The Very First Book about Karina

[Translator’s note: see the glossary at the end for strange words. This is a work in progress - J]

Excuses

We are friends of Karina.

We write with trepidation and uncertainty, knowing that we will make mistakes and that we will not be able to explain everything to you. We can't answer you when you say "What did they mean by that?", at least not after we've passed on to another life.

Such presumption, we hear our friends saying, you think your work will last that long? But it is to our future lives that we wish to speak: here is what we felt and thought, listen to us, remember us!

Where did we learn all these things? With much diligence and persistence from Her Messengers, who were not sent for this Purpose. By correspondence with Karina over the years, though She insisted from the start that we were not to quote Her but to put everything in our own words. And, most joyfully, from Karina Herself when She has visited us, though we tend to only think of most of our questions after She has left, which is perhaps just as well.

Our fayoom have been patient, even when they did not always appreciate our need to perform this labour when we should have been cleaning vegetables or washing dishes.

All these Capitals, they are for words that have special meanings, and for Karina Herself who is always special to us.

How should you read our work? The same way we wrote it, in no particular order at all.

Difficulties

“Be good or the Gods will be angry with you.”

"Be good or I'll give you a hiding."

"Be good and I'll give you a sweetie."

These may all work, at times.

"Being good makes you happy."

Doesn't that sound better?

If anything sums up Karina’s message, that is it. Being good makes you happy. It can also make you smug, self-righteous, frustrated when nobody actually notices how good you are being today… we are not offering a perfect world here. Actually being irritable and grumpy makes us feel better sometimes.

By now you have noticed that the title of this section is an apt one. We are having difficulties writing it, so we expect you are having difficulties working out what we mean.

Karina does not require worship. Why should She? She can see into your heart, She knows if you love Her, hate Her or simply don’t care. She does not need to be told. That is one of the perks of being a Goddess.

But if it makes you happy to gather in groups in Her name, please do. Just don't make it something everyone has to do, like it or not.

What is the Purpose of life?

The Goddess is not going to answer that one. It is more fun finding out for yourself. Take Her word for it.

Why is there evil in the world?

Why do You permit pain and suffering?

These are not meaningful questions. Karina did not make the sfery world, She lives outside it. The more friends She has, the more She can channel their love to help others, the more She can become of this world. That is Her desire and Her promise, that is our hope and our salvation.

Who did make the World?

Karina does not know. She can make worlds; She made the world she lives in. She does not think it was the Gods who have priests and temples here now.

The Messengers have told us that there are other worlds that have humans, people like us.

You were made with a capacity for both good and evil. How you choose to act is up to you. This is called freewill. If you don't like it, go find someone to tell you how to behave. You won't be free any more, but some people prefer that.

On reflection, we are not being clear enough. A good deal of the time most of us have to do as we are told so as to avoid muddle and time wasting. The decisions we are thinking of are not ones like ‘who does the washing up today?’ but rather ‘should I break a promise?’ or ‘should I warn her or will she learn better by making her own mistakes?’. Getting someone else to decide these things for you does not take away your responsibility.

Advice is something we should always listen to, since people often have a lot of it to give away for free. You may scribble in the margin here ‘you certainly have’.

One of the most complicated and difficult to understand things in the Universe is you.

Now here is a surprise for those who come to Karina from elsewhere: Karina is neither omniscient nor infallible. She sees many things but not everything, She is often right but not always. If you are sure and certain that She is wrong, then tell Her so. That is what friends are for. She won't strike you down with a thunderbolt. Probably.

Life is about choices. One choice is between making changes or not. The Universe can be perverse - when you want changes, it resists; when you want things to remain as they are, the Universe comes crashing in and upsets everything.

There is a balance between change and stasis; neither is in itself good or bad. Karina would like you to separate changes that can be reversed if they don't work out from changes that once made you will be stuck with.

Death is an ending for your mortal body, but not for your spirit which passes on to find another life. Karina will be there for those of Her friends that lose their way. Call on Her at this time.

Purposes

What does She want us to do?

New friends of Karina often ask this question. We have the advantage here: we asked Her directly, adding that we didn’t think She had an answer. Now you must imagine Karina laughing, and saying that we have found one of Her purposes for us: to amuse Her.

You are still not quite believing this perhaps. We have really met a Goddess? Yes we have. Karina was once a mortal like us, and She still looks just like a mortal when She visits, a woman of around fifteen, pale and slender with waist length brown hair. She is self possessed, calm, and just as nice as we expected Her to be. In other ways She is not what we expected at all.

We don’t have anyone to compare Her with of course, unless it is Her Messengers, so it is only our imaginations that tell us that Karina ought to be more different. Part of the reason for this is that the part of Her that is quite different must remain guarding Her home from harm, so She leaves it behind. We’re sorry we can’t explain that better, we don’t understand it fully ourselves.

