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(UNTITLED)
by Marsha Birkholz
An old witch sat one evening next to an old oak and admired the
moon. While sitting there she began reflecting on her many years of
practice in the craft. In doing so she wondered why she had never found
that which she had most saught through the years...her sacred name.
"Mother?" she whispered into the wind, "my time in this life is
short, and I would make a request of you. What is the name which has
eluded me all these years? Many names have come and gone as I saw fit,
but none seemed absolutely Divine...one to know just between the gods
and me."
Feeling her emotions rise as she began to worry that she
would never know, she began to plea in earnest,
"Mother, what is my name?"
Just then the wind rustled through the trees and a gentle laugh
could be heard. The Mother's gentle voice whispered into her ear, in a
way that had become familiar over the years, "Remember. Oh, my child,
remember." With that the wind was gone, as gently as it came.
"Mother! Why do you not answer that which I seek?" she stubbornly
asked, feeling that surely the mother would answer her this time in her
aged years. "Mother, I have waited patiently for many years, yet you
give me the same answer still."
In confusion she left her quiet spot
near the old oak tree and accepted that maybe she should never know her
true name.
A few seasons later the old witch felt a gentle wind caress her
cheek and whisper in her ear, "Come, my child, your time in this world
is almost done." The old woman let the wind direct her to her quiet spot
under the old oak. There the Mother appeared for the first time before
her.
"Mother?" said the woman in a hesitant voice, "what would you have
me do? My body is failing and sometimes my mind is weak. Even my very
soul grows tired."
"Recline here under this tree, and close your eyes," instructed
the Lady. The old witch did so, as she was told. Then she felt the
Mother take her hand and say simply, "You must remember". The witch
began to see all that had been in her life. Her childhood ,motherhood,
and craft life. She saw all times the Mother had come to her in her
workings through the years and was grateful. Opening her eyes she dared to ask yet again,
"Mother, what is my sacred name?"
The Lady touched her eyes and again the witch remembered all the times
she asked this question and all the times the only reply was, "My child.
Remember, my child." Sudden realization hit her and she cried, "Mother?"
"Yes," said the Mother as a divine wind gathered about them. "You
had the answer all along." The wind carried them toward a bright light. The old woman knew her body was left behind, but didn't grieve for it.
At the outer edge of the light they paused.
"Your name is very special
to me and is the same for all your brothers and sisters, whether they be
like you or four legged or winged. Even the trees and rocks are known to
me as such. None name is higher to me ...My Child. In realizing that
you are a sacred part of the All, and no matter how different the specie
or race, you are all my children. Therefore, My Child is the most
powerful and sacred of names, for it is the one I gave you...to all my
children at their birth." The Lady then gestured to a vision below
them of a young woman laboring in her first birth. "You see, as each
woman becomes a mother she becomes a part of me and calls you that which
I do...My Child. Even daughter and son in all the languages of the
earth, mean the same... My Child. Each time you asked of me what your
name was, I always told you...Remember, My Child.
Realization came over the old witch's face and tears of joy filled
her eyes. Knowing her life was complete, she followed the Mother into
the light and closed her eyes feeling the warmth on her face. She
couldn't tell how long she lingered there in the light nor did she care.
She began to feel strange, her body became more solid and the warmth
she had known became a blast of cold air. Her lungs stung with the pain
of a long awaited breath and she cried out with a loud wail for she
could speak no words. "Mother!" , she thought frantically, and she heard
that gentle laugh and that familiar voice calling to her saying "my
child"... or was it different this time?
She stopped crying and turned toward the voice. Although she
couldn't see very well she knew that this was the young mother she had
seen in the vision. She had been reborn. As the memories of her earlier
life were fading and her soul, now rested and renewed, settled into the
tiny little body, she heard one last whisper from the Mother, "In each
and every life you enter and leave with the same name...My Child. It has
been the same and will remain the same for all eternity...My Child. The
name that is All and brings you closest to my heart....My Child. This
name is what you forever shall be...My Child."
From: [email protected]
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 1998 00:11:24 -0600
To: paglore list
Subject: PAGLORE: My Story
Thank you!!
I have been overwhelmed with e-mails on my little story and deleted some
by accident [blush]. So I apologize for posting this to the list but so
many of you have asked to pass it on or use it in sites, I just wanted
to say Go ahead!!! Pass it on as you will.
If you please when publishing (print or sites) please add my mundane
name: Marsha Birkholz....As my nick may often change :-)
Bless you all for your kind words to a person who really needed it!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Wind
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