" Memoirs of a Mystic"

Excerpt from my book " Memoirs of a Mystic" 
The Quest Begins



Full of anxiety and anticipation I boarded a 747 headed for Australia for what would turn out to be the adventure of my life. I slowly made my way down the aisle looking for my seat. As I moved deeper into the womb of the cabin, I had the sensation I was somehow going back in time in readiness for a re-birth. I suddenly had a slightly claustrophobic feeling, I found my seat in the back, sat down and quickly opened the overhead air vent, hoping this feeling would soon pass.

While waiting for the other passengers to board, I closed my eyes and tried slowing down my breathing to minimize my stress. Over and over, like a mantra in my head, I kept repeating, "You can do this! You will be safe!" The source of my feelings of near panic was simple. I was now face to face with the exceptionally tall order I’d given myself. Following psychic promptings and for no other reason, and despite a desperate fear of flying, I was about to take off for a place I’d never seen, traveling 8,193 air miles with no plan of what to do when I got there and no money to tide me over till I got one. I decided to trust the universe and the first test.

In this strange place between fright and brief interludes of relaxation, I felt something hit my ankle. I unfastened my seat belt, turned on the overhead light, and bent over to find resting on the floor at my feet a small amber-colored rock the size of a halfdollar bearing the word "COURAGE" in gold letters. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Was the dim light playing tricks with my eyes? I got up to look around and discovered I was the only passenger in this back section at that point. The stone appeared not to have rolled along the floor but had fallen from the left. It seemed improbable it had flown that far from the forward cabin where others were bording or even from behind or overhead.

I decided it was meant for me and trying to reason how it had arrived and what it might mean, I remembered reading about people going on a vision quest as part of their search for greater understanding and meaning in their lives.