Now with the photos around my beautiful new desk I felt as though I was really getting somewhere. The boxes from the house in Georgia and the RV in the Keys were emptying and appearing on my walls.
"Ok, Universe, I'll watch for signs as to when you think the photos should come down," I thought to myself. My eyesight is usually 20/20 when it comes to important messages. When my vision gets blurry, The Universe hits me in the head with a DVD to get my attention!
Who was it the girls wanted me to meet? Some guy who had a trading post somewhere in Old Town. More than one person had told me I needed to meet him in the past week. Maybe today was the day.
Last Sunday I was doing a Yoga Party at Kitty's home when she suggested I meet a good friend of hers. He owned a Trading Post/Hair Salon in Old Town right around the corner from my house. She predicted we would become great friends.
I thought, “I don’t want to meet anyone new right now." I’m not my usual, happy, carefree, Pollyanna-self.
I listened to her directions half heartedly but I didn't need to locate his place yet.
Of course, on my way home, I drove right past it and the sign jumped out at me; Trading Post and Hair Salon. Ok, now I know where it is. I’d been traveling past it for 2 years.
Then on Tuesday, Dottie at Dixie Music said the same thing. We started talking about doing yoga classes in Old Town and I mentioned Kitty had suggested a salon on Rte 349. Dottie agreed, “Yes, that would be a perfect place for your classes. You should meet the owner. You two are very like-minded individuals.”
Well, ok, so I’ll meet him.
Maybe I just didn’t want to meet a man right now for fear of jumping into another relationship. I just wanted to be alone. I needed to be alone. I’d spent my entire adult life in relationships with men, with the exception of a year devoted completely to self-realization. I was on the way to an ashram when I met Red and didn't go on my journey. I needed time for me to pay attention to ME so I could figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Hmmm, maybe I was going to pick up my journey where I left off. Was I headed back to the ashram? I thought I probably was not going there as I believed I could help a lot more people out here than I could in an ashram. Rather like I was helping a lot more people in the bars with their addictions than I was ever going to help in a church. Time would tell.
When I left the music store I slowed down and almost stopped at the Salon/Trading Post. I pulled up on the street at the end of the long driveway in front of the salon and then pulled away around the corner and down the road to my house. Why in the world did I want to meet someone who cuts hair and has a trading post in this part of Florida?
Much of Dixie County is about as red-necked as it gets. I couldn’t imagine what they had on their shelves. It was probably stocked with fishing tackle, hunting knives and canning supplies.
I think Kitty said the owner had been involved with Hari Krishnas for over 20 years so that intrigued me but not enough to make me stop there, not yet.
And, come to think of it, a couple of years ago someone visiting from out of town asked me if I had ever stopped in to see what that trading post around the corner from my house was all about. No, back then I was working fulltime for a disabled vet and hardly had time to breathe. There was definitely no time to stop at a salon then.
Okay, I’d been thinking about stopping at this salon for a couple of days now, almost stopping when I had driven by on Tuesday. When I can’t stop thinking about something it's a pretty good indication, it's time to do something about it. I'll stop and meet him on my way to teach yoga classes at The Center today. The new moon is a good time to start new things. Besides, I spent last night tossing and turning with very little sleep. Giving myself something new and exciting to focus on would help me get through the day. If I went on the way to class I would have a great excuse for not being able too stay long.
"Besides, I have a drum circle tonight. I wonder if he has drums for something like that," I thought as I continued cleaning the house, talking myself into needing a new drum for tonight.
Then, I realized, it was time for me to head into Chiefland to teach my class, so I dashed out the door. I did not want to be late for my first class since Red had died. I was anxious to see my students.
Apparently I had not left enough time to stop at the Salon on the way to class. I wondered if I’d done that on purpose.
Maybe I wasn’t meant to meet him today either. I would see how I felt after the class…but I probably wouldn’t drive all the way back to Old Town just to ‘maybe’ meet him. His sign always said closed and I didn't have a phone number to make sure he was home. Besides, gas prices are too high and my gas tank is nearly empty, again.
After my class, I went into the office at The Center to try to do some work but couldn’t get into the treatment room. Dr. Susan had a patient.
I didn’t have another class till 6pm so I decided to make a trip to Walmart and purchase a water pitcher with a filter for my house. I was having a water conditioner installed this morning, so, with the filter I wouldn’t have to buy bottled water any longer. This was something we had wanted to do for some time but we had promised each other not to run up the credit cards anymore.
I was in and out of the store in about 10 minutes and realized I was headed for Old Town. I would pick up my mail at the post office and then stop by the Salon/Trading Post. I was going to do it today and get over this odd feeling of urgency. Why was I feeling like this? This was really beginning to make me wonder. Why did I need to meet him?
Little did I know, I was going to get some answers to my questions and it would be the beginning of a new friendship.
