“Thank you, Riley.” Sarina wiped away her tears and turned to Dana. “Dana, I’ve been waiting for you for so long and the overwhelming feelings I have are excitement and uncertainty mixed together. A long time ago I experienced fear as a feeling to conquer or defeat. I overcame that and now embrace fear as my ally, but I am still nervous about this journey. I know embracing my fear is my own rite of passage and important for my journey and now I understand that this was imperative to this meeting with you. My own struggle is letting go of the stranglehold fear sometimes has on me. This really limits me sometimes and I’ve been working on this for as long as I can remember. This has been, and continues to be, a personal rite of passage. Dana, I feel that I am ready to accept this challenge so my answer is yes.”
“Very good my dear, I applaud you in your enlightenment. You are closer to your truth than you know.”
“I’d been wondering,” said Riley, “how I fit into this mystery? I mean, I was drawn into this unbelievable story because of Ann’s murder. I remember meeting Sarina decades ago and then you show up. Now that I have come to know Sarina and offer her my strength and support, it makes it easy to accept this challenge as well so my answer is also yes” Riley looked over at Sarina and back to Dana and nodded.
“Detective, your dedication to Sarina and her family is a noble one and I bow to you. Sarina knows a great deal and your initial connection with her more than thirty years ago is critical to the chain of events that are about to unfold. Also, your role as a detective in this lifetime is paramount for this journey. Know also that you too will be supported on this journey. I will accompany you. At times, what we encounter may feel uncomfortable ... Just prepare yourself to see things that your Mind Body will not be able to process in the moment and trust that all will be fine.”
Riley shuddered and then said, “I’ll do my best to not allow my ego to control what I see.”
“Excellent. Sarina, I know you have some questions and they will be answered when the time is right. You have a great capacity to remain centered and balanced. Call upon your gifts from birth. I realize that you know this but as a reminder, trust your guides and remain grounded in your human body. Remaining grounded is your strength and you achieve this without effort at all times.”
“Okay, Dana, I understand.”
“We can now begin this odyssey. I want you both to prepare by listening, together, to the song called ‘Bliss.’ Allow the music to enter into yourselves as you listen. Play it through enough times to make sure you hear the song behind the song. Sarina, I know you understand this. Detective, take cues from Sarina until you hear what she hears. Your guides will help you pay attention, not with your mind, but with your emotional and spiritual bodies. This is vital.”
Dana went on, “I also want you to select an object or talisman, preferably from Sarina’s apartment, to help ground you to your human world. Again, this is vital. Sarina, you can aid Detective Holden and help him focus in his search as he may not be aware at first what object he is nudged to choose. It is important to note here that free will is critical for your choice. Feel into your objects and choose from your inner source.”
“Anything else?” Sarina asked.
“For now this will be enough. Once you have accomplished these tasks, I will call you and instruct you where to meet me. You will be ready when I call.”
“Is there any special clothing we need?” Sarina asked.
“Not initially. Now go and prepare without haste. I will call you soon.”
Dana got up from his chair, walked outside, and seemed to melt into the crowd. The din of the coffee shop shot up to its normal levels and Sarina and Riley looked at each other for a long few moments without uttering a word.
They silently slipped out of the coffee shop and walked home. After a few moments of walking in silence, Sarina spoke: “Riley, Dana gave us no time line as to when he is going to call. How are you feeling about that? You look concerned.”
“Well, I’m having a hard time letting go of my ego here. I want to make deductions and look for clues and solve the mystery. My head says that I need my technology, my computer, and data resources from the precinct. But my gut tells me that what I really need to do is disengage my mind and engage my feeling or Emotion Body and my Spirit Body, but I am struggling with that. How about you?”
“Riley, even with my intuitive gifts, I can’t help wanting to ‘figure’ it all out. I too have an insatiable need to ‘know’ what this all means. I want to rush to my books of near death experiences and paranormal findings. I want to do that numerology reading I started for you and then for us together. I want to know what our relationship means, but my inner knowing is saying that letting the purpose reveal itself when the time is right will be better. Yet sometimes I just can’t contain my own curiosity.” They walked to Sarina’s apartment and went in.
What Riley immediately focused on was Sarina’s curios and antiquities sprinkled around, and he quickly noticed the copper urn on one of the shelves. “What do all these things, all these artifacts mean? Do you know what cultures these artifacts represent?” Riley asked as he picked up the urn. “And what is this?”
“It is the urn I found for Ann’s ashes. I’ll tell you more later but first … I am familiar with many of the pieces here, like this one.” Sarina took the urn from Riley’s hand and picked up one of the ceramic pieces and handed it to him. “This is an example of a Banyan tree made of earthenware from an ancient civilization in the Amazonian Rain forest, but some are from places and cultures I know nothing about. Most of these pieces were here when I moved in.” Sarina took the ceramic piece back and replaced it on the shelf.
“Really, why were they left here?”
“I don’t know. So far my ‘landlord’ or ‘landlady’ has not answered any of my questions. Funny, I don’t even know who the person is who allows me to stay here. It is all a mystery to me. The only communications I have are notes left in the mail box. He or she has requested that we communicate in this way and I have never seen or heard from her or him.
