Signs & Visions
9
A shadow passed over the pages of my Journal; I looked up and met the eyes of an old black woman standing beside me. "My Sweet Jesus done tol me to let you know not to fret. He say yur Missy gone be here - jus not yet. But her for sure gonna make it." she said and before I could even speak she was off the porch and in the yard. "But wait!" I yelled jumping up. "I be here soon enuff, too,Ms Jo. Soon enuff I spects, jus watch fo the signs, she called from the road; then facing East she vanished. I opened my eyes realizing I'd dozed off and dreamed it and breathing a quick 'Thank you' to The Lord and Lady went inside to make some coffee. ***** I was still sitting at the kitchen table when David and the girls came in. I'd written the boys to tell them about my latest dream and was just finishing up another letter to Missy in the hope that somehow this time it would reach her. "Jo, are you okey?" Lizzie asked sitting down at the table beside me and putting her hand on my shoulder. "Yes, fine. I was just writing the children." "No! You weren't." "We've been home at least 10 minutes and you been sitting there holding that cup and staring into space the whole time. Want to talk about it?" "Yes I think its time, but call the others in first they need to hear this too. I'll get my Journal." ***** "Before Paul died I received a vision of Blackwell House filled to the max with families and overflowing into the yard and fields beyond. I thought it was just telling me to expect the attendence at the Gatherings to increase, so I made myself a note to increase the supplies and things like the port-a-pots that I usually order around June, but then I started having other visions I couldn't explain and I finally went to Paul." "He listened and then he put his arms around me and said it sounded to him like The Goddess was trying to tell me it was time to start building that sanctuary we'd been talking about for years." "David this is just about the time you and Andy came into the picture. Remember?" ***** "Yes I remember; I had just taken over Unity from Reverand Waters who was retiring. I had been told the reason I'd been chosen was because of my progressive ideas and I should know a large amount of my new congregation were ex hippies, some with shall we say more then a casual interest in 'the olde religions' and Ms Starr Adams, the church secretary, could fill me in on everything and everybody. So when I got a call from Andy saying they were bringing Paul Jorganson of Blackwell House into the hospital and could I meet him there I thought I was prepared." "That makes 2 of us. Paul and I both knew he wasn't coming back to Blackwell until after he'd crossed over and the only thing either of us prayed was that he would go quickly and peacefully. When you arrived I was holding his hand and talking to Crone Hecate who was standing on the other side of the bed waiting for his time to come." ***** "I know you thought I'd lost my mind from grief, but Andy pulled you outside and said something about a cup of coffee and it being over soon. By the time you got back Starr and Mike were there and Paul had said his goodbyes." "You insisted on driving me home that night because you didn't want me to be alone and Andy had promised to bring my car down when he got off shift. At that time I still hadn't been told what we were supposed to be building or why - I still thought we were reopening some sort of Commune but when I asked you to help you agreed. "Do you remember what you said that day?" "How can I forget it's written on my heart and up on the ridge: there are many paths you can choose to follow; ALL offer Sanctuary." ***** "Then sometime after Christmas a couple of years ago the dreams started and after about the third night I couldn't write them off any longer: The Mother was definately trying to tell me something, so I started paying attention. Here's what I wrote in My Journal that morning. ### January 7 I had the dream again last night. I dream I'm standing on a mountain looking at a house far below me.The scene is so peaceful it could have been pulled directly from a Norman Rockwell card but I feel uneasy, like something's wrong. "LOOK AGAIN" commanded a voice inside me. I turned and that's when the nightmare began: I was shown a road leading from some distant city. It is clogged with abandoned automobiles and hundreds of walking skeletons - people half starved and sick, with eyes that were dead and void of any hope. They walked endlessly, putting one foot wearily in front of the other as the city behind them is consumed in flames. I could literally taste the smoke and I choked on the stench of rotting flesh and despair. Covering my ears to block the wailing of the suffering human ribbon I found myself floating above the ravaged landscape to other places where everywhere the story was the same ----. ### "I was also told that although I needed to begin making plans and get started I should keep my reasons private until later. The Mother said that letting this out on the heels of the 2012 scare would cause unnecessary panic and just speed