The Women of the Rose

by Sara Estey

  Dinner is an Asian, vegetable tempe dish, or, rather, dishes. An extensive assortment of entrees, and appetizers, are laid out before us. Tea, juice, and what appears to be some sort of wine, is also set on the tables.

  “It is lotus wine,” one of the ladies tells me, as I look inquisitively at the drink. “Only drink a small bit as it has calming properties to it.”

  Sarah and I sit with a group of women, including Maria and Linda. The food is delicious, and they are wanting to tell us more about the community. Between the long day, and the lotus wine, we are both exhausted, though. Finishing dinner, we bow out early and head back to the house to bed. Looking up at the sky, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many stars. It looks as if I could touch them. The star, Sirius, is especially bright in the sky and looks to be much closer than I’ve ever seen it.

  The sound of birds chirping wake me up from my slumber. Lying in bed, I watch the colors from the crystals shine as if a rainbow is dancing around the room. Pink, purple, blue, yellow; they all dance upon the walls, ceiling, and floor.

  It is beautiful, and it reminds me of Connie from the community I joined back in Egypt. She would help to transport me to other realms with her sounding, and the space she created in the room. This space feels the same to me, though no musical notes are to be heard at the moment.

  “Mom, breakfast is in the garden,” Sarah says, as she walks into my room. “Still sleeping?”

  “I’ll be down in a few minutes, love,” I say.

  I lie in bed after she leaves, and breathe. I feel so at peace here, so safe. The energy is palpable in the peace and security of it all.

  I do miss Rob and Judy, David, and Connie, and all the rest of them. It feels as if I’ve been away for months, not weeks. I wonder how they are doing, and holding up. I hope that Rob is okay.

  I also think about Joe; I miss him. I wonder if it is more than a physical attraction. It felt like it. I am cautious about being involved with a man. After what had happened with Peter and, before that, my husband’s untimely death, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be in a relationship. But, something about Joe felt comfortable, as well as the magnetism I felt towards him.

  Climbing out of bed, deep in my thoughts, I almost miss the stream of birds flying by. The line of white in the sky catches my eye and I walk out to my balcony. A flock of birds flies past, and then it turns, and comes back towards the house I’m in. I shake my head as it appears the birds are not making a straight line. They are not even making a circle. What looks like a giant heart is being made by the flock. I stare at the beautiful heart in the sky, before the birds fly off and I am left looking at a pure, crisp, blue over the lush green jungle.

  Meeting Maria and Sarah in the garden, I pour myself a cup of tea from the teapot, as Maria hands me a plate of fruits, and bread.

  “Would you like some oats?” Maria asks.

  “No, I’ll be fine with this,” I say. “I feel so good this morning I can’t remember when I’ve ever had such a restful sleep.”

  “Oh good,” she says. “Well, after you finish breakfast, I thought we could go help in the gardens.”

  I can’t get over how vibrant the colors are here. It is as if everything around me is so alive it could move over to touch me. I feel as if the trees and plants could expand from their current point of rootedness and grow, or move, to expand and wrap themselves around me.

  “Everything feels so alive,” I say as the three of us walk down the cobbled road outside the house.

  “What energy practices do you do?” Sarah asks Maria.

  “You shall see in a minute,” Maria says as she veers off the road onto a dirt path.

  We hear the song of the women, as we follow her down a trail that leads to a large garden. Three women are dancing about in the garden, and singing in tones I have never heard before. Their voices are singing in a beat, and tone, foreign to my ears. The language is not one I am familiar with.

  “They are using a light language from times much more ancient than most are aware of. The language is from our origins some sixty thousand years ago,” Maria says.

  “Sixty thousand?” I ask.

  “Yes, or so our ancient stories tell us,” Maria says.

  Maria motions for us to follow her to a table where some baskets have been stacked. We each pick up a basket, and follow her to the fields to harvest the vegetables for today’s lunch and dinner.

  Maria tells us that the song helps the plants to grow and flourish. She tells us there are different connotations and songs for different things in their world.

  “Energy and tone can heal and grow anything,” she says, as we pull the produce from the ground.

  Giant red tomatoes, green zucchini, lettuce, onions, and purple radishes almost as large as my fist; we gather the produce and put it in the baskets. The other women finish singing and join us in collecting our food for the day. Dew still glistens on the fields of produce; and, as I look up, I see two giant white doves flying in unison above us.

  “I feel so much love in this garden,” I say.

  “You should feel that all over the community, it is our signature, love,” Maria says.

  “I do feel that,” Sarah says. “Pure love.”

  “Yes, it is what we do: we love, and we are love. We send that energy of love out from every cell of our body, every moment,” one of the other ladies says.

  “Now, would you like to help us prepare lunch for the group?” Maria asks.

  As we walk to the eating area by the river, Maria tells us about the Love Mission.

  “We must only think Love, and be Love. What we think, is our reality,” Maria says.

  “Yes, I know that what we think is our reality,” Sarah says.

  “It literally is,” Maria says.

