Magical Mystery Of The Candlestick: Bedtime Tale

As you listen to me and you begin to relax,

Perhaps you can notice that you're starting to follow along to what I'm saying.

Maybe you find your eyes want to gently close and while you listen to me as I prepare to just guide you through a few moments of relaxation before we move into the story.

You can allow yourself to get comfortable and while you do you know what it's like to be resting there,

To be aware of what your head feels like,

Resting in place,

Maybe moving ever so slightly to get just that little bit more comfortable.

Maybe being aware of sensations around your neck or perhaps your face,

Maybe even the sensations of breathing in and breathing out and how each out breath can just trigger the relaxation response that little bit more,

Guiding you more comfortably into the experience.

And as you follow along and drift comfortably into the experience you can be aware of what those arms feel like,

What your shoulders feel like and which arm feels the deepest relaxed,

The first,

And how relaxation can just move through your body in its own comfortable way and as relaxation moves through your body,

Perhaps relaxing you more comfortably with each out breath,

Your mind can begin to just drift and float pleasantly,

Maybe occasionally being aware of thoughts and just watching those thoughts pass by like clouds in the sky,

The way if you watch them long enough,

They disperse and begin to fade away,

Especially when there's the warmth of the sun,

Shining on those clouds,

And with each breath out,

Relaxation can just move down through your body like the most pleasant,

Calming,

Healing light,

Breathing in that relaxation,

Breathing out any tension,

Like a comfortable light,

Passing down through your body,

Filling your lungs and spreading around your body to the tips of your fingers,

All the way down through your legs,

Helping you relax deeper and more comfortably with the experience,

And while you relax peacefully,

Listening along to the story,

You can imagine yourself walking along the shore of a beautiful beach,

And as you walk along this shore of this beach,

Listening to the way the water rolls in onto the shore,

Smelling the salty air,

Being aware of the temperature of the breeze and the air on your cheeks,

And the feeling of what each footstep feels like as you walk along that seashore,

The way your feet sink slightly with each step,

The sound of each step,

The movement of the water at the corner of your eye,

And as you walk,

A part of your mind is drifting and dreaming and wandering to different thoughts,

