The Link and The Spark

By Santosha Tantra

Freedom Rider was geared up with her hiking boots and sticks and a full tank of gas. Today was an ascension day—up the mountain road till it ended. As she ascended, Freedom Rider handled the mountain curves with a steady push—up 1,000 feet, to 8,000 feet above the valley floor. Freedom Rider always got her there. The mountain air was twenty degrees cooler than the valley, a fall nip in the air causing the aspens to turn bright yellow. Sudra parked her jeep adjacent to the trail head. It was not going to be a hike up to the summit today, to claim her victory in ascending to the mountain peak. Today she had another kind of agenda. It was part of her work—a secret spiritual work that she did, and didn’t share with anyone, for Sudra (though a fictional character of the unbelievable, non-fictional tantric aspect of Santosha Tantra) had her own strange, eccentric ways about her. She sometimes was a voice to Santosha’s unexplainable, mysterious ways and work. Today it was a working day—a purposeful hike. She had her wand with her. It was not like a Harry Potter wand stick—hers was made of beautiful gems attached to an elongated crystal. She carried it in her fanny pack and climbed up the trail. It was cool and her lungs were struggling and trying to adapt to the reduced amount of oxygen at 8,000 feet. It was a struggle—one that she enjoyed. She felt happy and happier as she pushed her burning thighs to take her up the trail. When she was smiling from ear to ear, she opened her pouch and held her wand in her left hand. She waved it, creating an infinity sign and chanted the secret names of the Bright Heart of She/He Is. The doorway was opened, here on the simple trail. One day, a man? or a woman? would hike this trail and stand in the doorway—a vortex to their own deeper need and true nature, and in a moment the link would be established, and the spark and thirst of a genuine seeker would be ignited. What would happen to her or him after that, Sudra with her very big endless imagination, imagined the whole story of their unveiling and it delighted her to know that her work was a link to their spark.

It took many years before Sudra’s wanding met its mark. A woman in her early forties was at a crossroads in her life. She had left her marriage a few weeks ago and was struggling to find out where she wanted to go, what direction should her life take now? She thought summiting the mountain would stir in her some much-needed answers. As she walked, she was not confident that she could get past the burning of her thighs and the gasping of her lungs for breath. She had taken no time to acclimatize to the altitude and it was hitting her hard. She could barely breathe. She was losing her determination and sat by the trail, only 1/3 mile up the 11-mile trail. She felt nauseous—she thought perhaps she was having a heart attack and she could hear her heart beating loudly and irregularly. She closed her eyes and held back her tears, repeating as her mantra, “I’m not going to cry…etc…” Should I go back, can I do this? She asked herself. She asked the mountain for the strength to ascend to its peak. The mountain smiled good fortune upon her, for the mountain had not only been the witness of Sudra’s wanding, the mountain had chosen this very spot where Sudra would create a link for this very woman.
The woman, whose name was Oval, regained her equilibrium and felt the mountain’s urging her on. Her spirit lifted. She also felt something else—it was a feeling that she was someone else than who she thought she was. Whoever this someone else was, it felt to be truly powerful, and this someone else was getting her up this big, beautiful, dam impressive mountain. She laughed and said out loud, “Alright, I’ll do this even if it kills me.” It probably will, the mountain thought, but you need a good death to be born into the mountainous you that Sudra has opened for you.
As the sun was setting, Oval made it to the summit. She was exhausted and lay down on the massive rock peak. I did it! She felt victorious! She had made the summit. “This is the best moment of my life,” she declared. The mountain agreed and took her into its depth where it would teach her its mysteries. It would teach her and reveal to her the foundation from where her strength would rise.

Sudra marked the date on her calendar: Oct 6th, with a flame symbol. “Court and spark,” she sang out loud, “Link and spark.” The journey was the way—the creation of the myth and Oval, who was a gem, would live in her myth now as her archetype met her deep within the cave of her mountain, where all her strengths would waken from their dormancy. Sudra continued her wand work, creating possible links whenever and wherever she had the impulse. The results of her work were usually not known to her. There were a few exceptions, and in one of those rare exceptions she actually saw the link and the spark within minutes after she performed her wanding ritual. And on one occasion (and this is the only time it ever happened) a young man watched her perform her wanding, peeking from behind a big boulder in the desert terrain of the southwest. He became very curious about what she was doing and followed her, but she seemed to have disappeared when the trail abruptly ended. He even called out to her, “Lady? Lady?” The rocks in the cul-de-sac only bounced off his words. He turned around and retraced his steps back to where he saw the slender, petite woman perform her ritual. As he stood there, he began to swoon and he felt a wave of energy move to the center of his forehead. It pulsed there so intensely that he thought he would pass out—and he did, but as he fell to the ground his consciousness shifted. He saw himself as another, not at all familiar or similar to his body. It shocked him to see that his skin was blue and his fingers were long and delicate. He heard the words, “Why did you go and do that?” He opened his eyes and the woman he had followed was standing over him. He couldn’t answer her, he felt dissociated from his body. He couldn’t figure out where he belonged. Sudra sighed, how do I get him back? She opened her water bottle and dumped the contents on his head. The water ran off him and made a sizzling sound, like it was putting out a fire.
“Can you get up?” she asked him. He stirred and opened his eyes.
“Why am I all wet?” he managed to stammer.
Sudra laughed and held her hand out to help him sit up. He took hold of her hand and sat up.
“Buddy, you were on fire.”
“It’s you,” he managed to stammer. He rubbed his forehead, “I had the strangest experience.” He looked into Sudra’s eyes. “Did you do this to me?” he asked her directly.
Sudra responded, “I just opened a doorway and you went through it. The desert is full of mysteries.”
“I saw you perform some kind of ritual. I was curious and followed you and when I couldn’t find you, I returned to the spot where I saw you perform your ritual. And what happened to me?” he asked.
“The link met the spark,” Sudra explained.
“What do you mean? I saw myself. I was somebody else with blue skin, it was really weird.”
“That’s interesting. Your fire, your spark comes from another aspect of yourself.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” Sudra scratched her head. “All I can say is the link met the spark and it met it through that form of yourself.”
Hanaû didn’t know what she was talking about. “Can I see your wand?” he asked her. “Is there some strange kind of magic in it?”
“Sorry, Hanaû, is it? I can’t show anyone my wand and to be quite frank with you, I just do my work—my ritual as you call it. I never see the results of it or if anyone ever receives it.”
“Receives what?” he asked.
“I’m not sure, all I can tell you is I work for another agent and I am only an aspect of her and her work.”
Hanaû thought this over. “Are neither one of us being our complete actual self?”
Sudra laughed, “You are a clever one. You will enjoy the journey you will be on. The link has met its mark and the spark will burn to a brilliant blaze. Good luck, my man.” Sudra disappeared right before his eyes.
Hanaû felt his throbbing head. It had a bump the size of a ping pong ball. I must have tripped, he thought, and hit my head. He struggled to get up and felt strange. He searched his mind to find any clues about his experience. All he could sense was that he was not completely himself and he was insanely thirsty even though his shirt was drenched. When he made it back to his car, he saw a woman drive away in her jeep and managed to read a bumper sticker on her rear bumper. It read, “I ♡ wanding.”
Sometimes Sudra wanded in her dreams. What kind of dreams did Sudra wander into? She followed the whims of the sleepers to see as they slept, if any sleeper was searching—seeking to find the one, the awakener, that she was an intimate fictional character of. Is there such a person—one who is created to serve the deepest knowing and the deepest yearning? Do those who yearn to know have need of her and her crazy ways of creating links? Sudra knew that her job, her work, was of essential, vital importance. Who does not yearn to awaken from their sleep to discover that they were never truly who they were dreamed to be? For a link to meet such an impulse in the dreamer, it was necessary that Sudra not only wanded, but wandered and the dreamtime was rich with souls yearning for this truer possibility. How did Sudra wander in the dreamtime? She followed Santosha’s attention when Santosha was moved to be attracted. Santosha was doing her work of creating deeper possibility for the dreamers of this world. Sudra followed her threads of enlightening possibility and where location met a place to stand—a crossroads or conjunction of possibility, Sudra stood there and wanded. Dream locations were trickier than physical locations. In the physical, often the location called to her to collaborate with her wanding work. In dreams she was called to the space by Santosha’s light threads. The dream would form from Santosha’s light threads that were directed from the mudras Santosha would perform. A dream would appear, a location would be lit and Sudra would wand her dance of infinity, the dance of He/She Is. As was her custom, she did not linger to witness who would encounter the link and perhaps be sparked. Many dreamers passed through her dreaming vortex, but only one dreamer stopped and felt its pull. Sorry to say, but this dreamer was one of the worst kind of fellas. In his lust for power, he was on the prowl to find more access points to attain it for his own vanity. He was trying to find a way to incarnate to Earth for dominating over others for his own perverse impulses that he so delighted in. Could such a demon, a truly terrible fella, be able to recognize the purity of Sudra’s link? Or would he sense that more power was located there in the wanding space that Sudra created—and that power could be used to accomplish his own darker dreams? Was his archetype that of the villain? And could Earth allow such a villain to incarnate upon its shores?
The man, the demon, stood in the vortex that Santosha’s light mudra created and that Sudra wanded in to offer the right dreamers an opportunity to be sparked. He stood there and felt waves of energy move through him. He knew he had found a truly powerful energy location. His sense of self shifted and changed. He was becoming someone else and he so loved it. The more light he felt, the more it fed his need to be truly dark. How can the light, how could Sudra’s noble work of linking and sparking allow this demon to access the light for his own dark purpose? How could the light feed the darkness—the darkness in Levi and in all beings? A truly good question with amazing implications and surely a play of a tantric goddess.

Sudra had as her service to Santosha, wanded over 5,555 times. In all her wanding how many links sparked? Not many, a few perhaps. She did not judge how successful her work was, she was content in the doing of it. Did her wanding work ever change? Did she grow tired of performing it? It wasn’t till the 5,555th wanding that she asked herself that question.

Hanaû had searched high and low, and extensively on the internet to find out if his experience in the desert could have possibly really happened. He searched through any material he could find about wands, and he searched through websites to see if anyone would know about his other alien-like body. He found all sorts of possibilities that were also fascinating, but they didn’t ring true to his experience. He knew that his experience would only ring true if he could find the woman he had watched in the desert, the woman that he saw wanding. She was harder to find. There were no clues in his searches. He decided to go back to the desert, the very spot (if he could locate it) where his experience had happened. He drove to the desert and after a few mis-attempts found the trail where he had followed Sudra and watched her wand. He stood there, on the very spot and recalled his experience. He was surprised when he began to re-experience his first experience of standing in the vortex. He began to swoon, but stayed self-aware in his experience. His body again turned into another self, a tall blue figure. He let the absorption into this form occur, but he also remained aware as his present condition of being himself as Hanaû. It was a strange experience. After a few struggles with gathering his thoughts, he was able to articulate with this other form of his. “Who are you?” he asked. The blue form was startled, “You can experience me?” he asked.
“Yes, somehow, I don’t know how, but I feel you as another part of me and yet your form is different than anyone on this Earth.”
The blue man considered this, “You feel me as another part of you?” he asked as he looked through Hanaû’s eyes. “This is a surprise to me,” he answered. I felt the vortex here and when I stood here, you must have arrived at the same time. We must have joined somehow, but why you feel I am a part of you, I don’t understand. Do you know how this vortex came about and what it is used for?” asked the blue man.
Hanaû told the blue man about following the woman who had wanded in that very spot.
“She was wanding?” the blue man asked. “That is curious, what was she trying to accomplish?”
“After I had my initial experience of standing in the vortex that she had created, I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I wanted to know more. I wanted to understand my experience and perhaps meet her, so I came back here today, and here again is where we meet.” Hanaû could feel the experience fading. The last words he heard before he found himself standing alone in the desert sun was, “We must find her, I have a message for her.”
Hanaû found his way back to the car, wondering all the while not about his strange experience with the blue alien man that he felt was a part of himself, he wondered how he was going to find Sudra and what was the message he (himself) had for her.

