The Merlin Dialogues

By Ed Lewis

So much to know! Merlin pondered. Wisdom is the key to the shaman’s journey; healing the goal. Meaning, purpose, love, and relationship to earth and God—at some time in life, everyone is exposed to these. Shamans, however, must plumb their depths and ascend their heights as these are urgent and essential to the journey, like cardinal points on the compass.

So much danger! he realized. He had only these few nights to mentor them on how to protect themselves. At best, he had only a short time before they would return to their twenty-first century and preserve history as we know it. At worst, he had only a few nights before she found them. She who wanted to kill them to see that they never learned at all.

“The Merlin Dialogues, by Dr. Ed Lewis, brings to life the journey of five kids from the 21st century back to sometime in the 6th century. Traveling well off the road that led to Tintagel Castle ‘Deep in the woods…there was no relief from the knowledge that they were being hunted like prey.’

Sitting around a campfire after dark, Merlin announces, ‘The time has come to gift you with your shaman names.’ Shaman names represent ‘…who you now are, who you are to become in the future, and also identify your animal helpers.’

Seamless transitions between story teller and dialogue, weave a magical and mystical allegory, as cousins learn in the 6th century about themselves, each other, and more importantly: about life, love, being, and Being – as well as about Mother Earth and the perils of ever worsening climate damage.”

-Steve White

 CEO, multi-client communications business

Rockport, Maine

“Merlin [is] both enchanted and enchanting, a consciousness sorely wanted by our present culture. Merlin teaches the [kids] to come to trust their own intuitions so that their guide is inside, the place where Merlin lives. I’m sure that [young readers] will get the spirit of this through journeying through your story. At the end of the day, we are meant to make our own personal take on life, something that is therefore unique and all the more valuable for that.”

—Gareth Davies 

retired Church of Scotland minister, 

shamanic practitioner, and art therapist

Edinburgh, Scotland

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 4, 2024
• ISBN: 9781662454196

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The Merlin Dialogues

Ed Lewis

Copyright © 2024 Ed Lewis

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2024

ISBN 978-1-6624-5418-9 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-6624-5419-6 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Foreword

Pronunciation Guide

Introduction

An Ancient Prophecy

Snake Woman, a.k.a. the Lady

Merlin

Naming Ritual

But I Haven't Changed

Corvid Under the Sea

How to Know What to Do

Peregrine and the Monster

Fergus's Rocket Trap

Gray Wolf and the Jade People

Love

Summer Swan and the Mud Man

The Mountain

White Owl and the World Tree

Meaning

A Voice from the Dark

For Mikel, Ashur, Damon, Fergus, Krysta,

their parents, their grandmother,

and for all those who dream and wonder.

Shaman comes from an ancient word meaning to know. Hence, a shaman is one who knows.

Foreword

The Merlin Dialogues by Dr. Ed Lewis brings to life the journey of five kids from the twenty-first century back to sometime in the sixth century. As they traveled well off the road that led to Tintagel Castle deep in the woods, there was no relief from the knowledge that they were being hunted like prey.

Sitting around a campfire after dark, Merlin announces, The time has come to gift you with your shaman names. Shaman names represent who you are, who you are to become in the future, and also identifies your animal helper.

Seamless transitions between storyteller and dialogue weave a magical and mystical allegory as cousins learn in the sixth century about themselves, about one another, and more importantly, about life, love, being, and Being, as well as about Mother Earth and the perils of ever-worsening climate damage.

Steve White

CEO, multiclient communications business

Rockport, Maine

Pronunciation Guide

Introduction

The thundering sound of horses warned the unarmed kids of the approach of the merciless thugs sent to capture them for torture and slow painful death or, if that was not possible, to kill them. The kids hid themselves as best they could in the undergrowth not far from the road. They had lately become shamans, but without training or guidance, their powers were undeveloped. They were defenseless and vulnerable.