And while thinking about different thoughts,

In your own world,

In your mind,

A glint of light catches your eye way off in the distance,

And you carry on walking,

And you're heading along the shore towards that glint of light,

And you're not really paying attention to the glint of light,

More that it just happens to be on the path you're taking,

And so you continue walking in that direction,

Aware of the sounds around you,

The sensations of walking along a seashore,

But the whole time you're walking,

You're getting closer and closer to that glint of light,

And the closer you get,

The more you notice it's just on the cusp,

Just on that point where the water flows over that glinting object,

And it's the object getting wet,

And then that water pulling back,

That makes the surface of it glint in your direction,

And so when you reach that object,

And you're standing just above it,

You can see it sticking out slightly,

And you reach down,

And the water is rolling in underfoot,

And then pulling back out,

Rolling in underfoot,

And then pulling back out,

And your hand pushes down into the ground,

Grabbing hold of that glinting object,

And as you lift that up,

You find that it's a candlestick made of gold,

And you walk a little bit further into the water,

Just up to your ankles,

And you hold the candlestick into the water,

The water flowing over your hand,

Flowing over the candlestick,

Washing that candlestick,

As it gets brighter and glows more,

Then you back up out of the water,

And you hold the candlestick up in front of you,

Taking a look at that candlestick,

As it seems to almost shine under the light,

And you admire this candlestick,

The craftsmanship of the stick,

And you look at it from all different angles,

And then from one angle,

You notice a slight seam around the candlestick,

And you open that seam,

That point where it seems to join,

And as you open it,

You find a candle dry inside,

Protected from the elements,

And wrapped around the candle,

It's a piece of paper,

Tied to the candle with a bit of ribbon,

And the most delicate bow,

And with a single pull of a thread of the bow,

The whole bow unravels,

You place that thread into your pocket,

You roll the candle into the hand,

Taking the paper in the other hand,

You walk up onto the shore a little bit further,

And you place it down on the shore,

As you sit down,

Hearing the water now,

Lapping on the shore,

Further down the beach,

And you begin to read,

And as you read,

You realize that this is like a poem,

And it's a poem about a seashore,

And the poem seems to describe that there once was a church on a cliff,

A short distance from this location,

And at the time,

The water was much lower,

And people used to gather on that cliff,

And look out to sea,

And along this cliff,

Was also a lighthouse,

That let sailors know they were nearing the land,

But many years ago,

Something happened,

And the cliff ended up under the sea,

It didn't collapse,

It was just as if the land lowered itself down into the sea,

And it happened quickly,

And unexpectedly,

And a new shore was created,

And it talks about how it happened so fast,

That no one had time to take anything from the church,

Or the lighthouse,

Or anywhere else along the shoreline,

And this story was told through a poem on that paper,

And you wonder to yourself,

Whether that church is still there,

Just under the water,

The tide never goes out far enough,

To clear the drop-off point,

The point off the shore,

Where the land just suddenly sharply descends to the depths of the ocean,

And it gets your mind whirring,

You begin to think about the possibilities of what could be there,

And what might have been lost when the water encroached,

And after sitting for a while,

Gazing out to sea,

Wondering whether there's those structures still there,

And what else might lie off the shore,

You head away from the shore,

You journey up the beach,

You walk through some woodland,

Heading back to your car,

And as you do,

You pass a child,

And you walk outside a cabin,

Along a dirt road through the woodland,

And they have a small table selling lemonade,

And they smile at you with a toothy grin,

And try and encourage you to buy some of that lemonade,

And tell you it's homemade,

And that they've added some grapes,

Which they've turned into ice cubes that will float on the top of the lemonade,

And so you take a cup of that lemonade,

And continue your journey back to your car,

And as you drink that lemonade,

So you notice the bubbles feel strange,

Instead of fizzing up,

With each mouthful you drink,

They fizz down,

And not only do they fizz down,

But they lift your consciousness up,

And with each mouthful of the drink,

