Love's Joy

by Emil Toth

  Love’s Joy

  By

  Emil Toth

  © Copyright 2017, Emil Toth

  All Rights Reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the author.

  ISBN: 978-1-970024-72-2

  eISBN: 978-1-642043-16-7

  DEDICATION

  This book is dedicated to everyone bringing joy to people they know intimately and casually by letting them know they love them. I’ve found it amazing how my day changes when someone shares the words, I love you with me or I with them. For those who have, I want to say thank you and bless you. Love and hugs to all of you.

  ET

  CONTRIBUTORS

  The generous contributions from my dear friends and family have made the LOVE series become a reality. I hope the goodness and love in these novels matches what is in their hearts.

  BELIEVERS

  Barbara Gatto

  Suzanne Gibbons

  Kelley Kelsey

  Peter & Ruth Toth

  Peg Weed

  CONCEIVERS

  Margaret Carmen

  Joseph Gatto & Yvonne Hering

  Joyce Hug

  Phillip Rice & Mona Johnson

  Joseph Warner & Lindy Warner

  ADVOCATES

  Catherine Lanigan & Jed Nolan

  Ron & Patti Sikorski

  Karen Sommers

  Sheryl Toth

  SUSTAINERS

  Fred Colantonio

  Jessica Dieter

  Lindsay Dieter

  Linda Jacobs

  Mary Gatto

  Cindy Gast

  Brian Gibbons

  Kayla Gibbons

  John & Linda Hardy

  Sally & Bob Milewski

  James Pauley

  Sally Schreiber

  Gus & Teresa Thanos

  James & Michele Toth

  Rosemarie Turner

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I wish to thank my muse, Suzanne Gibbons for her love, encouragement, ideas, criticisms and editing.

  BOOKS BY EMIL TOTH

  FORGIVENESS SERIES

  Seven Souls on a Cross

  Release from the Cross

  LOVE SERIES

  Love’s Transformation

  Love’s Sacrifice

  Love’s Wisdom

  Love’s Ancients

  Love’s Courage

  Love’s Joy

  Love’s Beloved

  BOOKS CAN BE PURCHASED AT

  emiltoth.com

  amazon.com

  barnesandnoble.com

  lulu.com

  INTRODUCTION

  LOVE’S JOY represents the sixth book in the dramatic, inspirational and spiritual LOVE series. The first five books focus on the stages of love: transformation, sacrifice, wisdom, enlightenment and courage. I have again expanded my understanding of LOVE to include JOY. In this book, I introduce people transforming lives by sharing their joy and demonstrating it in their lives.

  For those to whom it may be of interest, while the LOVE series of books are works of fiction, the stated philosophy of the Talker Healers in each book is an expression of my belief system. Most of the emotional, physical and spiritual events in the books have been experienced, to a lesser or greater degree, by myself and a few friends and teachers.

  Over the years, I have sat down at the computer thousands of times to share my thoughts and feelings going into my novels. My anticipation ran high each time. The novels have exceeded my expectations. I believe it happened because I was in the right spiritual energy. I wish to thank those in physical and non-physical form who helped keep me in that sacred energy all these years.

  ET

  CHAPTER ONE

  “You are crazy saying all those things,” screamed Brock. “The gods will surely strike you dead, if you continue being sacrilegious. Our council was insane to let you be High Priest and allow you to change everything to suit yourself. Our people were safe and content with Romir as High Priest. You will never match up to him. He was a true High Priest.”

  Brock’s face was an angry red. Even his conspicuous ears were inflamed.

  Kaathi gave Brock one of her most endearing smiles. “My dear Brock.”

  He angrily waved his arm. “Stop calling me dear.”

  “I am sorry. I have to say I hope I never match up to Romir. He was not as good as you have led yourself to believe. I would like to talk about your gods for a moment, Brock. According to Romir, when you behaved, the weather behaved and when the weather turned ugly he blamed it on some of you not doing what he or your religion desired. If someone was killed by a predator, he jumped on the opportunity to claim the person had not followed the precepts of their religion. It was his way of putting fear into your hearts and his way of controlling you.”

  “I do not believe you,” Brock yelled.

  “The weather and environment have always gone through cycles in its evolution. Some people have chosen to associate natural disasters with people’s behavior or temperament. It is easy to see connections when there were correlations.

  “If you have been listening, I have never spoken of Creator in those terms. I have always maintained the only thing Creator desires for you is to love yourself and others. In the loving, you will attain happiness.”

  “You are a crazy woman,” Brock yelled back. “It is an impossible task. There are too many angry and deceitful people. Your philosophy is a Pollyanna one and cannot work.”

  “You are correct. My philosophy will never work for you, if you are fearful, angry and deceitful, however if you shed those qualities, you will be open to discover love and happiness. The Spiritual Awakening Services and the Relationship Sessions are designed to remove your prejudices and change your view of life and your opinions about Creator and how to conduct your relationships with family and friends.

  Not knowing how to defend his position, Brock’s voice turned vicious. “Mark my word Kaathi, you will be dead by the end of the rainy season.”

