It further describes Her as follows: ''A caring and personal guide, Hecate show us the way to and from her Mysteries. She is a key-holder and light-bringer, protector and transitioner. Gatekeeper and guide. Images of Hecate often guarded the doorway to the inner sanctuary of the Mysteries.''

I've often wondered of the Wiccan pairing of 'the Lord and Lady' in their summonings. I've known for a few months of the Masculine aspects of Deity to which I most respond, an ancient Egyptian God of Thunder called Set. But I didn't know of the Feminine aspects. I'd wondered about Maat, but felt no external energies. As I 'become' Maat', sshe to me is archetype only. Others may sense differently, if they are drawn to Maat in a strong manner. I shall go with what I feel.

I'd given my own personal feminine divine archetype the name, HRH Illuminaria Hekate Aradia. A description of Hekate in a book we have of Greco-Roman lore rather impressed me with her power. I was further overjoyed when I learned the Romans also called Hekate Diana Lucifera, for all images of Hekate show her as The Light Bearer, 'Lucifer', or in the feminine 'Lucifera'. I, as Illuminaria, also strive to shine light into the darkness, transversing all possibilities to know truth. Not only that, the statuary site informs us ''Her torch of lunar fire, serpent of immortality and knife of midwifery imbued her with primal power, especially in Greek, Egyptian and Celtic cultures.'' If the Egyptians revered her, then she and Set sit well together in my pantheon. Their energies seem complementary, on the larger scale of how my inner Prince Charlie and Queen Illuminaria interact.

As Hekate is the one to reveal Mysteries, I think this is the Spirit which has been mysteriously influencing the selection of fortune cookie I receive at various intervals in my life. Skeptics may say I am the one seeing patterns where none exist, because this is the wont of humans to do so. I rather like to think instead, it is my divine aspects finding order in the chaos.

At any rate, there's been some most unusual and revelant fortune cookie messages through out my life.

I have nearly seven years of recorded fortune cookie messages now stored in cyber space. My very first recounting tells of that day's message, and then recalls a very memorable one which happened a few years before that.

The message of that day was a simple one, ''"He who hurries cannot walk with dignity." It spoke to me of the folly of trying to hurry, for ''the more I hurry, the behinder I seem to get.'' This message would do me well now, as it is the busy season again at work. Laura always used to tell me of the best way to go as fast as one can. Don't try to 'go as fast as you can'. Know that speed, and do a little slower than that. It's a mental game, but it enables one to keep clarity as one tests oneself thusly.

At that day, November 2, 1996, I added these thoughts:

''Also when you hurry, you can't hear the deeper Spirit working in things. Like a cat chasing its own tail, you don't realize you're only chasing yourself. There is a Buddhist saying which expresses this thought. "Do not hurry. All you can ever come to is yourself."

And one's self is best met slowly.''

My next recount is of a time when the Oracle showed her humorous side. I'd kept Laura and her son Anton waiting for nearly an hour when there was 'just one more mineral dealer I wanted to revisit at one of the gem and mineral shows in Tucson. Only I was quite indecisive. But I was certain I'd only been in his motel room AKA temporary shop fifteen minutes at most. A hungry Laura and Anton assured me otherwise.

Oh, how I laughed when I read:

Quite often the message is one of reassurement, as it was in December of that first journaling year:

The next recorded cookie message didn't occur until one year later, in December of 1997:

I was dissatisfied at the time, but I couldn't really discern what I 'really needed'. I chastised myself for greed.

May 1998, six months later, I got another message, this one reassuring:

And there were. We enjoyed a fascinating art show at a SciFi convention in town, and my imagination began becoming more vivid, as I invented a character for a vampire fantasy game. Several people we knew were beginning new adventures in their lives, and all looked rosy.

A few months later, in July of 1998, Julia's situation really improved, for she was just beginning a job more suited to her skills than the one she'd held before that as a security guard.

All three of the triad members that July day got happy messages. Julia's no doubt related to that new job:

Laura's message was certainly true of her:

Laura attracted people easily with her charismatic aura.

And my message hinted at a growth in my creative powers:

I did seek new outlets, as I did more work with colored pencil portraits shortly after that.

The next mention of the fortune cookie oracle didn't occur until a long while later, nearly a year and a half later in December of 1999.

I was told:

I reflected on that a bit, and reminisced concerning prior cookie messages, noticing a trend for the Mystery to reach me that way.

However, the next fortune cookie message was inexplicable to me at the time in December of 2000. But in retrospect, it gives a startling clarity.

At the time, it was mysterious: ''What makes an apple fall to the ground?''. Laura's mother was living next door to us then, along with her boyfriend, who had cancer. But we were optimistic about his health, for he seemed ''much like his old self'', without mental confusion and he was able to drive a car.

Was it a koan, pointing to ultimate truth, as I'd wondered at the time? It was, but not in the way I thought then. For sadly Glen, who we thought would beat cancer one more time, lost his battle with it on New Year's Eve.

So what makes an apple fall to the ground? When it is ready, when it is time, when its span of 'being in the tree' is over. Why? Because this is the way of things, the cycle of life. Seeds are sown, they bear fruit, the fruit gets eaten and the seeds of it return to earth. Glen 'fell off the tree of life' because it was his time for this in life's cycle.

The wisdom of the Oracle is understood now. But, as I've said before, quite often, there is no deep message, but a simple one of reassurement. Thus it was one year later, in December of 2001, when the triad was again facing the difficult task of pulling up roots and moving many miles west, to an entirely new city. The new home was small, and we had to 'downsize' our possessions, requiring difficult decisions. But I was assured:

I didn't have to wait so long for the next message, as it was only three months later, once we'd established ourselves in our new home. The oracle peaked my curiousity with:

It provoked my pondering. I like to think now that it's referring to certain recent epiphanies of mine. But I had so MANY dreams in my youth, and I keep each one, hoping they will all materialize!

I think I said it best back then:

''What were/are the dreams of my youth, and am I pointed there? It's good food for thought. Surely dreams have always seduced me, with the whisper whisper of their passions. Ah, 'greatness' in this or that, some such plum to feast on, DREAM about . . .

. . . such RICH food that, and yet what keeps it from being 'fatty' for the soul? All the work it will take to bring about such a thing, IF such a thing should happen. Or what else am I doing on a Sunday afternoon?''

I photographed my freckled wrist wearing the bracelet, and just one word showed, TRUTH. As I now am fairly certain, of no coincidence was that day's message:

All around us are those certain they've found Truth. Truth is a thing for which to never stop striving. Yet the moment we are most certain we've found it, we may lose it. Therefore, I bring to every thing I declare, ''I could be wrong. I could discover later some new missing piece.'' The integrity of rationality requires we demand this of ourselves. Yet, this harshness is difficult to maintain, and understanding of this allows us to pardon those make mistakes. Note, this does not say we don't point out the falsehood, however.

And here we are, full circle to today, nearly seven years later from the first record. Again, the Oracle reassures me:

I am thusly richly blessed and believe I enjoy life more than most. I have an ability most often, not always, to overlook the tedious humdrum and focus on the beautiful and common, as well as the beautiful and common. I enjoy life in all its sensory aspects, the beautiful sunset, the beautiful song, the comforting touch, the refreshing smell of fresh air after a rain, and, as any long time reader knows, the taste of good food! I thank the resources that be for this blessing.

And the Oracle, if an Energy which possesses consciousness, is aware of Julia's fragile condition, for her message reads:

Okay, the translations into English are a little rough. But the thought is there. I will take this as a good omen. For the present, I will leave to the skeptics their severity, and indulge my need for Faith.

Sunset in January 1999

The sky a few minutes later