You have this sense that the bubbles are pulling down,

And your mind is clearing,

Like a fog lifting from your mind,

And making the world seem extra crisp and clear,

Seeming to connect you,

On some altered level with this world around you,

Where you become hyper aware of the subtleties of the sound of each footstep,

The way leaves gently crunch in stages beneath your feet with each step,

And twigs crack,

And birds sing,

And the patterns in the clouds as they move overhead,

And like your awareness of the world around you of space and time,

It's becoming hyper aware,

Like a deep connection to reality,

And a part of your mind becomes deeply curious,

About that lemonade,

And something about it,

Makes you continue to drink,

As you continue to walk and you pass,

The edge of the woodland,

Now walking past the fields,

And as you walk past those fields,

You can smell the scent of hay wafting from one of the fields,

And see a couple of horses eating the hay in that field,

And water vapor evaporating off the backs of the horses,

Their occasional neigh,

As you continue walking,

Deeply curious about this experience you're having,

And as you continue walking and you pass the fields,

And this country path continues,

So you hear a slight squeak,

And you see that somebody is swinging on a swing hanging from a tree,

Opposite the fields in a slight clearing,

The grass gently moving and swaying in the breeze,

But as you watch and get closer you notice,

That it's not a child as you first thought,

It seems to be a platypus,

Dressed as a court jester,

With each swing,

The head goes back slightly,

And the bells on their hat jingle,

As their feet rise up,

As they swing back forward,

And they swing themselves back and forth,

Their rounded long green shoes,

With little bells jingling on the ends,

The bells on the hat jingling with the movement,

The tree swaying gently as that swing goes back and forth,

And they notice that you glance in their direction,

And you're watching them as they swing,

And in a high pitched and friendly voice,

They greet you and ask you if you want to come over,

They ask if you'd like a go on the swing,

And you refuse a number of times,

Before they encourage you,

And tell you it'll be fun,

Sometimes it's good to recapture elements of youth,

And do things you've long forgotten,

And so you begin to swing on that swing,

And as you swing,

So you begin to get higher and higher,

And the higher you get,

The more you swing,

And the more you swing,

The more you think,

Wouldn't it be cool if I could get high enough,

To swing right around the branch,

And you swing and swing,

But you never quite seem to be making it,

To be able to go over the top,

And as you're swinging,

The platypus says that they'll push you and that'll help you,

Maybe with their help,

You can swing all the way around,

And so they pull up a toadstool,

Behind the swing,

And then as you swing back,

They jump up and grab the back of the swing,

And with their weight as well,

They thrust themselves down,

Adding an extra bit of strength,

To making the swing swing,

And then they jump back on the toadstool,

And do the same again,

As you swing back,

Just as you reach that peak back,

They jump up,

Grab the back,

Use their weight to push and hold on,

As you swing forward,

With even more speed and higher,

And higher,

Until eventually,

You notice you're almost at the point of being able to go around the branch,

And with one last push,

The swing,

Goes around the branch,

And everything around you,

Seems to become deeply focused and change,

And once you pass the top of the branch,

And are heading back,

To the bottom again,

So the swing seems to disappear,

And you find yourself,

Swinging around underneath the branch,

And heading forward along a water slide,

The entire environment now changed,

No longer facing opposite fields with horses,

No longer down a country road,

No longer near a tree,

Just hurtling down a water slide,

And as you gasp slightly in shock,

So some of the water splashes onto your face,

And you notice the taste,

That it's champagne,

As you travel down this water slide,

Weaving,

Dropping down,

Spinning around,

And eventually,

Splashing down,

Into what seems like a swimming pool,

Except,

It's more like a dug out burrow in the ground,

And it's just underneath the surface of the ground,

And you scramble out of this pool on the other side,

Into this underground home,

And are greeted by a llama,

And this llama has the craziest pink hair,

And dark glasses,

And seems to have the curliest,

Longest ginger nose hair,

And you try and keep your eyes off of its curly ginger nose hair,

But then just find your eyes drawn to the curly ginger hair coming out of its ears,

