Dark Peril (52 page)

“Stay here,
hän sívamak
.” It was an order, nothing less, and he looked down at her upturned face, letting her see he meant it.

Her protest died in her throat. She nodded.

Dominic slowly approached the entrance. The light grew stronger, reached for him. His heart pounded in anticipation. He took a few more cautious steps out of the cave. The sun fell across his body. Every muscle tensed. Nothing happened. There was no burning. No blisters. No terrible repercussions, just the feel of the sun on his skin.

He turned and looked at Solange. His miracle. She took his breath away. He held out his hand to her. Solange walked slowly toward him, reaching for his hand, smiling up at him with love shining in her eyes. He threaded his fingers through hers and called silently to awaken their kitten. They waited together until the little cat joined them, before walking together out in the sunshine.

“YOU ARE THE VERY HEART OF ME”

DOMINIC TO SOLANGE:

Dreams

I was half-alive for a thousand years.
I’d given up hope that we’d meet in this time.
Too many the centuries. All disappears
As time and the darkness steal color and rhyme.

But then beyond hope, you came into my dream . . .
Glowing eyes like a cat, but fierce need like a child.
Your warrior heart, loyal. Your anguished, “Don’t leave me.”
Your head in my lap:
Csitri!
Strong and wild.

Questions

Can you come to trust a man once again?
Can you come to love an old one like me?

Let my strong arms protect you, let me sing you to sleep.
Let my song bring you healing, like the earth and the sea.

Look at me—now see yourself through my eyes.
Look at you: the most beautiful on this earth.

I’ll wait for you to see it, forever if it takes. . .
Solange, my very own, amazing gift beyond worth.

Lifemates

When you meet me,
You complete me.
You bring me back to life again.

You reveal me. Then you heal me
Of all the scars and strife.
And when my life was spinning downward,
You caught me.
I’d forgotten how to smile, but
You re-taught me.

My dream lover and lifemate,
You know every part of me.
We’re bound forever, soul to soul.
You hold the very heart of me.

I can never betray you.
You can never part from me.
In love forever, this life and next.
You are the very heart of me.

SOLANGE TO DOMINIC:

Dreams

My life was an anguish, my family ripped from me.
My rage had sustained me. I’d given up hope.
Tears fell in rain forest, heart bled in the blood-ground.
My father betrayed me. I barely could cope.

But then beyond hope, you came into my dream . . .
Your melody haunting, your gentle voice healing.
The soul of a poet, great heart of a warrior.
You gave all for your people. Let me give you feeling!

Questions

Can you find beauty in this rough-hewn woman?
Can you come to love a shapeshifter like me?
Let my soft arms caress you, let our songs blend together.
Let me stand by your side—let me set your heart free!
Look at me—now see yourself through my eyes.
Look at you: the perfect man of my dreams.
You’re the calm in the storm, the most gentle power.
In your hands, I’m a flower. Near you, my heart beams.

Lifemates

When you meet me,
You complete me.
You bring me back to life again.

You reveal me. Then you heal me
Of all the scars and strife.
And when my life was spinning downward,
You caught me.
I’d forgotten how to smile, but
You re-taught me.

My dream lover and lifemate,
You know every part of me.
We’re bound forever, soul to soul.
You hold the very heart of me.

I can never betray you.
You can never part from me.
In love forever, this life and next.
You are the very heart of me.

MUSIC AND LYRICS BY DR. CHRISTOPHER TONG
TO HEAR THIS SONG, GO TO
WWW.CHRISTINEFEEHAN.COM

APPENDIX 1

Carpathian Healing Chants

To rightly understand Carpathian healing chants, background is required in several areas:

1. The Carpathian view on healing

2. The Lesser Healing Chant of the Carpathians

3. The Great Healing Chant of the Carpathians

4. Carpathian musical aesthetics

5. Lullaby

6. Song to Heal the Earth

7. Carpathian chanting technique

1. THE CARPATHIAN VIEW ON HEALING

The Carpathians are a nomadic people whose geographic origins can be traced back to at least as far as the Southern Ural Mountains (near the steppes of modern-day Kazakhstan), on the border between Europe and Asia. (For this reason, modern-day linguists call their language “proto-Uralic,” without knowing that this is the language of the Carpathians.) Unlike most nomadic peoples, the wandering of the Carpathians was not due to the need to find new grazing lands as the seasons and climate shifted, or the search for better trade. Instead, the Carpathians’ movements were driven by a great purpose: to find a land that would have the right earth, a soil with the kind of richness that would greatly enhance their rejuvenative powers.

Over the centuries, they migrated westward (some six thousand years ago), until they at last found their perfect homeland—their
susu
—in the Carpathian Mountains, whose long arc cradled the lush plains of the kingdom of Hungary. (The kingdom of Hungary flourished for over a millennium—making Hungarian the dominant language of the Carpathian Basin—until the kingdom’s lands were split among several countries after World War I: Austria, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia and modern Hungary.)

Other peoples from the Southern Urals (who shared the Carpathian language, but were not Carpathians) migrated in different directions. Some ended up in Finland, which accounts for why the modern Hungarian and Finnish languages are among the contemporary descendents of the ancient Carpathian language. Even though they are tied forever to their chosen Carpathian homeland, the wandering of the Carpathians continues as they search the world for the answers that will enable them to bear and raise their offspring without difficulty.

Because of their geographic origins, the Carpathian views on healing share much with the larger Eurasian shamanistic tradition. Probably the closest modern representative of that tradition is based in Tuva (and is referred to as “Tuvinian Shamanism”)—see the map on the previous page.

