Carolyn Jourdan - Nurse Phoebe 03 - The School for Psychics (2 page)

* * *

Caterina
was having a meeting with
Le Seigneur
while Phoebe sat quietly in the corner of the Boss’s austere bedroom and organized her patient’s medicine. She was counting pills and dropping them into a container that divided a week’s worth of drugs into rows for the days of the week and columns for the time of day.

“
Le Seigneur
,” Caterina said, “I have a message for you from our brother CR.”

The Boss nodded that she should continue.

“He is warning that someone should retrieve several important items that were hidden during an emergency. He says they have remained safe so far, but are now in danger of being discovered.”

“Does he indicate where these items are?”

“France,” Caterina said.

Wow
, thought Phoebe,
that really narrows it down
.

The Boss
obviously took Caterina’s message very seriously. “I am aware that various restoration projects are scheduled to take place this winter when tourist traffic would be the lowest. The most important of these, of course, are the renovations for the 300
th
anniversary of Jean Poisson’s birth.”

“Ah,
oui,” agreed Caterina.

Phoebe had no idea who CR was, but t
he name Jean Poisson was vaguely familiar. She tried, but she couldn’t put her finger on who it was. She couldn’t even remember if it was a man or a woman.

“I
confessed I have been at a loss about who to send. It will take considerable skill to locate objects that had been so well hidden by our friend.”

He glanced over at Phoebe and gave her one of his angelic smiles. He looked back at
Caterina and said, “With some training, Miss McFarland might be able to undertake this task for us.”

Uh oh
, Phoebe thought, and dropped several of the pills she’d been sorting. They scattered on the floor. So much for things settling down. Despite a surge of panic, she also felt excited. This would be her first
official
mission.

She’d become embroiled in her
first tasks by accident, but apparently the Boss had been satisfied with her performance because now he was going to give her a job
on purpose
! She felt proud and terrified at the same time.

“Would you
be able to remain here for a few weeks to work with our friend, to evaluate her talents, and give her some training?”

Caterina
agreed, of course. The Boss wasn’t the kind of guy you could bear to say
no
to. So, for a couple of weeks they met in the morning and afternoon for an hour of lectures. Phoebe was assigned homework that consisted of meditation exercises to be performed first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

* * *

Caterina Abatangelo was the real deal. The first lesson she gave Phoebe was on the history of psychic phenomena. Caterina explained that long ago everyone had strong psychic abilities, but they were extremely weak in their ability to think. Over the millennia, as humans evolved, this situation got reversed. Modern people had the ability to think clearly, but had lost touch with their natural psychic abilities.

Caterina
said the task of modern humanity was to move toward the middle—to hone individual spiritual capacities in the light of full daytime consciousness. “The key is to remove subjectivity,” she said. “We cannot allow spiritual perceptions to become contaminated by personal opinions or judgments. Purging yourself of these sorts of influences requires extremely rigorous soul purification. Traditional methods for achieving this purification are by sitting in silence regularly and cultivating a strong meditation practice.

Ugh
, Phoebe thought, but she kept a lid on it because she wanted to be helpful, if possible.

“
I will teach you centering prayer as practiced by Trappist monks and the Buddhist Eightfold Path. These are the same sort of soul cleansing exercises that form the basis of the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. That can be an excellent path, too.”

“I’ve never had a drink in my life,” Phoebe said.

Caterina looked at Phoebe in surprise. She was Italian and unfamiliar with Appalachian culture. “But I’m addicted to Diet Coke. And cookies, particularly Chips Ahoy with whole milk,” Phoebe admitted.

“I a
m not your confessor,” Caterina said.

“And I
ain’t Catholic,” Phoebe added. “I was just sayin’. Just lettin’ you know what you’re up against.”

After a pause,
Caterina continued. “Once the soul is purified, we can trust the information we are receiving. If our lower ego is allowed to have a role in
interpreting
or filtering the information, then the data is degraded, and not to be trusted. A large portion of our work will be learning to discern when we are receiving a pure signal from a wise and benevolent source, or something else altogether.”

“Like the devil?”

Caterina nodded. “It is not easy at first. You have to have training to understand how to sort among the different
voices
, if I may use that word. It is crucial to develop
the discernment of spirits
as it is called in the Bible.”

Caterina
went on to heavily emphasize the importance of moral development for psychics. “The esoteric law,” she said, “is that
for every one step forward in spiritual powers, one must take three steps forward in moral development
. If not, things can go awry very quickly. Then you get inflation or mental illness. Not a good situation.”