And then the llama talks,

And you expect it to have a slightly higher voice than it ends up having,

And it talks with a deep voice,

And a slow voice,

And it talks about how,

You're going on a journey,

It knows that you found that poem,

That you opened a candlestick,

And it started you on an adventure,

As the one who found that,

And nothing that you've seen is as it seems,

The child isn't really a child,

The lemonade isn't really lemonade,

The platypus really was a platypus,

But they're not really a court jester,

And they walk you,

Through from the pool,

Deep into what's like a rabbit warren,

But a warren,

High enough for a llama to walk through it,

And strangely,

Although the ground looks like mud,

Each footstep echoes,

Almost as if it's solid stone,

And the llama says there's something strange about the layout and the design,

Of this space,

Each echo,

Each corridor,

Makes sound reverberate in a pattern,

And that pattern is pi,

The sound reverberates,

In an endless note,

That's constantly subtly changing,

And never repeating,

And as the llama walks,

They say they've got something to show you,

That you've shown a curiosity about the time before,

The great sink,

Before the land dipped to the water,

And the cliffs disappeared,

And at one point during the walking,

They descend steps,

Going deeper and deeper into this burrow,

Further underground,

And it opens out into a room,

Where you see other animals,

And all these animals,

Are dressed in curious fashion,

And you see that platypus in here,

And you see a giraffe,

Which talks,

With the same voice,

That the lemonade selling girl had,

And the platypus comes over,

Carrying a large silver tray,

And on the tray,

Is a moose,

And the platypus seems to take great delight in asking,

If you'd like some of this moose,

Moose,

That they designed it and made it themselves,

And they serve up a serving of that moose moose,

And the llama says they've always wanted to be a court jester,

They think they're funny,

And you carry on walking while eating that moose,

And as you eat the moose,

You notice that your arms begin to feel heavy and relaxed,

And your body feels heavier and more relaxed,

And the llama says the moose isn't really just moose,

Like the lemonade isn't really just lemonade,

It's helping you perceive reality in a different way,

And as your body feels heavier and more relaxed,

So you see what looks almost like fine hair along the walls,

Glowing and pulsing,

And the llama says that's just the mycelial network,

Charging up,

And passing messages through all living things,

And eventually,

You arrive at a door,

And the llama opens the door,

And says if you just walk through this door,

You will learn something new,

You didn't know you knew,

Because it's not the time to know it until you discover that you knew it,

And you walk through the door,

And the door's closed behind you,

And you can see a gentle blue glow,

And off in the distance,

You head towards that blue glow,

And the tunnel opens out wider and wider,

Until eventually,

You notice it looks like a window to under the sea,

Except that when you reach out with a hand,

There's no window there,

And you pull your hand back,

And your hand's wet from the sea,

And it's as if the sea just doesn't come in through this gap,

And you guess from the journey you've been on,

That perhaps this is under the sea partway down that cliff,

And you look around you,

And you can see beside you,

A small rubber duck,

And there seems to be nothing else around,

So you pick up that rubber duck,

And as you do,

So you have this sensation,

That you're changing and evolving into something different,

Almost as if you take on some of the qualities of a rubber duck,

And as you do that,

So you walk towards that gap in the wall,

And find yourself swimming out through that gap,

And as you swim out through the gap,

As if made of rubber,

Able to breathe perfectly fine,

And survive perfectly fine under the water,

With the water being no issue at all,

You swim down towards the sea floor,

Seeing the undulating sand carpeting that sea floor,

And you swim all the way down to that sand,

You run a hand through the sand,

Churning it up slightly,

Creating a gentle cloud as you go,

And then you see some sand,

Churning up in front of you,

And it churns,

And it churns,

And becomes something of a sandstorm underwater,

Filling the space around you,

With that dense sand,

So you can't see forward,

Or backward,

Or left,

Or right,

Or up,

Or down,

Just a murky,

Sandy colour,

Whatever direction you look,

And then you hear some bubbling in that water,

And then everything goes quiet,

And as the sand begins to settle,

And you remain very,

Very still to allow the sand to settle,

You see before you a baby shark,

With the friendliest of smiles,

And that baby shark,

Tells you that it's there to guide you to a specific location,

It's been born for this moment,

At this time,

And you follow that baby shark as it swims deeper into the ocean,

Swimming away from the cliff,

The sea getting deeper and deeper,

And after swimming for quite some time,

You hear,

What almost sounds like singing under the sea,

What you could only describe,

As a subtle hint of a sea shanty carried on the wind,

Only transmitted through the water,

That shanty penetrating your ears,

Seeming to come from one specific location,

And you follow that shark swimming deeper and deeper,

Until you start to hear a slight humming,

And see a slight glowing light,

And you swim towards that light,

And discover that it's a globe,

And strangely,

Once you're close to the globe,

And your eyes begin to adjust to the light from the globe,

You find that you can see into the globe,

And the globe's about four times the size of your head,

With half of it buried in the sand,

And the outside of it is incredibly bright,

And as your eyes adjust,

They can see inside it,

And inside it looks very different,

And the baby shark is swimming around slowly,

Gently,

In circles around you and the globe,

While talking to you,

Telling you that,

If you touch that globe,

And close your eyes,

You'll be able to project yourself inside,

And so you reach out and touch the surface of the globe,

Feeling how smooth that globe is,

And as you feel the smoothness of the globe,

So your hands start to move through the globe,

And you start to follow,

And as you follow,

So everything goes misty,

And a strangely glowing fog seems to form around your experience,

And you fall through that fog,

