Excerpt
Wisdom's Calling Part 1
Chapter 1 MEETING ANAIAS
January 1, 1982 The new year had come and I was facing my last year in seminary. What the year would bring was a mystery. I love the first day of the new year and the limitless possibilities. I got a little wild as I danced around my small apartment to a traditional Irish tune. The rhythms took me from somber to joyful to hard on the furniture.
Suddenly I was on my knees. I met Anaias. She was screaming hysterically and indiscriminately into the darkness of an ancient night and I intercepted her pain. Her sorrow was being felt in my psyche; the feelings grabbed my gut and yet they felt distant, ancient, and strange.
There had been a massacre. The blood of Luann was spilling out onto her lap and the ground as she held her. Luann was dead. All around her was death. She screamed in horror, her emotion ricocheting off of time and space.
I found myself entering into her sobs not knowing why. Who are you? I cried out.
I am Anaias, the daughter of the Goddess Ana. Do you know who has killed my people? The voice came through me as a thought into my brain.
I dont know anything about you, but I am willing to listen to you. I whispered.
I must find Papallas and with him we will find these murderers. The feeling turned to bewilderment. Who are you? The voice inside me said.
As I told her my name she asked, Are you a daughter of Ana?
I responded, I am a follower of Jesus, studying to be a minister.
As a woman, are you allowed to lift the cup?
In my church, I am.
I celebrate with you then, women are being honored again, I am glad. But I warn you, beware of those who call themselves Christian. It can be a dangerous religion. She responded
I sorted out my thoughts until I came to the conclusion that this voice was from another place and time. Where are you? I asked.
She was silent for a moment. I could feel her thinking about the same situation I was thinking about. You must have heard my pain. The loss was great but it is in the past. I must have broken through into your time. I wish Papallas were here. I would love to share this moment of new life with him. She stopped, But, Im rude, you ask me where I am. I dont know what you call it in your time, but I have lived on an island aflame with the green fire. I have learned many lessons that I might share with you if you are willing to listen. She answered.
Ill try to listen.
Will you tell my story to your people, so we wont be forgotten? she asked
Ill try.
I got out notebook paper and began to write about the massacre. It was nighttime. Anaias was up the hill in a forested area meditating, as was her practice before a ritual. She heard screaming and shouting. She ran down the hill to see shadowy figures struggling. She saw glistening swords in the firelight. She reached one of the figures and with her dagger lashed out, and struck the person drawing blood. Then they fled into the forests. She didnt see any faces. She saw her dearest friend Luann on the ground.
I was shivering from the power of the encounter and the cold of the day that suddenly descended upon me. I drew a hot bath and as the water flowed, deep wrenching sobs came out of me for a loss that happened in another place and time.
Why!? she asked. She had touched a person in her future, as I touched one in the past. We both asked why the killing? Why?!
As I wrote the story my first guess about the location was that she had lived somewhere in Ireland. I also guessed the time was the 5th century.
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