The
Sylph Parahim
Parahim is sylph of high rank who dwells within
the sky. If you can sense energy
from a distance, you may feel you are listening
to a harp playing. Her aura is
very beautiful and she has a profound sense
of harmony. For Parahim, music and tones are magical.
This sylph also has an unusal
empathy for certain kinds of human beings.
Recall that most sylphs are very aloof and
distant from humanity. They care not for human activity nor for the
thoughts that human beings devise. But Parahim's consciousness is
not only sensitive to atmospheric conditions. She is acutely sensitive
to those whose minds are like the sky. This interest of hers is unmistakable.
When you focus on her, she also focuses on you. She immediately scrutinizes
the strength of your brain waves and the quality of your thoughts.
I draw Parahim's sigil in the air. This
is a magical diagram representing her
nature and being. Her sigil represents
her ability to move freely between the
mental vibrations of mind, the astral realms
of feeling, and the energies which we perceive as wind, weather, snow,
and falling rain.
Next I pause for a moment and contemplate the
source of her inspiration which endows her with beauty and life.
I perceive that Parahim's highest ideal is the mind that has become pure
light, self-existent, autonomous, and without any limitation. Parahim's
ideal, however, is not religious or sectarian. Rather, it is simply
that she worships the mind, whether human or divine, that can sense the
entire atmosphere of the earth. Such a mind, of course, has attained
enlightenment and can not be defined within the confines of any religion
or creed.
Parahim comes into my room. Walls, windows,
and doors do not limit her
freedom of movement. She smiles at me
in a way no woman has ever done. Her smile reflects the willingness
of her soul to stand naked so nothing is hidden. Her enness reflects
her level of creativity--she has many magical songs that penetrate the
heart. They are more subtly than wind, than breath, than a lover's
caress.
With her tones she can follow passion from
its beginning to its end--capturing
its dance, the hunger, and the gratification.
As she sings she evokes both yearning and the sea of peace in which yearning
drowns because she perceives the innermost fibers of your being.
The gaze of her eyes is most remarkable. She can see quite clearly
the touch of desire which haunts your soul because it comes from you know
not where. And in the same moment she can sing a note of freedom
and release so that now you sense within your heart a serenity which satisfies
every need. I see clearly that these qualities and abilities exist
within her as I touch
her aura with my mind.
We hold hands as we join our minds. But
almost immediately she speaks to me. Most unusual for a sylph, she seems
compelled. It is as if in looking into my eyes ages of time are dispelled
and she is transported into a past memory which has suddenly become alive.
She tells me a story: "In ancient times,
there was a religion on earth which worshiped the sky. The practitioners
had taken an oath that for at least on hour every day they would concentrate
on the sky allowing no other thought to enter their minds. They sat on
balconies, on rocks, by waterfalls, or at the tops of trees just staring
at the blue expanse. Their minds were like sponges soaking in the
light. They could not get enough of it. If a cloud passed by, they
would see the cloud and become the cloud in their minds. But they
also continued to visualize the blue sky above the cloud.
"It was at that time that I fell in love with
the human race. You can not
imagine the joy it gives me to find intelligent
beings whose minds are clear, luminous, and self-aware."
Then gazing at me intently Parahim reads a
question in my mind. She says,
"Your mind conceals a ferocity of will which
would trouble the hurricane if it saw you standing in its way. For
you the mind is like the sky and is designed to
capture the light of the stars as a poet seeks
to capture a woman's beauty and her heart with his enchanting metaphors."
"But the difference is," I point out to her,
"that your priests kept their
minds luminous and clear day and night.
I can only visit you when I am in a
meditative trance. The rest of the time
I am blind. The affairs and concerns of
daily life leave me little time for mystical
visions or monastic chanting and
meditations. But you dwell within the
sacred in each moment--for you, each wind is a note or a song being sung
within the heart of God."
"My heart has not always been open," she says..
"Most of my will and spirit
have been developed by associating with human
sages and wise men. For example, these priests, as they gazed at the sky,
they fell into a trance. Then their minds became a limitless expanse.
As they did this, they opened the gates between the realm of sylphs and
your evolution.
"It was at that time that I came down and sat
next to human beings as they
meditated. I learned from them there
is no limit to the power of the mind, the
amount of light it can contain, or where it
may penetrate. During their sacred
festivals, they would sit for three days concentrating--their
minds joined as one
light and one consciousness. It was
as if the entire sky was filled with their
presence. There was no where a sylph could
go--neither into the jet stream, the
thunderstorm or whirlwind, nor to the North
Pole or into a desert's desolation and not feel that mental emanation."
