Thirteen Senses by Victor Villaseñor
Hearing this, Hortensia’s eyes lit up with joy and she began waving her arms like they were wings, screeching to the Heavens!
“Listen closely, Lupe,” said Doña Margarita, closing her eyes in concentration, “the more and more we move through the Sixth Sun to the Seventh, our children will be born with fuller remembrances. The Holy Day is not too far away when the bulk of Humanity will be Awakening. This, even the Incas and the Mayans still did know. Isn’t this right, Maria Hortensia,” added Doña Margarita, turning back to the child, “it is now safe for you, querida, to be here on this Tierra Madre with your familia and keep your memories of Heaven, for you are surrounded con Amor! Tell her, Lupe, she needs to hear this from you, her mother.”
“Why, yes, of course,” said Lupe, “but she already knows that she’s loved, señora.”
“Yes, but you must also tell her in words, Lupe,” said Doña Margarita. “Words, you see, Lupe, were originally sounds, chants, Vibrations that fed Love from one Heart to another Heart, so these Sound-Vibrations must be fed to a child several times a day from the one who nurses her and gives her warmth, in order for the child to feel anchored.
“There’s so much I need to tell you, Lupe. I should’ve started telling you months ago, as all wise midwives have been doing since the dawn of time with every young mother. Men, you see, they just don’t understand this Voyage that Hortensia just completed of coming Here to the Earth from the Stars.
“Each Child, mi hijita, is a Sacred Blessing, having traveled here on the Breath of God. Each is the Reflection from that Star from which they traveled. This planeta is a school, if you will, for the unveiling of the Understanding of Creation, God and Ourselves. And so, Lupe,” she added, “when you lay down to rest always put Hortensia on your chest so she can feel your Heart, beat, Beat, Beating, then she’ll grow up Knowing the Heartbeat of Creation wherever she goes.
“Isn’t that right, mi hijita,” said the old woman, turning to the infant once again. “Your mother’s Heartbeat was your First Song of the Universe, beat, Beat, Beating to you while you were inside of her womb. It would Sing, Sing, Sing to you Night and Day, sending you Love and Good Tidings, teaching you to Relax and Trust the Universe as you slept. Well, mi hijita, I want you to know that out here in this world the same is true and here is also a heartbeat and this is the Heartbeat of the Holy Creator, that will also continue teaching you of the Universe every time you sleep and your Guardian Angel takes you up to visit con Papito Dios. Eh, you remember, don’t you. You Know what your grandmother is talking about?”
Suddenly, the child was screeching once again as if she’d truly understood every Holy Word.
Lupe had never seen an adult, much less a young child, behave like this before. Tears came to Lupe’s eyes. She felt so Blessed to have a mother-in-love such as Doña Margarita.
“Always remember, mi hijita, you are God’s One Singular Note in His Great Symphony!” continued the old Indian woman. “You are Special, you are Unique, no one, but no one like You was ever Created before in all the Universe! And each night when you go to sleep, always Know that your Guardian Angel will come and take you hand-in-hand back up to Heaven, so that you can sleep with Papito Dios. And then when you Awake in the morning, you’ll feel good and wonderful! Welcome to our familia, little woman! Welcome to your short stay here on planeta Earth!”
Maria Hortensia screeched again, kicking and kicking.
She’d been ANCHORED!
Her Soul had been REAFFIRMED!
Lupe was beside herself with joy. She had all but forgotten that her own mother, a Yaqui, had done almost this exact same thing with her when she’d been born.
Each and Every child needed to be presented to the Stars and the Mother Earth to have their Soul Reaffirmed, or they’d be lost and floundering about all of their Life!
Tears were streaming down Lupe’s face.
“What is it, querida?” asked the old woman.
Lupe shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. It’s just that every time we get together, señora, I just feel so good! I’m so sorry that Maria took Hortensia and baptized her without you being present, but—well, she’d had this terrible dream, and—oh, I just don’t know!” Lupe added with frustration.
