This story is inspired by a series written by
Stephen Donaldson
about a hero called Thomas Covenant.
It’s a journey through 8 really large volumes.
If there is only one book that I have read in my life that really made an impact on me,
This is it!
Impossible to summarise but I’ll give you a taste, without spoiling it for you.
I read them twice.
All 8 books.
The command that the author has over the English language is superb!
I often reread sentences just to savour the energy of the images,
tasting them, smelling them, feeling them as I journeyed through the books.
Being transported into other dimensions.
*
Imagine this…
Once upon a time…long, long ago…
There lived a man who was famous and successful and happily married.
He had it all.

Then he contracted leprosy!
And his whole world came tumbling down.
No longer respected by people, he was despised and rejected.
His wife took their child and left him.
When he left his farm to go into town for necessities,
people would walk over to the other side of the pavement to avoid
having to pass him and greet him.
Leprosy was contagious.
He no longer had any family or friends. Or fame.

Leprosy numbs the nerves.
Therefore victims cannot feel when they scratch themselves.
Their wounds become infected without them knowing they even had a wound! And so they may lose another limb!
It’s dangerous and demands the victim to be super-diligent and careful.
They cannot afford to scrape or knock themselves.
They have to do visual checks every so often to make sure they are still ok.
Our leper has already lost a finger or two, making his hand appear as if it was a half-hand.
And so, here we have the hero of our story
Thomas Covenant,
crossing the street one day, as he leaves a shop in town.
He sees the car coming
but not in time to get out of the way!
The last thing he remembers before the car hits him
is the 2 red lights of the approaching car.
He doesn’t remember the impact at all.
All he knows is that he wakes up with 2 red light approaching.
But they are looking at him!
It turns out to be the eyes of a hectic creature!

At first he thinks he’s dead.
But he soon realises that he is still very much alive!
He tries to convince himself that he is hallucinating.
And so he meets people in this place called The Land,
who take him on an insane journey.

They have all been waiting for him to arrive.
They welcome him!
He is their hero! They even have a name for him.
In their folklore there are many stories describing him as ‘the Half Hand”.
Over here in The Land he is seen as the healer and saviour of them all.
Not a leper.
There are things in nature that can cure him and make his nerves
feel alive again.
For instance a special mud in the riverbeds, with wonderful gold specks in it.
If you smear it on an open wound you watch as the wound heals
in front of your very eyes!
You feel the energy of the healing seeping into your bones, muscles and body.
Unbelievable!
There are also wonderful treasure-berries along the way.
Free for the picking and deliciously cool and nutritious!
They explode in your mouth and seep into your entire body as a magnificently refreshing and tingling, healing balm.

But he cannot allow himself to believe any of it!
Because he knows he is a leper.
He believes that his mind is playing tricks on him!
He believes that when he ‘wakes up’ from this delusion
he will find that he has lost his mind and has gone insane,
should he dare to believe any of it.
And so he goes on fighting the people and amazing events in The Land
and refuses to help them.
Because he believes they aren’t real!

The real mind twister here is:
as he finds himself in The Land running away from a hectic creature
that is trying to kill him,
he trips or falls or knocks his head or something…
and he wakes up in his world where he is a leper!
In hospital.
The car did in fact hit him!
A few hours or days ago.
but
in the land a few weeks, months or years have passed!

And so the author vacillates between these two worlds.
through 8 long, exciting and gripping volumes!
Back and forth.
Building on the themes both sides.
It is mind-blowing!

Every time a theme on either side builds to a crescendo,
he has some kind of unexpected accident
and wakes up in the other world!

In The Land he refuses to believe that his wedding band
is what they believe is the magick talisman
that will give him all the power he needs to conquer the many obstacles.
He just needs to believe it and call on the power!
And every time he has his back against the wall and he accidentally
rubs on the ring or calls on the power involuntarily,
the magick does indeed happen!
Big Time!
Beyond anything you can imagine!
But he keeps on finding reasons to deny the reality of The Land.

I am not going to spoil the books for you by telling you more.
Do yourself a four and read it!
*
Why am I sharing this with you?
What does this novel have to do with you and me?
Think about it…
Spiritual or religious cosmology is the creation myth of various cultures.
It explains the origin, history, evolution and eventual fate of the cosmos
or Universe according to various religious or cultural beliefs.
It usually includes an act or process of creation by a creator deity
or larger pantheon.
The stories vary depending on the culture:
Buddhism, Hindu, various Chinese beliefs, Taoism, Confucianism. Shintoism or the Abrahamic faiths, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Some of the spiritual cosmologies see God as the creator of one man.
Others see a male/female Creator God.
Some see heaven and hell as real places where you bask in glory or burn.
Forever.
Others believe in a Cosmic Egg or Cosmic Tree.
And believe that the energies are inside of us.
Heaven and Hell.
That we get to choose to surf the dimensions between different realities whilst we are here now.
The stories and beliefs vary.
But they all basically see the Spiritual component of the Creator God.

