Lumiya in the garb of a slave
| My tale begins a very long time ago . . . here in Alexandria. My mother, Lumiya, was a Celtic woman who traveled west toward the lands of Egypt. Along the journey she was attacked by a band of slave traders and being a ravishing red-haired beauty, she was forced into slavery. The band reached Alexandria and brought Lumiya to the Pharaoh, expecting to fetch a pretty price for so rare a beauty... |
Lumiya in the garb of a slave |
| The traders were right of course, the Pharaoh desired her upon site - fiery red hair, mystical green eyes - no woman in Egypt looked like her. Over time, she won the heart of the Pharaoh and he made her one of his wives. She bore him his first child, a daughter with the same red hair and green eyes. Thus was I named for my eyes and the city I was born in. | |
| For the most part we were accepted by the people of Alexandria, by covering our hair with wigs in public we were able to keep from drawing attention to ourselves - that is, if not for the startling green eyes. Though Lumiya was not the Queen she was loved by all the people and I, her daughter, was as well. They brought life into a dead city and made the people experience joy again, but then . . . tragedy struck. |
 Jade after the burial with the amulet |
Lumiya became very ill, and in the end, no treatment that I tried could save her. She was buried in the land of the dead, near the great pyramids of Giza. Near the end of her days Lumiya told me of my homeland, where I had other relatives. She gave me an amulet that day, a large blood red garnet. Lumiya explained that it came from her homeland, a far away country named Ireland, where the land was cool and green - where water was so plentiful that it hung in the air as mist. She also told me about the amulet . . . |
| The Celtic tribes had been at war, and mother had been in the battlefields searching for her husband, Galaden. And she did find him - nearly dead, by an arrow that had pierced his lung. Though she tried everything in her power to save him, all was for naught and he died looking up at her face with words of love and remembrance on his lips. In her grief Lumiya lost all sense of time . . . until finally letting go of Galaden, she looked to heaven, tears streaming down her face, and prayed for death to take her. Suddenly a beautiful woman appeared before her . . . | |
| "I am the war goddess, Macha - the Mother of Life and Death. What do you seek here amoung the dead, child? There is no future for you here." Lumiya pleaded for Macha to take her life, that she might join Galaden on the other side...Macha refused. "You are yet young - and your purpose here on Earth has not yet been fulfilled. The gods have a plan that you must set into motion." |
| Taking my mother into her arms, Macha soothed her. "All is not lost child, you will bring the gatekeeper to our world, the guardian of all living things...may the gods bless you child, for the road ahead will be long and at times unpleasant. Take this," Macha handed her the blood red garnet. "It has many powers - you are not the one who will unlock them, but it will help you find your way. One day, when the time is right, you will give it to the living Goddess - the one who will become the Gatekeeper..." after this Macha disappeared, leaving Lumiya to comtemplate what she had been told. |
 Goddess Macha - Mother of Life and Death |
| Not knowing what to do...Lumiya looked down at the amulet...and Macha's face appeared in it and Lumiya remembered her words - "...it will help you find your way..." Praying to the gods for guidance, Lumiya stood and held the stone before her...and a beam of garnet colored light pointed the way she should follow - that is how she arrived in Egypt, she had followed the light until the day she had been captured by the slave traders. | |
| After telling me all of this, Lumiya gave me the amulet, "You are the gatekeeper, you are the living Goddess - take this and it will help you, you will be able to unlock its power." And with those words, I watched my mother slip away to the afterlife...to the journey of eternity...and my journey had only just begun . . . |