When Karina became aware that She was a Goddess She was on Her own, She had no one to guide Her, to tell Her what to do. Later She found some friends who knew about our world, the sfery world which is for most of us the only one. She was saddened by what they told Her, and decided that this should be a purpose for Her, to help us.

We have turned your question upside down!

It is up to everyone to find their own purposes; if they are in accord with Karina’s She will help if She can. It is generally good to have a purpose or two, to give direction to one’s life. Ours, as you see, is to give good advice to our friends.

A friend once told Karina that the more power a person has, the less they should use it. This is especially true of Deities, who we are assured have quite awesome powers on some other worlds, but rarely use them. We think this is something like not being the noisy and attention seeking person that irritates everyone until they have to tell her to go away or shut up. Karina is, for an immortal, just a novice, and would rather be a modest and polite one to start with. Oh, that was the quality that most surprised us – a modest Goddess?

Karina is trying hard to keep a balance between doing too much for us and doing too little. We need to make mistakes sometimes, it is part of learning, and She is learning to let us make them. There will be other books that will tell you about this we are sure, perhaps we will write one later.

Mostly though She would like us to be Her friends.

Children

Karina especially cares about children. Anyone who mistreats, abuses, disregards the wishes of children cannot be Her friend.

No friend of Karina would order a child to do anything under threat of punishment or offer of reward. It is for each child to decide whether she will be good and happy or bad and unhappy.

But, you say, we ourselves work and get paid for it. Should not children be taught about the world? Of course they should, of course children should be praised and rewarded for doing good things, chastised and perhaps punished for doing bad things. It is the ordering Karina does not like.

Karina's friends do not ignore children. They may ask children not to interrupt, to be quiet, to go away but they do not ignore them except as a punishment.

The symbol of Children is Karina's Sign. For those who bring it into the World, it is a promise that Karina's friendship is theirs for the asking.

There is a price to pay for this.

It is the personal and absolute responsibility of each and every friend of Karina to ensure that all those who have Karina's Sign hear and understand Karina's message.

You noticed there are more rules here than in the Rules? Well done. You learnt something today.

Why do not all children have Her Sign? Karina and Her messengers and friends weep bitter tears, they long for that day to come. For newpersons to become Her friends, they must hear Her message, and there are not enough of us to teach everyone. So Karina only gives Her Sign to those we can cope with.

This does not make Karina's children special. Karina cares for all, and so should we.

Are you reading this at a time when Karina has become a true Goddess of this World? Then our efforts were not in vain.

Ceremonies

At certain stages in life, there should be Ceremonies. Ceremonies are, like anything important, to be understood on several levels.

They are important as a gate to pass through. Afterwards, you may be a different person.

They are important as a group experience, as an opportunity to share emotions.

They are important as a secure foundation, on which to build the future.

They are important as a symbol of what Karina means to us all.

The symbol of Ceremonies is the candle. Sometimes the candle is alight, at the defining moments of its existence. Mostly it is not. Candles always burn down, and eventually must be discarded, as everyone must discard their mortal bodies.

A candle burning in an empty room is wasted.

When a newperson first comes to Karina's friends, everyone present should thank him for coming into their lives. It's nice to do this over a meal, and maybe have the newperson light a candle, to show how his light will shine out.

When a newperson has come to understand what Karina means to us and why we are Her friends and feels in her heart that she is ready, then she can ask for a Ceremony of Dedication. Everyone who knows her can be asked to come along. Perhaps the newperson might like to say why she wants to do this, and thank those who have been especially helpful to her.

Provided she is sincere, Marvels and Wonders may happen. Please have a candle ready.

Now there is a Rule to be told. A person Dedicated to Karina cannot follow another God without Karina's permission. And the other way round as well: a person following another God cannot be a friend of Karina without Her permission. What, Karina making Rules? No, this is a Rule most Gods have found to be sensible.

If Karina sees that someone no longer wishes to be Her friend, She will tell that person of Her sorrow. That person can always come back whenever he chooses.

When two people wish to declare their Joining to each other and seek Karina's approval, then it is time for another Ceremony! People will certainly bring their good wishes, and maybe a gift. It is a time for both to speak of their feelings for each other, and their wish that their happiness will bring joy to everyone. Two candles please.

Now it can happen that a person comes to feel that their Joining to another has reached its end. It is a fact of life that the other person rarely has that feeling at the same moment, so disagreement and sadness may result. This is for you to work out for yourselves. You will remember that causing unhappiness makes you unhappy won't you?

Should guidance be required, ask Karina. She can see in your hearts if the Joining has ended, and if She thinks it right to do so She will let you know.

When the time comes for a person to leave their present life, Karina is there also.

