The Women of the Rose

by Sara Estey

I look at Joe and whisper, “Connie.”

  As if on cue she walks from behind a giant tree and comes our way, as she chants and hums.

  “Connie, Connie!” I say, running up to her, and giving her a big hug.

  “Mary... hello,” she says. “You made it back for us.”

  “Well yes, but…” I stumble.

  “What us?” Joe says.

  “Well, six more monks actually arrived, and two from our community,” Connie says. “We were just doing a ceremony to bring our vibration up, here in the garden. I’m surprised you found us here.”

  “The others?” I ask.

  Six monks, and two women, walk from behind the same tree Connie came from, and approach us.

  “Hello, everyone,” I stammer.

  “This is Mary, who most of you know; and Joe,” Connie says.

  “Are you okay, Mary?” Connie asks.

  “Yes, well... Yes, I’m fine,” I say.

  “Well, we just need to go back to the hotel to get our stuff. Then we can be off,” Connie says.

  “Well, about that…” Joe says.

  “Perhaps we should go to the bus, and then discuss this,” I say.

  As we walk back through the garden to the stone path, one of the monks says, “There is our hotel, let’s get our stuff now. Is that okay?”

  “Your hotel, where?” I ask.

  “Right there,” he says pointing to the bottom of the waterfall.

  Joe and I exchange looks.

  “Yes, I think it would be easier if we got our bags, and then follow you to the bus,” Connie says, giving me a look that says, just go along with this.

  As Connie is speaking, one of the monks is already walking into the pool at the bottom of the waterfall and walking into the pounding water itself. I gasp as everyone follows. One by one, they walk into the water, and then into the waterfall. Connie is the last to do so.

  “What in the world?” I ask Joe.

  Then they all come out of the waterfall, with their bags. They walk through the pool of water, and up the embankment, and are at our side. Not one of them has a drip of water on them.

  “Are you okay, Mary, you look white?” one of the monks says.

  “I’m fine,” I stammer.

  “Come on then, to the bus,” Joe says.

  As we walk into the small village we spent the night in, it looks like everyone has left for the day; though, I do see Laurinda at her stall with the fruit.

  “Loves, did you not get the peaches?” she asks.

  “Oh, just a few,” I say.

  “Well, here, take these,” she says handing me a barrel full of peaches.

  I hand the barrel to one of the monks, who puts it on the bus.

  “What do I owe you?” I ask.

  “Owe me?” Laurinda replies.

  “For the peaches,” I say.

  “We don’t owe here, we exchange as we can. It looks like you are helping others here, yourself. So, that is an even exchange,” Laurinda says.

  “Oh, yes. So, it is,” I say.

  “What a lovely girl,” Connie says coming up beside me.

  “Yes, she is. They let us stay in the village last night,” I say.

  “Oh, why did you not just stay with us down the road?” Connie asks.

  “Well we stayed in that cute little bungalow two houses down on the left,” I say.

  “Bungalow? I just see a shanty shack in the water,” Connie says.

  CHAPTER 20

  Parallel Realities

  As we approach the tunnel to the community, it is becoming apparent that something is amiss. It is as if we are seeing different realities, or timelines. The giant cows are still there, on the side of the road. Connie says that she sees them both as ten feet tall, and as regular cows. Everyone else in the bus says they are regular cows, of a regular size. Joe and I still see them as ten feet tall. I am feeling slightly anxious, and want to quickly get back to the community to sort this out.

  The tunnel is open, and we drive through it. As we arrive on the other side, Joe parks the bus; and, just as Maria had explained to me when I first came to this place, I suggest everyone go down to the river and drink from the magical waters. The monks, Connie, and the two other women, Sue and Kate, go down to drink the water. I do not follow to drink from the river. I already feel I’m in another realm.

  I sit on the grassy knoll, above the river, and watch the others laugh, and drink the magical water. A few splash about, in the shallow end of the river. Joe sits next to me, and takes my hand.