  During the rainy season, Brock and twenty men attended the services for the singular reason to disrupt the proceedings with their derogatory comments. Kaathi answered all their questions and ignored their derogatory remarks. The men grew discouraged because they could not upset her. Brock along with the other men who had been verbally abusive and disruptive stopped coming the moment the rainy season ended.

  The gods had failed them.

  Kaathi was still alive.

  The High Priest, Kaathi, concluded the Spiritual Awareness Service and people were disbursing. Ashlee and Scarlet had contributed some of their knowledge via personal stories to the congregants. The two had been apprentices to the High Priest, Kaathi, since Kaathi came back from Sumati, where she had introduced the Relationship Sessions to the Sumatians. Ashlee’s nature was introspective and she set her sights on the devotional path to Creator and rarely spoke during the services. Ashlee had suffered as a slave to the mutant, Ezra, and escaped after eighteen years. She fled and was found by Kaathi and saved from death. When she recovered her health and weight, people told her how beautiful she was, which surprised her because the mutants only criticized and cursed her. Her blonde hair stood out like a beacon among everyone. Setting her apart even more from other women was her breathtaking beauty. Women would have hated her had it not been she was oblivious of her looks. She treated everyone with kindness and love. For her it was a pleasure to be surrounded by non-mutants or Normals as the mutants called them.

  Scarlet, on the other hand, was interested in serving people and was comfortable with the cause and effect path to Creator. Had Scarlet not been married to Jacob, every woman would be worried her man woul
d chase after Scarlet. Her eyes were beckoning and drew men to her like ants to honey. She was sultry and sexy looking, though her personality was in direct contrast to those attributes. Even her voice caressed anyone she spoke to. Whenever Kaathi relinquished the floor to Scarlet, she thrived in sharing what she learned from Kaathi to everyone who came to the Spiritual Awakening Services.

  Kaathi, Ashlee and Scarlet stood outside the meeting lodge after the service to hug people wanting to be embraced. Jacob had been closely watching Scarlet and Ashlee during the service. He was fortunate to be married to both women who were Kaathi’s apprentices. His eyes shone with pride. Keri, his first wife, his son Zar and his daughter, Katiya, sat next to him and shared the same pride.

  Jacob and Kaathi had been close friends since Kaathi became an apprentice to Batu, the Talker Healer. Jacob had served on the council as the Warrior Hunter for several years before Kaathi took over as the Talker Healer upon Batu’s murder. Jacob was handsome and a half head taller than most men in the village. He was confident, strong, agile and had great reasoning powers without being arrogant or overbearing, thus he was extremely likable. His skill with the bow and arrow was legendary, as was his strength.

  The services under Romir and Kiirt, the previous High Priests, was mandatory. Attendance to the Spiritual Awakening Service was not mandatory consequently only a few hundred were attending the services. Scarlet and Ashlee saw it had no effect on Kaathi’s enthusiasm, while she shared her message of love. The messages were little more than stories and suggestions on how the congregants could enrich their lives. The stories touched the hearts of the attendees and endeared them to her. She ended her service with a quiet moment of peace, which she stretched out each service. Those attending appreciated the lack of pressure and religious threats. In spite of people enjoying the new approach to religion those not coming were happy they were not forced into attending. The attendance grew by word of mouth. They came and willingly shared how good it felt to attend. Consequently, there were a dozen new members at each service. One of the contributing reasons those attending the services liked coming were the hugs they received from either, Kaathi, Scarlet or Ashlee before and after the service. Some of the congregation made certain to receive an embrace from all three. The lines to receive embraces from Kaathi were triple the size of her apprentices. Some attributed Kaathi’s long lines to the fact she was a Kahali native and her apprentices were not. Others more cognizant of how her hugs made them feel always chose to hug Kaathi. As Kaathi embraced each person, she sincerely told them she loved them and she sent them her love. Over half the people said they loved her in return. The apprentices had not yet reached the point where they could honestly say they loved everyone they hugged and their love was not as encompassing as the mystic’s. Ashlee had made it a point to watch Kaathi and noticed her eyes brimmed with tears as she shared her words of love.

  Everyone was gone and Scarlet took the opportunity to remark to Kaathi, “The last five services where pleasant without Brock and his bunch.”

  Kaathi nodded, saying, “I agree, though I have a sense Brock, in his confusion, will come to us and challenge us in a more intimate setting.”

  Ashlee giggled. “I miss him. It was fun seeing his face get all red when he could not upset you.”

  Kaathi smiled warmly at her apprentices. “Would either of you like to join me at Taja’s sacred spot?”

  Both smiled and took her hands.

  “So what did you think of the man’s remark concerning the monsters of hell?”

  Ashlee was only partially aware of Kaathi talking. She was sensing the love pulsating as she held the mystic’s hand.

  Scarlet, being the more mental one, eagerly answered, “I liked how you explained to him the devils and monsters of hell will exist as long as there are people contributing to their existence by believing in them. He seemed shocked to hear they were creations of our fear. How did you know it was so?”

  “I discovered it during one of my visits to the Land of No Shadows. These four ghastly creatures appeared and were tormenting me for no reason. I was startled. Once I recovered, I told them I did not believe in them and they shriveled into themselves.”

