A Dream Unfolds

Chapter One
A Dream Unfolds

Once upon a time,
Time upon a chance,
Chance upon a change¦.

"
When my eyes close, my words fall asleep, and I feel them change from sounds, with the power to create, into shapes of light. Blended with the heart pulse of my souls knowing, they become my dreams.
When the lucid ones come, the eyelid of my minds eye opens and I awaken within my dream.
Cats know this, I think they can they sense ripples in space-time. Sometimes they close their eyes and whisk me away to places only their royalty know.
Luke's Dream Diary

Marlo Timpani sat on a bench in Regents Park, London thinking deeply. Should he go back to her? Could he commit one hundred percent to all that this would entail? It was not the first time he had left, but something always drew him back to her. Somewhere deep inside, despite his periodic doubts, which flared up like a dark wave of insecurity, he knew that what they did together was good, that the world benefited from their being together. Sometimes it was just too much of a reality shift to live in her world.
He looked around him, saw children playing in the carefree sunshine of their youth and thought about the world that adults had created. Would it promise the children and the children's children a bright future? Could this world, the way it was going, help them explore their fullest potential?
Two teenage boys slouched slowly past, one spat on the path and said to the other "bashed up a granny last night. It was wicked, got it on camera too¦
Marlo's guts tightened with disgust. What was the world coming to? Wickedness was now perceived as goodness and everything stank of moral demise. Where had the magic gone? If he would not try to bring it back who would?
Quick as a flash all she had taught him came back to him. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the thug's heart. He saw blackness strangling the seed of light within. Saw the violence the boy had himself endured in life, and mustered his own love light within. He recalled his medicine dreams of Polar Bear.
Standing swiftly and pitching his voice to perfectly resonate within the lad's heart he said Then it's prison for you lad, unless you change. The boys swung around to see who had spoken.
"And what you going to do about it grandpa? They stopped in their tracks. Before them they saw a kind faced, wizened old man standing with his arms outstretched, heart wide open. A trembling fear swept through the lads. They looked at each other in disbelief, having both thought they heard a bear growling. For an instant a subtle beam of soft pink light shot out from Marlo's heart into the braggarts' and some darkness melted away. Marlo moved swiftly forward, closed the gap between them in a few strides and touched both boys gently on the heart.
"Remember this feeling? This is happiness. I'll be watching you in your dreams. Now go. He gave them both a sharp rap with his knuckles, right on the heart so they wouldn't forget, turned and strolled away without looking back.
The louts just stood there. They couldn't quite believe what had happened. Something had gone from inside. A dam had been removed and their senses reeled with happiness. The years of aggression had gone and their bodies struggled to remember how to move without it propelling them. They sank to the ground together, right there on the path, blinking through tears and saw the world anew. It was a world that accepted them, as easily as sunlight flows. Looking down the path they saw the old man striding away purposefully. Between each blink of their eyes he seemed to have moved just slightly further than ought to have been possible.
Marlo had made his decision, he would return to Japan, to his mentor. He would continue upon the path of the dream wizard, and he would not turn away again.
*********************************
In the village of Shirotori, high up in the Japanese Alps, within sight of the sacred mountain Hakusan lives a young woman called Mio. Her name literally means "Beautiful Umbilical Cord, which may sound a wee bit strange to the western ear, "Beautiful Connection would be another way of imparting the meaning of her name.
Her village is surrounded by mountains on all sides, covered with forests of cherry, birch and bamboo. Nestling in their depths are lakes and rivers with equally magical names like Kuzuryuko, the Nine Headed Dragon Lake and Umeno Kakehashi, The Bridge into Dreamland!
Her parents must have been very insightful in choosing her name for her because Mio certainly makes beautiful connections. She is well loved by all her relatives and is doubly blessed for she has grown up surrounded by not only her immediate family but by aunts and uncles, cousins galore, grandparents and even great grand parents. The beautiful connection of a large supportive family and the stories they tell keeps their link of ancestry, and the wisdom it holds, alive within her like a bubbling spring of joy.
Mio endeavours to remain aware, in every moment, of the feeling of really being connected to whatever she is doing, savouring its flavours. Whether she is playing her piano, racing down a mountain slope on her skis, chatting with people or sitting quietly alone just watching nature, she observes the subtleties of the connections being made.
From this natural propensity she developed the wonderful gift of being able to observe things just as they are in all their beauty. She chooses to see the good in people and from an early age noticed, with her sparkling hazel eyes, that there is a beauteous web of subtle light that expresses the quality of connection in progress between all living things.
She first noticed it whilst watching dew on a flower when she was very young. She saw the beauty of the flower and the beauty of the dew and felt that she was not the only one doing the watching! The water, the flower, they were watching her too. For every action there is indeed an equal and opposite reaction! As she opened to the delight of this feeling she saw a golden glow of light between herself and the flower. The flower appreciated the water, the water appreciated the flower and she appreciated them both.
Whenever she took the time to appreciate the purity and beauty of life in all its many facets, both light and dark, and her connectedness to it, she would see auras. She noticed that people's auras were always changing, expressing outwardly how they truly felt. If someone were not speaking the truth she would see a murky orange light around their throats! The auric dance of lights is spontaneous and exists in a huge array of colours; as threads of lights, as tiny sparkles, there one instant and gone the next; as hazy sheets of delicate shades; as jagged uncertainties, as oceanic vistas. They are the dynamic connection between seemingly separate things. Very early on in life she knew without a shadow of a doubt that there is no separation, we are all one.
Her fascination with the interconnectedness of all things also extends to the world of dreams. To Mio it seems very obvious that we are the living dream of the earth in this huge galaxy. This is where we make the connections to the symbols our bodies need for healing, the place where we all explore our connection to each other most fully.

