The Adventures of Rocky the Lion Dog

Walks in the forest were a frequent pastime of my family. You see we’re more of the adventurous type, from exploring caves and forests to even climbing to the tops of waterfalls. If it was something to explore, we were there and we’ve pretty much been, well, you can say almost everywhere! Most of our adventures were just exploratory. We would find rocks, plants, beautiful sights, nothing too extraordinary. Except one day…well, let me start from the beginning.

It was a warm day for late fall and to be honest we were all homesick. Not the homesick when you want to be home, but the homesick when you’re sick of being home. From what I could tell there was some sort of virus taking over the world making people were funny covers over their face and sheltering inside their homes. Coronavirus is what they called it. Anyway, today was my lucky day as Mom said, “Come on guys, let’s go for a hike.” I bolted to the door with excitement as Aria followed. We loaded our backpacks, got in the car, and left for our destination.

We arrived at the park, Wissahickon Park, and started down the trail. While walking the trail, I saw something moving in the brush, as I’m always keeping a sharp eye for anything suspicious along the way. The movement persisted, as I went to inspect the sounds and found what looked like a small human with wings. “Do you believe?”, he says as I jumped through the brush to catch him. I missed and started to tumble down the hill hidden behind the brush. "Rocky, nooooo!!", screamed Mom and Aria, as they looked down in desperation.

The hill was very steep and there was no way for them to climb down without falling. As I hit the bottom of the hill, I got up and shook off the dirt and slight pain I was feeling from the fall. I looked up and saw Mom and Aria with tears in their eyes trying to figure out what to do. I realized they weren’t going to be able to help me and that's when I remembered what Mom always told me, "You're a lion Rocky, you're brave and strong and you can do anything you believe you can". I mustered up all my strength as I looked at the challenge in front of me and started to climb the steep hill.

"Mom look, Rocky's climbing the hill, go Rocky, you can do it! Go little lion!", says Aria. They cheered me on as I climbed my way up the hill. As I reached the top, they embraced me with hugs, "Good boy Rocks, you're such a brave little lion", says Mom. As we begin to walk the trail again, I see the creature from the bush. "Follow me, Rocky", he says. So, I bolted off after him. “Slow down Rocks, what’s the deal?”, says Mom as she and Aria ran behind me. For some reason they couldn’t see the creature, but I persisted on my chase. What was he? How’d he know my name? And why did he ask me to follow him? I had to know.

He disappeared as we came to an old tree with special markings standing in the middle of an area of lush green grass. The tree was tall and strong and looking very plentiful compared to its surroundings. It was almost like a small paradise in the decrepit environment surrounding it. I looked everywhere for the creature, but he was gone. As I stood in front of the tree, I saw something black sticking out of the ground. Something was there, I didn't know what it was, but I had to find out. "No Rocks, don't", Mom said as she tried to pull me away, but I kept fighting to keep digging.

Mom admitted defeat and decided to take a break to let Aria eat her snack while they let me have fun digging. While Mom was taking pictures, she noticed the black thing I was determined to dig up and she and Aria grabbed sticks suitable to help me with digging out the mysterious item. As we removed the last layer of dirt, the item turned out to be a little black book notebook bound in leather with symbols carved in gold on the front. The book had a latch to it, but no keyhole or any sign of how to open it. "Ooo mom, a magic book", Aria says. "Well, I don’t know if it's magical but it’s definitely a cool find! We'll take it home and I'll look at it more later to figure out what it is", says Mom. She puts the book in her bookbag as we finished our snacks and continued on our walk through the woods. After about an hour of walking, we came upon a stone monolith with inscriptions on it and beside it a stone doorway that was very dark inside. “Looks like a cave of some sort”, says Mom as she pulls out her phone to take pictures.

Mom began to examine the monolith while Aria and I explored inside the cave. “Amorc, what is that?” says Mom as she reads the inscription on the monolith. Right after she said it, I heard a click and noticed bookbag glow. I tried to get Mom’s attention and alert her to what I saw, but unfortunately, she didn’t understand what I was trying to tell her. We looked inside the cave for a few more minutes and then because it was getting dark, retreated down the path we came to return to our car to go home.