  As we help prepare a Greek-style lunch of salad, hummus, and falafels, I think about what Maria said. I wonder if they are somehow in this community creating a more positive reality than what we are doing in the rest of the world; and, if so, exactly how are they doing this? I had seen that in Kauai. The monks were able to keep the vibration up, and thereby create a more loving environment, where things also grew larger and more vibrant.

  Laughter brings me out of my thoughts. Brandon and the other children are laughing and dancing outside the hall. They have large, colored streamers which they are holding and dancing under, and over, as two children each take turns, holding and twirling them.

  I laugh at the sight, and Brandon comes and pulls me in. I dance with the children and, soon, the other women join us. Twirling and dancing, we eventually fall in a heap on the grass.

  “Okay, wash your hands and let’s eat,” Maria says.

  I notice that, as each person fills their plate with food, they then go hold it under a giant, clear crystal. I do the same.

  “That is a clearing crystal,” Linda says as she comes up behind me.

  “I thought so,” I say as I sit down at a table, while Linda sits across from me.

  I notice all the children eating with us. “Do they go to school?” I ask.

  “Not school as you know it,” Linda says. “They do learn the ways, though.”

  “What ways?” I ask.

  “The ways of creation, love, life,” Maria says, as she joins us.

  I look at her questioningly, and she smiles.

  “Perhaps you would like to see a lesson? The children are learning how to regenerate a fish, after lunch. Would you like to join the teaching?” Maria asks.

  As we gather at the river after eating our meals, I look at the children excitedly gathered around a fish that appears to be dead, and is lying on the river bank. Linda walks over to the fish, and lays her hands on it. She says a few words in a language I do not know, and asks that we all repeat it. Together, we all say what she says , and the fish starts to flop under her hands, and she tosses it back in the river.

  “Amazing!” I say out loud.

  “There is more,” says Maria, who is standing next to me.


  Linda asks everyone to stand in a straight line next to the river, and we do. She raises her hands, saying something, and a school of fish appears, swimming before us; and then they are flopping on the ground in front of us. Linda tells us to let them be, and they flop until they are dead, and lifeless, in front of us.

  Next, she reminds us of the incantation. We are each to put our hands on a lifeless fish. We do. Together, as we hold the fish and sing the incantation, the fish are once again filled with life, and we toss them back into the river.

  A bit weak in my knees, I sit at the riverbank. Sarah comes over, and sits beside me.

  “So, that is what we teach the children, the ways of living here in the community,” Maria says, as she joins us.

  I’m not sure what to say. This lesson is beyond my own knowings, and that of the world. I know for sure this is the home of the Women of the Rose. This place of healing, and beauty, is beyond that of the monastery, or any work the people in the Community I was part of did. This place was one of magic, and I knew that magic could save the world.

  CHAPTER 13

  Relativity of Time

  Waving to Sarah, as we pull out of the driveway and out onto the street, I smile and look at the brightness surrounding the jeep as we drive down the road. I want to be sure to note the difference of the landscape, as we go through the tunnel back into the ‘real world’.

  “How often do you have visitors, Maria,” I ask.

  “Not often,” she says. “It has been near fifteen years since the last one.”

  “The Guru?” I ask, and she nods.

  I look forward to getting back to town. We have decided to stay longer at the community. Two nights was not enough. I haven’t even had a chance to delve into the origins of the name for the community and if, in fact, a rose petal had any part in their society. These woman have not mentioned the rose, nor have I seen one here.

  Yesterday, we had played with the children; brought a fish back to life; helped in the fields; and helped prepare a meal. That night we had sat in a circle; sung to the stars; and grounded into the earth. We had also swum together in the river. The day had literally flown by in what seemed like moments, not twenty-four long hours.

  I needed to get to town for wi-fi to call Joe, and discuss the Community with him. I had spoken to Maria, but more about what the community I am a part of is doing. Maria, and the other women, had agreed to have those of us who wanted to come and stay with them, to do so.

  It was not safe for us any more in the outside world, and we wanted to help to expand the vibration, or consciousness, on the planet. A vote had been taken by the women, and it was agreed that, under the current climate and circumstances we were being faced with, it was okay for a few men to come into the community. The mission path of the two communities is similar enough.

  As we drive out of the mountain tunnel, I see the landscape has changed. The jungle is less colorful and less vibrant than in the community, and far fewer species of plants can be seen.

  I think of Joe, and am excited that I will be able to talk to him, shortly. As we get closer to town, I look at my phone and see it has a signal. Knowing I easily get car sick, it takes all I have not to call him as we are still moving.

  I jump out of the jeep, and Maria parks it, as I call Joe.

  “Maria, are you okay?” Joe asks.

  “Yes, I’m fine. Just back, and calling to check in,” I say.

  “We were all worried. I’m here, in town, in Sulawesi,” he says.

  “Worried? What! You are here?” I exclaim.

  Maria is walking toward the general store, and I see Joe standing outside of it. He sees me, as I see him.

  Running to each other, we embrace.

  “Joe. How on earth did you get here in two days?” I ask.

  “You have been gone over two weeks,” he says.

  “What are you talking about? Two weeks? It was just two nights,” I exclaim.

  “Darling, it was two weeks, and two days! Connie and I flew out to find you,” Joe says.