The new rhythm of Phoebe’s days was built around meditation, her regular job as a nurse to
Le Seignuer
, and lessons with Caterina.

* * *

Her second lesson started with an examination of the artistic depictions of psychics though the ages. They went to the monastery library and paged through art history books at images of Michelangelo’s sibyls on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and paintings of saints in various states of rapture.

Phoebe couldn’t help but notice that the people
who were capable of these ecstatic states seemed to come to a bad end, most of them dying in really hideous ways like crucifixion, or decapitation, or target practice for rock throwers or archers. This was not reassuring.

“There are various factors t
hat can enhance psychic powers,” Caterina told her. “Some of these methods are justified for modern life and some are
not
. There are certain types of places that boost psychic abilities, like the caves the ancient oracles worked in, or along the ley lines where the great cathedrals and monasteries were built.

“Fasting also
helps induce visionary states, but it is no longer proper to weaken our bodies in order to boost our spiritual powers. That was the old way. It was appropriate for its time, but it is no longer recommended to employ that technique. These days we are called to strengthen our spiritual abilities to the point that we can use them amid the hustle and bustle of daily life and remain in good mental and physical health.”

“I hear
ya,” Phoebe said.

“D
rugs and alcohol can induce non-natural states of consciousness, but that is strictly forbidden for anyone on the white path. Drugs open a person to many influences and they expose you to bad beings in situations where the benevolent spirits are unable to protect you. Certain drugs can break you wide open to be used by the worst possible entities, so you must
never
expose yourself to that.

“
You are very fortunate that you have never used drugs or even alcohol. Every drink of alcohol severs your connection to your guardian angel, which is the last thing anyone wants.”

At least Phoebe had done
something
right. It was a relief for her to hear it, because it had certainly been a damper on her social life.

“Seasons of the year
also have an effect on spiritual capacity. Humans naturally go inward in the wintertime. The veil between worlds is at its thinnest during the thirteen days from Christmas Eve through the Twelve Holy Nights, which end on January 6. This is the best time of year for spiritual communion.

“
January 6 is historically associated with Three Kings Day, the day the three kings reached the baby Jesus, and also Epiphany, the day Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River. After that, the door closes again until around Easter.

“
The eve before your birthday is also an especially propitious time to ask for guidance from your angel. Each year the spiritual world draws very close to you during the evening and night before your natal day.”

Phoebe listened to all this and paid close attention, but it sounded pretty far out. She would’ve disregarded
a lot of it if the people in the monastery hadn’t been so kind, smart, and sane.

“Psychic abilities can also be enhanced by factors such as geology or weather,”
Caterina said. “For example, high places such as mountaintops have a distinctive character as do low places like the Dead Sea and the Jordan River Valley. Jungles have a different effect than deserts or Arctic ice floes.

“
For example, King Arthur’s knights would stand on the edge of the cliffs at Tintagel and hold out their arms to let the buffeting winds and crashing waves power them like a battery. There is something special about the boisterous collision of the elements there—earth, wind, fire, and water.

“
These knights, of course, were very special individuals. They were able to feed off the way the sun shone through the water droplets that were being tossed into the air from the spume. It fueled them for the tasks they had to undertake on behalf of Arthur. It gave them enormous strength, which they used in the service of good. Have you ever been there?” she asked.

Phoebe shook her head.

“It is an extraordinary scene, very dramatic. It stands on what modern people would call a
power spot
—a high, narrow, rocky cliff on the north coast of Cornwall. The rock there is old Devonian slate. That is an extremely hard and durable stone. It was quarried for centuries to use for roofing tiles. The Atlantic Ocean in that area is a gorgeous light turquoise green on account of the copper in the slate rock. The waves beat ceaselessly upon the rock and wear it into sand. The copper laden sand is what turns the water the unusual shade of green.”

Copper,
water, and knights dressed in chain mail,
Phoebe thought,
an antique Arthurian battery
.

Phoebe appreciated the lessons, but
by the end of the day, she was always ready to go home. It was a beautiful drive through a little-used corner of the world. Phoebe enjoyed taking care of her patient. He was a super guy. But she also liked her snug little white farmhouse with its tin roof and wraparound porch.

Chapter 3.

Th
e Great Smoky Mountains National Park was halfway between New York and Florida, and within a day’s drive of eighty percent of the population of the United States. The combination of a convenient location, physical splendor, and no admission fee meant it was the nation’s most popular family vacation destination.

