“I’m scared.”
“You don’t need to be, child. The spirits will do as they will.”
“What will happen to me?”
“We will both go to the Balete tree and I will leave you there. You will sit underneath the tree and be taken to the Skyworld and the Lower World.”
“Why?”
“To be reborn.”
“Will it hurt?”
“I…. don’t remember. It has been so long since I went through my initiation. Don’t be scared child, they will let you see a new world.”
“Is that why you can fly?”
“Yes, child. That and much more. I have been to the depths of the sea and inside the bodies of humans. I have spoken to the spirits in this world and the next. I have traveled to places that no human will ever see again. And I am tired.”
“We are here.”
“Listen to the spirits. They will guide you as they have guided me all my life.”
“Will I see you again?”
“Who knows what the spirits will allow? Goodbye child, I leave my people to you.”
“Goodbye, Lola.”
The winds buffeted the girl as she sat beneath the Balete tree. The days stretched into weeks and she did not move a single inch. Those that passed by knew better than to interrupt her journey. When the last night finally gave way to a new dawn she stood up and quietly thanked the spirits.
Her new eyes finally saw the invisible world that surrounded her old life. She did not think to smile.
She had work that needed to be done.
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Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Inspired by the Baylan initiation ritual as described in The Soul Book. Demetrio & Cordero-Fernando 1991.
Babaylan Illustration by emirajuju
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Watercolor by Catherine Chiu
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