  I sit down on a wooden bench outside the store and look at my phone. He is correct. The date on my phone corresponds to what he is saying.

  “Maria. I came with Maria. Let me find her,” I say.

  “I’m just glad you are okay,” Joe says, giving me a hug as he sits on the bench next to me.

  Maria walks back out of the store, and I call to her.

  “Maria, this is my friend Joe from the Community,” I say. “He and Connie are here, looking for me. It seems that, though I only spent two nights at your house, it was in reality over two weeks.”

  “Oh, the time difference. I forget about this,” Maria says. “I think I have enough supplies for a light lunch in the jeep. Why don’t we all go sit over by the lake, where no one is around, and discuss this a bit more?”

  “Let me go get Connie from the hotel,” Joe says.

  “Mary!” Connie says, running towards me, just as Joe gets up to go find her.

  Giving Connie a big hug, I introduce her to Maria. We all follow Maria to the jeep and drive over to an area of the lake that is deserted. Bringing the food from the jeep, we set up a picnic for our lunch.

  “We were so worried as you were not back after two days,” Joe says. “After four days of you being gone, Connie and I flew out and met here to look for you. We have been here a week and a half. No one seemed to know exactly where the woman you had left with lives.”

  “Yes, there are legends of a secret community in the Stars, where the women who originated on this planet live. That was as close as we got to where you are,” Connie says. “You have no idea how relieved we are to have you with us now.”

  “Yes. Apparently, time is different where Maria is from,” I say. “It is different in that it is like the monastery, but more so.”

  “Yes, we want to hear about it,” Joe says.

  “Mary has spoken to us,” Maria says. “I understand that you are part of a Community that is trying to help with bringing consciousness of humanity back to a higher place: to the place of its origins. Of course, the origin you are seeking may not be the original, or even the one to aspire to.”

  “How do you mean?” Joe asks.

  “The origins are a cycle: a cycle of origins. That is something we can discuss more back at our community. We are extending the offer to you also, Joe. Usually we do not have males in our home. You would not be the first though,” Maria says, looking at Joe.

  “I see,” Joe says.

  “I think that you should come and see for yourself,” I say to Joe, and Connie.

  “Of course, we would love to come stay a while,” Connie says.

  “We need to tell you what has happened, though,” Joe says.

  “Happened?” I ask.

  “David. He was killed. Or at least that is what we were told,” Joe says.

  I feel sick, as if everything just fell out from beneath me.

  “What?” I utter.

  “We are not sure exactly what happened. They say he died of a heart attack in his jail cell. But, his health was good, as you know,” Joe says.

  I look at them blankly, as Connie speaks, and Joe holds me comfortingly.

  “The police said it was a heart attack,” Connie says. “But, we were not told until after they cremated him. We were not consulted, or told, of his death. No one was, until after the cremation.”

  “That can’t be legal,” I say.

  “It can be whatever the government deems these days. It doesn’t sound true. He was either killed, or is alive somewhere,” Joe says. “We felt he had died, as that is what the police and military told us. But, honestly, we have no idea what really happened.”

  “It seems much unrest is happening with your group. I am sorry to hear of your friend, David,” Maria says.

  “Yes, a lot is going on in the world in general right now,” Joe tells her. “Political unrest, and rioting, are happening all over the globe, as are natural disasters.”

  �
�We are isolated from the world as you know it,” Maria says.

  “Yes. You are Maria. I would not want to endanger your community with our presence,” Joe says.

  “There is no endangerment,” she says.

  Joe tells her a bit about what happened to the monks in Kauai, and how the military infiltrated their home and grounds.

  “The military is there at the monastery now, and it has negatively affected their energy field.”

  “I see. The monastery was already out there in the world, and the day to day functions of the world. We are not,” Maria says.

  “I understand. To be transparent, though, we don’t know who is watching us at this point,” Joe says. “No one followed us here, that we know of, but we are definitely under surveillance.”

  “Please don’t concern yourselves with the safety of my community. We are safe. Our vibration keeps us in this place,” Maria says. “When the Guru came we had many discussions about these things. We knew this day would come. We knew seekers of the same would come. We also knew that the men in the monastery would likely come to stay with us. It was foretold.” Maria says.

  Driving back to the community. I feel both happy, and sad. Joe sits next to me and holds my hand. I think of David and his smile, and deep knowledge. I remember all the help and refuge he gave us when I had to flee Egypt, to stay with him in Italy. I choose not to believe he is dead and that, for some reason, the military has decided to pretend that he is, for reasons I do not know.

  “This is an amazing tunnel that goes through the mountain,” Connie says, pulling me out of my thoughts.

  “Wait until we get to the other side,” I say.

  Maria pulls the jeep over, after we drive through the tunnel. We get out of the jeep and follow her to the river, below us.

  “These are holy waters. They are blessed with a crystalline frequency that once inside you, opens you up to higher truths and higher dimensions,” Maria says. “The vibration of our water, and our lands, radiates higher than that outside of the community. It helps us to live in a state of peace. Or, even why we live in a state of peace, and work together as one, in cooperation with each other.”