“Balance your work of dreaming, the reflected luminosity of the moon, with exercise and sun.” She gave Cinderella a push past the standing stone and into day light.
Chapter Eight
Moon Woman
Blackie was at the spring lapping at the edges of water. Cinderella drank from cupped hands. Together they set out in search of serenity held with in the beauty of the day.
They walked the pine forest. Passing a fallen tree the exposed roots were twelve feet long and six feet high. Two roots stubbornly attached to their matrix, Mother Earth. They fed the tree just enough nutrition to preserve the smooth wood. Cinderella ran her hands over the silky surface.
Sage stalks were just finding their spring legs. Stems of white yarrow, miniature Daisy’s and even purple alpine flowers were showing occasional spring faces. Cinderella sighed with pleasure. Finally free to walk the forest without the pressure to return to chores under the critical eye of her stepmother.
She collected sage, yarrow and pine nuts for her medicinal bag and for the Fairy Godmother. The Godmother’s home and cave located in the hills explained the availability of early herbs. She didn’t envy the mountains still breaking through winter.
Blackie managed to catch a fish. Cinderella gutted, and cut into pieces, the pink trout they shared. After eating they laid on the creek’s bank with sun filtering through the leaves. Cinderella fleetingly dreamed the woman with the round face and laughing voice.
She felt the pulse of life in the earth beneath her and the breeze floating. Refreshed, she played a version of tag with Blackie splashing in the still icy stream. They raced around the trunks of the giant trees. She grabbed his fur and tugged. Burying her face in the white flame at Blackie’s chest, her love and gratitude surrounded them.
When they found berries Cinderella used the bowl she carried in her pack for Blackie’s food and water. Filling it to overflowing, she was happy to have gifts to take back to the Fairy Godmother. Then she ate blue berries until her lips were purple, stained with berry juice.
The shadows grew long and the forest vibrated green and hazy gold interspersed with the afternoon sun. Frogs began their lullaby in the nearby creek. The woven melody of forest birds; frogs chirping, their sweet soprano floating on top, merged with ducks conversing while paddling on the nearby pond.
Cinderella inhaled to let the light and sounds, the rustling of trees, the cool air, all of luminous life sharing spirit with her. She unlocked her dream body to share more. Her senses vibrated to the sparkling green and dusty gold of the late afternoon sun slanting through the forest. Power, the central nervous system of the forest, rolled up her spine, saturating, soaking every crevice. Moving like sap, power satiating every cell with its sweetness. Her torso swayed and went still.
They found the Fairy Godmother waiting for them in front of the rock hiding the mouth of the cave. Cinderella gave her the offering of berries and herbs. They sat for a time enjoying the last rays of light and soaking up warmth from the granite and mica standing stone. “Cinderella tonight you will learn to dream the dream awake.”
Shaking her head with disbelief Cinderella was filled with doubt. In the dying warmth of the day, radiant in the massive granite stone they leaned against, it was difficult to believe in the mysteries of the dream.
She crossed her arms over her chest. With an awkward sniff she was poised to dismantle the Fairy Godmother’s tutelage on dreaming the dream awake. “Honestly,” she said, “I have no idea what you are talking about. Aren’t dreaming and awake opposite states of consciousness? How is what you are talking about even possible?”
Tapping her lip then rewarding Cinderella with a brilliant smile the Fairy Godmother laughed. “Day-dreams are the precursor to the empowered dreaming of Fairy Godmothers. Day-dreams are pathways to our imaginations. The possibilities of your life are only limited by the boundaries of your imagination. We train our mind to investigate, prepare for the realization of goals, even while we comfort and soothe with our day-dreams.”
Patting Cinderella’s knee she said, “Can you see? Day-dreams are a version of dreaming the dream awake. Tonight you will do the mirror of day-dreams. Tonight in the dream you will awaken and form your dream body in the dream.”
This friendlier version of the Fairy Godmother made Cinderella feel uneasy, but she couldn’t stop herself from falling into the mesmerizing cadence of the Fairy Godmother’s voice. “When you concentrate, focus your imagination to activate your innate healing abilities, you empower yourself Cinderella.”