Bren, the half fairy who traveled with the kids on their exhausting flight from certain death, choked back the sickness and revulsion she felt as the crude, murderous riders came nearer. Bren knew of them. She had heard rumors of a group of marauding riders called Vipers. Their helmets were serpent-shaped and gave the appearance of a snake prepared to strike. They were vulgar, savage butchers sent by their leader, a shamaness who wished to kill the young shamans and her as well. Their aura of lust, selfish greed, and thirst for violence cast a depressing darkness on her fairy sensitivity

The Vipers must have detected something that made them stop to examine the road, thinking their victims were near. The group spread out to look in the grass and shrubs for a trail. Two of them rode toward the undergrowth where the kids were hiding.

As the two Vipers came closer, Bren heard one say, Our Lady said if we couldn't capture them we should kill them all.

Another said, Captives are too much trouble. We'll kill them, cut them into ribbons, and throw the pieces in the lake.

Yet another said, But we don't want to lose our reward. We can save their heads to prove to our Lady that we have killed them. There was crude laughter.

Slashing the undergrowth with their swords, the Vipers were about to reach the frightened kids. Suddenly, one rider said, Nothing here. Let's go. Unexpectedly, the riders turned, regrouped on the road, and disappeared around a bend. The frightened band of kids turned to each other with expressions of relief. Looking behind them, they saw the reason the Vipers thought there was nothing there: Merlin.

An Ancient Prophecy

An ancient prophecy foretold a critical time of peril when murder and chaos threatened the world. It foretold only when aid from the future combines with the strength of the present will order be preserved. Merlin was sent to find that future aid and bring it back to defeat the rising evil that threatened the land. Merlin found unlikely aid—five kids in the future—and transported them back to the sixth century. With luck, they would join with the power of the sixth-century present—perhaps a young lad destined to become both their ancestor and a powerful white wizard—to preserve the future. These were the young ones whose blood the Vipers' swords were thirsting.

But Merlin's job was not complete. He had to teach these kids their power and responsibilities and prepare them for the spiritual warfare they would experience. To do so, Merlin sent them on various adventures, which are recounted elsewhere. Through these adventures, they had grown in wisdom and strength. These culminated in the experience of the Holy Grail.

Now newly matured into novice shamans, they lack awareness of the power, opportunities, and responsibilities of the shaman. In only a few nights, huddled around a fire deep in the woods, Merlin must introduce them to their new lives as shamans. Hence, we begin the strange story of the magical education of five young shamans. The following episodes are introductions to shamanism and lessons for spirit and soul.

Who were these kids? All come from one extended family: Mikel, Damon, Krysta, Fergus, and Ashur. The first three are siblings; the others are their cousins. They suddenly find themselves living what could be either a horrible nightmare or the most incredible dream imaginable. They had been transported from their comfortable homes through time into the violent world of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table in the Dark Ages.

When we join them, they have found a lad named Breuse, only a few years older than they would be back in the twenty-first century. They believe he must be the future white magus, their ancestor, and the one they are brought to protect. They are attempting to take him as well as themselves to the safety of Tintagel (tin-TAJ-jul) Castle where King Arthur and his knights are residing. Accompanying the young shamans are Breuse, the lad; Bren, a beautiful half fairy; Cyr (rhymes with near), a talking basset hound; and Merlin. The Merlin Dialogues take place around evening campfires as they attempt to reach the safety of Tintagel Castle.

They are on their journeys not only to Tintagel Castle but also to shamanic and personal maturity. We join them during an intense time of mentoring. In only a few short nights, Merlin's interventions and discussions must help them learn who they truly are, their place in the world, and the goals worthy of shamans—healers, those who know. He must help them learn their new identities, their purpose, and their power before she finds them—she who wished them to die.

Snake Woman, a.k.a. the Lady

In a castle not far from the road to Tintagel, an obscure figure in a large round tower room lit by a single candle. She sat on her high-backed throne stolen from some petty kingdom in the north. The darkness of the night held no comparison to the dark thoughts running through her demented mind. She sat looking in the mirror, admiring her face, also stolen, rubbing the coils of her favorite snake, which wrapped itself around her shoulders, warming itself with her body heat. She was enjoying the screams and pleas echoing through the castle's stone walls from the man she was having tortured in the dungeon below. Every scream, every moan, and every cry for relief was an affirmation of her power to all the others in the castle who could hear. As the screams became weaker, she felt stronger. He had failed her in some nearly meaningless task, and she needed to remind the others of the cost of failure. She turned her mind to thinking of some appropriate punishment for her mercenaries, her Vipers, as she called them. She had sent her mounted Vipers—mere hirelings—to find that group of young shamans she was convinced was on the way to Arthur's court at Tintagel. She planned to see to it they did not arrive.

