CHAPTER 35 - THE DREAM
Later that night, after Maria left, Cat made a fateful decision. She decided to spy on Ramon.
This would be a perfect night, Cat thought. The moon was waxing and a good time for white magic spells. Since the waning phase was set aside for the dark side of Wiccan craft, she mistakenly believed Ramon would be more active during the waning phase. Not being familiar with Santeria or Congo, she didn’t know that, although Ramon’s power was also attuned to the phases of the moon, he associated the waning phase with death. And so, Cat had no way of knowing that Ramon would be as active tonight as he’d ever been.
She planned to ritually prepare herself with the proper incantations and place special herbs in her bath water. In this way, when she went to bed that night, she would be able to visit him in her dreams.
Cat didn’t speak of her intentions to the others, knowing they wouldn’t approve. But there wasn’t any danger. She was certain of that. Cat had often traveled out-of-body, always invisible to others at those times. When her spirit body came to spy on him, even if he sensed its presence, there wasn’t any reason to think Ramon would be able to identify her.
While the others took turns bathing, Cat used this time to gather the necessary materials and prepare her herbal packets. Since Wiccans are nearly always engaged in preparing for one kind of magic or another, none of her friends took particular notice.
Then, when everyone else had finished bathing and bedded down, Cat entered the bathroom and shut the door. She shed her clothes and showered. She next set about scrubbing the tub especially clean as well. She rinsed it thoroughly before filling it with warm water.
Cat sprinkled salt in the shape of a circle around the bathroom. Using the lip of the sink, she lit her candles and incense there. Then she invoked the protection of the four Guardians of the Gates.
"I ask that all Gods, Goddesses,
benevolent spirits, and local deities,
protect and aid me in this
just and magical cause."
She leaned over the tub and emptied the packet into the running water, intoning.
"Frankincense, rose, and myrrh for prosperity,
Frankincense, rose, and lavender for love,
Citron and rose for health,
Sandalwood, citron, and patchouli for protection,
Sage for bodily protection,
Rosemary for remembrance
and a pinch of salt for good measure."
Then she dipped one slender finger in a mixture of citrus and Frankincense oil and touched it to the center of her forehead. She slipped her body into the scented water, submerging herself. Then Cat sat up, hair dripping. A moment later, she leaned back, deeply inhaled the aroma, and continued.
"Good and benevolent spirits of the air,
let this fragrance and the oil upon my brow
take my spirit to the astral plane.
Let me gain the knowledge I seek and
when I wake, remember it again.
This is my will!
SO MOTE BE IT!"
Why even wait for bed, Cat thought. This warm, scented bath is so relaxing, I could fall asleep right here. Then she reasoned, she might also catch a chill as the tub water eventually cooled. And one of her companions might want to use the facilities. Once the out-of-body experience began, it was most unhealthy to be jolted back to reality, especially by the sound of a flushing toilet, before one’s spirit had finished its journey.
The warmth of the water, the scent of the herbs, and the magic of the ritual all conspired to place Cat in a dreamlike state. While she still had the will to do so, she dismissed the Guardians, exited the tub, towel-dried herself, and headed for bed.
The others were asleep, so they didn’t see a naked Cat cross the darkened bedroom, set the floor-to-ceiling terrace doors ajar, and crawl sleepily into her bed. Cat drowsily pulled up the covers and was asleep by the time her damp hair touched the pillow.
A few minutes later, her spirit self sat up in bed, dimly aware of the corporeal Cat slumbering beneath. It left the bed and crossed to the open doors and passed onto the terrace. Her spirit took a moment to delight in its weightlessness, its mastery of time and space.
Then, Cat's spirit leaped onto the terrace rail and, from there, into space. She landed on the surrounding lawn and took off into the woods. As she ran, Cat willed herself to be wherever Ramon was now. In a twinkling, she was far from the hotel running through a different forest.
Where am I? Cat wondered, then she caught sight of the hut. She could see the many, blazing candles and could hear what she took to be Ramon’s voice. He was chanting, but every so often he would pause to instruct another man. Cat crept closer, stealthily, and approached the hut. At first, she circled the crude structure, then homed in on the opening that served as a window. Certain she was invisible to both men, she leaned against the window ledge, peered inside, and saw Joseph.
Joseph from the hotel! Joseph was the second man. And that wasn’t the only surprise.
Since obtaining the book, the little sorcerer had easily drifted into Palo, the Spanish branch of a Congo sect. As he used more and more negative spells, he became more comfortable with summoning up evil entities and committing heinous crimes.
