Music Of The Spheres

Climb aboard a mysterious vessel with a spacefaring captain and observe a never-before-seen cosmic phenomenon in tonight's calming sleep story.

Sleep and Sorcery is a folklore and fantasy-inspired sleep series.

My name is Laurel and I'll be your guide on tonight's fantastical journey.

Sleep and Sorcery is one part bedtime story,

One part guided meditation,

And one part dreamy adventure.

If you are still awake as the story concludes,

I'll guide you through a relaxing body scan and meditation.

In tonight's bedtime story,

You meet an otherworldly stranger who invites you to explore the cosmos aboard the vessel Aratusa.

As you make your way to the farthest flung reaches of space,

You explore the bowels of the ship,

Musing on the nature of time,

Space,

And the interconnectedness of all stories from the ancient and modern world.

Finally,

You reach your destination and observe the Atlantis Nebula,

Whose hypnotic colors inspire dreams of myth and eternity.

There is geometry in the humming of the strings.

There is music in the spacing of the spheres.

Pythagoras.

There is a special kind of silence aboard the Aratusa.

It fills the gaps between your footfalls on the floor with its immaculate lightness.

It is a silence so rich that in searching for sound,

Your senses seem to gather a warm,

Soothing tone in its absence,

Like a quivering hum that binds each moment together,

Like a sacred Aum,

Rippling outward from the center of the universe.

The vessel is vast and,

In its own way,

Uncharted,

Like the stretches of galaxy through which it tumbles.

This was explained to you by the ship's captain,

The one who fell to earth.

They are around here somewhere,

Fiddling with the buttons and modules on the bridge,

Probably muttering to themselves.

In the short time you've known them,

The captain,

This is the only name they go by,

Has proven an eccentric and magnetic figure.

Youthful and somehow unimaginably ancient,

Deeply curious and yet seemingly omniscient,

At times frivolous and at others grave and solemn.

There's so much you'd like to know about them,

But you know it will take time.

With a sense of displacement,

Recognizing your position in the boundlessness of deep space,

You realize that your first meeting with the captain took place not moments ago,

But long,

Long ago.

Time is something else entirely aboard the Aretuza.

There was a series of novels that a beloved teacher read to you in your youth.

It concerned a group of children,

Siblings if you remember correctly,

Who stumbled through a passageway into a world of talking animals,

Witches,

And epic quests.

The children had many great adventures in the other land,

Becoming royalty in their own right,

Growing into adulthood,

Before passing back through the portal into their own world,

But when they returned,

They found that only moments had passed.

The memories of a lifetime were sublimated into the minds and bodies of adolescents.

In your case,

Perhaps it's the other way around.

Time dilates,

And what feels like mere moments to you,

Light years from Earth,

Was in fact perhaps a lifetime,

Or many.

Rounding a curve,

You begin to compose a mental map of the Aretuza.

You've followed seemingly impossible passages and corridors to this point.

If the laws of nature with which you're familiar are to be believed,

You should have arrived back at the bridge,

But instead,

You stand before a set of three circular portals,

Each leading to a new hallway.

It's as though the Aretuza has a mind of her own,

Shifting playfully in response to your confident march,

Creating new networks of corridors to test you.

Your floor,

Pristine and pale in the soft light,

Feels solid and immovable beneath your feet.

It's strange to think that in fact you stand inside a moving vessel.

When traveling the universe at unimaginable speeds,

You stop walking for a moment and try to feel the Aretuza moving through space,

But all you feel is absolute stillness.

Your senses continue to reach,

In spite of you,

For the distant,

Whirling OM.

For an instant you feel singular,

From the moment mankind first began to walk the earth.

They gazed upon the stars,

Looking to them for light,

Tracked their movements across the vastness of the dark sky to plot their ways,

Played connect the dots with the heavenly bodies,

Stringing together constellations,

And bestowing upon them the names,

Myths,

And deeds of their culture's heroes.

In the patterns of the wandering stars,

They fixed their hopes and charted their destinies.

With eyes bright and tilted upward,

They questioned the nature of time and discovered their own stellar composition.

In time they composed stories of future civilizations and starward populations,

Societies that discover the secrets of the universe.

To move beyond earthly troubles,

They even dared to dream that they might one day pioneer the skies.

And here,

In the ringing silence of the Aretuza,

You stand.

The avatar of all those hopes,

And dreams,

And destinies,

In the absence of earthly vibrations.

