ON LETTERS, DREAMS, THE MOON by Jaime T. Licauco (part 2)

“What’s in the moon? Since I was a child, I have always known that I am cheerful at certain times of the month (Biorhythms?). Only when I came to Saudi Arabia was I able to chart the exact dates, since the lunar calendar is used here. From the 6^th to the 21^st day of the lunar calendar, I am bound to be more cheerful. Friends and people I barely knew would stop in the middle of the road to shake my hand, and I could better manage things that came my way. What’s even more perplexing is my hair. 20-30% of my hair becomes white towards the full moon and decreases to about 10% as the moon wanes. I’m only 35 years old, by the way. From the 22^nd to the 5^th of the next lunar month, I tend to be more irritable; prone to troubles, quarrels with my wife, or more accidents come to the emergency room if I am on duty there.”

It is already an established scientific fact that the moon affects all living creatures on Earth. Astrology went further and said that all other planets affect us, too.

Of course, some people are more affected by the moon's waxing and waning than others, and you obviously happen to belong to the more sensitive group of people. As you know, the moon dramatically influences women's menstrual cycles.

I suspect that the “Yin” or the feminine part of your being is as well developed and sensitive as your “Yang” or masculine part. This has nothing to do with one’s being effeminate or virile. I am referring to human beings' two-part nature, as described in Carl Jung’s terminology: the animus and the anima. I think having these fundamental aspects of man developed side by side is indeed very good, as long as balance and harmony are achieved.

“What’s in a height? Why do I love being in high places, especially on top of mountains?” (Note: I did not mention in the letter, or somewhat missed saying that the town where I worked then and now is more than 3,000 feet above sea level. It is one of Saudi Arabia’s highest peak towns, and the weather throughout the year is just…wow!)

We know that mountains have different energy sources from the lowlands. Mystics, psychics, hermits, and other practitioners of the esoteric sciences prefer to stay in the mountains rather than in the lowlands. Scientifically speaking, mountains have higher levels of negative ions, which refresh and invigorate people more than cities and lowlands. Being the sensitive person that you are, it is natural for you to gravitate to and be happier in such high places as mountain tops than elsewhere.

“What’s in a place? My brother and I are trying to translate the “Darangen,” an epic of my people believed to be longer than the Ramayana or the Mahabharata. It consists of 17 books. According to the story, there was a time when man mingled and communicated freely with beings from other planes or dimensions. There is a cave in my province that nobody cares to venture into because it is believed to contain the remains of the Darangen (Kingdom of Bembaran). They were allegedly punished by the gods by turning them into stones.”

I am not familiar with your epic, but I’m glad to know that there is an attempt to translate it. You will note that all great epics of the world have for their theme or central idea the ability to converse with beings from other dimensions, and the earthmen usually call them gods or angels. There is a theory that such beings from other dimensions or other galaxies actually lived amongst us eons ago. Erich Von Daniken popularized this idea, beginning with his book “Chariots of the Gods.” Some even said that Jesus Christ was really a spaceman from another galaxy who was sent to Earth to guide man back to his source, which he had almost completely forgotten. Perhaps the cave you mentioned really harbors the remains of such superior creatures. Who knows? I wouldn’t discount the possibility.

“Beings from another plane? Since she was a child, my aunt has often been visited by a being from another dimension who speaks through her. The spirit, if you may call it that, claims to be her twin. We can hear beautiful whistling sounds around the house when her twin wants to talk through her, and then we would hear our aunt fall with a thud at the end of her prayer. We Muslims pray five times a day, so her twin spirit would come during any of these times. The spirit usually comes when someone in our family is sick or warns us of accidents, catastrophes, epidemics, and the like. She once asked my brother to pick up some herbal medicines by the window. My brother stretched his hand out, and the medicine just fell from nowhere on his hands.”

From the description, it looks like the spirit being you speak of is a fairy or encanto, as known by the people of Luzon. It usually appears as a beautiful lady in white with a flowing dress and long, silky hair whose feet never touch the ground. She glides rather than walks. The language of the Encanto is similar to the whistling or chirping of birds. They can enter a human body and help them in times of distress. The encanto can also materialize objects, like the herbal medicine you speak of. She can also heal and foretell the future. But according to my information, there are positive and negative encantos. Your aunt is lucky to be in contact with the positive one. Encantos belong to what some call elemental or nature spirits, like dwarves, sylphs, undines, etc. Others would put them in a separate category. It doesn’t really matter much how we classify them. What’s more important is how we can learn, understand, and communicate with them better. Your aunt, who is a natural medium for such beings, can start exploring this aspect.

To be continued…

https://www.amazon.com/Nosca-Khalid/e/B01NA7APYQ