Dru And The Blue Chalice

I am Dru. I stand at the doorway of the Chamber of Great Darkness. I stand alone, in the half-light. I am not afraid. I know that I shall soon be rid of all the frowns and tears. Here in the darkness, a soft finger touches my cheek and a gentle voice asks if I am ready.

We wait for the thin line of the Moon Clock to move above the doorway. When it is at its highest point it will be time to enter.

Druid, you gave me my name. You told me to search for the Blue Chalice. You told me to make myself thirsty so that I could drink all the miraculous liquid it contained. Now I must tell you of my journey. As soon as I have told you, I will forget it forever. The life of..........! Already I have forgotten my other name. The place? It flickers in my mind as the moon-line creeps up into the upright. A square house. Red bricks. Windows. A grey roof shining in the rain. It always rained so we had to stay inside with the doors and windows shut tight. The roof tight.

A blond unhappy woman....I can’t remember her name...would pull pieces of cloth across the windows to keep out the Dark and the Moon. I can hear all the sounds in the tiny house now. Noise. Shouting. Crying. Naughty laughter. Serious talking. Television always rumbling away. Snoring... Oh yes! He was always snoring. Always sitting in a chair with his eyes shutting, his head drooping. The blond woman always poking him, crying.

There were other children I think. A dog, cats? And me. Sitting at the top of the stairs with tears rolling down my cheeks, listening to them shouting at each other. The clatter of something thrown against the wall. Me. Coming between them. Making mistakes. Making a mess of everything.

He would shout and I would shout back. He would pull me across the floor. Then she would cry. Me. Begging them to stop arguing, to stop talking about money. I did not want all those shiny bicycles and helicopters that really flew. Me. Watching the car get bigger and shinier. Automatic windows. Me. Crawling around on my hands and knees. Them trying to get me to stand up. I felt safer on four legs. But they wanted me to be respectable. Someone with big straight shoulders. Me. I hated being that Boy! Wow! The memory is fading fast.

This is my last chance. I walked on the face of the Earth feeling scared. Feeling that everyone was unhappy because of me. Frowns. Tears. The nights were long and I was alone

The next thing I remember is you Druid coming to me in the moonlight one night and making me smile. You helped me to find a cure for this unhappiness. You spoke to me in the dark. You spoke in capitals across the moon.

MAZA MA RAZAMA.

You opened all the windows and doors and taught me about the sky. I took off my pyjamas and walked through the moonlight......Yes, I see now that there is not much time!

But there are more bad things. The blond woman would make me feel things. She was afraid of everything I ate, everything I watched on the TV, all my friends. And he would come and disagree with her. She would slam another door and scream. He would tell me that I must be ‘a man.’

The moonline is almost upright now.

“Tell me little Dru, how did you find the blue chalice?”

I couldn’t breathe one night. The doctor came and made me breathe oxygen from a cylinder. I fell asleep and it was then that I first saw the chalice. I knew there was a magical land where I could live my way. I knew that drinking from that Blue Chalice would take away all the fear.

So little time left. I know!....

But, I must tell you about the two people who helped me to find the chalice. They were psychologists or something like that. The blond woman and the snoring man took me to them because I couldn’t breathe or sleep. I was pale, thin. I felt as if I was dying. The doctor at the hospital told me that if I didn’t take all the medicines and breathe in oxygen from the big black cylinder, that I would die. I was scared.

The psychologists were both women. I asked them what ‘a psychologist’ was, and they told me that was just a fancy name, and that I would soon see what they could do. I knew then that they were living a magical life and that they would show me the chalice in time.

One day the two psychologists and me built a tower. We made it out of nothing but a pile of old newspapers and glue. While we sat rolling tight tubes from the paper beautiful sounds filled the room. Delicious smoke which smelled of lemons and roses burned in the corners of the rooms. The tighter we rolled the tubes, the stronger the tower would be.

Look at the moon-line now! There is only time to tell you that we finished this beautiful tower and we went one day to a small lake. The wind was asleep and the sky was a jewel, and we carefully launched the tower. It floated. Tall, strong, reaching up to touch the blue facets of sky.

I stood on the bank holding on to its ropes, letting out the slack slowly. As it moved into the middle of the water, its reflection was perfect. I looked and suddenly realised that I could not see the surface line of the water. The tower was twice as tall. Then the ropes tugged. I held more tightly. Then I tugged again more strongly. And suddenly I was pulled into the water.

In the middle of the lake, the tower stopped. It was quite still. I knew it was time. I let the ropes go and there, shining and shimmering, was the Blue Chalice. It was inside the tower. I climbed up on to the floats looking back at my two enthusiastic guides, but they had gone. I pushed between the gaps and got into the central space of the structure. And clasped my hands around the chalice.

