Hibou Blanc

Stretching out her pinion feathers one by one, she feels the power of her wings. Her wing bones are ready for flight. She turns her head all around her, hearing everything.

SLAM!

Raia's eyes open wide, her arm extended out like the wing in her dream. She's embarrassed, "Lucky I sleep alone!", she stretched her limbs.

Her staff team at the Chimpanzee Rescue Center in West Africa are always early on Mondays, getting all the fruits and veggies needed for the week in the store room beneath her bedroom (and allowing the steel door to slam behind them!).

Raia's second story bedroom was up in the tree level, looking out over the river and pristine virgin forest in the River Gambia National Park. She was grateful for her dwelling, even though it was built of mahogany. It was constructed in the 70s: she would never allow mahogany to be used at the project nowadays, she thought to herself, there are hardly any of the majestic trees left!

Screened walls all the way around her room allowed for her to have one way vision into the private lives of the primates who used this particular tree as part of their migratory route. She gets to admire them up close and personal during play, naps, rowdiness and contemplation. The endangered western red colobus monkeys never let humans catch more than a glimpse of them under ordinary circumstances! How lucky, she always thought.

The morning cacophony of the 200 plus bird species that reside in the national park was Raia's usual wake up call. Not today!

"These barn owl dreams were happening quite a bit!", she thought to herself, and recalled the stories that the members of her staff team, who come from the surrounding villages, shared. "Blanc hibou?", meaning white owl (another name for the barn owl), "No. They're not birds," they'd declare. "They're spirit!".

"Hmm. Just like the dragon that lives in this river," she murmured to herself.

Raia takes care of animals of all kinds; monkeys, birds, apes, elephants, bears, lion, horses, sheep, dogs and many, many more species. She loves her connections to these beings, most of whom come from severe situations of human imposed trauma. There is an energetic communication that occurs so naturally, no matter who the animal is and what their story. They feel and respond to her heart waves. The amount of times an animal has gone from a wild and panicked acting-out to sudden calm when she entered their space are staggering. Yet, as rewarding her life of working to rescue and rehabilitate wildlife had been, she had seen a lot of suffering. It was weighing on her heart.

Yearning to connect with her inner being, one day Raia remembered the advice from someone in her past who suggested, "after meditating, invite Spirit to write through you if you want to connect to your higher self". So, one day after meditating, she took out her journal and gave the invitation. What happened in that moment was beyond her wildest expectations! She felt an energy enter her hand and immediately the pen began to move ... on its own! First in little waves, then in loops, then letters started taking shape and all of a sudden a word was formed: White. Then another...Owl.

White owl!...White owl?

More waves, more words: Gambia. Gorilla. Uganda. She had never been to Uganda or seen gorillas! Just then she felt the energy leave her hand, and another totally different one entered! A sentence was spelled out, she gasped as it wrote, "young aunty gone gone gone gone gon-". Wide eyed, she clapped her notebook shut and put down the pen. She felt like that word "gone" could've continued forever if she hadn't stopped it.

"What on earth?!", the few minutes that she allowed this to go on was exhilarating but also completely shocking. "What just happened?", she thought.

It was evening time. Her staff team had gone home. The flashlights of the night watchmen occasionally shone outside her windows. She noticed the feeling of the energy was still in her hand. "It's nothing", she tried convincing herself. The energy in her hand kept her up late but eventually she fell into a restless, dreamless sleep.

Raia woke the next day and it was still there. She massaged her forearm, stretched her hand and wrist, but nothing shifted. It felt like something holding on.

The closest place she could access phone reception was away from the river, up a cliff and a bit of a walk along the cliff's edge, yet she returned there several times that day, in between seeing to all the animals, staff and guests, to speak with her sister, Rishi.

"Don't you know you have to ground and protect yourself each time you connect with other energies?"

"No!"

"Okay well, you must!"

"Okay!! ... How?"