"And what was that like?" I ask.
"At such times, the inner and outer worlds
were joined. The sea of wind and
sky was vibrant with dreams of peace and harmony.
The air was thick with feelings of honor and nobility from those who are
committed to serving the highest light.
"But the peace was not complete. The
priests had a secret hunger buried within
them. On the outside, they were gentile
and kind, in action as innocent as doves.
But on the inside, in their hearts, they had
the hunger of wolves who celebrate the mystery of life in the sacred rite
of devouring another's life. The wolves and the priests believe that
through the act of absorbing energy into oneself the heart is joined to
the universe.
"When that civilization ended, the lineage
of those priests ended with it.
But I believe the sky shines brighter and
the human race is more curious and
desires to uncover every secret in nature
because the illumination in that religion lingers and continues to inspire.
The air element is imprinted and still echoes with the vibration of their
chants and mantras."
"Did any of the ancient priests talk to you
as I do?" I ask.
"They could all feel my presence. Many
of them could see me. But only two of the high priests paused from the
solemn duties of their monastic life to inquire into the nature of my being
and the powers I command."
"And what did they learn, if I may ask?
She said, "Oddly, they both had a marvelous
sense of humor, were voracious in their curiosity, and were very intelligent.
Like you, both knew immediately that to understand me they had to become
one with me.
"When I first met one of them, he entered a
trance which went on for a week in which he did not move his body.
During that time, I was the only thing that existed within his awareness--me,
that is, and his curiosity. His presence was like a gentle wind flowing
and dancing around me. He never uttered a word that entire time.
But his silence was itself eloquence, a spell-binding concentration constantly
listening to my every mental action as if he were asking:
"The way you caused that storm to hold back
and then to rain on--how do you do
that? And the way the wind obeys your will
as if you are the source of its breath
and the place where it seeks to rest--how
did you acquire these abilities? How can you see so far that you
can measure the wind's strength and velocity over an entire continent?"
"And this ease with which you live. It
is an unknown bliss and no poet has
ever spoken with its voice and no woman has
ever danced with such delight. How can you be at the same time so
sensitive, receptive, and vulnerable and yet so incredibly free that you
have no need except to dwell in harmony? Who has granted you this
gift? What divine mystery does your existence reflect?"
"The touch of his mind was always relaxed and
light. There was never an instant in which his intent was to interfere.
But for all his inquiry, he never asked the right questions. He never
asked, `What are your dreams? What passion holds you in
its sway?'"
"And the other priest?" I ask. "What
was he like?"
She replies, "He was more playful. He
liked to tease me. He would say, `Are
you whipping the winds into shape today?
Are you teaching them to obey the sacred ordinances as I must constantly
remind my novice monks not to stray? Or have you been wandering through
some mountain chain or tasting the foam where the waves break in some exotic
bay?'
"And another time he said, `Sweet thing, presence
of delight, child of the sky,
what song of enchantment can I play on my
flute so that ten thousand years from now you will still remember my name?
You will recall the sound of my voice and say,
`
He shared the secrets of my heart and his
love is still part of me.'
"Later in his life great destruction wrecked
havoc on his land and he was
appalled at the needless suffering.
For years, he and other priests had to flee
the invading armies in order to stay alive.
Once for several months he hide in a deep valley framed by tall cliffs
which lacked a mountain pass.
"In that place of refuge, he reached out for
me. Though he was never tempted to compromise his human limitations,
he cherished being able to travel through the realms of fairy and into
the higher astral plane. There he would renew himself by entering
a place of absolute relaxation.
"There he called out to me and I came to visit
him. He said, `If you were a
mortal woman I would leave the priesthood.
I would renounce all vows and man made religions. Your body would be my
alter and your heart would be the temple where I worship. To hold
a woman like you, to kiss and touch you, to bathe in the luminosity of
your soul is a joy mankind will never know until its mind attains liberation
and its heart becomes as vast as the sky.
"`Child of the winds, daughter of sacred dreams,
I will find you again in
another lifetime when I shall have the power
of will and the wisdom to call you
into the form of a woman. Then our two evolutions
will be joined forever and
mankind will make beauty, harmony, and the
truth of the universe its religion.'"
"The funny thing is," Parahim says, "he was
just on the verge of creating a
dream in which we could both live."