For just an instant,

You feel the presence of all mankind meet in you,

Like time has telescoped in on itself.

A few years ago you traveled to Reykjavik,

Intent on viewing the Aurora Borealis,

That dazzling earthly phenomenon.

You rented a small,

Remote cabin outside the city,

And each night of your short stay,

You made your way to the nearby lake,

Eyes skyward.

Each night the sky remained dark,

Until the last night before your return home.

Above you the ghost of an emerald ribbon,

Shimmered and twisted in the black.

Its reflection in the lake below almost imperceptible,

It was so faint,

So nebulous,

That you almost thought it could be your mind,

Conjuring lights and patterns to cut through the darkness.

Perhaps this same unconscious desire is what,

In the minds of generations long past,

Invoked the spectacle of the wild hunt,

Odin and his troops,

Mounted on horseback,

Galloping across the sky.

You're not entirely sure why this memory arrives with such clarity now,

But it gives you an unexpected sense of comfort,

Something about the unpredictability of the universe,

Whether on earth or in the skies.

Perhaps you think of that night,

That faint whisper of Aurora,

Because it was in similar conditions,

Dark,

Cool night,

Barely perceptible disturbances in the night sky,

That you first encountered the captain,

On the eve of an important day,

One on which you were expected to make a choice that might decide the rest of your life.

You poured a cup of tea to calm your nerves,

And wrapped in a knit blanket,

Went out onto your porch to sit and ponder.

Eyes tilted toward the sky,

No moon that night,

You saw something faint and unusual,

Squinting to make it out,

You thought you saw a dim,

Slow-moving shooting star,

Or perhaps a comet.

You can't say you're one who pays strict attention to star calendars,

Or meteor shower guides,

But something about the apparition seemed out of place.

Still determined to pay it no mind,

You returned your thoughts to the earthly,

And felt your body tense with the anticipation of the morning to come.

While in many ways you felt as though your life and choices all led to this moment,

Part of you still seized with fear.

This leap into the future would not be easy to reverse,

Should you find you have regrets,

But the next time you looked upward,

The apparition was no longer overhead,

Due east.

As you prepared to dismiss it as a figment of your imagination,

Your eyes fell across the cascade of stars,

And there,

Hurtling toward the horizon,

No longer faint and imperceptible was a gleaming light,

With a tail of fire,

It was so close you might have reached out to grasp it.

It continued to fall,

Gathering speed,

Until you lost sight of it,

Obscured by the tree line,

Leaving your blanket and your mug of tea on the porch.

You ran through the trees to find the source of the light.

The thing had crashed less than a mile away,

Though far enough into the wood surrounding your neighborhood that it missed any homes or businesses.

You came upon a smoking crater in the ground,

And while your mind ran through the proper actions,

Call the authorities,

Run for help,

You found yourself transfixed by the sight,

For there,

In the middle of the crater,

Was nothing more or less than the billowing wreckage of a hot air balloon.

In the dim starlight,

Its parachute appeared a deep,

Sage green,

Later,

By the light of day,

You'd recognize it as more of a velvety seafoam color,

Strange,

The way a thing's core attributes can shift so massively with a subtle adjustment of light and time.

Then out of the wreckage came a hand,

Clawing at the rim of the crater,

He leapt forward to help,

Pulling the survivor to safety,

And came face to face with a stranger.

