The Portal: Day 3

Daily reveals during Epiphanic Days

The Portal: Day 3

Today I woke up in my mother’s apartment, a few hours from my house. I stumbled in the dark trying to find a candle — I didn’t want to turn lights on to wake my kids who were sleeping scattered around the place. Then I had to search for a lighter or matches, which I knew my mother would have but I had no idea where. When we were little she had a huge, deep drawer of candles and those long wooden matches. She always had flickering light around our house. No matter the season. Now that she’s 94 — she’s not lighting candles. I dug through her kitchen and found a box of matches, finally. And made a note to myself to get some candles and matches for her to put somewhere obvious— for safety reasons. What if the power goes out? She’s 94 and lives alone.

So with my candles lit, my kids snoring gently, my mother still asleep, I am showing up for this practice.

In the stillness of this morning, a story bubbles up. I don’t remember who told this to me, or how long I have carried in my memory but it feels like the thing to simmer with this morning, today, on this portal.

In the province of Palermo, in both ancient or not so ancient times there is a person called The Old One. She is a cave dweller, an old wise one who lives in a cave in a small village in the mountains that are above the city of Palermo. And during these days, she emerges.