Six Vignettes

(These vignettes will appear in my upcoming collection, Demons of the Desert and Other Curious Chronicles. If you like it, why not check out one of my other books? https://www.amazon.com/stores/Paul-Leone/author/B00D48S39K)

The Wedding at Bethsaida

In those days, it came to pass that Admon, brother of Yaron of the Sanhedrin, was to be wed to Mara of Bethsaida. And Admon invited his brother's friend Ya'el of Bethany to attend, and so she came. And the happy days of the wedding feast made her think of another wedding long ago, a wedding in Cana where Tadai and Shoshana were united, and the wine was blessedly beyond reproach during all the days of the feast. And when it was done, Ya'el went out of the city and down into the Valley of Elah, and there she abided alone for a time in sorrowful prayer. For her heart was torn between the oaths she had given to her master, a mighty lord of Sheol, and the calling of the Great Teacher Jesus of Nazareth. And in the end, she went back to the city, and did what she could to fulfil her oaths and honor her calling. And she did great works, although few even of the learned knew it.

From the Testamentum Victoriae

“And there was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with Samael, and Samael fought and his angels. And they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in Heaven. And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent Samael, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world; and he was cast unto the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Whilst the hosts of Michael are forever bound to God’s will, by their choice, and the hosts of Samael bound to God’s wrath, likewise by their choice, the hosts of Oreviel were given the glorious burden of free will. Some reached up to God, some turned their back to him, and some went this way and that. These are the ones that holy Shaul of blessed memory spoke of when he said:

‘Because that conflict isn't to be with flesh and blood, but rather with the Powers, and with the Rulers, and with the ones in charge of this world of darkness, and with the evil spirits which are under the Heavens.’

And so it is, with some above, some here, and some below in the service of Samael, and many more thinking themselves free but deceived, for they too serve Satan. And many of these are fair and indeed glorious in mien. And far and wide across God’s great creation, they weave webs of lies, snaring many of weak will, but rousing the wrath of those with strong souls.”

The Wandering Star

In those days, Ya'el of Bethany and Victoria of Alexandria went up into Galilee and climbed to the top of Mount Meron. And behold! in the skies above was a wandering star. Victoria looked upon it with wonder. “The long-awaited sign!” she said, and her heart was full amazed. But Ya'el was bitter. “I know this herald, and have been beneath its unholy glow three times now. I was born under its eye, even as the Great King of the East was. And the last time it came out of the depths it was one of the first signs -- and there were many -- heralding the Great Teacher's birth. But now I look and see a red eye of wrath, and know it to be the prophet of Israel's undoing.” And she wept and rent her garments. And all she foresaw came to pass. The iniquitous Romans tore down the LORD's Temple and laid waste to His priesthood and decimated His people, and all this Ya'el was powerless to prevent.

Scrot’s Cot

“There’ll be gold in Scrot’s Cot tonight,” Old Mother Abigail said to pretty maiden Adeline.

“Do you speak true?”

“Aye, gold there’ll be, my dear, bright as the sun.”

And so when night fell, Adeline stole away from her fine old house and went down into the woods, and over the river, and into the holler. And in the dell was Scrot’s Cot, where nobody had gone by night for threescore years.

But Adeline was young and bold, and she was the type to scoff at old stories – except when they seemed to have something useful for her. And Scrot’s Cot surely did. There were all kinds of stories about the gold in the cot. All kinds of stories about old Scrot, too, but Adeline scoffed at them.

I figure it was around midnight when she got there. Must’ve been a full moon night, because Adeline was able to get inside without much fuss. And she found the old chest in the middle of the only room of the cot.

She opened it up, sure enough, and Scrot woke up and took hold of Adeline from within his coffin. Her hair was oh so fine, bright as the sun. And Scrot, with his sharp dark knife, took it for his own. Old Mother Abigail was right. There was gold in Scrot’s Cot that night.

The Royal Phantasmagorical Society

The Royal Phantasmagorical Society was founded by Elias Ashmole and other polymaths in London and Oxford, in 1666, and was granted a royal charter by Charles II three years later only to be banned by his brother during his short reign. As the charter put it, the task of the RPS was “apply (themselves) with the uttermost diligence and care to the illumination of the hidden corners of God’s creation for the common good and the safety of both body and soul of our subjects.” The Society was a forerunner of later occult and paranormal investigative groups, exploring everything from fairy mounds to haunted houses to even more esoteric apparitions and phenomenon. Notable discoveries (or claimed discoveries) included the Cottingley Elf Glade, the Hull Werewolf Skull and the Southminster Vampire Tomb. Prehistoric relics were a particular fixation of the Society and allegedly their downfall – the rival Savant Club would not tolerate a notable competitor in that field. The Society prospered in the 18th and 19th century, but was eventually disbanded by Edward VIII, rumored to be a member of the Savant Club’s Inner Circle. Today, their old Mayfair headquarters is the mansion of a retired Soviet colonel and its archives divided between the Savant Club, the Zillah Rambin Institute, and the London branch of the Athanasius Kircher Society of Natural Philosophy. Its artifact collection, based in Belgravia and disputed between a half dozen claimants after the revocation of William III’s royal charter, was bombed to pieces during the Blitz, although some witnesses claimed the explosions came from below instead of above.

The Judges of Albion

The Judges of Albion were one of the colorful (and grim) footnotes in the history of the Puritan Revolution. They were a loosely organized band of witch-hunters, most active in East Anglia and the neighboring counties that were by and large the heartland of Cromwell’s kindred. Contrary, perhaps, to the disgraceful legacy of bloody-handed fanatics such as Hopkins and Stearne, the Judges (modestly naming themselves after the Judges of ancient Israel) were well-regarded by the common folk and recorded as protectors instead of predators and frauds in most histories. They had no hierarchy, naturally enough, but their ‘first among equals’ was without doubt Purify Carter, his brother Kill-Sin (surprisingly not his baptismal name) and Kill-Sin’s wife Patience. Purify, once a Puritan firebrand in Essex, abandoned pious politics after a sinister midnight encounter in the much-haunted Lobwold Forest, and took up what he called the ‘most holie of holie Wars’ against witches, ghosts, and other, stranger things. His following soon swelled from brother and sister-in-law to hundreds. At its peak, the Judges, divided into bands all across eastern England, numbered in the thousands (or tens of thousands, at least according to Constant Loxton). As might be expected of Puritans, faith, prayer and song were their weapons as much as sword and musket. The Judges were thoroughly crushed in England by Charles II and his zealous cavaliers, much to the delight of their true enemies, one suspects, but an even more disorganized remnant strand survives in Appalachia and the American South down to the present day, as popularized in fictional accounts of the mid to late 20th century.