Even with clothes,

Tattered and ragged from the crash,

They were nothing short of magnificent,

Seeming to emit enough of a glow to compensate for the absence of the moon,

Ice blue eyes,

Dark red hair,

And an androgynous beauty,

You struggled for words,

So awestruck by their presence,

But you finally collected yourself enough to offer your assistance,

Could you take them to a hospital,

Call someone for help,

Miraculously they were unharmed,

But clearly distraught by the destruction of the balloon,

Curiously,

In lamenting the wreck,

They spoke about the balloon as though it were human,

So you offered,

At the very least,

A place to rest and recover before morning,

When they could return,

Assess the damage,

And make a plan to repair it,

The stranger introduced themselves as the captain,

Just the captain,

Something in you trusted them,

Immediately,

And implicitly,

You brought them through the wood to your house,

Fixed another pot of tea,

And prepared a late night snack,

For which the captain thanked you profusely,

Before inquiring about what other delicacies might be in your cupboards,

They cleaned out your refrigerator,

Your freezer,

And your pantry,

Expressing delight over the most commonplace foods,

Peanut butter,

A revelation,

Jello,

A first-rate marvel,

Canned tomato soup,

Divine,

Being as yet unable to identify the captain's accent,

You simply assumed they were from some distant country with limited imports,

Thinking back now on your first meeting,

You try to remember when you became aware that the captain was not,

In fact,

Of this earth,

Did you know from the moment they crawled from the wreckage,

Or were you clueless,

Up until you set foot aboard the Aretuza,

You suppose it doesn't matter,

But it is strange how your memory seems to have warped in the short,

No,

Endlessly long time you've known each other,

That night,

At last satiated,

The captain prepared to return to the crash site,

The repairs would take all night,

But with a full belly,

And a clear head,

They could be on their way tomorrow,

With immense gratitude for your hospitality,

Of course,

With surprise you realized that the notion made you sad,

In a few short hours,

You had grown fond of the stranger,

And drawn by an insatiable curiosity to the mysteries surrounding them,

Tomorrow held such uncertainty already,

A marvelous stranger crash landing steps from your door,

Seemed like a signal from the universe if there ever was one,

And didn't ancient people believe that comets and other cosmic anomalies were signals of great transformation,

Beginnings and endings,

It was a doorway into another world,

Another life,

On a sudden impulse,

You called after the captain,

Before they disappeared into the night,

Take me with you,

And they agreed,

With terms,

You would take the night to sleep on it,

If in the morning,

Under the clear light of day,

You still wanted to join them,

The captain would be waiting for you,

Just take the night,

You hardly slept a wink that night,

So buzzing with adrenaline from the events of the evening,

Thoughts a flutter with a choice before you,

Like two mystery doors,

Behind door number one,

The life you've planned,

Worked hard for,

And dreamt of,

But will it be everything you imagined,

Behind door number two,

Wild-eyed possibility,

The thrill of the unknown,

The risk of the unknown,

By first light,

You knew which choice you would make,

You stepped out onto the porch,

A cold cup of tea still sat next to your rocking chair,

And on the front lawn,

The seafoam green parachute of a hot air balloon,

Swelled and swayed in the morning breeze,

Across the panels,

You could read an unfamiliar word,

In swirly lettering,

Aretusa,

The captain leaned against the basket,

A welcoming smile across their face,

They helped you into the basket,

But to your surprise,

Your feet fell not upon a woven base,

But a smooth,

Solid floor,

You looked at the captain confused,

And they asked if you were ready,

Ready for what,

You wanted to ask,

But at that moment,

The floor began to slowly lower,

Like an elevator,

Descending into the ground,

Except you weren't burrowing underground,

You were sinking down,

Level by level,

Into the hidden depths of the Aretusa,

You would later learn that the vessel could disguise itself as a commonplace transport or vehicle,

The figure of the hot air balloon being a less than accurate guess as to the most common transportation methods of your when and where,

Even more amazing,

Where its outer appearance suggested little space,

The vessel was in fact gargantuan on the inside,

A little world of its own,

Revealing a network of shifting,

Expanding corridors and chambers that respond intuitively to the passengers,

This memory,

So fond,

And yet so blurry,

Was either yesterday,

Or a few weeks ago,

Or perhaps the lifetime of a star away,

You feel so far from earthly concerns and commitments,

So free,

The captain,

Your guide to time and space,

Has shepherded you across an infinite threshold,

You stand now before the three circular doorways,

Those elegant trials of the Aretusa's artful game,

She has a sense of humor,

You've realized,

And likely any of the doors will take you back to the same corridor from whence you came,

It's just the kind of trick she'd play,

You contemplate whether to play along,

When you first came aboard,

The captain promised you adventure,

Travel on the Aretusa for as long as you like,

Be open to the vast and varied possibilities of infinite untold universes,

Tumble through time,

See ancient societies and future civilizations,

Sail the starry seas never seen by the human eye,

When asked where you'd like to start,

Overwhelmed by the proposition of infinite possibilities,

You requested to be taken to see the most distant star,

The farthest flung reaches of space,

The edge,

The sense of freedom is dizzying,

Since that question,

Time has stretched,

As though squeezed through a tube,

You feel as if you've lived a hundred lifetimes,

Just in the time it's taken to explore a few of the Aretusa's corridors,

Yet you also feel the uncanny feeling that you just left home an hour ago,

The course was set through some unintelligible exchange of passcodes and coordinates,

