Cat Dubois' Odyssey to Enchantment Read online

  “Continue, my dearest friend. I’m forever with you. From now until eternity,” Tadhg used his right arm to cross his chest, and he rested his right hand on his heart. “You are my fairest.

  “Then I shall continue, before she awakens. We have very little time. There is no telling when the battle shall begin. They will not want to let go of her.” Eleanor had hoped they would have more time, but she didn’t know all things.

  “Please, keep going,” Tadhg encouraged her. Tell me about the devils who seek Catherine.

  “Well,” Eleanor said, delving deeper into their own preparation for conflict by teaching the offensive, and understanding the defensive, so the enemy could not get the upper hand. “As I said, abusive and neglectful acts are the doors through which they enter. We must be eminently careful while we are in this earthly atmosphere; it is their domain. For certain, the human body has plenty of fertile soil for negative emotions. Stirring up emotions—using “Fear”, “Loathing”, “Debauchery”, “Hate”, “Abuse”, “Loneliness”, “Isolation”, “Inflated Self-Worth”, “Overeating”, “Anorexia”, “Hedonism”, “Anhedonia”, and there are just too many to name—creates the perfect nurturing environment for devils to thrive and grow into the demons they are. They easily take root, and blossom in human characters, thus increasing their army, which will ultimately take over Earth for good; and that is their agenda. These spirits of evil have taunted Catherine over the years, plus I detected “Incubus” and “Succubus” before we arrived. They are exceptionally strong entities— otherwise, alien to this world—and have been entertaining her with wild dreams of erotica.”

  “They want to change the ending? Impossible!”, Tadhg boldly stated. “How did the big devils get a part in this? “Incubus” and “Succubus”? How did that happen?”

  “Those two came after “Loneliness” was allowed to enter her domain. In time, and not too quickly, they entered through her dreams. She was not only lonely for human friendship, but also for physical sexual contact. Catherine is an unusually beautiful woman, who never married. To my knowledge, she’s never had sexual intercourse. Because the two devils are cunning, clever, and know intimate thoughts, which they capture when someone sleeps, they watched Catherine’s dreams and desires which were unfulfilled. The door was easily opened, and captivation of her was a piece of cake. There was probably little resistance except guilt in the aftermath of participating with them in their folly. Catherine was easy prey. She searched for love within her dreams.”

  “Hmm. Now, I see. It was simple,” Tadhg looked down with sadness.

  Eleanor raised her eye. “And, may I add to your earlier comment, it is not impossible, dear friend, for them to change the ending. The battle will not an easy one, dear Tadhg. Every battle is fought and claimed, one human at a time. It’s Cat’s turn. She is one of us. We are here to free her, so she may accomplish her God-given purpose.”

  “Eleanor, your mission was going to be no small task, I knew; but it’s a job you know extremely well.” He praised her knowledge. “No one knows like you.”

  “Elizabeth Catherine Dubois’s negatives are fairly easy to discern, but only time and energy will tell if she is willing to win, in the end. In other words, I do believe their weakness is conquerable,” Eleanor added, with every hope in her heart.

  From downstairs, Cat yelled like a kid, “Eleanor are you upstairs?”

  “Yes, dear. Up here!”, Eleanor yelled back.

  “Are you talking to someone?”, Cat asked. She waited for the answer as she climbed the stairs to enter Eleanor’s bedroom. She looked around as if she was trying to find someone else there.

  Eleanor paused and shifted the conversation between herself and Tadhg—to their mental channel. “She must have heard us, Tadhg. Let's open the second box and get working, while Catherine’s soil is softer.”

  Eleanor said, “Catherine there are two other boxes to open, dear.”

  “Heavens, she’s got a investigative mind,” Tadhg jests.

  “Catherine, did you sleep well?”, Eleanor asked.

  “Yes, I woke up because I could hear people talking. The walls are thin in this old house.” She looked suspiciously at Eleanor, and asked “Who were you talking to?”

  “Oh, I was just reading a book out loud,” Eleanor said. “This one.” She picked up a book nearby.

  “Oh. I thought I heard a male voice,” Cat said, slowly. She was certain she’d heard the voice of a man.

