What The Bones Say - Chapter 2

Running to the consultation room with items in hand, Angel put them down and helped to move the heavy oak table to the side room.

“This thing weighs a flippin’ ton!”

“Stop whining and hurry. We need to get this circle cast, and get this house cleared.”

“Hurry? Are you not feeling how heavy this thing is? Or have your Wonder Woman powers kicked in?”

Celeste tsked at her and rolled her eyes. With the table finally moved, they worked in unison. Sprinkling the room with holy water, reciting the 23^rd Psalms, and then sending prayers to the loas for their help.

“I’ll be right back.”

“Hun we don’t have time we need to start now.”

“We also need something to get a reading. I’m grabbing the bones, since those are the only thing that have not been incinerated…yet.”

“I have an onyx pendulum in here. We can use that.”

Ignoring her, Angel ran to the kitchen and turned around to start heading back to the consultation room when a wave of dark energy hit her like a brick wall. Collapsing on all fours , she wretched uncontrollably.

“Angel, hun? Come on we don’t have…Bon Dieu!”

As Celeste ran to help her friend, she was knocked back and slammed into the living room wall by the same dark energy.  Grabbing her head and trying to control the buzzin in her ears, “Angelique…oooouch? Are you ok?”

“Yeah, just got the wind knocked out of me. What about you?”

“Got the black knocked of my fine ass, but other than that, I’m just peachy, sweety.”

Both of them let out a tight bitter laugh, but it did help to relieve some of their tension.

“Can you come towards me? Can you make it back to where I am?”

Angel, tried to get up on her feet but her stomach was still lurching from the foulness of the energy that was swirling all around her. “I’ll try.” She crawled on all fours taking it slow, inch by inch, until she reached Celeste.  Sliding down against the wall next to her, she took in a deep breath, centered  herself and drew down a beam of white protective healing light to encircle herself first, then extend around them both. Grabbing Celeste’s hand, power arched between them and the bubble of light solidified like a crystal. For now they were safe. For now they could rest and think.

“Ok. So what’s the plan?”

“Je ne sais pas, ma cher. I just don’t know. But, I know that we have to get to the consultation room. Get that protection circle erected and get some answers.”

“Why not do it here?”

“Hell to the nah! Are you forgetting what just happened or, what happened earlier? I am not about to become a human lightening rod in here because of those things. “

Looking down at the leather bag sitting  in her lap, Angel knew that their chance of making it to the consultation room was slim to none right now, and their best bet was to do the reading there.  Why not do the reading here? We are in a protective bubble. If we can get at least some information as to what is going on then that will give us a better shot at resolving this issue. She had made up her mind.

“I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna do the reading in here.”

“Have you lost your goddamned mind?!!”

“Think, C-. We are in a protective circle…of sorts. The negative energy that was affecting them out there might not affect them in here. “

Celeste looked at her friend with doubt, then finally gave in.

“Fine, but if I get electrocuted to death, and you survive, I am coming back to haunt yo’ ass.  Hope the men you bring to your bed enjoy voyeurism.”

“Just plain nasty”

“Oui, that I am. And proud of it!”

Fear shining brightly in both of their eyes, they give each other a hug and set to work.

“Ok, let’s do this. This bubble is tight as all hell, and I have got to pee like a friggin’ horse.”

“TMI…t.m.i.”

“What’s a little sharing of personal bodily functions between friends?”

“Refer to the first fucking statement.”

Maneuvering around so they were facing each other, legs crossed, they crossed their wrists and grabbed each other hands.  Focusing their energy, a gold thread wound around them like the infinity symbol getting larger and brighter, extending the crystallized bubble to make more room for them and push back the darkness that  was on the outside slithering over their refuge trying to find a way to get at it’s prey. The light they generated was warm, loving, and sparkled with the purity of bon Dieu.

“K. I think we’re good. Let’s get this over with.”

“Agreed.”

Angel emptied the contents of the protective bag out into her hand this time the bones did not feel electrified, they thrummed like a strong heart beating in an athlete’s  chest.  Hello my loves. She thought.

“Papa Legba! I call to you we need the door way open, we need to see what can not be seen. Show us the hidden truth.”

The bones were thrown in between them. They bounced and rattled around what seemed like an eternity. Then finally an answer…ALL strong no’s.

“Merde! Cher, that is no good. No good at all.”

“Really? I hadn’t figured that one out.”

“Hey, no need to get pissy with me.”