Oval had quit her marriage and now she quit her job. She bought herself a van, had it rigged so she could live in it, and hit the open road. She drove to the great Sierra Nevada mountains, the Rockies, the Grand Tetons, and hiked as many of the trails as she could. She summited many peaks and had many experiences. She felt as free as a breeze and as strong as granite. The mountain air filled her lungs with the nectar of the devis. The mountain held her to her core. She was becoming someone else, no longer frightened. Her strides pushed her up past any limits and boundaries, and she walked right into her archetype—an archetype that no woman (only a few!) could imagine could become hers. She was becoming a Goddess. How could such a simple woman who was once a doormat for her husband and others, dare to dream that she was not a mere frightened woman, she was a Goddess? Surely this new identity of hers couldn’t be real, how are we supposed to make sense of such a magnificent metamorphosis? How could Sudra’s wanding open such a doorway in her and reveal that her spark was so mighty? How indeed? Sudra’s wand hit the bull’s eye and Sudra, in all her beautiful simplicity, would never know that her wanding not only sparked but set a blaze that would not and could not ever be put out. Or would she? Sudra had experienced a few surprises in her work of late. The first one being that a young man had Seen her and witnessed her wanding. No one before had ever seen her or witnessed her work. For God’s sake, she was a fictional aspect of Santosha Ma—only real unto Santosha—not to anyone else. How could she be seen? And this second surprise—Oval’s emergence into her power, into her Goddess embodiment, Sudra would come to see and be seen by Oval’s presence. Oval willed it and it would happen. Oval as a Goddess had unseen powers and one of her powers was to see the unseeable, to see the fictional as imagination yet to materialize it. So it was Sudra’s surprise that one day she felt an attracting force call to her and she couldn’t resist moving towards it. That force materialized her into a flesh and blood form, and she found herself with a wand in hand standing in front of a woman who said, “I’m glad you could make it, I have some questions for you.”
Sudra sat by the woman on a ledge overlooking a beautiful alpine lake that was in the shape of a heart. They sat in silence for a while. She gazed at the woman for a while and the woman gazed back. “My name is Oval, what’s yours?”
“I am Sudra. How can you see me, because…”
“You are a fictional character?” Oval laughed. “Me too, but I am not sure the born character called Oval, a struggling, timid character is the fictional one, or this new character that seems to be growing in power and strength every day is the new narrative of who I am. Who is fictional and who is real?” Oval asked.
Sudra laughed, “When we are not seen for who we are by others, we are led by them to believe that our real self, our real persona or archetype is only fictional. I am most happy to be unseen, it allows me to do my work undisturbed.”
“And what is your work, Sudra?”
“I create links.”
“What kind of links?”
“A doorway, a vortex to the center of everything, an opening of energy, power and heart.”
Oval was reflecting on this, “Did I find one of your doorways—a vortex?” she asked.
“I believe so, you must have entered one of my doorways that I created through wanding, and the link met your spark.”
“My spark?” Oval asked.
Sudra smiled, “My link can meet its mark—a spark of someone’s authentic self that is ready to come forward to be lived.”
“So what I am becoming, this newly found strength and power that I feel, is part of me, you say, it’s my authentic self coming forward?”
“Yes,” Sudra replied.
“Wow,” Oval responded.
“What I don’t understand, is how you manifested a physical body for me to appear to you. I am a secret part, an invisible one that remains always hidden. I do not appear to anyone! I am only known in the Heart of the One.”
Oval perked up, “The One? Who is this One that you are a hidden part of?”
Sudra reflected on what to reveal to Oval. “The One is the sum total of all the archetypal Goddesses.”
“Then I am part of Her then, I am only a fictional character within Her.”
Sudra was stunned by Oval’s deduction. “So we both are.” She added.
Oval smiled, “This is fascinating. Is there any limit to her depth? Can we truly ever be authentic or are we just…”
“Fictional characters?” laughed Sudra. “There are no limits to Her imagination, so…”
“There are no limits to our stories, to who we can become,” added Oval.
Sudra grinned, “Isn’t it a wonderful mystery, all identity is fictional and yet we are led to believe in one.”
“Indeed!” exclaimed Oval. “And for what purpose are we being led into?” asked Oval.
“You will see.”
“And what about you, Sudra?”
“I will continue my work of wanding.”
“Will I meet you again?” asked Oval.
“It is evident that you have the power to call me, to manifest me to appear to you.” Sudra answered.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t want to force you in any way. I was hoping that we were friends now and that we could enjoy each other as friends do!”
Sudra replied, “Friends? Why yes, of course,” she laughed, “So be it.” Sudra’s form disappeared.
Oval continued to gaze out at the lake. She wondered where Sudra was going next, where would she do her work of wanding, and would someone walk through the doorway Sudra created and be sparked like she was? She got up and just for the fun of it she walked on the water.

The blue man sat a top his perch. His folded wings ached to be stretched so he extended his wings. The warm wind rustled his feathers. I forgot what the sun feels like, its warmth is delightful. He thought of his journey, he had contacted and found over 500 vortex sites, but what they were for he didn’t understand as of yet. The only time he had arrived when a vortex was being created was complicated by another being, an earthman (who thought he was a deeper part of himself! ha!). Through his eyes he thought he perceived a woman presence—she was performing some kind of ritual that involved her waving a wand (perhaps made of crystals and stone). He was so close to getting some kind of answers to his investigation, but his experience was interrupted by the young man that called himself Hanaû. How odd that this man was confused enough by the vortex experience that he thought I was another aspect of his nature. This made Katara laugh. He also reflected, our arrival at the same time at the vortex must have created some kind of shift in my perception—that was the only time in all of my investigations did I ever perceive, did I get a glimpse of the being who creates all these vortexes. He thought of Hanaû’s insistence that he find the woman—and that we had some kind of message for her. What did he mean by that? I know, myself, that I have some questions for that woman, but a message from us, what is it that Hanaû needs to tell her?
Katara folded his wings back. He was considering staying on the trail of finding more vortexes. He was also interested in discovering what the message was that Hanaû (we?) had for the woman of the wand (that’s his official name for her). He entertained the idea that his cojoining with Hanaû at the vortex spot helped with his breakthrough of seeing the woman of the wand performing her ritual. Follow the scent of a recently created vortex or join up with this earth fellow Hanaû? He liked working alone, but he was aware that his most significant breakthrough of solving the mystery of who was creating the vortexes (and why) occurred when both he and Hanaû arrived at the same vortex on the same day at the same time as it was being created. Surely that was significant. His best bet, he reasoned, was to seek out Hanaû and see if joining up with him would lead him or both of them to some answers to the mystery of the vortexes. He adjusted and changed his form. He appeared as an earthman similar in age to Hanaû. A slight bluish tint to his skin remained. That’s the best I can do to appear as an earthman, he chuckled to himself, that’ll have to do. Where to find his man? He already knew. Once he met someone, he always knew how to locate them again—that was one of his skills, or his gifts, depending on how you read it. Unfortunately, it didn’t work in finding or locating the woman of the wand. Maybe Hanaû had a gift that could help them in that direction.

Levi swooned over and over in the vortex energy that Sudra created and opened through her wanding ritual. Levi returned again and again to the vortex. He drew on its power but he was not sure how it was feeding him, so he could accomplish his dark impulses. To stand in the vortex was both a pleasurable sensation and an intimidating one. It was hard to see or know who he was in such expansive energy. Did it feed-energize his impulses so that he was empowered to manifest them? Or not? He was not sure, but he did know that he was addicted to visiting the vortex and whenever he was away from it for any length of time, he craved to return to it. I have to find out how the vortex works and to what purpose? he pondered. How will I do that? he wondered. I must find the being that created it and force her to reveal its secrets to me. Where do I find her? Should I wait at the vortex to see if she returns? He was doubtful that she would return, so where does she go, where is she? What kind of being creates a vortex, anyways? he wondered. He wondered if he was powerful enough, if he did find her, to intimidate her into revealing the secrets of the vortex. He always used intimidation to get what he wanted from others, but he felt intimidated by the power of the vortex and thought that the being who created it, surely she will have powers that could intimidate or threaten even me. It was very unusual for Levi to acknowledge that someone (or someplace like the vortex) might be more powerful than he was. He was a fella that had no humility whatsoever. He really enjoyed thinking that creation was for him and his pleasurable purpose alone. He thought he was above everyone and had the entitlement to always get what he wanted. He was so arrogant that he had no humility even in the face of death. He actually thought death couldn’t touch him. He thought that he had always existed in the sublime form he was existing in now. He had no memory of being born, being young, and could not imagine (ever!) his death. Levi was really out of touch and lived exclusively in his imagined archetype of being villainous. Was he a stupid fellow, a demon of no real self-awareness, or the perfect archetype of a villain? Are villains made or molded by personal tragedy, or are they just born that way and personal tragedy sparks their purely base and dark impulses? Do they exist to provide the struggle to overcome the darker impulses in the heroine in all of us? Levi (of course) didn’t reflect on any of this—he enjoyed being as he was. He was in a dilemma as to how he could use the vortex to get what he enjoyed most: the sense that he could force people to satisfy his impulses. Unfortunately, his impulses were really stupid and doomed to fail. In the end (or middle, or beginning if you are not stupid) the light is what is true and the Light is where we spring from and will realize someday as our true self—even Levi. But for now, Levi was trying to find his way through his dilemma—how to use the vortex for his own bizarre impulses that made no sense to anyone who is attracted to light and love. What will he do next? Could he be a useful idiot?

Sudra for the first time, felt discontent with her work. She hadn’t gone on a wanding adventure in weeks. Each day she took out her wands and cleaned them with a cloth. Where to? she asked the wands, but no answer was forthcoming. She thought of her meeting with Oval and knew that meeting her signaled a change in her work. But how? Oval surprised her in every way. She hadn’t realized that her links could invite a presence (a girl) to walk through and spark her latent nature to come forward so fast. And that the link sparked her archetype of the Goddess, was mind blowing to Sudra. Sudra thought that this must mean that everything was about a change. A Goddess was invoked—and a Goddess with full powers? She never really understood Santosha Ma’s work but why was the Goddess archetype appearing? Was Oval the only one? Were there others? Did these women walk into the vortexes she had wanded? She thought of returning to the last few places that she had wanded at, maybe she could pick up on any clues that could further aid her in understanding the changes in her work. To the mountains and to the desert, she thought as she wrapped her wands in their protective casing.

Oval, who was wandering in the mountains, felt Sudra. Perhaps she is wanding nearby, she thought. She found the spot where Sudra had originally created the vortex that she had walked into and had begun to experience her archetype—the Goddess. That feels so long ago, she reflected, so much has changed in me.
“Sudra?” she called out.
Sudra, who was just about to take out her wands, zipped back up the case and turned around. “Oval, what …” she was about to ask.
“I always wander the mountains, I felt compelled to visit the vortex that you created and that I walked into.”
“And again, this woman can see me,” thought Sudra. “Hmm, hello.”
“Can I help you in any way?” asked Oval.
Sudra sat down on a very uncomfortable rock. “I’m not sure, my work is changing and it seems to be changing me as well. Can I ask you about your experience?”
“The changes are very quick, I am baffled by it, but there is also the kind luxury of I can’t remember my earlier self very much anymore. I feel more and more, I have always truly been what I am becoming now. It’s harder to imagine that earlier self—she was so unaware of her power and she believed in all the limits of a born identity.
Sudra stood up. “I’m not a born identity.”
“Yes, I know, you think of yourself as a fictional character, given a fictional job. Is that because you think that no one can understand you or your work?”
“I believe that I didn’t want anyone to understand me or my work. As your earlier self seems fictional to you, I created the label for myself of being fictional.”
“But are you really fictional?” asked Oval.
“Yes and no, I’m emerging by disappearing,” Sudra answered.
“Me too,” laughed Oval. “Can we do it together?”
Sudra felt her wands glow and tingle in the case. She opened the case and handed a wand to Oval and showed her the ritual of wanding, of how to create a vortex.
The Goddess apprentice and Sudra created a very big, bright opening and their link to spark created an opening, a doorway, a vortex of great magnitude that never existed before. Who or what would find it and be sparked?
When Oval handed the wand back to Sudra, Sudra was grinning and she thought, how much she loves her work. She also saw something else, a face beyond the fictional mask of Sudra. I know her, I know her presence, she thought. Will Sudra ever tell me about her? she wondered. She will, when she is ready, she thought.

Katara found Hanaû on Instagram. He could see that Hanaû was full on trying to locate the wanding woman. When he saw a picture of the site in the desert where they had met and stood in the vortex, he thought that was his way in to contacting Hanaû. He sent him a message, “I know that very spot, a lot of energy there.” Hanaû immediately picked up on the message and they agreed to meet.
Hanaû was an open book and not recognizing Katara as the being he shared his experience with in the desert, he nonetheless confided in him wholeheartedly.
I like this guy, thought Hanaû. He seems to know something. “Have you had any strange experiences in nature, I guess some people call them power spots.”
Katara smiled, “I’ve had some experiences. I call them vortexes.”
“Oh, I’ve heard that name, too,” Hanaû confirmed. “I was thinking of returning to the power place, the vortex where I had my experience. I’ve changed since that experience.” Hanaû went on to describe his experience to Katara—how he experienced himself as a tall blue being and their perception together of seeing a feminine being doing a ritual of wanding. “We both experienced her, man, we both saw her and knew she was creating something with that wanding business of hers.”
“Perhaps she was creating a vortex?” offered Katara.
“Can someone create a vortex?” he asked, “For what purpose?”
Katara thought about what he wanted to reveal to Hanaû. “It appears in your experience, you and your subtler friend might have experienced just that—the birthing of a vortex.”
Hanaû reflected on this. “Wow,” he said, “I became obsessed with finding the woman who I saw was creating the vortex.”
“Why do you want to meet her?” asked Katara.
“Man,” Hanaû paused and scratched his face. “I want to meet her to see what kind of being can create vortexes.”
“She does sound extraordinary,” Katara added.
Hanaû was quiet for a moment and then said, “Yeah, I don’t know, man, but I feel I have to find her and give her a message.”
“What do you mean? What message?” asked Katara.
“Again, this is all a strange mystery for me. I have to find her and when I do I have a message for her.”
“Very mysterious, and you have no idea how to find her, what your message to her is?” asked Katara.
“No, I don’t. I felt when I got your message, maybe since you know something about vortexes, you could have some information that could help me find my way.”
Katara nodded, “I am very curious, I must admit, about your experience. I can understand why you want to find the female presence that you feel created the vortex. This is most curious.”
Hanaû agreed, “And I am also finding it most curious, as you say, that I feel that I know you. We have met before, haven’t we?” asked Hanaû.
Katara thought, this man is very sensitive to subtle energy. What to reveal? “I also feel like we have met before, but I can’t ever recall seeing you in the physical before.”
“You remind me of someone,” Hanaû’s eyes lit up, “You remind me of the other part of me, the blue being I met in the vortex experience. Strange,” he added.
Katara thought, Whoaa, this man is very sensitive to subtle energy, a natural. “Really, how strange. I’m not sure how I can help you, but like they say, ‘Two heads are better than one.’”
“Okay, man, I’m in with that.” Hanaû extended his hand and Katara shook it.
Both men felt it, in the handshake, both men felt the vortex energy.
“Did you feel that?” asked Hanaû.
“Yes,” answered Katara. Katara extended his hand and Hanaû held it. Both men began to swoon as the vortex energy increased. The experience ended abruptly. “What just happened?” asked Hanaû.
Katara was willing to be more forthright, “I think we are sensing a vortex, a vortex that is being created with even a bigger magnitude than the one you had stepped into.”
“Man, you think so?” asked Hanaû. “Then we must find it.”
Katara nodded. But where? Katara understood that being with Hanaû would greatly help him in his own work of solving why the vortexes were created and why there were so many of them. This is a working relationship, he thought. Could be a very useful one.

