, etching a line through the silver blue, and saw how quickly the shifting water swallowed the mark. She smiled, looked at Bébinn, and said simply, “I understand.”

They came down from the hill to dismantle their little camp, looking forward to a hot bath and all of the comforts of the women’s house.