The Eurasian shamanistic tradition—from the Carpathians to the Siberian shamans—held that illness originated in the human soul, and only later manifested as various physical conditions. Therefore, shamanistic healing, while not neglecting the body, focused on the soul and its healing. The most profound illnesses were understood to be caused by “soul departure,” where all or some part of the sick person’s soul has wandered away from the body (into the nether realms), or has been captured or possessed by an evil spirit, or both.

The Carpathians belong to this greater Eurasian shamanistic tradition and share its viewpoints. While the Carpathians themselves did not succumb to illness, Carpathian healers understood that the most profound wounds were also accompanied by a similar “soul departure.”

Upon reaching the diagnosis of “soul departure,” the healer-shaman is then required to make a spiritual journey into the nether worlds to recover the soul. The shaman may have to overcome tremendous challenges along the way, particularly: fighting the demon or vampire who has possessed his friend’s soul.

“Soul departure” doesn’t require a person to be unconscious (although that certainly can be the case as well). It was understood that a person could still appear to be conscious, even talk and interact with others, and yet be missing a part of their soul. The experienced healer or shaman would instantly see the problem nonetheless, in subtle signs that others might miss: the person’s attention wandering every now and then, a lessening in their enthusiasm about life, chronic depression, a diminishment in the brightness of their “aura,” and the like.

2. THE LESSER HEALING CHANT OF THE CARPATHIANS

Kepä Sarna Pus
(The Lesser Healing Chant)
is used for wounds that are merely physical in nature. The Carpathian healer leaves his body and enters the wounded Carpathian’s body to heal great mortal wounds from the inside out using pure energy. He proclaims, “I offer freely my life for your life,” as he gives his blood to the injured Carpathian. Because the Carpathians are of the earth and bound to the soil, they are healed by the soil of their homeland. Their saliva is also often used for its rejuvenative powers.

It is also very common for the Carpathian chants (both the Lesser and the Great) to be accompanied by the use of healing herbs, aromas from Carpathian candles and crystals. The crystals (when combined with the Carpathians’ empathic, psychic connection to the entire universe) are used to gather positive energy from their surroundings, which then is used to accelerate the healing. Caves are sometimes used as the setting for the healing.

The Lesser Healing Chant was used by Vikirnoff Von Shrieder and Colby Jansen to heal Rafael De La Cruz, whose heart had been ripped out by a vampire as described in
Dark Secret
.

Kepä Sarna Pus
(The Lesser Healing Chant)

The same chant is used for all physical wounds. “Sívadaba” [“into your heart”] would be changed to refer to whatever part of the body is wounded.

Kuńasz, nélkül sivdobbanás, nélkül fesztelen löyly.

You lie as if asleep, without beat of heart, without airy breath.

Ot élidamet andam szabadon élidadért.

I offer freely my life for your life.

O jelä sielam jŏrem ot ainamet és soŋe ot élidadet.

My spirit of light forgets my body and enters your body.

O jelä sielam pukta kinn minden szelemeket belső.

My spirit of light sends all the dark spirits within fleeing without.

Pajńak o susu hanyet és o nyelv nyálamet sívadaba.

I press the earth of our homeland and the spit of my tongue into your heart.

Vii, o verim soŋe o verid andam.

At last, I give you my blood for your blood.

To hear this chant, visit:
http://www.christinefeehan.com/members/
.

3. THE GREAT HEALING CHANT OF THE CARPATHIANS

The most well-known—and most dramatic—of the Carpathian healing chants was
En Sarna Pus
(The Great Healing Chant)
. This chant was reserved for recovering the wounded or unconscious Carpathian’s soul.

Typically a group of men would form a circle around the sick Carpathian (to “encircle him with our care and compassion”) and begin the chant. The shaman or healer or leader is the prime actor in this healing ceremony. It is he who will actually make the spiritual journey into the netherworld, aided by his clanspeople. Their purpose is to ecstatically dance, sing, drum and chant, all the while visualizing (through the words of the chant) the journey itself—every step of it, over and over again—to the point where the shaman, in trance, leaves his body, and makes that very journey. (Indeed, the word “ecstasy” is from the Latin
ex statis
, which literally means “out of the body.”)

One advantage that the Carpathian healer has over many other shamans is his telepathic link to his lost brother. Most shamans must wander in the dark of the nether realms in search of their lost brother. But the Carpathian healer directly “hears” in his mind the voice of his lost brother calling to him, and can thus “zero in” on his soul like a homing beacon. For this reason, Carpathian healing tends to have a higher success rate than most other traditions of this sort.

Something of the geography of the “other world” is useful for us to examine, in order to fully understand the words of the Great Carpathian Healing Chant. A reference is made to the “Great Tree” (in Carpathian:
En Puwe
). Many ancient traditions, including the Carpathian tradition, understood the worlds—the heaven worlds, our world and the nether realms—to be “hung” upon a great pole, or axis, or tree. Here on earth, we are positioned halfway up this tree, on one of its branches. Hence many ancient texts often referred to the material world as “middle earth”: midway between heaven and hell. Climbing the tree would lead one to the heaven worlds. Descending the tree to its roots would lead to the nether realms. The shaman was necessarily a master of movement up and down the Great Tree, sometimes moving unaided, and sometimes assisted by (or even mounted upon the back of) an animal spirit guide. In various traditions, this Great Tree was known variously as the
axis mundi
(the “axis of the worlds”), Ygddrasil (in Norse mythology), Mount Meru (the sacred world mountain of Tibetan tradition), etc. The Christian cosmos, with its heaven, purgatory/earth and hell, is also worth comparing. It is even given a similar topography in Dante’s
Divine Comedy
: Dante is led on a journey first to hell, at the center of the earth; then upward to Mount Purgatory, which sits on the earth’s surface directly opposite Jerusalem; then farther upward first to Eden, the earthly paradise, at the summit of Mount Purgatory; and then upward at last to heaven.