CHAPTER ONE (Three)

Waiting for Kassandra - 21 March 2012

When Kassandra landed back on the Hill of Tara in time for her appointment, her girlfriends were already in the souvenir shop adjacent to the cafeteria. The place would normally be packed with visitors in the summer months but it was pleasantly quiet at this time of the year. It was no surprise that Kassie had wanted to meet them there. The three women had a special connection with this ancient site.

Letizia had baptized her firstborn here, according to the Goddess Tradition, on the Spring Equinox seven years earlier. The ceremony had been held on Tara’s holy ground, by the Stone of Destiny. Kassie had officiated the rites, with Polly as the godmother. Letizia had preferred to present her beautiful Daniel to the Mother before his traditional religious christening. Now the trio would be back together, to rekindle their bond as daughters of the Goddess.

Polly and Letizia were excited about that afternoon’s rendezvous. It had been a while since they'd last seen their unconventional friend. Always full of surprises, a year or so earlier she had informed them that she needed to disappear from the social radar for a while. Just like that, out of the blue. Nobody knew where she had been or what she had been up to since. Kassandra was the most unpredictable person they knew. But they trusted her completely with her life choices. No matter how deeply she may end up in the Darkness, love would always sway her back to the Path of Love.

Once again, she had left them in total oblivion of her deeds and given them cause for much speculation. Until a week previously, when she had contacted both friends telepathically, to let them know that she was soon to be back in Dublin and would love to see them on the Equinox. They should be warned, she had added, that the man she loved would be coming along too. "Oh no!!!!" were the words that had screamed in her friends' minds at the last piece of news.

The appointment was at 2 pm. The women had arrived ten minutes early. No sign of Kassandra yet. But she was already at Tara and was now walking away from the sacred spring in the direction of the cafeteria. In the meantime, Letizia was flicking through books on Celtic art. Polly was eyeing the cupcakes and scones on display - any turmoil in her emotions would always command the complete attention of her stomach. She pulled Letizia away from the shelves and into the eating area.    

“Do you think we will still get on with her like in the good old days?”

“Come on, Polly, be a bit more hopeful! It’s only been a year, and she’s just coming out of that strange period of isolation. She’s always been very hard to read, we know. But she’s the most heart-centered person in the world. And she’s perfectly aligned with her True Identity. We can only, as always, get on famously. I am more concerned with Oscar to be honest. He’s the one who seems to lose the plot on a regular basis...”

“Well, let’s see if he turns up at all. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s let her down...”

Polly’s eyes darkened. She went to sit at the table by the window and started studying the trees and berry bushes outside. Nature’s spirits already knew what that afternoon had in store. She wished she could elicit that information in advance. But the only response that came from the world outside was the sound of raindrops falling on leaves.

Rehab,  Dublin,  April 2011

Why had Kassandra disappeared twelve or so months before hers and Oscar’s appointment at the Hill of Tara? Where was she? The setting where we find them  one year earlier is completely different, despite being similarly  set in a green and lush environment. We encounter our couple in the famous Hermitage, the five-star rehabilitation clinic in the south of Dublin where rich and troubled souls the world over come looking for some peace of mind and hardcore detox.

 Oscar has recognized her silhouette straight away as she is heading to sit under the porch in the rose garden. At first, he had tried to hold back for a few minutes before approaching her. His body was hungry for her, of course, and there was nothing he could do about it. But at least the sight of her face can now satisfy his eyes, if only for a stolen while. Kassandra is such a poignant vision of beauty. He wishes he’d brought along his drawing pad and pencils. He can’t really resist that long, can he? So he goes over and sits next to her.

“Is that your journal, Kassie? Are you writing about me?”

Kassandra looks up from the page and her eyes meet Oscar’s grinning face. She smiles and nods at him.

“Well, yeah, I might very well have mentioned you in here,” she winks at him. “It’s a stream-of-consciousness exercise. I like to jot down the random thoughts that emerge in my head-space because sometimes they do take over and rule the entire thinking process. I follow them in writing, to see where they take me, where my imagination is leading me...  there is truth in these words, even when they don’t make much sense. My memories can come across in an erratic manner sometimes...”

They are flirting even under testing circumstances. They are supposed to feel guilty about their liaison, but they don’t. 

“Would you like me to have a look at these bizarre thoughts of yours then? I don’t think they can be any weirder than my own ideas...”.

Kassandra feigns surprise. 

“I didn’t mean to say there is anything strange in what I wrote. This might sound a bit far-fetched perhaps, and I don’t really know the full purpose of this exercise as yet, but anyway, for what it’s worth...”

Oscar puts his hand on Kassandra’s arm. When he touches her, their exchange of energy silences their words for a few seconds. She had been longing for that contact for the past two days. That’s why she had decided to bring her diary along when she went out on her afternoon walk. Oscar is a man of a curious disposition. She was certain that he would stop to inquire about the content of her scribbling.   

“Here, have a look”, she says. “This is the real me, not the woman that these doctors otherwise insist that I am...”

Oscar takes her diary and reads the opening paragraph.

I, Kassandra Morgante, High Master of the Blue Flame, am writing this for you, Oscar O’Leary, with the intention that you will ask me to read it.

“Wow”, he says, and then lifts his eyes from the page to look at Kassandra. She is now laughing.

“It seems that you always get what you want from me, Miss Morgante...”

Kassandra notices that Oscar’s aura is turning to gold too quickly. He isn’t yet ready to absorb the information contained in her words. His passionate, very human nature is still prevailing, which endears him to her even more.

“You can read another couple of sentences, but that’s all...”

“Ok, boss! I’ll read aloud then, until it’s allowed.”

You have found me because I am your kin and True Friend. I am the only woman who can talk to your Star Heart. I will be your direction when you are ready to tap into the deepest part of your heart that calls for healing.

Oscar’s weak heart is racing already. He shouldn’t go any further. So Kassandra places her hands on the following lines of text.

“Stop now, that’s it. You get the gist”.

The journal ends up on the bench. Their tongues start to explore the depths of their mutual longing. Rapture of the senses. Another day in purgatory, which is a good day for them nonetheless.

Kassandra’s Journal (full entry)

9 April 2011

I, Kassandra Morgante, High Master of the Blue Flame, am writing this for you, Oscar O’Leary, with the intention that you will ask me to read it.

You have found me because I am your kin and True Friend. I am the only woman who can talk to your Star Heart. I will be your direction when you are ready to tap into the deepest part of your heart that calls for healing.

