Over the years, for health and enjoyment, I have often hiked into the wilderness near my home up the narrow deer trails and down forested hillsides covered with oak, pine, and manzanita - wandering as impulse has taken me along the mountains leading to the coast.

On one such occasion, some years ago, when my family was away for a long weekend, I rose before dawn and set out without a plan except to climb at leisure and explore new country. The mountains, no more than a few thousand feet high, still had enough rises and dips to hide any A sight of civilization, evoking a sense of mystery and wonder as I imagined myself a hundred miles from anywhere.

The rolling hills reflected the peaks and valleys of my own inner life. At the moment, I felt lost in a valley filled with shadows of doubt, My life had fallen into an orderly routine. So on this particular morning I took with me into the hills an unspoken desire for excitement, for insight, for change. I was soon to discover the truth of the saying “Be careful what you ask for; you might get it.�?

On this morning, low clouds had drifted in from the coast to settle over the wilderness, and after I had hiked up some distance I found myself in a fold between the hills, enveloped in a fog so thick I could see no more than a few feet ahead. The air became cold and still, and I soon lost any sense of direction. Hearing a stream somewhere below, I kept it behind me, thinking I might climb up out of this shrouded valley.

I soon came to a plateau nestled beneath some ancient oaks just above a steep drop?off. I had, quite by accident, approached the plateau from the only possible angle - a narrow path between a wall of boulders. As I climbed around one of the massive stones, the fog disappeared to reveal a tiny hut standing before me. I approached and tapped lightly on the door.

To my surprise, a resonant voice rang out with unexpected warmth, as if I were a long-awaited guest: “Do come in, Traveler, come in!�?And so, wandering off the beaten path of my life, I opened the door and found the sage, sitting quietly, smiling up at me. For no reason I could discern, goose bumps appeared on my arms.

She sat with a feline grace, erect yet relaxed, balanced upon a cushion of leaves on the earthen floor. She was dressed in a green tunic. Maybe she thinks she’s in Sherwood Forest, I thought.

Her eyes held my attention - almond eyes, hazel colored, illumined by rays of sunlight shining through a crack in the wall - eyes set like jewels *in a face of smooth olive skin, crowned by short brown hair that gave no clear sign of her age, race, or culture. She seemed to be surrounded by a bright field of energy, which I assumed was a trick of the light.

I began to feel oddly disoriented. I lost my bearings in time as well as space: Was this a primeval ram�?forest, a hillside in Shakespeare’s England, the Scottish highlands, or a mountain abode of the Chinese immortals?

“A long time since I’ve had a visitor�?she said. “I’m glad you have come, for I have much to share. And I need your assistance in a mission of great importance.�?

Was she lost? Did she need a guide? Puzzled but intrigued, I only said, “That sounds interesting.�?

“I believe you’ll find it so,�?she replied. “But first you’ll need some training - to prepare you.�?

“Prepare me? Uh, if this is going to take more than a couple of hours, I’m not sure I have the time.�?

“You have both less and more time than you imagine,�?she said - a strange response judging her odd but harmless, I decided to play along and see where this led. She gestured for me to sit down. “Make yourself comfortable, Traveler; I know why you have come and that you have journeyed far.�?

I was about to tell her that we were only an hour’s hike from my home; then I sensed she was referring not to my morning’s walk, but to the long and winding path of my life.

Abruptly, my mind was flooded with countless images, impressions of many different times and cultures. I had a strange sense that they were somehow connected with her. Then doubt entered my mind? Surely, I thought, she’s just a reclusive woman and I’m weaving an adventure where there is none.

“Who are you?�?I asked,

“A reflection in a quiet pond,�?she said. “A ray of moonlight on a dark night, as young as the morning dew and as old as the Earth. All things are in me, and I am in all things. Beyond that, Traveler, I cannot say, for my life is as mysterious as yours. The only difference between us is that I live in the embrace of a Spirit to which you are just awakening.�?

Excerpted from Laws of Spirit. Copyright © 2001 by New World Library

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