I picked up another box full of thank you cards at the Old Town Post Office, turned the corner at our only traffic light and drove to the Salon/Trading Post. I drove up the driveway and saw the “Sorry, we are closed” sign on the fence and a man walking towards me from the porch with a phone in his hand.
He was tall and he was saying, “Goodbye sweetheart,” to whomever he was talking to. My first thought was, “Oh, he has a girlfriend,” and then it changed to, “Oh good, he has a girlfriend.”
I immediately apologized for interrupting his conversation. He said it was not a problem at all. He was just talking to his sister and that he could call her back. If I would wait for a minute he would put the dog away and unlock the gate.
His dog was beautiful, half wolf and half chow. The man introduced himself and when I reached over the fence to shake his hand his dog showed how terrifyingly protective he was of his master.
He let his dog into the old cracker house and came back to unlock his gate. He invited me to come up and sit on his porch where there were two rocking chairs. He took the one with the folded towel on it and offered the other chair to me. The chair was very comfortable and so was I.
He told me I had an incredibly powerful aura reaching way out away from my body. I had been told I’d had a powerful aura before but I couldn’t imagine in my current condition of low energy and intermittent sobs, heavy at times, I could be shining very brightly or fathom what color my aura might have been.
Not knowing what else to say I thanked him.
I told him I had stopped to see if he had any drums. I was looking for a drum to use for this evening’s drum circle. I had promised a couple of my yoga students I would host a New Moon and a Happy Chinese New Year Party tonight. I wanted to make an effort to get this new and very important 12 year cycle started the right way.
He asked me if I was Kitty’s friend?
I said yes, and he said, “The tarot cards told me you would be here today.”
He added he didn’t have any drums he could sell me but he would let me use his drum; his grandmother had gifted it to him before she had passed to the other side.
He then asked me how I was doing and I said kind of ok.
I told him the loss of my husband in November had been very difficult. It seemed like it was just yesterday that he had died but then it seemed like it had been years since I had seen him. I missed him.
At this point, he shared the fact he was no stranger to loss. These past couple years; he had lost his father, a brother, his mother and his grandmother.
He said he had fallen to his knees a couple of days ago feeling stricken with grief from the multiple deaths in his life and asked the Deities almost angrily, “Are you sadistic?” but then he took it back immediately knowing that was not the case.
I told him Red, my deceased soul mate, and I had had a love affair like no other. It was passionate, loving, and long distance. The long distance was probably what had kept us together for so long. The life styles of traveling musicians who played in bars were not conducive to a happy home life.
He explained he had been an empath since he was 5 years old; that spirits came to him. He asked if he could tell me what he saw. I, having no idea what was coming next said, yes.
You and your deceased husband have been together for many lifetimes. I see Egypt and India.
Red and I always believed we had been soul mates through many lifetimes. We promised to be together forever, even after stepping through death’s door.
Then he said, “He came in with you. He is here now. Would you like me to tell you what he is saying?”
“Yes,” was my reply, but “OH, MY GOD, YES, HURRY,” was what I was thinking.
"What does that mean?” He asked the air. Then he added, “Slow down, big fella.”
He looked at me and he started waving his hands and asking me what it all meant. I laughed later that evening when I realized he might have been referring to me. When I am excited I talk with my hands and I occasionally talk too fast. It would overwhelm Red at times and he would bring it to my attention and ask me to slow down. I was learning to slow down, a little.
“He wants you to know he is sorry. He is sorry for what he put you through. He didn’t understand what you were trying to do. He understands now. He knows that everything you did was to help him.”
He stopped and listened and then continued, “He is telling me to tell you to stop feeling guilty. This was all him. You did everything you could. He left this earth because he was tired.
He couldn’t do it anymore. He couldn’t do what you asked him to do, what he knew he needed to do. He couldn’t stop the drinking.”
“He says the drinking made him numb. He felt so much pain from his childhood. All he ever wanted was love but he felt all he got was pain and being shut out; lots of arguments, lots of pain.”
I sat there crying quietly, listening to this man tell me things I knew Red wanted me to know, “He would not have stayed around as long as did if it hadn’t been for you, Diane. You made him happy. You kept him here longer than he had planned. He had considered taking his own life before but he couldn’t while he had you.”
He stopped for a few moments while listening to the air and he smiled and continued, “I see a coffee cup, his big coffee cup. Whenever you want to talk to him, pour him a cup of coffee and sit at your table and talk; anytime you want to, but, coffee not tea.”
Then he laughed and said, “He is really glad they don’t have that tea in eternity-you know the tea you were always trying to get him to drink here. He hated that tea.”
I laughed as I cried and listened. This new friend was telling me what my husband couldn’t tell me. He couldn’t tell me while he was alive, probably because he didn’t think I would listen and now he knows I do listen, but can’t hear him. I believed this man could hear him plainly because the things he was saying made so much sense.