What all of them have in common is that there is a spiritual element that is unseen.
One that requires us to have faith and believe in it.
Or not.
It’s a choice!
Just as Thomas Covenant had a choice to believe in The Land.
Or not.
*
Think about it…
Modern scientists are fully accepting Einstein’s particle/wave theory.
Basically explaining that everything consists of energy that has both
particle and wave form.
Energy cannot be created or destroyed.
It moves between these two states, particle or wave.
It’s impossible to observe the one when in the other.
Particle is dense, seen. Wave is unseen energy.
Which is why when our bodies (particle) die,
our energy continues to exist in unseen spirit (wave) form.
This is a scientific fact.
Similarly,
gravity will work. Whether we believe in it or not!
The ancient Emerald Tablets
of the Egyptian God Thoth, explains how:

As Above So Below – As Within So Without.

We are for instance, affected by things such as planetary alignments.
As Above So Below.
Yet we have creative ability to think and speak our realities into being.
As Within So Without.
Just as God created and spoke the world into being.
We manifest what we focus on and believe in.
*
Thomas Covenant could have believed in both worlds!
But he chose to deny the one because it ‘was too good to be true.’
Interesting mirror!
We can choose to be like Thomas Covenant
The Unbeliever,
who hung on to his leper-mentality even when he found himself
in the magical Land
where he could have gained support and enjoyed much healing and miracles,
had he believed!
If we deny the Spirit world and try and control it with our minds
we will be like Thomas Covenant
stressed out and unable to receive the bountiful gifts from the many truly magnificent beings in The Land.
Had he believed everything would have been different!
A choice with polar opposite consequences!

I know for myself I choose to believe in the ‘Angel on my Shoulder’.
It has proven to be not ‘just a story’.
It is very real!
The Land is very real.
Not just in Stephen Donaldson’s wonderful imagination!

People who have a strong spiritual core know this.
Their belief helps them to cope and have meaning and peace in their lives.
Even if things are not ‘going according to plan’.
There is a trust in the Divine Unfolding of things.
Even if we cannot always see the bigger picture.
If you are reading this you are probably one of the believers.
And you know what I mean.
If not, I hope this story helps you to think about it again!
I remember a time when Fred and I were in Germany.
We were at a beautiful castle
and in the gardens I saw about 7 trees standing very close, forming a circle.
It looked so magical and inviting!
I just had to go into the middle of that cosy little circle with the trees folding their arms around me.
From the outside it looked really inviting!
But
the minute Fred and I stepped into the enclosure
we started fighting like cat and dog!
About nothing!
And we never fought!
It was really weird.
And the minute we stepped out of the circle the energy lifted and was gone.
Poof!

It took me a while to figure it out…
Energy gets trapped in places long after the people have left.
This was in Germany.
I cannot help but wonder if perhaps there were some people
hiding in that enclosure at some point in time.
Perhaps during the holocaust?
Who knows?
All I know is that a few years later I was back there with Julia.
We purposefully went back into the circle of trees to test the energy.
And it was gone!

I don’t know if Fred and I cleared something there without realising it.
What I do know
is that we are able to clear the energy that is stuck in places.
By default,
or with awareness and intention.

Which is why we need to call back
the splintered-off pieces of our souls from all time and space.
Which is also why a Shaman smudges people and places.
And so can and should we! Smudge ourselves and our homes.
Regularly.
Burn incense.
Or light a candle and use for instance Palo Santo or Sage
together with your intention.
It’s easy.

I’ve heard of people who have gone to hectic places like Auschwitz
and taken groups of people there
to sing and dance with really wonderful, loud music
to help release the souls and clear the space!
As I somehow did at Magersfontein, without understanding or realising it.

Spirit is gracious and helps us.
Even if we often stumble in the dark, as if blindfolded!
As long as we are open and willing to try.
Not closed like Thomas Covenant
The Unbeliever.

There is more to life than what meets the eye.
There is an energetic component,
which hides form our sight when we are too busy or too ‘clever’.
Not humble enough. Or quiet enough.
When we are open, believe, become humble and quiet we are able to find it.
But the minute we look away it disappears again!
Not to be taken for granted.
*