I was hanging laundry.

A sentence so ordinary it hardly deserves a second thought. Yet sometimes the most extraordinary moments arrive while we are busy doing the most ordinary things.

An old wooden clothes peg housed the home of a tiny jumping spider. She slipped gracefully from between the pegs and paused. I could have sworn she looked directly at me.

She seemed to smile.

My attention settled entirely upon her face. As I gazed, something unexpected began to emerge. A woman slowly rose from the spider’s essence, standing between two great swords while those surrounding her bowed in quiet reverence.

Two immense masculine presences appeared beside her, holding the space open through what looked like an ancient dance. Their movements stirred the air.

Then the cold arrived.

Not the pleasant coolness of a summer breeze, but a deep internal cold. My body became motionless while my thoughts accelerated.

Have I been bitten?

Am I paralyzed?

Why am I freezing while standing outside beneath the summer sun?

Then something spoke.

Not through my ears.

Not inside my thoughts.

It moved through every cell of my body.

“Relax. You are seeing with your skin.”

More words followed this feeling.

“Certain conditions must change for us to meet one another. Here, your skin sees as though every follicle are eyes. The sensation will pass as your blood blinks and the warmth required for your body returns with  ease.”

Like the heating coming alive inside a house on the first cold morning of autumn.  Relief spread through me.

 ..................................................

“Why am I here?”

The question never left my mouth, yet it was heard.

“You are hanging laundry in one place while conversing in another.”

The thought made me smile.

“We wished to meet you so you could begin seeing beyond energies you believe have haunted you. Many times, any anxiety felt  was actually us attempting to heed your call for help, as well you have felt fright caused from other invading entity expressions.”

There was kindness in the voice as she continued.

“I am not even the spider. She simply offered her home as the portal through which we meet. She is a lovely jumping spider. She enjoys watching you putter about your day. She admires your balance between focus and flow.”

Then came words that unexpectedly touched my heart.

“She smiles whenever you realize your focus creates your flow… and your flow returns you to focus.”

I grinned like a child who had just received a compliment from someone they deeply admired.

Then everything shifted and my belly dropped like I was looking over a high up balcony.

………………………………………………………………..

Stillness.

Silence.

Scared.

Gulp.  I heard something moving through the air like incense smoke carried by wind.

Or perhaps…I wondered…Was the wind itself speaking?

Before I could chase the thought any further, the smoke gathered into the face of the woman I was talking to, this time more clearly.

“Come closer.”

“Tune into me.”

I stepped forward.

Not with my eyes.

With my skin.

“We knew one another long ago,” she confessed.

“I was an older sister to you.”

She spoke of a lifetime claimed by plague. Entire families falling ill. Communities learning painful lessons about what and who we allowed to get close. She inserted a note that explained the strength of choosing situations and environments that offer the most growth, for expansion are not always the most comfortable.

As she spoke, sensations in symbols appeared upon my own body.

Golden ear cuffs.

Tiny elephant ears no larger than a mouse.

A weathered helmet I somehow recognized from a forgotten war where, for reasons impossible to explain and knowing I had once fought on behalf of an aging ox that no longer wished to breed.

None of it felt strange.

It simply felt like I was in recall of flickering reflections.

…………………………………………………..

The space around me began shifting once more.

I felt as though balance itself were dissolving beneath my feet.

She smiled.

“That is enough for today.”

“I came so you might become familiar with what will increasingly surround you. This is a particular process. My hope is it helps shift from anxiety… to acceptance.”

She paused.

“Like your story of Scrooge, I am merely the first of three.”

I laughed.

“You wanted to be first?”

“Very much so.”

There was warmth in her humor.

“Those who came before left unfortunate impressions. We are trying to repair that.”

Then her expression softened.

Those words landed deeply.

“You have aligned exactly as we trusted you would, because of your essence we know well. You are known for your integrity and for your unwillingness to surrender discernment”.

Then, almost playfully, she concluded,

“There is nothing here to endlessly analyze. Nothing to repeatedly relive. This is not a mystery. You have seen me. As I have seen you.”

“Not a body.”

“Not a spider.”

“Now… finish hanging your laundry and enjoy the day.”

………………………………………………………………………….

The entire encounter vanished in a blink.

I shook my head the way one does after drifting into an unusually vivid daydream.

The little jumping spider stepped from the old clothes peg bag, leapt effortlessly onto the porch railing, and wandered into the afternoon.

I smiled as I finished hanging the laundry.

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Scry story insights written by S.Zagorski 

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