Rishi described to her the ways in which to do this, "And call in Archangel Michael", she said, "he'll help you."

Raia didn't know anything about spiritual jargon; grounding, protecting, communicating with other realms (even though she naturally communed with the animal realm), nor did she know anything about Archangel Michael. But she did what her wise sister had recommended - she wouldn't let herself think it outloud but she was getting scared of what she was experiencing. She went back down to her mahogany home and sat in her meditation chair, looking out over the cool river. A troop of monkeys were asleep in the trees surrounding her. She closed her eyes and brought her awareness to her heart space. She envisioned her heart energy within and around her body as a force field of glowing white light emanating from her heart. She stayed there for moments and then envisioned the Earth's core producing the same field of energy with the same silvery white light. She felt the two hearts connected, her own and Mother Earth's. Then she took her awareness to the higher realms, where she knew that she and everything on earth, Earth herself, was connected to something greater - Source energy. She envisioned her higher self as a brilliant and shimmering white light with rainbow edges and connected the heart of her Higher Self, her Earth elf and Mother Earth into one blazing light of love. Nothing, absolutely nothing could ever sever this pure connection, let alone interfere with it. Then she called in the support of Archangel Michael. And with that, there was an actual color that appeared behind her closed eyes! A pale lilac at first, periwinkle, a small point seemingly far away. That fleck grew instantaneously brighter and more vibrant, undulating in and out as a jellyfish moving straight toward you might move. It, too, was glowing now, ultraviolet! The color started to expand from the center point, forming rings which emanated to the far edges of her closed eye periphery. It was the most beautiful color she had ever seen, more brilliant than any purple in any rainbow. The light source began to swirl around the center point, mesmerizingly so, in the most graceful way.

The stirring of the awakening monkeys brought Raia out of this incredibly cathartic state she was in. Tears were involuntarily streaming down her face. She had only a few minutes before her midday break was over and so she thanked herself, the earth, and her higher self, even Archangel Michael, for this process, and scurried off to work!

Between all the duties that were juggled as the manager of this project, it wasn't until the end of the day Raia realized her hand felt free of the intrusive energy since getting up from meditating.

"Wow", she thought. Raia ran up the cliff along the edge to her reception area to tell her sister the good news. "I'm never ever going to try anything like that again!", she exclaimed.

"Well now, don't say that! It could be a gift." Her sister was quick to say.

At that very moment a bird swooped right over her head and down the cliff face.

"Whoa!" The bird's face was flat, she noticed, "An owl!". Its face was white. She gasped, "A barn owl! How beautiful, its dwelling must be in the cliff face somewhere," she said, now laying on her belly and peering down the cliff face. "I can't see her anymore!'.

"Be careful, Rai", Rishi loved the barn owl as an animal and a symbol for good omen, yet she could envision her sister peering over the edge of the cliff so she had to subdue her excitement! Raia backed off and as the night grew dark they ended their call.

They both felt invigorated and had a new lease of life after the experience Raia just had.

Months went by and Raia's work and personal life was flowing smoothly and she thought less and less about the writing experience. She continued to call in Michael every now and then, and without fail the ultraviolet light would always enter her vision. She didn't think of it as anything more than beautiful color in her field of vision, which comforted her somehow.

Magical things began to happen to her in her dream life: One time she dreamed she was looking out onto the river from her screened bedroom and saw a mother and baby manatee breaching side by side, just like a whale mother and calf would. She had never seen a manatee before and was so excited when she woke up, as it seemed so real! She quickly remembered it was a dream and that manatees hadn't been seen in that river for 16 years, one staff member had told her. She went about her morning and later that day, right when she went up the stairs to her room she looked out she saw a mother and baby manatee breach side by side!!!

Raia ran down to tell her team and they all witness the occasional coming up for air. It was beautiful...and it wasn't the last time she would dream the future.