Whether this is a moment of joy or sadness is not for Her to decide. If those who knew the departed person gather to remember his life and say goodbye to him, and if they express their feelings for him, then it will very probably be a comfort to them. It would be a nice gesture for everyone to bring a candle, but you will have to blow them out yourselves.

At any time, but most likely on Freeday, there can be a Gathering. Gatherings are, like anything important, to be understood on several levels.

They are important as a time to pass on our love to Karina so that She can channel it back to those who need it.

They are important as a group experience, as an opportunity to share emotions.

They are important as a symbol of what Karina means to us all.

There are no rules for how to conduct Gatherings. Singing songs, listening to poems and stories and music, dancing, juggling. Sometimes just sitting quietly together is good for those with busy lives.

We always keep a seat for Karina at our Gatherings, to remind us that She may be present, hearing if not heard, seeing if not seen.

Exclude any of Her friends from Gatherings and Ceremonies, and you exclude Karina too.

Rules

For an ordered and productive society, laws are necessary. It is no part of Karina's mission to dictate or determine such laws. Nevertheless, applying Karina's teachings may help in making laws.

So you will not find here donots. Do not do this, do not do that.

Karina does however say this: there are exceptions. Morals do not have exceptions, but real life often does. 'Do not kill' is fine as a moral law, but sometimes to kill is necessary.

So in laws you should allow for these exceptions. Laws are a convenient way of defining what is and what is not permitted, but they cannot cover every circumstance.

Karina thinks her friends should organise themselves into communities which are small enough for everyone to know everyone else. How each community makes decisions is up to them: they may choose a leader, take votes, whatever.

If a community grows to a size where not everyone knows everyone well, then it should be divided into two.

Each community will have dealings with others, and a Speaker should be chosen to do this. This may be the leader, or someone else.

Each community will have a Gatherer, who organises Gatherings and Ceremonies and has learnt how to send our love to Her. This person should not be the leader or Speaker.

Ourselves

We came into the sfery world on a night of thunder and lightning, in the City of Lachriner, in the country of Krinbeck. I am Rain who is writing now on a sunny day by the window in our room, she is Cloud laughing at such trivialities in a serious work, and we are Storm. We are both Goreshi, which is not usual here in Krinbeck, mostly Pam or Chesik. It was five years after the Messengers first came.

We found each other first. We think we were the first of Karina's friends to be twin. Our resonances were (and are) looped whatever that means, so we are only drawn to each other: some street kids told us where to go, "people with those things live there".

In Lachriner Karina's friends live and work in a food shop in the new market square. It is just a passing on place but we stayed for many reasons, not the most important being that we knew things would happen here. And so they did, sometimes to us, which is not supposed to happen to storytellers, or mythmakers as Karina calls us.

Messengers

Shanna is the first. In fact she came to the sfery world before ever she met Karina, when she was just a traveller from across the far sea. We ask her: can we tell your story? She replies: I would rather be a Myth. We think that means no.

But we can say Shanna was once a mortal like us, she met Karina in her travels and became the special friend of Elise. And Karina ascended her to be an immortal. This was not long ago, so she does not always behave with the gravity and thoughtfulness she thinks immortals should have.

Shanna has straw blonde hair, she is our height which is short, fair skinned and tanned. She wears lots of arm bangles, and rings round her ankles. Sometimes she talks a lot, sometimes not at all, sometimes in between. We like her just as she is.

Elise is the second, and she was created by Karina to be a servant, so she has always known Her. She has red hair and many freckles, and speaks only with purpose. She is older than Shanna but looks younger.

There are other Messengers, and there are others not from the sfery world who have come to help Karina, but of them we will not write.

Messengers do not come so often now, which is they say as it should be with Karina's friends growing up and taking on their work.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Glossary

Fayoom. A partial replacement for the family. Joining a fayoom is by invitation, leaving by individual choice. Fayoom members always support each other. Some fayoom are very old. Numbers vary, but over ten is unusual. Fayoom members are not necessarily connected in other ways: married couples might be in the same fayoom or different ones. The fayoom is believed with time to acquire a character of its own, which members take on in some mystical fashion.

There are no set rules for how fayoom conduct themselves. For some membership is a deeply serious affair, for others merely a convenience.

Goreshi. A racial type: slant-eyed, dark haired. Pam are fair-haired and Chesik redheads, though actually of the same racial type, round-eyed whites.

Karina's Sign. A not really silver medallion, about an inch across. On one side an engraving of two children, on the other the lettering: 'Karina protect us'.

Newperson. All humans are sterile. New people are produced elsewhere, arriving at physical Earth equivalent age 11-13 with 'amnesia' - they can speak, read and write etc but have no specific memories. They appear at night randomly but normally close to human settlements.

Sfery. The visible world, excluding the realms of the Gods and demons.

---