  “Are you okay, love?” he asks.

  “Yes, and you?” I ask.

  “More than okay. We just experienced parallel realities. I mean, can you imagine? Or, rather, do we need to imagine? We have now experienced two realities at the same time, in the same place,” Joe says.

  “Yes, I’m just not sure of the implications,” I say.

  “Implications?” Connie asks as she comes up next to us.

  “Yes, of simultaneous realities,” I say.

  I explain a bit of what just happened to her, and she sighs.

  “I see, I felt a bit of it,” she says. “I knew that two timelines were there, in the field around us. But, I did not quite grasp it fully.”

  “Yes, well, let’s see what Maria has to say,” Joe says.

  We pile back in the bus and drive to the community. The monks comment on how much more alive everything looks here, and I smile. Yes, it most certainly does, I think to myself.

  As we drive up to Maria’s house, we don’t see anyone about. I check inside her house, but no one is at home. It is possibly lunchtime, and the women and children are most likely in the dining hall. I ask everyone to follow me, and we walk to the overhang, down the embankment to the river, and on to the dining hall. As we approach the hall, we see that the women and children are indeed, eating their lunch.

  “My goodness; you are here.” Maria says, approaching us.

  “Where else would we be?” I ask.

  “Well, my dear, you left a few hours ago,” she says. “We just had breakfast with you, and now you are back for lunch.”

  Joe and I look at each other and start laughing. We can’t stop.

  “I don’t see what is so funny,” Maria says.

  “Let me get our newcomers introduced and fed, and then you can fill me in on what happened,” Maria continues, as Joe and I stop laughing, and go and grab some lunch.

  “So, we have only been gone a few hours?” I ask Maria, as she joins us at the table.

  “Precisely. Was everyone waiting for you at the tunnel?” Maria asks.

  “No, we actually spent a night in a village by the lake. Only it was a different village,” I say.

  Joe tells her about our trip and what happened along the way.

  “So, it would seem that we were in different timelines. It was like we were in a higher timeline, and that a different reality was in that timeline,” I say. “Only Connie and everyone else crossed over to the new timeline in the garden and then they were with us.”

  “I see. And, even though you spent a night in this new timeline, and picked up everyone who came from the old timeline, you were only gone a few hours,” Maria says.

  “Why would that be?” Joe asks.

  “I’m not sure. It has not happened before. When we leave this place, the time outside moves at a faster linear rate than the time here in the community,” Maria says, as Lella and Adam join us at the table.

  Maria relays to them the information we have just discussed.

  “Yes, it is true, this has never happened before. It is as if the timeline you went to was a higher frequency than the timeline we are experiencing here. Or, perhaps, the same, yet the time difference is puzzling,” Lella says.

  “Perhaps it has something to do with the mixing of the male and the female energy,” Adam says, “That, and the fact that we cleared the energies here at the community yesterday.”

  “Perhaps,” Maria says.

  “The G
uru wrote of a time when there was no linear time, when it was fluid,” Adam says. “It was a long time ago, before the Guru, thousands of years before the ancient lineages we speak of: Egypt, Sumeria, Atlantis. It would have been well before the time of your community origins here, Maria.”

  “He mentioned many things when he visited,” Maria says, “but not this, that you speak of.”

  “Mom, what are you talking about?” Brandon says, as he approaches us.

  “Oh, we are discussing time, and how it bends into other timelines, Brandon,” Maria says.

  Brandon shuts his eyes as Adam continues.

  “So, in ancient times, the people were able to time travel to different places on Earth, and different times as well,” Adam says.

  “That is not completely true,” Brandon says.

  Maria goes to say something to Brandon. I note that he looks to be in some form of a trance. He continues to speak.

  “It was many thousands of years ago that we could form things, as we wished, on the planet,” Brandon says. “We did not need to eat or drink. We were able to travel from this planet to others, and back again.