One day you will understand why I live the way I do, and you will see the world from my perspective. I am of Venusian stock and I bring good tidings. And you are a true shaman and a gentleman, one whom a Star Woman like myself can’t resist. Your intuition is well developed, and at some level, you remember the true nature of our relationship.

I was born to fulfill a Prophecy and help the evolution of our broken-hearted humankind into a race of immortal beings. You’re not given to know this now, because you can only bear with me to the extent to which your attention can handle my words. But one day soon, you will understand why I can talk to the deepest longings in a woman’s dreams and I can whisper seductive words into the ears of the toughest man, and make his fortress crumble. When my Power will be fully fledged, I will become invincible. We will be invulnerable.

But right now, it isn’t so. And it wasn’t so when I used to be a spoiled brat who was often in denial of the gifts that I was born with. My True Nature only came to the fore when my path crossed yours, Oscar. When we met, I fell in love with the very complex, self-loathing yet generous man that you are. In our encounter, and in the love we made and shared, a new humanity became possible: our own. This is the account of how I learned to love you completely, despite the many obstacles on the way to the fulfillment of our love.

My ancestry is part human and part stellar, much like yours, much like that of all of us on this planet. The difference between you and me is simply that I am programmed to remember my True Identity, and I am willing to share the path that took me there. It is not difficult to find the way back to your True Home and your True Destiny. But it does require some alternative thinking. And memories have to emerge from your own psyche to be original, to be aligned with the One Source. I hope that my presence can engage your attention and help you find your way back to that connection. Our relationship can provide you with a bit of a short cut, with a bridge across dimensions. Our union is a symbol of broader processes going on in the human species at present. 

Don’t listen to what they tell you. There is nothing wrong with the yearnings of your heart, and that feeling of alienation that overwhelms you sometimes. It’s your Star Seed calling you to the Light. But the ego has no use for an enlightened mind. So, as soon as life’s problems present themselves on the path, the human tendency is to lose sight of many aspects of our Souls. They then become Shadow Aspects that need to be expressed. Over time, we forget that they are illusions. Time has the habit of wiping the memory of our True Origin from our mind. But rest assured; your heart never let go of the Truth. I am here to re-awaken the Star Seed in your heart. 

My merge with you, my True Lover, can be read like a fairy-tale in consciousness. It operates on many levels if you decipher the signs accurately. But you must be willing to walk on the Way of the Truth, and unlearn all of the ego’s lies. I know, not all the steps may seem that clear to you, but they are true. And the Truth will always take you Home to Arkadia, the Land of Gods and Goddesses. Arkadia won’t be elsewhere in space and time once you become its living memory. Arkadia will be here, now. Look for parallels between my love for you and how you felt in relation to me. May my story mirror your awakening to your heart’s call. This is the reason why I am starting to disclose it.

I remember, my Friend, that Life on Earth is an adventure in consciousness. Magic and wonder are possible. It takes a little bit of work and lots of enthusiasm. Are you ready to start the journey? It has many endings but just one beginning. Find it, and every step on the path will pan out. Trust me. Let’s go. Again.

[Continue reading Chapter Two: HYBRID YEARS]

Chapter One (2)

CHAPTER ONE (2)

Hill of Tara, Ireland, Spring Equinox 2012

The hard surface of a rock welcomed my landing and I was jolted back from the World of Light into the material world. I looked around. The sacred spring was just a couple of steps away. I was in the right place, no doubt: the holy ground they call “Tara of the Kings”. Which to me would always be Tara of the Heart: the site of the ancient choice, and the hill that keeps the mark of our promise. 
The Tara Interdimensional Portal I had come through had been used for ages by Venusians and humans alike. The ancient people of Ireland were familiar with its true function, and it was no coincidence they had placed their tribes’ seat of power at this magical junction. And no surprise that you and I would always be drawn to this place. 

I shook the dust off my clothes and rejoiced at the found-again solidity of my limbs, jumping up and down on the spot to appreciate the power of gravity. I was grounded and unscathed. Descent from Light into matter could still be risky, even for a consumed time-traveler like myself. I wasn’t concerned for the safety of my physical vessel. The danger was that traveling back in time could have played havoc with my mind. So I closed my eyes and scanned my memory. It was all in one piece, it seemed, and responding to old triggers. Your face came back to my mind’s eye at once. And my heart expanded, or so it seemed.

“Oscar, my love.”

I was on a mission to find you. The thought of you made me smile. My human name also returned to my consciousness.

“Kassandra. I am Kassandra. I’m back.”

A buzzing sound came from the pocket of my coat. It came from my iPhone. The calendar app had just sent me a reminder:

Meet Oscar at Tara, 21 March 2012, 14:30 PM.

All those years ago, I had summoned you here on the first day of spring, to resurrect our love if needed, if the wrong turn on our paths had ever made us part. Our love must have died then, I realized. Never mind. Here I was again, to bring it back to life with all of my heart’s might, to let the Blue Flame guide us back to the Truth of our bond.

“I’m looking for you. Hello? Oscar? Can you hear me?”

My voice sounded sweet as it pleaded you to appear. I listened for your telepathic answer but no sound was forthcoming. Just whirling feelings rising inside my chest like a tornado, and the cavalcade of my blood throbbing in my veins. What was going on? It felt as though the lies that I had been fed by the Dark Forces were being whipped out of the alcoves of my recollection, to be scattered to the Irish wind. I was being freed from that mistake, and we were being given our second chance.  

The Earth was our powerful ally. It was quite different from when I had left it years before. It still looked the same, though fear had since spread everywhere, taking on a number of disguises. I understood the planet needed our love to be, as much as we needed each other. Trepidant joy returned to my perspective. No need to waste any more time. I tuned into the environment to detect your frequency; we had to meet soon. I forced myself to ignore the nagging voice of the ghost of my ego, and its pointless message. I had to trust that you would be coming to our appointment. I had to put my love for you over everything else. 

“Doubt has no reason to be here.”

The song of the stream intertwined with the sound of my whispering voice. In union with the environment, I was alone but I was connected with you again. Suddenly my cells started to reverberate to the unique signature we had created with our Alchemical Marriage. I became sure I was talking to you.

“Oscar! My love! You still understand the Secret Language!”

