Living roots need a companion

“There are many paths that lead to where you wish to go,” explained the jaguar.

“You are very mysterious,” said the warrior.

“Follow me. I will accompany you. I can’t take my eyes off you,”  went on the jaguar; its eyes glowed differently when the girl looked into them. They seemed more familiar and less wild.

“I can’t catch up with you," whispered Rina, almost breathless when they continued immersing deeper and deeper into the forest.

“We aren’t far off," murmured the wild cat. "I won’t leave you alone.” Finally, they reached the fence made of the interwoven roots of a bush. The Warrior tried to see through the fence, looking for the crevices in the vegetable entanglement, but it was harder than she expected. The roots seemed to be alive, because the fence rose into the air and dropped as if it was breathing.

“I can’t see anything,”  said the girl. The wild cat perched patiently on the ground and waited for Rina.

“Ok, we can move on,”  uttered the warrior, trying to get her hand out of the fence.

“What happened?" asked the jaguar.

“My hand got stuck in the entanglement of the roots,”  choked out Rina.

The wild cat approached the fence; its white fangs were ready to attack; suddenly, the jaguar moved back.

“I can’t bite them through. If I did it, I would become its prisoner as well. Be patient, I will find a solution,"  comforted the wild cat and dived into the brushwood of the up-side down forest. The girl sat down on the roots. And after a short while they rocked her to sleep.

“Stay with us, warrior,”  whispered the roots. “We are so lonely here and bored. We will feed you with our saps and in return you will entertain us with some colourful stories.

“I can’t stay with you,” said Rina in a sleep. “I am not your kind.”

The night fell and the primaeval forest plunged in darkness. The girl thought of the jaguar. “Where is he? Why doesn’t he come back? The warrior missed her companion; however, with heart full of soothing certainty.

Talking to the snake

When Rina got to the eyes of the snake, noticed that the path under her feet moved constantly and then she realized that she was stepping on something unknown and alive.
"Welcome, stranger "– hissed the reptile. "You massaged my back with your feet. I have been lying here for such a long time. My only duty is to hunt and to digest. I can’t move. I am too heavy. Maybe you will tell me something about yourself" – said the snake, looking at Rina.
"Did you see the black jaguar?" – asked the girl.
"I see them all the time, but not on this side of the world. You are very mysterious. I heard a lot of stories, sharpening my appetite, but you seem very boring and tasteless. I am seriously disappointed" – hissed the snake. "Maybe I will at least swallow your feet; they seem to be interesting, talkative."
"No, they aren’t interesting at all" – replied Rina, looking around and searching for the way to outwit the creature. "Maybe, you’re right. I don’t need your feet. I only eat things that are useful and sufficiently desirable. The more I know about something the more desirable it becomes. The Warriors aren’t interesting at all since they seem to know little of themselves" – hissed the snake. "Here you are; the wild cat you have been searching for." The jaguar sat down close to the girl and looked at the snake meaningfully.. The reptile put out its tongue.
"No, not today" – murmured the wild cat. "We have things to go about in the primaeval forest."
Rina looked at the jaguar, surprised. "We do have things to go about in the primaeval forest?" – echoed the girl.

Snake - "The Blue Passage"

Light in the primaeval forest was a space, in which the particles of events met together and got entangled to keep growing into the new forms of experience.

The girl stepped on the velvety leaves growing near the ground, caressing her feet, slipping into the sandals. The trees bid good-bye to the golden-haired warrior.

Stones, sand, sea, rocks and flowers; all possible worlds remember our presence, even when we forget.

Where was Rina heading for? ‘It doesn’t matter if places I pass by have their names – thought the warrior – The most important is that I don’t become motionless, but on the contrary I follow the movement of the earth. This movement is my life and passion.’

It seemed unusual, but the path Rina wandered through started to wriggle like a body of a snake; indeed it was a body of the snake; deeply down, under the cover of leaves; the long and twisted reptile rested digesting its prey. It liked the sound of Rina’s feet and their touch. The snake waited for the warrior to look at her eyes.

It’s important to mention that the snake had a name: “The Blue Passage” since thanks to him the world of the jaguars was reachable to an ordinary wanderer. If a traveler gained the approval of the snake; it carried him on its tongue over the ocean of events and left on the other side of the world. When Rina got to the eyes of the snake, noticed that the path under her feet kept moving and then she realized that she was stepping on something unknown and alive.

Just for you

Unexpectedly, the warrior stumbled and fell down, because the branches she rested herself on started to tremble. The whole tree was pulsating, leaping and laughing at something.

“What is going on?” Rina asked.

However, looking at the bark of the tree bending in all directions and creaking, she didn’t keep serious for long and burst out laughing too. Suddenly, the tree became silent and looked grave again.

