by Scott Blum
“Where are you from?” I asked, changing the subject.
“I’m from all over, most recently from Eugene.”
“And what brought you here?”
“I came to meet you, of course.”
I laughed, not sure if he was joking.
“I travel to wherever I’m needed, and Ashland always seems to have people who are ready to move on to the next level.”
“The next level of what?”
“The next level of consciousness. Because Ashland is in a vortex, it traps people who are on the path. And many, like you, don’t realize they’re on a path until they meet someone like me.”
“Someone like you? What does that mean? You mean there are other people like you?”
“Of course there are other people like me, just as there are other people like you. You are on the verge of a spiritual awakening, and I’m here to help you through it. Thankfully, many people are on their way, now more than ever. It’s finally time for this planet to wake up so we can collectively progress to the next level.”
I didn’t think I was on the verge of a spiritual anything. I simply thought that my car had broken down in a small mountain town, and I was trying to make the best of it with what little money I had. I’d never really thought much about spirituality before, and although my parents had both been brought up in religious families, they decided to raise their kids to be agnostic, so I didn’t have much experience with such things. And although we celebrated Christmas, it was much more “Santa & Rudolph” than “Jesus & Mary.”
As we continued to walk up into the hills above the town center, I finally realized why Robert was being so nice. He was evidently a religious fanatic trying to convert me.
“So what religion are you?” I thought that it was time to get it out into the open.
“Religion? I’m not religious!” he answered indignantly. “Who said anything about religion? Spirituality and religion are two very different things.”
“Sorry, I just thought—”
“Religion is the knowledge of truth,” he interrupted, “and spirituality is the wisdom of truth.”
“Are you saying that religious people aren’t spiritual?” I was confused.
“Of course not.” His voice became much softer and more understanding as he explained further: “There are lots of religious people who are very spiritual. Religion is just one of the many paths to spiritual awakening. Memorizing passages, practicing rituals, or studying the science of the universe all do the same thing: they keep the mind occupied with knowledge until one has enough life experience to know what to do with it. And that is wisdom. Wisdom = Knowledge + Experience.”
“But if religion is the knowledge of truth, how can so many religious books contradict each other?” My agnostic upbringing was starting to show.
“There is a single underlying truth that ties everyone together, whether it’s written or not. And although they try, words always fall short of capturing the essence of truth, and contradiction is one of their first traps.”
I was starting to get dizzy, and I waved for Robert to stop so that I could catch my breath before continuing. I’d thought that I was in pretty good shape, but all those years of sitting in bumperto-bumper traffic had clearly taken their toll.
Robert put the small black puppy down on the sidewalk and continued: “But for those of us who are open to tapping into the wisdom of the universe that already exists, we can embark on the path of truth in much less time.”
I resumed walking slowly up the steep hill, and after making sure the puppy was okay, Robert flung the black Lab over his shoulder and effortlessly jogged up the hill to catch up with me.
After letting what he said sink in, I finally asked, “So does that mean I can tap into wisdom of the universe?”
“Yes, you can. We all can. The question is: are you ready to surrender your own experiences to the universe?” He held my gaze intensely for several seconds, and I looked away.
“That sounds hard,” I finally said.
“What’s hard is fighting against destiny. But that’s what making mistakes is for. To learn what is and what isn’t your destiny. Do you understand?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know.” I didn’t have any energy to pretend.
“That’s what I like about you,” he laughed. “Your honesty is refreshing.”
I didn’t know what to say that would make it any clearer, so I finally asked, “How long have you been helping people with their spiritual awakening?”
“About 1,200 years now.”
I nearly tripped on the curb, not sure if I’d heard him right. “You look pretty good for 1,200 years old.”
“Very funny. Of course I haven’t been in this body for 1,200 years. This one is pretty new to me.”
“How new?”
“Just a few weeks now. I got it in Eugene from Don here,” he said, gesturing to his small furry companion, whose eyes were now half open as the puppy’s head bobbed up and down with Robert’s every step.
“Puppy Don gave you the body you’re in now? How did that work?”
“‘Puppy Don’—I like that.” He smiled. “I’m what they call a Walk-in,” he continued. “What that means is, I look for a host body to use whenever my previous body is no longer of service and then use the new one. It’s very similar to what everyone else does before they’re born, but instead of my soul picking a newly conceived body, I pick one that already knows how to walk and talk. It makes it a lot easier to get down to business. After 1,200 years, I don’t need to be a teenager again. That’s too much distraction.”
My head was spinning. I wasn’t sure if I believed him or not, but I had to admit he wasn’t boring.
“And what does Puppy Don have to do with all this?”
“This body I’m in was previously inhabited by Don. Unfortunately, the cancer got to him, and he couldn’t afford the treatment. And since he was so entrenched in the illusion of modern medicine, he didn’t realize he could treat himself. So when he was on his way out, I made a deal with him that I would give him another body and take care of him if I could use his human one.”