My eyes lingered on the place where we had sealed our pact fifteen years earlier, as if they expected to see you there. In my mind, I held the picture of your hazel eyes, the curve of the cupid bow of your upper lip, your tapered fingers moving towards my face. My blood felt the thrill of recognition, as if you were there, holding me in your arms, as if it were still happening. 

Memories flooded in. We were still young: eternity was within reach of our hands and sunshine was in our hearts. We thought we had seen the back of all our past troubles. In those carefree days, we didn’t know that the Darkness would later plague our lives again. Well, we had known shadows before, so it wasn’t in our plans to experience the tragedy that would unfold. 

I kept talking. I was certain then that my words would find you, my Twin Flame. The woman in love took over what little Venusian poise was left in me. I wanted to make love with you, become one with the land, with the air around me. Yet I felt so vulnerable and human.

“I’m back from a parallel future without you. Crumbs from that future are still stuck in my hair so I am not sure if my return is complete, or if you can hear what I’m saying now. Yet you did understand me during our glorious time together. I would speak to the clouds and you could hear me. Now I don’t even know if you remember my face anymore. The face you would gaze at in silence, for minutes, your eyes and my eyes locked into bliss time couldn’t enter... I see you’ve managed to cloud your mind without the torch I carried for you, without the Light I shared with you. Oh darling, you’re so hopeless…”

I remembered that I had also been very angry with you because you had hurt me to the bone. And that I had forgiven you anyway. 

Harmonious sounds were emerging from the landscape and from my soul. Church bells were ringing in the distance. I ran my fingers through the water of the spring, caressing it as if it were your hair. I welcomed back that divided sensation I always felt when I loved you like a woman: torn between the wholeness you brought to me and the threat of knowing you might also take it away from me, as you had done before. 

“Our dance was erratic at best, traumatic as a rule. My instinct tells me you still need my help, like many times before. I am starting to believe that you are beyond repair. It’s always been like that with you. But I won’t give up. I had to come from the future to be at your side, to get you out any hole you might have dug yourself into. Will you ever learn from your mistakes? Why do you always let your mind travel back to the past? You carry that past with you and by that very past you let yourself be defined. Let’s blame it on your human ancestry, on your romantic streak...”

If you heard me, you were probably starting to be pissed off at me for being on what you would call my 'high horse'. I looked at the sky and all around me. Fluffy clouds parted over the vast, quiet backdrop. A ray of sunshine fell on the encircling pastures. Cows were grazing absent-mindedly. Everything reminded me of you. And the Earth, my powerful ally, was paying close attention to my actions again.

“I’m here to resurrect our relationship. I have to. This way we may meet again and patch up those seams in our souls we tore apart. There is another way, Oscar, and we can find it. Bear with me (despite your attention deficit, I thought). I’m not mad with you, I swear. So please don’t be angry with me. I don’t care about the Plan or the Prophecy. I just want you back. You know, a Star Woman’s words are full of Power, and they can cut like a knife. So I am choosing mine carefully.” 

Up in the sky, an airplane commenced its descent over Dublin Bay and into the city’s airport. You were on it, headphones on, gazing out of the window. The second you felt my caress, your eyes turned the color of the night. You right hand moved to your chest - your heart was racing.

Back at Tara, I continued my seeming conversation with the water.

“My heart keeps the record of the past nineteen eventful years. What they feel like from my point of view. From the comfort of my future stance, I looked back on facts and people, and us. What happened between us never fails to surprise me. The whole idea that the Darkness sold you... that the love we made was too much for you to hold on to... My heart still leaps at the memory of us together, the emotional content of our merge, the powerful union of man and woman: two bodies becoming one soul. I was born to find you, not to let you go.”

I was crying. I wasn’t sad. I was just opening up, unlocking the fortress. After all those years, that lump in my throat stirred itself awake. The emotions it held captive crept out and wanted to be heard. We had loved so well. How could we let our love die? And could we ever breathe life into it again? I felt hollow, empty, and then lighter. That was the definite sign I had landed back into your life. I knew that you could at least sense my influence there and then, in your world. 

“In those years before I met you I was driven by a relentless force, by an incredible amount of love. My life was pulled in your direction, although I didn’t know it at the time. You were my purpose. Your heart is a magnet to me. Where has it gone now? What tune is it dancing to? Is it still dancing, I wonder… Can you not see what has become of you?”

A flock of ravens cackled above the plain. A warm breeze rose and caressed my suntanned face in its trail. Back on the airplane, your iPod was playing a Doors’ song whose words held meaning to you:  

“Awake. Shake dreams from your hair my pretty child, my sweet one.” ^[[1]]

When it ended, you removed your headphones and looked at the sea below the aircraft. The water was speaking to you in the Secret Language. Delivering my message. You struggled not to listen but you couldn’t help it. When you gave in, my name became a comforting mantra in your mind.

I rose my voice. “You are thinking about me too. You long to see me. Mirror, mirror of my soul... I can cast my glance everywhere from here. The call of eternity runs in my veins. Can you feel it?”

I paused and listened for an insight both within me and without me. I scrolled the valley with my glance, dwelling on the outline of Mellifont Abbey. Memories of us were jumping out of every corner. The rolling hills reassured me with their greenest silence. The air carried traces of the scent of your skin: musky, I could almost touch your taut muscles in the heat of passion. I shivered as my second sight detected you. My spirit started to absorb your essence. It became as vast as the sky.

“You’ve kept your word. You are approaching. And I have kept mine. I’ve come from the future into your past to take you with me or say goodbye. If you trust me, I will guide you down the alcoves of our adventure. This is our final chance.”

A leaf from the fairy tree under which I was standing fell into the spring water. I watched it flow down the stream that runs alongside the road. The Earth’s watercourses are the best channel to communicate emotions from soul to soul. The spell was cast, my message had been sent and you would soon be near me. I stood up and closed the Gate of Timelessness behind me. I was going to be human for a little while longer, and maybe for good.

Light rain began to fall as I made my way to the cottages by the visitors’ entrance. Polly and Letizia would be waiting for me in the coffee shop, over tea and scones. I loved the way my two friends still found my appearances startling, although I always announced them in advance through telepathy. As I turned the doorknob, a blue and red butterfly landed on my hand. Message received. I thanked the Earth for sending me a sign pointing me in the right direction. At that moment, all my powers came back at once and my soul turned gold again. It was just a matter of minutes now, before you would turn up and we would be standing face to face again.

