Many spirits reside within the human body that help sustain our lives. These spirits support the human body much like the Avodai do their part to sustain the Light in this vast, bountiful cosmos. Microcosms within macrocosms, or in the words of Lumdai sorcerers: “As above, so below.” No spirit is more integral to our health than the heartworm, a spirit wrapped though the chambers of our very hearts.

The Heartworm feeds on our positive emotions. Without a steady diet of expressions of love and care it becomes agitated. When a loved one suddenly passes, the worm constricts the heart, causing the host to experience great fatigue, nausea, and similar ailments. When excessive negative emotions like fear or anxiety take root in the mind, the overwhelmed Heartworm can affect one’s stomach or bowels.

When a human dies, its Heartworm eats itself like the mystical ouroboros, departing with the soul.

Commentary #

Rafa Surgeon Yordana bet Keila v’ Marom of blessed memory wanted to find the heartworm, as it had never been seen by the human eye. Each time she had the chance to perform heart surgery, she would seek out the spirit. After more than 20 procedures, she never found the worm, even after she sought help from a Rafa Physician to identify spirits.

Even if the heartworm is poetic license, our predecessors understood implicitly that symbiotic microbes do exist within the human body.

-Rafa Shai