With Oval, Sudra’s work was increasing with greater intensity and greater quantity. It was unbelievable what they were accomplishing together. They had created six vortexes in two weeks. Sudra was now used to being seen. Her appearing form might change from time to time as variety was always fun. Oval always recognized her and laughed, “So today you are appearing as a man, dear Sudra! So gender fluid of you.”
Sudra liked having a companion in her work. She liked Oval. Oval challenged her to see her work in a new light and working together with her created a stronger vortex. Each vortex they had created together doubled in magnitude from each previous vortex. Why such powerful vortexes? she wondered. Oval also wondered about that.
“Why is each vortex we create more powerful than the previous one?” she asked Sudra.
“I’m not sure. It suggests a big event or change will be occurring,” replied Sudra.
“What kind of change?” asked Oval, “What kind of people will be able to be sparked by such strong links?”
“I’m not sure if the link is so strong almost anyone can be sparked, or is it so strong only the strongest of beings can be sparked by the energy of the vortex,” Sudra answered.
“How will we know?” asked Oval.
“I never know anything about who gets sparked by the links I create. Except, of course, meeting you,” Sudra grinned at Oval, “Maybe your growing Goddess powers can provide us with an answer,” Sudra laughed right out loud.
Oval laughed too, “I don’t understand about my so-called Goddess powers except that they appear out of the clear blue sky when I need them.”
“Okay,” Sudra replied, “We are on a need to know when we need to know basis. I guess that’s how Goddesses work.”
Oval smirked, “Neither one of us seems to know all that much about they why of our work together.”
“Yeah, you can say that again. But …”
“We love doing it,” Oval jumped in. She was quiet for a few minutes. She was muddling over that their work had such great implications, but why were they so in the dark about it? “Sudra?” she asked.
“Yes?”
“Could you tell me about your employer, who you are working for? Who you said you are a fictional character of?”
Sudra answered, “I will,” Sudra surprised herself by saying, “You will meet her one day, I’m sure of it.”
Oval knew to not push Sudra on when that would occur. “Oh, how wonderful,” she said out loud, “Will you introduce us?”
Sudra did not know how to answer that. What an imagination Santosha has, she thought. Sudra did know that the increasing magnitudes of the vortexes suggest that great energy was available for creating, and in and through Santosha’s imagination that energy will be used for a great creation, a great happening.
“You will meet her someday, I’m sure,” Sudra repeated. “At the right time, for the right purpose,” she added.
Oval finished cleaning the wands and put them back in the case. “Where to next?” she asked Sudra as they both climbed in the Freedom Rider.

Levi always returned to the vortex, so frequently that he could use it as his current address. All his questions about the vortex, how he could use it for all his selfish desires, still went unanswered. He was still unable to manifest a human form for any length of time. He also noticed that a result of visiting the vortex so frequently caused his natural demon form to break up and destabilize. This frightened him a bit, it brought up questions of his own disappearance and he didn’t like to ponder that. On his last trip to the vortex, he was hesitant to enter it and waited by the cliff side, trying to figure out his options. That’s when he saw two men, one with a blue tint to his skin and the other—what humans would call—a handsome young man, walk towards the vortex. He could hear their conversation and he heard a mouthful.
“There’s a vortex here. Can you feel it?” asked Hanaû.
“Yes, and this one is vibrating with a greater intensity than the one we found in the desert,” answered Katara.
“What do you think? Should we enter it?” the younger man asked.
Both men were hesitant and yet eager to make the plunge. Levi watched them and decided that if they entered the vortex, he would jump in after them.
The two men talked among themselves, and they decided that one of them would enter and the other would wait behind. They went back and forth as to who, and at the end of the discussion, it was favored for the younger, handsome man to enter.
Levi revised his plan of entering the vortex to see what would happen next. There was something about the blue-tint man—that he was someone different than he appeared to be. He wasn’t convinced that he was from these parts, or even Earth for that matter. What was his purpose with the young earth man and what was his agenda with the vortex?
Levi watched eagerly as he saw the young man enter the vortex. He was surprised to see the man disappear from view. He had never seen the experience from the outside before. Where does the vortex take you? he wondered.
Katara also wondered, does the vortex always remain located or linked to the same spot? He knew it was an interdimensional door, but it didn’t land anyone to any place he could understand to be a place.
There was no doubting that the vortex had a great effect on anyone who entered it, both men beings surmised.
Hanaû felt the waves of energy descend upon him. Wave after wave, the intensity was becoming unbearable and just when he felt he could withstand no more, the energy moved up through his being, and his form became full of light and began to lose all its borders. His form became enlarged, gigantic as it filled with light. When he felt that the light would consume him entirely, he saw a spark—it glowed blue and then white and clear. He felt his heart meet the spark of clear white light. A laughter arose within his being which seemed to contain all the worlds. He shined as himself and he knew himself as the light that beheld everything. Then, an arm appeared out of nowhere and pulled him out of the vortex. He heard a voice say, “It’s all in the return,” and he heard another feminine voice say, “The link has met its spark.”
Katara caught Hanaû as he appeared through the vortex. He could see that Hanaû was not yet conscious of his surroundings. He called his name. Hanaû didn’t respond, and this worried Katara. “Hanaû, I had to pull you out, you were gone for such a long time.”
Hanaû stirred.
“Man, are you alright?” asked Katara
Hanaû nodded.
“What happened in the vortex?” asked Katara.
Levi listened intently from his hideout. He thought he heard the young man say, “Enlightenment, man, enlightenment!”
“What is enlightenment?” he wondered.
Katara was stunned. What was Hanaû talking about? He helped his young friend to the car. They drove away and as Katara looked at Hanaû from time to time, he noticed that he was actually glowing. He was radiating a light, a shine, that he had only seen once before. And that was a whole other story.
Levi approached the vortex after Hanaû and Katara left. He was torn. He wanted to move into the vortex, but for the first time, he feared the experience he would have once he went through the doorway. He had seen how it had affected Hanaû and Katara had to pull him out to (perhaps) save him. He had no partner to pull him out. His experience with the vortex had been thrilling thus far. He had felt the pulse of energy that made him believe that the power it held could be used for his own purposes. He just hadn’t figured out how to do that as of yet. He was worried that this particular vortex might have a magnitude of power that could be difficult to control. He couldn’t stay much longer where he was, as the earth condition could only be tolerated for a while, his demon form would crash after any long exposure. He decided it wasn’t worth the risk, then he decided it was. He entered the vortex. Right away, he could tell that the energy pulsed with greater frequency and intensity than the first vortex he had entered. It was very disorienting. He was dissolving and losing himself. He saw all his attractions spin and he tried to clutch them and return them to himself. He was being purified of them. It terrified him to be relieved of everything that he felt made him happy or would make him happy. He screamed out in agony and then he saw her. She held out her hands to his and he grabbed them. Her touch stopped the dissolution of everything that mattered to him. He was back at the cliff. Everything appeared as before, except for one thing. He was a human being, a man of earth now. Did he get what he wanted? Was it as simple as that? What would he do with his gift of being human? Is he the villain that he was so attracted to being? Was he purified of all such dark desires? Why did the Goddess grant him the boon of being a human being? Why indeed!
Levi staggered away from the cliff and walked down the road. Not sure where he was headed or what he wanted to do, he continued, one step in front of another. Being human was so different than being a demon. It seemed to have many conflicting impulses and contradictory feelings. He still wanted to be powerful and to use his power towards his desires and impulses. He just wasn’t sure what his desires were anymore. He also felt a new impulse that he had never felt before. He felt alone, and he felt he wanted to be connected with someone. What is it to be human and was it a mistake to wish for it? he wondered. He thought of returning to the vortex, to reenter it for the purpose of returning to his former self. He was doubtful that the vortex would grant him that. It was an energy source that shouldn’t be messed with (he realized now!). Returning to it and reentering it might create such a change in him that he wouldn’t or couldn’t even recognize himself anymore. He considered what happened to the young man who had returned from the vortex. That guy was bonkers! His friend had to carry him away.
Levi was getting tired and thirsty. He was so alone and his former plans of using the vortex to further his visions of power and domination over others felt to him to be absurd. His edge of villainousness had been tempered with the reality of being human. His nature now was to stay alive and find his way. Had all his demon powers left him? he wondered. He tried shapeshifting—no go. The only power he still had was that he didn’t bleed when his skin was pierced. That suggested that his longevity might still be intact. Will I forever be human? he groaned to himself. It was so much simpler being a demon, he thought. He had felt so justified, so being himself, so happy with all his dark desires as a demon. Being a human, he felt the conflict of opposing desires, good or bad was a choice now. One he was not at all at ease with. It was truly fun being a demon, very simple. A villain, a great archetype, the role was simple and well laid out—get what you want at any cost! Now, he felt conflicted with that impulse and he didn’t want to feel that way. Dam it! he complained. I don’t want to have to care about anyone else! Dam it! Dam it!
I guess it was inevitable that some earth people, humans, would come upon him. And perhaps it was his inevitable destiny that Sudra and Oval were returning from creating their latest vortex. Sudra saw the man and thought, what a mixed bag of vibes.
Oval asked, “Should we pick him up? See if he needs any help?”
Sudra nodded, “Something is up with this dude.”
Oval agreed, “Do you think he went into one of the vortexes we created on this road?”
“Definitely a possibility,” agreed Sudra.
Sudra pulled over Freedom Rider, “Hey man, are you alright? Do you want a lift somewhere?”
Levi looked them over. Oh, just two earth females, he thought, harmless. (wrong on that account)
“Yes, I need a ride to the next town.” He thought it wise to add, “I was off-roading and my jeep got stuck.”
“Hop in,” Sudra offered.
Oval turned to the back seat, “You look like you could use some water,” and she handed him the quart bottle.
Levi drank it all and muttered, “Thanks. What are you gals up to out here?” he asked.
Sudra and Oval looked at each other and suppressed a laugh, “Oh, just looking at the cactus.”
Levi half-smiled, his stomach was growling. “Do you have any food I could have? Haven’t eaten since morning.”
Oval opened her bag and handed him a tuna fish sandwich. She watched him eat it quickly and she handed him some more water to wash it down. She didn’t need to use her Goddess powers to see something wasn’t on the up and up with this guy. She saw that Sudra sensed it as well.
“What’s your name?” asked Oval, “I am Oval and the woman driving is Sudra.”
“I’m Levi.”
Oval decided to get to the point, “You didn’t happen to run into a vortex or a power spot, did you?” she asked.
Levi tried to hide his shock at the question, but both women had seen it. They knew he was concealing something.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“There are places around here that vibrate, radiate higher energy levels. If you enter them they can change you.”
“How?” asked Levi.
“I’m not sure,” laughed Oval, “What kind of experience did you have?” she asked, staring straight into Levi’s eyes.
Levi sensed that if he denied his experience of the vortex, the two women wouldn’t believe him. What do they really know about the vortex? he wondered. “I did have some kind of experience back there, down the road.”
“What was it like?” Sudra spoke up.
“I was losing myself, everything was disappearing. It was disorienting,” Levi didn’t reveal his purpose for entering the vortex or the female presence that he met there.
Sudra caught a glance at Oval and smiled. Oval turned to face Levi, “To be honest with you, I had a similar experience.”
Levi tried to hide his shock. He was at a loss for words. What did she mean? Why did she enter the vortex, for what purpose? he wondered.
Oval continued, “I came across a vortex by accident, or should I say I was to enter, meet up with my destiny. I was at my lowest, unable to understand myself. I didn’t know that I was more than I was told I could be, and I believed them all. The vortex showed me something different,” Oval added, “Quite different.”
Levi found Oval’s communication to be quite interesting.
“So,” Oval was ready to point out, “If you feel different than when you went in, I get it. No one is who they were told that they are. Get my drift, Levi?”
“Yeah,” he simply said, “I am definitely feeling different from the person I was when I entered that place, the vortex.”
“Before, I was a pretty powerless character, life happened at me and I couldn’t understand it. I didn’t choose any of it, or did I?” Oval revealed.
Levi was thinking it over. If this woman was powerless before she went into the vortex and now, from what she is saying, she must have gained a lot of power from the vortex. Levi smiled, so there is power—power that perhaps I, too, gained from being in the vortex. He was thinking, so how do I understand how to use power when Oval interrupted his revelry with, “Learning how to use the power that I am capable of, that’s what has been happening ever since I walked through that doorway,” she faced Levi again and asked, “How about you?”
Sudra sat quietly behind the wheel. What an earful she was hearing. She trusted Oval—clearly in her heart there was an archetype waiting to manifest and the vortex created the link that sparked her. But what of Levi? Who was he, really? she wondered. She wondered where Oval was going with her inquiry of Levi. She wasn’t willing to reveal that she, a fictional one, was the one who wanded the vortexes to be activated. She found it difficult to play, to appear here among others. She had always been invisible and she liked appearing to do her work and disappearing again. She didn’t want to be seen or known, she was contented being her own archetype—a very unusual one at that. She had never given it a name, she was contented in the role of activating power places and not being seen or knowing the outcome of what happened to those who entered the vortexes. It was Oval and her archetype of Goddess that drew her out. She trusted Oval but what was she hoping to accomplish with this guy? Surely, Oval could sense that he wasn’t to be trusted. Sudra could see that he would not reveal his intentions to them.
Levi stuttered, “How do you use the power from the vortex?”
Oval answered, “The power from the vortex sparks your archetype and your archetype creates events for you to fulfill the nature of your work.”
Levi wasn’t sure he understood what Oval was talking about.
Oval laughed, “That’s why we met. You met your archetype and my archetype is the Goddess.”
Levi felt uncomfortable and exposed. So she knows I wanted to use the powers of the vortex for myself, to get what I want.
“But do you really know what you want?” Oval responded to Levi’s internal agenda.
Levi thought it over before he responded, “Doesn’t everyone want to be more successful and have more than others? To be able to control people and events so you always get what you want first?”
“Yes!” Oval clapped her hands, “Well spoken and revealed.”
“Well, then what archetype does that make me?” he asked Oval.
“I know you think it is the villain, but the spark in you will show you otherwise. So far you are talking just like an ordinary (perhaps a little more honest) ego that hangs out in these parts. You were a demon for a long time but the change to human that the vortex sparked will reveal another destiny for you.”
Levi was floored. How did she know? He didn’t know what to say. Was she the woman, the female presence that gave him the gift of being human?
“Yes, my man, I am,” Oval responded, “Are you ready to begin your new life? Your new identity?”
Levi wondered, what will happen next? Where is she taking me?
Sudra knew her work with Oval was over. This was Oval’s new work now. Oval would leave with Levi and Sudra was free to disappear once more. She was a bit relieved.

