A Bridge Between Realms: On Imagining Khmer Myths
Author’s Introduction to The Serpent and the Star
The stories in this series are not scholarly translations, nor strict retellings of preserved Khmer folktales. They are something quieter. They are offerings.
Some rise closely from ancient soil—from tales once whispered in temple courtyards, woven into court dances, or carved along sandstone walls. Others are newly imagined, drawn from the deep wells of mythic feeling that still linger in Angkor’s shadows. But all are shaped in the spirit of Khmer cosmology, sacred symbolism, and the unseen world that flickers just beyond the veil.
Each story has been written with poetic care and reverent joy—not to replace the old, but to walk beside it. Like incense beside stone, or mist upon still water. They are voices that echo—not always exactly, but faithfully—what the naga, the apsara, and the temple may remember.
The first story—The Serpent and the Star—is not part of any recorded Khmer legend. And yet, when I walk beneath the towers of Angkor Wat, or stand by a lotus pond beneath moonlight, I feel its truth everywhere. A naga rising in silence. A celestial being drawn to earth. A temple shaped from longing.
These tales are meant to enchant and to invite—to stir memory in those who have visited these sacred places, and wonder in those who have not. They are bridges between realms, written for spiritually attuned adults and the children who read beside them.
With devotion and joy,
Lucas Varro
Angkor, Cambodia
Also in My Journal
A Scroll Carried by Wind
Zhou Daguan came to Angkor to observe—but found a kingdom that defied explanation. This introductory scroll welcomes new readers into The Wind That Carried Me to Zhenla: a poetic resurrection of the 13th-century emissary’s journey, revoiced with reverence, wonder, and the hush of temple stone.
The Goddess of the Golden Tower
There is a tower the moon remembers—where a king once climbed in silence, and a goddess wove humility into gold. Though the spire has faded, her presence lingers in the hush between breath and stone, waiting for the next soul who dares to kneel before the unseen.
Phimeanakas and the Goddess of Sovereignty
Within the Royal Enclosure of Angkor Thom stands Phimeanakas—the Celestial Palace. More than a monument, it is a myth made stone: where kings bowed to the goddess of the land, and sovereignty meant surrender. A contemplative meditation on sacred architecture, divine right, and the quiet power that still lives between the stones.
