The Gift of Magic

By Brigidh McKeen

Brigidh sat quiet as she called the forces of the world to ground and center her. She was a Crone. One experienced with the magics that this world held. This world had little magic left. Too much science had taken over and drowned out the magic’s song. It took many years to learn to hear the song of magic but with much training any practitioner of magic could find the quiet and peaceful tune it held. In time most people in their later years of practice would learn to feel that vibration and the rhythmic beat much like the heart at rest. Very few could see the flow of magic in the world, and only a handful had ever been able to call upon its power to enact miracles.  

Brigidh had many years behind her and her life was, like all life, near the end of her circle. She knew that she had only 5 to 10 years left and tonight, on the mid-year full moon when the moon’s power was at its peak, she decided that it was time to change her fate. She had done this only a handful of times before. The first was when she was very young, around 10 or 11 years of age. The night she should have died when her family’s 1976 station wagon crashed into the bay. 

~~~~

Her parents had been arguing about the family finances and, while she’d heard them argue before, tonight she felt frightened. The air in the familiar car had never felt so tense. She was shaken from her internal worry when the vehicle launched from the North Bend Bridge and stopped mid fall; the station wagon, her parents, and everything stopped as though time had frozen. 

She was aware of her surroundings, but neither of her parents were. Her hair floated and she giggled, imagining that she looked like a cartoon character that had stuck its finger in a light socket. She smiled, poking at the bubbles that were scattered through the air. Then she heard it. The beating and rhythmic song of magic. The air became charged with power and she could see other bubbles flowing like rain drop rivers off the glass orb in the garden of her home in Coos Bay. The bubbles changed color and danced and flowed through the air toward a larger pond where the magic went to. No, flowed from? After looking closer, she realized that the bubbles both came and went, much like a small inlet of a creek where a fallen tree had diverted the flow.

She knew then that she had a gift. The same gift that people had laughed at her Gran for believing she had. Gran, however, had never spoken about touching the magic or seeing it flow, only that she could feel and hear its song. “That’s because I have chosen you, my child.” A faint, drawn out voice called. Brigidh scrunched up her face and started to think that she was only dreaming. “What?” she called back. Well, if it was a dream then she was going to control it. After all, she hated nightmares. “I have chosen you, child. I need another miracle worker. Too long have I slept and my creation has grown stagnant and sour.” the voice cleared and became smooth and soft like a mother crooning sweet promises of the future to her beloved baby.

“Let me teach you how to harness the power that you see. Let me show you how to make miracles.” The presence waited, paused as though it wanted her to choose. “Why me? That is a lot of power for just one person. Shouldn’t you give it to someone older and better? More experienced?” There was a feeling of respect and warmth tinged with laughter from her question. “Brigidh, child of Maurah, Grandchild of Rheanna. You are special. I chose you before you were born, guided the mother line in you so that you would be born. You are the only one here and now that can use magic. How you use it will be up to you.”

Brigidh was stunned and growing frightened. She was confused as to what this presence wanted her to do. She could feel the panic build. “You're not evil are you? Are you a demon? Trying to trick me? Make me tip the balance of my soul so you can steal it?” Her voice rose with every word and the bubbles of magic grew red and danced wildly. The station wagon jolted a foot closer to the water and Brigidh braced herself against the backseat, wholly expecting it to plunge into the swift-moving water. There was silence for several heart beats before the presence answered her again. It danced and swirled, colors shifting as though it was trying to determine if she had meant to be petulant or lashed out in fear. 

To her relief it seemed to decide it was from fear and the bubbles coalesced into one larger orb in front of her. The bubbles shifted and warbled, slowly taking on the form of a woman. She was thin and tall, and she gave off a regal, ethereal aura despite looking as though she might be pregnant. Her hair flowed like water and was blue like the ocean on a sunny summer day. Her eyes were green like new grass that sprang forth in spring and she had all manner of plants growing from her long gown. Her skin reminded Brigidh of white jade. Pale and delicate, yet still strong and dangerous. Brigid wasn’t scared of her, though. This presence, this woman, had an air of calm, love, and peace about her. 

“Do not fear me, child, for I am the Mother, Gaia. Goddess of creation and rebirth. I need someone that will grow wise in my ways. Who will use the magic of the earth to heal and send forth renewal to the planet. Gaia reached out and touched the child's face gently. “Now will you wield my gift? Or,” Her tone became sad, “must I begin again?”

Brigidh became excited. This was the stuff of fairy tales, try to contain that excitement. She replied “Okay, show me.” At that moment Brigidh knew that she wanted to learn what Gaia had to teach her. 

“First, know that many changes will come with this and you will learn quickly the use of magic. There is a warning I give you, however. Should you change too much around you or create too big of a miracle and someone may notice.” She wiggled her finger playfully at Brigidh, “Doing this could expose you to the world and that in and of itself would be extremely dangerous. In the wrong hands your gift could become a tool for evil. Science can and will be able to control you. Imagine if Hitler had control over someone like you. What evils could he have brought upon humanity.” Brigidh thought hard on that. She’d learned about him in school and could picture how a person like that would be detrimental for everyone if they could use magic.

Brigidh felt embarrassed to ask but suddenly she had to know “So, uhm, did Merlin work for you, ma’am?” Gaia laughed, magic dancing with happy colors along the streams. “Yes, small one, he did. So did the one they call Emanuel, and Morgan LeFey. The last was Tolkien. He remade the world and wrote books about it. Then decided that his creation was too outlandish and impractical. He chose to return the world to how it was when he received his gift. He let the world proceed on the course it had originally been on, and published his books. I hear they have done rather well. It has led us both to this moment.” Gaia pointed to the stream just beyond them, “Now you see how the stream flows both ways, that is because it represents time.” 