Angel sighed, “I know. Sorry. But this is the last thing I needed to see.”

“Roll them again. Not sure if it will make much of a difference, but it doesn’t hurt to try.”

The bones were rolled once more. And much as they had expected, they got the same answer.

“Ok, we are going about this the wrong way. We already know that we got big, bad, and definitely ugly out there causing all hell to break loose, but we need to know why.”

“True dat, sweety. So what we need to be asking is who is doing this and why.”

“I knew I kept you in my life for a reason.”

“Well one out of the two of us has to be the brains of this operation.”

Angel playfully punched her best friend in the arm. She was right. They needed to know who and why. So the bones were rolled asking if what was trying to harm them had to do with Angel’s dream. A strong yes. Was it the thing in her dream that was causing the this mess? A strong no. Was it someone connected to the thing chasing her in the dream? A strong yes. Last question…was it someone she knew?

The bones bounced and then did something she had never seen before, they up ended and spun and spun, without stopping. They heard a crack and looked up. Their protective barrier was weakening.

“Fuck! What now?!”

“Grab those things and put them back in the bag.

Angel tried to grab them and they shocked her.  “Ouch!” shaking her hand , she turned the bag inside out and grabbed each one in turn then righted the bag with the bones inside. They buzzed with deadly energy.

“Hun, we have no time left. We have got to get to the consultation room. “

“Celeste, there is no way we will be able to make it there. You see how thick that is?”

Looking out through their protective bubble, they saw the dark energy becoming thicker and blacker, almost as if it was absorbing everything it touched. But they saw a clear path. A slim one, if they took it now they might be able to make it.

“Ok, ok. We got one shot at this. Take my hand we stay linked no matter what. We run that path there straight through. No looking back. You got it.”

All Angel could do was nod her head in agreement. The fear building in her was too great to do much else.

More cracks were forming, the passage was starting to close, they got in a crouched position.

“On the count of 3. Un…deux…”

“Hey what happened to three?!”

Celeste ignored her shot forth a blast of energy she had been building to break their barrier, and took off in a life or death sprint dragging her friend behind her.

Almost there, she thought.  Just as she placed her foot within the consultation room there was a scream, but not from her. It was Angel. She turned to see her friend lifted partially in the air. Something had grabbed her ankle long, inky black sinewy strands of the nastiness was trying hard to take Angel.

“The hell you will!”

Celeste pulled down as much energy as she could with a speed she had never done before and shot it out through her free hand at the center of the black mass. It recoiled, dropped Angel, and she dragged her friend into the consultation room before their path permanently closed.

"What The Bones Say"

This is a story I started working on last month. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have been writing it. I will be adding more chapters as the months go on. So stay tuned.

 (Gotta love this picture. I thought she was the coolest character out of ALL of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.)

What The Bones Say

Angel woke up in a cold sweat. Third night in a row that she had a dream about being chased by some dark shadowy figure. She couldn’t see the face, she could just hear it breathing, and see white teeth flash in the moon light. What the hell was it? And why was it after her?

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she got up and walked to the bathroom still trembling from the nightmare that seemed more real than dream.  “No denying it,” she said.  “This is a message.”

After showering and washing away the evidence of the terror from her body, Angel got dressed and headed down stairs to her kitchen. Smelling fresh bacon & eggs cooking, hearing the Today show in the background, and listening to the sweet, soft humming of her BFF at the stove, she felt a little better, and quickly pushed the dream from her mind.

“Hey girly! I thought you were never gonna get up. Bon Dieu! You sleep like the dead.”

Celeste Monroe, her oldest and closest friend since like sandbox. Always had a knack for putting a smile on her face even in the worst situations. Now was no different.

“You ok, cher? You are awfully quiet this morning.”

Stumbling over her thoughts, Angel finally decided to start from the beginning and tell her friend what has been going on.  Celeste was a Hoodoo. Born and raised. She had a gift for divination and interpreting dreams. If anyone would know what was going on she would.

“I had a…dream last night. I was being chased.”

“Was he hot? Cause if he was, you should of let him catch you.”

“Nasty.”

“What? I’m just saying, if I was the one being chased by some hot guy I would find a way to trip and fall and let him catch me.” A big Cheshire cat grin crossing her full lips.

Sighing, Angel pulled out the chair at the kitchen table, , pushed a few stray locs out of her face, and started to recount her reoccurring dream, the large shadowy creature in it,  and the extreme fear she has been plagued with for the past three nights.