By now, the writing experience was behind her. She was excelling in her job, making good, strong friendships and learning the lay of the land. Before she arrived to her post in west africa, one of the project's staff members was bitten by one of the most venomous snakes: the puff adder. Three months after his recovery was when Raia arrived, and some of his fingers still didn't have any feeling. He was able to feel them again after a couple of weeks of Raia's reiki. Word got out fast that she was a healer and villagers would often flag her down as she returned from the market in her beat down truck, and asked for help with this ailment and that. Raia would always explain that she is an energy healer (a Reiki Master would not translate), not someone who's in the medical field and therefor cannot offer medical help or advice. On top of that does not guarantee her healing will help. They knew her spiel but listened anyway and regardless, wanted her help. Usually it did help. Today, a young boy had a tummy ache. Raia always got a kick working on tummies because as soon as the reiki energy begins to flow the stomach responds very vocally! She was allowing the reiki energy to works its magic and without giving it any thought she asked spirit to guide her hands, her hands were moved and she got the audible response she was looking for! "I was guided in that moment", she believed. The boy reported feeling better the next day, but what had persisted since that healing in Raia was the same energetic holding of her hand that she had come so close to forgetting about all those months ago! She realized that it only happens when she invites it.

Raia was naturally very calm and composed, and was careful of her thoughts, especially in scary situations. She had faced so many species of venomous snakes on her daily walks, crocodiles on the river banks, massive scorpions and even thought that she had heard many a night, the dragon that all Gambians speak of and fear. But she never loses her calm. This situation was a new challenge for her. She resolved to keep her calm and returned to the advice her sister had given her. Once more she sat, grounded and connected in that beautiful way, and called in protection. Once more the glowing purple light flooded in, and once more the energy had left her hand.

"Inconceivable!", she thought. From that day forward, Raia meditated in this way every day, and sure enough every day she would see the brilliant ultraviolet light behind her closed eyes.

Raia's year contract came to its end, and her partner at the time got a promotion in Uganda. She would live there for the next 6 months, and would see the mountain gorillas, one of the highlights of her life!

Ebola showed up in Uganda, and realizing that she regarded Ebola as just a little bit worse, albeit jokingly, than staying with her partner another day longer, she left him and returned to her family in the Bay Area, just before Covid broke out.

It was only then, while unpacking and coming across her journal, Raia reflected on the words that were written that day, "gorilla" and "Uganda". She had seen a lot of African countries in the four years she had spent there prior to working in the west, and it had escaped her awareness. "Unbelievable". She got a message from her ex later that day about some things she had left behind, and he casually mentioned that the kids around their house kept repeating "young aunty gone gone gone!"!!!

Raia felt content in a way she hadn't experienced ever before, and desired delving deeper inward. She said a silent prayer to receive a sign, something that could help her understand her journey and help her to grow emotionally and spiritually. She went for a walk to her favorite bookstore in Berkeley, and found herself in the metaphysical section with an overwhelming amount of what she normally takes one look at and rolls her eyes, although she knew something was there for her. The shop was closing. She didn't know where to begin looking so she closed her eyes, connected to her heart, and invoked her intention in asking for guidance in finding something that could help her along her journey. She opened her eyes, and a book with the most beautiful barn owl was sitting right at eye level! It was a book called "Opening To Channel your Higher Self".

It was a book that forever changed the course of Raia's life, and those close to her.

Raia came to learn that the violet light was actually a consciousness that she could clearly communicate with through writing and even drawing. It drew the most extraordinary, intelligent and elegant sacred geometry through her and also gave her the most helpful advice; about self love, expansion and contraction, energy, harmony, balance and so much more. It told her, the day before lock down, that Rishi needed to change her flight back from Pakistan or she'd get stuck there! The beautiful way this gift entered their lives and helped was beyond anything any of them could ask for.

But perhaps the most useful and helpful advice for Raia and her heart was this:

"The human heart was never meant to carry the burden of others' suffering", they said. Their name was Michael.