Chapter 20 – The Wind, The Mist and St. John The Baptist – June 23, 2008

What I haven’t mentioned is that for the last six months leading up to the ceremony, my body was processing this strange energy.  It felt like an electric current that didn’t know how to ground itself and it gave me this ‘restless legs’ syndrome. The first time I experienced the Energy was right after I met Grandmother Ayleen.  I shared with her at the time that it felt like something was trying to expand me and change the chemistry or makeup of my body. I joked around and said, “I feels like I am under construction.”

So, as usual, because of this energy, I barely slept for six months and tonight was no different. I was wide-awake filled with this Spirit like energy. Strangely enough, I never felt as if I was lacking sleep. As I lay in bed going over the details of the ceremony that day and still loafing in the refined energy (meaning I felt high as a kite), I heard this nagging voice trying to compel me to go outside.

At first I was saying to myself, NO WAY!  You could hear the violent howling of the wind, the chill was deep into my bones and there was lightning flashing from my window. But the voice persisted and I gave in trusting the guidance. I grabbed my blanket and proceeded to the balcony.

I laid down on one of the outside lounge chairs that faced the mountain, La Piedra.

The Mist was thick and made everything in front of me invisible. The Wind was blowing violently leaving me with a feeling of awe and some trepidation. The Mist was dancing the song of the Wind. Both seemed to be Beings of great power…  I appealed to the Wind and the Mist to subside, for I was afraid…feeling like I did back when I was a little girl. “Don’t you want to be my friend?”…..Just as the thought left my mind, the Wind died down and the Mist pulled back. I laid there conversing with my new friends.  Suddenly, I heard a noise….it was my friend Karen rescuing a coqui from it’s home in the toilet…she placed it outside, unaware that I was there.

“Co”…”Co-co”.”co-co-qui”….”co-co-qui-qui”….”co-co-qui-qui-qui”….”co-co-co-qui-qui-qui-qui.”   My new friend gifted me a song! What a blessing!

Suddenly the Wind picked up and the Mist moved in quickly and I cowered under my blanket.  As the Mist pushed toward me, becoming fuller and fuller, there was a sense that something was about to happen….”spit, spit, spit”….the Mist as if with a great hand dipped in water, baptized me three times.  I giggled. It reminded me of the ceremony earlier in the day when I felt the same blessing from what I thought was possible rain. Then the Mist as if stepping forward showed me a symbol….it looked Inca or Mayan in nature.  I thanked the Mist and the Wind and left to return to my bed wondering about the symbol …feeling the ‘blessing of it and the burden as well’.

The next day we spent the day at El Yunque.  There is something very sacred there. After bathing in the waterfalls,  we went to Plaza to shop for gifts. I saw a man signing books, and I went over to see who it was.  His name is Uhatibili Baez Santiago, who co-wrote “Puerto Rico”: la gran mentira” with Huana Naboli Martinez Prieto.  He saw the ceremonial necklace I was wearing and asked me if I was Taina. I explained that the necklace was a gift from a ceremony we attended for WPPD just the day before.  His eyes lit up…. He explained that he too was in ceremony and was wondering where I was. I told him that we were at Charco Azul in Guavate. He asked me who organized the gathering and although it took me a second ….I placed my hand on my chest and said…”me”..  I elaborated quickly that my sister Karen introduced me to Grandmother Ayleen from the Sacred Circle and that they were the ones that conducted the ceremony. I then asked him about his ceremony and he told me that they were in Caguana and that he led the ceremony…..Coincidence….don’t you think?  (Only if you believe in them….as I don’t!). He invited me to the Equinox celebration in the fall before we resumed our shopping.

Karen, Alex and I were walking when suddenly a tall blonde young lady dressed in white came in a v line for me and stopped me right in my tracks.  I had to look up to speak with her. She said to me in Spanish “I am an Angel. If you trust in me, I will give you a hug.” I was speechless….all I could do was nod my head in consent.  She bent over and gave me a bear hug, turned on her heels and left without another word. Alex and Karen just stared at me since this was all in Spanish. I started to cry, feeling so blessed and truly touched by Spirit.  After explaining what happened, I turned to Alex and jokingly told him that my Angel didn’t have any wings. He responded, “Not all Angels walk around with visible wings”.

Later that evening, Alex and I went to the beach to honor la Noche De San Juan Bautista. This is celebrated on St. John the Baptist day.  The tradition is marked on midnight on the 23rd of June, where you run into the ocean backwards three times. The folklore is that when you do this you clear all your bodies of any negative energy and you usher in good luck. It’s like getting baptized.

I shared with Alex the symbol that I saw in the Mist.  I drew it in the sand and as I observed it, I went back to erase part of it, knowing that I made a slight mistake.  As soon as I corrected it, the ocean wiped the symbol away and in that moment looked more like what I saw in the mist.

Alex felt that I had shown him a mandala or a portal.  He noted that the ocean immediately wiped the symbol as soon as I corrected it.  He explained that if it was a portal that I had to be cautious in how I used it making sure that I cover it or if sharing it,  to change one line or detail in order to deactivate it.

At the airport the next day,  I started to read the book “Puerto Rico: la gran mentira”.  What I was getting from it was the creation story and mythology of the Taino.  Suddenly, I realized that I was unraveling the importance of the symbol I got in the Mist….it was a pyramid that represented a Cosmology.  Whether we were looking at the cycle of man, the psychology of man, the creation of the Universe, universal laws and principles, celestial map, map to higher consciousness, stages of man from birth to death, etc….it was all the same.  They are all a cosmology and the symbol allows you to sense that in the deepest way or even perhaps a way of leaping or accessing another dimension.

As I boarded the airplane on the way back to NY,  the man directly in front of me had embroidered on his back a beautiful set of white wings!  I giggled knowing it was the Universe sending me off with my wings.