“Lupe, what’s done is done,” said the old woman, “and who knows, dreams can foretell the future, so maybe your sister did the right thing. There are no accidents. Now, give me your hand and place it gently here on Hortensia’s stomach.
“Now,” added the old woman, “feel the child’s breathing? Breathing is the single most important thing we can teach any child. To breathe slowly, slowly, calmly, especially when things aren’t going well; this is the True Baptism a mother gives her child. These priests and their fine robes know nothing of baptizing children. That’s all just show. But we, women, must forgive them, Lupe. They’re just men, they never had the miracle of Life, la Vida, pulsating here inside of them like you did for those nine months. Oh, Lupe, you are now the Miracle Maker de tu Casa!
“So forgive your sister Maria,” continued Doña Margarita. “I, too, was young once and had many powerful dreams and didn’t know what to do. In fact, this is why Moses and I have been spending so much time together.”
“Then you really did see Moses?”
“Well, yes, of course,” said the old woman, laughing. “I just don’t understand why this surprises people. Talking with the Virgin and Jesus is accepted quite easily in nuestra cultura, but then people are so shocked when anyone says they’ve had a conversation with Moses.”
Seeing Lupe’s reaction, the old woman laughed again. “Mi hijita, it’s okay. I’m really no more crazy-loca today than I was day before yesterday. You see, Moses and I are re-doing the Ten Commandments.”
“You and Moses are re-doing the Ten Commandments?!?” said Lupe in astonishment.
“Of course. What do you think, that they were written in stone?” added Doña Margarita, laughing con carcajadas.
But she could see that her daughter-in-love wasn’t laughing. Lupe truly looked very frightened.
“But why are you frightened, mi hijita?” asked the old woman.
“Well, because,” said Lupe, finding it hard to believe that her mother-in-love wasn’t shaking with fear, “the Ten Commandments are the LAWS of GOD, señora!”
Doña Margarita burst out laughing again. “And so is Breathing. And so is Birthing. And so is Loving. And so is—I could go on for hours, for days, mi hijita. All Living are the Commandments of God. These Ten,” she added, “just got more attention. And they aren’t even the main ten.”
Lupe nodded and nodded again. “And Moses, he went along with you on this?”
“How could he not, I had him by his tanates.”
It was very hard for Lupe to hear anything after this. Just the image of her mother-in-love to have hold of the Great Man of the Bible by his private parts was too fantastic for her to—but then Lupe remembered what she’d learned about men since she’d married, and she couldn’t believe what came out of her mouth.
“Did he enjoy it?” she asked.
“Did who enjoy what?” asked Doña Margarita.
Lupe turned a dozen shades of pink, she became so embarrassed.
“Oh, Moses?” said Doña Margarita. “When I had him by the balls? Oh, yes, he loved it! Nobody had fondled him in years!”
And now they were both laughing con carcajadas. Salvador and Luisa were watching them through the kitchen window. The two women looked so beautiful, laughing together on the running board of the old abandoned Model T with the missing doors and motor. This was an old wrecked truck that the people of the barrio had been cannibalizing for parts for years.
“How did you get stoned, señora?” Lupe asked, wiping her eyes.
Doña Margarita ran her hand over her bandaged head, taking in a deep breath. “Mi hijita,” she said gently, reaching out to caress Lupe’s hand, “I wasn’t alone when I spoke to Moses. Many of my church friends wanted to talk to Moses, too, so I invited t
Hearing this, Lupe said nothing. She just looked at her mother-in-love, not really knowing what to think or even feel—anymore.
“So, then, who stoned you, señora, these other women?”
“No, it was my old friend Dolores who felt left out when she wasn’t able to make the Voyage with the rest of us, God Bless her troubled Soul.”
The old woman stopped her words and made the sign of the cross over herself. Lupe sat still. A breeze picked up, sweeping across the yard with a beautiful little swirl of leaves.
“Señora,” said Lupe, “I can understand some of what you’ve just said, because back home in Mexico my own mother also told us about Creation while we were growing up. But still, a very large part of me can understand your friend Dolores’ fear because at first, when you mentioned what you did with Moses, my whole stomach felt like it had been—”
Lupe stopped her words. She just didn’t know how to say what she wanted to say without sounding awful.