6 months later
Katara had stayed with Hanaû since the fateful day he had pulled him out of the vortex. It was rough for the first few months. He almost had to force-feed the guy. Hanaû was barely aware of his body most of the time. He had become a mad man as a result of being in the vortex. An ecstatic madman. He would dance and sing so very happily and then fall over. It looked to Katara like he was in a state of deep meditation. Slowly, he stayed present enough to eat his food on his own. At the end of the fourth month, Katara escorted Hanaû for walks through the garden in the park. At the end of his fifth month with Hanaû, Hanaû began to speak of his experience, “Man, really man, there is no one, only this energy, only this happiness. That is the who and the what of who we are.”
At the end of the sixth month, Hanaû was functional on the everyday level of things. He remained an ecstatic, but a functional one. Katara was thinking of taking his leave, he wanted to continue his work of understanding the vortexes and how they were created. He had never stayed earthbound this long before.
Hanaû recognized Katara’s sacrifice to keep him alive and he also was patiently waiting for Katara to reveal his real purpose and identity. The answer to those questions didn’t really matter to him. He now saw everyone as they truly are, there was no need of identity or purpose for him anymore. He knew that was not true of his friend. So he thanked his friend for all his care and inquired, “What’s next, man?”
Katara answered, “I’m still curious about the vortex, about what happened to you. Why are they here and why were they created?”
Hanaû answered, “I feel they are a doorway back to our beginning. Not our beginning in time, not our history, rather a doorway to meet ourself as the primary source and that primary source is what all this history arises from.”
Katara reflected on this and shook his head in agreement, “Why do you think the last vortex you entered had such an intense effect on you?”
Hanaû thought on this, “I don’t know, perhaps the vortex was the most powerful we encountered. Its energy is so intense, so powerful that it sparked a deep buried knowing and wiped clean all the clouds of my personal identity that obscured it from me.
Katara knew his friend was speaking a deep truth. Was he drawn to experience that truth himself? He was not sure, and he wondered if that truth was behind his intense need to investigate the vortexes. He knew he wasn’t ready to give up his investigation. He changed the subject slightly and asked Hanaû, “Do you still feel you need to give a message to the one who created the vortex?”
“Message received!” exclaimed Hanaû, “Message received! If I have a message, if I meet her, I want to thank her and show her my gratitude for creating the vortex. Do you still want to find her, my friend, the quest is not over?” Hanaû smiled teasingly.
Katara smiled broadly, “Yes, I do. Do we have any clues, any hunches as to where our investigation can lead us?”
“It will be revealed, we’ll be ready, soon. Any ideas?”

Sudra missed Oval, working with her creating the vortexes had rendered her visible and nonfictional for the time they had spent together. Her work was changing again, she appeared and disappeared as her usual habit. The vortexes she created now were different. The ones she had created with Oval had a fierce intensity to them. It was not her custom to visit previous vortexes, but the last one she had created with Oval—that day they met the strange man that Oval departed with to help him understand how to live with what the vortex had shown him, she felt that her work there was not completed. She was puzzled as to what she was meant to do there. She wrapped her wands, filled up Freedom Rider’s tank and headed to the desert.

Katara and Hanaû wandered the desert looking for the vortex that Hanaû had entered and almost didn’t return from. The desert offered no clues.
“Can you remember any distinguishing landmarks that marked the location?” asked Katara. He couldn’t believe they had lost their bearings as to the location of the vortex. This had never happened to him before in his investigation of the vortexes. Having found a vortex, he had always marked and recorded its location. He had not completed that work of marking the location of the vortex due to the saving and caring for Hanaû. He felt that he could not and would not ever forget the spot, the opening that led to Hanaû’s transformation. The two men wandered the desert and were about to give up when Katara remembered that there had been a small mound that was actually a cliff where ground gave way to a descent of 50 feet.
“That mound looks familiar,” He pointed to Hanaû, “We are in the right region then.”
The two men continued on, hoping that the mound was the correct whereabouts. Hanaû was sure he would be able to vibe the location of the vortex as they presumably got closer to it, but he did not feel the pulse of energy that radiated from the vortex. He did sense something else and as the two men approached the mound they saw a woman, an aged woman sitting on the mound as if she was waiting for them. And as they approached she smiled and to Hanaû’s surprise, called out, saying, “Katara, fancy meeting you here.”
Hanaû turned to Katara, “Do you know her, man? Who is she?”
Katara replied, “Yes, we have been acquainted, but if anybody can actually really know her…” Katara shrugged his shoulders.
“Who is she? Is she the woman who created the vortexes?”
Katara replied, “That’s Santosha, and to answer the question—is she the one who created the vortex, why don’t you ask her?”
Hanaû called out to the female presence, “Hello! Hello!”
Santosha beckoned them to her presence, “Sit down, fellas. I know you have a few things on your mind. Katara, why don’t you tell our friend your part of the story, don’t leave anything out,” she winked.
Katara began his story. He could see that his friend was vibing on Santosha. They kept looking at each other and breaking into big grins. Katara knew it had to do with Hanaû’s transformation from a personal identity to understanding himself as the bigger, biggest picture—as the light and source that animates all pictures and storytelling. And Santosha really vibed on that as her depth was unfathomable. If anybody could understand Hanaû’s experience and how it flipped his whole understanding of who or what he is, it’s Santosha. He wasn’t sure if Santosha had created the vortexes, but she was probably behind it in some major way.
What was Katara’s story? This is what he revealed:
“Where I am really from (he looked at his friend Hanaû) it is a precise, orderly culture, where there are no expectations. Happiness is seen as a working system that insures everyone’s survival. One is not free to follow hidden attractions. Our pleasure is in our pride to make sure the whole functions. Here on Earth, happiness is seen as the pursuit of the individual’s happiness and presumably the individual is given the freedom to follow these attractions. Of course, there are all sorts of exceptions to following one’s own attractions here. Where I am from, it is not known that an individual can have his own impulse towards happiness apart from fulfilling the survival of everyone else. Our planet was in trouble—it is logical that all beings have an end and it was inevitable that ours would too. But having lived with the need to survive—and all of us at once, too, knowing that our planet would go extinct in 200 years, we collectively all lost our ability to be happy. We became desperate for more time and we did it all at once. I won’t get into what that amounted to. Our people on the whole could not imagine or dream beyond our collective survival as happiness. Times of trauma and desperation can bring out the worst in people. It can also open a doorway for something new to begin to appear. That’s when I began to have vivid dreams, and remembering dreams or being instructed by them was not a part of any practice in our culture. It was in a dream that I found the first vortex. When I entered it, I was drawn through a tunnel of light and it carried me to Earth. After many such dreams of using the vortex and coming here, I became curious if there any more vortexes and what function they might have. As I traveled from my planet to yours, my experience became less like a dream and it appeared that I was actually appearing here. My own planet felt more like the dream. As I found other vortexes, other abilities began to happen to me. I was able to sustain here and appear as earth beings do. I could see that every vortex I had entered changed me. I did not know what the purpose of these were, but I did begin to have attractions and impulses that I felt were uniquely my own. I was becoming an individual and that empowered me and also scared the heck out of me. I needed more answers and the vortexes had all the answers so I set about finding and experiencing their effects on me. I never met anyone who knew of these vortexes until I met Santosha,” Katara paused and Santosha egged him on, “Go on.”
“I was reappearing, having entered and returned from a vortex. I saw her talking to a woman, but when they saw me, the other woman disappeared into thin air. Santosha greeted me and when I asked her about the other woman’s instant disappearance (was there another vortex nearby?) Santosha replied, ‘What woman? There’s just me here. Tell me, what is it you are looking for?’ I wanted to trust her, I felt she must know something about my quest. ‘Did you create the vortexes?’ I asked her, ‘And what purpose do they serve?’
‘What purpose?’ she laughed out loud, ‘That you will have to find out. Did I create the vortexes? No, but they come out of me when there is a need.’”
Katara paused again, “Santosha encouraged me to continue my work to find out all the secrets of the vortexes, and I have been attempting that and then I met the second person,” Katara looked at Hanaû, “Ours was also a strange meeting. We met each other in the vortex as we saw it being created. We both saw a woman doing a ritual with a wand, the same woman I had seen with Santosha, the woman that disappeared. I knew that the vortexes were getting more powerful but I didn’t understand how and the purpose of the power of the vortexes. And then,” Katara turned to Hanaû, “I witnessed you entering the last vortex and felt its power and effect on you. It frightened me. I felt the vortex would consume you and worried about you surviving it. In an act of desperation, I pulled you out of it, to insure your survival.” Katara paused and looked at Santosha. She turned to Hanaû, “How can we help clarify all this for our friend?”
Hanaû didn’t know what to say until he opened his mouth and inspiration provided the words.
“Depending how powerful the vortex is that one enters, that’s how affected one will be by it. The last vortex that I entered was very powerful and it would have consumed my life if you, my friend,” Hanaû looked towards his friend, “hadn’t pulled me out. Its effect was the greatest on me. Its effect sparked my innate knowledge to come forward and with the knowledge of true self, all identity of presumed separation from true self was burned in the fire of my own being. I now know that there is no struggle, that I am as I am already—already free. Why the vortexes exist? They are a gift given by Santosha, created by her fictional self, Sudra. They meet the need to grow in each person who enters it. A link for a spark. The vortexes are powerful corridors of radiant energy-transmission pockets, that if entered, spark what the person needs to grow, to come forward. They cannot really be used for selfish purposes, to accrue power for personal reasons. If one does enter the vortex with that expectation, it diminishes the radiance of the vortex, and the vortex might disappear altogether. For you, Katara, the vortexes sparked your need to individuate from the collective needs and sorrow of your people to feel yourself.”
Hanaû paused and Katara jumped in, “Yes, I feel myself apart from my collective and its fears to survive. I feel different, that that burden has been lifted from my shoulders and my heart. I feel alone and I feel a burning inside me to know myself. I don’t know what there is to know. From seeing your experience and how you emerged from it, it appears that true knowledge of self sparks and burns in the fire all that is not true.”
Hanaû smiled, “Hey, man, you’re getting it.”
“I don’t know. I’m not ready to enter the last vortex that you did. To tell you the truth, it terrifies me. I’m just getting to know myself in new ways I never thought were possible.”
“Man, it happens when you are ready, when your heart wants to let go into its True Self.”
Katara shook his head. He looked at Santosha. She was smiling and nodded her head.
Katara asked, “Won’t you tell us how the vortexes come out of you? How are they created?”
“Good questions, my man. Like I said, they come out of me.”
“Who is the woman, then, that we saw doing the ritual.”
“The ritual of wanding, as I called it, is done by my dear Sudra, who likes being called a fictional character.”
“Is she real, then?” asked Katara. “Or I suppose she comes out of you like the vortexes do. The vortexes come out of you and Sudra comes out of you to create them with her wanding ritual.”
Santosha laughed, “You’re catching on.”
Katara was puzzled, “So, if Sudra is fictional, and we believed that we saw her, then, are we all fictional too?”
“Santosha and Hanaû burst out into peels of laughter. “Apparently so,” they both spoke the words at the same time.
Katara remained puzzled. How can I also be a fictional character? he wondered.
Santosha placed her hands on Katara’s shoulder and patted him, “All will be revealed when the link meets your spark. Is our work done here, fellas? Anything else?” she inquired.
Katara felt that all his questions had been answered, but he also felt that he was just beginning his inquiry.
Hanaû spoke, “Santosha, any time you need my humble help, please call on me.”
“Yes, I will, dear one, yes I will,” she replied.
Katara looked at his friend. He knew he was free to pursue whatever he wanted to. He still had so much to learn, to discover, and he felt that staying with Hanaû would be his best bet for that journey. “Hey man,” he looked toward Hanaû, “Can I stay with you, I mean to learn more about the link and the spark from you?”
“Sure, man,” Hanaû grinned. The two men bowed to Santosha and walked into the sunset. Santosha sat on the rock and watched the sun dip below the mountains. Santosha enjoyed her own state, the sweetness of the bliss of Being. An impulse arrived out of nowhere, which is the depth of the heart. She laughed and said out loud, “Oh, why not?” she entered into the void that had come out of her. She entered into the field of her power—she called it the unifying field of love. Her power was to unify and draw others into the natural state of unification. What was the effect of Santosha entering into her own field of radiant power? Somewhere, among us, the power of her heart magnified and amplified, a magnificent creation was born. A creation that would heal and change the potentiality of all beings. This being was the culmination of the Goddess power—the Goddess heart that is inherent in all women. This new expression, this new being, was the archetype of everlasting beginning and everlasting creation. This being was the full and complete manifestation of already heart, already happiness. Having walked into her own vortex, Santosha had completed the work of her own archetype and dropped the body.
Sudra felt the repercussions of Santosha’s act. Her work was done and she returned most deeply and fully into the heart of her beloved Santosha. She no longer appeared even as a fictional character, she had always been Real. She left her wands behind. Her voice was silent.
Oval picked up her pen. She felt inspired to write, to tell the story of a fictional woman who created a doorway for her, who showed her the doorway to her archetype, the Goddess. Her heart yearned to show others that doorway. She became the link to their spark. And she wondered about Sudra’s boss, Santosha. Would she ever meet or know her? She wrote to create a link to that possibility, a possibility that surely must be her destiny. She knew that no link could be broken, but a link could spark…..