A kind of mythic hybrid of futuristic launch sequence and ancient pagan ritual,

There are many things about the captain and the Aretusa that feel this way,

Both ancient and untouchably new,

Both organic and synthetic,

It sometimes makes you think of those films set in the galaxy far far away,

There's a speculative science fiction bent to it all,

But underneath runs a current of old,

Resonant magic,

According to the captain's interstellar maps,

You travel for the Atlantis nebula,

A cosmic phenomenon whose existence is,

So far,

Only the subject of conjecture,

Like the lost kingdom for which it's named,

The Atlantis nebula is thought to have already been destroyed in the far reaches of space,

But because of its supreme distance,

No observer has yet recorded the light from the destruction,

But the Aretusa's capabilities reach beyond those of ordinary spacecraft,

And the captain assures you that the vessel can reach places and times unthinkable by traditional standards,

In fact,

If the rumors of the nebula's destruction light years in the past are true,

Then visiting the site will be rather like visiting a point in time in the distant past,

Your mind boggles with the thoughts of legendary empires and dying stars,

A once forgotten melody is ringing in your ears,

Hanging upon the sticky silence,

A tale of antediluvian kings,

Hubris,

And fate,

It was just a metaphor though,

Wasn't it?

Atlantis?

Something of Plato's?

What is it about the silence of the Aretusa that's so loud,

So specific,

So alive?

Why does it seem to spark continual discovery,

The unearthing of memory after memory,

Making unexpected connections in your mind?

Why,

In the absence of sound,

Does your body sense the soul's vibration?

Who was it that talked about the music of the spheres,

The musica mundana?

You can't remember where you learned the term,

But the concept always had a bit of a hold on you.

It's the idea that a kind of mathematical music in the movements of the celestial bodies,

The spheres,

Formed the fabric of the universe,

That this music,

Which couldn't be heard by the human ear,

Nevertheless resonated in the strings of energy to form all objects,

Energies,

And relationships,

That this sound was so natural to us as inhabitants of the musical universe that it's imperceptible,

Filling our senses from the moment of our birth,

And thus indistinguishable from contrary silence.

Another strange connection now rises to the surface of your mind.

You chuckle as your inner thoughts roll in the voice of Judy Garland.

If you can't find your heart's desire in your own backyard,

You never lost it to begin with.

With a bit of an aha revelation,

You recognize the kind of game the Aratusa is playing with you.

Instead of taking the bait,

Opening one of the portals before you,

You turn on your heel and head back in the direction from which you came.

Were this an ordinary vessel,

One governed by the recognizable laws of matter and motion,

You would round a long curve into a generator room.

But you don't.

Instead,

You come upon the main bridge,

A large chamber,

At the center of which is a massive console,

Replete with screens,

Buttons,

Bits and bobs that make little sense to you.

Seated at the console,

Booted feet up on the dashboard,

Nose buried in a thick volume with a title in some otherworldly language,

Is the captain.

They hear you approach and greet you pleasantly.

Were you lost?

They wonder.

You're not sure how to answer.

You might say that you and the Aratusa were getting to know one another.

You'll be arriving at the observation point soon,

And you're in for quite the wonder.

You ask the captain if they've ever heard of the music of the spheres,

If they remember whose idea it was.

Pythagoras,

The captain thinks.

Would you like to meet him and ask him about it?

After all,

All of space and time are at your disposal.

An intriguing notion,

You think.

Perhaps your next stop might be to ancient Greece,

To meet the minds behind math and music.

Or you might like to ask Plato about Atlantis.

Perhaps even visit the legendary kingdom,

If it ever existed.

So many mysteries of ancient history could be solved by your curiosity.

The Aratusa seems to sigh.

A subtle,

Sound melange of organic and synthetic deceleration.

You've arrived.

Just as the floor of the balloon basket lowered you into the Aratusa's console on that fateful morning,

It now ascends.

The captain urges you to look up.

Don't worry,

You're safe.

Above you,

The Aratusa unfolds like a flower,

Like a cosmic lotus.

Around you,

Infinity blooms.

A panoply of stars and spheres.

The floor,

Walls,

And ceilings seem to vanish about you,

But the captain assures you it's only an illusion,

Allowing you to see the fullness of your surroundings,

Unencumbered.

You stand as though upon a star.

The contrast between velvet blackness and sparkling bright is a beauty that's almost too much to bear.

Ahead,

Heretofore unseen by the naked eye,

Is the Atlantis nebula,

A resplendent display of color and shape against a backdrop of infinite stars,

The diaphanous clouds of fuchsia,

Violet,

And gold surround a concentrated ultraviolet mass at its core,

A white dwarf.