“Doesn’t that seem, well, at least a bit odd? If it were me living here, I would want to know everything about these pieces and what they meant and where the come from. I don’t think I could just let it go.”
“This is indeed my great test in simply allowing, and suspending questioning. A hard thing to do but I have never felt threatened here. More importantly, I feel a connection with many of these artifacts but not so much on a physical sense as a metaphysical sense. Even so as I sit in this room often and feel their energy, I don’t see their relationship to one another. It’s hard to explain, they just feel good.” She replaced the urn on the shelf as Riley watched. “You’re a detective, can you find a pattern?”
Riley picked up a few of the pieces and examined them carefully. He looked for markings or colors or anything that might relate them to one another. Finally he spoke. “I do see that many of the pieces have some markings on them that seem to relate to one another and that connect pieces together. Take this piece for example.” Riley picked a small wooden carving of an elephant. “This piece has a marking I have seen before when I once traveled in Africa for a case I was working on. And this piece,” he picked up a stone carving that resembled a gargoyle, “It has a similar marking but importantly the marking on this piece seems to be a mirror image of the marking on the elephant.”
Sarina looked at Riley and turned to examine the piece and concurred. “I’ve examined them closely before but never noticed that. When were you in Africa?”
“I was there a few years ago. I was busy with work so I didn’t get a chance to tour the area much, but I did get out into a market place where I noticed this marking on a piece I was looking at. What’s more, this carving, which looks outwardly unusual, takes on a completely different appearance if I hold it up to a mirror it, see?” He held it up to the mirror and it resembled the same marking on the elephant yet without a representation of any creature. “I believe these mark
ings are important but I have no idea what they mean.”
Sarina ran into her bedroom and reappeared with one of the fabrics she was dancing with yesterday. “How long were you in Africa?” The marking on the fabric was identical to the mirrored marking on the piece Riley was holding. She draped the fabric over the piece and the markings lined up perfectly. The fabric draped tightly over the symbol as if magnetized to it. The marking shown through the fabric with a subtle green glow as if it were lit from behind. The same green glow was reflected back by other non-distinct pieces around the room. Riley had an idea.
“Only a few days. Funny I seem to have forgotten the case I was working on. Usually I can keep a very ordered mental log of these things.” He picked up one piece after another and laid them on the floor underneath the fabric. He began to re-arrange them lining up markings on the artifacts with markings in the fabric’s pattern. He worked as if he were moving puzzle pieces around trying to form an image. He brought the pieces together and as each piece met another they seemed to want to lock into place. When he finished, they both stood and saw the pieces glowing behind the fabric represented as a complete image on the floor with the pieces almost locked together forming a whole new carving.
“Riley, look at the carving. What do you see?”
“The Mayan Calendar.”
The image on the floor seemed alive and resonated with a low hum as they watched.
“Does it resonate with you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I see the image of the Mayan Calendar but is there something more. Do you feel attracted to the carving?”
“Hmm. When I look at the carving I get a sort of high feeling like I am floating a bit. Is that what you’re asking?”
“Yes, that’s it. I feel the same when I not only look at but also feel the fabric.”
Sarina removed the fabric and the green glow faded and the image on the floor began to let go of itself and the pieces became independent once more. They picked up the pieces from the floor and carefully placed them back in the exact order from where they were removed. Riley said, “I’m not sure if their perches are important but better safe than sorry.”
Riley took the last carving in his hand and held it for a moment. He turned over and over with his fingers. “This is the one.” he said. “It just feels good in my hands. It is smooth and fits perfectly in my hand. I like the shape…”
“Stop,” Sarina put her hand on his. “… Close your eyes and listen from deep inside your body.”
Riley skeptically looked at Sarina but slowly closed his eyes. After a moment he said, “Okay, I don’t know why but I feel a slight vibration in my body. Is that good?”
“There you are. Stay with that sensation and don’t try and analyze it.”
The ground trembled like it did when they were at the morgue and they both sensed something deep within the planet. “Earthquake,” they said in unison and then laughed. Riley gave Sarina a light punch in the arm. Sarina returned the gesture a bit harder and Riley let out a loud “Ouch!” He rubbed his arm and they let out another laugh. Laughter was always a good tension release for Sarina and Riley seemed to feel the same way.
“It seems that the carving you are holding is your talisman and mine is the fabric and both are from my apartment as Dana instructed.” Sarina gathered the fabric in her arms and slid it across her face and let out a gentle sigh.
Riley looked at his carving and was staring intently at the design when Sarina interrupted… “Riley, what are you doing?”
“Trying to determine what these lines in the carving mean.” He was very focused on the carving.
Sarina touched his hand again. “Remember, don’t try and figure it out. Just let it be what it is.”
Riley relaxed with the carving in his hand. Sarina had her fabric wrapped around her neck as they settled into an overstuffed comfy love seat to listen to the “Bliss” song track they both mysteriously had received earlier. The sounds were soothing and haunting. The drums opened with deep resonating sounds that touched their inner most beings and they listened. The drums were rhythmic and comfortable and then came the chanting.
