Sojourn

by Sarah Gallant,
copyright 2002

The air was filled with incredible electricity. Lorna could see it in waves undulating before her eyes. As she walked determinedly through the door leading outside she breathed a sigh of relief; crisp evening air filling lungs and brushing cheek. Ahhh, yes, Sister Wind spoke in soft whispers in stark contrast to the voices of those she had just left in the building now more than a block behind…

A Caw 1 time 2 times 3 in the distance preceded the arrival of blue black feathers radiant in the sunset; a curious bird visible now as he circled above Lorna’s head cawing 1 time, 2 times 3 again…then Silence.

A strange sensation came over Lorna, and turning she faced a rotating vortex that was dragging her inside. Gasping and praying, she was sucked into the vacuum.  Funneling through a dark tunnel, flailing arms now feathery, she was shifting shape and flying lighter and more fitted for travel in the void.

Carried through on the wings of the now silent sentinel, ancient memories flooded her consciousness as the many faces of fear fell away leaving a trail of dust behind her. She was approaching the earth’s core, spinning faster and faster to the center, then shooting up like a rocket and spiraling out into atmospheric space higher and higher until all was Still.

From this great height (which was also inside of her, indeed inside of everyone) Lorna first glimpsed that state of pure being in which nothing mattered but Being.

As she gazed upon the heavens from this place she could see the intricate Web of Connection woven by all of the Constellations twinkling in the vastness of space. Grandmother Spider showed herself, dancing as she wove a rainbow of color throughout the fixed stars. From the center of her web rose a flame first shooting up in red, yellow, orange then glinting in shades of blue and finally flaming pure white. As Grandmother Spider finished tracing the sky she moved again toward the center of the web and disappeared in a poof into the glowing white light.

Lorna smiled as she watched grandmother fade into the glow. She closed her eyes, and could still see the brightness that became a lantern of sorts illuminating the images that now began to show themselves upon her lids. As many pasts and futures presented themselves in the timelessness of Space, she felt as if each one had just been lived and new someplace, somehow that indeed they had. She drew this understanding close inside. All together these pasts and futures wove, (along with so many others as grandmother spider had shown), a web that encompassed the Now, carefully patterned from and blended with somewhat unimaginable and yet known worlds; an amazing holograph.

Deep within she felt new realizations of just how and why she had come to be where and who she was on Earth, and felt a growing appreciation for each sacred moment and the opportunities for healing and understanding each person and situation bring. She remembered anxiously rushing out of the building that very afternoon. Lorna vowed upon her return (and she knew she must) to be ever mindful of this glorious interlude, even when the “glory” of it had long faded. “You must retain this understanding,” she thought. “Through good times and bad.”  She also realized there was no good and bad; All just IS. And this was glorious in itself.

Lorna blinked her eyes, and just that quickly the spiraling vortex that had brought her to the edge of Eternity reappeared. This time she entered without resistance, and as she spun faster and faster the feathers that had dressed her fell away, and carried forth on Sister Wind, were scattered in all directions. As she watched the feathers disperse, she began to chant in words that she remembered from long ago.

“To the South, I Heal thee Child and nurture Playfulness and Innocence. Be not afraid. Have Faith and Trust in Me. To the West I go Within, and Search the Depths for the Path and the Courage to meet my Goals, for it is here I will find what I Seek, the Soul. To the East I glimpse the Future, and find Clarity in my Present; I stand at Illumination’s Door, and Fly with the Eagle Forevermore. To the North I sing of Gratitude and stand atop the Mountain with the voices of Elders Wise reflecting as Stars within my Eyes; I See Anew. Henceforth the 4 is 3.”

With those words spoken, the vortex began whirling in all the colors of the rainbow; every hue blending, complimenting, such luminescent threads, these spun from the Sacred Loom! Each shade sounded a note that in unison harmoniously and unforgettably reverberated…

“Only when We Heal and are thus United, all Peoples,
Four Corners,will Cease to be Divided. Unity within; Trinity.
Go forth in Acceptance to Forgive and to Love.”

Lorna again found herself on the sidewalk. She retraced the steps she had made earlier, and stood outside the building she had so hurriedly left. Crow was still circling overhead, and in this she found comfort. She whispered gratefully to anguswi, and heard again those “voices” (kept carefully by Sister Wind) that had driven her in angst out the door. They didn’t seem so overwhelming. She listened quietly and heard, knowing that nothing within would ever be quite the same, and in that her perception of without. She gazed upon the stars shining brightly overhead, and felt a Connection and Wholeness unlike she had remembered feeling before. “Thank You, God, Thank you Great Spirit, Thank You Universe. Goodnight.” And it was, the very same as she had left it.