11/24/13

Thirty Seven

Larissa waited for the car to leave before heading down the stairs to look at the map.  She looked out the window and wondered at the world beyond the panes of glass.  It looked so different than what she was used to.  The trees were so big and everything was lush looking, though it was close to winter and she would have expected things to be dead or dying back.  She wondered what summer would be like in this place.

Shaking her head to clear her mind, Larissa decided that she would like to explore the grounds.  She pulled on alight jacket and left the house.  She made her way to the closest path.  The paths were well maintained, if a little muddy in spots.  She considered the fact that they were in the rainy season, and decided that mud was probably to be expected.  She pushed past the mud, though, and walked on. 

She seemed to be alone on the property.  She heard no other people, no other footsteps.  The atmosphere of the space was incredible.  At once she felt grounded and connected to the Earth.  She didn’t have to try or push, it was as though the connection had been made for her.  She followed the signs for the Fen Circle, wondering what that meant.

What it meant was a small standing stone circle.  She came upon it quicker than she thought.  Not sure how to enter, she stood just outside of the circle, feeling the energy of the space.  Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the circle and walked to the middle.  In the center of the circle someone had built a ring of rocks.  She looked down and studied the stones, there were mainly pink ones, which she thought was rose quartz.  She had run into a lot of quartz in her hometown.  She bent to her knees and laid a hand on one of the stones.  A rush of emotions swept over her.  She was filled at once with longing, love, regret and peace. 

There were many stones, rings, necklaces and other trinkets people had left behind in the circle.  She knew that every piece had a story to tell.  She picked up a necklace, a turquoise flower, and let the emotions from the previous owner flood through her.  She thought about what the person might look like, what they might be doing, what they might have lost.  She wished there was something she could do for them. 

She put the necklace in her pocket and moved past the circle, back onto the path.

Along the path she happened upon many other alters of the same sort.  It seemed that people took advantage of every crook in the path to create a stand of rocks, or a stack of stones, on which they put trinkets, sayings, feathers and other such items.  She would stop and study every single one.  There were so many stories to be told by every item.  She was tempted to pick up more items, to carry more people on her journey,  but decided to just hold onto the turquoise necklace for now.

She walked past a bog where she saw ducks chattering.  They seemed to be having a discussion of some sort, with all the noise they were making.  She stood and watched them, curious about their behavior, but then moved on.  They didn’t have anything else to tell her. 

Further down the path she came to another stone circle.  Due to the map she knew this was the cottonwood stone circle.  She laughed at herself.  She had half expected to see a stand of cottonwood trees carved into stones laid in a circle.  Sometimes she was so literal. 

She walked the path to the entrance of the circle.  It was majestic.  Each of the stones was well over six feet in high, some looked to be significantly taller than even that.  She laid a hand on the stone closest to her and felt it thrum beneath her fingertips.  It felt alive to her.  She wasn’t sure how that was even possible, but the stone felt as though it had many things to say to her. 

She entered the circle, and moved around the inside of it, touching each stone as she passed it.  They all thrummed with the same energy.  They all seemed to resonate with the same message.  Larissa wondered if they had the message before they had been stood in the circle, or if they had gotten the same vibration by being close to one another. 

After touching each stone in turn, she moved towards the center of the circle and the alter that lay there.  In this circle the alter was much larger.  There were more trinkets and stones.  But here there were also poems, letters, words written on pieces of paper.  There was even an old badge from someone’s place of work.  Their name had been removed, but the company still remained.  She wondered what the story was behind that, but didn’t reach out to touch it and find out what it might have to say.  There were so many stories to be heard. 

She reached into her pocket and touched the necklace.  She had one story to carry with her. 

She moved past the stone circle and felt a sadness enter her heart as she left.  She felt as though she were leaving a good friend behind her.  She turned at the edge of the clearing and looked back.  She would have to return this way, there wasn’t another way back to the lodge.  But she was still sad to leave, as though she might not return to the space ever again.

She made her way onto the path and started walking.  The path was more like a light hike than she had expected based on what she had seen before.  Here the forest was close to her, the floor muddier, the air was humid and wet.  She took a deep breath and felt like she could chew on the air, it was so thick.  She walked for several minutes, before she stopped, stunned by the beauty that lay in front of her.