  “She heard my voice. She can hear me. This is wonderful. Let me test her sense of hearing, feeling and insightful perceptions,” Tadhg said, delightedly. He hurried down to whisper into Cat’s left ear, and then into her right. “Hello, my dear, can you hear this? If you can hear me, then raise your right arm. Raise your right arm. Come on, let me see you do this.”

  Meanwhile, Eleanor was trying to tell him to stop. “This is NOT part of the plan, Tadhg! You’re toying with her and I won’t have it. Stop! Stop it, right now!”

  Cat gave Eleanor a look filled with questions. Then, she closed her eyes and squinted hard, trying to comprehend the command to raise her right hand. “Yes, I can hear you,” Cat muttered and began to raise her right arm up above her head.

  “What are you talking about, Catherine? What are you doing?”, Eleanor asked. “Heard whom?”

  “I hear him. He told me to raise my right arm. I did. You hear him too, don’t you, Eleanor?”

  “Dear, are you feeling alright?”, Eleanor asked.

  “Yes, I feel fine. Great, as a matter of fact,” Catherine answered, pleased that she might have gotten somewhere in figuring out that there is, in fact, a man…somewhere.

  Eleanor changed the subject. “Oh, I see. Now, let’s go downstairs, shall we?” Eleanor took her by the elbow and led her down the stairs. “Come on dear, I’m getting a chill up here.”

  Lovey sat at the bottom of the stairs barking. He tried to make it up the first step, but wasn’t strong enough. He was too young to climb the stairs, but he tried to get to Cat.

  “Oh, look at him, the dear!”, Eleanor cooed. “Come here little puppy.” She began to reach for him, but, Cat was quicker. She scooped him up.

  “Come on Lovey. Do you need to go outside? Huh? Mama will take you.” Cat walked out back with Lovey.

  “What are you doing?” Eleanor scolded Tadhg.

  “What? I’m simply testing the old girl’s reception. She’s actually quite good for a human.

  “You could blow our job here!”, Eleanor snapped, giving Tadhg a piece of her mind. This mission was very important to her. “Now, SHHH!…she’s coming back inside. She quickened the conversation to end.

  Cat returned with Lovey, a slight smile on her face. “Well, he did what he needed to do. No accidents for you, okay?”

  “Shall I put some tea on?”, Eleanor asked. “I have some elderberry and Asian mushroom tea. It’s delicious.” Eleanor went to the sink and filled the tea pot. Onto the stove she placed it. While they waited for the water to boil, they chatted about peyote. Cat was humorous, and Eleanor was dead serious. Eleanor brought the fresh peyote mushrooms out of her tote. They were freshly picked.

  “Amazing. What else did you tote with you?” Cat looked inside her tote. “Do you have a garden of psychedelic mushrooms growing in there?” Cat laughed.

  “Now, dear, I must have my tea. But, go ahead, have a look,” Eleanor urged her.

  “Mushroom tea?”, Cat said sarcastically. “I can’t wait. Mushrooms?”

  “Oh, yes. It causes the third eye to open. Then, you can see and hear the other side,” Eleanor said, mysteriously.

  “The other side?” Cat raised her brow. “What do you mean by the other side?”

  “Well, the mushroom tea opens your mind up to a spiritual plane.” Eleanor poured two cups. “Here, try it. You’ll enjoy it.”

  “Peyote?”, Cat snickered. “Peyote? You like to have trips?”

  “Trips?” Eleanor raised her brow. “What do you mean?”

  �
��Like LSD. Peyote is like an acid trip. You see and hear funny things,” Cat laughed.

  “Hmm…I guess I don’t understand your definition of peyote. It opens the pineal gland. It opens the spirit into the Spirit—like a parallel universe.” Eleanor tried to give her the spiritual understanding of peyote.

  “I wouldn’t doubt it. You would have it no other way. Are you always this magical? Are you a magician type? What is your gig?” Cat started to dig at Eleanor for an inch of her truth. “Just what is your purpose here?”

  “Of, course not. Dear Lord, what would that make me? A dealer, a pusher of drugs?” Eleanor pretended to be shocked.

  “Here.” She handed Cat a cup of the hot tea.