Cinderella shifted restlessly. The Fairy Godmother pressed a calming hand on her knee. She said, “There is a powerful healing mechanism, existing within all of us, continually monitoring and repairing. Guided imagery, a form of day-dreaming speaks to the native ground where healing abides.”
Tapping her lip, eyes deep in middle distance, she added, “The day-dream is a vehicle bringing your senses inward. Specifically utilized with a healing focus, it calms the central nervous system, reduces high blood pressure and increases blood flow throughout the body.”
Cinderella shook her head. “I’m sorry. You lost me again. What is this healing mechanism you’re talking about?”
The Fairy Godmother sighed. “Listen Cinderella, most people day-dream all day long unaware of what they are doing. It is a sloppy way to live.” Squeezing Cinderella’s knee she continued, “I am teaching you the healing mechanism embedded in day-dreams and nocturnal dreaming. When you cut your finger do you ‘think’ it to heal with your mind?”
Suspiciously Cinderella said, “Noooo.”
Purposefully adding confusion to the moment the Fairy Godmother shouted, “Yes! Your body responds to injury where healing and repair are innate. Visualization is one way of connecting with those natural powers. Dreaming is another avenue.”
Fluting her lips, tapping with her finger, the Fairy Godmother paused to consider. “A wife to the Prince you are required to dream the dream awake.”
Cinderella gritted her teeth. The pleasures of the day spent with Blackie in the forest forgotten. The stink of frustration flavored her words. “Why? What is so important about dreaming?”
“You of all people would ask that question Cinderella? Why is dreaming important? Anyone with a stronger imagination can influence or even hypnotize you into believing false realities.”
“How?” Cinderella snorted, “How could that happen?”
Pointing a cautionary finger the Fairy Godmother continued, “You may think you are beyond being unduly influenced Cinderella. We only need look back to your relationship with your stepmother to find you were adversely influenced by another person. She had greater self-will, her powers of visualizing and dreaming far exceeded yours…”
Cinderella bit her lip. She wanted to argue, but she knew the Fairy Godmother was correct. She had been under the spell of her stepmother, a negative spell. The Fairy Godmother patted her knee, “Uneducated in the art of dreaming you and your family were vulnerable to predators.”
Shadows lengthening into twilight they gathered the herbs and berries and went once more into the cave. The Fairy Godmother set two cups near the fire pit. Striking flint she blew on the bits of shaving and kindling built while Cinderella was in the forest. Sparks flew at Cinderella and she blinked reflexively. When the fire filled the cave with warmth and the tea had steeped the Fairy Godmother asked, “What do you know of the moon Cinderella?”
“The moon? The moon influences the ocean tides….I think it even affects the crust of the earth?”
Handing Cinderella her cup the Fairy Godmother said, “Very good. Not many people know the moon effects land. Even the molten core of earth is affected by the moon. Even less people know the moon affects the weather.”
The Fairy Godmother tugged Blackie who shifted and put his head in the Fairy Godmother’s lap. Cinderella exclaimed, “He never puts his head on anyone but me!”
The Fairy Godmother laughed. She said, “Cinderella, Blackie’s home direction is the West as is min
e. Blackie feels safe with me. You were thrown into the West by your parent’s death. Your native direction is North.”
Cinderella stretched her legs in front of her and grabbed the arches of her feet to stretch out her back. Feeling her back lengthen she exhaled with pleasure.
The Fairy Godmother stroked Blackie’s fur and he gave a great heaving sigh. She said, “The moon exerts power over the tides, our bodies are seventy-five percent water, the moon affects us too.
“We Fairy Godmothers follow waxing and waning of the moon. At the full moon, we are more open. A full moon amplifies. Make your wishes at the full moon. Make your beginnings at the new moon. A waxing moon moving toward fullness is a good time for building, achieving goals. A waning moon is when we let go and release problems. We rest in the dark moon and seek the wisdom deep within.”
Rubbing her necklace of moonstones the Fairy Godmother became distant seeing with inward eyes. Chamomile tea, a day of play in the forest, the warmth of the fire, soft furs to dream on, and Cinderella’s eyelids were heavy. She was being pulled, magnetically infused, toward dreaming. The Fairy Godmother draped the midnight shawl over Cinderella whispering, “I’ll watch over you while you dream.” She said, “Tonight you will meet with Moon Woman. First you must awaken within the dream.”