Her sources—that is, her spies—told her there were five kids of varying ages who had somehow appeared and had power of their own. They must die. She sent her Vipers to find and kill them if they must but preferably bring them to her for her amusement. She knew in the way those immersed in magical power know, these kids possessed power—not enough, but power. Her intuitive sense let her know they had become shamans. But a young inexperiencced sshaman will be no challenge for me. Even five of them together will be no match for my powerss. Sstill, even if I did not hate them, they are a nuissancce. The Lady hated nuisances and did not tolerate them when it was in her power to eliminate them. It often was.

Anyone unfortunate enough to hear the dark thoughts echoing through her head would notice the serpentine slurring in her speech—worse when she actually spoke it. But of course, they would not mention it. To do so would have been to join the slowly dying man in the room downstairs. She could speak without slurring, but doing so was like a child walking on the sidewalk without stepping on the cracks. Speaking took some modest effort, so she indulged herself as she did in everything else.

Cursse them! Cursse all thosse repulssive kidss, those dissgussting young sshhamanss! the Lady thought (if lady was an appropriate title for one so contemptibly evil, so filled with hate, and so obsessed with herself).

Kidss! Mosst are jusst kidss, although ssome are clossing in on maturity. Yet somehow they are sshhamanss—young sshhamanss! They are much too powerful for their agess. There iss ssomething unussual about them. Wass it the propheccy? she wondered. They have an aura of sstrength—not sstrength to match mine, of course, she thought with smug confidence. No, they are no match for me, but they are for the feebleminded like my riders. They have managed to sshield themsselvess. The snake slept soundly, only occasionally adjusting to warm itself uniformly.

I ssent my Viperss to find them. I sshould have known thosse sstupid riderss would fail me. Incompetent foolss that they are! Little more than a gang of hirelingss. She thought for a moment about her disgust for the general state of humankind. My Viperss, the Lady thought. Repulssive sscum! Dissgussting ratss barely worth the bread and gruel it takess to feed them even though occassionally usseful for their joy in brutality and their lack of remorsse. They are ssimpleminded, barely think of anything but beer, brawling, ssnaggle-toothed maidenss, and their sstomachss! They are not really good fighterss, but ass the saying goess, ‘A living dog iss better than a dead lion.' They are little better than a pack of dogss, but ssometimess dogss can be usseful—for example, for finding people who are losst or hiding. But not thiss time.

She breathed deeply and savored her feeling of power over men, events, time, and even death. The thought of the kids—new shamans—even if she hated them, did not threaten her. They were more like small animals to be hunted. She did not feel they had the power to challenge her or get in the way of her plans. Still, they were at least a nuisance, something to be swatted like the flies that buzz around a corpse.

She was troubled, however, by the prophecy of the young lad who some believed would be a great magus for good. He had been born shortly before Arthur had become king. She had tried to kill the child as an infant, but her plans were foiled. Then the council of elders had cast a concealment spell to protect him, and she had not been able to find him. It had been about twenty years. Rumor had it he had traveled to the east. Still, she waited. The spell would be ending soon. When it did, she would become aware of him—her magical sensitivity would let her know the spell was ended. She would find him.

But if he sshould join up with thesse wretched kidss, their aurass might hide hiss, make hiss undetectable, she thought. If they combined their power, could they represent a threat? she wondered. They have to be eliminated. But that sshouldn't be a problem. If he were with them, my Vipers will capture or kill him when they kill the otherss. One thing my Viperss are good at—killing. They do it well.

My Viperss, she thought again of her contempt for them. It'ss a good thing beer iss cheap. Ass long ass their ssickeningly fat belliess are full of bread and beer, they are content. Hardly better than wormss, they are. Combine that with the dessperate sserving maidss who pour their beer and cater to their lessser insstinctss, and they are eassily manipulated and bent to my will. Once again, she listened to the screams coming from below. And of coursse, there iss the element of fear. It takes ssoo little to have them bow and sscrape to do my wisshess.