  They went into the den with their peyote tea. Eleanor had poured it into dainty china tea cups.

  “If my mother knew I was using her cups to drink peyote tea with a hundred-year-old woman from England, she certainly would have something to say about it.” Cat couldn’t help from snickering, while she placed some logs in the fireplace ‘til it was roaring.

  There was silence as they sipped. Lovey lay next to Cat and occasionally wagged his tail. “You’re so ugly, you’re cute.” Cat told him.

  “Catherine, he’ll hear you. Must you hurt his feelings?”, Eleanor scolded her. “You know better than hurting his feelings. What has robbed you of the compassion you once had?”

  “He’s a dog for God’s sake. Hurt his feelings? Come on…”, Cat gently protested.

  “You know, a few years ago, you didn’t think like that. You were a defender of the weak,” Eleanor said, matter of factly.

  “Like what? How would you know that? You didn’t know me a few years ago,” Cat replied, thinking how she always seemed to feel like a child around Eleanor. She asked herself, “A few years ago? How would Eleanor know how I felt? That was along time ago. I’m not even sure how I felt then. I was a naive girl who believed in goodness within all people, and saw only that. Now, I know, for a fact, I was delusional. Why my parents allowed me to be so stupidly innocent, and allowed me to believe that fairy godmothers, angels, and supernatural forces were present and helpful, was a tragedy for me. I grew up believing such stupid fables. Shame on them! They should have stopped me from thinking like that!”

  The room had a chill, but it didn’t come from the weather. It came from the coldness within Cat’s internal being. Eleanor had blundered. The slip of her tongue had to be masked. Momentarily, the silence felt as though it would hold in the black space, forever, and that nothing could alter or ever change Catherine back to the magical thinker she once was.

  “All children hold, within them, unique gifts—love, belief and joy. Adulthood eventually ruins that magic within children. Some children lost their innocent beliefs early; others, like yourself, hold the magic longer.” Eleanor attempted to correct her slip of the tongue by explaining innocence and imagination, magic and childhood. “Don’t read into it more than there is, alright dear?”, Eleanor said, at last.

  “Some children have magic. Not all,” Cat snapped back. “Chicanery is what it is.”

  “What would you know about communication with animals? I see you’re doing pretty well with Lovey,” Eleanor petted Lovey as she asked this question. She would use Catherine’s statement and turn it back on her. Perhaps she could get her to talk about her childhood. If she could, then maybe she could inspire Cat to take up her original gifts.

  Cat picked up Lovey to hold him, after that question.

  Eleanor looked up from the dog and straight into Cat’s eyes. Her gaze penetrated Cat, making her uncomfortable. Eleanor’s expression told Cat that Eleanor saw everything about her. It frightened her. Cat felt exposed and could hide no thoughts.

  Eleanor’s emerald irises and dilated pupils, with the wrinkles on her face, especially around her lips, sent an electrical pulse into Cat. She stepped back. To Cat, Eleanor was truly, not of this Earth.

  They stared each other down while sitting on the couch. The mention of the past, especially the loss of her animals in the barn fire was still raw. Her memories were supposed to have been blocked. At least Cat tried her best to dissociate the painful memories. She stopped the animal cries for help. There was nothing she could do that day in the past that would have saved them—nothing. The memories and the conversation hurt. It opened wounds.

  “Stop. I can’t go there. I can’t think about my pets or that day! Please, don’t make me, Eleanor.” She broke down. A flood gate of tears swelled then began flowing down her white face. She sobbed and her nose dripped with the tears, as well. Her face and eyes swelled. The pain had been held back for 35 years. She just broke. It lasted for a while longer, but would return later that night when she would cry alone. It kind of felt good. She hadn’t cried like that in decades. These were her emotions coming out; and the emotions wanted out because they were held at bay by Cat for all these years. Emptying herself, and allowing the tears to flow, was like allowing the damn to crack open. Nothing was there to hold them back any longer.

  Cat didn’t know if she should thank Eleanor for getting her to this place of release, or hate her. It felt good and bad at the same time. However the void, the hole inside her where the tears were being stored up, was emptying. What would the hole be filled with? What could replace the voidness and empty feelings? Would she feel worst? The empty feelings did feel horrible, but Cat felt lighter. The burden of sadness and tears had put an unnecessary weight on her.

