The Shining Light of "One Who Knows" - World Voyages of the Destiny's Dreams

"Even the ocean murmurs to the woman named One Who Knows," the ancient villagers said. "She shares our joys and sorrows. She senses the depths in our hearts."

"Everything in nature has an essence of the unseen forces. The winds, the trees, the animals, the sun, moon, and stars, and the clouds in the sky all call and whisper to One Who Knows."

Thousands of years ago, during the last Ice Age Melting, when the sea rose, the villagers felt their lives were like reeds in a woven basket, woven into the natural world by the Unseen.

Someone then might say, "I talked to the trees today and the wind. The birds came to listen and sing with us."

The woman called One Who Knows told the villagers, "Natural features have personhood too."

Hundreds of generations later, the villagers still gathered by the fire to drink their aromatic, fragrant, warm herbal water.

They shared tales about the ancient woman of great courage, compassion, and heroism called One Who Knows.

The villagers would say, "When the wall of water swept a child on the beach out to sea, One Who Knows led the rescue. She dove into the towering waves. Then she floated in the riptides, holding the child, until she could get back to shore."

"She led us to build the safe new village high up beyond the tides and rogue waves."

"She nursed those who were ill, keeping a vigil by their bedside"

"When the campfire flames caught a villager's woven reed cape, one Who Knows jumped to put out the fire."

One big difference set One Who Knows apart from everyone else.

The villagers said, "She listens to us. She understands our hopes and dreams and our feelings. She cares about the secrets deep in our hearts and souls."

"She brought a light into the world."

One Who Knows had long hair like white ocean waves breaking, and midnight eyes. She spoke in a voice like doves cooing.

Her words inspired people. She always had a presence that expressed calmness, peace, and a gentle flow.

"The lives of people, animals, plants, and of everything, everywhere, circle and spiral through time," she said.

The villagers were heating flavored water over a campfire next to the ocean. The musical voice of One Who Knows floated to them. It mingled with the scents of the salt air of the sea and the herbs in the water.

"The All-Embracing Great Spirit flows everywhere. The mists between earth and the unseen are thin. Our ancestors sometimes slip closer to us from the life beyond. Only light fogs of time separate us."

These words were in faded brown ink in the old journals of world voyages written long ago.

The journals said, “Tales by Anya, the Storyteller of the Blue Lantern, on the sailing ship Destiny’s Dreams on her world travels in the 1800s."

"The ship was skippered by Captain Alfonse. He wore his black beard in many long, thin braids, tied with vivid fabric strips."

"Alfonse walked the decks with his laughing parrot and his rascal of a pet monkey. The parrot's voice echoed over the waves. "Hahahahaha." The two pets rode on Alfonse's shoulders, or on the top of his head."

"This story was told to us from the people we met on shore. Their wise one passed on ancient wisdom. It is from early peoples off the southwestern coast of the North American continent, the area known as southern California. Journal Entry #90.”

This is what Anya’s journal said.

Over ten thousand years ago the villagers sat on the beach with herbs in water bubbling over orange flames. The sun’s golden hour light bathed them in a glow.

The old woman with the white hair called One Who Knows continued speaking.

“Last week a rogue wave at high tide flooded the village. My neighbor, and his family, and his hut were swept out to see. We barely managed to rescue them. It is time to do something.”

One of the men burst out, “The old markers made by our ancestors are below the water line now."

Then he continued.

“The tales of the ancients show the coastline is disappearing. The giant winter tides are higher.”

His voice rose to a high pitch and cracked. He breathed fast and hard.

One Who Knows listened. "We will make a plan."

“Gather closer to the fire. Look into the flames. What do you see?” The white-haired old woman’s voice still sounded young and smooth.

During their lifetimes, and their descendents' livetimes, the ice age melt continued, and polar caps leaked water into the seas, the ocean would continue to slowly rise. It would cover miles of the coastlines.

People and animals on land had to move to higher ground inland to escape the waves.

“One Who Knows, please tell us what you think after living for so long.” A young man in his early teens spoke.

“Bright Eyes Shining, we need the ideas of your youthfulness. Your energy is fresh.” The teen tilted his head and sat up straighter at these words from One Who Knows.

“Let the flames speak to you. Let Sister Ocean send you a message.” After these words of One Who Knows the group became quiet and still.

“I am feeling something.” One of the women spoke.

“I feel it too.” Soon others were echoing this also.

“Tomorrow we can make plans.” Old One Who Knows spoke reassuringly. “Everyone dream of how we will make a new life.”

