The Sword of Michael - eARC (8 page)

“Sorry,” I said. “I talk to myself all the time.”

She laughed. “Just don’t start answering yourself!”

The light changed and we all stepped off the curb.

Slam—
I felt an invisible body push into me, a flash of white moving fast, and I reached out and grabbed the woman and her daughter and yanked them back hard—

—a pick up truck tore through the intersection, so close that it’s side mirrors whipped past my face, never touched the brakes as it sped off, leaving only a glimpse of a tense face glaring straight ahead, hatred simmering off it—

“God!” the woman shouted. “That asshole blew right through the light. He almost hit all three of us!”

“You okay?” I asked. My heart pounded in my ears.

“Yes…thank you.” She looked at her daughter and then at me. “Thank God you were here.”

I looked up at the sky. A crow circled far above me. “Thank God He was here.”

…yes, shaman, Burt said…soft laughter. It’s a full time job watching out for Marius Winter.

Job security, Tigre said. She curled up on the hood of my 4Runner, sunning herself. First In Front sat cross legged beside her, his coup stick and his war knife resting in his lap. He held the knife in his right hand, straight up, and like a reversed spotlight a beam of light descended from the sky, illuminated his blade, and flowed through him into my car, down into the earth…

I stepped into the Circle of Light around my car and felt warmth and the sudden release of pressure I’d been unaware of, the lifting of that dark attention that comes from a Shielded Presence, a Dark Force watching me, tracking me…

Yes, First In Front said. Ceremony and Allies. Who you gonna call…

Wasn’t gonna be Ghostbusters.

Chapter 13

Ceremony is a big part of the shaman’s work. Spirit—the Great Spirit and its manifestations as individual souls and spirits, all of those pieces that collectively make up the Presence of Creator God—provides guidance to the shaman when it’s time for a ceremony; we get specific instruction as to what to do and when for whom. Our job is to translate that information and instruction into action. We have to journey to the spirits along the path of the Divine and return with that information, and use it to create the Sacred Space that contains the Work.

The Sacred Space that brings and holds and heals with the Divine Light of Creator God.

Rituals have a general sequence that rarely varies, though the specifics are always dependent on Spirit’s guidance. The shaman, his assistants (if any) and all the participants need to be cleansed and cleared, as does the space in which the Work will be done. The shaman sets out the boundaries of the sacred space, the Circle, and calls in the Powers from the Four Directions to seal the space and fill it with light and energy. Then the Work is done, and thanks offered up, and the Circle opened to release the Spirits and the energy back to the Creator.

Easy, right?

It can be, but not always.

Part of the shaman’s training is to pay close attention to the specific instruction offered by the spirits…and that requires discernment. Discernment, sorting the wheat from the chaff, the static from the clear signal, in processing information from the Other Realms is often the biggest stumbling block for a shaman.

Creator knows it’s been a stumbling block for me.

More than once, Marius, Tigre purred. Right on your face.

Yes. Well. As I’ve said, no point in arguing with the Divine Feminine in any of Her Manifestations, especially the big-clawed and big-teethed kind.

So that’s the ritual.

Then there’s the participants.

Me, of course, since Creator had sent me this particular job. Maryka and Tony. But I wanted more help. Knowing when to ask for help, and who to ask for the specific help needed, is another big educational milestone in the on-going training of a shamanic practitioner.

Every practitioner has his or her version of the Little Black Book of contacts; mine was just like the
Mission Impossible
, a list of the very best to be called upon as needed. It’s a small list but heavy duty. That sparked commentary from my peers, who agreed that “heavy duty” was what came my way. Some of them chided me for loving the drama of the big fight; I had to sit with that for awhile. When I journeyed on it, I was shown this: all of us Called in the Light have Work to do, and no job is greater or lesser or any more dramatic than the other—it’s all of value. Me, I figured the Creator needed a hardhead who would tackle the big dirty dark jobs and that was why He made me the way I am.

Or so I tell myself.

My healing room was ready. The table set with clean linen, fresh water and flowers on my altar, a new bundle of sage and sweet grass and a lighter placed into my abalone shell; everything clean and fresh.

I was ready. Rested and clear after a period of meditation and light journey, a shower and a meal of salad and an excellent piece of raw sirloin cut into thin strips like sushi. Raw. The quality meat helped ground me, though it revolved some of my peers.

Pure…but not too pure.

Works for me.

A knock at the door.

…who you gonna call, Ghostbusters! Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!!

“Thanks, Burt,” I said.

