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Black Book and Dagger

The Quest to the Mayan Ruins

By Mandy WestPublished 3 years ago 10 min read
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I haven’t ever really told my story to anyone. Or at least not all the way through … bits and pieces here and there. So unbelievable it is to the ordinary person that none are really able to believe. Most can’t and so won’t perceive beyond the ordinary. This is a sorry thing. Sorry too is it, that in most cases, people are only seeking superficial satisfaction confined to this material plane, where surely moth doth corrupt.

My story, and my leap into the unordinary began when I started to become extremely disenchanted with my life. There I was, 27, already married and divorced twice, a single mother of two and living in my parents’ basement. I was striving to get my business off the ground, while also struggling with some severe health issues that left me feeling extremely fatigued and ill. I really wanted to do well. I wanted to be a good mother … to be successful, to be healthy and prosperous. It seemed like no matter what I did, no matter how hard I tried, I kept bumping up against an invisible barrier.

One day, after what seemed a tragedy and major setback, I finally broke down. Exhausted and humbled, I totally submitted myself to the Universe, to God. I cried torrents, and pleaded to be shown where was my error? What was my purpose? How could I overcome these challenges and be the person I so desperately desired to be?

I began to feel a warm comforting sensation come over me. My body seemed to disappear, and I felt as though I were floating or being cradled in a giant cloud. I didn’t know how, but at that moment, I knew that whatever happened - in the end - it would all be okay. And I drifted off to sleep while remaining in that enclave.

Next thing I know, I’m at an ancient temple … something is drawing me to it. I’m traversing corridors, and rooms. I’m led to ascend a series of steps which finally come to a single room at the apex of the structure. I expect to find someone or something, but I see nothing. However, I can feel a presence that seems to merge with me. Then I hear an alarming sound, some not too distant explosions. The temple begins to quake and rock. I step quickly, going back the way I came. I spot the main entrance and exit just in the nick of time.

I awoke with a start, my heart still pounding. I laid there recounting the dream. It seemed so very real. How odd it was. What could it have meant? The funniest thing though, is that the feeling of the presence which I had found in the dream still seemed to be lingering within me, even as I lie awake.

The next morning, I rose with an energy and a hope that hadn’t been there before. It was an expectation of sorts. An expectation of what? I wasn’t sure. But it kindled within me a burning curiosity which caused me to look at each seemingly ordinary moment, as if it were masking a secret and magical message or sign. I felt a stirring inside of me that seemed to urge me to depart from my home. I didn’t understand it. Where was I to go? How? I didn’t have the financial means to leave. I decided to just stay vigilant to any opportunity that presented itself and readied myself to spring into action when that opportunity showed up.

It wasn’t but a few days after, that my younger brother told me about a gathering in Arkansas that was taking place the next week. It was to be held at Music Mountain in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He said people were going to gather and pray for world peace and healing. That was just the type of thing I was needing!

My brother offered to pay the gas if I drove, and my mother offered to watch the children while I went. So, in great excitement I prepared myself to go.

After a short day’s travel, we arrived in Hot Springs, Arkansas. We hadn’t been there very long and already the synchronicities were adding up. We ended up finding a campsite at a quartzite crystal mine. Our spot was surrounded by beautiful large trees, big blue mushrooms and at night, if you shone the flashlight at the ground, the crystals sparkled like stars in the sky.

The next day, my brother and a small group of people who were there for the event were casually talking when a large figure approached.

“Hello, my name is Christi,” he said.

I was instantly drawn to him, and something about him seemed to kindle that presence which I had felt in my dream.

He and I began to talk quite a bit, discussing our observances of today’s disconnected customs and behaviors. We bonded over our shared perspective, and I learned that he was out on a quest of his own to find a place that fit his inner ideals of how life should be. He told me he was here in Arkansas for another week, and then he was going to be off, hitchhiking his way to the border of Mexico. There he was planning to take a bus down to Palenque, where an international Rainbow gathering was to take place that year, near Mayan ruins.

Like a flash, when he spoke those words, images from my dream resurfaced into my mind, and I knew, I had to go. I didn’t know how I was going to pull it off. I would need to get the funds. I would need to get a passport and gear. Just then, the familiar presence rose up again within me, chastising me with its wisdom.