It is time now. I know. Those are the important things. But I have a last question. Will you answer it?

“Yes, little Dru. What is it?”

Will going into the Great Chamber of Darkness be like dying?

“Perhaps. Everything must die before it can be born again. You are not afraid of growing again, are you? Little Dru, you knew that the Land of Frowns and Tears was not for you!

Come. It is time. Step forward when the door is drawn back. You are brave. Swallow in the great darkness. Breathe it up. Let it in through your skin for this is the final preparation.”

I am Dru. I am suspended here in this Great Chamber. I can stretch my arms up above my head and there is nothing. I can stretch my legs down beneath me and there is nothing. I can open my eyes and shut them again, and there is no difference. There is no need for words because my ears and my whole body, and this whole chamber is filled with those beautiful sounds again. I can feed on them. I can breathe them in. I listen with my whole body. My blood is replaced with thick black darkness and the beautiful diamonds and rubies of sound.

“In a moment, little Dru, the great darkness will end and there before your eyes, you will see the blue chalice. You will reach out and drink every drop of the magic liquid in it, without stopping. The moment you have finished, the chalice will be removed and you will begin your journey. I will join you again but for now, you are on your own.

There is one more thing you need to know. It is this. When you have drunk from the chalice there will be no time, no seconds or hours, no days or years. I will come back, but now you are on your own.”

But what do you look like? How will I know you?

“You will know me. Fear not.”

I am Dru. I cannot remember fear. I am being slowly lowered into a gigantic chamber of lights and colours and even more beautiful sounds. Slowly. Slowly. My eyes getting wider and wider. So many dazzling things. The Nine Spinning Moons. The Great Forest of Crystals. The Green Goddess surrounded by her army of blue and red horn players. I cannot count the waterfalls, spilling out water which is full of rainbows.

A million lights shine and flicker. Tiny comets of green and amber shoot up through tall towers and domes. Flocks of huge pink birds take off and then land again all together. There are rich dark corners here which I long to explore, and mats of soft fur which I long to nuzzle into and run my fingers along.

The Mighty Triple King smiles at me as I pass. His leashes of leopards growl playfully. Big circles of stones stand with black ravens roosting on top of them. There are jewel mines and castles, and a white lady holding a rose. I reach out and touch her dress. And as I go down and down, I can smell honey and cinnamon, log smoke and strawberries, fresh cut grass and bubble bath, perfume and oranges, chocolate cake and bonfires.

Soon I reach the bottom. I see someone standing there. Tall. A great black beard. Blue eyes like torches. And I know that it is Druid. I shout and wave to him and he holds out his arms with their baggy sleeves of sea green. He wears long green robes and a tall tower hat. I cannot wait to tell him of my journey. But there are still more things to see.

“Welcome, little Dru. Your journey has begun. I can see you are enjoying it.”

This cave is fantastic. What is it called?

“Why this is called Dru's Animal! Did you not recognise the Green Goddess or the Triple King?”

Who are they? Druid smiles and points high up to where the Green Goddess sits on her throne.

“She is your heart, little Dru. See her horn players making her heart beat with their notes? See them blowing their magic down into the great forest of crystals? That is where you breathe. See the crystals are changing colour with the music?”

And the Triple King? Who is he?

“He is the Lord of Dru’s stories and paintings, and the keeper of Dru’s animal. Together the Green Goddess and the Triple King rule your animal. They share everything in complete balance. In time, you too will learn to balance yourself like them.”

Druid, I don’t understand exactly.

“Never mind, little Dru. There is so much to learn about. Come! We must begin, for in time, when you have learned all there is to know about yourself, you will travel back through the Great Chamber of Darkness, to help me to take other children to drink from the Blue Chalice. There is so much to do because there is so much unhappiness and loneliness and fear, and only by seeking the Blue Chalice can they be saved.”

So, after Druid had taken off his enormous green gown and his tower hat, he held little Dru's hand and they set off on the long journey to explore and learn everything about Dru’s Animal. To make sure that they had been to every corner and seen and smelled and touched and heard and tasted everything, they left behind their footprints and their fingerprints.

MAZA MA RAZAMA COZ

What does this mean Druid?

“It is one of the most important things we must teach to the children who live in the Land of Frowns and Tears. It means, ‘Drink the Light of the Moon.’”

˜

One day, Dru went back when he had learned all he could about himself and his animal. He entered once more the Chamber of Great Darkness and waited for the moon clock to be pointing in the lowest position. And one day, he returned to the red brick house and took hold of the hands of the blond unhappy woman and the snoring man. He helped them to open all the windows coaxing them to walk out into the moonlight, and quite soon it stopped raining in the Land of Frowns and Tears.

Druid was pleased to see that Little Dru had begun to talk to others about towers.

I am Dru. I love you Dru.