I’d called them on short notice, but they all came without question. I felt a swelling and a gladness in my heart as I looked at them gathered on my step: Jolene, the love of my life, carrying with her all the gravitas and power and wisdom of a Full Priestess of the Circle; Dillon, relaxed and bulky under his leather car-coat bulging with weapons; and, just getting off her Harley in front, Sabrina, shaking loose her violet hair as she took off her helmet.

We were Four. One for each Direction, one for each Power, one for each of the Archangels who stand at the corners of the Creator’s Throne.

Sabrina swaggered up my walk with a big grin. “Hope you got good beer on ice, Marius. Gonna be a thirsty night.”

Jolene turned to greet her with a hug. “Hello Goddess.”

Sabrina squeezed her hard. “Jolene. I’m amazed you still put up with this wild man.”

“He’s not so bad,” Jolene said. “You look amazing.”

Sabrina laughed, then looked Dillon up and down. “Hey big boy. Is that an Uzi in your pocket or you just glad to see me?”

Dillon grinned. “AK. And yeah…I’m glad to see you.”

“I’m between big bad daddies, Dillon. I think you should go home with me.” She paused. “Really.”

Dillon swallowed his stammer. The rest of us laughed, me most of all. Who wouldn’t quail in the Presence of the Goddess, especially when She was eyeing him like a piece of fresh meat dangled in front of a predator?

I love her, Tigre said. She is so who she is. True Self…

Warriors all, First In Front said. I welcome them…

Burt cawed into deep laughter. Ah, they’re all batshit crazy, just like this one. Like attracts like.

Jolene closed her eyes and smiled. “Greetings, blessings and thanks to all who walk with us here.”

I felt the joy and smiles of my guides.

They love her too.

“You are all most welcome,” I said formally. “Please enter with my thanks to all of you and all who walk with you, for coming when I called, and for coming to be in Service to the Light.”

Jolene entered, paused. “I am here. I am Jolene and I walk with the Goddess. I am here in Service to the Light.”

She passed within.

Sabrina was next. “I am here. I am Sabrina. I come in Service to the Light and to the Great Spirit of my ancestors. We are all kin in the eyes of the Creator. Aho…”

Dillon looked at me. I inclined my head to welcome him in. He came in and stopped. “Uh, I’m, uh, Dillon. I’m here to…” He paused for a moment, and then the voice that was great within him rose up, the voice of his warrior guides. “I’m here to protect. To watch over those in Service to the Light. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve and to stand between those who heal and those who would harm. Thank you.”

Sabrina and Jolene double-hugged him. Dillon blinked in surprise, his eyes suddenly watering with the emotion flowing to him from two women he worshipped and the invisible spirits around him, who welcomed him and his warrior energy into this space.

I shut the door. “May all who enter here in the Service of the Light be blessed and protected. I am grateful, I am grateful, I am grateful.”

We are Four.

And to borrow a line from Pink, let’s get this party started.

* * *

I was interesting to witness how each of my Ally’s roles emerged when Tony and Maryka arrived. Jolene laid a gentle hand on Tony’s arm and ushered him in; Sabrina studied the two and then closed her eyes in communion with her guides; Dillon checked the street outside and then locked the door and followed us all into the healing room.

Each in accordance with their True Self.

What’s that?

Your True Self is you as you came into the world—an energetic being, a soul, a spirit, a fragment of the Great Light that is Creator God. You came here with a mission, a purpose, a job to do in the greater Work. But that Divine Light can get shifted, transformed, muddied, when you’re in the body and the flesh slows down the processing of information and guidance. Your body is a great gift, designed to provide you the opportunity to learn and experience the things you cannot while in Spirit.

That’s where the whole piece about temptation, seduction and wandering away from your Mission comes from. Some of us spend our entire lives in pursuit of what we were sent here to do; some of us never find it. Some of us are dragooned into Service—whether we like it or not—because we were sent here to further the Work.

When you’re in accordance with your Higher Purpose, when your True Self is doing the Work you were sent here to do, everything flows along, everything works.

When we start confusing the mundane details of ordinary every day life and consciousness—paying bills, being pissed at the neighbor, worrying about whether Kim Kardashian’s butt is too big or whether you can afford a sports car—with what our
real
work is, that’s when things get muddled. That’s part of what the Dark Forces’ work here in opposition to the Light Workers—keeping you confused about your Higher Purpose, chasing what’s the latest and greatest on TV and in constant debt slavery.

Not to say that you eschew your responsibilities in the Middle World—far from it. The best spiritual practitioners in t he shamanic tradition walk a middle road. They do well at their business, pay their bills, raise their kids—and they do their Work as they are sent to do. There are many challenges around that, and that’s the place of your personal work, the work you do to keep yourself a hollow bone to be filled with the Presence of the Creator in the Service of your People.

Not an easy path.