  “Time was not the same as it is now, or even as you saw today at the village by the lake. Multiple realities were seeded on this planet. As you saw today, some of those realities remain. The key is in knowing the reality you want, and tapping into it.”

  We sit in silence for a few minutes, stunned by his trance-like speech.

  Brandon opens his eyes and smiles.

  “I’m going to go swim with the others now, okay?” he asks Maria.

  As he runs off to his friends, Adam looks at Maria. “Is he…?” he asks, stumbling to find the words.

  “Yes, he is the son of the Guru,” she says.

  Not sure exactly what it all means, I look at the others. No one speaks for a long while.

  “So, if we go out again into the world, what will we find?” Joe asks. “Will we be able to connect with the rest of our Community?”

  “I don’t know, Joe. You and Mary were able to connect to a higher vibrational reality, as well as connect with Connie, and the monks. You were still able to bring them here,” Maria says.

  “Do you think that has anything to do with the garden?” I ask.

  “In what way do you mean?” Lella asks.

  “I don’t know really. It is just that that is where we connected, at the garden,” I reply. “You know in the Bible, Adam and Eve: the garden. Where Man was born, so to say.”

  “Interesting parallel. I don’t know. I guess we will find out when we go back out in the world,” Maria says. “It is possible that our vibrational reality will be such that we no longer see the world that you came from, though.”

  “Really? But that has never happened before, has it?” I ask.

  “No, it has never happened before,” Maria says.

  “Why don’t we go up to the new home area and finish manifesting the dwellings, so that we can get everyone properly settled in,” Lella says.

  As we trudge up the hill to the new home site, I think about the timelines, and what it may mean to our future, and that of the others. Approaching the new housing area, I see that two more homes are now standing, and look to be completed. The women sit in a circle and continue with their work. By the end of the day there will be eleven homes added to the community, allowing enough space for all to live in.

  Joe and I walk back down to the river for a swim. It has been quite an amazing few days.

  “What do you think?” I ask Joe as we reach the river.

  “About what exactly?” he asks.

  “Good point. Maybe best we just have a swim in the pool area and relax a bit,” I say.

  Walking to the swimming hole, we don’t come across any of the others, not even the children. As we approach the swimming hole, I see we have the place to ourselves.

  “So, would you like to do the rope swing into the pool, or shall I?” Joe asks.

  “Please do. I think I’ll just swim in from the shore,” I laugh.

  I take off my dress and jump into the cool water, dressed in my bathing suit. Joe climbs the river embankment and hangs on to the rope as he swings out to the middle of the pool where he lets go of the swing rope.

  A big splash of water hits me, as he plunges deep into the pool, only to rise to the top of the water next to me.

  “Well, you managed to get my hair wet,” I sigh.

  “Really, your hair wet?” he asks.

  I laugh and plunge under the water, emerging with a full head of wet hair.

  “Yes, and now it is all wet,” I laugh.

  We swim about like children, forgetting just how different our world has become. I feel happy, peaceful, and at home.

  Eventually, we swim to the shore and lay down on the towels that we brought down with us. Lying in the sun, I feel it penetrate into my body and dry the water off my skin.

  “Mary, wake up,” Joe is standing, looking down at me.

  I see that the sun is starting to set, and I realize I must have dozed off. Slowly, I get up. My suit is dry and I put my dress on. I hold Joe’s hand, and we walk toward the dining hall.

  “Did you see the houses?” Sarah says as she runs towards us.

  “No, we went for a swim,” I say.

  “Oh, right, the towels,” she says. “Well they turned out beautifully. Wait until you see ours.”

  “It is already done for us?” I ask.

  “Yes, we get to move in after dinner,” She says.

  Everyone seems to be excited to move into their new homes. We quickly eat our supper and then go to the new houses.

  As we walk to the homes I hold hands with Sarah, and with Joe. I smile broadly, knowing that we will be a family soon. We are a family in a community already. But, somehow, Joe has also come into our lives and he fits in perfectly.

