The Song_A mysterious tale of the Mayan spirit world and the Mayan calendar

by Joseph Arnold

Riley had no real experience with a ritual like this but was committed to participating.

  They both sat in silence for a while and then Sarina took the wraps and said, “Usually these are carried to the top of one of the sacred mountains and burned but we can also burn them here.” She lit a small fire and deposited their wraps in it on her balcony. Sarina turned to Riley and said, “You are quite deep, Riley. I am glad I found you.” Sarina’s phone lit up. “Shit,” she said. “It’s one of my boys calling. I better take this.”

  “I’m beat,” he said. “I'll wait for you in bed.” He waited until the fire was out on the balcony and ten got up, went to the bedroom, lit a few more candles, and sank into bed.

  Sarina smiled at Riley as she answered the phone. “Hello?”

  “Mom, it’s me.”

  “What’s up?” Sarina wanted to be quick with her response and not sound nervous.

  “I’m in a bit of a bind and not sure how to deal with a problem. Can you talk right now?”

  “It’s late and I’m pretty exhausted. Can this be quick?”

  “Yeah. I’m dating a girl and I want to cook a meal for her and I was wondering if you can share a recipe with me.”

  Sarina let out a relieved sigh that it wasn’t the other kind of girl problem. “Sure, what recipe do you want?”

  “I love the Shepard’s Pie you make.”

  “Why don’t I e-mail you the recipe?”

  “Okay. How are you?” He sensed something different in his mom’s voice.

  Sarina hesitated, “... Oh, just fine. My trip to Guatemala has been postponed for a bit so I am catching up on some other research.”

  “Anything exciting?”

  Sarina laughed. “No, not really,” she lied. “But it might lead to something wild.”

  “Oh, okay... Mom, you sound antsy, is there something you’re not telling me?”

  “Uh, well … There is someone here right now.”

  “Are you seeing someone, mom?”

  “Sort of ... It’s a bit complicated. He kinda showed up one day when my sister …”

  “Uh, my girlfriend just came over so I’d better go. But I want to hear more later … Bye mom.”

  Her son had hung up before she could say good bye. Sarina took a deep breath and turned her phone ringer to vibrate, walked into her bedroom, and put it on her nightstand.

  She performed her nightly rituals, although somewhat abridged, and joined Riley in bed, both knowing it was unlikely they were going to get much, if any, sleep. It was only a couple of hours before they needed to get up.

  Riley wanted to talk more about their new love and relationship but Sarina said, “Enough talk for now. I want to experience non-verbal communication to see how we navigate what we have co-created. You are truly a gifted man with the added gift of conversation but I want to just be together. Can we do that, Riley?”

  Riley sighed in relief. “Yes, I’d like that too.”

  They snuggled into bed together and felt the warmth of each other’s bodies. Tonight found them alone again, together and now they were merged as one in a sacred intimacy. A sacred contract had been forged. It was clear that they had fallen in love and needed each other in the journey. Passion was a big part of their attraction and even with their uncertain journey ahead, they merged together as lovers do.

  They both needed to be centered and grounded for what was about to come and the ritual of connecting through the union of their bodies was spectacular. They explored each other’s bodies like a cartographer explores his maps, combing over every inch of uncharted territory. Excited about the unexplored, excited about the topography, excited about naming the various terrain that, until now, had not been uncovered. The soft gentle curves of Sarina’s body were met by the hard chiseled muscles of Riley’s. Like the cartographer, the ecstasy was not in the completion of the map but the journey of the exploration and as the map is folded closed, the knowing that more detail will emerge on the next unfolding of that map.