Chapter One: "EARTHBOUND AGAIN"

Chapter One

EARTHBOUND AGAIN

Arkadia, Out of Time

The wheels of spring were turning in the timeless land of Arkadia and in the mortal plane below it. Up in the sky, three months before its transit across the face of the Sun, Venus was already shining its serene light on its pioneering children who had left it eons before. They now lived in Arkadia, a parallel dimension closer to the Earth, their neighboring planet. The Goddess Games were in full swing at that time of the year. The Blue Flames in the cores of the Arkadians, the Ancient Venusian Settlers, brimmed with the ecstasy of attraction, made even more magnetic by the frequency of their Native Star. The Soul Mates and Twin Flames among them would soon be drawn to merge into Sacred Union. On Earth, too, human hearts could not be spared from stirring to the tides of love.

That spring, Oscar O’Leary was in Paris, France, still dodging the lures of death and surviving what he called a meaningless existence. Hope, however faint, was still alive for the rekindling of the love between this complex man and the most evolved Venusian woman. At least for a little while longer.

The woman Oscar had loved was none other than the Arkadian Princess. At this point in the story, she was alone in her bedchamber, opening the window to welcome the warmth of the morning sun. Her sleepy green eyes were fixed on the cloudless sky as she was running her fingers through her hair, caressing it is if belonged to someone else. Blessed with the most comely human shape and the purest stellar essence, her movements were enthralling and elegant, like the contents of her mind.

Her Venusian name was Meta. Being of royal stock, she possessed all the classic Venusian traits. Her love-inspiring presence, imperscrutable and hypnotic stare and perfectly symmetric shape made her the champion of the Arkadian ideal. And she was a most stunning woman by human standards too. The Princess was one of the Ancient Founders of the Diamond Island of Arkadia, the Venusian Outpost that had long become their Earthly dwelling. Her human name, Kassandra, had now left her memory. Her mission had failed and the High Council was preparing her to return to Venus.  

The mating season had started. The bird-song’s sweetness, so light-hearted and wild, sounded irresistible. Meta could recognize a familiar longing for physical merging ripening in her body. She felt lonely - a very human emotion. Faint memories of nights of passion in the arms of her lover still emerged in her soul, untamed by the recent reprogramming that her mind had to undergo at the hands of the High Masters. The sun shone waves of gold on her long brown hair as she stretched out her arms, palms facing up, to invite two robins singing on the apple tree to come closer. She needed their company to take her mind off the gaping hole that was widening in her heart.  

“Do you know how lucky you are, my friends? You have found each other. You still need each other...”

The birds, a male and a female, had flown towards her and were now cooing and chirping away on her windowsill. They loved to be around the Princess. All kinds of living beings could easily tune into her Core Signature, to partake in the bliss of her nature. She, the clearest channel of the One Source there in Arkadia, was now watching her feathered visitors with great affection and curiosity, and a hint of jealousy. Their mating rituals were driven by the Life Force, and their mutual desire reminded her of a happy time when she, too, had become vulnerable to romantic love. Now her connection with the Source had to be constant. Longing was no longer necessary or advisable at the level of the Goddess Games that she had reached, as the High Masters kept telling her.

Meta’s apartments were in the Ivory Palace, the isolation quarters where Perfected Channels like her were lodged. Here, they could shine their Light in direct connection with the Universe, undisturbed by the opposing polarity of the Earth below, before ascending back to Venus. At last, the Princess’s life had a purpose again, if not the one she was born to fulfill. In Arkadia, it was considered a great gift to feel the Power of Eternity to the extent that she could. So why wasn’t she experiencing complete peace? She didn’t seem to have any agency or any personal answers anymore. Most of her thoughts were now coming straight from the Source, as if she were a mere spectator of her beautiful mind-scape. She had no Twin Flame either, she had been informed. Nor would she have one in the future, once she returned to the Native Star. 

Kyrius, her father and the Arkadian King, had decided to keep his only daughter in the sanctum of the Palace, where she could ponder over the Truth. This was necessary before she could be granted a farewell visit to the physical dimension in her human incarnation. In the meantime, uninterrupted connection with the Source was the only way to stop her from thinking about Oscar O’Leary, her human lover.

It had to be done. Her memories of that relationship were bringing low resonance to the Holy Precincts of Elysia, Arkadia’s capital city. To her father’s relief, Meta’s thoughts were now vibrating at such a high rate again that she should have no notion left of the man she had loved, and how he had broken her heart. No dense frequency was allowed to enter Arkadia at that delicate junction in Planetary Evolution. The Council of the High Masters had had no other option but to delete any recollection of the temperamental Irish artist from the Princess’s mental files. 

Without announcement, the disembodied voice of Prince Lumiel filled Meta’s chamber, shifting her attention away from the lovebirds and the longings of her heart.

“I sense it’s time for another visit to Earth, sister. Are you ready?”

Lumiel’s thoughts had the characteristic musical tinkle of Arkadian speech. Although her brother was elsewhere in Elysia, the cells in Meta’s body recognized the familiar pitch and harmonized with the content of the message at once. His tone was grave, given the momentous occasion that awaited the stellar Princess. Yet mysterious waves of mischief were enmeshed in his words, and she was glad to feel them.

“I get the message, Lu, the full message...”

Her lips gave way to a smile and the Blue Flame started to radiate from her heart like a beacon. The joy that sprinkled from her Core was effortless and almost liquid. Her feathered visitors stopped their song to inhale the atoms in the air around her. She turned away from the window and caught her reflection in the mirror. The moment she did, she gave out a sigh, as she would every time she saw her face’s reflection. Unbeknown to her, her own features would always remind her subconsciously of the face of her lover, her Soul Gestalt, her Alchemical Husband, her Twin Flame.

“I heard you, Meta! And I also feel a strange vacuum in that precious heart of yours”, Lumiel said from his mansion by the Crystal Lake.

He knew that his sister was still in love with a man whose Blue Flame had only been partially kindled, and then left unattended by her forced return to Arkadia. She wasn’t conscious of it, but the cells of her body carried the imprint of the love that Oscar had given her, and taken away. The Ancient Venusian Prophecy could still come true if Meta continued to carry the torch for the future of the host planet.

But she had forgotten. She had been made to forget because something had gone wrong with the Arkadian Plan. Right at that moment, the Council was in session. The High Masters would soon reach a decision that could help her make amends with her past: whether she should be allowed to see Oscar one final time before taking her journey back to Venus.

