by Rane, April
Once alone, as she had asked to be, Czarinaea picked up her mirror and looked at her withered skin and the streaks of gray in her long tresses. And then lying back, holding the empty vial, the faint aroma of which took her back into Stryangaeus’ arms. She could feel his gentle touch. He was singing a song to her.
Floating above her body, she was surprised to find that a beautiful goddess was calling her name.
“Where is Stryangaeus?” Czarinaea asked. “Who are you?”
“My name is Desimena.”
“Oh… I see. I hear Stryangaeus,” she told her. “But I cannot find him.”
“He is waiting for you,” Desimena said in a soft voice. “Are you ready to go now?”
Czarinaea gazed down at her body and hesitated. “I have dressed myself for him. I have looked forward to this day.”
“Follow his voice,” the goddess told her. “He is waiting for you. You have done well, Aradia.”
“My name is Czarinaea,” the queen said, looking more closely at Desimena, “though the name Aradia is very familiar. I know you. I have seen you in my dreams and visions. You first came to me when I was a little girl at the waterfall.”
“I have always been with you. I am very proud of you Aradia. You have learned the lessons that you chose for yourself in this lifetime. It is a remarkable feat.”
“What lessons did I choose to learn?” asked Czarinaea.
“Forgiveness - Love of Mother- Courage- Commitment to the greater good, and last but not least, you have learned the balance between Pride and Humility. But we will talk about this in more detail another day. Now it is time for you to make a choice. You have served your people well. You would not be deserting them if you leave now. It is time for you to have a rest.”
“Yes… I am very weary. His voice soothes me. He is singing! Can you hear it?”
“Oh yes. Heaven rejoices for your love,” Desimena told her. “Go now. Follow his voice.”
And with one last look at the body she had discarded lying below, Czarinaea moved off into a whitish-blue tunnel.
“My queen, how beautiful you look. I have so much to show you. Oh, how I have missed you. Come give me your hand,” said Stryangaeus.
She reached out her hand and clung to him as he pulled her deeper into the tunnel and into his waiting arms.
“My queen, my queen, I have missed you so.”
“My love,” Czarinaea said, “I have held you in my heart each moment of every day. All that I have accomplished was because of your love and your goodness. Look… do you remember this vial?”
“Yes” he said, slowly smiling. “And I remember what I told you when I gave it to you. I showed you the bottom of the rose and I told you that the star shape was to remind us that we came from the stars. There is no aroma in the entire universe equal to the rose. It is a sacred gift from spirit to keep us open upon the earth to the world of the unseen. There is a love story about two beings from different star systems joining together in love and gifted with the first rose bush upon the earth. Sometime I will tell you the story,” he said as they walked hand in hand.
“Don’t ever leave me,” she told him, her eyes glistened with love. “I adore your stories, and oh, how I have missed your voice.”
“I have never left you. You have heard my words of love in your ear.”
“That is true, my love, but this is much better, for the sight of you fills me with wonder and the smell of you delights all my senses. I’m sorry I have taken so long to get here,” she said.
“There is no time in spirit,” he assured her. “Our separation was but a moment here, even though a moment without you in my arms feels like an eternity. Is it possible that you are even more beautiful than I remember?”
“It must be this place, for everything is shining. Everything feels new.”
They sat down on a carpet of emerald grass by a pond. The birds nesting in a nearby tree welcomed them with their song. Rabbits stopped in the field and a squirrel approached and crouched beside them.
Later, when they were lying in each other’s arms, she told him first of the fullness of her life as queen, and the difference knowing him had made in the many decisions put before her each day. Then she told him of the emptiness of living without him, the long lonely nights and worse…day break… knowing that at day’s end she would grieve again his loss. Many times it was a struggle to remember all that he had taught her so that she could somehow get through the night and face the next day with courage.
“The taste of your lips, there is nothing that compares,” he moaned, holding her tighter.
Hungrily, she merged with him in a bonding of souls united in a love that passed the bounds of space and time. Radiant colors cascaded from their bodies, and multihued waves of energy lit the lush and fertile garden. Fish danced in the water and the animals moved closer to experience the depth and breadth of their love.
“Soon we will meet with Desimena,” Stryangaeus told her, and it was clear that he was choosing his words carefully. “We need to review the lives we just lived, and make preparations for the next.”
“No…! I do not want to go back yet!” Czarinaea cried, dismayed.
Laughingly he reached for her hand and bringing it to his lips, he playfully tasted each fingertip before kissing her palm.
“Oh…Aren’t you the least bit excited and curious to again experience a physical lifetime with me?” With an irresistible smile he teased, “Won’t it be interesting to see if you recognize me…this time?”
“Ahh child,” crooned Desimena upon greeting Aradia the next day, “how beautiful you look. It never ceases to amaze me how you glow when you have been with Thomas.”
Seeing the confusion in Aradia’s eyes, Desimena said, “That is the sacred name we have given him on this side of the veil, as it means twin. His acceptance of this name as his prime energy will help him to delve deeper into the spiritual mysteries of life as he moves into each incarnation. Just as your prime energy, the name Aradia, meaning bright orb, creates the need for you to shine in each life and to never be afraid of being a leader.