Part Two — The Link and the Spark

Ten fictional years later:
Oval and Levi had a daughter whom they named Sudra, for Oval missed her fictional friend who had created the link that sparked her to recognize and live her goddess archetype. She felt that by naming her daughter after Sudra, the being who called herself fictional, she might be able to link herself to the fictional character that she felt was very real to her.
Sudra, the young girl, was learning to take on her identity as a real one. She was taking on the whole enchilada of living a life. But already, the signs of an extraordinary destiny were appearing. She called them her moods. They were not the usual moods of grouchiness, sadness, irritation, annoyances that most people were experiencing when they were in a “mood”. Her moods were altogether different. She called them her bhavas, like they were her friends. Her “friends” were not the friends of a young girl’s imagination. They were different states of moods she experienced that overtook her and overwhelmed her at times. She had names for them.
The love bhava was a mood she experienced when she felt an overwhelming love for everyone and everything. In those moods she felt her heart would burst with the love she felt pouring out of her towards all beings. In her power bhava, she felt capable of creating and destroying worlds. She could take on any foe, even though she was just a pip squeak. When she was in the truth bhava, all wisdom was hers and she could see the truth as a living force that was the intelligence of how manifestation was really operating. She had the mood or bhava of play, of fun, and she delighted in all sorts of games, sports, and dance. She loved to sing as the bhava overtook her. Her songs were often very silly and everyone who heard them would laugh till they couldn’t even grasp a breath. Sometimes her bhavas would get extreme, and Oval had to calm her down to a more normal state of mind. Oval would direct Levi to take her out to the mountains. They would do a big hike and that would wear both of them out, and Sudra would return with a big appetite and then curl up for bed after Oval read her her favorite book about a mischievous goddess who always appeared to give everyone what they wanted, but of course everything always went wrong when people got what they wanted as a gift instead of earning it by growing into it. They would flub it up so they could learn an important lesson.
Oval wondered about Sudra’s moods, her bhavas, and she and Levi often discussed it late at night after Sudra was fast asleep. Levi (as usual) thought it had to do with the vortexes that Oval had helped create with the strange presence, the original Sudra that she had known many years ago. She didn’t disagree with that premise. She still wondered about the being that Sudra claimed she was only a fictional character of—whom she felt that one day she was destined to meet. Sudra had assured her that she would meet her employer. She wondered if her daughter, her beautiful daughter with her strange moods, her powers as Levi called them, was a link to the fictional woman she met many years ago. Who and what is real? she wondered. What magic and mystery there is in the play of fictional identities searching for a real identity. She hugged her husband Levi. Was he really a demon? Did the vortex create a link that sparked an impulse to become human?
Under Oval’s tutelage, Levi learned about what it was to be human—to have to chose between his impulses. He sometimes missed the simplicity of his demon self. It operated on a very simple impulse: if he wanted it, it was good. Oval showed him how to see the consequences of his more greedy, selfish impulses and he could never unsee what he could now see. As a demon, it never occurred to him to examine any outcomes his desires might produce. They were all projected to have a fulfilling, satisfying result. What a simpler time, he thought. Did he like being human? He was not so sure, but he did love Oval and their daughter, Sudra. He didn’t know he could love like that, to care for another at the sacrifice or cost of his own desires and impulses. Maybe this is being human. He also could still feel his attraction to his demonic impulses, and what he could see about the human race was that most people were struggling with similar demonic impulses. He sometimes thought that most of the people he met were from the demonic race, but he didn’t know how they got here and what they were doing here. Was there a vortex that they had accessed—a vortex that was created for that specific purpose? Was Oval aware of such a place? A vortex that allowed passage but did not alter or spark any other impulses—purer impulses? He asked Oval about it, but she didn’t appear to like where his questioning was heading and abruptly ended his questioning by saying, “Sudra wouldn’t create such a passage, she could only create, wand a vortex for serving the need of growth, of self-awareness, of learning to self-recognize, not for any other purpose.”
Still, he wondered, what if someone else, another not-so-real—a fictional being also—had the power to create other kinds of vortexes for other reasons? Were there fictional demonic beings who could wand into existence a vortex for their own purposes? Levi became secretly obsessed with this idea. He had learned so much from Oval about being human, but he was not without temptation from his demonic nature that was still intact. It was subordinated by Oval’s love and watch over him. He did not share with Oval that his demonic nature still led him on to possible fantasies that he entertained privately. Sometimes when they were in crowded public places, Levi could read people’s desires and many of them were shockingly dark. He knew that Oval could sense it too, but her Goddess archetype saw the dark impulses and desires of human beings as their struggle to learn the consequences of these impulses and to come into the light and heart of their true self. Not everyone is married to a Goddess, thought Levi. He liked being held in her goodness, but he also knew that his demonic nature was still an essential, strong part of him.
He was sometimes jealous of his daughter Sudra. He was jealous of her “moods”, her powers, as he called them. He wanted so to have an extraordinary talent. His appearance as a human here didn’t seem to equip him with any. He was with two extraordinary women, but that only made him feel even more ordinary, and he didn’t like admitting it—it made him feel inferior. He missed his cocky, demonic nature. It made him feel that he was on top of the world, and the world existed for his taking and pleasure. He never told Oval that on his world he had held a position of great power and status. Now, he was taking out the garbage and fixing the faulty wiring and leaky plumbing. How long could this go on? Were there other vortexes that offered safe passage for his people? He was sure that there must be, as his people were definitely here in numbers, having successfully and permanently shape-shifted into a human appearance. Were they struggling with taking on the human mantle as he was? How could they enjoy the human state and condition without the love of a goddess? That got him to wondering, were there other Goddesses that were created by the vortexes that Oval and Sudra had created together? It always came back to the vortexes, he thought. I want to find a vortex, a good one, he thought. Oval was emphatic, that with Sudra’s disappearance, all the vortexes were closed and had disappeared with her. Wherever she went, thought Levi, anyway, who was she really? he wondered. Perhaps she was never from here, and her disappearance was a matter of her just returning to her real home, he thought. Where should I look for a vortex? He had already tried the vortex that he had accessed years ago—the one that made him into a human. It was defunct, no one would ever guess it had ever been there or existed—just rocks, soil, and plants—just the natural conformity of the landscape. He considered that his daughter Sudra could be an ally in this pursuit. Oval wouldn’t like it, he knew that. What if he found possible locations to scout out when he was bringing her down from her moods or bhavas. What if Sudra, in one of her moods, has the power to find a vortex, or better yet, create one? That idea gave him endless pleasure, and he thought on it every chance he had.
Oval had other ideas. After all these years, she had been thinking about her time with Sudra, the times and places they had spent together creating vortexes. She had dreamt of Sudra, and Sudra’s face had turned into her daughter’s, and her daughter was laughing and holding a wand. What does this mean? she wondered. A plan was beginning to form in her mind. She thought of taking her daughter to the original place, to the mountain where she had met Sudra, and she had (finally!) walked straight into the vortex—into her archetype. Would she tell Levi of her plan? Did she want to?
Sudra herself would provide the answers to the questions her parents were considering. It came about in her own way. Her moods, her bhavas, and as Levi called them, her powers, began to disappear. Her power to feel everything as love receded, as well as her ability to see the truth, to perceive the wisdom upholding everything. Even her fun, silly bhava receded, and she became quieter, more introverted. But one mood, one bhava, one power, only grew stronger—it was the power to please her parents. Each one felt so contented in their love for her that neither one could remember to seek out the vortexes when they were with her. And neither one confided in the other their desire to use her to get their questions, needs, or desires met by searching for a vortex. Time passed and Sudra grew into a woman. When she grew to be a woman of 18 years, accountable for herself, she would go on her own journey. Where to? Would she find a vortex and what had become latent in her—would she find a link and be sparked?

Katara, after many years, still consulted the data he had collected from the past vortexes he had visited. He called that time, the time of the flux. He wondered why he was unable to find an active vortex since the day he and Hanaû had met Santosha in the wilderness, and he had explained to Hanaû who he was and where he was from. He, too, felt being human, being an individual seeking out his own impulses was difficult. He also missed his own race and people and the collective, simple need of survival as his and all the people’s happiness. He stayed with Hanaû over the years but wandered for a few months at a time every so often. He always returned and shared with Hanaû the stories of his adventures. He had met some interesting characters in his wanderings, but that was another story that he did not reveal with his friend. Hanaû could see that his friend was restless and always gave him the heads up when his friend needed to wander. Katara was surprised when his friend suggested that they go “off the grid” and see what attracts. Hanaû hadn’t traveled in years. He had occupied himself with sharing with others what he understood and continued to live and deepen in. He was himself and did not need to travel within or without to know himself. He was a man of humor and a great friend to Katara—a friend that he knew he would never meet the likes of, except for one character who was named Yakataboof—a strange man of great charisma and humor. He had spent a few hilarious days with the man. He had told him about his search for vortexes. Yakataboof warned him about finding such a place of power, but he did it in such a way that only whetted his appetite to find one. He did leave him with a strange prophecy, “When she appears, all the doors will open.”
The two men, Katara and Hanaû, decided they would travel southwest. Katara had a strong feeling of attraction to a place called Sedona, which was famous for being a place of vortexes. Hanaû laughed when he heard that Katara wanted to go there.
“Why not?” he teased, “Let’s check out the most obvious of the obvious. Still looking for a vortex, my friend?” asked Hanaû. “Ever wonder what happens when a vortex meets a vortex?”
Katara didn’t understand the question and only smiled in response.
Hanaû had his own reasons for travelling with Katara. He had felt a movement, a push of power, animating, circling around his heart. It was calling to him and it made him restless. He knew he was called to witness and supply support to this power, to this force that was trying to make itself known here. What was its purpose? Could a man who had been sparked to know himself, be sparked again? What knowledge would come of it? He was excited to know, also a bit nervous that if he came face to face, to stand in that power like he had stood in the vortex years ago, would it overwhelm his life force, could he conduct it?
Both men hit the open road in Katara’s van, both felt the call of the wild, the unknown. Both were thinking about the past, their meeting with Sudra, and the effect that the vortexes had on them. Katara yearned to find an open vortex again. Hanaû knew he was being called, would there be a vortex that needed him to accomplish its purpose? Was he a link?

Yakataboof opened the book. It was another story, a fictional story about vortexes, written by a fictional author. He knew what lay behind identity. It was an open secret, but very rarely did he meet anyone who had the ability, the fine tuning, to hear the right frequency of his secret. He knew Katara, a man far away from his original home, needed the advantage of a tuning fork to fine tune his being, to be able to hear—to locate where the last vortex on earth was located. Yakataboof knew he was headed for the primal location now. He had dropped his tuning fork fingers into Katara’s memory banks and he would recall time and location at the right time: when all fictional characters meet, guided by a purpose they would never truly understand, but would be propelled to fulfill. Yakataboof laughed to himself. It never ends, how her plan unfolds, how she guides us all to the right location at the right time. He had not expected to be called into this story, the story of links and sparks, but here he was. On duty, at your service, he winked to the eternal/internal feminine. Oh, how the goddesses will gather too, he thought.
Was this the quickening time, when all would be revealed? He laughed at the absurdity of that idea. Would there ever be a moment in time when the grand, the grandest of all schemes would show itself? I am only a playful friend—at best a servant of her vast, creative impulses, he mused. Yes, I’ll be there, whenever you need me, he confirmed to his heart intimate. He checked the weather—fair, with a warming trend as the moon became full. Show me the next sign and I will follow. I await your next clue.
The very next day, he met a young woman hitchhiking into Sedona. Very odd to see someone hitchhiking these days, especially a young woman. He knew he must pick her up to protect her and help her.
“I’m only going to Sedona, want a ride?”
“Yes, that’s where I am going.” She got into the front seat and looked at the man. Though he was much older than her, even older than her father, she was very attracted to him.
“I’m Sudra,” she managed to awkwardly stutter.
Yakataboof turned to her and said, “Nice to meet you, Sudra. I’ve heard that name only once before a long time ago. She was a fictional character, a muse of a woman who lived as her true self.”
Sudra flushed, “I believe I’m named after a fictional character that my mother knew, if that makes any sense.”
Yakataboof laughed, “Are you on a journey to become real?” he asked.
Sudra was surprised at this question. “I’m not sure what you mean by it. I grew up hearing about vortexes—places of power that can affect people—that can help people to get what they want.”
“And if you find one, believe me, Sedona is a good place to look, what is it you want?” asked Yakataboof.
Sudra was quiet, thought it over and revealed, “I want my bhavas back.”
Yakataboof thought, the game is on! “And if you find a vortex that helps you get your bhavas back, what will you do then?”
“I’m not sure, haven’t thought about that yet. I just know I have to get my bhavas, my powers back before I forget I have them at all.”
“Yes, I see.”
Sudra touched Yakataboof on his arm. “I know you will help me, won’t you? You are a part of this, aren’t you?”
Yakataboof nodded.
“I have to find the vortex before they do.”
Yakataboof said, “Then let’s get started.”

