The Awakening

by Colleen O'Flaherty-Hilder

  With this in mind, she was conscious that her daughter was coming to an age of initiation when she would start to be assimilated into the ancient Crystaland knowledge, ensuring her understanding of the Crystal Wisdom and, more importantly, learn what would happen if that Wisdom was not followed. Maeve knew that the continuation of this knowledge in its original form was the most important legacy ever to be handed down to future generations. At that moment in time Orla lived a charmed life in this paradise haven of Crystal Island and was blissfully unaware of what the outside world truly looked like and, more importantly, what would happen if the Crystaland legacy were to die.

  It was a knowledge that went beyond reason and logic and went beyond the three-dimensional human world. It was a knowledge that had to be experienced in the deepest part of their memory in order to transform all vestiges of the human fear memories, which had been so deeply implanted in those early primitive years of mankind’s history. The language of fear and the language of Crystal Wisdom were incompatible. Each level of fear in a person’s memory had to be rewritten in the language of Crystal Wisdom for the complete revelation of Wisdom to occur.

  Crystal Island had offered to give a version of this knowledge to the world’s Federations in a form thought to be at a level that the ordinary man could understand and assimilate, but this would have taken time and, unfortunately, the leaders had no patience. They wanted to fast track people, cut corners and get results quickly. It was an impossible task because their science was still very primitive in its understanding of how the human mind functioned. In addition, the many wonderful facets of the crystal-human mind had become dulled over time owing to the destructive effects of fear on the chemistry of the human brain. Added to that cocktail was the damaging effect of the ever present polluted environment and the number of chemical medications over zealously administered to balance the minds of people whose emotional functioning fell outside of their restrictive parameters of normal. Earth had definitely become the planet of the ‘quick fix’ kings. But, short cuts never work well with Creation; an oak tree doesn’t evolve from an acorn to a full-grown tree, in all its wonderful glory, in one giant step. In Crystal Wisdom, there is a plotted path of transformational development and, if any of the steps of this path are skipped, then chaos unfolds.

  And so, on Orla’s 14th birthday Queen Maeve told her that she was of an age to start her initiation into Crystal Wisdom and her grandmother, Grace, would accompany her for part of the journey. Her grandmother had once been a beautiful vibrant queen but as she had become older, and Orla had no idea how old she was, she had needed more rest and had eventually happily handed over the title with its incumbent responsibilities to her daughter Maeve, as was the custom. All three women bore a strong resemblance but their colouring differed. They were petite in body and all had thick straight long hair, the fairest of skin, beautiful almond shaped eyes that were framed with luxuriant black lashes. As the females of the royal family increased their Crystal initiation, their hair and eyes began to change colour. Orla had black/brown hair and deep hazel eyes with flecks of green, fully reflective of the Earth’s rich tones, Maeve had sprinklings of white hair interlacing her beautiful thick dark hair and her eyes were pale jade green. Grace’s hair had turned completely white and fell thickly in silky braids around her shoulders but her eyes held the most remarkable of these changes. They had become lightened to a piercing silver grey and Orla would often spend moments staring into her grandmother’s eyes drawn to their depth and clarity; it was as if her eyes were portals to many worlds which held the promise of eternity. Orla was bursting with the excitement and enthusiasm of a young girl brought up to embrace knowledge, change and challenge. She had not a shred of apprehension only excitement. She had heard about the initiation, of course, her whole life but had no conception of what it would be like but she sensed that it would be magical.

  Before Orla could go on her journey of initiation Maeve and Grace knew that she needed to be formally bound to her future consort. The binding ceremony was important as it entwined the emotional memory of the two individuals enabling the consort to experience the initiations that Orla would be receiving, but in a more subtle way. The royal male line underwent their own initiation into Crystal Wisdom to fully understand their personal responsibilities. Orla had grown up with a group of young boys from the royal families and had increasingly become attached to Finn. Prince Finn was also 14, very tall with coarse red curly hair, and the deepest blue eyes. Although he had by no means developed physically, there was already promise in his young body of that phenomenal super strength that his genetic line manifested as they developed into manhood. As yet Orla had no comprehension of the qualities of the different Crystaland worlds that she would experience during her initiation, but there was one in particular that was the home of strength and power where Finn would need to spend several years before they could be together as husband and wife.

  During their free time they were inseparable, spending their days enjoying each other’s company, talking and laughing, or riding their horses wildly across the beautiful fields and forests of the island. Grace had been told of their union by her Crystal mentors when Orla and Finn were babies, but the adults of the royal line knew that nothing could be forced, their relationship had to evolve naturally.

  Maeve and Patrick had observed the closeness of the two developing over the years and happily approached Orla asking if she would like to be promised to Finn. She squealed with delight. She was as yet unaware of the complexities of adult relationships, but knew that on a very deep level she and Finn were one, and she adored him. Finn’s parents had asked him the same question and he was equally delighted; he had felt exactly the same as Orla, he loved her spirit, her enthusiasm for life and was captivated in his own innocent way by her promise of beauty.