  Looking at Eleanor’s face again, Cat noticed it was soft and kind, as it had been since she had come to visit. Then, Cat saw an old woman who had magic, but was evil, or so she felt—evil for bringing her to the place of utter brokenness. After all, Eleanor had not been there with her in her past; and she was certain she would not be there to see her to healing. “Eleanor won’t be here. I will be alone to heal myself, again. I can’t do life alone,” she told herself.

  “Catherine, it is not my soul purpose to make you cry or to make you relive that horrible day.” Eleanor stopped to let that sink in, then began softly again, “The pain of the animals crying for help is now gone.” She swooshed her hand over Cat’s head and brow while she spoke words in a different tongue that Cat didn’t recognize. Then, she spoke again, “The animals are safe now. They don’t want you to feel guilty or discouraged. They love you. They are all in God’s hands. He has them now, and you are no longer to bear their burdens of pain or suffering. I promise you they are doing well, but you are not.”

  “How do you know?”, Cat demanded.

  “You will have to trust me. I can not show them to you, but I assure you, they want you to be set free of their pain. It no longer exists unless you give the cries life when you suffer. I had to take you here, to this place of great sadness. This is a beginning. We will start here. And, then go to another area of suffering. But, you must trust me.” Eleanor spoke like she was God, or like a god. She had great wisdom; this could not be denied, even by Cat.

  Tadhg had been observing their conversation, but he was quiet until the silence needed to be intercepted with a new thought—something fresh and positive. Because truly, with one negative, there must always be positives that counteract. Tadhg’s inherent knowledge and trained practice was focused on the ethereal aspects of physics. He knew that awakening must be dealt on all levels; and, there must always be more positive than negative.

  Tadhg needed to intercept Eleanor’s thoughts from above, and change the subject of Catherine’s emotional state. “Eleanor, it is good that she can read the unseen. I don’t think this is all wrong. Let Catherine see some positive things about herself. Then, she might understand that she is not alone— and never has been.”

  Eleanor telepathically communicated back to Tadhg. “You’re right, but she’s seeing wrong at this point. She won’t hear me right now. I’ll wait a few minutes or so. She’s smart enough to know what I would be doing. Let’s give her a respite.”

  “In the beginning, we all were learning. Give her a lifetime; may
be she’ll straighten out the signals.” Tadhg said. “Some of them do. She’s insightful enough. It’s too bad there isn’t a whole life to live without troubles. She’s lost 35 years or more of practice. Humans have tough lessons.” Tadhg sighed, “I wouldn’t want to be human.”

  “Yes, Tadhg, they have tough lessons to learn on the road to soul perfection.” Eleanor smiled then she reached over to Catherine and hugged her so tight. She held her like her mother did when she was young. It felt good, although Cat didn’t feel as if she was deserving of the love. So, she pulled away some, but not all the way.

  Eleanor got up and went into the kitchen. Cat followed. “It’s time for elderberry and Asian mushroom tea.” Eleanor put the pot back on the fire.

  “We just had peyote tea. Why these strange, foreign teas? Why not regular American tea from the local store in a tea bag? What the hell am I drinking? Are you trying to woo me into a magic spell? Incantations? And, who are you always talking to?”, Cat asked as she examined the tea leaves. Using her discerning wisdom, Cat sensed she was being spellbound. “I won’t drink this.” She put the tea down.

  “My, my, she won’t drink it. I guess we’ll have to pour it down her,” Tadhg remarked, jokingly.

  “What’s that? Say it again, please?” Cat looked up. “Who is that?”

  “What are you talking about, dear?” Eleanor batted her eyelashes in an expression of innocence, her manner more demure than that she really possessed. “I’m not understanding.”

  “The man. The man’s voice. Who is he?”, Cat insisted. “I know there is a man here—and, you talk with him all the time. I hear him. What’s this about?”

  “I think you’re tired dear. Are you, alright? There must be something I can do for you.” Eleanor handed her the tea cup and saucer. “Here, dear, drink it. You’ll feel better.”