  The magic of their intimate connection was beautiful and after an hour or so, Riley began to feel his emotions that were deeply embedded in his psyche. These emotions slowly opened him up in deep ways he had not experienced in decades. He sorted through everything in his mind that had happened to him in the past days and nights. He remembered his partner, Jennifer, now dead. He rolled over and followed his journey through his life from his childhood to present. He recounted his time at the police academy when he had met Jennifer, a young and vibrant woman full of life and passion for what she believed to be goodness in the world. He remembered how she had talked endlessly into the night about how the world was a grand place and how she was going to help others find their true justice in life. Jennifer had been so idealistic and sure that if we, as humans, were dedicated to finding truth and living with conviction that everything life had to offer was at our fingertips. Riley remembered one of Jennifer’s constant sayings: “The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds.” Riley remembered that this had been a quote from President John F. Kennedy and wondered why Jennifer had used that quote when she had not known it belonged to the President.

  Maybe Dana was right. Maybe Jennifer’s soul was indeed the soul of the former president. After all, she was born within hours after President Kennedy was shot. Maybe she had been born at the same moment he had died in the hospital, Riley thought. He grabbed his journal, added the thought, and closed the book.

  Riley drifted in and out of consciousness as he revisited his connection with Sarina and Ann some thirty years ago. He recalled how he had been at their house at the right moment and how it had been Jennifer who talked with Jack and Mona. He recalled that it had been his compassion for those two girls that brought him close enough to feel the electric pulse as the three of them had touched. When he thought of all the circumstances that had brought him here, to this very moment, he let out a long sigh.

  Sarina stirred and asked, “You’re thinking about Jennifer, aren’t you?”

  “Yes,” he said. Riley was no longer surprised by Sarina's intuitive nature and her gift at reading his mind. “And about Ann and your father and mother and everything that has come to pass.”

  “It feels overwhelming to me,” she said.

  “Yeah, I feel overwhelmed too.” Riley reached over and kissed Sarina as she drifted off to sleep. They drifted back to sleep for what seemed a few moments. Then Sarina kissed Riley as she stirred. “It’s almost time to get up. Are you ready for this?” she asked.

  Sarina shifted gears quite readily. She loved the spirit world and engaged it as often as she could. Over the years, she created Touch Drawing images of what spirituality meant for her and assumed her idealism was the same for everyone. She was a bit unsettled when Dana told her to let go of her perception of her guides and wanted to tell him that he was wrong. As she pondered this concept of Dana being wrong, she shuddered and realized he was probably correct. What did she know? She assumed a great many things about the spirit world but here she was in it, and the spirit world was very different from what she had read and learned from others.

  Sarina's firsthand experience was very unlike anything she had imagined. Sure some things fit in, but she realized that she knew very little about the actual spirit world. And now she was walking, so to speak, in the “Real” spirit world and Dana was helping her to understand this world in a greater way.

  “I am alert and as prepared as I will ever be,” said Riley as he sat up in bed mentally prepared to leave.

  When they got up from bed, they knew what they had to do. Their choices were going to be hard and they knew they were going to be tested. They had to be strong and focused. They needed each other, now more than ever. What they were about to face was so far away from their human understandings.

  “Sarina, I’ve had this feeling ever since we went to bed last night.”

  “Yes …” smiled Sarina.

  Riley blushed, “Oh, not about that.” Riley felt again the passion that he
and Sarina had shared just a short time ago. “It is as though I am supposed to bring something from my other life as a detective but I can’t quite put my finger on it. You have the urn with Ann’s ashes and the bracelet …” Riley pondered for a moment and then blurted out, “That’s it; I’m supposed to bring handcuffs.”

  “Whatever for?” Sarina asked.

  “I have no idea. All I know is, I got a message from somewhere or someone. It seems that Dana mentioned bringing them earlier but I didn’t think much about it. Now I feel some sort of validation!” Riley looked over at Sarina who was staring at him. “What?”

  “Nothing, I have just never seen you so completely sure of something.” She smiled.