And find yourself lying on your back,

On the softest carpet of moss,

With the sense of woodland around you,

Rays of light penetrating the glowing fog,

Dancing like spotlights,

As the wind blows a breeze through the trees,

And it's almost as if those rays of light are vacuuming up the fog,

Seeming to wipe it away with each pass,

As you feel yourself so deeply and comfortably supported by the moss,

Feeling the coolness of that moss,

And the dew created by the fog,

Tickling your cheeks,

Dripping off of leaves,

And as it clears,

So you find you're in the most lush,

Beautiful woodland,

And you walk through this woodland,

You run your hands over the damp bark of some of the nearby trees,

Enjoying the different scents of this woodland,

The sounds of birds singing,

And exiting that woodland,

And finding yourself walking through some undulating hills towards a cliff edge,

Seeing in the distance,

Beyond a farm,

A church,

Standing tall and proud,

And recognizing that this must be that cliff,

Because further along is a lighthouse,

And a small robin flies past you and lands on a fence post,

Singing and watching you,

And you watch it,

And you walk gently and carefully past the robin so as not to disturb it,

You pass through a gate into an orchard,

You walk slowly,

Carefully,

Taking your time to observe what this orchard looks like,

And what this place looks like,

Walking through the orchard towards the farm,

Towards the farmhouse,

And around the edge of the orchard is wildflowers,

With butterfly landing on different flowers,

Fluttering around for a while before flying to another flower,

And bumblebees flying from one plant to another,

Life having a graceful rhythm,

And you arrive at the farmhouse and notice that no one seems to be here,

And you take a look around this farm and around the farmhouse,

You find that there's a fire gently crackling away in the fireplace in the living room,

And there's a book on a side as if someone was sat here not that long ago,

Perhaps reading by this fire,

And open resting on the book is a locket on a golden chain,

And inside that locket is a drawn picture of somebody,

And on the other side on the inside of the locket is a quote expressing love from the person through the pictures of in the locket,

And you pick up and handle that locket and feel the chain as it weaves between your fingers,

And the textures of the decoration on the outside of the locket,

Before placing that back down on the book,

Continuing to look around inside this farmhouse,

And seeing on the wall a large map of this area,

Seeing the farm marked on the map,

Noticing where the cliff is on the map,

The church,

The lighthouse,

And being able to recognize some of the landmarks that let you know where the current shoreline is,

And then heading out of this farmhouse,

And continuing walking to the cliff edge,

And as you walk towards the cliff edge,

So you can hear the church bell ringing,

And reverberating around this landscape,

At some points giving the illusion that the sound of the bell is coming from other directions,

Sometimes even sounding like it's coming from behind you,

And as you near that church,

You see that there's actually someone here,

And while approaching the church,

They start to approach you,

And as they approach you,

There's something familiar about them,

Something that makes your mind feel like you know them,

And with a smile,

They reach out,

And they shake your hand,

They invite you into the church,

You follow them into the church,

And inside the church,

You see that candlestick,

And you see a saw,

And you see that they're preparing that candlestick,

With the message that you found,

And they tell you,

That they have certain magical abilities,

They can't stop what's going to happen here,

But they can leave a clue,

They can leave some breadcrumbs that can be followed,

So that people can come back here,

And explore,

And learn,

And you ask them,

What happens here?

And they tell you that a certain shift happens deeper into the continent,

And that shift goes way down deep under this side of the continent,

And very quickly,

But still quite smooth,

Suddenly,

The entire side of the continent gives way,

And lowers into the sea,

And they'd worked out it was going to happen long before it did,

And that's why there's no one here,

Because they are here,

Just not really here,

They've been placed in a slightly different level of reality,

On a slightly different plane of reality,

And so they partially interact here,

But aren't really here,

So when the change happens,

It only happens to the land,

And then they'll return to this reality,

Once it's safe to do so,

And that's why you don't see much here,

But you can hear through the different realities,

With the sound reverberating through dimensions,

And all it takes is a little bit of magic,

And they guide you deeper into the church,

You see that nobody's ringing the bell,

And yet the bell is ringing,

And they tell you that you're going to be leaving a note to be found,

And when the time is right,

The shore will wash down enough for it to be discovered,

And then the stories of here will be told there,

And you look around this church,

And find that it's actually already pretty empty,

There are very few documents left here,

And very little of any real value or interest,

It's all been moved and shifted,

And changed to another dimension,

And in the heart of the church,

They lean on a pew,

And as they lean on that pew,

So a click can be heard,

And with that click,

The pew spins around,

The ground opens up,

And steps spiraling down form in the ground,

And together you descend into this secret tunnel,

And you follow this secret tunnel which eventually starts to rise up again,

And as it rises up,

So you find yourself rising up into the lighthouse,

And you ascend to the top of the lighthouse,

Looking out over the sea,

And they tell you that,

You can see the sea,

And you can see the way the sea is beginning to come this way,

As the land is beginning to lower,

And together,

You watch and wait as this land lowers beneath the ocean,

And it looks from your perspective,

Like the ocean is just suddenly getting deeper and deeper,

Like a tide that just seems to endlessly be coming in,

And it does so,

So gently,

So calm and relaxed,

Just a small amount at a time,

Until it's up above the height of the lighthouse,

And the magic protects you,

And makes it so that it's almost like you're in an air bubble watching this happen,