Turnign the stove off and moving their breakfast to a cool trivet, Celeste sat down at the table with her and thought for a bit before she responded to what was relayed to her.

“DO you think it was a dream or …?”

“Please don’t say it.”

“Cher. You know you have a gift for visions, and if this is something that is gonna happen, and to you specifically, you need to face it and figure out what all of it means.”

Deep down Angel knew she was right. “I…I know.”

Getting up from the table she walked over to the window and watched the sun sparkle off the bayou water. Angel knew it was a “message.” A vision, and that if she didn’t figure it out in time, a life, mainly hers might be in danger.

Looking at Celeste, she nodded her head. “Yes, I do believe it was a vision. This just felt too REAL to be a regular dream. I’ve had enough visions in my life to know the difference. And THIS…this was no regular dream, mon ami.”

“Well then. Looks like we have work to do. Go get de bones.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Groaning like a child told to clean her room, Angel went and grabbed a small leather bag with the veve for Papa Legba,  lovingly embroidered on the front of it in silver thread. Hearing the click clack of its contents  soothed her. The bones never lied to her. They never hurt her. They may have told her truths that she wasn’t ready to hear yet, but she knew needed to be heard. Walking back into the kitchen she thought about a reading she gave 4 months ago. It was for a woman who was caught in a love triangle with her husband and his best friend. She loved both of them dearly, but was miserable in her marriage, and wanted to have the same passion and love in her life that she originally had with her husband, but with this other man.

Angel picked up the bones prayed to her guardian Loa & to Papa Legba to show her the truth that this woman desperately needed to see to make the right choice in her life.

The bones were thrown. They bounced around for a couple of seconds before landing in their  ordained pattern. Two strong yeses, two strong no’s. A decision to be made. One not to taken lightly. She picked them up again, shook them and let them fly onto the table.  Three no’s and one strong yes. If the woman stayed with her husband and waited out this storm in their marriage, there will be much happiness in the end. A third and final roll. Three yeses, one strong no. If she went with the other man, her husband’s best friend, she might be happy and content for a while (a honeymoon period), but in the end, it would fall apart. Her world would be torn  apart, and so would his.

Angel got a thank you card from the woman two weeks ago. She stayed with her husband. They went to counseling found the root of their problems, and are now happier than they have been in years. Her affair with the other man? She ended it that night she left Angel’s house following the reading. Her lover evidently moved on to another woman, and his wife found out. Left him, took their children, and most of his money in the process. Angel chuckled thanking bon Dieu, that this woman actually listened to the advise the loa were sending her through the bones, and not doing like some of her other clients do. Ignore the truth given, and end up worse off than what they were to start.

Sitting down at the table, Celeste approaches her with a fragrant cup of tea. “This will relax you. Help you to see what needs to be seen.”

While sipping the tea, her best friend cleansed her with the smoke of a burning sage bundle, and prayed for insight and protection for them both.

“You know I have a difficult time doing readings for myself. I can never see past my own damn cloud of emotions and thoughts to see what is spelled out right in front of me.”

“It takes time and practice. You know this.”

“Time and practice…I have had the past 10 years, worth of time and practice. You would think I would have gotten the hang of this by now.”

Shaking her perfectly cornrowed head, Celeste gently grabbed her friend’s hand from across the table, patted it and gave a warm motherly smile. “It was 10 years of off and on spotty practice. If you had practiced everyday like ma-tante was trying to get you to do instead of vi-key-vi, -half assed- you wouldn’t be having this problem now.”

“I know. I know. Well, I guess I better let these bad boys fly and see what was after me and what it wanted.”

Picking up the bag, Angel poured the bones into her hand. The energy in them sparked through her fingers like they were made of pure electricity. Hmmm… she thought. These have never felt like this before. Normally they would feel like a warm pulse or, heartbeat in her hand, but this was sharper. Almost painful.

“C-, touch these and tell me what you feel.” 

Celeste reached for the bones in her hand and was about to grab them, when a large blue white arch of energy shot out and shocked her.

“Merde! Fuck that hurt! Have they ever done that before?” Rubbing her injured hand and bruised ego.

“No. Never. I haven’t cleansed them in a week or two since my last client was here. Maybe they just need a bit of the smoke.”

“Maybe.” But , Celeste felt like it was something else that was causing the bones to go haywire and arch energy like that. Something dark.

Picking up the sage bundle, Angel prayed to La Sirene asking that her cool waters would cleanse the bones of any negativity, and she asked Papa Legba to close the door on any negative spirits that might be causing the problem.