Hours later the dawn began to glow in the east.

Young Bright Eyes awakened early and listened to the surf murmuring.

Then he started the village campfire.

Steam rose from the warming herb water. Bright Eyes went to take a hot cup of it to Old One Who Knows.

He disappeared into her hut. A minute later he hesitated in the doorway, gasping and gazing around at the other huts.

Bright Eyes ran to the nearest hut and spoke to his parents.

“Come quick. Old One Who Knows. I think she has joined the ancestors.”

His whisper was hoarse. He let his throat close. His chest clenched. He was suffocating.

Word spread fast. The villagers gathered at the doorway to Old One’s hut. Their faces wore looks of grief and despair.

“We must pray to the unseen forces.” A young girl’s voice floated in the morning air. Her name was Shining Dawn.

"The light for the world from One Who Knows was so great that her light shines forever."

"She stayed here with us as long as she could. Her life years on earth were many. The Great Spirit has called her."

“Dear All-Embracing Forces of Life, You are in everywhere, in everything. We thank you for the blessed time we were honored to spend with your precious One Who Knows."

"She is in your loving embrace now. New life is flowing through her in the ancestors’ world after this world.”

Tears flowed. Voices choked. But they must keep going.

Someone said, “One Who Knows taught us so much. How can we go on without her? I am afraid."

Another said, "We are in the midst of a crisis. All-Embracing Forces of Life, please guide us.”

The people of the village prepared for a ceremony for those who journey to the Ancestors’ Afterlife.

“I can’t go on without her,” one of the young women named Wind in the Waves said. She trembled. Tears fell. Others wept too.

Shining Dawn spoke to them. “She would want us to keep going. We can try to be more like her, brave and compassionate. She would say to us, “You can do it.”

"That is one of the best ways we can honor her. Someday she will meet us again, beyond the thin veil between this world and the next."

“What will we do?” Wind in the Waves had big, wet eyes.

Shining Dawn looked out at the ocean.

She said, "The bond with One Who Knows is still unbroken. She has transformed. But we are still together with her through the love of the All-Embracing Great Spirit."

Shining Dawn's voice sounded melodic, like the tones of One Who Knows.

“Gather close around the fire. Raise our arms. Give thanks for the blessings of One Who Knows.” Shining Dawn continued.

“Grasp hands. Now we will sing about the life of One Who Knows. She is still here but now she is part of the unseen. She is not gone, just changed, living in the Ancestor’s World. We celebrate her wonderful life. We will continue her love and caring. Let’s hug and comfort each other.”

They spent the day honoring the life of One Who Knows.

When the golden light of evening came, they sat close around the fire, sipping the warm herb water.

“The sun has gone down. But see the afterglow.” “Shining Dawn spoke.

“One Who Knows is sending us the bright colors in the afterglow to tell us she is fine. Life is eternal," she said.

A healing feeling fell over the group.

The crescent moon and the stars were still floating in the sky when many of the villagers got up early the next morning.

“We will honor One Who Knows by going onward. From the world of the ancestors, she will be smiling and proud of us." Shining Dawn’s voice pierced the dark air.

By dim moonlight, they build the fire and heated the herb water.

"We will need to take the huts apart. Then move them inland to to higher ground to be safe from the rising seas.”

The villagers nodded.

"I am proud of you." They imagined they heard her voice saying those words. Some mornings they thought they saw her shape in the mists or the clouds.

Shining Dawn was very young but she emerged from the group as one of the new leaders. “I know we all feel so alone without her.”

“But One Who Knows would want us to start over, rebuild, and try new things.” Shining Dawn’s voice seemed to sing the words.

The villagers took action that day. They packed their belongings and scouts went inland to find a place for a new village.

“Look. Up there. A nice place high on the mountain with trails down to the sea.”

A man named Night Comes Calling spoke. The villagers visited the new place and explored some others too.

Several days later they chose the place on the mountain looking out at the sea.

Each night they watched the afterglow over the sea when the sun dipped below the horizon.

The young girl called Shining Dawn sang out, “There she is. Glowing above the horizon. One Who Knows. We can see her so well from high up in this new village.”

Then the young man Night Comes Calling spoke. “She comes across the bridge of mists between this life and the next to visit us sometimes."

"I can hear her voice in the wind. She is saying, I’m here. Always. Loving you. Stay close to the life of the ocean, the animals, plants, and the world.”

The villagers carved a storytelling mural to honor One Who Knows into the side of the cliff overlooking their new home.