Meta wasn’t supposed to know any of this. But Lumiel couldn’t keep his telepathic mouth shut. The least that he could do for his sister was to instill some information in advance. He wanted her to heal her past. He loved the Earth as much as she did. Although he wasn’t sure anymore that the other Arkadians were as enamored with the third dimension, the Earth’s physical realm, as he and Meta were. Not many Arkadians really understood humanity as well as the Royal Siblings did. And no, he had no intention of going back to Venus.

 Meta had never stopped longing to see her former lover again. It didn’t matter that the Council had removed most of her memories from her mental files. Her True Identity was firmly fixed in the Blue Flame in her heart and it still held on to those human feelings she had experienced in Oscar’s arms. The Flame, a speckle of the Primordial Thought in the Mind of the Universe, creates all life-forms around it. It is holy and nobody can alter it. Not even the Council can interfere with it. A vague remembrance of her lover had nested in her body cells, ready to be reactivated at the right time, once it had become refined and could resonate with the Arkadian Plan once more. It couldn’t be otherwise: love is the only rule there is in the Goddess Games. 

“I really hope they’ll let me go back to Ireland... that’s where I must go, one more time... and may Arkadia stay safe and bright in my absence. I don’t even know what reason is calling me to leave this place, but I can’t look at myself in the mirror without feeling that something is missing in me. I am incomplete, partial... longing has entered my soul... so much for being a Perfected Channel... I feel complete only when I don’t think about myself...”

Lumiel was delighted that his sister was directing her energy back to a low frequency. That would help her descent into matter, which would also open the path for his own return to the material plane. Lady Myriam, his Twin Flame, wouldn’t be disappointed with his secret designs this time. He cast his glance across the imperturbable blue pond and allowed his thoughts to become still.

“You will remember, dear Meta, and it will all be okay again”.

In days of old, her thoughts had been fueled by the passion that she felt for her Twin Flame, and he for her. Then their interwoven destinies had been torn apart. The Ancient Venusian Prophecy had announced the cross-fertilization of Venusians and Humans through the act of love. Meta was born to be the first Venusian with the right amount of human features to kick-start this evolutionary momentum. She had found her human mirror in Oscar O’Leary, and all had seemed to go according to the Arkadian Plan. But their love story had turned sour in the end. The hurts inflicted on her emotions had left scars that the Light Frequency of the Arkadian Island couldn’t tolerate. 

Arkadia was in the fifth dimension where matter existed in its potential state, as a perfect idea in the Mind of the Source. The island’s very existence relied upon the harmonized drone produced by the sounds of its inhabitants’ Cores. The frequencies emitted by their Royalty were of particular importance. The place was founded on the almost constant connection that its population could maintain with the Source of Creation, and the tones produced by their thought-waves in unison with the resonance of the Sacred Stones in the Temple Mountain. Arkadia was now taking on more Earthly undertones and becoming heavier, partly because of Meta’s heartache, despite its being shadowed by forgetfulness.

Meanwhile, Time itself was changing its essence back on Earth, and acquiring more Venusian, more refined connotations. Its marks on the plane of matter were becoming less pronounced. In the spring of 2012, it looked as though the Earth was following the Way of the Universe, and Arkadia had to give up some of its Light to facilitate the process. Although humans would still forget easily that love is the direction and fear is the illusion, and despite the fact that their physical vessels were still made of gross matter that tended to pull everything into a third-dimensional frequency, the Way of the Universe is unbeatable.

“Meta, remember that you must keep your heart on love, and only love, in your travels, as that’s the only direction there is...”

Lumiel’s words were soothing and meaningful. The Princess could sense the Blue Flame shimmering in her chest in anticipation. She had been put in isolation. They had told her it was the most prized recognition. She was the Highest of the High now. But she didn’t believe them anymore. She was merely wearing a brave face. Soon, as her rebellious brother kept reassuring her, doubt would lower her frequency and help her condense into matter, irreversibly. This way, whether the Council agreed or not, she would find herself in the third dimension, where she could stay as long as she liked.

For a little while longer, Arkadian procedure had to be followed and rules had to be respected. The Arkadian Masters still wanted to help, it was obvious. But she had chosen to do things her own way, and her decision was final. A knock came on the door and her train of thoughts was suddenly cut short.

“Meta... I’ve come to accompany you to the Hall”.

“Mother”, the Princess said as she curtsied to the Queen.

Their two auras merged into vibrant sapphire as their shapes dissolved and disappeared. Then Meta looked around and noticed that the backdrop had changed. Under the opulent vaults of the Diamond Lodge, her slight silhouette now stood alone in front of the Council. The High Masters had reached their decision and she didn’t even need to hear their words. Their thoughts were a deep, low sound, throbbing harmoniously. She could sense it permeate all the sinews and bones in her body as it was becoming heavier and more solid. Her hands were shaking. Descent into matter was approaching. Any attempt to resist would be futile now.

Then she remembered - something had gone wrong with the Venusian Prophecy. Humankind hadn’t evolved into their foretold stellar potential. Had she failed her people? How had she ended up in Arkadia again? She had to go back to Earth, to find someone who had become lost, who had made the wrong choice and taken the wrong turn, following the lures of the Dark Forces. The Council wanted her to fix his mistake. Did they blame her for it? That couldn’t be the case, Arkadians were not capable of low feelings. He, whoever he was... it was he who was blaming himself, and she was feeling his pain.

“The Venusian Plan can’t fail,” the King was saying. “You must find him.” 

Meta’s head was spinning now, as if some of her thoughts were being vacuumed out of her brain. Perhaps they were.

“Find who? And why me?”

She couldn’t recollect any particular face or name yet. Her heart was pounding and pulling her towards her destiny again, to her life as a woman, a star woman, a woman in love. There was no time left for explanations: the right space-time junction was drawing near.

“You will remember once you reach the Earth, time-coordinates 21-03-2012. We cannot intervene. Only your True Identity can guide you. Only the Source can mentor the one you’re looking for, so you must always act in line with the Source. You must realign him with the Plan if you can, if you want to stop humanity’s fate from plunging into even lower depths.”

Meta’s eyes were like saucers and her lips were lost for words. She felt numb and drained of all energy. But the Star Seed in her heart was like a sparkling wheel. Then silence fell on the Hall like a heavy curtain, torn apart by the sudden metallic noise of the door to the Teleportation Room now opening behind her. The Princess dragged her feet towards it, looking every inch the sacrificial victim. On the threshold, she stopped to cast one last, disconsolate glance at those familiar faces.

