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Every parent who has small children knows how difficult it is to
get the little critters settled down when it's time for bed. Down
through the centuries, parents of many nations have each developed
their own unique ways of bringing peace to the ritual of bedtime.
Our Celtic ancestors long ago invented a method to tame the
kiddies that many feel has worked wonders in this regard. It is the
legend of the Changelings. Many of you, no doubt, have heard stories
about the "little people." Some call them trolls, others
call them leprechauns, and still others speak about the "faery
folk."
The legend demands that children obey their parents when it comes
time for bed. They are to tuck themselves in quickly, close their
little eyes, and hurry off to dreamland. Should they, for any
reason, resist sleep and quietness, they risk being carried off to
faeryland, where the little people will keep them prisoners forever.
These naughty children, according to the legend, will no longer see
their parents. What will be left in their place is known as a
"Changeling."
In essence, a Changeling is the body of a child that no longer
has the "kid" inside. The body walks, talks, and even goes
to school - but the child essence lives somewhere else. The hearers
of this legend took the whole matter so seriously that, once the
legend was invoked, there was seldom a problem getting the children
to sleep, ever again.
Tired and befuddled parents sometimes do cruel things. They
invent monsters and then they must spend years trying to convince
their frightened kiddies that monsters do not exist. Today's
solution turns out to be tomorrow's problem. And so it has been with
our dear slumbering Star Children.
PROBLEMS WITH SLEEP
The great metaphysician, Gurdjieff, introduced some fantastic
material back in his day. He asserted that all of physical life is
but a dream, and for humans to remain here in 3-D, each of us has to
be entranced, deep in a kind of soul sleep.
I have spoken in other articles about the Veil of Forgetfulness.
This is a semi-permeable, etheric membrane that surrounds the
consciousness of a person in physical form, blocking from his
remembrance the knowledge of all that he could be, within the
greater scheme of things. He is allowed to focus here in this
context of reality, without being distracted by his many other
simultaneous involvements elsewhere.
An inability to properly focus into our 3D "dream," is
very similar to a child who has difficulty going to sleep. The
little mind of the child is spinning, spinning, and he has no
ability to relax and journey off to dreamland.
Many Baby Boomers came onto this planet in just such a condition.
Being "Transitionals," we carried with us a consciousness
that was both human and also meta-human. Many of the things other
people had forgotten, we managed to retain within our memory banks.
We had knowledge and abilities that became quite intimidating to
those folks who encountered us, and they found many ways to tell us
so.
The tricks and legends that held the Celtic children in check
have correspondent versions in American lore. Some local children
have been taught to fear the "boogeyman," who is said to
be hiding in the closet, while others imagine that the Devil himself
is right beneath their mattress, waiting to pounce on them if they
don't obey their mother and go right to sleep.
Over the years, our research network has received many stories of
parental intimidation and shame, expressed towards young people who
show unusual psychic "knowingness." When a person reads
these stories from the child's viewpoint, it seems fairly clear that
these children had been subjected to nothing less than emotional and
spiritual abuse. Expressions like "crazy, strange, or
weird" are not uncommon in such cases.
When religious overtones are added, implying that the psychically
gifted are somehow linked to or influenced by The Devil, things go
downhill fast. The entire witch hysteria of Salem, Massachusetts,
back in the 1600s, was begun by stories about and accusations
concerning little girls who were dealing with and discussing
spiritualist issues. Their parents became so incensed with the idea
that something "evil" had come upon their offspring that
many civil trials and even executions resulted.
THE STOLEN CHILD
To be threatened with physical discipline, banishment, or even
death is an extremely terrifying prospect for a child. Most children
will learn to hide what they know rather than face the rejection
that comes when people see and declare that they are different from
the norm.
Forgetting about or casting off an important part of childhood
(like spiritual guides and personal intuition) can constitute a
major trauma in the life of a young person. For a beautiful
visualization of this process, one needs only to check out a copy of
the movie "Heart and Souls," released some years ago
(usually available in any video store). The whole story plot of the
film centers around the subject matter we are discussing here today.