  Scarlet knew her mentor’s belief was effective only because the strength of her belief. They arrived at Taja’s favorite meditation spot on the bank of the river, where he had been bludgeoned to death. Kaathi and Batu had detected what took place and returned to the spot dozens of times to cleanse the area of the negative energy and bring it back to its original purity.

  The trio sat down to meditate. Ashlee could not keep her eyes off Kaathi. Her eyes were clouded by tears. She reveled in the love she felt emanating from her mentor. She felt the facade of Kaathi’s individuality disappear. In its place she sensed the spirit of all the women in the world. Her heart swelled with love… A long while later the sensation passed and she sensed the spirit of the Divine Mother, the Creator of the universe… She was unable to contain the enormous love she felt and sobbed. She covered her face with her hands and continued sobbing as she experienced Divine Love. Ashlee’s exaltation lasted a long time, accompanied by her sobs.

  When the sobbing stopped, she removed her hands wiped the tears from her face and gazed at Kaathi. Seeing Kaathi smiling, she smiled. She knew she would never leave Kaathi’s side and if asked would follow her to the ends of Mother Earth. She had never experienced such love and wanted to experience it again and again.

  There was a sense of awe in Ashlee’s voice. “I had a strong, loving connection with you early on in my meditation. I could not close my eyes. The tears kept trickling down my cheeks. I could not take my eyes off you. At some point, you disappeared and became every woman in the world. The sense of who you are expanded and you became the Divine Mother, Creator of the universe. I could not contain all the love pouring into me and I burst into sobs. What I felt as I sobbed can only be described by using the word AWE. I cannot use any other words to explain what I felt. What was it I felt?”

  “My precious one, you were blessed. The AWE you felt was the Creator within me. Creator is present in you and Scarlet and everyone although not felt by many.”

  Nobody spoke for a long while. Forever the pragmatic, Scarlet’s curiosity got the best of her. “Will Ashlee’s experience add to the energy of this place?”

  “It shall. Everything people do in any given area contributes to the energy balance be it positive experiences or negative ones.”

  “When you and Batu cleansed this area how did you go about it?”

  “We started at the outer most limits where we initially felt negative energy. We meditated and prayed at the spot for days until it changed. When we felt the change we moved in closer to where he was bludgeoned. Once we felt the negativity we again meditated and prayed to cleanse the energy. We repeated the process and kept moving in closer and closer until we were upon the spot he was killed and cleansed the area as well.”

  “Did you spend a lot of time doing it?”

  “It took us a complete cycle of the moon. When we were not tending to the ills and wounds of the villager’s we spent the rest of every day praying until the environment was free of the negative taint.”

  “Did you eat your meals there?”

  “No. When we were in the negative zone we maintained a prayerful presence.”

  “Could I sense what took place here, if I concentrated on it?”

  “You could. It would benefit you more to keep your mind focused on Creator or on your ministry or on your new family and others you love.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Durga and Leah were strolling outside the village of Kahali. Durga was in his late teens when Leah first saw him on the savannah three years ago. His mutant tribe, the Wanderers, attacked Evette and Gene. Two days later they were about to do the same to Kaathi’s party. The mystic had talked privately to Carch, the mutant leader, and evaded disaster.

  Durga had matured physically and emotionally, in the last three years. He was comfortabl
e living among the Normals of Kahali. Having a Normal mother and a mutant father, the mutations he bore were not as severe as they were on Leah. The most prominent mutations were his deeply slanted forehead, which contributed to his overhanging brow, his strange looking toes and the occasional, wild, sporadic patches of body hair. When Leah had first saw him with the mutant scouting party, he was sick and could not continue the march with the Wanderers. Consequently, he was left behind to be tended to by Kaathi. For a long time, Durga was hurt by the slurs of some people in the village. With Kaathi’s guidance, he slowly learned how to handle adversity and overcome anger.

  Leah was a full breed mutant, of the Searcher tribe, and her body was stouter than Durga’s. Her arms and legs were thicker as was her torso and neck. Her head and body had more patches of hair than Durga and her facial features were more pronounced. Leah’s eyes were intelligent and expressive and she was able to communicate telepathically and orally in three languages and could sign. She had a moderate sized lump on her back, and her right arm was in proportion to her body, while the other was thinner. Her toes bore signs of being broken or disfigured and her gait was not as fluid as Durga’s, though in a sustained march she could best him.

  Durga took her hand. “Have you given any more thought to us living together?”

  “I have. I have also weighed what people would say about us living together and not being married.”

  “I do not care. These are not our people. They adopted us as we did them. They have said disparaging things about me before and I have withstood them.”

  “It is not how I want to start our relationship. We need to do things conventionally. We are fortunate we can claim this as our home. I would not want to jeopardize what inroads we have made by angering them. If we are to stay here, I want to be married by Kaathi. There was a time when Isaac and I thought we wanted to live with the Wanderers in spite of how barbaric they were. We were fortunate we met Kaathi and never had live to with the Wanderers”

  “We have been put together. Neither my people nor yours ever had marriage ceremonies. In spite of it, I will do anything to make you happy, Leah. I will exchange vows with you anytime. When do you want to do it?”