But for those of who are Chosen, or who Chose to follow the Path, the rewards far outweigh the constant challenge.

I’m reminded of this every time when I’m gathered in the Service of the Light to benefit another.

Like now.

“Are you comfortable?” I asked Tony. He reclined on the massage table, his hands stiff at his sides, while I adjusted the knee bolster beneath his legs.

“Yes,” he said.

“Nervous?” I said.

“Yes.”

“That’s normal,” I said. “You’re in good hands today. Only the best for you.”

He nodded and let his hands loosen. “I feel that.”

Maryka squeezed his hand.

“Where do you want me?” Maryka said.

I set a small wooden stool down at the foot of the massage table. “Sit here. You’ll help him keep his connection to the Earth and who he is.”

Sabrina touched the lighter to the mixture of sage, sweet grass, copal and palo sante in the abalone shell, breathed lightly and murmured a prayer as the flames kindled the aromatic herbs; she then circled the room and went to each of us, first to me and then Jolene and then the others, wafting the smoke with a hawk feather around us, clearing our energy and the room and the space. When she had circled everyone and all the four corners of the room, she set the still smoldering shell on my altar and took her place to my right as I stood at the head of the healing table. Jolene stood directly across from me, with Maryka in front of her sitting on the stool at Tony’s feet. Dillon stood on my left.

Dillon looked nervous, but then, he always did in ceremony.

“Just be who you are, brother,” I said. “Hold the intention that brought you here. Serve and protect.”

“Got it,” he said.

Sabrina closed her eyes and gathered her power. I locked eyes with Jolene, and felt the jolt I always did, as the deep power of the Goddess flowed through the blue eyes of the woman I loved, circulated deep within me. I felt the deep upwelling of love and connection between us.

And yeah, I was thinking about later…one of my teachers had told me, early in my apprenticeship, that after a ceremony participants tended to be sleepy, hungry, or horny—quite often all three.

I was holding out for all three.

Silently, at first, we all called upon the Powers and our guides. There was a shift in the energy in the room we all felt, even Maryka and Tony, the Gathering of our Unseen Allies into a room that suddenly felt filled, as a stuffy room feels cleared and filled when you open the window to a strong breeze.

I began the invocation: “Father, Mother, Creator, God, Holy Spirit, Great Spirit, Goddess…I call upon you. I call upon Jesus the Christ, Light of the Creator Made Flesh; I call upon beloved Mother Mary, Queen of the Angels, First Among Healers, Mother of Us All; I call upon the angelic realm, and the Four Archangels of the Presence, You Who Stand At The Four Corners of God’s Throne, You Who Stand At The Four Corners of the World…Michael, General of the Lord’s Host, Mighty Leader of the Warriors of Light on Earth, I call on you…Uriel, Archangel of Fire, I call on you…Raphael, Archangel of Healing, I call on you…Gabriel, Archangel of the Call, I call on you…I call on Jophiel and Zadkiel, You who bear the Lord’s Standards, and I call Haniel, the Protector of the Great Mother, and I call Metatron, who once walked among us as a man…I call on the entire angelic realm…”

The room brightened, darkened, then brightened again as clouds dimmed the sunlight outside—or was it the infusion of Angelic Light that filled the space? My breath deepened and slowed, and my inner vision filled with light and images…

“…and I ask for your presence and your protection, your guidance and your healing, in the Service of the Light, in the service of your child Tony, who is here today, and I ask, humbly, for your assistance, to use me as your vessel in the transmission of any healing that is in accordance with your Divine Plan…I ask for your protection for all of those here today in Service to the Light…and for Tony and Maryka…it is the Work of the Light we do here today…”

I opened my eyes and saw each of my friends and allies illuminated with a Light from within. Sabrina and Jolene, heads bowed, lips moving silently through their own personal invocations, calling their Allies in and close; Dillon’s eyes closed, but body poised with the vigilance of the watchman; Maryka’s eyes closed, her hands resting gently on Tony’s feet; Tony’s eyes closed, his breathing deep and slow and steady…

I closed my eyes.

…
And in that space behind my eyes, filled with the Divine Light, I saw those I had called: First In Front, in his sacred regalia, knife and coup stick in hand, dancing to gather and deepen his power; Tigre, alert and poised on her haunches; eyes deep as the starlit night; Burt, silent for once, the tip of a spear formation of Crows and Ravens lined up behind him…and behind my Three, the Mighty Three: Jesus, Mother Mary, and Michael…and arrayed behind Michael were the Legions of Light, The Mighty Warriors of Light on Earth…

Yes, came the strongest voice that ever spoke through me…Michael, Mighty Archangel…we are gathered here in Service.…This is how it begins. Let it begin…