The figures of people, animals, plants, and ocean waves danced in the mural. There were wavy lines of the ocean. The circles and spirals of time passing flowed across the stone.

The carvings in the cliffs looked out at the sea for thousands of years.

Then one day in the 1800s the clipper ship Destiny's Dreams with her huge square sails and three masts floated out from a wall of fog offshore. The ship let her anchor down in the ocean below the carvings on the cliff.

The captain looked through a telescope at the shore. A colorful parrot sat laughing on one of his shoulders.

"HAHAhaha." The parrot's voice echoed over the ship. It was contagious. The crew smiled and laughed along with the parrot.

A small monkey sat on top of the captain's cap and wrapped its long fingers, long toes, and longer tail around the captain's neck and beard.

It was Captain Alfonse. His beard was long, black, and woven into braids held with colorful stripes of cloth.

A small, fast schooner with two sails followed the clipper ship. On the deck Captain Andre enjoyed listening to the Peruvian flute player and her tame cougar who had joined him on his voyages.

The cougar was enamored of the flutist and her music. Everyone on the other ships knew the big, graceful cat was friendly.

A rustic fishing boat sailed in as the last part of the fleet of the clipper ship called Destiny's Dreams. A worn name on the stern said Salty Sardine."

A bright red color on the deck was visible from far away. The red was a giant beard that curled out in all directions like a red octopus or a red squid. The owner of the beard stood straight with chin raised to look dignified.

A sliver of bright green darted in and out of his beard. It was the growing baby salamander who leaped into the red foliage during the beard owner's exploration in mangroves growing off the coast of what would be known as Latin America.

The crews were world travelers, accustomed to varied choices and lifestyles, accepting them easily, and they loved their lives at sea.

The captains of the ships and those who wanted to go ashore boarded small surfboats, and sailors rowed them to the beach.

"It is time we got our land legs back working again," said Luciana, the map maker of the Destiny's Dreams.

She was the wife of the clipper ship's captain, Alfonse. Luciana carried a large satchel with her map drawing tools.

"Yes, I am afraid I will be walking like I am still rocking back and forth." Isabella, who was in training as a navigator spoke. Her husband Adelberto was First Mate on the clipper ship.

They beached the surfboats.

"There's a path. I see a village high on that mountain foothill. Let's go." Adelberto pointed and they set off to climb up the zig-zagging path.

"Look." Captain Alfonse pointed.

"Incredible. A whole mural of stories carved across this long rocky cliff." Luciana's eyes sparkled with excitement.

Several people from the village came walking over the trail to meet the visitors.

Their eyes widened when they got closer.

"What is this?" They murmured to each other.

"A colorful bird making strange sounds. A creature on the man's head with a long tail. A monstrous red beard with a little green animal in it."

The ship's people and the villagers began to speak and introduce themselves.

One of the villagers whispered to another, "I think our ancestor One Who Knows has come back. She is playing one of her legendary mischievous tricks on us."

A man from the Destiny's Dreams was from a nearby village and he partly understood the villagers' language. He had always wanted to sail to faraway places and so he joined the ship's crew.

He translated and explained to the visitors.

"This mural celebrates the life of an ancient woman thousands of years ago. She was called One Who Knows."

"There in the mural is her face. Her eyes are always watching."

"Her wisdom, bravery, and humor have been remembered since time beyond mind."

"They built this village high up from the tides, rogue waves, and sudden walls of water."

The group stood staring at the carved mural with wide eyes. They ran their fingers over the carvings.

The translator continued.

"The wind speaks to the villagers with the voice of One Who Knows."

He paused and then went on. "She sings in the wind that everything is connected."

"The All-Embracing Unseen Force flows through everything, everywhere, forever."

That evening the visitors joined the villagers in a ritual. They gathered around a campfire. Water with herbs was heated over a flames. They breathed in the aromatic fragrances and sighed.

Then they sipped the warm drink, and hummed wordless songs together, swaying to the music.

The setting sun sent a golden glow across the mural of carved animals, figures, and designs. The people felt light touches of ocean mist.

The inspiration from One Who Knows was strong that night.

They knew she had returned to visit.

Somewhere in the Unseen Beyond, she was smiling.

A soft light surrounded the gathered group. Their bonds with One Who Knows were unbroken.

Her light was shining forever.

They sipped the herbal drink warmed over the fire and talked softly about One Who Knows.

The glow of the sunset covered them. The ocean sang with her waves. A sense of peace descended on them. A flock of birds flew over them.