Geas
I must go to the desert, to the clean high country.
I will call on the winds to sweep away
the cobwebs the city has spun in my soul.
I will call on the sand to scour the scale
from my mind until my thoughts run true.
I must go among the mesas and rimrock,
and walk through the sage and rabbit brush,
breathing their pollen to clean my lungs.
I must go where nothing grows with ease,
I must go to my brothers, coyote and deer,
go where the rattlesnake has her dominion,
I must go to the desert, the clean high country.
Southwest Desert Landscape -- Tom Brown
A geas is a Gaelic magical compulsion. Those under a geas are required to fulfill certain conditions or risk suffering a penalty bestowed by fate. It usually takes the form of a command or a prohibition, and is often prophetic, bringing about its own fulfillment either through manipulation of cosmic events or by simply instilling into the subject an irresistible compulsion. Breaking the geas typically brings about the death of the subject, either directly or by cosmic retribution. However, conforming to a geas makes the stranger stronger.
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