Swirls of color caught Lilly’s eye as she watched the dancers move. An older woman with bright red hair hanging to her waist entered and stood at the center of the circle. Roland whispered in Lilly’s ear and pointed to the woman in the center of the circle, “Her name is Kumira and she is the guru or priestess of this group.
Lilly nodded her head as Kumira lifted her arm, pointed her finger and drew a circle with a triangle in the center. Lilly recognized the cardinal cross from her studies. The circle of dancers added their voices to Kumira as they toned in one powerful voice, “OOOOO, EEEEE, AAAAHHH.” The sacred tones activated the cardinal cross and it burst into flames which hung in the air.
Four cardinal crosses were drawn, each activated and flaming in the four directions. Kumira spoke in a powerful voice, “We are the interplanetary adepts, priests and priestesses of Atlantis. We are the old ones we are the new ones, come to reawaken the people from a dream, come to open the portal of energy waiting to flood the earth with love.” She pointed at the drummers and the mesmerizing beat of the drums worked its magic on those moving in the circle.
The dancers undulated, whirling faster and faster. Roland grabbed Lilly’s hand and pulled her towards the stairs, “Lets go dance.”
Joining the circle, Lilly looked towards the center. The woman with red hair had disappeared. In her place stood an ancient one, a man wearing the ornate robes of a high priest. Power emanated from the crystal atop the staff he leaned on. The old man was speaking, but Lilly was dancing near the drums and couldn’t hear what he was saying.
As she danced, colors swirled and spun with her. She danced ecstatically, celebrating the return of her inner vision. Colorful energy spiraled, swirled and eddied around them. The circle was a vortex of color. Powerful cries of “OOOOO, EEEEE, AAAHHH,” rang out calling forth a gigantic winged serpent spiraling over the circle of dancers and drummers.
The serpent was weaving its way through the circle, moving between the dancers, forming an intricate knot with its glowing light body. She heard someone exclaim, Quetzequatel, our protector, is with us. Feel his fiery energy!”
The drums continued to beat out rhythms faster and faster, the crowd dancing and exclaiming “OOOOO, EEEEE AAAHHH.” Quetzequatel circled overhead, spinning faster and faster following the ecstatic beat of the drums. Lilly watched the snake transform into an explosion of brilliant colors sending streams of three dimensional patterns spiraling into the night.
As the geometric figures split apart and coalesced, disappearing into infinity, Lilly looked for the old man in the center of the circle. The ancient high priest had disappeared. Kumira stood in the center, her mouth moving in some ecstatic chant as her arms swung, moving the energy above her.
She pointed to the drummers and they stopped, putting her hands on the earth, all the participants followed as she intoned, “The energy of the drums, the energy of love, of fiery creation is within us, let us share it with the earth so we may continue to draw from her strength.” “OOOOO,EEEEEE,AAAHHH,” they all intoned.
“Through all dimensions of time and space, we are here tonight to celebrate the truth of love. Love without fear, love unashamed, the creative energy of the universe as it manifests here tonight, as it has manifested for eons. We, the original Atlantean’s, The Order of Interplanetary Adepts, have returned to Earth to open the portal for a new paradigm to emerge. We are fearless, we are one, we are love, “OOOOO, EEEEE, AAAHHH!” The beat of the drums propelled the dancers into a coiling and uncoiling serpent sinuously moving through the courtyard.
The drumming and dancing continued for hours. The horizon was tinged with the first gray light of dawn when, exhausted and hungry, Lilly and Roland joined a group headed for an all night Chinese Restaurant on Decatur Street. Thirty minutes later, Trey, Leon, Bart several of the drummers from the ritual and assorted girlfriends and boyfriends were sitting under paper lanterns passing crawfish fried rice, shrimp with lobster sauce and Kung Po chicken around the table. Lilly picked at her food. The ecstasy she had experienced earlier was slipping away. The swirling colors were disappearing.
Roland spoke quietly in her ear, “Don’t like Chinese food?”
She shook her head, “I’m not as hungry as I thought I was.”
“It’s the acid,” he said in a matter of fact voice.
“What acid?”
“You know the punch? You drank two whole cups of it. It was electric punch.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t know until everything turned into psychedelic fractals,” he explained.
Lilly sat back in her chair and yawned. “I have to be in the shop by noon tomorrow, I’ve got to go home.”
Roland kissed her on the cheek squeezed her hand and said, “Okay baby, lets head back to Panthea’s.” They made a quick goodbye to their dinner companions and headed for the door.
Expecting the sky to be pink and gold with the rising sun, Lilly was surprised to find a thick shroud of fog blocking the dawn light. She and Roland stepped onto the damp banquette slowly making their way towards Jackson Square.
Ghostly figures appeared suddenly out of the fog, footsteps muffled as they passed in the dampness. Lilly saw floating forms and colors drift through the fog, transforming as they floated into her. Laughing nervously, she followed the tug of Roland’s hand. They turned a corner and continued through the pea soup fog. Roland held tight to her hand, and stopped abruptly, “Was I supposed to turn the corner back there?”
“You turned a corner? What street is this?”
A dark form approached through the fog. Roland stepped up to the form barely visible in the dense mist, “Oh, sir can you tell us which way to Jackson