up the timeline so for another year I worked alone. That's the year I had the small barn built and started on the bunkhouse; it was also the year I pulled you aside at the AUTUMN GATHERING, Lizzie." ***** "Yes, I remember but we were all there so you can skip that part for now and go on; so what's up?" ***** "One of my main concerns since the dreams first started has been Missy; I'm not even sure where she is. I haven't heard from her in over 4 years and all I can do is send letters to friends she might have kept in touch with and trust in The Goddess to see she gets the message in time." "In the meanwhile there is so much work to be done and a big storm coming in soon so I've been trying to concentrate on what I can do something about for now and leave the rest up to The Goddess but this afternoon on the porch I dozed off and I had a strange dream - one unlike most of my dreams. There was this ancient black lady and she said:" "My Sweet Jesus done tol me to let you know not to fret. He say yur Missy gonna be here - jus not yet. But her for sure gonna make it in time." "Then she said she'd be here soon and vanished. It was like she was speaking to me directly and believe me she wasn't a spirit; she was real." "I'll be right back" David said jumping up from the table. ***** "Here this was in with today's mail. I didn't think anything about it at the time, in fact the only reason I noticed it at all was because it was on top but I think God and Goddess are working together again." he said handing me a card postmarked from W.Virginia. It read: COMING HOME. M I took the postcard and saying Goodnight went into my alter room and locked the door. ***** Andy walked up to me after church and gave me a hug; "David told me about your visions and the postcard, you've always said 'The Goddess will take care of everything'." "He also said you mentioned a big storm coming in soon; anything we should know about?" "Not anything I can explain yet. I was shown a vision of the sun with something that looked like funnel clouds shooting out from it and lights in the sky. Then I felt high winds blowing and storms; really big storms everywhere. The only thing I heard though were the words "When the light show starts: be warned." "Sounds like Solar Flares." ***** "You know about the 'Brown Outs' in Oakgrove but since you're off grid you may not know they are also happening in a lot of other places." "We got a fax a couple of days ago informing us there's been some recent increase in activity on the Sun and some minor 'Flaring' which may be causing disruptions in the power grids and it is expected it will increase in the upcoming weeks and months. We have been put on 'Yellow Alert' and are looking to have it upgraded to 'Orange' if the interuptions continue. If the power grids fall the entire country will be on 'RED'. The reason this isn't public yet is the Government is afraid of widespread Public panic." "And we can't say anything for the same reason, but......." "Gather The Council and have them meet us in the house in about 20 minutes, I quess it's time to take advantage of my reputation again." ***** "Well, you have it." David said when Andy and I had finished, "So what next?" "We obviously need a lot more shelters and the Jorgansons need to be informed if they don't already know - after all law inforcement and the hospitals where they are should have received the same fax we did but when you call them make sure you explain to them they can't say anything to anyone." Andy said. "When we were in Bennetvile we saw a billboard about some Mobile Home place that was having a big 50% off sale - Cash Only type thing on used mobile homes, but I think if we made the right offer we could get the whole lot at a reasonable price especially if we arrange to have our own foundations and septics dug; they could probably put us in touch with someone for that. Those should at least get us started." "The salvage yard is connected to a farm equipment/homestead auction. Some of us can drive over and check it out. The auctions are on Tuesday and we can preview everything on Monday and place a pre-bid." Kyle added. "Okey take David or Andy with you and stop by the bank before you leave to give Sarah the heads up and find out what you need to do to arrange an open ended line of credit for whatever amount you think and while you're at the auction check for survival equipment and stuff and any type of manual or alternate powered farm equipment. I'll call her in the morning, Starr give them the checkbook and make sure they have plenty of money from the petty cash. Anything else for now?" "Just tell everyone we'll have a lot of extra work in the near future and anyone who needs a job should get in touch with a member of the executive council. The pay will be $250.00 a week non taxable plus credit vouchers for anything over 40 hours. Can that be done Starr?" Andy answered. "Don't see why not, I'll call Steve in the morning.' "Okey it's settled, we'll get together before the meeting Friday and go over notes." "Now let's get back outside before we're missed." David said. ***** *****
