Once, in a city built by twin wolves, there was a great temple. In this temple lived six virginal priestesses who tended the sacred flame that was lit therein.
It was prophesied that when the Flame of the Vestals went out, Rome would fall.
Legend and Historians have favored these virgins, keeping them alive long after their flame has gone out. It is believed that they were kept women, powerless in a patriarchal society, closeted away from love and life.
This is not what I believe. The Vestals were powerful. They could spare lives from execution, or tend to wills and papers of great importance.
Rome herself depended on them.
I like to think they were chosen because they burned a fire within, and inside the temple-dome they learned to keep this flame ever living. The secret to the eternal hearth.
And so it was that the Virgins were taught by the greatest teachers in Rome.
Hidden
in
plain
sight.
Perhaps in the inner sanctum.. There was a labyrinth of libraries leading to the Sacred Fire.
And at each corridor a teacher stood.
Student, Server, Teacher... On and On...
Until The Bride has reached the Sacred Bedchamber and the Lady of the Flame was standing within.
And wrapped in a Veil of Love, they were One..and Six.
And Bees were buzzing outside
YOU ARE READING
The Vestals
PoetryOnce in Ancient Rome there lived Priestesses of Fire. They were called the Vestal Virgins, and they were pure. Priestesses of Earth: Book 2