Cat had caught Ramon in the act of preparing his mayomberos. No matter that Cat wasn’t versed in Ramon’s brand of magic, she recognized black-witch talismans when she saw them. From what Maria had told them, the orishas were forces of light and would only permit themselves to be called upon for just magical purposes. And so, Cat doubted the orishas blessed the path Ramon had chosen.
Cat didn’t know that one orisha, Eleggua, was the exception. As long as Ramon remembered to sacrifice the honey-for-love and blood-for-life mixture to this keeper of the pathways, Eleggua ordinarily wouldn’t have been concerned that the power was being used for destructive purposes. But to Ramon’s detriment, even this orisha had noticed by now that Ramon was beginning to favor other deities and his sacrifices to honor Eleggua had become few and far between.
Ramon had just gathered up the guruninda (the heads, hearts, and legs of turtles and parrots) to place inside the quiro (an inedible, hard-rinded, tropical, gourd-like fruit). As Cat watched, he added roosters’ eyes, seven human teeth, a jaw-bone, and some cadaver hair. Just one look at the ceremony being performed in the hut told her Ramon was practicing a terribly dangerous brand of magic.
A magic frighteningly forbidden.
A magic dangerous to both the conjurer and others.
As Cat gasped in involuntary surprise, Ramon paused in mid-sentence. He wrinkled his nose in the Dominican custom, as if to say, "I do not understand."
"What is wrong, sir?" Joseph asked.
"Something . . . something is here," Ramon whispered, his strange, dark eyes darting into every corner as he spoke.
Joseph obediently looked around. "I see nothing, sir. Shall I search outside?"
Ramon gripped his companion’s arm in fear. The little sorcerer’s eyes continued to slowly scan the room. Each time, they came back to rest at the same spot.
"The window, Joseph! Look at the window!"
Joseph stared. He squinted his eyes at the opening. "I see nothing, sir."
Ramon continued to stare at the window. It seemed, as if he looked very hard, he could see two gray eyes. Cat started in surprise. He was looking right into her eyes.
He can see me!
Ramon leaped toward the window where Cat’s spirit stood, his hands outstretched like claws, as if he could grab and hold her. With a frightening shriek, Cat sprinted backwards across the grass, long legs pumping. Her spirit mind willed itself back into her body and, in a moment, she was exiting the forest beside the hotel. Cat easily cleared the leap back onto the terrace rail and re-entered the bedroom. Her spirit lay down in the bed and, again, became one with her body.
Catherine Elizabeth’s eyes snapped open with a start. "I’m home! I made it! I’m safe!" she murmured. She didn’t want to wake the others. T
omorrow would be plenty of time to tell of her adventure. Cat pulled the covers up over her head and went back to sleep.
The next morning, her companions didn’t take the news well. They began shouting at her, all at the same time, and it was giving Cat a headache.
"Catherine Elizabeth! Do you know how dangerous that was?" Raven shouted.
"What if you’d lost your way and couldn’t find your body? How would we know what was wrong with you when you just didn’t wake up?" accused Samantha.
"What if we thought you were dead? What if we’d buried you?" cried Robin.
Cat was sobbing by now. How could her wonderful out-of-body romp have gone so wrong? The others saw how miserable she was and stopped shouting. "Group hug! We certainly need one. Now!" commanded Raven and the three women jumped onto Cat’s bed and embraced her.
"You’re in a foreign country, Cat. They bury the dead very quickly around here due to climate and lack of funding for the niceties, such as embalming," Samantha whispered. "None of us should ever take a chance like that again. We have to discuss it first and then we all have to agree before any more such ceremonies take place."
"That gives us a chance to watch over one another in case something goes wrong," Raven said. Cat nodded her tear-streaked face in agreement.
"Besides, how do you know this great, out-of-body adventure wasn’t just a dream?" asked Robin.
"Because I could see not only in front of me, but all around me. And above and below as well. That’s astral plane. And the colors! Astral colors are so much more vivid," Cat sniffed.
"If what you say is true, then I think we four, little Wiccans are in over our heads. We haven’t a clue as to what we’re dealing with. I say we call Boy and ask for advice," Raven said, smoothing Cat’s hair. "We’ll call him tonight, when the rates are cheaper. Between now and then, let’s jot down everything we want to ask him. We wouldn’t want to leave any details out."
Spellbound: a Tale of Magic, Mystery & Murder Page 38