“But I thought time only moved forward. After all, I can’t go back to eating breakfast this morning, right?” Brigidh tilted her head and gave Gaia a rather confused look. Gaia smiled at Brigidh. “You can precisely do that, Bri. Think of what led up to your car leaving the bridge. What was happening just moments before? Follow these lines back to the bridge. Pretend you are watching a VHS tape in reverse.” Bri did as instructed. In her mind she could see what had happened moments ago, only in reverse, until she and the car were atop the bridge. Just before a man stumbled into the road causing her father to swerve in order to miss him. She didn’t remember seeing the man on the road. Gaia could see the confusion, “You saw him, however, your mind was focusing on your mother’s scream. Since the mind ignores minor details in order to attend to the more pressing concern, you didn’t consciously notice the man. I believe it’s referred to as ‘tunnel vision’.” Bri continued to turn back time and before long it was a game to see what she hadn’t noticed the first time around. Before she knew it, she was back in the diner at breakfast with her parents and stopped rewinding. “Now what?”

“Well, see all the bubbles here?” Gaia gestured to the room around them, stepping closer to the front door. “Those are rivers of magic made from all the lives around you. Magic comes from everything that is, and everything that was. A rock has magic, a flower has magic. A flower has more than a rock does because it lives and dies at a faster rate. Flowers and plants create faster bubbles,” she pointed to the flowers outside the door. 

Bri nodded, absorbing each word as Gaia spoke. She followed Gaia to stand next to the front door, eager to hear more. Scanning the room, she studied the bubbles. “Then why are the flowers on the table not bubbling so fast,” Bri answered her own question faster than Gaia could. “OH! They are cut flowers and dying.” Gaia nodded, smiling. “Go on, Bri. Hold onto that thought.” Bri raised an eyebrow, and the left corner of her mouth pursed, deep in thought. Slowly, she answered. “It’s....because they are dying. They don’t have as much magic to give forward and the stream of magic is slower. What happens when it dies?” 

Gaia pointed to a flower that was on the sidewalk, dead from being stepped on. The magic seemed to weakly float around it. Then all of a sudden it popped like a soap bubble. Only the bubbles slowly rising and falling from the rocks in the sidewalk remained. Bri could see a small spot where tiny bubbles were moving fast as hummingbird wings. “What is that?” She opened the door and moved to where the tiny bubbles were spouting from the earth. Her own bubbles, moving slower, began to intertwine with the others. “Because you are directly thinking about what you’re seeing and you are concentrating on it, it now joins your magic.” Gaia spoke just behind Bri’s shoulder. “Think about those bubbles and try to coax them to move faster and grow bigger.”

 Following her instruction, Bri concentrated and noticed her bubbles move faster. The tiny ones moved with them; smashing them together, making them bigger. Before her eyes, a plant leaf erupted from the soil. Just as quickly became a daisy “Now stop, Bri.” Instantly, both streams slowed. Hers went back to as it had been and the plants became more rhythmic and a bit larger; roughly the size of a dime. “You can affect small changes in the speed of another living thing such as this flower and nothing drastic happens. If you were to, say, end the life of a driver in a car that would affect everyone around them and someone would likely notice that change even if they did not initially realize it was you. If someone understands magic’s flow or song then they might notice that you were the one manipulating the magic.” 

Bri mulled over this new information. While the gift of magic was a wonderful thing she didn’t want anyone to know she had it. Like the superheroes from her favorite comic books she needed a secret Identity to keep herself and her family safe. “Come now, Bri.” Gaia called her back from her thoughts, “Time to start the day over.” The two of them walked back to the table inside the Sambos that she had eaten in this morning. “Sit where you were, and match your streams of magic to the ones from this morning. Do you see both life streams?” Bri nodded. “Now merge both streams together until the flow matches. If done correctly, you’ll feel a pop and you’ll truly be back at breakfast.” Gaia popped a single bubble in the stream for emphasis. “Make sure to look at the room around you. Look for any differences in the moment. Make sure no one is staring at you because if they are they likely have seen your abilities. Use what you know about today to change how your parents interact with each other.”

   Bri settled into her spot next to her mother before looking back at Gaia, “Where will you be?” 

“Right here, just as I was before. If you need me simply call in your mind and I will come. Just remember. I am the earth so it may take me a few moments of time to collect myself.”

Bri nodded and began to move her stream of life magic in time with her own stream from that morning. She looked around at everyone. Scanning to be sure nobody was watching. She noticed that the cut flowers were wilting. Bri’s eyes caught Gaia’s and the Earth Mother smiled, nodding, “Such a bright child, I chose well.” POP! 

To Bri’s dismay, every flower arrangement on the table was dead; their streams slowly dissolving. As far as she could tell, everyone was so busy eating that they didn’t notice. She looked down at her pancakes and smiled. Taking a large bite, she relished the sweet taste of the contents of her plate. Bri looked at her mother, hoping to make her chuckle. Instead, she saw the look on her mother’s face. Both eyebrows raised and a slight surprised smirk was there.  

“Carl, hun, would you mind getting me The Oregon Guard newspaper? I want to check to see if that job I want has been posted yet.” Bri’s father nodded and went toward the counter to get the paper. “I saw that,” her mother leaned across the table and whispered “You, your Gran, and I will have to talk later. It’s time we teach you what we know.” Bri would have been nervous except she remembered Gaia saying she had groomed her mother line to have the gift. At that moment her father came back to the table, handing her mom the paper she had asked for. “You getting that job would sure help, darlin. The bills seem to be piling in.” Carl went back to his bacon and eggs with nothing more. 

The rest of the day became a moment of peace for mother and daughter, while her father went about none the wiser. She changed the bubble flow anytime her father tried to pick a fight with her mom. Slowing his angry torrents, soothing his stream. By the end of day on the drive home her father’s bubbles were soft blues and greens with an occasional red floating through. So when the old man stumbled into the street, her father was able to stop the car just inches before colliding with him. Her mother gasped and Carl jumped from the car to check on the man. With a raised eyebrow her mother asked an unspoken question. “You?” Bri nodded and her mother sat back, fidgeting with her purse. She now understood that her fate would be forever changed. 

Bri contemplated her day and decided that she was thankful for the gift of magic. She was sure she’d enjoy learning all she could from her mother and Gran.