  As we reach the new homes, Maria does a blessing for them, and for us, alongside the women of the community. They chant, and then they ceremoniously put crystals into each of the new homes.

  We go back to Maria’s house and grab our belongings. Taking them into our new home, I see we have four bedrooms. One for each of us and an extra. “For my family, one day,” Sarah laughs.

  Yes, well, that would be lovely, I think to myself. As far as the rooms go, it feels right that Joe and I keep separate rooms for now. No reason to rush into anything. We have an infinite life ahead of us, it would appear, here in the community.

  We walk back outside and see the monks moving into their homes, as well. Connie waves us over to her house, which is next to ours.

  “Look, how beautiful,” Connie says as we walk over to her new home. “They have even put in a room with all sizes and colors of crystal singing bowls. You must see.”

  As we walk into her home, Kate and Sue come down the stairs.

  “We are all sharing this lovely house,” Kate says. “Wait until you see how each of our rooms has been done in a way we would like. Sue’s looks to be a bit like a New York loft, which she called home for so many years. Mine is much simpler, with muted colors and massive crystals.”

  I smile looking around the living area which is much more done up with décor than our home.

  “Amazing that they picked up on our personal signatures of what we like, and what would feel most at home to us,” I say. “And, then, look how the women were able to incorporate that into the homes, and even different ideas on style, merging them as they have done for the three of you here.”

  “Yes. It is amazing,” Sarah says as we all walk into the crystal room.

  Connie plays one of the bowls. As if on cue, all the bowls start sounding, as though by themselves. I feel a sound come out from deep in my belly. One that I have not chanted, or sung before. I close my eyes, and let the sounds come, as they may. They are beautiful, and angelic. As the crystal bowls resonate in sound, so do we.

  Joe, Sarah, Connie, Kate and Sue: we all are singing and chanting in some ancient sounds that rise out of us and
into the home, the community. My voice becomes louder and then I am done, and the peace inside me is such as I have never felt in this lifetime, or any other.

  CHAPTER 21

  10 years later

  Laughing with the children, I frolic in the water with them. It is almost dinner time, and I see Adam approaching to remind us to hurry. A performance is to be offered tonight, and we don’t want to be late. Drying off, I look at the sun dance on the trees and flowers, as it starts to set. I will never tire of the beauty here.

  “Hurry up now, we best get to the dining hall,” I say, as everyone dries off and puts their clothes on.

  “Did you have a refreshing swim, Mary?” Adam asks.

  “Yes, you should have joined us,” I say.

  “Yes, well, next time,” he says.

  As we approach the dining hall we see that the monks and the women have lined up in what looks like a giant figure 8. Those of us not performing, find seats to watch the performance. Joe joins us, sitting next to Adam, and I. Sarah winks at me from her place in the figure 8.

  Sounds start to emit from the mouths of those performing. Angelic sounds: now our signature here. The male, then the female; the male, then the female. As they rotate back and forth, the tone gets louder. Then, they merge into one. As the tones of masculine, and feminine, merge into one, the performers start to do a dance, intertwining the figure 8 The dance is organic in nature, as is the singing. It becomes even more harmonious and, then, we don’t see anyone. We still hear the sounds of the singing; they are faint now, barely audible.

  Joe and I look at each other, and the children, as we all know what comes next. Nothing, we hear nothing. We keep our eyes where everyone had been just a few minutes ago, and slowly we start to hear the tones, the song; and then, gradually, the people all reappear, each holding a single rose.

  They bow, and they each bring their rose and hand it to one of us watching, for next time it will be our turn to do the song: the dance of the rose.

  “That was lovely,” I say to Sarah as she hands me her rose.

  “I know Mom, I will never tire of that dance,” she says.

  We had come to this process soon after our homes were built, some ten or so human, linear years ago. It had come to us as Maria had joined us with the singing bowls that Connie had in her home.