Tag Archives: Growth

9. Safe Haven

Frantically, we run, we are close, we are nearing the farm house, it’s within view, hole and suddenly the Artists spot the monster above.  It hasn’t spotted us yet.  It’s only looking for one, not a group, I’m safe for now. The Artists, however, aren’t so sure, they panic, and run faster to the barn, one trips, spills her paints, she cries, “Help me, I hurt my leg, I can’t get up.”  I run to her, Oberon, circles nervously, the panic of the women is upsetting to him, he senses the emotions running wild. He barks loudly. “Quiet, please, please, Obie!”

We finally make it into the barn, just as the rain begins.  Easing the hurt woman onto a pile of hay,  she moans.  I examine what she’s done to herself.  In her hurry to run, she’s tripped in a hole and it only looks like a bad sprain.  But it’s swelling fast and she cannot put her weight on it.

Fortunately there’s a water pump in the barn, I try it to get some cloths wet. The spring water is icy cold, that should help with the swelling.  The other women search through their belongings to find rags that don’t have paint on them, to contribute to the care of their companion.  I look in the “Magical Book of Transformation” to see if there is anything else we can do.  I’m learning a lot, learning to research, learning I may not know about illnesses or sprained ankles, but this book has some helpful advice. I know now, that with practice and research, almost anything can be conquered and overcome, if you know where to go for answers.

We apply the icy rags to her ankle and apply compression with the larger clothes.  She needs to rest, and fortunately it has become evening. We are in for the night.  And once more I have avoided that dragon. The women however begin to discuss this event, “What was that? Are you aware that when it approaches that you change? You seem to vibrate.  You seem to radiate an aura around you?”

Photo: Barn Before the Flight, Louisville, Colorado. Photography by Candace Stauber,2015

8. Storm Clouds

Suddenly there’s a chill in the air, the wind picks up, papers and pedestals start falling over. The Artists scurry to gather their supplies, but I am getting the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, I know what is coming. She is coming after me again and this time I am worried about my companions. How can I explain this? This dragon is following me, I can’t seem to escape her, she finds me every evening.

I pick up my satchel and get Oberon. I take up the crystal disk, I look into it, it shows me there is a safe haven close by, my panic is lessened.  I guess the obsidian wand is also affecting me by absorbing the negative energies of the nervous women.  I am calm, and say, “Ladies, come quickly, there’s a farmhouse close by with a barn we can take shelter in, it looks warm and we are welcome there.”  I get funny looks, but they follow.

In the distance, the thunder rolls and lightning begins to be seen.  A large dragon approaches she needs to see me and has a message only for me.

Photo: Englewood, Colorado, Photography by Candace Stauber

7. The Gift

Having fed the body, my soul was now experiencing and thrill it hadn’t it a long time. The brushes and paints were an old friend. My hands felt clumsy, however, my strokes uneven, but the colors were bright, cheerful and my mood brightened with each stroke. Oberon finally decided to settle in for a nap in the afternoon sun, and give us some peace and quiet and I got carried away with the paints, the colors and texture of the canvas made my thoughts run wild. I forgot about what insecurities I thought I had, about how good or bad I thought I was at this “art” thing, I just did. It was like my hands were being guided and I let them go. Each stroke took me deeper into a meditative state, each stroke became easier, bolder and my confidence rose.  My mentor, the artist who gave me the paints, encouraged me further, “Here, take this book. Your creativity needs other outlets as well.  You have passion within that needs to be released, you have hidden too long.”  She handed me a small notebook, only about four inches wide and five inches long. It was a green leather bound book, with a Celtic cross on the cover. The swirls of the Celtic pattern spoke to my soul and there were blank pages inside, begging to be written upon. “I want you to begin to journal your thoughts and dreams, I want your thoughts to become reality.”

My satchel was becoming full of interesting artifacts, how did they all fit together? Perhaps now that I can journal I can piece the puzzle together.

1. Reflections

As I sit here on this rocky outcropping next to the waterfall, I feel the refreshing mist of the spray on my skin and the shade of the trees cools the air around me. Suddenly I hear a cry above, a shadow silhouettes the sun. I look up but it’s not the feathery wing of a bird, but a much larger wingspan, a leathery wing with sharp dangerous looking talons at each end. A serpentine tail flows like a kite behind the dragon that doesn’t see me yet.

Quickly I duck behind the boulder at the edge of the stream. I wait for the dragon to glide silently into the horizon of the setting sun.

Suddenly a glimmer appears in the quietly trickling stream. The sun has hit the water at just the right angle and it sparkles in my eyes. Catching my attention to the reflection in the water, I noticed there is something lying on the bottom of the river bed.

Checking to see if the dragon has decided to return and feeling safe that it has not, I wade into the stream. It’s not deep, only to my calves, but it’s icy cold and swiftly running. Carefully getting my footing I wade to the middle of the stream, there lodged between the bases of two boulders in the river bed I find the object of my search, the object reflecting the sunlight. It is difficult to grasp, its slick and slips through my fingers as they begin to freeze in the cold water. I need to get out of this stream soon. I’m so cold!

Finally, I feel it begin to give way, and I pull it from the water, its round but thin, shiny and about 3 inches in diameter. It looks a little like a mirror, but not exactly. It’s got clear blue tinges of color. It seems to be made of some sort of crystal. But, when I look at it I can see my reflection, I see myself and the sky above. Is there a shadow over me? I turn around quickly, but there is nothing there. Maybe it’s my imagination.

It begins to get late, I’m cold and wet. I have to find shelter. I need to make camp somewhere safe and out of sight from the dragon. I want to study this disk more closely. This disk, this strange object gives me tingles, every time I look at it I seem to see myself a little differently each time. Every time I look into the disk I see more than I expected, the landscape changes behind me as well. What’s going on?

Photo: Lair of the Bear Park, Gunnison, Colorado. Photography by Candace Stauber, 2015