*************

One evening Mio sat gazing out her window at the starry night sky. It had been an excellent day. She had visited a huge waterfall in the mountains near her home. Just being there had cleansed away all her troubles and left her feeling wonderful. Even more wonderful was the fact that she would be seventeen years old the next day.
A huge cherry tree stood in the garden; it was just coming into blossom. Tens of thousands of pinky white five leaf blossoms filled the air with their delicate uplifting scent. Mio watched the air around the tree for the subtle changes in light that she had always been able to see. She breathed in and out with the tree and wondered about the relationship between tree and stars. She saw a soft peachy aura in the air around the tree and from time to time little sparkles of light in the air many meters away from the tree. She watched the thinnest of threads of light extending way out from the tree up, up, up into the night sky.
"So it's not just the sunlight, but also the starlight you can drink, she said out loud to the tree.
With that encouraging thought she blew three kisses into the night air as a thank you to life and snuggled herself down into her bed leaving the window open to let the fresh spring air inspire her dreaming mind.
"Tonight I will dream of my birthday present. Tonight I will dream of my birthday present. Tonight I will dream of my birthday present and I will remember my dream, she said out loud to herself. Then she closed her eyes and soon fell into a deep, deep sleep. This is what she dreamt.

She moved through a market place. An excited crowd of people was gathered around something up ahead. Mio moved through her dreamscape towards them. She went by stalls selling flowers and stalls selling wooden bowls and stalls selling sky juice until she came to the throng of people. She felt a thrill of excitement, wonder and curiosity emanating from them and wove her way through, peering ahead eagerly as she went.
The sight that greeted her was quite the most remarkable market stall she had ever seen. It was made up of a multicoloured floral patterned awning, which provided shade for the goods on display. A sign, written in a beautiful flowing script read

Marlo Timpani,
Purveyor of Tibetan
Long Distance Travelling Cats.

There on a carpet woven with circular interlinking daisy patterns that rippled out in geometric perfection sat thirteen huge cats. Each one of them sat in a centre of one of the central circles.

