Finding the Missing Key

The key was lost. “Where did I put it?” Bernice could not clear any image of having the key since she had opened the door. She had returned home from a busy day at work. The phone rang. It was her sister. Her aunt had just been diagnosed with breast cancer. "Enough." The confusion of her recent move, and a loss of the sense of order that she depended on, had left her feeling vulnerable. Losing the mail key was just the last straw. Sh

The growing list of stresses that were beating her brain into ‘offal’. Cooked brain never appealed to her. The benefits of cholesterol, niacin and B12 did not offset the reality of the threat of Mad Cow disease- Bovine spongiform encephaly – swelling around a spongy bull-headed mind was part of her reality. She had been a beast of life’s burden long enough and was at the breaking point.

She was ready to just give up and wished tears would relieve her of the sadness, fear and hardships she was feeling. As they say on the east coast, she was down half a pint. She thought of her friend Sally from England who always said, "It is nothing that a cup of tea cannot fix." Instead of rushing into the heat of panic and fires of fear, she sat down and brewed herself a cuppa.

She looked out the kitchen window onto the yard in her new home which would take her a lifetime to pay off if she was lucky. Maybe she would find a partner and life would work out. Nothing was certain. Not politics, not the land beneath her that lay along fault lines, not the economy or the stars.

It was February 2024. The new moon would possibly let her see Pluto transiting through Jupiter. It was the Age of Aquarius, a time to move into the future she envisioned and accept what was offered even when she did not know it was needed. It was a time of generational change and initiation. Resisting change would not serve her well. She needed to tap into her own energy to guarantee the alchemy that would lead to transformation. Mercury’s energy provided the fiery opportunity to capture and direct herself with the cosmic flow.

There was abundance in spite of what she felt was lack. She felt lack of a partner, of children and purpose.She felt the burden of life and the darkness of the soul then reminded herself to keep thing in perspective. She had been taught that sometimes, you just need to do what you know is right and slog on through the mud. This wasn't about the lost key. The worse case scenario was that it was a hassle to get a new key and would cost money. How often had she had to shrug her shoulders and say to herself, " It is only money." This move had made her realize how much she had been distracted to buy things because of marketing and appreciate what really was of value to her.

She was ready and assumed the confidence that she could do this next phase of her life with joy and grace. She had a flash of a memory of her mother speaking to her. "When you lose something clean up one corner at a time.” She held onto the thought as she drank her last sip of tea and set her intention to flow and clearly align with the cosmic flow of everything swirling around her.

Her mom always said, “ Use your emotions to accomplish something instead of letting them eat you up.” She took a deep breath and started sorting out the papers on the edge of the counter. How was it that important details were hiding everywhere and were so hard to organize. She wiped the counters down.It was true, the cleaned off counter made her feel better.

The bag of groceries needed to be unpacked. Cans were put in the cupboard and organized, the vegetable tray in the fridge needed to be cleaned out before adding more. She pulled it out and lifted out a wilted broccoli stalk. Below it was the key. Really. How in heavens name. Then she remembered getting the mail yesterday, while holding the key as she pulled out the broccoli to prepare that night's supper.

She laughed. Her mom’s lessons rang true. “Do one thing at a time." She would get the mail after she finished putting away the groceries. She heard her mom say " There is a thing for every place and a place for everything.” She looked at the key. She realized her brain was an 'ideomoter', a term coined by Benjamin Carter in 1852, while investigating supernatural phenomenon such as communicating with the afterlife. The brain works on autopilot to allow multi-tasking as it translates intention into a strong mental image. However, pre-occupation with stresses can lead to a trance in which mental images can be led astray. Loosing and finding the key reminded her to be present.

The missing key was far more that some material piece of metal, it was part of her rite of passage. She had found the key that let her access messages that were far more powerful than finding a physical letter in a post box. The search for the missing key had let her open her mind, hear the words of wisdom from her mom, across time and space, and connect to a wished for future.