The Gemini Bridge (The York Street Series Book 1)

by Shea Meadows

  She took a deep breath. “The women in my family come from a long line of shamans trained in Alkebulan which is now called Africa by most of the world. Our tribe came from the place-of-the-jungles and over the last three centuries, our sisterhood has perfected the skill, and successfully taught it to men, women and children. At first, it was done as protection. If we appeared as animals then we were safer in the jungle. The hyena was less likely to attack if a man bore the trappings of a lion or rhinoceros. But how did it start?

  “The shamans of Alkebulan knew what we all have experienced: we are not the body but a web of energy. For centuries, the holy women and men were able to leave their bodies behind and do as we have done when clearing away spirits that are no longer serving well.

  “At some point, a spirit-walker who was also a teacher, decided it should be possible for humans to take on the form of animals. She, the one who is called Unnamed, walked in spirit into the jungle and sat with a female panther. The panther was aware of Unnamed’s spirit, because the animals see our essence, but did not attack. There was no scent of humans on the walker. No threat to the animal, so gradually the animal let down her guard and dozed. As the panther slept, the animal’s essence floated up and encountered the spirit walker and recognizing they were both of the same energy felt balance between them. They merged into each other, the human memorizing the patterns within the panther, the panther that within the woman.

  “When the panther had completed her nap, she found another panther beside her that had the familiar pattern of the woman. The panther, enjoying the game, switched its essence to that of the woman and they played together, switching back and forth until they were comfortable with both. The woman had been gone too long from her body, and she could feel her limbs cramping and her stomach rumbling without her essence, so she returned to her physical form.

  “Night after night the spirit-walker moved through the jungle, merging with the lion, the hyena, the monkeys both large and small, the reptiles, the water-horses, and animals and insects of every description. Most were excited to play with her and she treated all with respect. With some, it took more than one night; the spiders were most resistant to her approach and did not want to play at first, but gradually grew to respect this curious spirit.

  “The Unnamed had many masks she could wear while out of the physical, but she was dissatisfied. The animals could not harm her essence but they might still destroy her body, and then she would be forced to start again as a child.

  “Could she go the next step? Could she, remembering the patterns of the creatures, mold the physical being into that of an animal? Why could she not? The physical was just another layer of slower, denser energy. She remembered the panther, her first shifting partner. The animal had shifted while awake. Not only did her essence change to that of a woman, but the panther’s body resembled a hairy woman. If the panther could do this when new to the experience, why should Unnamed doubt her own ability?

  “So she allowed her inner essence to take on the balance of a zebra. Within she was zebra, and without still woman. She integrated the leg structure of the zebra first into one arm, and looking down, she saw hoof instead of hand. Elated at her success, she continued one part of the body at a time. The whole transition took over an hour. A woman had walked into the tent, a zebra walked out. This was startling for those around the tent who knew the woman was working on this transformation. A young child looked and saw the zebra on the outside, but recognized the spirit walker within. This is how Unnamed learned that once she transferred the pattern to the physical, the inner essence returned to human.

  “Everyone was excited and wanted to learn how she had done it. She reformed into her usual shape and explained to them what she had been doing secretly night after night. A male shaman asked to learn and spirit-walked with her the next night but nothing happened for him. He could see the changes she was making but could not match them.

  “Another night, a young man went with her and he easily learned how to integrate the form of a lion. Why did the elder not succeed and the student did? It finally came to Unnamed: the elder, though wise in magic was renowned for his curses. He had no compassion. Only those with compassion were successful. It was impossible to pretend this quality. If compassion was practiced daily, the transformation was possible. There was no being within creation that could be treated with anything less than compassion. Even Unnamed had almost failed with transforming into a spider since she had been bitten as a child and was at first unable to forgive that species.

  “The hunters, strangely enough, could transform into other life forms, but never to catch and slaughter animals. If the hunters slaughtered animals for the good of the tribe without malice and without waste, and showed gratitude to the spirit of the animal, they could transform outside of the hunt.

  “Through the years, Unnamed taught many her skills, not just within her tribe, but throughout the-place-of-the jungle. She traveled also to the-place-of the-sea and the-place-of-the-sand. She worked first with the shamans of other tribes, and they in turn taught their people. This tradition passed from generation to generation and came over to the other countries that captured slaves from Alkebulan.

  “There are those that have these skills in most continents of the world. The Native Americans came to these realizations on their own through the same type of experiments. Where ever shamanic work was done, the skill was discovered. It is not in our tradition alone but belongs to all born of Spirit.

  “As more people learn how to do this, the skill becomes more refined and immediate. It has come to be that when I teach the art of shapeshifting to those already trained in spirit communication, the field of wisdom or as some call it, the morphic field, has quickened the learning. All of you can change the appearance of your spirit-body with little or no training. I have seen this in the exercise done today. Even those not playing an active part were able to observe as a non-bodied being. My goal for today would be to have you change your spirit-body into animals, plants, insects and birds, and maybe even forms that are not natural to this reality. Does this sound like a good next step?”