They were the size of young bears yet decidedly feline, almost like giant panthers except that they all had deliciously long shiny black fur, large ears with curling hairs like a lynx and extraordinarily long whiskers that quivered to an unfelt wind. Long sweeps of fur came down from their cheeks and chins giving them all an air of mysterious sagacity.
The cats were sitting on their haunches with their body's upright and stock still, their eyes tightly shut. They looked like fine statues that might guard the entrance to an emperor's palace or a temple. A low undulating humming sound radiated around them through the air. Unlike the purring of ordinary cats these cats purred in harmony with each other and as Mio listened she heard delicate undertones and overtones. The melodic sound chased away any fears the people might have had about getting so close to such big cats!
Behind the cats, sitting on a barrel, smoking a curved long stemmed pipe was the proprietor. He had the look of someone who had travelled a long, long way in his lifetime, in far off and wonderful places.
His clothing was a mixture of many cultures. On his head he wore a wide brimmed black velvet hat, decorated with triangular patches of different colours. It had three peacock feathers sticking out of it, one on each side and one trailing out and back behind him from the centre. His eyes were warm and kind, deep brown and they shone with a mischievous knowing light. His face was deeply tanned and heavily wrinkled when he smiled yet smooth as smooth can be at other times. He had great round cheekbones, a rather long nose and an outrageously curled white moustache that had a sky bluish tinge to it, matching his well-groomed short pointed beard. He wore a long magenta robe that came down to his ankles covering voluminous baggy trousers of golden silk with deep purple pockets, also made of silk. His boots were of soft brown leather decorated with circular mirrors and silver bells. Around his waist was a velvet ochre cummerbund with many small purple half moon pockets, edge with silver, sewn into it. Mio's dreaming eyes widened with delight just looking at him. He emanated an air of excitement dappled with mystery and great peacefulness.
"Ladies, gentlemen, little acorns, one and all. You see before you the only collection of Tibetan Long Distance Travelling Cats, in the whole wide world. They originate from a hidden valley in the Himalayas and were discovered by a marathon monk from mount Pi by the name of Benfro Na Omfoot on one of the 10,000mile runs that he made in his distinguished 169-year lifetime. As his student I was left these cats, Kolars, to give them their proper name, by the venerable Mr. Omfoot with the instructions that they should be taken around the world for them to choose their owners.
At this point Marlo paused and scanned the crowd with his well-travelled eyes. A thrill of excitement raced through Mio at the thought of having one of these amazing cats for her very own.
"What do they eat she called out suddenly wondering just how safe the neighbourhood would be with such a huge cat living there. Murmurs of apprehension swept through the crowd
"Well young lady perhaps you can guess, said Marlo
"Bits of Himalayan Mountains? Answered Mio hopefully. This caused a wave of laughter with its cuteness.
"Well no, not exactly, said Marlo, "although in a way yes as the Himalayas do play a part of making their food. They are in fact vegetarian, preferring milk, wild honey and flowers, particularly seven petal Huka flowers when they can get them.
"How long do they live asked another voice?
"I don't know, none of them has ever died "replied Marlo.
"What makes these Kolars so special then? asked another voice. Mio gazed around to see who had asked and saw a tall man in his mid twenties with straight sandy hair. Their eyes met and there was a sudden stirring in the texture of the dream as if recognition were taking place, as if in some future or past time they knew each other and were sharing the same dream. They gazed at each other in the dream light, both searching for something to say. She heard the name "Tom resonating within her.
The moment passed as Marlo said "Aha now there's a question, would you like to see? Perhaps I can wake them up, ah young lady would you like to stroke one of them?
"Oh can I really? said Mio.
"Sure go ahead, said Marlo giving her a big wink.
Mio walked forward and gingerly reached out and gently ran her hand over the long black fur of the nearest cat.
"Oh how soft!
"Oh yes "said Marlo.
"Has he got a name?
"Mer Kah Fah Kalish Kah Ba
As Marlo said the name all the cats woke up simultaneously and opened their eyes. The crowd jumped back with amazement and gasped with astonishment. Each cat had eyes of a different colour to the next, incredibly clear and bright, sparkling with intelligence and knowing. They had pink and purple and green eyes, electric amber, black and citrine, orange, turquoise and violet eyes, emerald eyes, sapphire eyes and peach coloured eyes. The Kolars sat quietly observing the crowd, detached and nonchalant as can be. These feline eyes saw through and within and beyond all at the same time. The one Mio liked best had mysterious deep dark blue eyes, the colour of a full moon twilight sky.
The Kolars rose as one and stretched all over then began to wander around nuzzling each other. They began to play fight, tumbling over and over each other with the grace of Olympic gymnasts. The crowd sighed in unison and this sound acted as a trigger for the Kolars.
They suddenly stopped their playing and happily padded their way into the midst of the assembled people. Wherever their paws touched the ground Mio was amazed to see soft ripples appear as if the Kolars were affecting the fabric of the dream with their movement! Anxiety dissolved into wonder and laughter as the Kolars rubbed themselves against legs, hips and outstretched hands. The Kolars showed no fear, their bright eyes and whiskers thrilled with every touch of a human hand. They moved with great surefootedness as all cats do and were so alert and relaxed and powerful that Mio wondered whether these cats could travel extremely fast if they wanted to. The Kolars radiated an aura of tirelessness and hospitality. They greeted each and every person with their undivided attention courteously, and were always aware of their bodies, being careful not to step on people's feet or have their own stepped on.
On occasion a young hand would reach out to grab hold of a long swishing furry black tail. These always moved out of the way with lightning speed, performed a snake like dance that ended in a gentle yet firm tap on the hand of the offender. Not too harsh yet definite enough to leave the impression that the tails of Tibetan Long Distance Travelling Cats are not for pulling!
A few people tried to pick them up but even the strongest found that they could only lift their front feet off the ground with their hands wrapped under the Kolars' chests. The Kolars did not mind this especially if they were given a big squeeze.
Mio had fallen in love with Mer Kah Fah Kalish Kah Ba and it seemed that the he had taken a fancy to her too. He had rolled on his back and was purring loudly as Mio stroked his jet-black fur. She looked closely at the fur as it fell through her fingers. It was not actually black at all yet a dark rusty auburn color when the light caught it just right. Peering even closer with her dreaming vision she saw that right down at the root of every hair now and again she saw a flicker of life fire blue light! The colour was mesmerizing, and as she looked at it other images began to swim through her senses.
Majestic mountains and spiral galaxies, courts of emperors and wide open fields, scents of breezes and the thrill of running, running, running faster, faster, faster then a sense of travelling through dimensions in coiling corridors of light! Mer Kah Fah Kalish Kah Ba rolled over and circled around to look deeply into Mios' eyes. Mio gazed back entranced, those eyes held questions, questions as clear and as direct as spoken words.