“So you turned him into a dog?”
“Of course not!” he laughed. “I just gave his soul some options that were most practical, and after some convincing, he selected the body he’s in now. I’m not going to be in this body very long, so he needed to pick one that was on the same cycle that I was.”
“He needed to live in dog years.”
“Exactly.”
After scaling the second hill, I was nearly out of breath again and wasn’t sure that I could make it up the third. Robert handed me an unopened bottle of water, and I took a sip, which gave me a chance to take in the beautiful vista of the valley. The water was exceptionally refreshing, and looking down the hill, we paused long enough so that I could see the floor of the valley below that seemed to cuddle up to the hills like a hand-woven rug next to a stately stone hearth. There were many places I had never been to in Ashland, and I was always taken by the town’s beauty when I discovered a new vantage point to view it from.
“Here we are,” Robert said when we arrived at the top of the third hill. In front of us was a large cement-covered water reservoir, and to the right the road turned from pavement to dirt and meandered through what seemed to be a horse pasture. I followed Robert off the main road to the left and came to the top of a hidden stairway that had been obscured by several full bushes. We carefully descended the precarious steps into the most magical meadow I had ever seen. Shafts of golden light danced on the moss-covered fallen logs, and the ground was carpeted with a combination of long green grass and the most delicate of ivy.
“This is incredible,” I gasped while taking in the magical beauty that appeared to have been lifted from a Maxfield Parrish painting. The light that engulfed the meadow was in constant motion, and the hues of the trees and grasses changed from blue to green to purple to orange and back again.
“Yes, it is. This is
the largest fairy meadow in all of Ashland. Be sure to stay on the path as you walk—you don’t want to crush anyone’s home.”
I wasn’t sure when he was serious or not, but judging by his wrinkled brow, it didn’t seem like he was joking.
“You wanted to learn how to gather universal wisdom that already exists, and that is why I brought you here. Nature is filled with that very wisdom, and it’s all around us every day. There are many wise nature spirits living in this meadow, so it’s an easy place to feel the difference between their energy and the energy created by humans. Be very quiet and simply feel their presence.”
I sat on a rock adjacent to the path and closed my eyes to see if I could sense what he was talking about. Almost immediately a tingle in my stomach forced an uncontrollable laugh.
“Yes, they’re quite playful. And they sure are curious about you! Do you feel that?”
“Um, I think so.” I did feel something strange, and playful was definitely a good word to describe it. As I opened my eyes, I saw a bright blue dragonfly hovering a few inches in front of my nose, as if to stare directly into my eyes. It sped off as quickly as it had arrived, and then I saw four more, following a triangle path above my head. Within seconds they seemed to multiply into dozens, and less than a minute later there were literally hundreds of dragonflies all darting in between the trees, following the same triangular pattern. One at a time, they would hover within inches of my nose until I began to get dizzy.
“Dragonflies!” I was nearly speechless as my heart raced with excitement. I had always been attracted to these graceful creatures, but I had never seen so many in one place.
“Yes, fairy spirits take the form of dragonflies when they want humans to see them. Aren’t they beautiful?”
“There are so many! What are they doing here?”
“Every tree in the forest has a nature spirit to look out for it, and since we’re in the mountains, there are lots of tree fairies to take care of them. Everyone has a job to do on this planet, and that’s theirs. They are lucky: they are born knowing what their destiny is. It’s harder for humans, since the first part of their journey is discovering what they are meant to do.”
After a few hours it began to darken under the tree-lined canopy above the meadow, and the light began to play hide-and-seek with the shadows. The greens and blues turned to browns and purples, and faces in the tree bark emerged and retreated with every second. The dragonflies flew away to their respective tree houses, and Robert collected Puppy Don, who was fast asleep in the grassy meadow.
Robert quietly gestured for me to follow him, and we made our way to the other side of the meadow, which was still illuminated by twilight. We then came upon a large irrigation ditch with a well-worn walking path along its grassy lip. I could hear that a stream was still flowing even though it was summer, and I was comforted by the soothing water sounds that caressed the rocks and pebbles on its journey through the forest.
“Watch your step,” Robert said as we transitioned onto the side of the culvert. “I have something very special to show you.”
We followed the stream for about ten minutes until we came to an open field just as the night had fully committed to darkness.
“Look at that!” he exclaimed while pointing at the large moon peeking from behind the mountains across the valley. We both sat down in the clearing and watched the silvery moon ascend to illuminate the darkened sky. The moonrise was breathtaking, and I couldn’t remember if I had ever taken the time to really watch it before.