~~~~

The old Crone Brigidh swam free from her memories, knowing that the change she was about to make would be substantial. After all, she was 115 years old and still had a garden teeming with life. Understanding the gift of magic she had been able to live a long time. Much longer than a human normally would. For the most part Bri had let the world continue on it’s own and observed from afar. She only ever changed minor things and one major event. The Yellowstone Incident had been her greatest change up until now. That giant was sleeping and, because of Bri, would stay asleep for another 10 generations at the very least. Over the years she’d discovered that not all of Tolkin’s creations had gotten remade. That ‘volcano’ beneath Yellowstone was actually a very large dragon and she was determined to make sure it didn’t wake up and destroy one of her favorite places without doing everything she could. 

Bracing herself, she began to rewind time. It flowed backwards. Slowly, at first, then increased just like the old VHS tapes. She stopped the flow at that very same set of pancakes and smiled. The flow of time started forward again as she sat there as her past self, matching the streams of old and new. She relished the coolness of it; the invigorated flow of all she was aware of. This time nothing died and her mother didn’t even notice. She remembered that she was a well trained practitioner of magic and it wasn’t surprising that her actions didn’t make waves. It was time to make sure the world would be a better place for every human. Time to make sure they were all ready for the future.

Special thanks to Elizabeth Barlow who edited all of this with me.