Later, at home, Mom was looking at a pile of papers, bills are what she called them, and I jumped up to grab her sleeve to ask her to play. "No, Rocks. Not now, I've got to focus right now.” Her face looked worried and full of sadness. She got up and walked to her special area full of crystals, candles, and incense and lit a candle and started meditating and repeating, "I am financially free, Money is on its way to me, I am a money magnet." Law of Attraction is what she called it.

Since Mom was busy and didn't want to play, I started playing with her bookbag. She noticed the noise I was making and turned around and grabbed the bookbag from me, "No Rocks, stop". She then remembered the book we found earlier. She took out the book and to our surprise the latch was opened! That’s what the click I heard earlier must have been, the book opening. Mom looked at the symbols on the front of the book and remembers seeing them before. She grabs her phone and looks at the pictures she took earlier at the cave. I jump on the bed and lie beside her while she looks through pictures.

She looks at the picture of the monolith in front of the cave and compares the symbols on it to the symbols on the book. "Oh my God, they're the same!", she exclaims while she puts the book down upon realizing the connection. “We found a book related to “The Hermits of Wissahickon””. She looked at me, while I was curled up beside her staring at the phone and book as I too realized the symbols were the same. I look at her and smile. "Good boy Rocks, your digging escapade found something amazing you little lion!"

She then reads a few pages and takes pictures of some of the pages including one with a map and then closes it. She tries to open the book again, but it won’t open. “Well, I’m not sure how it opened the first time, but at least I was fortunate to get a peep at it, right Rocks?” I was halfway asleep but placed my head on her lap to signal I heard her. “Good night, little lion,” she said as she turned out the lights and went to bed.

The next morning while eating breakfast Mom tells us about her weird dream she had. “I was in a beautiful forest and was sitting at the tree from the trail writing in the same little black book we found. I was surrounded by people who were all dressed like me, except a man sitting on a rock who was speaking to a group of people sitting in a circle around him. In the distance I could see the cave and the monolith, and then a bright ball of light with white wings was coming towards me. It was growing and getting brighter and brighter until then….”, “What happened mommy?”, says Aria excitingly. “I woke up!”, mom laughs as she begins to clean the table.

Later, Mom sends an email to The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, to which they reply almost instantly and provide her an address to turn in the book for review. A few weeks later, Mom gets a call and drops the phone out of awe. She picks up the phone and says, “I’m sorry, I’m a little in shock, can you say that one more time for me?” "Yes ma, am”, says the guy after a slight chuckle, “The book turns out to be an authentic memoir of one of the followers of Johannes Kelpius’, a mystic and scholar from the 17th century. We would like to offer you $20,000 for the rights to display the book in our museum. Additionally, a small plaque describing your discovery of the book will be displayed alongside it in the museum." "Thank you so much”, mom exclaimed. "No, thank you!”, replied the man, “This is an incredible discovery that gives us more insight into the lives of The Hermits of Wissahickon." Mom finishes her call with the man on the phone and hangs up. "I can't believe it! I'm going to go pick up a check for $20,000! We can finally move!".

It was through that adventure that we all realized the power of belief and faith. You see belief is a powerful thing. You become what you believe and much of your path in life is drawn by your belief. Your belief in yourself and your belief in what you can do, become, receive, or achieve. As I lay on the couch in our new home while chewing my favorite bone, I looked towards the window and noticed the full moon shining bright. I remembered the words my birth mother said to me, " No matter what obstacle comes your way, remember who you are and what it means. You are a Shih Tzu-a lion dog. We may be small in stature, but we are large in courage." As I reflected on my mother’s words, I remembered the creature from the woods; What was he? Why did he lead me to the tree to uncover the book?

Suddenly, as if someone was reading my mind, he appeared right in front of me, glowing white and this time much larger in size. He was very tall and wearing armor, which I hadn’t realized before, and spoke to me without moving his mouth. “Hello again Rocky. You are called little lion by your family and for good reason because what it asked of you will require the bravery and strength of a lion. My name is Raguel and I am an archangel sent here to protect Nicolette. You and I both are aligned in this task because she is more special and vital to this world then you know. You see, the book was hers and her purpose is unfolding. And you, though very small, have a great part to play in the events that will follow…”

..to be continued..