And then she asks me, "Why are human beings
so afraid of feelings? Why do they not hear as I hear the song in
every wind? How can you not notice that every note and tone conceals
a dream waiting to awaken? When will your race realize breathing
is a magical action? And when will you finally learn that consciousness
is the light it embraces and creates?"
"It sounds to me," I reply, "you long for a
lover to search for and discover
the secrets of your heart. Your wish
for another to transform you through his
art."
"And I will change him forever as well," she
says. "But do not get me wrong.
I am not discontent. Other sylphs with
whom I associate are gentle and kind. But they are mostly busy and
preoccupied with weather control. Only a few are haunted, as am I,
by the beauty of the sky, the enlightened mind that shines without limitation,
and the mysterious, divine presence which is within everything that exists."
"Do you still come down to sit and meditate
with the human race?" I ask.
Parahim replies, "There are more than a few
like you who search for my
essence. I am always ready to share
who I am with those who quest in search of the enlightened mind."
"Parahim," I ask, "take me into the dream the
ancient priest was not ready to enter."
She says, "You must put aside your human nature.
Let us become opposite
polarities through the power of love and will
joined. Let us call the divine into
our minds and drink its waters of inspiration.
The beauty within unity is the sound of the enlightened mind which all
of nature celebrates in the passion that has neither beginning nor end.
It is the voice speaking in the center of every
heart. It is the stillness drifting
through every thought. The five senses and
the breath cling to it and know it not.
"In my dream, I am above the earth where I
can see both dawn and sunset, day and night. I enter the contemplation
of the fixed stars. And I watch the earth
turning beneath me as if the earth's rotation
and the light breaking on the peaks of mountains are the movement of prayer
beads in the hands of a goddess. The sun and the moon with their
fire and delight are sounds arising within her mantra. And the stars
above chart the depths of her heart and yet can not find the still center
of her meditation. But she does not meditate alone as a presence unknown.
Another
shares with her his passion."
And then Parahim turns to me and asks, "Can
you give voice to the beauty I
see?"
I reply, "When she contemplates the depths
of the night, he is the light within
her dreams. The longing within her heart is
the song his voice sings. Her breath
is love joining with his body and joy rising
within his soul. And he is the secret desire at the core of her being--the
dream of a friend and a lover whose touch empowers her to be one with all
things. Together they partake of a cup of wine made from light and
all that is divine. In a dream such as this, in a love in which the
mind and heart completely join, is the liberation of the world and the
enlightenment of mankind."
After we were done meditating together, Parahim
says, "Come back another time
when you have three hours to sit and meditate
with me without distraction. I
perceive in you more than the desire to play
a flute that haunts the soul with its
sweet fragrance. Your quest is for the bliss
that inspires the search for
enlightenment.. To this end, I will
show you what it is to wear the body of a
sylph and to feel the sky is but a small part
of your mind."
A few weeks later I again meet with Parahim.
As she appears, almost
instantaneously, my mind enters her body.
I am astonished and amazed as I enter the astral realm of the sylph.
It is like diving off a high diving board but there is no pool in which
to fall, no movement at all. Perhaps this is what the astronauts
feel when they are outside the space shuttle--just drifting weightless
with the vastness of the earth suspended in space beneath them. But
to be in this sylph's body is to be completely still, silent, and quiet.
This is no drifting.
The weightlessness is a relaxation so great
it is beyond the power of mind to
define or of imagination to forge an image.
And I am aware of Parahim's mind as well.
For her, the forces shaping and
determining the course of our lives seem like
images appearing in a mirror. We
cling to them or flee from them, delighting
in them one moment and then hating them the next as if they have the power
to shape our feelings and to bless or contaminate our lives. But
for Parahim the mind is both the mirror and the light appearing within
it. The mind of a sylph does not lose its spacious openness though
storms appear and whirlwinds rage within it.
In addition to the relaxation and the mental
clarity, there is a pure feminine
energy which Parahim circulates through my
body. How can I explain?
Long ago a woman kissed me goodbye. She
put her whole body and soul into that kiss as if it was her wish that when
her life was done she would be able to look back and say, "I was never
more alive, never more a woman or more fulfilled than in that moment when
we kissed." (If I may be so bold, if you will indulge me for a little)
It was as if in that kiss, in that giving, the soul within all women unveiled
itself to come forth and to share in that kiss of farewell. The free
flow of love that defies the restrictions of time and that destroys all
that binds us is what it is like to be within the body of this sylph.
~*~