“Why do people have so many perplexing and confusing points of view?”

“I don’t understand what you mean,” the girl replied.

“You all want to do things and perceive things only by means of the learnt methods,” the tree continued. “The tale carved in my bark has appeared just for you, while you keep worrying how to read it. Look more attentively and you will find out from, the beginning till the end. Please, don’t read it the way you had been learnt to do, read it in some new ways,” the primaeval tree advised. The warrior wanted to ask what that new way of perceiving things was, but finally gave up.

“Don’t ask me if I know how to read the tale. My role is only to reveal to you what is to be revealed.”

The primaeval creature moved slower and slower, as if the inner sap gradually congealed inside of it.

“I am so tired, my dear. Forgive me, but I have to leave you. Good Luck in your journey!”

The girl leaned her head on the carved bark; her fingers were slipping through the rough crevices of the tale reaching the nooks of the secret letters; words touched Rina’s skin and went deeper into her. Three lost precious stones of The Abyss, once stolen out from the Depth, were hidden somewhere on the border of the known worlds. One of them went to the bottom of the dark, stormy ocean. A lot of sailors kept on looking for it, but without any success. The power of the lost precious stones made the sailors easily forgetful and lost, heading for nowhere until they met their own death. Rina didn’t know what the meaning of the lost precious stones was, but she knew now the direction of her journey. The jaguar appeared out of the blue again; ready to guide the warrior into the unfurling events.

(Photography by Sarolta Ban)

The essential meanings

Rina settled down to sleep. She wasn’t afraid of anything; the whole darkness, the weird, but radiant whispers and ripples she had gotten to know very well before. The roots of the up-side down trees got entangled in the purpose of nocturnal chats; maybe they talked about the golden-haired warrior who returned to the primaeval woods. However, Rina was too tired to listen to them. Her inner silence made her fall asleep soon.

The following day, some dancing rays of light woke the girl up, shining straight into her face. Rina opened her eyes and reminded herself of the journey that she had set out on; then, she smiled, sensing the presence of The Unknown around her whole being. The girl sprinkled some water on her face, packed up the traveling sack and went about the morning meal. The place where she found a shelter in was covered with the crawling branches of a nearby tree. Rina found herself distracted by something she couldn’t define.

“What is going on?” the girl wondered.

Finally, the nearby tree forced Rina to turn round by a rampant movement of its branches, trying to make the girl see.

There were some glowing words carved out in the trunk that conveyed the message. However, it was hard to understand the primaeval language of the Abyss since it hasn’t been spoken for a long time. Moreover, the words were very vibrant and alive; ever-changeable. The warrior found that language very close to her heart and although she didn’t know the meanings of the carvings, she sensed the energy hidden in the words, their other essential meanings. Rina thought about her guide, Avin. There weren’t any stories he couldn’t decipher…

Looking for guidance

Rina lay down on the softness of the leaves and rested her head comfortably on a traveling sack. Taking her to another world, the transeeing made its magic. The black, starry sky seemed an immense ocean where the ships voyaged with sails flossy like a haze. Only the undisturbed duration did matter there, nobody measured the time since there weren’t any points of reference. The land was always lost, never visible, neither the beginning nor end, though the sailors kept sailing for somewhere, they possessed the maps of wishes, of what to discover and conquer. Rina felt ready to travel on one of those ships; however she didn’t know how to get on it.

“You should go down the stream,” The brotherly animal of the future advised. “The stream goes straight to the ocean.”

The girl looked at her companion surprised.

“How come that you know my thoughts?”

“The things you look at carry a lot of meanings,” the phantom replied.

“Everything depends on the eyes that look.”

“What do you mean?”

“Some eyes see only what they want to see, being blind to other meanings. The starry, ocean-like sky gave you a meaning, but remember, one meaning is not enough; the understanding needs the whole circulation of meanings.”

“Thank you for your guidance.”

“Good Luck, warrior!” The brotherly animal of future wished and bid good-bye to the girl.

“Are you leaving me?”

“I’ll always remain close to you.”

TRANSEEING

Rina lit the fire and its golden flames interwove with the dark layers of the twilight. Her future was a good companion; quiet and receptive. The nice currents of warmth resonated with the chilly air. ‘Think about the magical word,’ she ordered herself, as always when on the journey without the silver rhino; her loyal, brilliant friend and faraway from gold-digger. ‘It’s so easy to miss something, someone so much that you can only and continually whisper his name,’ the warrior thought. However, the magical word threw her off with its sudden clearness. ‘TRANSEE, TRANSEE, TRANSEE,” Rina kept repeating in order to find a crevice, a tiny door in the lack and move forward with her thoughts far into the adventure. The transeeing makes the warrior able to rocket to the new level of knowing.

Photography by "Outsider"