“Take your clothes off,” Lisa ordered Becky as the minutes wound down.
“Why?”
“Because the ritual itself has to be performed in the nude, expressing the barest form of ourselves to nature.,” Lisa responded.
“What does nature have to do with the Daemon?” Becky ask.
“I’ll be calling on Mother nature for assistance more than you think. Nature is in the raw, so, the participants must be in the raw as well with both clear and translucent thoughts and form,” She explained.
“Okay. But, I’m not actually a part of this. I’m just an observer,” Becky argued.
“You became a part of this the minute that you stepped foot upon the trail with me. Now, I have to focus on the immense power of the Earth and I don’t need to worry if your clothing’s going to mess something up,” Lisa informed her.
Six Minutes Til Midnight.
With a piece of deer-hide in her hands, Lisa withdrew the chalice from the coals. She lifted it to the heavens in a salute to the fullness of the moon. Becky, naked and shivering from nerves, backed up watching in silence.
“Brother Moon. To the brightness that you bring on this night, wrapping me in your loving light. I beseech you to grant me a portion of your magic, your power to aid me in this undertaking.”
Five Minutes.
Bringing the chalice to her bare breast, she began speaking the phrases that would gather the forces of Upper, Middle, and Lower Earth together. Phrases that had not been spoken in unison in the Cherokee language for almost two-hundred years.
Words that when used in certain combinations with each other, would call forth the energies of all three levels of Earth. These would then mix to form a massive burst of sorcery that no person of the last two centuries could fathom.
Repeating these phrases over several times, a change in pitch and inflection with each interval, she dipped her fingers in the liquid, flicking it into the fire. Each droplet producing an explosion of sparks, the flames changing to a deeper yellow-orange.
Lisa then proceeded to pour the reining blood from the wooden bowl onto the fire. This altered the blaze’s colors once again.
Having never witnessed anything that compared to this in her life, Becky stood speechless. It seemed as if she was unable to catch her breath. She was trembling with both excitement and a fear that had every bone, muscle and nerve twitching beyond her control.
The flames danced wildly now, an ever-changing cascade of colors. Oranges, yellows, blues and reds all reached for the sky. Sparks were being propelled high into the night air as the Cedar popped and crackled. The wind was picking up, blowing Lisa’s hair around her, resembling a picture she had once seen in a horror magazine.
For Becky, the clock stopped ticking. Time froze. She did not know why she was really here. Her mind went blank. all body movements restricted to a point where even a miniscule twitch now cost an extreme amount of effort and energy. She was lost in the enchantment, realizing they were on the verge of another realm of existence.