To forget the magical part of self is to lose the essence of what
it means to be young and alive. Many people fill psychiatric couches
today, looking for missing components in their lives--events and
occurrences that might explain the huge levels of depression and
emptiness they feel. Though every life has its bumps and bruises,
and each one takes its toll - few people fully comprehend how badly
they were injured when they decided, in a moment of time, to let go
of their imagination.
THE BETWIXT AND BETWEEN
The faery kingdoms are real! They exist in a realm which the
Celtic peoples call the "betwixt and the between." This is
the level of consciousness that separates and borders sleeping and
waking. Everyone passes through there as they go in and out of
slumber. It is the place where Peter Pan frolics with his "lost
boys." It is the Gateway into the ever-expanding, ever-wondrous
Multiverse. It is the entrance into infinity!
There is enough truth found in the legend of the
"Changeling" to energize and encourage some lazy parents
to use the information to continue intimidating their kids. However,
the faeries that dwell there are not monsters or beasts that devour
and enslave little ones. Rather, they are the souls of *child-ness*
that have been strangled out of children, by adults who did not
honor and respect their natural playfulness and wonder.
In fact---the faeries, leprechauns, and trolls are said to
actually be the *stolen child essence* of the very parents who
perpetrate the abuse upon these kids. Also, they are made up of wise
and magical old folks that society never honors anymore. It seems
that both ends of the life spectrum can get cast out of our world
when those in control have no patience and interest to deal with the
gifts and perspectives which they have to offer.
The great metaphysician-poet, W.B. Yeats, wrote a piece long ago
that fits beautifully with what we are discussing here. It is called
"The Stolen Child." It speaks of faery vats, water rats,
berries, cherries, and other magical things. At the end of every
verse, the refrain rings out: "Come away O human child! To the
waters and the wild. With a faery hand in hand. For the world's more
full of weeping than ye can understand."
LOOKING INWARD, LOOKING UPWARD
To be able to fully comprehend our magical Star Children, we Baby
Boomers must be able to fully comprehend ourselves! Most of us have
missed that part. We have huge blank spaces in our memory, many of
which were probably filled with bits of knowledge that we learned to
hide away in fear. We are ill at ease with our spiritual selves, and
we have become estranged from the wisdom which once flowed so freely
within.
One Star Child said this to his Baby Boomer father, a man who
raised him alone after his mother died: "I wish that I had
known you when you were a kid. I wish that you lived next door to me
and I could come over and we could play together." The effect
of this statement was thunderous. It was, in that moment, as if an
entire generation of kids was speaking to a special generation of
parents, calling them home.
The stars have always been teachers and guides for humankind.
Most of the star constellations are named after Gods, Archetypes,
and other great personages. Sailors and travelers learn to follow
them when they are lost, or on a journey. We Baby Boomers have now
been given bright lights to help lead us home as well.
We, the Baby Boomers---many of us, have become
"Changelings." At some point in our childhood, some
well-meaning but ignorant adults scared the "living'
daylights" out of us! From that point on, the body of the child
was there, but his or her soul went somewhere else.
Now those "living daylights" have manifested for us in
the form of our incoming Star Children---an entire generation of
beings who were born to be guides, teachers, and explorers of the
new planetary experience that lies ahead. They come to us to
reawaken our sleeping, stolen, inner children.
For Peter Banning, in the movie "Hook," his children
were always something for which he had little time. His wife
constantly chastised him about it, but his work and his money-making
were far more important to him than his kids. Then, one day, he
remembered. It all came back to him who he once was and what he had
lost. After that, nothing was ever the same again.
Adulthood isn't anything special, folks! We speak about being
"an adult" in the same condescending tone that our parents
used when they assaulted us with the term when we were small.
Adulthood is just big kids, playing with expensive toys, who try and
convince clearer and wiser offspring that these empty games we play
are more important than the issues of the soul and the heart.
Don't you think it's time that we all grew 'down?' For sure, we
can keep the qualities which help us, things we feel have
meaning---such as kindness, politeness, consideration, and so forth.
But all the *stuffiness* and sternness has to go out, out, out! Away
with Captain Hook! Feed him to the crocodile!
This world surely is more full of weeping than many of us can
understand. However, our Star Children understand. And they're
waiting to tell us, when they are sure that we can handle the
information they carry.
DJ.
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