“He is saying you should have stopped here two days ago when he tried to get you to stop,” this man continued.
He was right. I had stopped on the road in front of this trading post on Tuesday but couldn’t bring myself to drive up the driveway.
He listened for a few more moments and continued, “I don’t know what this means but Red is telling me to tell you to remember the butterflies…and that you were always his butterfly and you always will be.”
My heart lifted each time he said something that proved he was truly getting messages from Spirit World. I remembered the butterflies well. This morning while I was teaching my yoga class I shared a story about Red to my students. As I was speaking, a beautiful yellow butterfly flew through the tent where we were sitting in lotus pose, exercising our hands.
I’d smiled and said to the girls, “Breathe deeply and look at the beautiful butterfly…thank you God for butterflies.” A few minutes later, after our meditation, I was telling them something else about Red and another, or maybe the same, beautiful butterfly flew through the tent.
I laughed and said, “Each time I talk about Red a butterfly appears, perhaps, he is sending them.”
He then told me Red said he was going to be around me for a long time and that, “You couldn’t pry this guy off with a crowbar.”
That’s ok, I like having him around. In fact last night, the night before I met this man, I was talking to Red as though he was there and I said, “You know, if you could give me a sign you are here, that wouldn’t be so bad…OUCH”.
My right knee and my right elbow both hurt simultaneously.
“You can let me know you are here without hurting me!” I told the air, “You have to be nice, like the gentle miracles we experienced right after you died."
This man who seemed to know my deceased husband well said Red and I would be together again, in the future, but not for a long time. Red likes it too well where he is now and I have a lot of work to do here.
He went on to tell me that when Red and I were together most recently in Egypt, before that in India. He ran away from me and what I was trying to teach him then; just like he ran away from me here in this lifetime, not wanting my help.
He described Red’s appearance as being surrounded by very bright white light. He said he was at a very high vibration he had a very powerful soul. I knew that to be true. When I met him one of the first things I told him was that he was the most beautiful soul I had ever met. I could see it in his bright sparkling eyes.
He continued, “He is telling me to tell you the people are coming. Be patient, this is your place. This is your safe place.”
At this point he explained that every morning, about 4am he does his meditation to help bring good energy to Dixie County. It is needed here.
I asked him if I could ask a question.
“Yes, of course”, was his answer.
“What should I do about the mountain property?”
He waited for Red’s response and answered, “Keep it for a year. You will know what to do with it in a year.”
Well, the probate will take that long before I could close on a sale anyway, so in the meantime, if we can raise enough interest in the Intentional Living Community, I just might be able to act on the visions I have had of the Pleiades’ Project; the 7 sisters coming together to build a place where we grow our own food, have our own water supply and can help each other grow old together. Time will tell.
He said he had questioned his cards when I showed up in them this morning. The cards had told him I would be here a couple of days ago, and I hadn’t materialized. I’d stopped but went on home. This morning the cards said I really would be there today.
He was right. Something in the universe made me drive all the way from Chiefland to be there and I was glad I had plenty of time to talk to this new friend. I had a couple of hours before I had to head back and teach my next class.
He said Red was leaving now but that he would be around.
He asked me what I was doing to help myself heal.
I told him I was doing acupuncture and some Chinese herbs. I had also been given some Bach Flower Essence and was using that each night on my heart chakra.
He got up and said, “I have to get you a few things. My drum for your circle tonight and some items HE wants you to have. He says you need them,” pointing at the air.
He brought out the beautiful drum his grandmother had given him that I would use at my home to celebrate the Chinese New Year tonight. It was the beginning of a twelve year cycle in the Chinese calendar. It was also the new moon, time for new beginnings and obviously, new friends.
He also gave me a “Peace Candle,” some lavender mineral salts, some “Peace Spray” and some white sage. He piled them up in my lap and asked me if I wanted a bag for everything.
“That would be helpful, thank you,” I said and he added he was honored I had stopped to see him.
I was overwhelmed with so many feelings; gratitude, surprise, relaxation, anticipation, disbelief-no, actually BELIEF, definitely BELIEF.
He walked out to my truck with me and said he would be taking my yoga class next week. That he was a beginner but that he knew how to breathe. I believed he probably knew how to breathe very well.
After a good long hug he told me to let my light shine. He also told me to have a good yoga class and he would see me soon.
I would have to tell him, the next time I see him, how incredibly perfect it was for my insanely jealous, deceased husband to lead me to a gloriously-gay-psychic who wanted to open a spiritual center around the corner from my house.
As I drove out of his yard I noticed for the first time the name of his store was Red River Trading Post.
The drum circle that night was absolutely incredible…
Life, and apparently life after life, is getting more interesting by the moment.
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