The interplay of color,

Brilliance,

And form reminds you of a crystalline structure,

Like a cosmic amethyst in the form of a dying star.

Ribbons of gold stardust run through the vision in a shimmering helix,

Calling to mind a cavalcade of riders on the fiery sunset.

Like Odin's wild hunt,

Your body hums with the vibrant frequencies that surround you.

The full,

Glowing silence of the Aratusa harmonizes with the vibrations of the cosmos.

You can't hear the musica mundana,

But you can feel it nourishing your soul,

Like a mantra.

The universe repeats to the universe,

From within you to without,

Like a sacred poem.

Perhaps to Pythagoras next,

You think,

Eyes swimming with the hypnotic movement of stellar clouds,

The shimmering colors of the nebula,

Perhaps to Plato,

Or to the land of the Norse gods,

But then,

Certainly,

Home.

You'll carry the singular vision of eternity with you,

With the silence and the music of the spheres.

Breathe,

Bring your awareness to the base of your spine,

Your root chakra.

Feel grounded on your sleep surface,

In whatever position you've chosen,

And feel the hip points,

The back of the body,

Connecting to the earth.

You're safe,

Secure,

And you belong.

Feel the earth support you unconditionally.

Visualize the color red,

The color of strength,

Courage,

And vitality.

Rest and release any tension in the base of your spine or the surrounding muscles.

Breathe into your roots.

Feel expansion and release.

Move your attention to the lower abdomen.

Focus on the space just below your navel.

Breathe into that space,

Your sacrum.

Feel the warmth and flow.

Release any tension in your muscles.

Feel the low belly expand and contract with your breath.

You are creative and passionate.

You feel deeply.

Visualize the color orange,

The color of creativity,

Passion,

And emotion.

Feel nourished by the breath and supported in the lower body.

Move your awareness to the area between your chest and navel,

Just below your sternum.

Breathe into this space,

Your solar plexus,

And feel the breath bring vital heat and transformation throughout the chest and the belly and the body.

Visualize the color yellow,

The color of sunshine,

Joy,

And self-esteem.

You are powerful.

You are responsible.

Feel nurtured by the flowing warmth,

Nourished by the breath,

And supported by the earth.

Now move your attention to the center of your chest,

Your heart.

Breathe.

Feel the chest and belly expand with the breath.

Then on the exhale,

Soften and lighten.

Feel the glowing warmth of love.

Gently soften the muscles of your body into your sleep surface,

And feel that love roll outward from within you to without.

Visualize the color green,

The color of renewal,

Spring,

And serenity.

Breathe into your heart space,

And continue to soften with each exhale.

Breathe in love.

Breathe out love.

You are loving,

And you are loved.

Feel grounded and supported by the earth,

Nourished by the breath,

Bathed in warmth,

And softened by love.

Now move awareness to the throat.

As you breathe in,

Feel the breath move smoothly down the back of the throat,

Bringing lightness and life to the mind,

Body,

And soul.

With your exhales,

Feel dark,

Heavy air being removed.

With your inhales,

Feel light,

Buoyant air clearing passageways throughout the body.

You are free.

Visualize light blue or turquoise,

The color of truth and clarity.

Feel lightened by the truth,

Softened in love,

Wrapped in warmth,

Nourished in the body,

Supported by the earth.

Now move attention to the center point between your eyebrows,

The third eye.

Visualize the color indigo,

The color of insight and intuition.

Breathe and release the tension in your body,

Opening yourself up.

You are wise.

Soften and release.

Feel supported,

Nourished,

Warm,

Loved,

Light,

And insightful.

Now move your awareness to the very top of your head,

Your crown chakra.

Breathe into the space at the top of your head and feel yourself open,

Blossoming outward like a lotus,

Opening to a higher consciousness to convene with the divine spirit.

Visualize the color violet,

The color of transformation and deep connection.

Feel whole and bathed in the violet light from the crown of your head to the base of your spine,

All the way to the tips of your toes.

Feel a sense of harmony in your body,

Mind,

And spirit.

Breathe into the feeling of wholeness.

See the colors red,

Orange,

Yellow,

Green,

Blue,

Indigo,

And violet in a cosmic dance,

Balancing the sensations and impulses and connections within you and without.

Feel yourself supported,

Nourished,

Unconditionally by the earth,

Rooted in your sensational body.

Feel abundant and open to love,

Insight,

And connection from within you to without.