The problem iss that they are ssoo amazzingly sstupid. I told them to go find a bumbling group of young sshamanss. I told them they would be headed for Tintagel. The sshamanss think they will be ssafe there. My men may be good at brawling, killing, and drinking, but they are poor at ussing their brainss—if they even have them! I don't think they could find brainss if they were trapped in a bag tied around their waisstss!

The Lady sighed and held the snake's face to hers to admire it. Why musst we be ssurrounded by ssuch incompetent foolss? she asked the pitiless viper. I guesss I will have to go find them. I had hoped to wait here, have them captured, and brought to me. I sso disslike dirtying mysself with the mud and filth of thesse horrible dirt roadss, not to mention the ssmell of my accompanying unwasshed riderss! But if they are to be found, it looks ass if it will be I who will find them. I ssupposse the thingss I sshall do to them if they aren't killed will be worth the effort. Torture is so much fun. I sso enjoy ussing my powerss to make otherss ssuffer. I so enjoy it when they beg, and I love to be there when they take their lasst breathss! I enjoy death sso much becausse the unfortunate wretchess are sso unresservedly in my power. I love to taunt them ass they die.

Ass for death, I can laugh at it. While everyone elsse thinkss that the lasst thing they will ssee in thiss life iss the cold sstare of death, I know how to avoid that. All I have to do iss—she paused—iss make the sswitch, and then only infrequently. He reachess for my neck with his iccy fingerss, but he grabss the neck of another insstead. Ah, the sswitch, she thought with smug satisfaction. I wonder if death will ever tire of following me. He hass been frustrated sso often. He really sshould purssue more vulnerable victimss.

Her dark mind returned to the young shamans. She found something troubled her. My sshamanic awareness ass well ass my sspiess tell me that there iss something afoot here that musst be sstopped. Yet my riderss can't find them!

The more she thought, the angrier she became. It iss not only that my riderss are incompetent. No, incompetencce would be too good a desscription of them. No, they are quarreling, low-minded idiots! Thiss group of sshamanss musst be found and eradicated like ratss, and I musst be the one who findss them. Only ssomeone with powers ssuch ass mine can find them when they are hiding. The only other… she hesitated. Would be Merlin. Merlin, she thought, but he iss reported to be far away.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a cringing servant who knocked on the door of her chamber. Yess, said the Lady.

The servant said meekly, M'lady, your carriage is ready.

Her snakelike speech became even worse as she was distracted by the interruption of her thoughts. Sso I musst be off, she said to the whimpering young servant. Bring me my bootss and my cloak, and be quick, or the man downssttairss may have company.

The frightened young girl moved quickly.

Removing the snake from her shoulders, the Lady placed it on a blanket that covered a warmed hearth rock. I sshall return, my lovely. Then she thought to herself, Then I sshall think of a reward for my riderss. They sshall feel my wrath at having made me take to the night to do what they failed to do. For now, however, I will usse them. Their brutality will be usseful. I will find thosse kidss. With the aid of my riderss, I will capture them. I will torture them. I will ssee to it that they never casst their eyess on Tintagel.

Merlin

Even if the evenings were frightening, there was also something wonderful about them. This was the presence of Merlin. For all the strange tales that grew around him, he proved a very misunderstood person by history and legend. The kids found him a very kind and thoughtful person who had come to take a great interest in them not only because of their role in the unfolding of history but also because, well, they were bright, thoughtful, and caring. He simply liked them. It would perhaps be better to say he had become absolutely committed to them. Maybe it would be even better to say he loved them, but the practice of love (as opposed to understanding it) was complicated for Merlin.

These five kids had become something like his own children would have been to him if he had had any. So yes, they had his undivided attention and access to the wisdom he had gained through his many years of riding the shimmering crests of the waves washing through the permeability of the Veil, that curtain of perception dividing unconscious baggage and everyday experiences from higher awareness and fuller being. So