The Music of the Night

It was late evening. The singing birds were preparing for their final song for the night. We sat listening from the circle. I began to hear some of the words as if they were singing directly to me:

Close your eyes, start a journey to a strange new world
Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before
Close your eyes and let music set you free
Only then can you belong to me

Floating, falling
Sweet intoxication
Touch me, trust me
Savor each sensation
Let the dream begin
Let your darker side give in…

“How odd, I thought, “I’d swear they were singing Music of the Night from the Phantom of the Opera.”

After a long day of ritual and fasting, an old woman walked me to the hut. Throughout the evening she had searched my eyes from across the circle and with a white quill, wrote several times in a dark-grained leather book. She did not ask questions. She did not ask for answers. She did not speak. She gazed deeply, made her marks and then closed the book. It was over. Her only words didn’t come until we arrived at the hut where I would spend the night in solitude and reflection.

“You are freed to see the Goddess and Keeper of the Volcano. Tonight, you must contemplate several objects from your bag. Tomorrow morning, be ready and one of the others from the village will lead you to the sanctuary across the lake.”

Before I could reply, she hurried into the darkness.

Once inside, I reached for my bag and pulled the candle for light. Sounds of a nearby waterfall gently vibrated the little hut on legs. I found a rustic cloth in the corner and neatly unfolded it before me in the center of the hut. Opening the bag, I reached for the small pouch given to me by Triton. In a hurry to leave the lair, I had stuffed it into my bag assuming it was my piece of red coral for Mudjimba.

Carefully, I loosened the string around the pouch. Expecting a single piece of red coral to fall out when turning the bag upside down, you can imagine my surprise when two objects rolled onto the cloth.

Curling my legs for comfort on the Earth’s hard surface, I picked up the first which was a delicate necklace with several pieces of coral. Each stone was rounded by the organic yield of nature perhaps carrying the life essence of the Mother Goddess, which is believed to live in a coral tree under the ocean’s surface. It is also believed that wearing a coral necklace protects from evil.

But, why would Triton give me such an elaborate necklace of red coral?

Deciding to let it go for now, I focused my attention on the other item that slid onto the cloth from Triton’s pouch. A little container, I recognized this to be a Gau box—another talisman to protect from evil. However, it is also meant to ensure auspiciousness, to promote the fulfillment of aspirations. Who couldn’t use more of that? I know I could! This one was made from copper, turquoise and red coral all laid out representing the “Wheel of Dharma.”

With respect, I laid it next to the necklace to ponder both their meanings and their relationship to me.

Though both beautiful and appreciated, I was somewhat apprehensive of Triton’s two talismans that protect from evil. I began feeling pensive and slightly anxious. That didn’t stop me from opening the Gau box to find several grains of rice, a written prayer, cloth fragments and soil.

Cautiously, I picked up the coral necklace and put it on. Warily, I read the prayer. Agonizingly, I began crying.

From the gut, tears tightened the chi, yanked on my heart, and pounded my mind. In a rocking motion, I leaned back and then folded straight over my legs in a deep, wrenching ache.

“But wait, I thought, “why am I crying?”

Regardless, I wept for a really long time to a faint internal chant, “only then can you belong to me”. The last thing I remembered that night was pulling the tattered blanket over my body, falling into a deep sleep.

–Genece Hamby
http://sanctuaryofstillness.wordpress.com