“It is only impossible if you choose to act according to what you THINK you see. See instead, how it could and will be done. Move forward with that vision despite what comes, and so shall it be!”

The next few weeks were a whirlwind. Christi set out hitchhiking southward towards Texas, a few days after our meeting and told me he would wait for me there. I was wondering how I would get the money to buy the passport when I remembered that I had brought a couple items of jewelry with me that were my Nana’s before she had passed away. I felt an urging to bring them to the pawn shop. So that is what I did, and I walked out with a little over $200. Just enough to get my passport and make it down to Christi, in Texas.

Two weeks had passed, and now there I was arriving in Brownsville, Texas, to meet back up with the mysterious Christi Diablo. Our rendezvous was momentous, but we didn’t waste much time. Soon we were off, crossing the border and slowly making our way towards Palenque!

After nearly four days travel by bus and Mexican-style ride sharing, we finally arrived at the gathering. We walked up, both of us stinking and exhausted from the many days of travel without any bathing or good rest. I fought through the exhaustion to setup my camp and promised Christi that we would meet back up again.

Mine and Christi’s plan to meet up never came to fruition. We both got lost in the throng of people who had gathered there by thousands. I found myself knowing no one, and not being able to speak the language or understand the people. I had no money, and only the small pack of supplies I had brought.

A few days had passed when I felt a strong urge to go to the entrance of the gathering. I made the trek, and heard someone calling out to me. It was a man that I had a discussion with the day prior, calling out to me from the back seat of a car.

“Hey, Mandy! Come hop in! We’re going to the Temple of Inscriptions!”

So, I hopped in and accompanied them to the temple.

Once we were there, we went our own separate ways to explore. I came to an old structure on the grounds, and was admiring the workmanship of it, when I saw a big crack in the side. Standing on my toes I felt an urge to try and reach down inside. With a big gulp, I swallowed down my apprehension and reached inside.

To my surprise, my fingers could make out the feeling of a couple objects. I pulled them out and beheld a wooden dagger and a small black notebook. I took a quick peek inside and found the book to be empty expect for one, solitary page inscribed with mysterious markings. I wasn’t sure what I had come across, but I quietly slipped them both into my bag and kept my discovery to myself.

That night, I couldn’t keep my secret any longer, so I showed them to a person who I felt very at ease with, as we talked around one of the many fires that night.

Not but a couple hours afterwards, I was approached by a mysterious tall man who said that the Red Queen was interested in my findings and had requested that I give them to him. I was reluctant, and so he asked me to name my price. Being naïve to what I had in my hands, I asked for 500 pesos, and with reluctance, I handed over the objects.

That night I laid in my sleeping bag under the stars in that wild Palenque forest. Listening to the howler monkeys off in the distance and the drumming of those gathered, I laid there wondering what would become of those things. Why did I find them? Who was the Red Queen? What now? I was weary from all the action and drifted off to sleep, only to dream a dream that would change the course of the rest of my life …

I awoke in my dream, my eyes slowly coming to focus, and I was in some type of foreign building. It was dim. A fire and candles were lit. An exotic scent filled the air. I began to feel vulnerable, not knowing where I was or what was going on. Just then I heard the powerful voice of a woman.

“Do not be afraid, my dear,” she said. “Just listen. The earth and all her inhabitants are going to be going through an intense transformation, an ascension of sorts. A rising of consciousness. This is a positive thing and is the will of the supreme intelligence. There will be great shifts that will take place … much upheaval and change. You came to assist in this grand transition and have a great duty to accomplish, should you accept.”

“But I ...”

“Shhh, just listen,” she snapped. “I know you were hoping to amass wealth from this. It is every mortals folly to dream of riches throughout their short sighted lives, but you have many years of learning, or should I say UN-learning to do, before you can responsibly handle the wealth that is coming to you. In eight years’ time, you will come upon a fictional writing contest. Enter it and write this story. You will win the first place $20,000 grand prize. That will be the beginning of the torrent of wealth that will come into your life. Seek direction from your guides. They will instruct you how to use these funds to the benefit of you and those around you. ALWAYS remember what you have learned, and this presence you have found. Cradle it within. Nurture it. Share it with others. Despite how things may ever appear to be on the outside, remember life is what we make it to be. You ARE all that you choose to be.”

And with that, I woke up…

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