“You felt like a sharp knife had been stuck into your stomach, and a part of you then also felt like doing me harm.”
Lupe turned red with embarrassment.
“It’s okay, mi hijita,” said Doña Margarita. “Why do you think Our Lord God Jesus was crucified? People attack that which they don’t understand.”
“It hurt so much here inside of me when you said that Moses and you re-did the Ten Commandments, that I didn’t know what to think or do. All my life we were taught that these laws came straight from God and that they are the whole basis of civilization and beyond reproach!”
“Then comes along this old, toothless, crazy woman undoing everything!” said Doña Margarita, laughing.
Lupe nodded.
“Well, mi hijita,” added the old woman, “I can fully understand your feelings. Emotion is what this planeta is all about. This is why we have so many wars. And what does the word ’emotion’ mean, simply ‘feelings-in-motion, feelings-in-change.’ And men fear to change their feelings even more than women. This is why even Moses himself, the Great Man, had difficulty with me at first, too.” She closed her eyes in concentration. “Truly, all people Fear the Pains of Change, and Change is nothing but the Birthing of New Life. And Life is Birthing. And All this Birthing is what we call Creation, and Creation is ... the Almighty. Remember, mi hijita, la extremidad del humano es la oportunidad de Dios.”
The old woman opened her eyes. “Poor Dolores couldn’t have behaved any differently with her name being Dolores, meaning ‘Pain.’ She had to fulfill that which she was named.
“Do you see what I am saying, mi hijita, Words are Holy. They make us Who We Are. Give us ten commandments full of ‘don’t’ do this and ‘don’t’ do that, then these ‘don’ts’ are exactly what we become. Give us a god full of wrath and vengeance and this is how we are destined to treat each other no matter how much we are preached at to not do that. Does this make sense, mi hijita?”
Lupe took in a big breath, then she shrugged. “Yes, I guess it does, but I don’t know, señora.”
“Perfect. Because when the day comes that you do know all this, to the depths of your Soul, you, mi mujer, will never be intimidated by men and all their doings again,” said Doña Margarita. Then she once more closed her eyes in concentration. “Feeling left out is why men created the story that god is only a male. Feeling left out is why men had to invent that women came from adam’s rib, instead of directly from god. Feeling left out is the very reason why wars and empires and power are the most loved children of every male. And I’m sorry to say, this also includes my own son Salvador,” said the grand old woman, opening her eyes, “whom I Love with all my Heart!”
Smiling, she reached out and took Lupe’s hand. “To you, mi hijita, I now entrust Our Future.” She Breathed in of God. “And not because I don’t love and respect my fine son, but, simply, because—just see how your daughter looks at you, Lupe. Already she knows your smell, your voice, above all others. You are her Everything! And no man can ever experience this miracle, Lupe.
“This is why, Lupe, in the end, it was finally Jesus Christ, Himself, Who came forward and told Moses, in terms that he could understand, that the time has come for us to move the Commandments out of stone and into Flesh and Blood,” said the old woman. “This is what the Crucifixion was all about, God sending His Only Begotten Son down here to us to put the Flesh and Blood of Forgiveness, Compassion, and Understanding on the Commandments.
“This is what each generation needs to do with their Own Flesh and Blood in order for us to continue adding to Our Understanding of the Almighty,” she added, pointing into the air with her index finger with each word she spoke. “Moses, the poor man, really could do nada, nada, nothing but agree with us. He really had no idea that Creation is ongoing. He was truly trapped—no matter how much God spoke to him—in the flat and narrow world of the Egyptians’ way of thinking. It was absolutely beyond his comprehension that one day soon the Holy Creator would need to send His Own Flesh and Blood to Save the World of Humankind from yet another kind of slavery. Understand, Creation continues even as we speak and we, humans, aren’t the end of Creation. Hell, the Ants know more than us.”
“Señora,” said Lupe, “how come you know so much?”