  Riley presented a pair of handcuffs for Sarina’s inspection. “I received these cuffs as sort of a joke. I mean, every officer has cuffs as standard issue, but these have followed me from place to place, and I have them on me every day, along with my standard issue set, so that they have sort of become kind of like a piece of jewelry.” Riley blushed a little. “Handcuffs as jewelry. How crazy is that? Anyway, they’re not conventional stainless, they are made of some alloy, maybe a carbon or silver composite of some kind. All I know is that I have never seen a pair like it anywhere. Kind of like the copper flask your sister’s ashes are in, one of a kind.” With that he flipped them around in his hand and linked the cuffs together in an obviously very practiced way.

  “Wow!” said Sarina. “You’re pretty good at that.”

  “Lots of practice, especially when I am talking on the phone.”

  “Hmm. Okay let’s go.”

  On the corner of 3rd and Lincoln, just outside Sarina’s apartment, stood a woman dressed in long flowing garments with beautiful compelling eyes staring with a warmth in those eyes that Riley had felt he somehow recognized. She was smiling as she walked away into the maze of what appeared to be transparent looking people, otherwise known as spirits from the Council, knowing she had had a hand in putting the thought of the gift handcuffs in the detective’s mind. Riley had been looking out the window and caught a glimpse of her in the corner of his eye among all the other spirits.

  “Did you see—?” Riley began.

  “See what?” Sarina was fishing through her purse looking for her keys. “Never mind. Well, my dear, shall we go? Its 3:25 and a 10- or 15-minute walk from here.”

  They walked down the street and Riley stopped her, looking around for all the “people” he had seen only a few moments ago. “Whatever happens today, know that ... I love you ... more than anyone I have ever known.”

  “I love you, too,” she said and kissed him.

  “Sarina?”

  “Yes Riley?”

  “Back in your apartment, I looked out the window and saw literally hundreds of people walking in the streets but where are they now? Did you notice them?”

  “No,” she said.

  “I don’t know if I imagined them or what, but I guess it comes with the territory.”

  ”I suppose they were members of the council, given what Dana has told us.”

  “Maybe. Whatever it was or whoever they were, the sight took me by surprise.”

  They walked on and arrived in silence at the door of the now famous alley as Riley touched his cheek where Sarina had kissed him. “Where is Dana?” she asked.

  “I don’t know!”

  “What should we do? We have not explored this alone before.”

  Riley took a moment and said, “I know and I think we should go in alone. We have done this enough before. Maybe this is a test from Dana.”

  Sarina hesitated and replied, “Yes. I agree. He told me to trust my gifts. Do you trust yours?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “We are out of time! Let’s go in!”

  The door was warm to their touch and they chanted the names they had come to know so well. The door opened but the usual green mist was not there to greet them. The room felt heavy and completely surrounded in silence. The silence was so complete it felt oppressive as if their ears had been plugged tightly. They moved slowly towards the portal and listened through the silence for the drumming and chanting but they heard nothing.

  In one quick motion the floor dropped away and they were pulled into a vacuum of emptiness and felt a surge of movement in their bodies. Unlike before, when their surroundings were passing them by, this time no images appeared, and in fact they were actually feeling the sensation of movement. They were propelled on and on into what seemed to be a different dimension or maybe another universe at unimaginable speeds. Sarina opened her mouth but the movement was so fast she couldn’t hear herself scream.

  Riley felt a sensation of fear grip him tightly as they accelerated at unbelievable speed, his eyes closed tightly. Sarina was unsure of what was happening, but when she glanced over at Riley and noticed his eyes slammed shut, she centered and allowed herself to be present and available for Riley.

  They were plunging into what seemed like a downward spiral. They continued to center themselves and let go of any thoughts where fear might grab hold. Riley’s eyes were now wide open. “OUR GIFTS, WE NEED TO USE OUR GIFTS!” Sarina shouted. They closed their eyes to see beyond what was in front of them. Images were beginning to form and they were massive. The walls of huge temples appeared and they felt dwarfed by their size. Great chariots were drawn by unusual creatures. Planets were passing by at great speeds with their many moons. There were enormous explosions where worlds shattered into billions of small fragments. Creatures of every size and shape occupied many different worlds while swirling around suns and always moving forward in spiraling fashion as they orbited around their central stars. They passed through the orbit trails of these celestial beings and saw numbers, lines, and circles being scooped up by large, what appeared to be, machines of some sort.

