by Sorcie
| Wandering along the path, feeling the warm sunshine on her face and hands, Sorcie begins to sense an anguish, a feeling of loss, that grows in strength and assails her emotions to the point of pain. She is drawn to leave the path, and seek out a small clearing, where she finds the graceful doe, ever present bringer of spring and newbirth, laying in the grass, her eyes dull with pain and defeat. Each spring, the gentle doe has brought the gift of life to the forest with her newborn fawn. But now, unable to conceive and bear new young, she has lain down in helpless despair, feeling useless and unwilling to live. | ||
| Sorcie comes to her side, touches
the soft head, attempting to heal and renew, but the creature sighs softly
and turns away. Sorcie's brow furrows as she searches for some comfort for
the deer, failing to find the magic to heal her At last, Sorcie rises, and vows to return when she has found a way to make things right. She strides off through the forest, on a quest of healing. As she walks, she asks the spirits to guide her and help her to find the gifts needed to save their friend the doe and give her a reason to live. She asks for the wisdom to see where to go and what to do. |
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| Suddenly, Sorcie stops, hearing a tiny sound.
She finds herself one with the hidden hare, crouched in the brush, its tiny
heart aflutter with fear. She accepts the gift it offers: believe in your
ability to survive. She leaves the hare silently and continues on her way,
her first treasure safely in hand. Sorcie travels the way to the cliff house where lives the shaman. She treads the precarious path with determination and faith that if she arrives at his house safely, he will provide aid. Although she has only visited him a few times, she knows he has the magic to take her on her journey. When she arrives, she offers gifts of gold coin. The quiet shaman listens to her entreaty and then begins to mix the herbs needed for the quest that will allow Sorcie to search for greater magic and new understanding. Sorcie is given the potion and takes it back with her to the forest, carefully retracing her steps along the cliff above the sea, her eyes as gray as the endlessly tossing waves. |
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| . Now she is ready to begin her quest, and she finds a soft bed of grass and reclines, drinking the shaman's mixture, falling back against the grass. She has become a soaring white dove, wings beating strongly, a drop of blood spilling from one wing tip, and she learns the secret of rising above the pain in search of a better time. She flies through the heavens, free and aloft, breathing in great breaths of freedom from earthly pain. She clutches the gift to her, even as she feels herself changing... | ||
| The fish that is Sorcie struggles in the depths, fighting its way to the surface amid the debris of a used world, following its instinct to survive. Even though the cool dark depths are so much more appealing, Fish knows he must brave the sunlight to find food. Just before he sinks to the deep darkness once more, Fish gives Sorcie the key of basic instinct which nature provides for survival. | ||
| Now Sorcie finds she is the Turtle, upturned and helpless, its soft undershell exposed to the spears and arrows of the world. She is given the visions of circumstances that inevitably make the Turtle powerless. Sorcie accepts the gift of surrender and leaves some of her own magic with the turtle. | ||
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When Sorcie becomes one with stoic Elephant, she finds her ankles massive and heavy, bound to earth by the tangled growth of life. Trunk spraying warm, soothing water, Elephant accepts and is accepted. Elephant just is. She thanks him for his gift and takes some time to remember the feeling of being a part of the march of time, of being massive Elephant. The Bear sees that Sorcie is weary and confused from her journey and invites her to its cave, where the lesson of rest and hibernation must be learned. The cave is close and confining for Sorcie. The sun does not shine here, but she sees that her spirit likes the peace and calm to re-knit its fiber. She thanks Bear for helping her and for its gift of patience and healing, and returns to the surface to find that the world has gone dark and the rain is soaking through her garments and chilling her very soul. |
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| Sorcie senses a keening, anguishing howl and turns to find Wolf, caught fast in a trap, lifeblood flowing onto the ground. Wolf's pain is overpowering and unbearable. Wolf's unceasing efforts to survive cause it more and more pain. Sorcie is overcome by the intensity of Wolf's agony and struggles to break free, but cannot find the way to escape this encounter. She howls along with Wolf, in timeless, unending despair, until at last she is taken in strong arms and pulled to her feet and away from the wolf. Sorcie receives the gift of unwavering love from her Wizard, who rescues her and then steps back to allow her to continue her quest. | ||
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Sorcie again takes up her journey and wanders along paths she has never traversed. She begins to realize that she has wandered in circles, walking the same ground over and over. Sorcie becomes one with Rat in the maze, destined to continue to scurry along the same paths, never making progress nor finding the way out. She sees that rat has the fortitude to keep trying, and the optimism that someday the exit will be found. When she has accepted this gift, the Wizard appears beside her and leads her from the maze. She tucks Rat's gift inside her pouch with the others, and picks her way through the forest, sighing a tired sigh. Above her, the sun once more begins to emerge, and turns the droplets which cling to the trees into millions of glistening prisms. Sorcie begins to see the rainbows of hope and emerges from the shadows of the dark woods into a bright meadow of wildflowers. |
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| Butterfly dances across her path and touches her hand, giving the gift of renewal and constant change. Red Robin begins to sing to her of the continually fulfilled promise of spring and growth. Across the meadow, she sees the Unicorn snorting and rearing, who reminds her that she makes her own magic everyday. Weary from her journey, but still carrying all her treasured gifts, Sorcie finds the strength to continue to the doe's side. The doe lays amongst the reeds, heart heavy, body abused. Trusting in the magic, she lays without fear, content that she has given her all in life. When Sorcie reaches the doe's place of rest, she bestows all her hard-won gifts on her animal friend, each one bearing the marks of the creature who gave it and carrying the emotions of Sorcie as she obtained it. | ||
| The doe is overcome by the beauty and meaning of the gift and nuzzles Sorcie in joy and gratitude. She clumsily gets to her feet, ready for the next stage in her life, willing to learn how to serve the forest in a new capacity. Together, Sorcie and the doe emerge from the clearing to find that the Wizard and all the animals of Sorcie's quest have come to be part of the culmination of the journey. The magic of their gathering sparkles and leaps in delight and as they stand in fellowship and celebration, they hear a cacophony of squeaks and clicks and laughter. They turn and follow along a new path, down through the thinning brush, to a blindingly white beach, where the surf is surging in on white jubilant waves. | ||
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As they look out to the horizon, they
see a new friend, leaping up into the sunlight, twisting and jumping and
laughing in its own joy of life - Dolphin! And another saga of the forest
begins...
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Won't you sign Sorcie's
GUEST
BOOK?
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