The sparsely populated community of White Oak was
fortunate to be tucked into the woods a few miles off the main road. That meant that the nine million people a year who drove through the park on Highway 441 zipped by without realizing White Oak was even there.

T
he inhabitants of the little village all knew each other and got along fairly well together. It was a typical insular Appalachian social unit where saints, sinners, eccentrics, artists, craftsmen, farmers, mechanics, musicians, criminals, layabouts, and downright crazy people combined to make a functional whole. Everyone had their place.

Phoebe thought it was heaven on earth. She was never happier than when she was hanging out with her friends at Hamilton’s General Store
eating deviled eggs, grilled cheese sandwiches, and sweet tea. She wouldn’t want to do it all day every day, though, so it was good to have a job to go to.

* * *

Her lessons continued each day. “Each person is different,” Caterina said. “No one’s gifts are the same as anyone else’s. So a high degree of trust is required in order for people with spiritual gifts to be able to work together. It is a very delicate business, but it is actually the best possible situation—when it works. That is the meaning of the
two or more
that Jesus mentioned in the Bible.

“
It is technically impossible to be a Christian all by yourself, but when two people have enough purified good will between them to combine forces and work for the good, then Christianity becomes possible. A great enhancement occurs that strengthens their individual powers. One plus one makes more than two.”

Wow
, Phoebe thought, that sounded pretty cool.

Caterina
repeatedly hammered the point about disregarding opinions and personality issues. “Subjectivity is the poison that must be avoided at all costs,” she said. “The border between objectivity and subjectivity is where things begin to break down and your information becomes useless, or worse, destructive and misleading. You must learn to read your own distinctive instrument without projecting any of your own
stuff
into the process at any point. This is extremely difficult.”

No kidding
, Phoebe thought. She realized she was made up of a constant flow of random judgments about nearly everything. I like
this
, I don’t like
that
. Thank heavens she had her medical work to fall back on for an example of proper thinking. When someone was hurt, you didn’t alter or withhold treatment because they’d gotten injured doing something foolish.

* * *

One day the Boss asked her how her lessons were going.

“Pretty
good, I guess,” she said. “But I can see that it’s a long process.”

“Yes,” he agreed. “It i
s a lifetime work.”

Phoebe wondered
, yet again, what the Boss’s specific diagnosis was, but so far she’d never been given a straight answer by anyone and she’d never met the physician in charge of his care. Her job was to monitor his condition carefully and administer his medicines according to schedule.

He took some
ordinary medicines, but he also took other interesting things, like plant essences made right at the monastery from herbs they grew in the garden. They used poultices, essential oils, and decoctions of various sorts of roots, leaves, flowers, and fruits.

It was interesting work.
During her breaks she was tutored as the only pupil in a
School for Psychics
. That stuff was pretty interesting, too. So far she hadn’t mentioned the psychic training to anyone. Her friends in White Oak had no idea what kind of place she worked or who her patient was. She couldn’t imagine talking about her wacky private lessons either.

* * *

Caterina lectured her about the various kinds of psychics. “There are many diverse ways of
seeing
,” she said. “Some people receive information from the spiritual realm by touching a person, or by getting close to them. Some do it by looking at photo, or by holding an item that was used by a particular person. Some rely on
scrying—
reading crystal balls or mirrors.

“Some people can perceive auras—the energy fields that hover around people or
objects. Some people can see or feel changes in the energy fields in nature and they can use this ability to locate things like underground water or search maps with their hands—that is called
dowsing
.

“
There are people who are excellent at perceiving medical information and others who can do remote viewing of events at distant times or places. There are other sorts of phenomena that we will not concern ourselves with. The list is nearly endless and some of the techniques are dangerous or harmful.

Yes
, Phoebe thought,
let’s leave off anything that might lead to spontaneous human combustion.

Caterina
gave her a look that made her wonder if she’d read her mind, but she continued the lesson as usual. “The best way to understand psychic phenomena is by using three basic categories: Imagination, Inspiration, and Intuition. And I do not use these terms in the normal meaning of the English words. In this context we use Imagination with a capital
I
to refer to a visual phenomenon, a
spiritual
seeing
, which is the lowest level of psychic ability.

“
Inspiration, an auditory phenomenon or
spiritual hearing
, is the middle level of ability. And Intuition, a kinesthetic or bodily sensation, which accompanies the direct download of knowledge into a person. This is similar to what modern computer people might refer to as
downloading
from the cloud
, except it comes from spiritual beings such as angels rather than a massive server.”