  We must be on or near Nibiru, thought Riley careful not to speak and opened his eyes.

  That’s exactly what I believe, thought Sarina back to Riley as she opened her eyes as well. Where is Dana? Sarina thought again, looking over to Riley who seemed to not have “heard” her thought, but when he grabbed her hand and yelled out loud, “Not sure but hold on tight,” it became clear that he had heard her thought. They continued to spin at incredible speeds. Both Sarina and Riley had only read about nebulas and other celestial bodies. To see them close up was amazing.

  “LOOK AT THAT!” shouted Sarina. They were using their voices, making sure they heard each other as they were not completely clear about the telepathy mode.

  “I SEE IT!” responded Riley.

  They were watching the birth of a star and a supernova that seemed to be happening in perfect unison. They were witnessing the birth of complete bio-systems. Complete civilizations were simultaneously being created and destroyed.

  Are we seeing the birth of our own humanity? Sarina asked, now using thought again.

  I don’t know. We are communicating with thoughts again! Riley thought. Everything I ever learned about the physical universe was a myth! This is incredible! It was now clear that their telepathy communication was working fine. The stars were forming and pulsing and retreating as though they were choreographed by some unseen force or being in charge. They were not accelerating outward as he had learned in school as the Big Bang Theory. All the orbits of all the planets were spiraling in a helix form, just like Dana had described and Sarina had concurred. Riley was amazed that none of the stars or planets ever collided. They seemed simply to appear and disappear in unison with a cosmic sound that sounded remarkably like the song “Bliss.” Do you hear that? It’s our song, he thought.

  Yes, I do. Oh my God, it’s like my own knowing has been reduced to nothing. I feel honored to be witnessing the birth of my own self in the way the planets and stars appear and disappear and with a song that we actually know!

  Sarina was looking at her own birth in one of the stars with its helical path trailing behind. She was conscious of her travel from her mother’s womb through the birth canal and in
to the brightest light. Into being born with complete awareness of her own experience.

  Riley saw his own childhood flash in an instant, but the surroundings were not familiar. He was running fast and with purpose towards a rainbow of color. He was free from his own knowledge of what he thought was his experience only to see more of himself than he had ever imagined.

  I’m flying across the sky! He thought.

  I’m right behind you!

  All at once the images ended with a thud! They were floating in what seemed to be suspended animation. Unable to move and no need to try. Everything was different. There were machines and controls, and beings were beginning to materialize.

  Chapter – Twenty Five

  Riley and Sarina were in a control room of some kind with what seemed to be console rheostats, switches, and levers with a large screen as if they were in a space craft of some sort. Two large beings were sitting on thrones but nothing else was familiar. Sarina and Riley looked at each other, not knowing where they were but sensing they were in a different time. One of the seated beings was laughing and the other was solemn and was locked in place by chains or iron shackles. Neither Riley nor Sarina recognized these beings and then Riley thought: Close your eyes again and look at those beings.

  They both saw Cum-Hau. He was the one laughing. The other must be his brother. Thought Riley.

  Yes, agreed Sarina, although not completely sure. That was when they both saw an image on the screen of the control room. Although it started out relatively small in size, they could tell that they were approaching what was unmistakably Earth. However, instead of the usual image of a blue marble, they saw the beginnings of a graying planet surrounded by fading light. As the magnitude of what was happening to Earth became clear, they both felt a great sadness from the shackled brother on one of the thrones.

  Then Sarina let out a gasp, though no one heard it.

  My father, look Riley, my father! He’s still alive!

  Jack was indeed seated next to Cum-Hau’s shackled brother. Jack seemed normal size, in fact a bit reduced due to an unusual collar he was wearing around his neck. The collar was embedded with lights and was used by Cum-Hau to keep Jack under control.