Rolling to her side, tucking the shawl tighter Cinderella mumbled, “Awaken….how?” The Fairy Godmother interlaced her necklace of moonstones in Cinderella’s hands.
“To awaken within the dream and discover your dream body; pull your hands to your face. You must find your hands in the dream.”
She began a wordless chant. “Ooo, aaa, hiyi,yi,yi, aoha, hiyya,doe. Ooo,aaa, hiyi,yi,ya, aaaoooaahiyiyaao…”
Meanwhile Cinderella drifted through layers of mist, deeper and deeper she was pulled by the magnetic force of dreaming. Her heart synchronized with the pulse, the cadence, of dreaming. Inhabiting the stars, the night was velvet. The shimmer of starlight oscillating, until she felt her insides were filled with crystal chips. Vibrating at the wavelength of creation she was a cosmic rattle. She was each individual chip, shattering. She was the velvet blanket of Sacred Protection. She drew in more starlight. A woman’s voice embodied maiden, mother, crone. “Star shine is a gift from Infinite Wisdom. Never forget…..”
Seven years of poison, hidden beneath the interactions with her stepmother, encased in the electrical spark of star shine the venom flashed and disappeared replaced with starlight. Cinderella traveled eons. A full moon hovered; soft, yielding moonlight enfolding, when a memory jolted her. The Fairy Godmother had said what??? “Find your hands!”
Urgency made her shake. Floating weightless, remembering her body was a great ordeal. It was easier to fall back into the slumber of starlight. How many times did she wake to remember her awkward and cumbersome body only to fall asleep, once again floating in the vast cosmic ocean of starlight?
Compelled by the subtle urgings of infinity she recalled the luminous body of fibers the Fairy Godmother awakened. She experimented. Opening the fibers her spirit poured out. Calling it back with the potency of will she pulled her spirit back into the domain of fibers, closing the fibers with intention. Again and again she played the game until exhausted she could play no more.
Only then did she remember the Fairy Godmother’s injunction, “Find your hands in the dream.”
Her spirit seeping out the infinitesimal cracks of her luminous fibers, with an immense gathering of intent in conjunction with will she struggled to raise her hands to her face. They were an enormous weight. She strained and pulled….lifting. It was as if she pulled against some great gravitational force.
Holding her upper arms to her side she leveraged her lowers arms until they were at right angles and pulled. Spirit and substance, dream and reality, sleepwalking and waking, she pulled until her hands were in front of her face entwined with the Fairy Godmothers necklace of moonstones. “Ahhhaahh..”
She looked around.
Out of the reflective light a woman stepped toward her. She shimmered. Wavering three women in one form; Cinderella saw a maiden with a shy smile, a mother’s full happiness and the remote austerity of the crone. Her voice was woven with generations. “I am Moon Woman, keeper of the moon. Within my luminosity no harm can come to you. Call on me. I am your light in dark times. In my home you are free from the pains of the past. Look across my land. Can you see a still lake, high in the mountains?
“This is my home where you are always welcome. Call on me in the dark times. Call on me.”
Walking toward Cinderella, taking her hand she said, “You must become resilient. Like the light of a full moon falling without judgment. Who encompasses the pain of the world with tenderness?”
Tears blurred Cinderella’s vision. Why was she crying? She brought her hands up to her face and pressed her palms together in the universal sign of reverence. Moon Woman took her hands and held them. “Ecstasy lives in your instincts, as truth lines your gut. You must find West’s silence, serenity larger than your thoughts and problems. True silence lives in the present entwined with perfection.”
The moon stirred in Cinderella. Just below her naval Cinderella felt, a quivering? Transmissions of grace and protections, she quaked until she shattered. Vibrating to the frequencies of Moon Woman: A sovereign presence, her moon shield awakened within the Sacred Dream. Cinderella heard, “I am Moon Woman. Call on me in the dark times. Call on me. Seek my light. Call on me.”
“You are initiated into the universal mysteries. New knowledge and power will guide you. I am Moon Woman. Keeper of the sacred light I offer my protection, guarding your totality, at one with the Sacred Design. Seek my light. Call on me in dark times.”
