Page Content (OCR)
of such a society. This announcement caused an expected reaction with me and when I look back to the conversation, I realise it was an obvious ploy to lure me. At the time his intentions could not have seemed further away. I instantly became the wide-eyed enthusiast wanting to come along to one of his meetings while he remained the dismissive older patron who advised me otherwise. Forces were at work here as they were from day one when I met this old gentleman. All along he seemed to emit this non-intrusive manipulation of the mind which I’m convinced was more than this intelligence he seemed to possess or just power of suggestion. It was a kind of subtle telepathy, a type that I had come across before that wasn’t easy to detect. A telepathy that focused more on emotions and interests than direct communicative thought. He appeared to have the talent to subliminally encourage something while acting out something quite opposite. This seemingly ancient talent stretched further than any common gift of gab. Forces were undoubtedly at work because I was almost begging him to invite me along to one of his Masonic meetings. I remembered being astonished by my enthusiasm and surprised by what was coming out of my own mouth. His responses would be “why are you so keen? Do you understand what my sect is really about?” Oddly enough I already did without actually asking. I seemed to know that his society was also a continued generation of an ancient order dating back to I don’t know when. Its regular gatherings were based upon ancient ceremonies similar to Wicca. Perhaps an earlier conversation had influenced this sudden burst of knowledge but it wouldn’t explain my intuitive certainty. To this day I don’t have a name for his mysterious coven, yet I was hell-bent on attending. Iremember his final words that evening being something to the effect of “well, we’ll have to see.” I got the impression that being accepted into his fold wasn’t out of the question but something needing preparation. We parted that night agreeing upon some eventual “initiation” that would take place when I was “ready.” That night had been one of the strangest nights I can remember and appeared to be a radical turning point in my life. I don’t know how long I had been speaking with Gideon but it must have been one of my longest and deepest conversations. I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of “missing time” because huge chunks of what was said that night eluded me. Missing time seemed to play its part from that night onwards because I don’t recall much about the odd period that would follow. 60