“Well…as I was saying even in this luminescent atmosphere your radiance after being with Thomas is obvious.” Desimena contemplated her next words, “Although I have never been tempted to live in a physical body, I can understand the draw to the physical when twin flames are involved. I applaud your decision to quickly go back to earth, because I can see the benefits that will be garnered as you further explore what it means to allow the divine flame to ignite within the human body.”
“I have never heard the term twin flame before,” Aradia said, “yet I felt the chill of truth when you suggested that Thomas and I are twin flames. Will you tell me more?”
“No,” replied Desimena, “it is best you receive the information first-hand. Your lesson for today is to meditate on what it means to be a twin flame. We will meet again tomorrow and you can share with me what you have come to understand.”
“And so, what have you learned my child?” asked Desimena upon greeting Aradia the next morning.
“I have spent every moment since we parted in silent reverence of the feelings that I encountered as I asked Goddess to give me insight into twin flames. It began just after you left me when I sat quietly listening to the waterfall in the meditation room. As I relaxed, in my inner vision my world became pure white. Out from that white moved a fiery ball of blinding light that took my breath away. The bright ball encompassed me and I felt myself becoming a circle that had no beginning and no end. The circle bent and contorted into many shapes, but always became a circle again before it changed into another intricate and beautiful design. I was each geometric pattern, yet I always remained the circle.
After a while I, the brilliant orb, separated into two halves. But I was each one. As I looked out from me, I saw another me, a mirror like image, yet one was male and one was female. But I was both! I did not understand how that could be. As I pondered that question I watched as the orbs be
gan to make love. The entwining was incredible because I could observe and yet feel the intensity of love beyond words…
Then the orbs moved further and further away from each other. Color began to be added to each circle, some colors bright and others muddy. Asking, I received an instant understanding that the bright colors were lessons completed and the muddy colors, karma that needed tending to. When the circles moved toward each other again and merged, some colors would brighten and others darken.
I could see that sometimes the orbs helped each other become clearer when they were together and sometimes the colors became brighter when the orbs separated. But again in asking, the answer was instant. Twin flames always offer growth, even if it is one igniting the flame for the other, even while their own flame diminishes, because that was the agreement from the very beginning.
Agreeing that their blending will always create growth, in one or both of them, they also agreed that it would always add love to the world by and from their love of each other. And yet… cosmic law dictates that each half needs to define its own identity before it can unlock fully the joint spiritual potential of their twin flame existence. I understood that this was because there was a mission agreed upon by the twin flames, that once completed would enhance the divine identity of their souls.”
“You have done well, dear Aradia,” said Desimena looking pleased, “and now I can share with you that you will explore all aspects of love and passion in this next lifetime. You are now ready to experience the Sacred Green Ray-It holds the energy of the Sacred Heart of the Goddess. Passion, desire and creativity will be taken to a whole new level as you merge with Thomas during the act of love. It will open you to the experience of unconditional love and no matter what path you choose neither of you will ever be the same again.”
Aradia paled. “I am daunted by the knowledge of twin flames shared with me in my meditation. I am afraid that I might not be worthy of the task set before me.”
“Aradia,” said Desimena, “I take it that no matter that you are unsure you will still move forward, for that is your nature. I have taught you all that I can for now. It is time for your decent…”
“Wait… what other lessons will be opened to me by choosing the Green Ray?”
“The name of the Goddess of the Green Ray is, The Enchantress that is the seed and the Eternal flower,” said Desimena as she clasped Aradia’s hand. “You will have a chance to resolve opposing forces, within and outside of yourself. If you can do that, then you will understand what it means to be the seed and the eternal essence in the same moment.
“Love well, and trust in this next lifetime my child, and you shall unburden yourself of more of what you have created by the harsh spell you placed on Thomas in your first life together. I will be with you always,” smiled the goddess. “Call on me and I shall be there.”
“Thank you Desimena,” Aradia replied. “You told me that I learned the balance between humility and pride in this last lifetime, but I am not so sure. I did not call upon you often. I was very stubborn. In this next lifetime I shall remember to ask for your guidance.”
“Yes, but now you must remember to hold on to the name you have picked,” Desimena told her. “It stands for all that you have chosen to learn in this up-coming life.”
Aradia was drawn to a small hut on a peninsular bordered on one side by the Sea of Azov and on the other by the Black Sea. She saw a strong, stunning woman that was in a great deal of pain. The female warrior that she observed did not make a sound as the mid-wife worked to bring her child into the world. Looking down at the proud and loving face of the woman who was about to give birth, Aradia realized that she was to be born again. And happily she moved into the womb to begin the journey of a new life.
~Moments later… Alyanna was born ~
Turn the page for a preview of April Rane’s Alyanna, Amazon Priestess - volume two of the Aradia Chronicles. Look for the new release in October of 2013~
Up-coming books in The Aradia Chronicles
Alyanna, Amazon Priestess
Andalusia, Goddess of the Sea
Alistrina, Warrior Princess
Goddess of the Golden Moon
Thought is another name for fate; choose then thy destiny and wait for love brings love
and hate brings hate. ~Henry Van Dyke
Our story begins approximately two thousand one hundred years ago on a rock-strewn
peninsula that is bordered to the west by the Egean Sea and its mystical islands.