Levi and Oval were shocked at Sudra’s disappearance. Her note only said, “There is something I must do.” Very unlike Sudra not to include us in, thought both parents. Each had opposing reactions as to what to do. Oval wanted to search for her, Levi suggested waiting it out till Sudra herself supplied them with some real information—that’s what he told Oval. He had another idea, he thought she might be headed to Sedona. He did not share his hunch with Oval. Oval also had a similar hunch, she did not share it with her husband. Each one was thinking about reaching Sudra before the other. Neither one mentioned anything about a vortex or vortexes in general. Both were very anxious about Sudra, her whereabouts, and what she was up to.
Hanaû and Katara arrived in Sedona only minutes after Yakataboof had picked up the hitchhiker Sudra. Katara was nervous, would they find a vortex? And then what? Hanaû was smiling. The game is on, he thought. They found a campsite along the river. Katara had brought out his laptop to show Hanaû the data he had already collected on the known vortexes in Sedona. Hanaû looked at the data and asked Katara where they should start.
“I thought you might advise on that,” Katara suggested to Hanaû.
“Do you want to go through your list? Is there an active vortex?”
“It’s quite a list. I was hoping you might have an intuitive hunch.”
Hanaû looked at the map of the town, “Let’s try the ‘Chapel of the Holy Light Cross’. There might be a clue there.”
Katara was puzzled as to why Hanaû wanted to go to the chapel. Were we to pray for the way—the way to an active vortex? Were we going to pray to a Christian God for that information? Katara thought, what is it I’m looking for? If we do find an active vortex, will it have the effect, the power of the vortex that sparked Hanaû to realize his authentic self? That still frightened Katara—that kind of power—of shocking revelation and dismantling of his personal identity—that was a call he still was not ready to make even after years of seeing his friend Hanaû live and function as a non-personal identity. He was still struggling with his human impulses and the very personal impulses and desires they put forth and into motion. Could he ever return to the past, to his background and cultural identity? Could he only find his satisfaction through the survival of his own race, his own people? How would the vortex serve the survival of his people? He didn’t have an answer for that. Could a vortex have such a purpose? Were they only created to spark, to facilitate an experience, an understanding deeper than collective or personal objectives? Katara remembered their surprise meeting, how he and Hanaû emerged and met at the same moment, the moment Sudra was wanding a vortex into existence. He also thought of the time they met Santosha and she had him explain to Hanaû about his identity and purpose in seeking out the vortexes. Where were these two feminine aspects now? Were they still active in their work? Katara thought that finding Sudra (if she was still alive, still actively creating vortexes) could be the answer to finding a truly powerful, active vortex. He had heard of her disappearance, but what if she was still here? What if they could find her?
The cemented path that led up to the Chapel of the Holy Light Cross rendered a beautiful view. Hanaû was enjoying the landscape and entered the chapel with a happy anticipation. Katara followed, puzzled as to why this place would be of any service in his quest to find “The” active vortex. He followed Hanaû’s lead and the two men sat side by side on the bench. The graphic, artistic rendering of a man nailed to a cross, baffled Katara. He watched people engage in rituals of worship. He looked at his friend Hanaû, who was enjoying the scene. Hanaû nodded to him and both men left the pews and wandered into a store that was down the stairs. Katara ignored the religious reference materials and looked to see if there were any materials about the local vortexes. He found a few books and began to study them. He turned to Hanaû to show him the books but Hanaû was not present in the store. Katara put the books down and went in search of his friend. He was surprised to see him talking to a man outside the chapel. He wanted to approach them but there was something about the two men. They were intimately engaged with each other—an enjoyment, a current of energy, of gaiety passed between them. He didn’t want to interfere with that. He saw Hanaû shake the man’s hand and gesture to him to come forward. As he approached he saw that it was Yakataboof, and Yakataboof smiled and said, “Good to see you again, Katara. Your friend Hanaû tells me that you looking for a true, honest-to-goodness vortex.” Katara shook Yakataboof’s hand.
Yakataboof laughed, “I keep running into people who are looking for the ultimate vortex experience. Just met a young woman who is looking to empower herself by such an adventure. I suppose that is a must if you are visiting Sedona,” laughed Yakataboof again.
“Where should we start?” asked Hanaû. “Any suggestions?”
Katara took out his map which showed all the listings of the vortexes in the Sedona area. “Let’s start here,” Katara pointed to a vortex that was called, “The Open Door.”
“Mind if we go to lunch first? I’m to meet the young woman there. I’m sure she would be interested. By the way, she has a curious name—her name is Sudra. Ever here of that name before?” asked Yakataboof.
Both Hanaû and Katara were stunned. Hanaû nodded, “Yep, we both have heard of that name, we heard of it a long time ago.”
“And it was connected to a very powerful vortex,” added Katara.
“Well, then, let’s get lunch and meet this young woman. My car or yours?” asked Yakataboof.

Levi had found sufficient clues from Sudra’s digital probes to deduce that she was probably heading to Sedona. He did not reveal this to Oval. Coincidentally, Oval in her intuitive knowing, deduced the same thing. She also didn’t reveal this to Levi. Each had concocted a plan of leaving the other a note declaring that they were going in search of their daughter, Sudra. Oval found Levi’s note first—and wherever he is going, she thought, why did he not confide in me? she wondered. She knew the answer to that, he was in search of fulfilling his own impulses and their impulses of what they wanted and how each one should proceed now differed. She moved quickly to get her things together and headed out on the road. She prayed to Sudra, her friend, and to Sudra, her daughter to help her get there before Levi. As much as she loved him, she knew of Levi’s darker impulses—that his demonic nature was still intact—though he did not share that with her. She wanted to find their daughter Sudra so she could guide her to what could or would happen. She was not sure what that would be. She had packed her wands and had noticed that one was missing. Had Levi or Sudra taken it? Would Levi know what to do with it? Did Sudra have the power to employ it? It was years since she had used her wands. She had only wanded one time on her own, after her work with Sudra, her friend, had ended. She had wandered to a mountain called the Mirror Mountain and completed the wanding ritual. She wasn’t sure if she had the capacity to create a vortex—to be a link without Sudra’s lead. If she had created a vortex, she was unable to enter it. She concluded that she had been unsuccessful. This had occurred outside the city limits of Sedona.
Yakataboof had wandered Mirror Mountain. He had felt its call and he wondered why the mountain was called Mirror Mountain. Was it that the mountain was a mirror for anyone who wandered up its slopes? Yakataboof, who usually enjoyed a thoughtless state of mind, did not experience any reflection of his thoughts, but he did experience an amplification of his own being of graceful enjoyment. This whole place is a vortex, he mused. What kind of vortex? He wandered up the mountain’s slope and came to a gnarled juniper tree. He sat down and drank some water. The mountain spoke to him, not in words—in the way it welcomed him. This mountain mirrors and conducts, amplifies whoever it meets. He wondered if there was a doorway, where one could enter the heart of the mountain. The mountain itself liked Yakataboof and guided him to its center, its heart.
“Yes, thank you, this is where I enter you,” he spoke to the mountain. It didn’t have any noticeable landmarks. He pulled at the dead branches and discovered a stick with a crystal attached to it. A wand, a wanding device of some sort. Who brought it here and why did they leave it behind? he wondered. He did not take the wand, he left it there. He did not enter into the center, the heart of the mountain. He made note of the location and knew its purpose would be revealed when the time was right. He walked down the mountain, got into his car and saw a young woman hitchhiking into town. He immediately recognized her.
Levi entered the town limits—he googled for any health food stores or restaurants—he might find Sudra there or find someone who has seen her. He found no clues there, but a listing of vortexes on the Eat Well bulletin board caught his interest. He tore down the pamphlet, folded it and put it in his pocket. He was surprised to discover that there were so many vortexes in Sedona. He wondered what Sudra would do, where would she go, what were her impulses? He knew his wife, Oval, would probably have a clearer impulse—use her intuitive knowing as she called it, to set about looking for her. He was at a loss as to what to do next.
I could just hit the list of vortexes and hopefully get lucky, he thought. He looked at the list and was discouraged, he might end up wandering Sedona endlessly. He wanted to find Sudra as soon as possible. He wanted to see if she knew where the vortex was, the vortex that would provide a true link. He was sure she was looking for it, but he wasn’t sure of her reason. If he found her, Levi was sure he could convince her of a joint enterprise to find the vortex. But what would I say if she asks about my interest in finding the vortex, he mused. He knew that there was still an active vortex out there—the motherlode of all vortexes. He felt that his daughter Sudra was the key to finding it. He would find her.
Oval reached the town limits of Sedona. She was heading for Mirror Mountain on the eastern border of the town. She had remembered she had left her wand there after her solo adventure of trying to create a vortex. She wanted to find it. She wasn’t sure why she had left it behind. The walk up the mountain was more arduous than she remembered. As she rose up the trail, the views of the surrounding area were beautiful. Two thirds up the mountain, some of the landmarks became more familiar to her and she knew she was getting closer to where she did her wanding. She did not notice that her husband was following her from a distance up on the mountain trail, he had noticed her car parked at the trailhead.

Yakataboof introduced Katara and Hanaû to Sudra. Hanaû was very drawn to the young woman and he could see that she had great sensitivities. He was not sure as to how or why, but this Sudra reminded him of the original Sudra he had met at the vortex many years ago. Yakataboof had filled him in, that this contemporary Sudra was named after the “fictional” Sudra that he had caught a glimpse of at the vortex. This story runs in a circle, he thought.
After finishing their lunch, the question in each one of their minds was answered by Yakataboof. “I was hiking Mirror Mountain yesterday,” and he paused for dramatic effect, “I found something very interesting there. I found a wanding device. Want to go there, see if that place is the vortex everyone is eager to find?”
Katara was flabbergasted at this piece of news. Sudra was eager to go there, “Let’s go,” she jumped up from her chair. On the drive up to the mountain, everyone was quiet, trying to figure out exactly what they would do if they really found the vortex and it was an active one. Sudra was apprehensive—if she entered the vortex, would her bhavas return to her? Katara was also apprehensive about entering the vortex—would it have an overwhelming effect on him that he couldn’t handle? Hanaû was giddy with excitement. He felt everything would change and the possibility of great change excited him. Yakataboof was enjoying his role of bringing everyone to their destiny. Would each heart find what they were destined for? Would this link spark any of these fictional characters to become real? Real, he laughed, who is the real one here? Everyone is being led on to their mythical journey, creating it themselves without even knowing it. What fun, thought Yakataboof. What a storyteller the great She Is, always leading everyone to the heart of the matter. Could they recognize themselves as the real? Would they settle for more myth, more archetype, more story?

Oval rested a bit. She was confident she was close to the wanding site. She took out her wand and held it in her hand. She began the ritual of wanding, but in the middle of it she stopped. A strong wind picked up and sand and small rocks were blowing around her.
“Who are you?” she called out.
Levi was hiding behind a tree stump, watching her. He did not answer her or call out to her. As he watched her (and held onto his hat!) he heard Oval talking to someone.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“I am the She of your wanding,” the voice replied.
Levi couldn’t see anyone present except for Oval. He did feel a presence though.
Oval asked, “Are you my friend Sudra?”
“I am, but I was called her employer by Sudra,” answered the presence. “I am Santosha.”
“We finally meet!” declared Oval, “After all this time. What is about to happen, Santosha?” asked Oval.
“Much, an emergence, a divergence, entrances and exits,” answered Santosha.
“I am worried about my daughter, Sudra. What will happen to her?” asked Oval.
“Don’t worry, she will be here soon. She is well protected by a dear friend.”
Levi perked up, Sudra is coming, good, I’ll be able to make my move, then.
“Quickly, you must find your missing wand at the vortex door. Everything will happen there.” Santosha’s presence disappeared and the wind died down.
“Wait!” Oval called out, “I have so much to ask you about.”
Santosha was gone and Oval knew she would not reappear. She must find the vortex now and the wand. She got up and felt an energy magnetizing her to go further up the trail.
Levi got up to follow her, but stopped when he saw a strange sight—three men walking up the trail and his daughter Sudra was with them. He thought of revealing himself, but was not confident that would get him what he wanted. Sudra had an intense expression on her—the same look Oval would get when she was determined she wanted to accomplish something. The three men and his daughter Sudra pushed up the trail. The older, good looking man was pointing to the mountain summit. The other men nodded and Sudra sprung ahead, leading the way. He followed at a safe distance, to not give himself away. Yakataboof was aware of him and thought, what part does this demon play?
Oval reached the summit and parted the bush. The wand lay resting on a stone like someone had laid it out there waiting for her to discover it. She picked it up. It was glowing and she could feel it vibrating in her hands. She began the wanding ritual and when she finished, she called out to Santosha, “Please let this vortex, this link, serve to spark my dear daughter Sudra,” and she added, “That she can know truly who she is.”
Sudra appeared. She had summited the mountain. Oval watched as Sudra walked into the vortex. Here, in the vortex, Sudra was welcomed into the true knowledge of who she is, her true strength—her true power, which was the passageway and the spark to light her bhavas. She remembered her fictional identity as Sudra, her service and work for Santosha of creating vortexes, places, links to spark those who were ready to see. She felt Santosha as the primal vortex, the primal link. She saw her dear heart friend and called out to her, “Santosha, I came to be with you again.”
Santosha answered, “My dear unreal one, my Sudra, it is time to use the power you have always had, use it to know me as your very Self. You are not the unreal, fictional aspect of me. You are Me, the real. Know this, know who you are.”
Sudra shed all myths, all fiction of identity, and allowed herself to Be As She Is. Her heart swooned into Santosha’s heart and she knew no difference. She laughed at the absurdity of her fictional identity. She continued to swoon into ecstatic bliss of true name, real identity.
Hanaû jumped into the vortex. He knew he must pull Sudra out. Would she survive? He was not worried now. He saw Sudra’s and Santosha’s light forms merge. He understood what was happening and did not interfere with the merge. He saw sparks flying everywhere and the sparks took on luminous feminine forms. He reached out and picked up Sudra’s/Santosha’s crumbled form and emerged with Sudra in his arms.
Oval went to her daughter and asked, “Is she alright?”
Sudra opened her eyes, “Don’t worry, mom, I am complete now. I know who I am.”
Oval brushed the hair out of her daughter’s eyes. She did not know what to say.
Katara looked at Oval, “We know that the vortex is a powerful link that sparks one for the deepest experience and the deepest knowledge. The first Sudra showed you this. This knowledge will manifest in time through and as your daughter Sudra.”
Yakataboof added, “It’s all getting very real,” he laughed.
Katara was at a loss. He wanted to enter the vortex, but questioned his readiness to meet the deepest experience and to be revealed to himself. He stepped forward and paused. Both Hanaû and Yakataboof looked at him expectedly. Levi, on the other hand, revealing his presence, rushed forward quickly past Katara and entered the vortex. As he entered, he felt the familiar swirl of energies. He felt himself being lifted and thrown about. He felt all his desires and self interest break apart and swirl around him. The experience was an intense dissolution of every desire and every idea that made up his identity. He was caught in between dissolving all his identity, as both a demon and a human, and trying to direct the energy for his own uses and need for power. It was an enormous battle of his will. He was tiring and the futility of it was becoming obvious.
That’s when Yakataboof stepped in and opened a doorway without the energy field. “If you go through this doorway, you will return to your former self and home.”
Levi looked at the door and the man, and with the last ounce of his will, he entered the door within the door and disappeared and reappeared into the demon realm, the place where his impulses and desires would be played out.
Oval understood what just happened. She held her daughter. Hanaû looked at his friend Katara and asked him, “Are we done here, ready to leave?”
Katara stood there gazing at the great abyss of eternity, and turned to his friend, “Yes, I’m ready—ready to go—ready to go with you,” and he grabbed Hanaû’s arm and pulled him to him and the two men hugged.
As the group wandered down the mountain, Oval returned her missing wand to her wanding pouch. She did not know if she would have further use of them. She knew she had served as a link to spark her daughter’s true identity, and the beginning of her true work, however that will manifest, she thought. Are dreams to be realized the stuff of myths and archetypes? she wondered.
The last and only true active vortex on Earth, what would become of it and what links would it spark? Yakataboof thought along these lines. What none of them saw after they had finished their work, was the appearance of 100 goddesses entering past the doorway into the earth realm. One hundred goddesses arriving with a clear intent of a most wonderful, important mission. The stuff that legends and myths are made of. Perhaps this is the story that will reveal what has never happened or been revealed before: The Heart openly revealed to everyone and at the same time! The One—the She Is can only dream such a possibility!

