The Seasons

A friend of mine who knows I write about him called me at the crack of dawn to talk to me about a dream he had. He writes memoirs that get published and they do very well. I have given him the name of Ted. Anyhow, he told me that he has a worry that he is going to run out of material which is based on his life. This was the first he had mentioned this to me. Financially, he is fine. He has invested the money he has made and it looks good, but he likes to write and is looking for new fields. He had a wild dream last night he wanted to tell me about.

In his dream, he had a dream about a wizard that lived on a island of magical people who were governed by four queens. Each of the queens represented one of the seasons. The island was shielded from human beings as they did want to interact with them and if any of them washed up on their shores they returned them to their own lands. They kept their population down and if anything had trouble keeping the numbers high enough. They usually did not have crime as they could have anything they wanted and could do anything and none of them ever ventured beyond their borders as they disliked people.

Ted said that I could describe this dream as he was not interested in writing this up as a story but of the philosophy behind it. The wizard he met in his dream had told him a story about how one wizard had fallen in love with the Winter Queen who was without an escort although her three older sisters had escorts. He had tried so hard to win her hand but he also tried to change her so she would fit his needs. Because each of the queens were in their elements during their seasons each of the queens were very different from each other. The Winter Queen was solitary and loved her time alone. She was beautiful but in a cool way, with long white hair and crystal blue eyes, white clear skin and tall and slender. He wanted to be with her all of the time and for her to be warmer instead of the cool touch she had. If it was 40 degrees outside, she wore a light dress and even if it got close to freezing she felt comfortable although he had to wear a thick coat. The Winter Queen knew that it would never work out between them and spurned his attentions. He was heartbroken.

The wizard in the dream said people were drawn to certain seasons or times of the year. Ted said that he and I were drawn to early Autumn and that we were most excited at the beginning of things as we liked the beginning of the school year but like the beginning of the time of solitude of winter. Some people like the dead of winter where they could spend time with others in warm rooms visiting others waiting for the winter months to end while others yearned for the solitude of the long winters. Summers were for picnics, swimming and being with others and spring were for the beginning of life and for being in groups to planting of the fields, for children and the rearing of children. Autumn was for thinking and contemplating what was to come and enjoying the past of summer and spring and of the winter that was to happen.

In that land of wizards, different magical families were attracted to certain queens and served certain ones. The least popular one was the Winter Queen but she was still necessary for the other ones to exist.The one who wanted to be her lover wanted to change her because he thought, she looked like death. He wanted to change her into a season he was happier with. She was happy with herself and would not change.

Ted said we are all necessary and that some would view us as inferior or unattractive and profess love for us even as they are trying to change us to something we are not. It is a great mistake for any of us to change for someone else as we are all necessary for the balance of the world. He told his last 12 step group this philosophy but they did not seem to understand it. I asked him where he was. He said he was in Maine because he met someone who lived there. He was coming to Portland in a few days. He said it did not bother him that the group did not understand him. They told him that he was making his own life more complicated than it needed to be. There were only a few people there including his new friend. Ted explained that they were people of the summer and all they wanted to do was have a good time and thinking about the meaning of life just wasn't it. It was a perfect description of how his philosophy worked. They were not compatible.

He is thinking of writing fiction but under another name. He thinks his dream shows that he might be able to and I agree. He does not think he is ready as he has another book he is working on and it looks good. Still, he is thinking about what he wants to do. The dream shows he has an active imagination and that is all he needs at least as a start. I think his season philosophy shows a lot of promise too.