  The group all responded positively, some asking about when they would get to the physical transformation part of the skill.

  “I am unsure,” Katera answered. “We are working with an unknown number of days and besides, things seem to accelerate with the use of the etheric crystals. You might all be lumbering about in the bodies of large creatures before the end of the weekend.”

  A chorus of laughter and hoots and other animal noises greeted her answer.

  “So first of all, make the intention to rise above your bodies. You might find it more comfortable to stretch out on the floor before you do this. Then, I will transfer the pattern for a cat to you. In this case, not a lion or a panther or a tiger, because some of you might never have been close enough to the jungle cats to make the change easily. If you have problems, look for me or one of my daughters, and connect with their morphic field,” Katera instructed.

  The group did as instructed and soon a clower of cats were prancing about in the frequency above that of their physical bodies. Still in the form of a cat, Katera continued to speak: “I have turned into a panther many times, since it is my spirt animal. I will change into it now and do it slowly so you can integrate the pattern.”

  The group watched as the cat changed one paw, one hair, one purr at a time into a panther; all were making the intention that they integrated the pattern that Katera was using. Soon after that, most of them turned into panthers as well. Some took longer and needed help from those who were successful, but ultimately all succeeded.

  And they went on changing to many animals, large and small, recognizing that their way of looking at those around them changed as their essence became one with another species.

  Soon they were working on the insects and were given permission to choose their favorites, and about half became butterflies. Then the challenge was to make their insect of choice as massiv
e as the elephant that they’d shifted into earlier. Soon there were giant ants, spiders the size of a building, butterflies the size of small airplanes and many more.

  “This now is a unique challenge,” Katera told them from her astral body now changed into a wasp, “make your insect a creature of war. Add features to it that you might see if you watched a science fiction movie from the nineteen-fifties. Make them frightening. You never know when this skill will come in handy.”

  Ricky was a butterfly at that point, flying wing to wing with David, a giant moth. “What do you think? Does she know something we don’t know? This was Megon’s advice when we met with the guides. What are they expecting?” Ricky’s voice sounded strange when processed through the monarch.

  “I would imagine this skill will be important,” David-as-moth answered. “This exercise doesn’t let us get by on Katera’s skills; we have to create unique patterns as we customize our rides, so to speak.”

  Ricky concentrated on the challenge, the orange patterned wings turning into a substance that appeared to be a mix of brass and body armor. The long feelers developed spikes at their tips, the proboscis dripped venom instead of collecting pollen; the pleasant eyes became red with rage.

  David’s plain brown moth became a cecropia moth, like one he had been shown by an uncle when he was a child. The rare specimen was stunning in its own right, but as modified by David it was frightening. Its red head was a ball of fire with two feathery poison darts sprouting from it. The eyes that were patterns on the wings had morphed into real eyes that shot daggers and were constantly tracking his prey.

  The two flew side by side and zoomed over a giant fire ant which turned out to be George. He too had turned the poison from the ant into actual fire. Beth Ann clomped around as a Daddy-Long-Legs with a huge mouth that sprouted impressive fangs. Julia Quintus was a giant cicada making ear-piercing sounds from rubbing razor sharp legs together. Everyone’s giant insect variations were impressive. They all moved around, showing off their creations and generally having a good time.

  After a while, Katera morphed back into her astral body and put forward another challenge. “Now, not changing back into your usual form, switch from your insect to a flower and see how quickly and accurately you can do it.”

  In an instant the large monstrous insects became large flowers. Ricky and David both changed into red tulips without having voiced their intention and the rest created a variety of other types. Shri showed off with a lovely multi-colored lotus that was as big as a room.

  Katera clapped her hands in delight. “You are such excellent students. I am sure some of your skill comes from the Etheric emeralds but you have learned to do so much through intention. Now, a new challenge: shrink your flowers to the size that you would normally see in a garden and bring in a new attribute; give them the aroma they’d usually have.”

  If giant flowers could make sounds of distress as they tried to figure out their plans, the space-less space would have been filled with a chorus of confusion.

  ‘How do you create aroma?’ seemed to be the question.

  The shrinking part was easy; just condense the existing pattern into a smaller version. But aroma, another problem altogether; Ricky solved it by going back in her own time-line to when she’d smelled a tulip, translating that into an energetic pattern and popping back to the frequency were they were working. A pleasant but subdued aroma wafted from a standard-size tulip that was made using the essence of her bodiless energy field. She watched fascinated as the rest of the large flowers decreased in size as each one solved the problem at their own speed.

  When all had accomplished the task, Katera addressed them. “This is your final challenge for the evening. We have not yet become avian life forms. The last shapeshifting is from your fragrant flowers to a bird of your choosing. They can be of any kind, but I suggest one that you appreciate and have studied in the past so their appearance is within your Akashic Record. Not only will you switch to the bird, you will duplicate their song. Ready now?”

