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30 A Journal of Contemporary Shamanism VOLUME 8 ISSUE 1 SPRINGSUMMER 2015 wide view unfolded of a newly placed cell tower. I choked deep in my heart my gut. My insides cried a sea of grief. I could not breathe. The winged creatures were gone too. The air smelled of gasoline. Far off ghost birds circled in the air wondering with stronger hearts than I more than I could wonder. I could not talk. I could not speak. I found myself frozen in bed for three days. I stared at the wall. I did not know what was the matter yet I did not concern myself with matters. I knew only that I lost my dearest friend an important soul partner. The green had been there when the Medicine Wheel came into being a guide of the southern direction of healing and discovery and so shared the deep lasting blessing of the first ceremony heaven and earth the spiral the three worlds the seven direc- tions. Three days later in the evening for I could not bear going out in the day to see what chainsaws had done I went out for a walk to pray to leave sacred tobacco and corn meal at the place of desecration the place where Mother Earth had given her heart to the tree so it could rise up and share the language of our Earths cosmic connection. I stopped in the shallow near the dark and empty well and prayed and honored the great being of my friend the tree the gifts it had given us for so long. I sang the song of my friend and my friends journey home flying with the Windhorse where trees are loved and revered where trees bless the cosmos with their sacred branches and join the Norns weaving songs into the web. There there in that night feeling quite alone and sad I sud- denly felt an energy I had not felt previously. I looked in the direction of the Palm and saw a shadow there. It was as if some- one had been standing out of view watching me for some time. The form moved. In that movement I saw a light a swirl of grey. It moved like a fog or an infinite cloud congealed in a central dimension. Then a more definitive form expanded to the right of the Palm. I saw him clearly then touched by moonlight a man of the woods a man of the forests. He might have been part tree himself. A soft breeze lifted the fronds a quick even clatter but there was no breeze. In his long flowing garment he turned to the owl sitting on his right shoulder. He said something to the owl and then they both turned to face me. The moonlit form made a sign that he was hungry. He moved his hand back and forth to the earth to his heart to his mouth and there he stood grey eyes looking at me making sure I followed his movements. I stood speechless determined to hold my eyes steady so as not to miss a note. He turned one more time to the owl to communicate something. I knew it could be none other than Merlin himself here in the midst of this barren womb holding on for all of us holding the sacred ways and wisdom of nature begging pleading for us to pay attention to do something before all starves all of it Merlin too and the sacred ways. I told him I understood but my lips did not move. He told me with his eyes with his miraculous dimension and nature of impossibility that I was not alone in my suffering that we des- perately need each other to awaken and care for Mother Earth the sacred messages and the ways of our Wisdom-Keepers. He showed me how close he is right in our midst here with Mother Earth to guide us - if only we take up the call and carry the ways forward for the good of all. I do not know how things happened afterward only that things happened rapidly so rapidly it was all I could do to keep up with the flow of information. Here and now the world held no time for bed or grieving only time for sacred ceremony to move ahead and to awaken. A book came to me from a Russian translation of very old texts found in Im thinking Wales. The material connected magically with other works I had been drawn to research further the Zodiac of Dendara Egyptian pyramid star alignments The Eight Immortals ancient Taoism my general interest in ancient sites mounds rock art and geometries structures aligned to the stars Solstice Equinox and the realms of Stonehenge. Standing face to face with Merlin admitting it to myself proved intellectually difficult the steps often lost on how to reckon this phenomenal encounter with the mundane to shake it yes shake it awake. I had never bought into or followed the Merlin King Arthur route. If anything my feelings passed as mere enjoyment in a tale. I simply preferred to have something more definitive for my own work. The only other time I remember seeing Merlin hap- pened during a Shamanic Journey. He passed through floating lightly from sky to earth then he vanished with great fun as if a trickster on holiday. I remember saying Whats Merlin doing here He laughed and passed through several times then noth- ing. He did leave his mark however throughout the journey that feeling of his energy hiding in the air somewhere. I will say that after that journey I did release my opinion that he was all tale and fluff Now through a great loss I had found this book that men- tioned his star palaces his years of work and healing. I knew it was real as real as the translators discovery of Llys Don Ances- tor Palace. I knew too Ancestor Palace was my star palace and it called to me to do something and that I better pay attention. Soon more star palaces came to light along Merlins route to feed nature and the world. More and more happened quickly as ever. Still I cannot forget that Merlin truly waits hungry and the owl on his shoulder waits for us to return to wisdom. Meanwhile the parts continue to come together. Dendara plays a part and The Eight Immortals who are said to have been taught by a man who came from the far western world a sage who lived in trees in the forest and worked with the plants and forest energies a great teacher they called the Wizard who disappeared back into the forest after showing The Immortals the corridor of stars the palaces the celestial river and cloud scripts. Merlin another Bon Jhankri of the wild another Shiva another Wisdom-Keeper of the ancient ones calling us to reunite and accept the gifts of the sacred elements Mother Earth and the stars heaven and earth yin and yang. More details of the star palaces and the ancient wisdom