The unprecendented heatwave here in the Northeast was beginning to wear me down. Day after unbearable day I sat in my third floor apartment cursing my lack of foresight. No air conditioner. I was cranky, sticky, foul tempered and debating whether or not to call my significant other. Actually, I was debating whether or not I actually needed a significant other. My irritability had escalated to the point where I had convinced myself that maintaining a relationship was not worth the aggravation. I no longer remembered what it was like to feel dry, and the simple act of picking up the phone seemed an unbearable exertion of energy.
Nothing lasts forever, however, and late that evening a huge storm front moved in. I sat like a child near the open window at first, laughing at the cool wind and fine spray that came through the screen, sending joyous thanks to the heavens for the much needed respite. I could almost hear the trees singing hymns of gratitude. The thunder shook the building, and the repeated lightning lit up the world like daylight for a second at a time.
Awed and delirious, I ran out to my balcony in my night clothes. (Yes, I was decent...) I grabbed a stick of sage, thinking to practice an indian way of thanks that I had read about. (And yes, I often raise my neighbor's eyebrows with my incessant curiousity and need to try everything at least once.)
I lit the sage, and sat in my deck chair, sending my thanks to the sky. As I watched the storm it occurred to me that I could send a bit of myself to the sky if I inhaled the smoking sage and exhaled it to the heavens. I did so, exhilirated by the idea of reaching out to the elements personally. The storm was reaching its peak now, and the rain made a gauze curtain between my balcony and the trees. I had read that the sky, air and fire were male energies, and that the earth and water were female energies, but had never given it much thought.
The next flash of lightning illuminated the rain, making it appear to be a sheet of prisms...a shower of jewels.
I suddenly had a vision of the perfect union...the ultimate power of male and female. The electric flame of the lightning shown all around and through the raindrops, which bent and reflected it to make a dazzling, beautiful wall of magic. The lightening by itself, though awe inspiring, lacked depth, or motion. The rain by itself, though healing and renewing, lacked light and color. Wrapped around each other, they rivaled the stars, and dimmed the rainbow. I felt an immediate need to share this with someone, someone special...someone who would understand.
I ran inside eagerly.. I had a very important phone call to make.
Denise Ruiz
Editor