  Ricky had it figured out from before. Going back along her time-line, she made the intention to find a time where she looked closely at a robin. There were many robin images stored in her record, but the most concise was that of a film done by National Geographic. She held that image still, downloaded the energetic pattern and the harmonic sounds that it made. She then returned to Ricky-as-tulip and shifted into the new energetic pattern, complete with audio and flight patterns.

  She twittered a happy song when she saw David-as-robin, he having chosen the male robin to her female. He perched next to her on a tree that Katera had manifested for all her students, and they observed the finches, eagles, hawks, herons, cranes, geese, ducks and even a flamingo that had joined them. It was a cacophony of bird calls in a triumphant chorus of celebration for lessons well learned.

  At Katera’s request, they all dropped back into their bodies, sat up, stretched out and talked about how it had felt to accomplish so much in just under two hours. The group was hungry and thirsty and was pleased that Erna and Cynda Lu had followed Katera’s instruction to bring in fruit juice and popcorn to be enjoyed after the work was completed.

  “I have a surprise for you. I will let Gimma tell you about it,” Katera said.

  Gimma stood and her features began to morph, her skin to feathers, her face to a beak and piercing black eyes, her arms to wings, her legs to two long spindly yellow legs with talons where feet used to be.

  The large crow then talked to them. “I have been to many classes like the one you just took part in. Usually the students would do one of the exercises that my mother put you through, then do the next another day. After many weeks of changing shapes in astral bodies, she would then teach how to change the physical body as well.” Gimma-as-crow strutted as she spoke in a raspy crow voice.

  “This group has accomplished in two hours what usually takes others two months. You are ready to start with the physical transformations. She will be working with you on this next step tomorrow night. Congratulations!”

  Gimma then changed back into her usual body, and was surrounded by those in the group, excited by what she had shown them, and what they had done in one evening.

  George’s voice cut through the various conversations. “Are there any others that can already do that?” In response, Bonta changed into a wolf, Erna turned into a snake, Vicky turned into a large parrot, and Mary Joy turned into a small dragon.

  The group exploded with applause and excited chatter as the women turned back to their usual bodies.

  “My daughters of course know the skills of our family tradition. Erna, Vicky and Mary Joy have studied with me in the past,” Katera explained. She turned to Vicky. “How long did you study before you could accomplish what you just demonstrated?”

  “I worked with you a year, Master Teacher and I can only become a parrot. I had to move so could not continue our studies. I am so grateful that you are teaching here,” Vicky answered.

  “So we will only be able to turn into one animal physically?” Ricky asked.

  Katera shrugged. “I have no idea. I would have said it was impossible for any of you to do what you did tonight but you have done it. Perhaps it is the etheric emeralds, or the gemstone matrix patterns that are all around the room, provided by Mel Shank and his students. Perhaps it is help from the higher frequencies. Maybe Moon and her team of guides, maybe beings that we have not yet met.

  “It was Moon’s request that brought me here, so I know this is needed to prevail against the Stealer. They are allowing us to tinker with the rules of this reality in order to end the threat to the evolution of all beings.”

  “Could we start the physical shifting tonight?” Beth Ann asked, her nose twitching with excitement.

  Katera shook her head. “It would be too much for all of us. Our bodies need to sleep so they can tolerate another day in this low frequency. No part of us is comfortable in this dimension without a chance to recharge our being.”


  Many others had questions. All of them had been working for years to get themselves proficient in the mystery skills, but these were their greatest challenges. They knew it was possible; they had seen such changes happen to people they had been working with. But was it all an illusion?

  *

  In the house on Boston Street, the man formerly known as Roy Fields paced in circles in the attic, ignoring the questioning of the woman formerly known as Julie. Sam Reading was sitting on a dusty overstuffed chair, wringing his hands and muttering. Finally Roy stopped and sat down in the air, floating around the room like a leaf riding an unpredictable breeze.

  “I cannot see them at all, but I am hearing bits of their conversation. There is someone there from another reality, teaching them skills. I cannot discern what but I can feel the danger,” Roy said, anger rushing out with his words.

  “She didn’t leave then? The sister is still there? She was falling apart. I could feel her falling apart. Her fear permeated every inch of her body,” Julie said, her voice climbing higher as she spoke.

  “I cannot tell if she left. What holes that were left in their shielding have been corrected. Was she there in Brookfield today?” Roy asked turning to Sam.

  Sam’s face scrunched up into a weird facsimile of his former features. “Maybe, I’m not sure. New reinforcements arrived. They’re the ones that tore apart everything we built in Brookfield. There’s not a linked ghost or disincarnate of any kind left there, and I can’t link a new ghost to the principal. Horace is gone. All the children are unlinked. What a disappointment. Have to try again somewhere else.”

  Roy floated over to the window and peered out through the clouded glass. “Someone new is responsible for the shielding. It seems to come from intricate gemstone configurations. I think the one from the other dimension helped them clear the patterns I planted in the sister. I thought for sure that would be the end of her. I didn’t set anymore traps because I was sure those would solve the problem. Maybe we have to be more direct. Something has to change.”