And you see looking up,

The pattern of the water,

Of the light shining through the surface of the water above,

As that light shimmers overhead,

And the surface gets higher and higher above you,

And then there's stillness,

And you now know how deep and how far out these structures are,

And you're told that you can head down the lighthouse to the exit,

And you can swim out,

And you'll find that as you swim out of this lighthouse,

You're back where that baby shark was,

And so you head down the lighthouse,

You open the door,

You see that the water doesn't come in the door,

It just sits there the other side of the door,

You swim out of the lighthouse,

And you find yourself almost as if you've just swum out of that globe,

And the baby shark is just circling around you,

And to them just a moment has passed,

Like a flash of you touching the globe,

And next minute you're swimming from the other side of the globe,

And you explain to them that you know what happened here,

And you follow them back towards the cliff,

And once back at the cliff,

So you head back in through that gap,

Finding yourself back dry,

And just as you were before you left,

And you head back to that door,

Pass through the door and see that llama,

Recognizing that the llama is the same as the person you've just met,

And you raise this with them and explain that you think that they're the same,

And they say that they're the spirit of nature,

They're the spirit of this land,

The whole role is just to protect the land and those in it,

But also to share knowledge and history,

And to keep a connection from the past to the present and on to the future,

About what happened here,

And they take forms that are based on things that are familiar,

But that are also based on the way your mind works,

And so you see kind of what you'd want to see,

Something that will grab your interest,

Something you'll find fascinating or curious,

Something that will make you want to engage and want to follow along,

And that what you've been consuming this whole time is a magical mushroom,

And it's that magical mushroom whose properties were mixed in with the lemonade,

Mixed in with the mousse,

Even mixed in with the champagne water slide,

And it's that magical mushroom properties that allow you to transcend one reality to another,

To shift as a consciousness,

And as that fades within you,

So you'll find yourself just back on that swing,

On your own just swinging back and forth,

Back and forth,

And as they say this,

Back and forth,

Back and forth,

So you start to get this feeling of swinging gently on a swing,

And a haze seems to form around you,

Almost like the sleep in your eyes in the morning,

Where you feel that urge to rub your eyes a little bit just to see clearly,

Swinging back and forth,

Hearing the neigh of horses,

And starting to smell that hay smell,

The scent of the woodland,

The feeling of the rope that's holding the tyre that you're swinging in,

And the sensation of that rope between your hands,

As you swing back and forth,

Back and forth,

As the reality around you begins to come into view again,

Almost like your eyes are out in bright light from a dark space,

And are adjusting to that bright light,

And as they do,

So you find,

You're back in your familiar reality,

You leave the swing,

You continue the journey to your car,

And it feels for you like a long time has passed,

And yet the day seems no different,

And you travel home in your car,

Your mind pondering your experience,

You arrive home,

You have nothing to evidence whether that experience was real or imagined,

And you have yourself a drink before bed,

Relaxing your mind,

Relaxing your body,

Resting in the most comfortable chair,

Your mind occasionally wandering to thoughts of that experience,

And feeling your mind clearing,

Before you then head to bed,

And on the bedside table,

You see a book,

And on the book is a locket,

And you realize it's the same book,

And you open the locket,

Popping that open,

You see that picture in the locket,

You see the inscription in the locket,

You take a look at the book,

And it's an old book,

And on the first page is an inscription,

And the inscription says,

Never go looking for sandy golden donkey bells,

Because all you'll ever find is a llama,

And you wonder what that means,

But know that it did something curious to your mind,

And you can smell the scent of that old book and feel the roughness of those pages,

And you sit in bed,

And you start to read the book,

And you find that it's a book about a circus coming to town,

And the book was written a couple of hundred years ago,

Claiming to be a true story about an event which happened hundreds of years prior to that,

And after reading,

For a short while your eyes began to feel heavier,

And as your eyes feel heavier and more relaxed,

So do you,

Place a bookmark in the book,

Put the book beside you,

Relax down so comfortably into the bed,

And close your eyes,

And begin to drift and float peacefully asleep into slumberland.