To the east lies the sparkling turquoise Sea of Marmara. Hellesponte
Straight carries boats and curious men between the two seas,
bringing change to the women known as the Amazon’s.
~It is here that Aradia is born again, and she takes the name of Alyanna,
which means noble, vibrant, and cheerful.
Alyanna observed the women of the clan as they went about the chore of preparing the midday meal. Sitting in the same position for hours, allowed only to move her eyes, was not the hardest test she had ever been given, but certainly the most boring. She had barely ten years, and had been training to become the leader of the clan for three suns. Nisca, wise woman of the clan reminded her often, “Goddess knows when you are ready, it matters not how many years you have.”
Thea, the clan’s leader, slowly emerged from her hut. She seemed intent on giving orders to some of the women in preparation for a hunt they had been preparing for. Stealing a covert glance at Alyanna, she placed the stag horn to her lips. The sound would call in the outer guards, and alert the next watch to take their post on the outside perimeter of their encampment. Her seeming inattention did not fool Alyanna. As another stolen glance came her way, she watched a soft pink aura form around her mother. Yes, she thought, mother sends me love, even now when she is determined to not interrupt my lesson.
Surveying the large circle of thatched huts, and women young and old bending over smoke laden fires, Alyanna realized that she had many mothers and many teachers but no friends. She had never laughed and played with the other girls. She had never whispered secrets or giggled over a funny story shared with a best friend. Surely, it was for her own good, she thought, she must not get too close she had been told, for then she would not be able to rule with equity. Nevertheless, she looked on with the longing of a child, watching the other young girls sitting together weaving flowers into each other’s hair.
Alyanna’s eyes followed the girls at play, bringing back the memory of the day she was running through the woods and she took wing, as she liked to call it. Phadra had spotted her and brought the story back to the other girls. “Alyanna flew above the ground, bounding through the woods like a rabbit with wings,” Phadra had told them, her frightened voice carrying through the huts like wild fire. The story served to make the young girls all the more distant. The women of the clan bowed their heads and averted their eyes a bit more each day and seldom did they address her without adding Emetchi, a title of respect which held the secret of The Royal Line of the Sky People. It was said it was passed down through the blood, only from mother to daughter, never to a son. Many times Alyanna had begged for added information, but the old ones of the clan would say nothing more.
When Alyanna had gone to her teachers, asking why others couldn’t lift off the ground as she did, the great ones told her the story of the ancient priests and priestesses who roamed the forest before there were horses. “They ran/flew through the woods as if they had wings. But the ability has been lost to most because people are afraid of what they don’t understand,” said Nisca. “You have wings! The girls are just jealous. Pay them no mind. It is not your business that they are jealous, only that they have respect for you. Jealously is an empty bucket that is heavy to carry. But respect is a bucket that though it has weight, it is easy to carry. It is up to you to load up their buckets with thoughts of honor and respect. In that way they have no room for jealously.”
Alyanna felt blessed to have such honored teachers, but
she had not yet seen her wings, but sometimes she felt as though there were wings on her feet. She wished she were deep in the woods at the moment, for there she had many friends and she always felt safe. Alyanna loved watching the wood nymphs play and talking to the fairy world. They loved her too, and had told her she had the sight even before her wise teachers had made reference to it. It was then that she realized not all people could see colors around others, and that not everyone had visions. Unfortunately it did not make her feel special.
Alyanna had been told at the beginning of today’s lesson, that it was important to have the ability to be very still when you needed to outsmart an enemy. Also to train your eyes to see more, weather it was being aware of an interloper long before they entered camp, or finding truth in the eyes of an enemy, and lies in the eyes of your comrades.
Cramping in her legs reminded her that soon the sun would set. It would be the best part of her day. She had been told to search the sky at nightfall for the horse and rider. If she succeeded she would advance to the next level of training. Every time she moved on to the next level there was a celebration, and lots of food. Best of all, there was a performance enacted in her honor depicting the up-coming level of initiation. During the performance Alyanna would receive special herbs to expand her mind, so she would retain the most from the presentation. The herb tea made of blue vervain made colors more vivid and sound more acute, and it opened the inner eye to see that which had passed and what was to come. The young girls performing did so with excitement and passion, and the information always spurred Alyanna forward, giving her clues as to what was expected of her next.
Alyanna brought herself back to the moment and looked toward the sun as it was setting over the mountains. Vivid rose-colored clouds clothed the golden sun, displaying the colors of the heart and mind. The soft tones of pink when found around a person, tree or fairy, warmed you, and from it you felt love. The deep, sharp or muddied tones of gold when around a person’s head gave information about the quality of their mind. Yes, Alyanna silently chuckled to herself; she had learned much from her teachers. But now, as she observed the colors of the setting sun she realized they would bring a beautiful day on the morrow.