After we got back Tetz and the Quiet Woman motioned to go inside the cave. He picked up the envelope with the parchment and handed it to me and motioned that I should carry it in. There was a round pit in the cave that I recognized as a Kiva (ceremonial place). There was a fire. In the shadows, there seemed to be a couple of people sitting by the flames. As I got closer, I saw that one was a very old man and the other was a very old woman. They kept looking at the fire as I approached. The Quiet Woman said something to them in a language I had never hear before.
“They’re talking Mimbres. Or what is known as Mimbres. In actuality it isn’t Mimbres, it is the old language of ancient people that lived in this area and in parts of what is New Mexico,” Tetz informed me with a silly grin. I was having trouble understanding the grin, but I decided that I am in a far-away place with no idea what to expect so not to worry about the grin.
“I had no idea that there were still people from Mimbres. I was reading about them and from all accounts, it seemed doubtful there were any left,” I said to Tetz.
“Don’t believe everything you read,” the Quiet Woman interjected in a serious tone.
“The people had to be very creative in order to survive. The Spaniards were brutal and stopped at nothing in trying to find the seven cities of gold. Some of the old ones and keepers of knowledge devised interesting ways to ensure that their understanding of the universe survived,” Tetz spoke in a professorial manner.
“Yes. They invented a way to speak their language backwards. What I mean is that in any given thought there would be a cue, which would let the listener know that now every word is backwards and opposite. This made it almost impossible for anyone else to learn their language. Then, they figured out a way to write it down. That’s what you are carrying,” the Quiet Woman said in a soft tone.
“What you have been carrying for some time was hidden a long time ago. It has to do with how the Mimbres people saw reality…guess you would say how they perceived reality. Their cosmology and how people of the plant world are supposed to live and be able to move from plant world to dreamtime and blackworld. You’ll understand more as these old ones give an interpretation to you,” Tetz explained as the old ones stared at me. At this point the old woman sitting by the fire extended her hand and rubbed her fingers and thumb together.
“She wants you to hand her the smoking mirror,” Tetz said with a devilish tone and grin. I was hoping he would stop talking and grinning like that as I pulled out the pouch and handed the woman the obsidian mirror. She looked through it at the fire and a very slight smile came to her face. “She seems to like it,” Tetz says to me.
“OK. Now what? Sorry didn’t mean it like that,” I said.
“No worries my man. Know I’m sayn’? Also, the stones,” Tetz replied gesturing that I should hand him the twin stones. My god, he’s channeling Carl was the first thought that came to my mind.
“Not worried. Just trying to see what’s next here,” I said, handing the stones to him.
“In due time my good man, in due time. What time there is no time, or is there a shapeshifter that we call time. Can’t tell my man, can’t tell,” Tetz said in a precise Carl imitation.
“The envelope,” the Quiet Woman said extending her hand.
I gave her the envelope. She took the stones from Tetz and she walked towards the two old people. She handed them the envelope and the stones. They opened it and flipped through some of the brittle pages and smiled at each other. They said something to the Quiet Woman, who in turn said, “they say this is real. It is the old teaching. They say that this is part of the original instructions.”
“Sounds really important. Original instructions? That is what I have been carrying all this time? Honored to say the least,” I said to the two old ones. The Quiet Woman translated what I said to them. At this point both of the old ones motioned for me to sit by the fire. They were looking at the parchment. They seemed pleased, or that’s how I interpreted the look on their faces. The old woman spoke to the Quiet Woman for about a minute and motioned to her to tell me what she said.
“She says that the parchment is a dream that has been dreaming itself for a long time. She explained that the way to translate is more complicated than usual translating. First, the old woman has to look at the symbols through the smoking mirror. As she does that, she will get impressions that are female in origin. Something about the female will begin to give form to the meaning…don’t quite understand all she is saying. Once she gets the female meaning and says it to the old man, then he will look again at the symbols through the smoking mirror and only then will the words make sense in the plant world. All of the words in the parchment came through some people that can move backwards in time and gain access to the black world…something to that effect. So, the words are not even of this world as they originate in pure dreamtime-blackworld awareness. The words were preserved in their original way so as to keep them from being distorted by plant world knowing…anyway something like that. Hope that makes some sense to you,” the Quiet Woman spoke in a way that illustrated how much difficulty she was having in translating what the old ones said to her.
“Not really. I don’t pretend to understand what they are saying. It doesn’t matter. At least that has been my experience in the time that I have known Tarrence and the others. They don’t make sense even without them translating ancient texts or whatever this is. So, no worries. I’m going along as Tarrence and the others have asked. At this point if there is anything, I can do to help turn even a little of the insanity in the world towards something good…so be it,” I replied, in an honest tone.
The old people looked at me and smiled. They placed the twin stones close to the fire. Their kind look made me wonder if they understood English, but I did not ask. I figured that if I asked this would only give Tetz an opening to say something that didn’t make sense and would have another evil grin attached to it. I walked towards the fire and sat down. As soon as I sat down, I heard a Coyote howling in the distance. Both of the old people smiled and nodded approval. It was as if they were waiting for this signal to continue. As I sat down, Tetz brought in several arm loads of knarly looking wood. Tetz ceremoniously placed wood in the fire. He brought out a stone dish from a bag and placed what appeared to be sage in the center and lit it. Smoke permeated the cave. Coyote Howled in the distance. It was all happening in a way that appeared orchestrated and following some sort of program. It all felt very normal and I ceased to be amazed for the time being.
The old ones proceeded to sing in a language that was completely unknown to me. I had heard several Indigenous languages spoken in my life. The song contained words and rhythm that was completely unrecognizable. It was as if their tongue had to be twisted in a very peculiar way to make the sounds they were making. The melody even though harmonious in a way I cannot describe. It was other worldly and there were intermittent stops that weren’t the usual guttural stops that one hears in some of the languages of the southwest. I knew then, that I was hearing language from the dreamtime, although I did not know how that was possible. My consciousness was swept by the singing and all thought evaporated from my mind, and I was completely present in the moment. In retrospect I can tell you the reader, that the energy of the moments can only be described by a term that came later to me…quantum memory. That is, energy from the original instructions were spinning through the ceremonial singing as the singing was opening a portal into the black world and dreamtime.