“Does any of this sound familiar to you?”
Caterina asked.

Phoebe hesitated
out of habit before speaking. This was the kind of thing that was extremely common in the Southern Appalachian Highlands, but that you had to be careful talking about. Certain dogmatic people with no first hand experience of psychic phenomena would immediately attribute the phenomena to the Devil.

Of course some people, bad people or misguided people,
actually
were
talking to the devil. You had to be careful what channel your internal radio was tuned to or you could be picking up the crazy channel or the really
really
bad news channel. Phoebe decided to tell Caterina the truth.

“I’ve
had special dreams all my life,” Phoebe said. “That kinda thing runs on both sides of my family. The women have dreams and see things before they happen. Not often, but they’re real strong when they happen and we’ve learned to take note of them. Some of us also get information from touching a person, either accidentally or on purpose, or by standing close to them.”

Caterina
nodded.

“I notice I can smell diabetics who are out of regulation. I
used to think everybody could do that, but over the years I’ve realized that it’s like some of the other special types of information I get, most people can’t do it, or
won’t
do it.”

Caterin
a nodded again. “It is a burden,” she said. “Great responsibility goes along with receiving this type of information. Many people subconsciously reject it for that reason. Anything else?”

Phoebe paused again. She didn’t like to tell this to anyone except on a
need to know
basis, but she wanted to cooperate with the Boss and her coworkers. “I can hear the dead sometimes.”

“Thank you for telling me,”
Caterina said. “Do not worry that I will think you are having hallucinations.
Le Seigneur
was aware that you had this ability from the color of your aura. He says it is a band of white near the skin surrounded by a clear zone some people call
crystal
. The white and crystal are encased in a clear dark blue field.
Le Seigneur
says these colors mean that the dead can see you and will want to use you to pass messages to their loved ones.”

Phoebe’s eyes burned with the effort to hold back tears. Her parents and a couple of her closest friends knew about
this and accepted it, but she never imagined she’d ever get validation of the phenomenon from anyone.

Caterina
patted her knee. “It is alright. Never lose your humility. It will protect you. Without humility you cannot do this work safely. Never forget this.”

Caterina
administered a series of general tests, and at first it looked like Phoebe wasn’t going to be able to do anything useful after all. She couldn’t see auras, and when Caterina took a deck of cards, drew one, and focused on it. Phoebe couldn’t say which one she was looking at. She had no idea. When requested to guess, she would guess wrong.

Caterina
asked her if she knew where the Boss was, if he was alone or had someone with him. Again, Phoebe came up dry. Further testing revealed that none of Caterina’s dead relatives were trying to talk to her, as far as Phoebe could tell, and she had no idea what the future might hold for the older woman.

“I’ve never been able to do any of this stuff on demand,” Phoebe explained
, frustrated. “Sometimes things will pop into my head, certain types of information that I’ll realize there’s no way I should know. That’s been hard to deal with. For most of my life I thought everything that was in my brain was there because it was
supposed
to be there.

“I mean h
ow could a young person be expected to know that some of the things inside their head got there in a different way than some of the other things? How was I supposed to know I was different? I had to learn that the hard way.”

Caterina
nodded in sympathy.

“Only after several
extremely unpleasant incidents did I realize that sometimes I knew things other people didn’t know, things I had no rational way of knowing. Sharing this kind of information was like handling dynamite. Mentioning it freaks people out. So gradually I learned how to tell whether the information was something I got the regular way—or the other way—before I said anything out loud.

“
It sorta makes me crazy. Our culture accepts the validity of some types of information, “ said Phoebe. “If it’s a successful businessman talking, for instance, he’s considered to be visionary in a good way. But if it’s anybody else, they’re considered a flake or a nutjob. And if you get auditory information, like me, if you ever mention that you
heard
something, everybody thinks you’re crazy for sure!”

Caterina
burst out laughing.

* * *

Phoebe spent time with Caterina, day after day, without noticing any improvement. Finally she felt she had to say something. “I’m sorry,” she told her teacher, “I’m afraid I’m wasting your time.”

“
Perhaps we should consult
Le Seigneur
for guidance,” Caterina suggested.

The Boss
maintained his confidence in Phoebe’s ability. “Perhaps we should reverse our approach,” he said in his melodious French accent. “We could first discover what types of information you are sensitive to, and then focus your training around those particular things.”

Phoebe was willing to try.