The language was unknown but somehow distantly familiar and they both gently swayed to the shifts from major to minor and back to major chords. Neither Sarina nor Riley were particularly musical, but they felt the sounds awakened their ancient tribal selves and they had to move to the sounds. Sarina collected the fabrics and Riley’s feet began to slide across the floor with the beat of the drums. He was not sure how he knew the movement but it came naturally to him. They both moved around the room independently at first and then something called them to interact as if they had rehearsed the steps a million times before. Their movement flowed from step to step. Forward and backward, side to side. First to the left and then to the right. They danced in circles, a little clumsy at first stepping on each other’s toes but in time, maybe only a few moments, the steps had embedded themselves into their bodies. In a short while, they were repeating the dance steps over and over again.
Over and over they listened and moved for what seemed an endless amount of time. They never lost themselves too deeply for fear they might miss the nuances of whatever message was hidden within the music. After the fifth iteration, they both stopped just at the end of the piece and listened very hard to what seemed to be a new sound emerging.
“Do you hear that?” Sarina asked Riley as she paused the music.
“Hear what?”
Sarina searched back a few seconds and pressed play again. “There,” she pointed to the player, “right there!” She repeated the process and played it again. They heard a slight rumble in the music that neither believed had been present when they listened the first four times. The rumble was a deep sound from very low marimba notes and they felt an opening inside their bodies that was new and yet welcome.
“What is that? Is it some kind of instrument?” he asked.
“It sounds like a marimba.”
The music ended as before but the rumble seemed to reverberate for a few seconds and then crash as it ended. Three distinct beats sounded within the crash as if the musician tapped the lowest notes on the marimba with a slight boom, boom, boom - almost like a distant knocking at a door.
Sarina and Riley looked at each other with an understanding they were not able to articulate. Why had they not heard these sounds the first four plays? Somehow they both knew a message was within those notes and the rhythm was important to remember.
“Okay then. I've never experienced anything like that before.” Riley was a bit shaken but open to what they both had just heard.
“Me neither. I’ve heard marimbas before but I've never seen or read about this musical application anywhere. And why did we not hear it the first four plays?”
“I'm exhausted. I need to relax.”
“That sounds like a great idea.”
They gathered their talismans and sat on the floor deep in their thoughts. They both lay down on the cool hardwood and dosed for what seemed only a few moments when they were awaked by the phone call.
“Hello, Dana,” Sarina said as she answered the phone. She was shocked to notice the clock on the wall and that she and Riley had fallen asleep for almost three hours.
“Good evening, dear Sarina. How are you?” he asked.
“Very well rested and present,” she said.
“And Detective Holden?” he asked. “How is he?"
Sarina glanced at Riley as he sputtered to life. “The same, as far as I can tell. He still seems a bit overwhelmed by all of this.”
Dana paused and conscious of the time directed them in a somewhat concerned tone. “I want you both to bring your talisman pieces to the alley near The Magic of Chin Chin on Irving and 15th. Do you know where I mean?”
“You mean the alley between the Academy of Dance and The Ice House?” asked Sarina, glancing over in Riley’s direction.
“Yes, that is the one. I will be about twenty feet int
o the alley. You must be sure you are not followed. I will be there in one hour. Please be punctual.”
The call ended and Sarina turned to Riley. “Dana said one hour and don’t be late.”
With a big yawn Riley said, “Okay.”
“Are you hungry,” she asked?
“I am,” he replied.
“Let’s grab a quick bite on the way.”
They left and walked down the street to the Latino restaurant named Pasión, which Riley recommended. They ordered some authentic Central American cuisine. The food was indeed fantastic.
They talked a bit more but had no idea what was in store for them. Sarina shared some of her experiences with other indigenous cultures. She explained some of the rituals she attended. “Some of these rituals actually altered my reality. The leaders of these rituals possessed abilities to shape shift—”
“Shape shift?” Riley interrupted. “What is that?”
“Shape shifting is when an individual either has the ability to change his or her body into that of another person, creature, or other entity or finds its shape involuntarily changed by someone else. If the shape change is voluntary, its cause may be an act of will, a magic word or words, a potion, or a sacred object.”
“Does the person really change into the animal or other person?”
“It has never been totally clear to me, but I believe the individual calls in the spirit of the animal or person and, through visualization and meditation, he or she will utilize the essence of the other being to gain strength and or insights not readily available to the shape shifter in ‘normal’ circumstances. Joe attended a ritual rite of passage for men and during his rite, he actually shape shifted into a jaguar to gather his strength to face his shadow self. He assumed the stance of the jaguar and was able to pull from his own depth and call in his shadow self. Once he concluded his process, he shape shifted again into a snake-like creature, which allowed him the calmness he needed to embrace the light side of himself. He was watching himself the entire time from another place in the room.”
The Song_A mysterious tale of the Mayan spirit world and the Mayan calendar Page 18