Are you worthy?
Are you true?
Are you ready?

A dreaming tear fell from a dreaming eye down a dreamer's cheek. Mios' eyes held the reply, "I always have been and I am now."
Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnng, Marlo chimed some symbols and the dream dissolved into the strident scene of one great cat and one wizardly looking gentleman with a curling moustache sat on a golden disk floating on sunset dappled clouds. Mios' body thrilled with excitement as within her dream she realized that she was dreaming. Smiles and laughter and ridiculousness erupted from all around. It was as if the water within the clouds suddenly formed into the shapes of people, people who were sharing a colossal cosmic joke with her. A new sense of what it is to have life reigned supreme.
Now that she knew that she was dreaming the realization dawned on her that she could choose what happened if she wanted to. Just like being an artist, she could create or do whatever she wanted in her dream! With a fixed intent Mio expressed the desire to fly through and around the clouds. Instantly her body tingled with energy and she felt wind upon her cheeks as she sailed up into the sky. Her dream expanded on a sensory level; colours had smells, sounds had feelings and euphoria swept through her being. Mer Kah Fah Kalish Kah Ba shone like a black diamond and soft strong words reverberated within Mio's heart.

"I choose you.
You will find me soon.
Remember.
Look in the newspaper
When you wake up."

A deep dreamless, smiling sleep came upon Mio as a soothing balm of light. Then, after a while of a new dream unfolded. She saw a shining sphere of amethyst light. It seemed to be calling to her. It was so beautiful, every shade of violet and purple imaginable danced within its perfect form. She had never seen anything so beautiful in her life; it was as if it were made of concentrated "Ki- life force. It radiated an intelligence she at once felt intimately familiar with! She was so mesmerized by its radiance that before long she felt herself becoming one with it.
The instant she did so the dream vanished and she suddenly found herself looking down at her physical body, lying asleep in her warm bed! Around her whole body was an aura of the same gorgeous violet and purple lights! The softest of motions, a childlike wave passed slowly though her aura from her feet to her head and back again in synch with her breathing. She saw a thin silvery umbilical cord extending from her dreaming self down into her physical body. Within it flowed amethyst light and tiny sparkles of many different colours. As she looked closer she saw the sparkles held within their radiance complex geometric patterns as beautiful as spherical snowflakes.
Down the umbilicus and into her physical body they flowed. Mio desired to return into her body and experience what feelings were present and, as if blown by a dreaming wind she moved slowly down and her awareness returned once more to the vessel that carried it during the waking hours.
Luxuriant warmth swept through her senses, and like the contented purr of a happy cat she started to snore. Long, long, long she slept and as the first rays of the spring morning sun touched her forehead she awoke and she remembered who she was and what to do.

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