There was a pond of some sort, directly in front of her.  The sun glinted off the surface.  There were birds that floated serenely across it, and she watched as several more came in for a landing.  To one side there was nothing but trees and foliage.  Thick foliage that someone would have difficulty navigating through.  There were thorny bushes and ferns.  Oh the ferns!  Larissa had never seen ferns so huge and certainly had never seen them in the wild.  The only ferns she was familiar with were the smallish ones her mother was always trying to grow in the house.  They usually died despite her mother’s best efforts.  Here they grew easily four feet in diameter.  Many were much larger.  She was stunned. 

Pushing on, she kept walking until she came upon a parking lot.  She saw there were two other paths and decided to take the one closest to her.  This path led her to a beautiful labyrinth. 

Larissa had never walked a labyrinth before and this did not look like a large one.  She made her way to the entrance and started walking.  She was not expecting anything to happen.  In fact she figured that it would be easy and quick for her to make her way through the small path, to follow it to the center and out again.  She had thought wrong.  She found herself slowing her steps when she was just a little way into the labyrinth.  It was mesmerizing.  Something about the quick turns, the about faces, pulled her out of her head and into the moment.  She felt the air around her sizzle and her connection with the space deepened.  She wondered what was really happening. 

Following the path all the way to the center, she was surprised to see yet another alter there.  She laughed at herself.  Of course there would be another alter in this space.  Why would there not be?  Again she crouched down to look at the gifts people had left behind.  Mostly small stones and natural stuff at this one.  She saw berries, leaves, feathers and stones.  There weren’t the sayings or manmade and shaped trinkets here. 

Standing, she looked around.  From the center of the labyrinth she had an excellent view of the pond.  She watched the light play upon the surface as she listened to the rustle of animals in the trees.  She felt so blessed to be where she was in that moment.  Slowly she turned and walked her way out of the labyrinth.

She saw a Native American prayer stone off to one side.  She walked up to it and read the instructions that were hooked to a nearby tree.  Instead of doing what they told her, she stayed off the rock.  There would be time for her to explore it again, she thought.  She wasn’t sure why she thought that, since she had no idea how long they were staying, but she knew that it wasn’t the right time for her to step onto the grand stone. 

She made her way back to the other entrance and onto the other path. 

There were more things to see on this path than the others.  There were many small statues, stone stacks and other things.  She saw a small plastic temple someone had planted into the ground and then surrounded with bark leaves and other offerings.  She kept walking along the path until she looked up and saw something she had not expected.

There was a sandstone path leading up to what looked like a small stone building.  She had seen it on the map, it was called a Dolman, but she didn’t know what that was.  She climbed the short flight of steps and found herself outside of it.  She circled the outside of the building, not surprised that she saw many more small alters placed around the building. 

She came to the doorway and her breath caught in her throat. 

Inside the small building was the largest alter she had seen since she arrived.  She moved into the dolman and crouched down in front of the alter.  Then she gave up and sat down, cross legged, to study what she found. 

There were more items on the alter than her brain could comprehend at a glance.  She studied what lay before her.  She saw the same stones that she had seen everywhere else.  She saw feathers and berries, leaves and small piles of sand.  She had come to expect the sight of these things everywhere she went.

What she had not expected was the prayers.  There were prayers written on the rocks.  Prayers written on small pieces of paper and shoved everywhere.  She could see fragments of the prayers pleading for relief from heartbreak, lost jobs, financial woes, looking for new loves and so much more.  She could feel the desperation, the pleading from the letters in front of her and her heart wept with them.  All of those people feeling disconnected from the lives they felt they should be living.  Begging for what they knew to be true and right, to feel whole and abundant. 

Larissa pulled the turquoise pendant from her pocket and studied it. 

There had to be something she could do for all of these people.  Maybe that was why Tiana had brought her to this place.  To make her aware of all the suffering.  People weren’t just disconnected by contract.  The corporation wasn’t picking people off one by one as they came into their abilities. 

They were destroying everyone, all at once, all over the globe by taking away their hope.  By convincing them they were not connected to each other, to the earth.  And here was the proof.  Hundreds of people had visited this sight, begging for what Larissa could provide and what the corporation had taken away. 

She had to do something.

Making up her mind, Larissa stood.  She made her way out of the dolman and back to the path.  The time was for action.  Whether the others wanted it or not, it was time to do something about what was happening.