  The binding ceremony took place in the sacred circle of crystals, which had been created when the Crystalanders first came to the island for such occasions as this. Grace led the small party, Orla and Finn accompanied by the two sets of parents. Grace was responsible for administering all of the seven sacred Earth initiations for the royal family, which protected and preserved the Crystaland memory. Orla looked at Finn carefully taking in every detail of his face. She knew that she would be away for several years and she wanted to remember him accurately. He was much taller than she, with a strong jawline showing just the suggestion of a red beard and Orla knew that when she saw him again he would have developed into a strong man, both physically and mentally. Grace took the two young people into the centre of the crystal circle and sat them on a large white crystal seat just large enough for two people. She bound their hands together with golden crystal ribbon and then took a small container of oils extracted from the roots of plants, which released a vapour-like substance around the heads of the two young people, relaxing them and opening their minds for the next stage. Grace placed her left hand on Orla’s head and her right hand on Finn’s. They closed their eyes and Grace began to sing a song that had been given to the royal family by the Crystalanders for the binding ceremony. It was a song from another dimension and could be discerned only by the members of the royal family. To the uninitiated it looked as if she was in a trance. Grace sang the song of binding which activated the memory in the circle of crystals surrounding them. As the song progressed the ancient carvings on the crystals became illuminated and the light that each one produced gathered into a swirling pool and hovered over the heads of the young couple. This opened the deeper recesses of memory in Orla and Finn’s minds so that they could access and assimilate the memory stored in the crystals and, using the skill that had been taught to Grace by her Crystal mentors, she focused her creative mind into theirs and irreversibly merged the memories of Orla and Finn. Initially the two young people felt giddy, then they experienced a feeling of mind expansion, which took them to a point of extreme bliss. When Grace finished the song the swirling light disengaged itself from the couple and
gradually retreated back into the crystals. The two young acolytes eventually opened their eyes and looked at each other, and there it was, they were looking into the other’s heart and knew every twist and turn of their emotions. The binding was complete and although Orla and Finn had to leave the island to complete their initiations, they would always be connected to each other emotionally so their physical separation would be almost meaningless.

  The following morning Orla’s journey began. Grace and Orla made their farewells and set out on one of the many sunny mornings on Crystal Island to the famous Secret Garden. The day was magical: the sun was shining, the sky was blue without a cloud in the sky and a cool breeze brushed Orla’s cheeks as she walked through the lush countryside. Only members of the royal family and twelve specialist gardeners were ever allowed access to the garden. As they neared the walled garden, Grace stopped at a huge oak door, which was thick, solid, heavy and kept in pristine condition. She retrieved a key from her jacket pocket, unlocked the door and pushed it open with amazing ease. Orla was intrigued at her grandmother’s strength as the door looked as if ten men would be needed to push it open. As she walked into the entrance of the garden, she observed the gardeners, who were male and had been chosen from a family with the honour of holding this responsibility for thousands of years. On Crystal Island responsibilities that involved the perpetuation of the Crystal Wisdom were handed down from generation to generation to ensure that not one tiny shred of knowledge was lost.

  Orla began walking into the garden and then stood still in amazement, her eyes were like orbs as she quickly took in the breathtaking beauty of her surroundings. The normal gardens of Crystal Island were gorgeous, but this garden was a hundred times more abundant, bursting at the seams with colour and fragrance. It was therefore no surprise that in this garden of paradise special plants were grown for the rejuvenation of the body and the expansion of the mind. As Orla and Grace made their way through the garden, Orla’s attention was drawn to the intensity of each gardener’s focus whilst undertaking his duties. They were all strong men with capable, sturdy bodies but, on closer inspection, she noticed that they had the gentlest of hands. They treated every plant as if they were precious living beings, gently and skillfully caressing newly budding plants, and when it was necessary to take its buds or blooms to make remedies, they would talk to the plant in a language Orla was yet to understand. In this garden, the soil was still crystalline; it had kept its structure all these years as the intention of its gardeners was pure and they nurtured the plant life with love. The garden in turn reflected that love back in the beauty that erupted from its soil on a daily basis.

  All the trees in the garden were tall, strong and ancient. As Orla scanned the garden, taking in every little detail in wonder, joy, and amazement, she noticed that there was a grove of trees that looked like a collection of wise old men scrutinising the day-to-day activities of the garden. Her grandmother led her to the grove and explained to her that these seven trees were the Guardians of the Secrets of Evolution and therefore held the knowledge of all life, each tree embodying a specific quality of Wisdom. The trees had taught the gardeners how to choose the buds from selected trees to make remedies so that mankind could imbibe the qualities of each tree. Each tree was making an offering to mankind which reunited them with the perfection of nature and reminded them of the qualities required that were important for the evolution of any community.

  Grace introduced Orla to each tree and explained their individual qualities to her. The oldest and tallest tree whose old branches grew out and then down towards the ground, donated Loyalty and Incorruptibility; the second tree had the deepest roots and donated Faithfulness and Friendship; the third was smaller, producing pine cones, it gave Vigilance; the fourth was a smaller tree still, producing dark berries which gave Protection through purification of thoughts; the fifth tree was tall with the widest trunk Orla had ever seen and gave Intuition; the sixth tree had the widest branches acting like a huge canopy over the green carpet-like grass of the garden and this tree gave the understanding of Duty; the final tree had thick dark green prickly leaves and this tree gave the most important quality for transformation, Courage.