“Ok. I think they are ready. Let’s try this again.”

“You go right ahead. I am keeping my hands to myself. And be careful, cher. I have a bad feeling. Something is not right about this.”

“So I shouldn’t do this?”

“No, you have to. I mean I have a bad feeling about this whole situation. Your bones have not reacted like this before, and I find it no coincidence that they seem  booby trapped since you started having this dream.”

Angel bit her lip, mulling over her choices. “Can’t you do a card reading for me? I mean we would get a more detailed picture of what is going on.”

“I guess we can.” Getting her cards from a secret drawer built into their herb cabinet, she jumped back and gasped as first smoke then flames burst forth from the drawer instantly incinerating all that was inside of it.

“What the hell?!!!”

“Get the fire extinguisher!”

Angel came running back from the pantry with the extinguisher.  After four to five blasts, the fire was finally put out.

“Well looks like cards are a no go.”

“Get the holy water, the exorcism incense, and the white chalk. We are gonna get answers, and we are gonna get them now.”

The deadly fire in Celeste’s eyes showed that her friend was not only pissed about her favorite tarot deck and other sacred items being turned into ash, but that she was determined to find whoever or what ever it was that had invaded their private space and declared war.

 

Everything Old Is New Again

 After taking a hiatus from my spiritual practices because of some mundane stuff going on in my life, I decided that it was way past time to come back.  One of the things that I wanted to get back into was divination. Divination was a source of comfort to me when I started undergrad. My first set of runes clicked and clacked away while I jogged from my dorm to my class building each day. I kept them with me at all times. Even when I went to NY to visit my family during Summer Break. It was there that my intolerant mother stole them from me and hid them, and I haven't seen them since. Then I moved on to the Tarot. Their colorful imagery had me transfixed. I had gotten to a point that even when I wasn't using them, I was "seeing" events shown by the cards in my mind's eye, before it happened (and for those who read the adult comic, "Tarot - Witch of the Black Rose," I started reading this comic because of what was happening to me).

As the years went by, I became more and more practiced in using them. And I was pretty accurate with my readings for not only myself, but for friends as well. Unfortunately, between that time and now, my abilities to read the cards have waned greatly. They swirl through my mind as a jumble of images whose deeper meaning escape me. But, I knew I wanted to get back into divining. I knew I was good at it, I just needed to find a system that would help me to unlock my unconscious again, so that I could delve into that unseen world to pull the information that was needed.

While reading about New Orleans voodoo, and about my ruling Orisha, all of a sudden I remember a phrase I had heard of a few times during my life time...Throwing of the Bones. Why not? It is a system I hadn't tried before, I thought. And it just might work. I remember reading about how the game of dice was originally a divination system, so I started looking for actual bone dice to use, but all the meanings for the various number combinations was just dizzying. Wishing for something a bit simpler, I kept researching until I came across a link that showed a set of 4 bones that is used in traditional Tibetan divination. I was in love with them in an instant. So, for three days straight I researched and went to specialty butcher shops with pictures from printouts trying to find the animal and area on the body of the animal I needed to get these beautiful bones. And then, everything fell into place. I found a diagram online that showed me the bone I was looking for, which animal it came from, and where on the body it was located. I called one last shop, and the meat department manager told me that he thought he knew what I was talking about, and to come on in. So I raced over to the store, showed him my final printout, and he went to the back and pulled out a whole sheep carcass. Showing me what I was looking for, he said, "We have tons of these. We cut them off and sell them as soup bones." He gave me a pack with six of them in there, and I went back home happier than a kid at Christmas.

After hours of cleaning the the flesh from the bones, and finally setting them out to dry, I started to research the divination meanings of each throw pattern of these bones. Quite simple in every aspect, I started to realize that they could also give a more detailed picture of a situation, than just yes/no answers. 

A month went by after the initial preparation of the bones, and I finally cleansed, blessed, and fed them. A few days later I was ready to use them. Let me say that they are amazingly accurate. Cause the questions I was asking about a situation I was recently going through in my family life....let's just say the truth was coming out. It was pointing out the obvious influences, as well as the hidden ones that I suspected, but either didn't want to see, or just did not want to believe.

With all of that said, I have found that sometimes reaching into the past and using simpler methods are way better and can bring about better results.

*If you would like to know how to make your own set of divinatory bones, check Hexy Workings, later on this week for full instructions."