As soon as the silvery orb had fully revealed itself, Robert said, “This is a very special full moon tonight. It’s called the Blessing Moon, and it represents the union of the earth and sky. It is traditionally a time to begin a spiritual journey, as the power of summer fills nature with fullness and abundance.”
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“Ready for what?”
“Ready to breathe in the energy of the moon?”
“What does that mean?”
He ignored my question and proceeded to guide me through a series of actions that I reluctantly followed. “First, stand up and bend your knees slightly. Then bend your elbows so your upper arms are perpendicular to your forearms, and raise your hands up on either side of your head with your palms open, facing the moon.”
Robert contorted himself while talking, and I mirrored his movements the best I could.
“Good,” he continued. “Now lift your head back so your nostrils are aligned with the moon. And squint your eyes so you’re looking at it through your eyelashes.”
It wasn’t the most comfortable position in the world, and my neck and lower back started to ache almost immediately.
“Now breathe in the energy of the moon through your nostrils in long, slow, deep breaths. Hold the energy inside of you for a count of five, and then slowly exhale through your mouth.”
I followed his lead, and after a while I thought I could feel the lunar energy enter my nostrils, travel down my throat, and accumulate in the pit of my stomach. It was a cool, calming feeling; and the more I consumed, the more I felt a reservoir of energy fill my insides. However, my excitement was quickly replaced by a cramping pain in my neck and lower back, and after just a few minutes I had to sit down.
When I glanced over to Robert, I saw that he had placed his right foot on the inside of his left thigh just above the knee and was balancing on one leg. Without moving a muscle he said, “Don’t worry—it takes time for your body to feel comfortable in that position. Even a few deep breaths will give you enough energy to last until the next full moon. I try to breathe in every full moon to give me strength for the month.”
I could see why he would do this regularly and thought that I should try it myself. I felt more powerful than I ever had, and the moon energy felt like it was waiting for me to call on it whenever I needed extra help.
“The lunar energy in the mountains is much more powerful than in most other places,” he said after a long silence. “The only other place on Earth that has access to really powerful moon energy is in the heart of the desert.”
Robert lowered his leg and opened his bag, which was on the ground next to Puppy Don. He pulled out a small bracelet and handed it to me with both hands while bowing his head. It had several round orange gemstones with silver discs that were sandwiched between white opal-like stones that glimmered in the moonlight.
“I made this for you. It has carnelian to help you speak your truth, moonstone to nurture your intuition, and silver moons to help retain the lunar energy you received tonight. Wear it every day for the next twenty-eight days and you will begin to feel its power. The power of gemstones is one of nature’s gifts. There are many moons of energy already contained in these stones, and you can bring it with you during the daylight hours. However, it’s important to keep the bracelet charged by putting it outside in a dish of saltwater every full moon.”
“I will,” I said as I fastened the bracelet onto my wrist. I’d never worn jewelry before, but for some reason this bracelet felt like it was already a part of me. It was like a long-lost friend that had just found its way back to my wrist.
After a few more minutes, Robert looked up at the sky and said, “I have to go.” He gathered his belongings and picked up Puppy Don, who was still sleeping. “I have a lot to do tonight, and I completely lost track of time. Stay here as long as you want—do you know your way back?”
“I think so, but I’m done.” I was starting to get cold, and I was just wearing short sleeves. I hadn’t expected to be gone past dark.
“Okay, let’s go.”
We retraced our steps along the grassy lip of the winding culvert, and the water below reflected the silvery light of the moon. When we finally returned to the meadow, it looked and sounded much different than I remembered. It was as if someone had rearranged all the fallen trees along the path and blotted out key rays of moonlight to deliberately confuse any visitors. I was sure I would have lost my way if I’d been alo
ne.
As we walked, Robert continued to answer my questions.
“How can the full moon give you energy?” I asked.
“It’s simple. Everything in the universe is merely an exchange of energy. It either helps collect energy or it helps expend energy. The Chinese have called this yin and yang. I assume you are familiar with the yin-yang symbol?”
“Of course. The black-and-white circle thingy.”
“Exactly. Moonlight is filled with yin energy, which is restorative. And during the full moon, the yin energy is at its peak, so it’s much easier to receive and store for later use. On the other side, the sun is filled with yang energy, which gives you the power to express yourself if you have yin energy in reserve. Does that make sense?”
“You mean, the moon fills up your bank account, and the sun helps spend it.”
“That’s a good way to describe it,” he laughed. “What I wanted to show you is that nature can provide you with all the energy you need if you just slow down and let it help you. The moon, the sun, and everything else in nature has been provided by the universe to help us with our earthly needs. Unfortunately, over the past few hundred years, humans have been taught to ignore nature instead of turning to it for help—which is probably at the root of the reason the environment is in the shape it’s in.”
I didn’t like to think about environmental issues at all because they were so depressing. And they seemed too big for me to do anything about.