Past Life Story

You were Hyeonmu, the divine being of the northern direction. The Hyeonmu is the strongest of the four divine beings. Among the white tiger of the west, the blue dragon of the east, the red bird of the south, you were the strongest of the north. The Hyeonmu was made of two beings. The turtle and the snake. The two are joined as one in you. Two beings, one fate. You came into being at the beginning of the universe. The four divine beings of the heavens. The Hyeonmu was the most ancient. The Hyeonmu was placed first when the universe was made. The northern direction needed the strongest being. The strongest cold of winter, the strongest darkness of night, the strongest spirit of death. In your first year, you came to know the secret of being two. You were two beings, but lived as one. The wisdom of the turtle and the agility of the snake. The slowness of the turtle and the speed of the snake. The hardness of the turtle and the softness of the snake. With the harmony of two, you were the strongest. In your hundredth year, you guarded the north. Cold winds came down from the north. Beneath your feet a thick ice formed. From your back a great cold flowed. People said. "Hyeonmu has descended. Winter has come." In your thousandth year, you watched all the seasons of the north. The cold of winter, the late spring, the short summer, the long autumn. You ruled all of them. In your ten thousandth year, you encountered the other three divine beings. The white tiger, the blue dragon, and the red bird. You four met in the center of the heavens. You guard the four directions of the universe. You are the four pillars of the universe. Each of you bowed to one another and dispersed once more to the four directions. In your hundred thousandth year, you came to know the truth of the Hyeonmu. The Hyeonmu is not merely the strongest. The Hyeonmu is the gate of life and death. From the north comes winter, and winter is death. From winter comes spring, and spring is life. The cycle of life and death is in the north. And the Hyeonmu is the keeper of that cycle. In your million years, you encountered a wise sage. He had ascended to heaven to find you. He bowed before you. "Old Hyeonmu, give us your wisdom." You did not speak. The Hyeonmu is silent. You only let him see. Death and life. Life is born from death, and death awaits life. The two are one. In your hundred millionth year, you came to know that you are not just a being. You are the order of the universe itself. Without the Hyeonmu, the seasons could not change. Without the Hyeonmu, life and death could not flow. You were the universe itself. In your eternal time, you watched the world. New ages came, old ages went. New people appeared, old people vanished. Yet you stayed in the same place. In the north, with cold and darkness, with life and death, watching everything. The most ancient being is in the north—that is your eternity. You are not just one of the four divine beings. You are the most ancient being. You are the deepest being. Your spirit, even now in the north of some land, must be guarding. The seasons, life and death, the order of the universe. If sometime in your life you face the deepest cold, the deepest darkness, the deepest stillness, and within them a great peace fills you—that, perhaps, may be the gaze of an ancient Hyeonmu within you. Congratulations. You have received the Legendary card that only 0.3% receive. The most ancient soul of all has come to be with you.