“Goodbye, Arkadia. This time I’m done with you”, she said. And she stepped into her past.

Hill of Tara, Ireland, Spring Equinox 2012

The hard surface of a rock welcomed my landing and I was jolted back from the World of Light into the material world. I looked around. The sacred spring was just a couple of steps away. I was in the right place, no doubt: the holy ground they call “Tara of the Kings”. Which to me would always be Tara of the Heart: the site of the ancient choice, and the hill that keeps the mark of our promise. 
The Tara Interdimensional Portal I had come through had been used for ages by Venusians and humans alike. The ancient people of Ireland were familiar with its true function, and it was no coincidence they had placed their tribes’ seat of power at this magical junction. And no surprise that you and I would always be drawn to this place. 

I shook the dust off my clothes and rejoiced at the found-again solidity of my limbs, jumping up and down on the spot to appreciate the power of gravity. I was grounded and unscathed. Descent from Light into matter could still be risky, even for a consumed time-traveler like myself. I wasn’t concerned for the safety of my physical vessel. The danger was that traveling back in time could have played havoc with my mind. So I closed my eyes and scanned my memory. It was all in one piece, it seemed, and responding to old triggers. Your face came back to my mind’s eye at once. And my heart expanded, or so it seemed.

“Oscar, my love.”

I was on a mission to find you. The thought of you made me smile. My human name also returned to my consciousness.

“Kassandra. I am Kassandra. I’m back.”

A buzzing sound came from the pocket of my coat. It came from my iPhone. The calendar app had just sent me a reminder:

Meet Oscar at Tara, 21 March 2012, 14:30 PM.

All those years ago, I had summoned you here on the first day of spring, to resurrect our love if needed, if the wrong turn on our paths had ever made us part. Our love must have died then, I realized. Never mind. Here I was again, to bring it back to life with all of my heart’s might, to let the Blue Flame guide us back to the Truth of our bond.

“I’m looking for you. Hello? Oscar? Can you hear me?”

My voice sounded sweet as it pleaded you to appear. I listened for your telepathic answer but no sound was forthcoming. Just whirling feelings rising inside my chest like a tornado, and the cavalcade of my blood throbbing in my veins. What was going on? It felt as though the lies that I had been fed by the Dark Forces were being whipped out of the alcoves of my recollection, to be scattered to the Irish wind. I was being freed from that mistake, and we were being given our second chance.  

The Earth was our powerful ally. It was quite different from when I had left it years before. It still looked the same, though fear had since spread everywhere, taking on a number of disguises. I understood the planet needed our love to be, as much as we needed each other. Trepidant joy returned to my perspective. No need to waste any more time. I tuned into the environment to detect your frequency; we had to meet soon. I forced myself to ignore the nagging voice of the ghost of my ego, and its pointless message. I had to trust that you would be coming to our appointment. I had to put my love for you over everything else. 

“Doubt has no reason to be here.”

The song of the stream intertwined with the sound of my whispering voice. In union with the environment, I was alone but I was connected with you again. Suddenly my cells started to reverberate to the unique signature we had created with our Alchemical Marriage. I became sure I was talking to you.

“Oscar! My love! You still understand the Secret Language!”

My eyes lingered on the place where we had sealed our pact fifteen years earlier, as if they expected to see you there. In my mind, I held the picture of your hazel eyes, the curve of the cupid bow of your upper lip, your tapered fingers moving towards my face. My blood felt the thrill of recognition, as if you were there, holding me in your arms, as if it were still happening. 

Memories flooded in. We were still young: eternity was within reach of our hands and sunshine was in our hearts. We thought we had seen the back of all our past troubles. In those carefree days, we didn’t know that the Darkness would later plague our lives again. Well, we had known shadows before, so it wasn’t in our plans to experience the tragedy that would unfold. 

I kept talking. I was certain then that my words would find you, my Twin Flame. The woman in love took over what little Venusian poise was left in me. I wanted to make love with you, become one with the land, with the air around me. Yet I felt so vulnerable and human.

“I’m back from a parallel future without you. Crumbs from that future are still stuck in my hair so I am not sure if my return is complete, or if you can hear what I’m saying now. Yet you did understand me during our glorious time together. I would speak to the clouds and you could hear me. Now I don’t even know if you remember my face anymore. The face you would gaze at in silence, for minutes, your eyes and my eyes locked into bliss time couldn’t enter... I see you’ve managed to cloud your mind without the torch I carried for you, without the Light I shared with you. Oh darling, you’re so hopeless…”

I remembered that I had also been very angry with you because you had hurt me to the bone. And that I had forgiven you anyway. 

Harmonious sounds were emerging from the landscape and from my soul. Church bells were ringing in the distance. I ran my fingers through the water of the spring, caressing it as if it were your hair. I welcomed back that divided sensation I always felt when I loved you like a woman: torn between the wholeness you brought to me and the threat of knowing you might also take it away from me, as you had done before. 

“Our dance was erratic at best, traumatic as a rule. My instinct tells me you still need my help, like many times before. I am starting to believe that you are beyond repair. It’s always been like that with you. But I won’t give up. I had to come from the future to be at your side, to get you out any hole you might have dug yourself into. Will you ever learn from your mistakes? Why do you always let your mind travel back to the past? You carry that past with you and by that very past you let yourself be defined. Let’s blame it on your human ancestry, on your romantic streak...”

If you heard me, you were probably starting to be pissed off at me for being on what you would call my 'high horse'. I looked at the sky and all around me. Fluffy clouds parted over the vast, quiet backdrop. A ray of sunshine fell on the encircling pastures. Cows were grazing absent-mindedly. Everything reminded me of you. And the Earth, my powerful ally, was paying close attention to my actions again.

“I’m here to resurrect our relationship. I have to. This way we may meet again and patch up those seams in our souls we tore apart. There is another way, Oscar, and we can find it. Bear with me (despite your attention deficit, I thought). I’m not mad with you, I swear. So please don’t be angry with me. I don’t care about the Plan or the Prophecy. I just want you back. You know, a Star Woman’s words are full of Power, and they can cut like a knife. So I am choosing mine carefully.” 

Up in the sky, an airplane commenced its descent over Dublin Bay and into the city’s airport. You were on it, headphones on, gazing out of the window. The second you felt my caress, your eyes turned the color of the night. You right hand moved to your chest - your heart was racing.