A monkey sitting on the back of a coyote exclaimed, “Do you see that? 100 goddesses coming through some kind of opening in the earth? Could it be?”
“Well, this is a fictional story, why not? Anything can happen in such a story,” answered the coyote.
“Yeah, I suppose so,” laughed the monkey, “Some of what passes as real, as real experience, is weirder than anything either one of us could make up.”
“This place can manifest high or low. Good thing we aren’t fictional, we’re the real deal,” The coyote and monkey laughed and laughed. The monkey jumped up and down on the coyote’s back and coyote did a jig and belted out her loudest howl. “Real indeed,” the coyote’s howl sang.

Part Three — The Link and the Spark
Sudra and the 100 (+1) Goddesses
Levi had returned home. He did not know how much time had passed. His younger brother waved to him from the courtyard as if it was merely the afternoon on any given day back home. He waved back. He was excited to be back home, and a bit ticked off that he was not able to gather the power from the vortex to use it for his purposes. He wondered if going through the vortex had changed him in any way. He thought of his life with Oval and Sudra and still felt that Sudra was the key to being able to use the power of the vortex. Would he see her again? He saw his wife Terra Boom waiting for him at the entranceway. She is just as beautiful as any Goddess, he thought. “Hello, my demon goddess,” he called out to her. She smiled and laughed with a deep grunt. He could imagine what they would be doing together that very afternoon—that made him smile even more. Good to be home, he thought.

The Goddesses had all settled into a life in Sedona except for one. She was not a beautiful goddess. She was of average looks and height. She was anonymous and androgynous. She did not catch anyone’s eye. She was adept at not being noticed. She could appear and disappear. She gathered information as she wandered. She was on the lookout for any clues that would help her in what she needed to accomplish. What was her mission? She wanted to find the bearer of the heart. She was here on Earth and the Goddess Shadow Clear knew she was to protect the Bearer of the Heart. Great work is to be done. She would send word to the other Goddesses when she found the Heart Bearer. They were protecting, guarding the vortexes in Sedona, assisting any souls that approached the vortexes with sincere requests for help. They loved being embodied and drew delight in being present in the dance and mystery of livingness. Yakataboof enjoyed his time with the Goddesses, visiting them frequently. He had never seen so many Goddesses assembled and playing on Earth and staying together in one spot. They would not reveal to him why they were here, but he knew big change was afoot. Would he be called into service? He hoped so. He so enjoyed bringing a proper good destiny about. Was destiny gonna show us a catastrophic outcome? Was it time for a big reckoning? Would evil show its victory over goodness? Were the goddesses here to bring about another kind of destiny? Was Sudra a part of this change? He thought of what was in the imagination of men and he thought of what a Goddess could and would imagine. He had seen the demon in mankind, he had experienced his own demons and humanness. He knew of his own true nature. Was it time for humans to know their Goddess nature? he wondered. Just the thought of it made his heart dance.

Oval watched over Sudra since their return from the vortex in Sedona. She noticed that Sudra’s bhavas had returned. She was different, though, her bhavas were more under her control. They would come and go at Sudra’s interest. Sudra’s bhavas were more grounded in her nature, and her nature included a bigger dynamic than Oval could ever imagine for such a young woman. Oval knew that the vortex had changed her.
Sudra had told her, “I’m just more me now.” When Oval asked her what she meant by that, she said, “You’ll see. I know who I am.” When Oval teased her about being a goddess now, Sudra teased back, saying, “Not everyone can be a goddess mom, like you. I do have a feeling I’ll meet up with some more goddesses soon. After all, there is still a lot of work to do.”
When Oval asked her, “What work?”, Sudra replied, “You’ll see. Mom, do you think dad will return from the vortex?”
Oval wasn’t sure what to say, did she want Levi to return?
Sudra continued, “I’m sure he will, wherever he went or whatever happened to him, he’ll find his way back to us.”
Oval wasn’t sure she wanted Levi back. She wasn’t sure if she had read his intentions clearly. She didn’t know if it was her good graces that had held him to them all these years. Yakataboof had told her about the doorway within the vortex that he had created for Levi to return to his home. Obviously, he took it, she thought.
Sudra interrupted her thoughts, “Wherever he is, surely there must be a vortex there, so he can return, right mom?” Sudra asked.
“We’ll see,” answered Oval.

Shadow Clear followed her inclinations. Signs were everywhere if you could read them. She found the earth plane and physical embodiment to be both pleasurably fascinating and disturbingly uncomfortable. Her adaptation was synthesizing quickly. She could hear the music of the earth sounds, especially when the wind blew. She did not like the cold, but the sun’s warmth on her face and body felt like nectar. The dark nights, the long time, the hours without sunlight, without the light, were too long. She did not sleep. This work she had come to do was her dreaming. She would rest in the deep aspect of herself when her work was done. This place is a place of strong dreaming, is that why earth people needed to sleep so much? Did they need to work on, invent their dreams before manifesting them here? I could never stay here, live a lifetime of embodiment, these dreams—the ones that are tested and lived here were too problematic for her. She was used to being lived in and as the unified field of love. She and her goddess sisters were not the stuff that the dreams on earth were made of. They had not come to search for their personal meaning of fulfillment here. They had come because the Heart Bearer had called them here when Sudra had merged to be her complete self when she had entered the vortex. This is the time for the Heart Bearer to reveal, and Shadow Clear knew there would be great obstacles to that revelation and the effects it would have—that was her and her Goddess sisters’ work, that is why they had come. She did not imagine what would happen or could be if the Heart Bearer was successful—that was the work of the Heart Bearer—only she could imagine it. She and her sisters were here to supply the support and ferocity of applied energy to serve the Heart Bearer’s work. There was one sister who had come before, who had taken embodiment—this sister had come earlier to find and locate the Heart Bearer, to be an aid in serving the actual embodiment of the Heart Bearer. She would find her. She would find her sister. She knew she had created the vortex for all of them to enter and she knew she was on the right track.

The monkey grew to enormous proportions. There was no limit to how big he could grow in just minutes. His friend Coyote could also transform. He was a trickster of great magnitude. He could become a man, assume that form instantly, and he could outrun the fastest horse. They delighted in each other, and magic was always in the air when they hung out together. Coyote was very curious by nature and was still speculating as to the why and the whereabouts of the Goddesses’ appearance through the vortex.
“Let’s see if we can find them, see where they went and what they are up to,” offered up Coyote.
Monkey shrunk down to his usual size, “Hey, Coyote, you wanting to be a part of their story?”
Coyote thought it over, “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t really curious—really attracted to finding out what they’re doing here. Don’t see a gathering like that on this earth ever.”
Monkey nodded, “It is curious, I feel I am being called into service again—my growing abilities are acting up. That hasn’t happened in a long time—remember the last time?”
“Yeah, wasn’t that when that guy went through the vortex and his friend had to pull him out?” asked Coyote.
“Yeah, witnessing that vortex change triggered my powers for sure. Perhaps we are connected. I was toying with an impulse,” trailed Monkey.
“What impulse?” asked Coyote.
“To find that guy.”
“Really?” asked Coyote, “How would you find him?”
“I thought you could help me with your ability to track.”
Coyote thought it over, “Okay, will do if you help me satisfy my curiosity about why the Goddesses are here.”
Monkey thought it over, “Maybe both our impulses and your curiosity are connected. Look, I want to show you something.”
“What is it?” asked Coyote.
Monkey grew to the size of a tall man and he faced Coyote and with his hands tapped his chest several times. Coyote gasped when he saw the face of the man that had returned from the vortex.
“That’s him!” Coyote exclaimed, “What’s he doing in your heart? Why does he appear there?”
“I believe I am his fictional aspect and he is the Real deal.”
Coyote was puzzled, “Man, what are you talking about? We’re all just dreamers here!”
“Yes! But who is dreaming us?” asked Monkey.
Monkey jumped to the top of the tree and Coyote raced across the plains. Even with their extraordinary abilities, neither of them could answer that question. Both knew they were being called into service—Coyote felt the call of the Goddesses and Monkey felt the call of his heart—he must find Hanaû.

Hanaû had been changed by entering the vortex to pull Sudra out. An impulse was activated in him—he wanted to take care of and serve Sudra, however she might need his help. He had been in touch with Oval since the event where they had entered the vortex. Oval had assured him that Sudra was fine and yes, the vortex, she explained, activated her bhavas again, but this time she had more presence as to how to handle them. “Also,” she explained, “Sudra has told me she knows who she is and that she has work to do.”
Hanaû asked, “What kind of work? I feel drawn to help her. That is how the vortex has affected me—that, and in other ways I am only learning about.”
“What ways? What do you mean?” asked Oval.
“There is a presence with me, an animal presence. We are looking for each other.”
“How strange. What kind of animal?” asked Oval.
“A monkey. Not just an ordinary monkey, one with unlimited abilities—a true warrior.”
“This is what legends are made of,” teased Oval. “How peculiar. I also feel I am part of someone else—a tribe of warriors. Sudra has alluded to it, she often teases me about being a goddess, but I tease her back and defend myself that the vortex gave me that archetype to live by. She teases me back by asking, is my archetype only a somewhat empowered aspect of yourself, or is it the deeper you with a deeper work that you must embark on? I’m not sure, have I truly met myself?”
“The age old, ever present and projected question of identity,” replied Hanaû. “Even when you find the answer to that question, it only opens infinite doorways of possibilities. The mystery is not through with us, it continues to move us. Can we share in this journey, this mystery together?” asked Hanaû.
“Yes, come, how about your friend, Katara, is he still a part of your journey?”
“Yes, he had chosen to stay with me and see where it all goes. He says he is still drawn to the vortex but still cannot enter it. He recently got an invite from Yakataboof to do some research together—to categorize the vortexes in Sedona—the ones that were created by other beings—to see if they are related in any way to the one that you wanded. We’ll meet up after that.”
“That’s interesting,” Oval replied, “To tell you the truth, when I wanded that location in Sedona, I was not aware that I had actually created a vortex. I walked away assuming I did not, as my wanding collaboration with Sudra had ended when I started my life with Levi.”
Hanaû reflected on this. He waited for Oval to reveal what was in her heart.
She simply said, “It was time for him to return home. I believe the vortex drew him back there.” She didn’t volunteer any other information.
Hanaû intuited that Yakataboof had a hand in what happened to Levi. Who is this fellow anyways? He showed up out of thin air at the right time for Sudra and he knew where the vortex was, even as Oval had forgotten all about it—even that she had created it. Where is this fellow from, what is he about? wondered Hanaû. I guess I’ll discover his part in this play as I am discovering mine. Can anyone know all the pieces of this puzzle, this journey we are on?
Coyote had been listening in on the need to know intuitive, instructional hot line. He raced by the light of the full moon and met up with Monkey. “Guess what I heard?”, he beamed, “Plans are afoot, there is movement in connections.”
“What did you hear?” asked Monkey.
“The guy in your heart and the goddess know each other!”
“Really?” asked Monkey, “It looks like you and me buddy are on the same purposeful journey.”
“Yep, we are part of this story, this journey. Doesn’t get any realer than that!”
Monkey and Coyote laughed. All their powers, all their instincts, were on high alert. Would they be seen? Would they lose their cloak of invisibility that had been thrown on them by the lack of imagination of people who believed only they were real? Did those unimaginative people really get to say who was real? Obviously not, agreed Monkey and Coyote. Coyote howled at the moon and Monkey grew tall enough to reach it. Monkey downsized to a small bird and rode on Coyote’s back. The vortexes of Sedona were shining bright in the glow of the moon.
“Feel the energy?” asked Coyote of Monkey.
“Sure do,” answered Monkey.

