Page 25 of Hell Hath No Fury
My beautiful goddess,
You are mad.
I do not need the gift of foresight to understand that this is what will come to pass. That your fury will grab hold of you, sink its talons in and not let go. One does not even have to possess magick in order to see that. One only needs to be a mother.
Of all the things I’ve seen in this world, it is the beauty of motherhood that I feel encompasses all that is sacred about the world.
I understand that I have not made these feelings known to my daughters throughout the years. I’ve had to make many sacrifices. I’ve had to break pieces of myself that I never thought I could part with. That I never thought I could live without.
Many of my choices you will never understand. Many of them will anger you. This one most of all.
Do not think that I am punishing you for anything. I know that no matter what I write here, no matter how I enchant this parchment, no matter if I write a million words, I will not and cannot change what you feel. You are too willful for that. I can only hope that time will grant clarity. That you will hold fast to all that you are and not give in to that fury. Not act swiftly to damage all we have created. Take heed, my dear daughter. The path ahead is already fraught with obstacles and danger.
My time grows near, I feel it now. My time on this earth is ending. And forgive me, my darling, for not wanting to pollute the time we have with this ugly but necessary truth.
The Mother does not wish me to tell you before my journey.
Since the beginning, you have paved your own way. Every sign, every spell, every dream I had told me you would arrive on a full moon. But you arrived when the night was at its darkest. The new moon. A sign of change. A sign of the trail you would blaze through your life.
Your destiny is to lead this coven.
Eventually.
Yet that is not now.
There are things that must come to pass first.
You must see past your anger. You must learn to love the world in its entirety.
Love.
It is that in all its beauty and ugliness, its purity and its wickedness, you must learn. You will be betrayed. You will be tested.
Your fate trembles on the edge of a sword.
Even the Mother does not know which way you will land.
But I do.
Because I am nottheMother.
I amyours.
And I believe in your strength. Your courage. Your stubborn heart.
Carry that faith with you, my love. Use it to keep you warm when the world offers no fire, to keep you full when you have no nourishment, to give you strength when your limbs fail you.
Know that I will always be with you.
Know that not everything is as it seems.
And know … love will conquer all.
I blinked at the last line.
“Love will conquer all?” I said aloud. “What the actualfuck?”
My mother was a gentle woman in many ways. She did not harm creatures of the earth, down to a fruit fly. She listened intently to everyone’s sorrows. She was playful and patient with children. She preached mercy for mortals.