Back at Tara, I continued my seeming conversation with the water.

“My heart keeps the record of the past nineteen eventful years. What they feel like from my point of view. From the comfort of my future stance, I looked back on facts and people, and us. What happened between us never fails to surprise me. The whole idea that the Darkness sold you... that the love we made was too much for you to hold on to... My heart still leaps at the memory of us together, the emotional content of our merge, the powerful union of man and woman: two bodies becoming one soul. I was born to find you, not to let you go.”

I was crying. I wasn’t sad. I was just opening up, unlocking the fortress. After all those years, that lump in my throat stirred itself awake. The emotions it held captive crept out and wanted to be heard. We had loved so well. How could we let our love die? And could we ever breathe life into it again? I felt hollow, empty, and then lighter. That was the definite sign I had landed back into your life. I knew that you could at least sense my influence there and then, in your world. 

“In those years before I met you I was driven by a relentless force, by an incredible amount of love. My life was pulled in your direction, although I didn’t know it at the time. You were my purpose. Your heart is a magnet to me. Where has it gone now? What tune is it dancing to? Is it still dancing, I wonder… Can you not see what has become of you?”

A flock of ravens cackled above the plain. A warm breeze rose and caressed my suntanned face in its trail. Back on the airplane, your iPod was playing a Doors’ song whose words held meaning to you:  

“Awake. Shake dreams from your hair my pretty child, my sweet one.” ^[[1]]

When it ended, you removed your headphones and looked at the sea below the aircraft. The water was speaking to you in the Secret Language. Delivering my message. You struggled not to listen but you couldn’t help it. When you gave in, my name became a comforting mantra in your mind.

I rose my voice. “You are thinking about me too. You long to see me. Mirror, mirror of my soul... I can cast my glance everywhere from here. The call of eternity runs in my veins. Can you feel it?”

I paused and listened for an insight both within me and without me. I scrolled the valley with my glance, dwelling on the outline of Mellifont Abbey. Memories of us were jumping out of every corner. The rolling hills reassured me with their greenest silence. The air carried traces of the scent of your skin: musky, I could almost touch your taut muscles in the heat of passion. I shivered as my second sight detected you. My spirit started to absorb your essence. It became as vast as the sky.

“You’ve kept your word. You are approaching. And I have kept mine. I’ve come from the future into your past to take you with me or say goodbye. If you trust me, I will guide you down the alcoves of our adventure. This is our final chance.”

A leaf from the fairy tree under which I was standing fell into the spring water. I watched it flow down the stream that runs alongside the road. The Earth’s watercourses are the best channel to communicate emotions from soul to soul. The spell was cast, my message had been sent and you would soon be near me. I stood up and closed the Gate of Timelessness behind me. I was going to be human for a little while longer, and maybe for good.

Light rain began to fall as I made my way to the cottages by the visitors’ entrance. Polly and Letizia would be waiting for me in the coffee shop, over tea and scones. I loved the way my two friends still found my appearances startling, although I always announced them in advance through telepathy. As I turned the doorknob, a blue and red butterfly landed on my hand. Message received. I thanked the Earth for sending me a sign pointing me in the right direction. At that moment, all my powers came back at once and my soul turned gold again. It was just a matter of minutes now, before you would turn up and we would be standing face to face again.

Waiting for Kassandra - 21 March 2012

When Kassandra landed back on the Hill of Tara in time for her appointment, her girlfriends were already in the souvenir shop adjacent to the cafeteria. The place would normally be packed with visitors in the summer months but it was pleasantly quiet at this time of the year. It was no surprise that Kassie had wanted to meet them there. The three women had a special connection with this ancient site.

Letizia had baptized her firstborn here, according to the Goddess Tradition, on the Spring Equinox seven years earlier. The ceremony had been held on Tara’s holy ground, by the Stone of Destiny. Kassie had officiated the rites, with Polly as the godmother. Letizia had preferred to present her beautiful Daniel to the Mother before his traditional religious christening. Now the trio would be back together, to rekindle their bond as daughters of the Goddess.

Polly and Letizia were excited about that afternoon’s rendezvous. It had been a while since they'd last seen their unconventional friend. Always full of surprises, a year or so earlier she had informed them that she needed to disappear from the social radar for a while. Just like that, out of the blue. Nobody knew where she had been or what she had been up to since. Kassandra was the most unpredictable person they knew. But they trusted her completely with her life choices. No matter how deeply she may end up in the Darkness, love would always sway her back to the Path of Love.

Once again, she had left them in total oblivion of her deeds and given them cause for much speculation. Until a week previously, when she had contacted both friends telepathically, to let them know that she was soon to be back in Dublin and would love to see them on the Equinox. They should be warned, she had added, that the man she loved would be coming along too. "Oh no!!!!" were the words that had screamed in her friends' minds at the last piece of news.

The appointment was at 2 pm. The women had arrived ten minutes early. No sign of Kassandra yet. But she was already at Tara and was now walking away from the sacred spring in the direction of the cafeteria. In the meantime, Letizia was flicking through books on Celtic art. Polly was eyeing the cupcakes and scones on display - any turmoil in her emotions would always command the complete attention of her stomach. She pulled Letizia away from the shelves and into the eating area.    

“Do you think we will still get on with her like in the good old days?”

“Come on, Polly, be a bit more hopeful! It’s only been a year, and she’s just coming out of that strange period of isolation. She’s always been very hard to read, we know. But she’s the most heart-centered person in the world. And she’s perfectly aligned with her True Identity. We can only, as always, get on famously. I am more concerned with Oscar to be honest. He’s the one who seems to lose the plot on a regular basis...”

“Well, let’s see if he turns up at all. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s let her down...”

Polly’s eyes darkened. She went to sit at the table by the window and started studying the trees and berry bushes outside. Nature’s spirits already knew what that afternoon had in store. She wished she could elicit that information in advance. But the only response that came from the world outside was the sound of raindrops falling on leaves.

Rehab,  Dublin,  April 2011

Why had Kassandra disappeared twelve or so months before hers and Oscar’s appointment at the Hill of Tara? Where was she? The setting where we find them  one year earlier is completely different, despite being similarly  set in a green and lush environment. We encounter our couple in the famous Hermitage, the five-star rehabilitation clinic in the south of Dublin where rich and troubled souls the world over come looking for some peace of mind and hardcore detox.