Chapter Nine
North
Sounds of the Fairy Godmother packing, woke Cinderella. Rolling away from the noise she came nose to nose with Blackie. Delicately he sniffed her face. Cinderella yawned, “Good morning sweet Blackie. How are you?”
Blackie rolled to his back, four feet swaying, his tongue unfurled hanging outside his mouth. Cinderella squeezed the floating foot nearest her and then rubbed his belly. Shiny with black fur so dark it held hints of rainbow. Running her hand in the direction of fur growth she stroked his chest with its white flame.
Over her shoulder the Fairy Godmother called, “Leave Blackie with me. Seeking the Fairy Godmother of the North on mountain trails is too dangerous for Blackie.”
“What? When?” Cinderella’s mouth went dry.
“Now, Cinderella,” The Fairy Godmother smiled. “Blackie and I will see you onto the trailhead. North is a journey you encounter alone.”
Cinderella dove into the blankets. She wanted to cry. A strangled whisper barely heard, “I’ve spent everyday with Blackie for years. I can’t leave him. Leaving him wouldn’t be right!”
“You mean it wouldn’t be familiar to leave him. It is the correct choice.” The Fairy Godmother patted Cinderella’s hip hidden in blankets. “Blackie will be safe with me,” she said, “If you can’t trust a Fairy Godmother who can you trust?”
Cinderella’s mournful howl was muffled by blankets. Blackie barked. He nipped at the covers hiding Cinderella. The Fairy Godmother moved to the fire and scooped oatmeal into wooden bowls. Tipping a bag of dried fruits into each portion, she said, “Come. Eat. I have a teaching for you before you begin your North journey.”
Cinderella climbed off the dreaming stone, wrapped in the midnight blue shawl, making her way to the fire. Hair partially obscured her face. Cupping elbows into her palms she crossed her arms defensively. Blackie lifted his head to gaze at Cinderella. She leaned over and hugged him fiercely.
She stood watching the Fairy Godmother and Blackie eat. Cinderella couldn’t imagine eating. Not while her heart was breaking. Sitting with a sigh, she picked up a spoon and folded the dried fruit deeper into the oatmeal. Reluctantly she sat down. Dried banana, blackberries, and raisins sweetened the oatmeal. Lifting the spoon to her mouth, two servings later Cinderella’
s listless first bite ended, scraping the bottom of the bowl. Stealing a look at the Fairy Godmother from behind a curtain of hair she said, “Life is better with food. Thank you.”
Gathering the wisps of power generated in her belly Cinderella put her hand at her abdomen. She laughed. “The dreaming muscle, so alive, it feels natural!” She said, “Thank you for teaching me dreaming. I’ve learned so much.”
Her eyes were shining with excitement, “I don’t know how to begin to thank you.”
Taking Cinderella’s hand, sitting beside her, the Fairy Godmother said, “You’ve just begun this journey. Awakening your dream body is an achievement, but dreaming cannot save you from the dangers facing you as the wife of a Prince.”
Pulling back her hand, hurt flashed across Cinderella’s face. The Fairy Godmother sighed, shaking her head. She dropped her chin to her chest. Her eyes closed for a heart beat. Raising her head, looking Cinderella in the eye, she said, “The climb up North Mountain to the homes of the Fairy Godmother is fraught with dangers.
“The mountain is a crash course in challenges. Do you have the wisdom to mediate challenges? Do you have the endurance required to climb a mountain alone? Do you know your limits? Do you know when to push past your limitations? Can you make life and death decisions? Making the right choices is just the beginning of the North. Are you willing to release the parts of yourself impeding your journey?
“You have four, five days at the most, to complete this task. If you haven’t crossed the mountain pass you can’t marry the Prince.
“Your future depends on developing the wisdom to determine what you need to let go of in order to complete your journey. Each day, by twilight, you need to emancipate yourself from what’s holding you back.”
Confusion clouded Cinderella’s face. The Fairy Godmother clapped her hands. “Listen! For example; writing a book requires letting go of procrastination.”
Piercing brown eyes searched Cinderella’s hazel eyes. “Do you understand?”
Fairy Godmothers of The Four Directions Page 6