Katara found his way to Yakataboof’s ranch. The landscapes appeared as profiles in the bright light of the moon. Some of the formations looked like faces, perhaps faces of beings or ancestors that had lived here and had their own stories to live out.
Yakataboof greeted Katara and said, “We’ve been doing a lot of work, a lot of investigating here.”
“Really?” asked Katara. He wondered who the “we” were that was helping Yakataboof.
“Yes! It seems that the vortexes here are all linked!”
“Linked to what?” asked Katara.
“To what? And to whom!” replied Yakataboof, “We’ll get started early tomorrow. I want you to meet the rest of the team.”
“The team?” asked Katara.
When Katara woke up the next morning, he could hear all the commotion. People were up and getting ready. He jumped out of bed and put on his clothes pronto. He was not ready for what happened next. The team that Yakataboof had mentioned, that team—and an accurate guess could be—that team was at least 100 women.
“Meet the team, Katara. Quite an impressive team, wouldn’t you say?”
Katara didn’t know what to say. He just stood there staring at the eager faces of all the women before him.
“Ladies, I mean Goddesses, this is Katara. He has done extensive research on vortexes. He is our man, his work is very thorough.”
Some of the women smiled, some seemed to study him. Katara was puzzled, why had all these women gathered here? What was their interest in the vortexes?
Yakataboof interrupted Katara’s internal investigation, “Guess how they got here?” Before Katara could even attempt to answer that question, Yakataboof answered, “They arrived through the vortex on Mirror Mountain, a little after I had jumped into the vortex and we had left.”
A hundred people going through the vortex at once. Who are these women and where are they from? he wondered.
“Where are they from?” asked Katara.
“They haven’t revealed that yet. Isn’t it fascinating?” asked Yakataboof, “Let’s get started, you have your big bible of data with you? Let’s crack it open. The women want to study it.”
Katara took out his archival materials and laid them on the picnic table. Several of the women started to flip through the pages and began to confer with each other. Katara was uncomfortable and unsure about what was happening. Yakataboof is a man of many surprises, and he wasn’t sure of what outcome Yakataboof or the women were looking for. What outcome was he looking for? I must know where they are from, he thought.
One of the women spoke up, “The materials show that there is a possible, true link between all the vortexes in this area.” Another woman took out her marker and drew a line between the vortexes. When she was done, another woman called out, “It’s her face, can you see it?” The rest of the women dropped what they were concentrating on and looked. There was a hushed silence. Yakataboof studied the face that was made by connecting all the dots on the map.
“Yes!” he laughed out loud. “Goddesses, that is the face of Sudra.”
Katara studied the map and he, too, recognized the face of Sudra. This is most curious, he thought.
The Goddesses conferred among themselves. Yakataboof caught a few words here and there. “It’s the time…that’s why we’re here…unbelievable, I have been waiting for lifetimes…Shadow Clear will find her…is it the right time? … are the right conditions here…?
“Goddesses, what’s next?” asked Yakataboof.
“The invocation,” answered one of the women. “We must do the invocation.”
“Who are we invoking?” asked Katara.
Two words echoed on each of the Goddesses lips, “The Heart Bearer.”
Those two words made Katara shiver. He had heard them before as a child, in a story that the children were told on his planet. He tried to remember the story but he could not and he wondered why he wasn’t able to. He looked at the faces of the women, the women that Yakataboof said were goddesses. What powers did they possess, better yet, what knowledge did they have that had called them into action? wondered Katara. As he studied them, he saw four faces that closely resembled his grandmother, his mother, his wife, and his daughter. That sent another earthquake-like shiver through his body. Then he passed out.

Monkey and Coyote had watched the scene from behind the rabbitbrush. They too had recognized the women. They were the deities of their own lands. Monkey, who had lived for many eons, had worshipped the Goddesses and had done special service for them until they had disappeared from his lands—that was already a long time ago. Now, they had returned. He turned to Coyote to tell him of his recognition of the goddesses, but Coyote’s gaze was fixed on the man—the good-looking man. Coyote turned to Monkey and said, “That’s him, that’s him.”
“Who is that?” asked Monkey.
“He is the trick of the Great Trickster,” is all that Coyote would say.

After Levi had been home for a while and enjoyed his intimacies with his wife, Terra Boom, he began to get back to his favorite obsession, the vortexes. He returned to the original vortex on his world that had gotten him to the Earth Realm. It was sealed. The cave entrance was blocked by a big boulder. When he inquired as to why the boulder was there, he was told his own brother had given the order to cover the entrance to the cave. When he asked his brother about it, his brother gave him a strange look and said, “You asked me to, that cave was emitting strange noises and we both agreed whatever was going on in there, it was best that it wouldn’t see the light of day.” Levi was puzzled. Would it be wise to move the boulder? He did not think so and consulted with his head shaman, a woman of big proportions—a woman not to be messed with. She told him that what was trying to come through should never be allowed on this world. Then, how did I return? he wondered.
Sensat, the head shaman, revealed to him that she could purify the vortex through a sacrifice ritual so it could be opened. She seemed to study Levi’s face to see what he wanted from the vortex.
“Yes, do the ritual, I want the vortex to be opened. What do you need for the sacrifice?” he inquired.
“The sacrifice of a young child,” she replied.
Levi was at a loss. The old Levi (before Earth and becoming half human) wouldn’t have even blinked an eye at that request, but now he struggled and Sensat could see that.
“Will any other sacrifice do?” he asked.
Sensat studied Levi and answered slowly, “A finger from each of your hands would fulfill the requirements.”
Levi stood still in his tracks. Would saying yes to that request reveal his desperate need to see and enter the vortex? “Oh, alright, a child sacrifice will do.”
Sensat smiled, “Yes, it will be done today and you can enter the power center tomorrow.”
Levi couldn’t sleep that night. The sacrifice had been done. He had made sure he didn’t know who the young boy was, and he asked that the family be rewarded. He got up before Terra Boom awoke and got dressed. The sun wouldn’t be up for another couple of hours. He took a few lanterns and headed for the cave. The shaman Sensat was sitting at the entrance of the cave. He hadn’t expected that. She jumped when she saw his arrival. He tried to dismiss her, but she stood her ground, “Don’t enter the cave, it’s too dangerous,” she warned.
“What do you mean?” Levi asked. “Isn’t it purified? You assured me you had performed the sacrificial ritual.”
“If you go, you will lose and you will gain. You must be ready for that.”
“What will I lose?” he asked.
“You will lose the other half of what you already lost,” she answered.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
Sensat stood firm and looked him dead in the eye, “You will lose being one of us. What is it that you seek there that you don’t already have here?” she asked.
Levi asked, “What will I gain, then?”
Sensat answered, “You will gain what no demon ever had, what no demon ever wanted. This doorway has an entrance to the greatest power that can be given or revealed. No one here is ready to receive or withstand that.”
Levi stood frozen, unable to move. He was trying to understand the situation he was in. He knew his will and desire to invoke its power for his own desires wouldn’t be able to withstand its power, its depth. He didn’t want to believe that, but he knew it was true from his own experience—if that man (Yakataboof) hadn’t created the doorway within the vortex, the doorway he entered to return home, he knew he wouldn’t have been able to withstand the power of the vortex.
Sensat leaned forward, “Yes, sir, that voice screaming in the tunnel, that voice was your own, wasn’t it?” she asked.
Levi knew he would enter the tunnel, but for what purpose if it was not his own selfish one? Everything in him was pushing him towards it—the attraction to enter was overwhelming, even though he was terrified as to what he would have to go through once he entered it.
He turned to Sensat, “I have to go, I have no choice. Tell Terra Boom and have the entrance sealed after I enter and then, destroy this place.”
Levi entered the cave. A stunned Sensat stood at the entrance. Then, she began to dance and she laughed and laughed, and as she sang her song, she knew her work had been accomplished. Her form shapeshifted and appeared in her more recognizable form. Shadow Clear entered the cave.

Very quickly the power of the vortex made its presence known. Levi remembered all too well his struggle to remain himself, to hold his ground and demand of the vortex that he be given what he came for. He knew this was futile, so instead, he offered this with his own invocation: “I have come here to claim your eternal powers in the past. Today I come offering myself, that you may do with me what you want.” The energy of the vortex began to magnify, and Levi could feel it crushing his bones and all his thoughts and desires were being thrown into its winds. His impulse in the past was to withstand its power and demand it serve his impulses. Today his impulse was to let go of his will, and when he did, the link that it could spark came forward and he knew he was this energy—the link itself—its power and magnitude, and he fell into a deep swoon—so deep that he was cast aside from all personal identity. He was completely undone, and when he landed, returned, a form was standing over him. At first he thought it was Sensat, the shaman priest, but as his vision cleared and focused, it appeared to be another woman—a goddess.
“You made it through, Levi,” she assured him.
“Who are you? Where am I?” he asked.
“I am Shadow Clear, and you are back to this Earth Realm.”
“But what am I to do here?” he asked.
Shadow Clear steadied him and sat him up. “Look, don’t you recognize this place?”
Levi instantly recognized his own place, his place with Oval and Sudra. “Yes, I’m back home.” He was not sure he would be welcomed back.
“Sudra waits for you.”
Levi got up. He was not sure how the vortex had changed him, had changed everything.
Shadow Clear spoke up, “You must go to her, you can never return back to the demon world, you have lost your desires and dreams of that world, you have been freed from that burden.”
Levi knew that she was right. He no longer related to that world. He had forfeited it when he had let go of his will and the link (the vortex) sparked a deeper need and impulse in him, an impulse to serve the deepening, an impulse not to use his daughter for his own selfish agenda—this impulse wanted to serve his daughter Sudra with what work she had come to do.
“Who is she, my daughter Sudra?” he asked the Goddess Shadow Clear.
“She is the Heart Bearer,” she answered simply.
The Heart Bearer? Levi wondered.
“Yes, she has called you here, go to her,” Shadow Clear urged.
Levi got up and walked into the house. Shadow Clear heard Sudra exclaim, “I knew you would come back, I knew it.” Shadow Clear followed into the house and saw father and daughter in an embrace. Oval was standing by, and Shadow Clear approached her and said, “Sister, I’ve missed you,” and embraced her. Oval, surprised, hugger her back.
All she could say was, “It is true, isn’t it?”
Shadow Clear nodded and said, “The time is near, all the sisters are waiting for the Heart Bearer.”

What would be the obstacles to the Greatest transcendent moment that was about to occur? Could mankind thwart such a moment, or would mankind even notice such a moment, such an opportunity? The players, the Goddesses, were ready to perform the grandest wanding ceremony that would ever take place on this Earth, in this universe. Sudra, the Heart Bearer, was ready to make her appearance. Hanaû would soon meet his monkey empowerment. Monkey was eager to see him again, it had been centuries since he was able to be with himself as man as monkey. Coyote was bemused that the master trickster was here, and he watched him closely to see how smooth his moves were. And they were very smooth. Yakataboof had moved all the players on to the board, had gathered them to take their positions and make their move.
Did anyone really know what was about to happen? Could the Goddesses do the impossible by making the link that will spark the revolution of the Heart to take place? Was the Heart Bearer strong enough to take into her heart everything—every idea or dream that was not love, and dissolve it into the bliss of a true heart? How could anyone dream such a possibility? Will the dawn of love being lived, being self-recognized be birthed?
This was the moment, everyone was gathered. Oval was reunited with her Goddess sisters. Sudra saw in Levi what she knew to be his true power, his love for her. Katara knew he was in the right place to serve the greatest happiness, not just the survival of those he knew and was a part of. Happiness, was it really an individual pursuit, or was it a collaboration of what needs to be seen and lived by all: Love. Katara was no longer perplexed or frightened of his place. He knew he was an integral part of the story and he trusted Sudra, the Heart Bearer, with the appearance of the Great Heart that lives us all. He was giddy with the rich possibility. Hanaû was standing by his side and both men watched Sudra and the Goddesses come forward. They surrounded Sudra, the Heart Bearer, and raised their wands. Sudra stood there with her eyes closed and with a beatific smile on her face. As they waved their wands through the arc and circle of infinity, not only their wands glowed with the pure beam of light, all their bodies were aglow too. Yakataboof signaled for his coyote to come closer, and Coyote stood by the Master Trickster.
Yakataboof patted Coyote’s head and said, “So you have come, we are part of this mystery today.” Monkey grew large and Hanaû sat on his shoulders so he could see everything that was occurring.
The glowing Goddesses lifted their wands of light and pointed them at Sudra. The Heart Bearer received their transmission, and her body grew and grew into a column of light. The column of light reached into the center of the Earth and reached to the heavenly skies and the higher abodes. The Earth spun, shifted and cracked open, and through that opening the Goddess of the Earth made her appearance and all the life on the Earth appeared within her. She spoke: “We are all here as the depths, we are the birthing place of all dreams, we are answering the call of the Heart Bearer.” The Earth Goddess made her way past the circle of the Goddesses and stood before Sudra, the Heart Bearer. She touched Sudra’s light form and she too appeared as only light. The two women’s forms of light played and danced in each other. The Goddesses, Yakataboof, Hanaû, Levi, and Katara witnessed the dance of light, the dance of eternity. A wanding ceremony was taking place, the likes of which the universe will probably never ever see again. Yakataboof knew that this changes everything. A link, a vortex of this magnitude, of this purity, would spark endlessly and create a fire of light that all beings would be drawn into and changed by forever. The Link and the Spark. Sudra, the Heart Bearer, once a fictional character with a big impossibility—a big dream that the Heart is alive and is living us all, made this impossibility a reality. May all beings walk among themselves, laugh, love, and dance, knowing themselves truly: As the Heart.
Was there anything left to be said? Can a story scratched out on a pad be a link that can spark all dreamers to dream beyond the possible—into the realms of the magical play of Love? That, my friends, is the play, the impulse, the necessity of the creative act. Does it come from our imagination, or is it our Heart wanting to be heard, wanting to be lived? Could your heart, all hearts, imagine the One True Heart that lives us all? That is the link, may all beings be sparked by the One True Heart.

Santosha Tantra March 2023