So let me tell you a story. Let me tell you my story. Gather around. Make sure your comfortable.

Close your eyes the better to see the pictures in your imagination. Gather around. The story

begins so long ago its hard to know where to draw it into time, but I reach back into the storyline

and grab it’s thread and that’s where we’ll begin.

Once upon a time there was a man and a woman. Were they ordinary or extraordinary? No more

ordinary that you and me … no more extraordinary than you and me. And they were both. They

weren’t perfect because they were human and therein lies the story. You may have heard other

versions of this story, more or less garbled versions. I’ll tell you my version of the story. You can

remember yours because it’s your story too. One name for this story is sleeping beauty. But

let’s begin …

Once upon a time there was a man and a women. The man was a king; a good king, a wise king,

an honorable king. He ruled well. The woman was a queen. Together they ruled well and wisely for

they were well enough brought up to know they need help and support: the help and support of

eachother, the counsel of those wiser than themselves, the help and support of the people whom

they ruled. It was the King who was the man of action who enacted the wisdom they devised

together or the spokesperson for their principals and their values and their implementation. It was

the queen who held wise counsel within her that she freely accessed whose power lay in her

beingness, her love, her ability to give and receive and be loved. And they were human. And

sometimes they got snagged by their emotions just like anyone else especially where love is

concerned.

And it seemed to begin with what seemed just a small discovery, but a discovery that changed

them and their live forever. They found out that they were expecting a child. Now this was

something they had both wanted very much. Now I have already told you how the queen held wise

counsel within her, so in fact when she shared the good new with the king it was not news to her.

She had already felt the soul of this being who would be her daughter around her, even before that

moment of conception. When she sensed that the stars where all in their right places in the

heavens, and she and her husband the king were in right relationship, part of the cosmic whole,

and they aloud the sacred connection to be made if nurtured and respected would make a sacred

vessel for this spark of love that is the soul of their daughter to have a home on earth to embody an

their daughter.

For a moment at the news the king looked into the eyes of his wife, the queen, and for a timeless

moment was transported into the mystery of life of which he was now a part, the mystery of

creation. And he was moved by new responsibility, by feelings of inadequacy, and helplessness.

And then he broke his gaze and came back in to his body and that was when the fear woke up and

for a moment he was filled with fear. He shook off these unfamiliar feelings and returned to the

moment of joyfull discovery with loving embrace of his wife the queen. She had noticed the shifts

without full comprehension, and I had too, for I am one of those who she consults in wise counsel

through an inner gateway of consious. I saw the work that lay ahead, and it’s happy outcome and

I rejoyced too. When needed I came from my world into her world in form and I knew I would soon

be called on to present myself with my sisters to celebrate the baby’s birth and naming.

And so the child was born; loved and beloved. The pregnancy went well for the queen listened to

her body and sought wise counsel and most of the time the king was busy with his roles as king

and husband and tended his beloved wife and country with care and devotion. And those pricklings

of feel that surfaced from time to time it was easy enough to ignore. A great feast was called to gift

the baby with her name: that first gift of soul that would embody her chosen souls path for her. Of

course I was invited, I and my twelve sisters. I am not sure how the preposterous idea got started

that I was evil, some wounded storytellers fancy that believed success came from protecting a

child from the real world she’d come to master. Or maybe grieving parents who blamed

themselves for their child’s lost life. A seductive map, like all maps of seduction, with a bad

ending. How can you master your reality, how can you achieve your destiny, if you live a life

without challenge? Muscles go unused, skills undeveloped, gifts denied.

No, this was not what happened here I was invited and welcomed. The queen sought our wise

counsel often and without question wanted the same resources freely available to her daughter

from the very beginning of her life. And so we came from our realm, there were many human

visitors besides me and my sisters from fairie and there were other fairie guests. We were all

welcome for in this time we were known and loved by all, well almost all, there are always some

who like to blame, to make up stories, and spread false witness but this was before the

separations of the worlds that has become the status quo. Before the amnesia that was offered as

an anesthetic till enough healing had occurred for the truth to be remembered again.

Her name was Beauty and she lived up to her name. She was a happy baby. Sunny disposition as

her path as been so blessed with love. She did not need to cry much though she vocalized, she

sang and gurgled and talked. And all who saw her were moved by her presence, by her arrival

carrying so much soul into the world.

We were all touched, me and my sisters, we gave our gifts, our gifts of fairie, the twelve gifts that

joined togeter into the unified whole that makes the south. Her own unique gifts. Every human child

received 12 gifts at birth. People argue about what they are. We don’t need to argue. They

represent different faces of the gifts of chivlery, different faces of the gifts of the clam mothers, your

know your secret gifts though you may not have named them. Everyone has some relationship to

honor, to honesty, to allowing impact for that is the entryway into the valuing of the self and

honoring of the uniqueness of who you are.

Following that, comes loyalty, being true to yourself, honoring your weaknesses as ell as your

strengths, allowing yourself to be vulnerable in general, claiming your nobility, your ability to look

beyond, to seek something larger than yourself, a noble vision, a greater purpose. To call on

virture, strength, power: the strength and power of your character and principals and your

commitment to adhearing to these principals of choice.

And then the gift of grace. Allowing things to come naturally, to flow through you, to be willing to

receive, and accept that which comes naturally to you. And sharing those gifts that come naturally

with all.

Grace paves the way for truth, for truth is about timing and is known in it’s time. Sometimes truth

is known long before it is expressed. Sometimes it becomes known only when it is time for it to be

expressed and the gateway is graced.

Truth is followed by courage. The courage to break free and design your own life. Not to live a life

that others have designed for you. The courage to be willing to be wrong in pursuit of what is right.

And then to claim courtesy, kindness, consideration, willingness to honor the dignity of another.

And then to claim bravery. Acting on what you know is true and right. Being willing to lead. And

this in turn, leads to the gift of authorship; of authority. Creating your own life and knowing your

own power and using it. Which opens you to the gift of service: being helpful to others and to your

community. And finally, claiming the gift of humility. Not as an act of unavasis but allowing things

to be new in every moment. And knowing that just because things have been one way in the past

does not mean they will always be that way so that there is creation in the moment.

We carried these gifts, these blueprints, to beauty knowing she would claim these gifts when she

needed to. That the doors would open and she would learn the meaning of these gifts in due course

in proper order and proper timing. Oh yes, we gave her other gifts too. She had the gifts of beauty.

She was blessed with happiness and joy, curiosity and enthusism, with a kind heart and the gift of

emphathy.

But these are all components of these 12 gifts that are a part of her gifts at birth. And what was my

gift. No my gift was not to say that she would die. My gift was to connect her to her destiny. To

allow her soul to fully embody so that she could work as a unity travelling through life blessed with

the courage and the ability to meet life’s challenges. It was not a path of doom that I set her on

but a path of her own choosing and creation that she engaged willingly. And I and my sisters

always there in the wings suuporting her as she grew. And she grew she was a happy child. She

was beloved and she lived in a beautiful place. There were lovely gardens and people were happy to

see the little girl dancing though the gardens. Walking along the paths stopping to smell the

flowers and play with the butterflys. Oh she was normal, sometimes she pinched her little brother

when no one was looking, or she was cross at her mother when her mother made her come in from

he play.

More to Come!

Copyright: Bronwen Gates, 2003.