Wise old owl

A few nights ago I found myself in a small Mexican village. I had been traveling in an RV and it had broken down nearby, so I wandered into town to find some help.

The townspeople were milling around and going about their daily lives, going to the market, chatting with friends — the storybook picture of a small Latin community.

There was a town square, and next to the square there was a very large and very old structure. It was made out of brick and was about three stories tall. It had a wooden, shake style roof. It resembled a church or government building. It was by far the biggest structure in town, and, although not ornate in anyway, it stood out against the rest of the town’s small shops and homes.

As I was passing by I found myself glancing up at the roof, pondering the use and age of the structure. A large silver and gray owl seemingly appeared from literally out of the blue, swooped down and landed on the roof. She was not a normal sized owl, she was large in a way that would make you believe she’s come from the “Jack and Beanstalk” giant world.




Her beauty and presence immediately capture the mood of the village and its people. Her wings and body were a silvery white, accented by ash gray tips and highlights on her feathers. Her eyes were those that you’d expect from an owl, large and round, mysterious and wise. Her eyes, however, knew the people she now perched above. Her eyes, though owl by nature, were human in a way.

All of the people stopped what they were doing and stared up at her with awe in their eyes. For only a moment the square that had just been bustling with activity was silent except for the breathing of the villagers. The sounds of hands clasping together, followed, the sound of skin, old, young and in between, some soft and others calloused, coming together and being lowered to the chest of their owners in near unison. The namaste pose. Respect and peace.

I looked around, in awe of the moment, that all of these people had suddenly stopped what they were doing and now were all intently focused on her. Whatever this creature’s reason for visiting was, it was big.

Some of the women near me started frantically motioning to me to clasp my hands at my chest as they had. Although I did not speak Spanish (even in my dream) I got the feeling that not putting my hands in the pose would be very disrespectful and it would be bad if she saw me with my arms at my side as they were at that moment.

She flew down to the ground, and as she landed she took human form. She was average height and weight, an African American woman in traditional dress.  She walked through the crowd and picked ten people to come with her. She indicated her choices not with words, but by placing her hand on the chosen’s right shoulder and looking them in the eye. I was the second chosen.
The others who’d be selected began to walk toward a white tent. I followed, and when I got inside there were several simple round tables each with crisp, white tablecloths and beautiful centerpieces of fresh flowers. A young woman sat next to me, and I was relieved when she started speaking to me in English.

I asked her why we were here, what is going on. She told me that the woman who’d arrived from the sky was a Goddess, and she only comes to Earth once or twice a year. She choses ten people, and they are invited to dine with her and then receive a blessing and are able to ask advice for a particular problem they have in their life.

Shortly after several young men dressed in typical waiter attire came in pushing dining carts. The placed plates of breakfast food at each place setting, eggs, muffins, pancakes, and of course orange juice. It was the most delicious food I’d ever eaten, it was unlike anything I’d ever had before, not even close. It was, quite literally, out of this world.

When the meal was done the others began to line up in front of the goddess’s table to have their moment to speak with her and receive a blessing. I held back. This was entirely new to me, I had no idea what to say or what to ask for or about.

I watched the others great this woman, and, though their time with her was short they left looking younger, more vibrant, peaceful.

When it was my turn I approached her cautiously. Despite having seen nine others come and go, I still felt the fear that she would possibly find me unworthy of my guidance and refuse to speak with me. But, she was kind, and she reached out and took my hands in hers, and asked me what negative thing I had in my life that I wished to be rid of.

I asked her to please, please, take away this thing in my head, this chemical imbalance or this demon, whatever it may be that lives in me that makes me literally destroy myself. I asked her to please, please, take this from me. Just remove it like a surgeon would remove a benign tumor. It has a name, but I rarely speak it, I hate it too much to call it by name, and I did not name it in the dream, but of course, being omniscient she knew what I was talking about.

She smiled, not a big teethey smile, but a calm, kind, lips turned up just enough to make your smile lines show smile.

With her hands still in mine, she looked directly into my eyes and said, “What you seek is something you already have. The strength is already inside you.”

No, that can’t be right. I’ve searched for the strength to beat this thing for so many years that I wonder if it’s even in me, if it exists. If it was there at one time it’s already been exhausted.

She then began to sense the pain and the frustration that it causes me, she felt it in her, just like the way John Coffey in the Green Mile can suck a person’s ailment into himself.

We’re not in the white tent anymore, we are standing next to a very run down wooden shack on the edge of an ocean cliff. The woman goes inside for a moment and then brings me a small bottle of a clear liquid. It looked like water, but of course it wasn’t. She told me to drink it. I trusted her, this person I’d met only hours before, I trusted that she had good intentions.

I popped the cork off the bottle, tilted my head back and drank it down (the bottle was about the size of a shot glass.)

Moments later an overwhelming sense of peace washed over me, through me. Nothing in my body or mind hurt, nothing was worrisome, it was a complete release of all the tension, the confusion, the need for perfection.

It was better than any drug. It was thorough.

That was all. I don’t think I woke up then, I think that was just the end. I’d really like to know what was in that bottle.