“Oh, no, mi hijita,” said the little old lady, laughing, “long ago I gave up knowing and simply gave my Life over to Spirit.”
Saying this, she kissed the Crucifix of her rosary, then touched the Holy Cross to her daughter-in-love’s forehead, Blessing her. A pool of Golden Light came all around the Three Generations of women. “Isn’t this right, mi hijita,” she turned and said to Hortensia, “you Know what your mamagrande is talking about, eh? We know nada, nada, nothing, except that which comes to us Here, within ourselves, directly from God!”
She kissed the Crucifix again, touching Hortensia lightly on the chest this time, then mumbled a little Prayer. The child kicked her feet and waved her little arms. She’d understood perfectly.
Lupe took in a deep Breath. “So, then, tell me, señora, what are these new—” She stopped. She still couldn’t quite bring herself to say the word. “—that you and your friends came up with,” she added.
“You mean the Commandments?” said Doña Margarita.
“Yes,” said Lupe, still feeling a little nervous.
“Mi hijita,” said the old woman, “we didn’t come up with any—what you’d call—new commandments. That would have been no improvement. To command, rule, or control these are hombre-ideas, created out of fear. You tell me, what did we come up with, Lupe?”
“I don’t know, señora,” said Lupe, surprised that her mother-in-love would even ask her.
“Oh, yes, you do,” said the old woman, closing her eyes as she continued speaking with a cadence of calm, deliberate concentration. “You are married, you have given Birth, so now all you have to do is . . . Breathe in of God, and All the Knowledge of the Ages will come Birthing into you!”
Saying this, Doña Margarita herself Breathed in deeply of Papito, too. “Now, tell me, querida, what did we come up with? Go on, speak. You Know.”
Tears came to Lupe’s eyes. “You came up with Love, señora, that we must Love each other with all of our Hearts and Souls as One Familia! That no one is better than anyone else! That we are all the children of God. And God Loves Us All Equally—no matter what!” she added, almost yelling.
“Perfect,” said Doña Margarita, making the sign of the cross over her daughter-in-love. “This is, in fact, the First Understanding that we also came up with to Moses. Now go on, what was our Second Understanding?”
Lupe shook her head. “No more, please, señora.”
“Come on, mi hijita, they all come out so easy once we get past ou
Lupe still didn’t want to go on.
“Come on, mi hijita,” she said, smiling, “dig into yourself. You know. You Know! Every woman does, particularly once she marries, and Births.”
Lupe just shook her head. “You ask too much of me, señora. I have no idea. There are so many problemas in the world of hunger and war and hate, so where do I begin?”
“Okay, and while you’re at it, then add in prejudice and racism—like my poor husband had for nuestra familia. And greed and abuse of women, and the rape of the Mother Earth, and of course, the worship of power and money above all else. Where did all this great big mess come from? Many of us like to think that it started when the Europeans came to our shores.
“But no, mi hijita,” she said, laughing, “we had many of these problemas already here. Lots of our people were already going in the direction of conquering, enslaving, and wanting to build empires, and why ... because, simply—come on, say it, they’d lost their Trust in God.
“Close your eyes, mi hijita,” Doña Margarita added. “It’s no accident that Our Lord Jesus, Himself, chose to go blind for thirteen years so He could open His Heart Eye to See Here in this Tierra Firme. The two eyes of our head are so dominant that they become our distraction. Now. Breathe in of Papito Dios. Go on Breathe, Breathe, and close your eyes, and open wide with Vision from Here, within your Heart.”
Lupe did as she was told. She closed her eyes and Breathed in of the Almighty, and suddenly, in a flash, she was BURSTING! “Señora, all those problemas simply began when people stopped Breathing in of God with every Holy Breath they took!”
The old woman smiled.
“I see it so clearly now that I have my eyes closed,” continued Lupe. “Then losing God, man became frightened, then to hide this fear he began thinking that he was better than the rest of Creation. Why, he actually began to think that he alone was made in god’s image.”
“You got it. Go on, mi hijita!”