kimurho

Drinking tea after noon affects my sleep patterns. My sleep is shallow, I waken more readily and more completely between them and I remember them more vividly. I also have a hard time getting up with the alarm and am more prone to dozing during the day. Consequently, I don't drink tea ... ordinary Orange Pekoe tea ... except when I don't have to get up and work the next day. Like Friday nights.

I was at a senior celebration party in a dark, crowded warehouse-type storage space. Shelves of goods divided the space into many small distinct areas and there were different activities in each one. I was myself a senior, I recognized many of the people from my graduating class. I wandered from group to group. The boy I liked was with one group who were shoving on a couch where others were sitting. I decided to join in the shoving and then, suddenly, someone dropped a coat on my shoulders and I was informed that meant I had to shed my clothes and just wear the coat - naked underneath. I noticed that there were others there also wearing coats - bare legs beneath. Lots of good-natured laughing, not malicious. Hideously embarassed, I undressed under the coat.

Wandering through the darkness again, I came across a woman I know from work, from the high school here. The seniors were now ones from the here-and-now. She had a child with her - her three year old grandson. He was adorable and I asked to hold him. She left him with me and went off. While I was holding him, someone came by with small cakes and he got a couple of chocolate, smearing it all over his face. He wanted to wipe it off on my dress, but I wouldn't let him because I was wearing a white dress (also, just No). A student (the one who gave him the cakes?) chastised me for being squeamish and asked to hold him; I told her just until I found something to clean him up and went to find some napkins or paper towels. Then I heard the child cry out in pain and the girl screaming. I ran back and found that she had dropped him! and she was screaming that he was a monster. I dropped to my knees and picked up the broken book, pages fluttering out. The book was the child. Then, when I had the book in my hands, he was an action figure, small and still - his face half black and half white. I handed the figure to his grandmother and picked up the accessories from the torn open plastic case.

Then I was in a tribal ceremonial lodge, acting as a novice priestess in a ceremony with a neighbouring tribe, currently allies though we had fought them before and there were lingering resentments. I was acting opposite a young novice priest for the other tribe, both of us under the direction of more experienced elders. I should mention that all of us were in training to be, or had experience being warriors, so this novice priest was more a soldier than what we would think of as priestly. He was wearing armour of sorts. But so was I. During the ceremony, I had a vision of overwhelming light that was a voice calling out to me. Afterwards, while everyone was feasting in another lodge, I snuck back to the temple. The novice priest/warrior followed me. We argued a bit outside the sacred area, he refused to go saying that he had been told to keep close to me. He didn't say by whom but ... I let it go and approached the altar. A small ball of light appeared and zoomed into me - not the explosion that I had expected but I fell to the ground in a trance.

A wiry older woman dressed as a archer of my tribe gave me advice; Mother Fire telling me that for this war we her children and the children of Father War (the god for the other tribe involved) would have to call on Grandmother Earth - who had a tricky reputation. Not exactly dependable. I have the feeling she was something similar to Ananzi, maybe? She could be cruel or kind - womb or grave, both were Grandmother Earth. I was also scolded about being so mean to "that nice young man" - which makes me think that Mother Fire was interested in getting some new genetic matter into the family.

Then I was in a backyard garden, somewhat neglected, and playing chase games with the ShadowCat. My orange tree was there, about the height of a five year old child and looking very healthy.