 Oscar has recognized her silhouette straight away as she is heading to sit under the porch in the rose garden. At first, he had tried to hold back for a few minutes before approaching her. His body was hungry for her, of course, and there was nothing he could do about it. But at least the sight of her face can now satisfy his eyes, if only for a stolen while. Kassandra is such a poignant vision of beauty. He wishes he’d brought along his drawing pad and pencils. He can’t really resist that long, can he? So he goes over and sits next to her.

“Is that your journal, Kassie? Are you writing about me?”

Kassandra looks up from the page and her eyes meet Oscar’s grinning face. She smiles and nods at him.

“Well, yeah, I might very well have mentioned you in here,” she winks at him. “It’s a stream-of-consciousness exercise. I like to jot down the random thoughts that emerge in my head-space because sometimes they do take over and rule the entire thinking process. I follow them in writing, to see where they take me, where my imagination is leading me...  there is truth in these words, even when they don’t make much sense. My memories can come across in an erratic manner sometimes...”

They are flirting even under testing circumstances. They are supposed to feel guilty about their liaison, but they don’t. 

“Would you like me to have a look at these bizarre thoughts of yours then? I don’t think they can be any weirder than my own ideas...”.

Kassandra feigns surprise. 

“I didn’t mean to say there is anything strange in what I wrote. This might sound a bit far-fetched perhaps, and I don’t really know the full purpose of this exercise as yet, but anyway, for what it’s worth...”

Oscar puts his hand on Kassandra’s arm. When he touches her, their exchange of energy silences their words for a few seconds. She had been longing for that contact for the past two days. That’s why she had decided to bring her diary along when she went out on her afternoon walk. Oscar is a man of a curious disposition. She was certain that he would stop to inquire about the content of her scribbling.   

“Here, have a look”, she says. “This is the real me, not the woman that these doctors otherwise insist that I am...”

Oscar takes her diary and reads the opening paragraph.

I, Kassandra Morgante, High Master of the Blue Flame, am writing this for you, Oscar O’Leary, with the intention that you will ask me to read it.

“Wow”, he says, and then lifts his eyes from the page to look at Kassandra. She is now laughing.

“It seems that you always get what you want from me, Miss Morgante...”

Kassandra notices that Oscar’s aura is turning to gold too quickly. He isn’t yet ready to absorb the information contained in her words. His passionate, very human nature is still prevailing, which endears him to her even more.

“You can read another couple of sentences, but that’s all...”

“Ok, boss! I’ll read aloud then, until it’s allowed.”

You have found me because I am your kin and True Friend. I am the only woman who can talk to your Star Heart. I will be your direction when you are ready to tap into the deepest part of your heart that calls for healing.

Oscar’s weak heart is racing already. He shouldn’t go any further. So Kassandra places her hands on the following lines of text.

“Stop now, that’s it. You get the gist”.

The journal ends up on the bench. Their tongues start to explore the depths of their mutual longing. Rapture of the senses. Another day in purgatory, which is a good day for them nonetheless.

Kassandra’s Journal (full entry)

9 April 2011

I, Kassandra Morgante, High Master of the Blue Flame, am writing this for you, Oscar O’Leary, with the intention that you will ask me to read it.

You have found me because I am your kin and True Friend. I am the only woman who can talk to your Star Heart. I will be your direction when you are ready to tap into the deepest part of your heart that calls for healing.

One day you will understand why I live the way I do, and you will see the world from my perspective. I am of Venusian stock and I bring good tidings. And you are a true shaman and a gentleman, one whom a Star Woman like myself can’t resist. Your intuition is well developed, and at some level, you remember the true nature of our relationship.

I was born to fulfill a Prophecy and help the evolution of our broken-hearted humankind into a race of immortal beings. You’re not given to know this now, because you can only bear with me to the extent to which your attention can handle my words. But one day soon, you will understand why I can talk to the deepest longings in a woman’s dreams and I can whisper seductive words into the ears of the toughest man, and make his fortress crumble. When my Power will be fully fledged, I will become invincible. We will be invulnerable.

But right now, it isn’t so. And it wasn’t so when I used to be a spoiled brat who was often in denial of the gifts that I was born with. My True Nature only came to the fore when my path crossed yours, Oscar. When we met, I fell in love with the very complex, self-loathing yet generous man that you are. In our encounter, and in the love we made and shared, a new humanity became possible: our own. This is the account of how I learned to love you completely, despite the many obstacles on the way to the fulfillment of our love.

My ancestry is part human and part stellar, much like yours, much like that of all of us on this planet. The difference between you and me is simply that I am programmed to remember my True Identity, and I am willing to share the path that took me there. It is not difficult to find the way back to your True Home and your True Destiny. But it does require some alternative thinking. And memories have to emerge from your own psyche to be original, to be aligned with the One Source. I hope that my presence can engage your attention and help you find your way back to that connection. Our relationship can provide you with a bit of a short cut, with a bridge across dimensions. Our union is a symbol of broader processes going on in the human species at present. 

Don’t listen to what they tell you. There is nothing wrong with the yearnings of your heart, and that feeling of alienation that overwhelms you sometimes. It’s your Star Seed calling you to the Light. But the ego has no use for an enlightened mind. So, as soon as life’s problems present themselves on the path, the human tendency is to lose sight of many aspects of our Souls. They then become Shadow Aspects that need to be expressed. Over time, we forget that they are illusions. Time has the habit of wiping the memory of our True Origin from our mind. But rest assured; your heart never let go of the Truth. I am here to re-awaken the Star Seed in your heart. 

My merge with you, my True Lover, can be read like a fairy-tale in consciousness. It operates on many levels if you decipher the signs accurately. But you must be willing to walk on the Way of the Truth, and unlearn all of the ego’s lies. I know, not all the steps may seem that clear to you, but they are true. And the Truth will always take you Home to Arkadia, the Land of Gods and Goddesses. Arkadia won’t be elsewhere in space and time once you become its living memory. Arkadia will be here, now. Look for parallels between my love for you and how you felt in relation to me. May my story mirror your awakening to your heart’s call. This is the reason why I am starting to disclose it.

I remember, my Friend, that Life on Earth is an adventure in consciousness. Magic and wonder are possible. It takes a little bit of work and lots of enthusiasm. Are you ready to start the journey? It has many endings but just one beginning. Find it, and every step on the path will pan out. Trust me. Let’s go. Again.

[Continue reading Chapter Two: HYBRID YEARS]