A Guided Journey

The drum begins to beat slowly, methodically. It is not loud, but it is ever present in the background as a sort of heartbeat – a line back to the present.

From the meadow, she looks up at the cave high above. Just seeing it fills her with eagerness for the cave is the entryway to other places, times, worlds.

She blinks and she is in the cave and looking around at the familiar rock walls. It is a magical place. The rocks are blacker than night but sparkle with tiny pin pricks of light as if someone took handfuls of stardust and blew it all over them.

She looks for the doorway to the paths below. She has to look because it is rarely in the same place from visit to visit. Yes. There it is and familiarly different, bending sharply off to the right.

She eagerly steps in and is immediately swallowed by the sensation of having stepped into a worm hole. Normally she walks down long halls, touching the walls, admiring the rock formations, stopping to drink cool waters. Not this time. This time everything is whooshing by faster than her eyes can follow. The path bends left, right, and takes steep dives. She is unafraid but, once again, amazed by the vastness and complexity of this place.

Blink. She is in a room at the end of her descent. On one side of the room is a very plush setting full of lavendar and gold. Lavendar and gold pillows on chairs and carelessly tossed across the lavendar and gold carpets. Lavendar and gold silks and gossamer weavings hung from the walls and ceilings. It was beautiful, but it was not for her.

She stepped through a doorway on the opposite wall to find herself on a beach paved with fine white sand. The sand caressed her toes and the water lapped the shore gently calling to her. She walked down the shore at the edge of the water. There were many breathtaking shells and many shells that were extraordinary only in their ordinariness. Then she saw a small cherrywood box. It was sitting where the water could just splash it.

Knowing that this was a gift from Mother Ocean, she picked it up and turned it over and over in her hands. There were no latches and no apparent way to open the box. She thanked the Mother for her gift and took it into herself, trusting that it’s purpose would be revealed when the time was right.

She walked out into the water and then lay down to float, cradled lovingly in the warm arms of the water. Then she walked out of the water and sat down on the sun warmed beach. It was so beautiful. She wished for her guide to come join her here in the most wondrous place and then sat expectantly, eyes closed, soaking up the sun.

After waiting a bit, she knew that no one was going to join her this day. That’s OK, she thought. This is not the time.