Nahuelwas a hard character to figure out. He spoke in riddles, maybe I could get toknow him better on this drive.
“Itinvolves a guided journey to the spirit world and then a deep review of theelements of your soul,” he said plainly.
“Wow,Okay. Sounds serious.” I wiped my palms on my skinny jeans.
Nahuelglanced at me. “It is serious, Aurora. I hope you are okay with what you findout.”
Myheart picked up. “You’re scaring me a little,” I confessed.
Hishands lay on the steering wheel lightly, they were littered with chunky silverand turquoise rings. His long brown ponytail was speckled with grey hairs andtied back with a piece of leather.
“Idon’t mean to scare you. Just want to prepare you a little. A Devi has acomplicated life path. The Devi has one clear, direct goal, the human soul hasother things on their mind. The two can conflict, but the Devi always wins.”
Ifelt genuine terror. I watched a show once about a spirit possessing an eight-year-oldboy. It literally pushed him over a glass coffee table. It was the creepiestthing I had ever seen. Although everyone told me a Devi would be a positivething, I wasn’t so sure.
“Doyou think I am a Devi?” I respected his opinion. He hadn’t led me astray yet.
Heglanced at me. “I know you are.”
Hisblatant admission caught me off guard.
“Butyou need to see for yourself. You need to see the greater picture.”
Iclutched my grey wool coat around my neck and stared out the window in silencefor the rest of the trip. The fog was rolling in on the mountain and with it, adepression rolled into me. I needed to have control over my life. If I couldn’t,I would go crazy. No one was having a say in what I did but me. I was a blackbelt in martial arts, I would kick this Devis ass if I had to.
Wecrossed the border into Canada without an issue. You hadn’t seen the beauty ofthe American country until you had driven the length of the Pacific Northwest.From Vancouver, Canada down through Seattle, Washington, over to Portland,Oregon and then the Oregon Coast. That was a drive every person should makebefore they died. So much green, life, vitality. We were heading down a sideroad into densely packed forest. It was pitch black out, the Chevy’s headlightsilluminated the massive trees around us. Nahuel took a hidden right turn that Ihadn’t seen and all of a sudden the forest thinned into a small manicured acre.There was a fire going, two large canvas teepee tents stood on the property andanother dome structure. No house, no bathroom, just the fire and the tents.
Anolder woman was stoking the fire. Nahuel parked the truck on a patch of graveland moss. I got out of the truck pulling my scarf over my hair to keep the coldout. I groaned a little, stretching my back after the long drive.
Theolder woman made her way over to me. She wore traditional native dress and herdeep brown eyes were hidden under a bed of wrinkles.
“Hi.”I waved at her awkwardly. I hadn’t expected anyone else to be here. I extendedmy hand. She smiled and touched my forehead with powder, not taking my hand,but giving me a hug instead.
“Welcome,young one, it is an honor. Call me Alma.” Some of the powder fell onto my nose.I wrinkled it to get it off. She swiped ash across Nahuel’s forehead and gavehim a long hug.
“Alma.”He bowed to her.
“Shehas a fierce spirit. That’s why her eyes are so blue. Much water in this one.” shetold Nahuel.
Henodded. “She’s stubborn too.”
Icleared my throat awkwardly. It was weird to be talked about when you wereright there. But she was old enough to be my grandmother so I wasn’t going toargue.
“Come,child. Let’s clean you up.” She gestured for me to follow her.
Ilooked down at my clothes. Dark skinny jeans tucked into brown leather bootsand a nice wool pea coat. My hair was washed and I had make-up on. I lookedpretty clean. We walked over to the larger dome structure. Now that we werecloser, I could see that it was a bunch of bent branches with tarps and rugsdraped over it. Alma took my backpack and suggested I remove my coat.
“It’schilly,” I told her.
“Youwill not be cold in my sweat ceremony. Trust me. Coat, sweater, and boots off.And change into this long skirt, it’s much more comfortable.” She handed me afolded skirt and flicked her wrist indicating I hurry. Okay. Nahuel pulled offhis shirt so that he was in a thin tank top. For a forty-something guy, helooked pretty buff. My eyes rested on his jaguar tattoo. I wondered if therewas story with that. I peered inside the tent and saw smoking stones. Okay,when in Rome. …
Itook off most of my clothes and changed quickly into the skirt while Nahuelturned his back. I was shivering.
Almacame to me with a smile. “You are my guest here. I want you to know that noharm can come to your spirit while you are here. It is safe to be free and bepowerful in my presence. It is safe to cleanse yourself of anything that iscontaminating your spirit. It is safe to explore your life path. This is aplace of refuge.”
Somethingabout her words, her tone of voice, called to something deep inside of me. Allof a sudden, I was grateful to be here, for this opportunity. How many of ustook time to mentally cleanse ourselves? To ponder our path in life? We wereall too busy with trivial things. Working to make money, to buy a house, to payoff a car. We were working to retire. Why couldn’t we just take some time toreally live? Why couldn’t we just stop and go into the forest and sit in ateepee with no electricity or bathrooms and discover ourselves?
Ibowed deeply. “Thank you,” I told her honestly. I understood why Nahuel saidthat Kai couldn’t come. As much as I loved him, this was my journey and mine alone.I walked inside the dome structure. Some red hot stones were in the center ofthe room, dug into the ground. The dome was about ten feet in diameter. Threefeet away from the stones was hard packed earth, but the rest of the areaaround the edges was blanketed with thick, soft moss. In the back of the domewas an altar. I saw an eagle feather, sage bundle, and other trinkets.