  If the gardeners needed guidance on the design of the garden, it was the trees that communicated the correct information, which ensured the continuity, synergy and rhythm of the garden at all times. There was a symbiosis between the plant life and the gardeners that was truly both captivating and confusing. Grace, seeing the puzzled look on the young girl’s face, reminded her that all would be revealed during her journey of initiation. Orla totally accepted this and was immediately distracted by the intoxicating fragrances pouring from the heavily scented flowerbeds. She quickly identified the familiar fragrances of the different plants: lavender, rose, geranium, rosemary, ylang-ylang and so it continued until her mind began to gently relax and unfold, preparing for the knowledge that she would be receiving on her journey.

  As they progressed further into the centre of the garden, they came upon the oldest tree Orla had ever seen. She recognised it as being one of the grove of trees. Grace explained that this type of tree was the first ever to have appeared on earth, dating back 200 million years and carried the entire memory of the planet. This particular tree was nearly 4000 years old and its extremely thick trunk was covered in a thick protective layer of ivy. Grace moved close to the tree and spoke softly in a language that once again Orla could not identify. With a smile of gratitude, Grace gently moved aside the long tentacles of ivy revealing an opening large enough for them to walk through. Grace walked into the opening, followed closely by the slightly bemused Orla, which led them to a spherical crystalline vessel, gleaming from its own internal light. This vessel had been in the tree since the beginning of their people’s memory and it had not deteriorated one iota. It was crafted from a substance that was clear crystalline, thin but sturdy. Orla stood and examined this phenomenon of nature. Here was a vessel inside a tree, which prompted many questions in her mind that tumbled and jostled for answers, and as her mouth opened to pour out the litany of questions, Grace patted the young girl’s hand and drew her forefinger to her closed lips to indicate silence. As the door to the vessel gradually slid open Orla’s eyes widened as she observed the interior. The walls were sheer, like polished opaque glass but without the fragility of glass, with a space for two people to sit comfortably. They sat down on the crystal seats, which Orla reflected were surprisingly comfortable for such a hard material. Grace gave Orla a selection of tree bud remedies to drink which would help her to adjust to the change in atmosphere that she would feel when the vessel landed. She made several movements across a crystalline panel covered with dimple-like impressions – only initiates knew the touch sequence to activate the vessel – and almost immediately there was a feeling of movement, of floating upwards. Orla sat back and enjoyed the feeling of weightlessness and the remedies began to work relaxing her to the point where she was in a semi dream state but at the same time fully aware of her surroundings and her grandmother’s words.

  As an introduction to her initiation, Grace explained that the knowledge that the young princess was about to receive was obtained by visiting a place called Crystaland. It was the place from where the knowledge of the Eternal Wisdom of Creation came, a place from where her ancestors had come and integrated with the indigenous people of the island many thousands of years ago.

  When the Crystalanders had come to Earth, they had great expectations of what their knowledge could bring and eventually, over thousands of years and many generational perfections, they had managed to produce purebred crystal-humans. Orla asked her grandmother why the Crystalanders had not stayed on Earth. Grace explained to her that during those early Crystaland days the Earth had truly flourished. The Earthlings had been given the Crystaland Gifts of Wisdom, they had become responsible tenants of their planet, and life had continued happily for all. When the Crystalanders were confident that Earth was safe
and in good hands, they had slowly retreated so that they could continue their important work in other parts of the cosmos.

  However, they had one major concern, whilst they believed Earthlings were competent to look after the planet, the cosmic travellers who had introduced the humanoids to earth had never been identified. When they had been conducting their initial reconnaissance of the planet they had discovered that the apocalypse, which had occurred before the last ice age, had destroyed all information about the humanoids’ origins so their full genetic makeup was unknown and therein lay the flaw.And so, whenever the Crystalanders paid secret visits to Earth to monitor progress, they watched for indications of behaviour from the old primitive ways. Sure enough after thousands of years, it eventually began to resurface; slowly at first, and then it grew in momentum. At that point the Crystalanders knew that they had to retreat completely; they knew what was going to happen, as they had seen it many times before. Their role was never to act as permanent caretakers: they gave planets gifts for their development and then it was up to the inhabitants to cultivate them. Whenever a planet’s inhabitants stopped using the Crystaland knowledge, the Crystalanders had to wait until the cycle of destruction turned full circle before their Wisdom could be requested again. But they were confident that the crystal memory would stay dominant in those people of the island ensuring that, as long as the islanders survived, the Wisdom of Creation would be protected for all time on Earth.

  THE DIAMOND ELDERS

  As Grace finished her story Orla pondered on what she had been told. She had never before really thought about the world outside of her island and she was now gaining the first insight of what happened when the Crystaland Laws of Wisdom were not followed. Orla’s thoughts were distracted as she felt a slight feeling of descent, her stomach fluttered with excitement and the vessel came to a soft halt. They had landed in Crystaland.