Confession of a Ghost. 18. 23. Terebellum

“CONFESSION of a GHOST”
a novel by Alexandra Kryuchkova
in the “PLAYING ANOTHER REALITY” series

23 BEFORE/18 AFTER. HOUSE No. 8

*****TEREBELLUM*****

***
Somewhere in the Universe


I was about to open the door to House No. 8, when a star in a red dress appeared right in front of me, blocking my way.

“Hello, Rukh,” she smiled sadly. “I’m Terebellum.”

“Terra bella in Italian means ‘beautiful land’, doesn’t it?”

“Omega of Sagittarius, a star of the 4th magnitude, in Greek ‘tetrapleyron’, ” the Guardian explained, “a stellar quadrangle on the tail of Sagittarius, but the word was distorted into Latin.”

“So what does Omega of Sagittarius mean?” I asked.

“Wars on Earth,” the Star replied. “I carry the energy of Saturn and Venus. Mars, Jupiter and Pluto serve me. In good locations, it means an exceptional success in politics and religion. One will become a prosperous world leader, however, walking over others’ heads, one’s reputation in history will be tarnished. In negative locations, I cause massacres, disasters, travel accidents, wars, persecution, violence, destruction of all kinds, including self-destruction caused by despair.”

“I have Terebellum at the entrance to the House of Death,” I sighed. “So it’s connected to my death.”

“An indication of a violent death,” stated Saturn, appearing nearby. “This Star is accented in Iraq and Saddam Hussein, respectively. Iraq is a kingdom on Earth, on the territory of which the Tower of Babel was located, although you won’t visit it, despite your passionate desire. Saddam Hussein will become the ruler of Iraq in the 3rd year after your incarnation, then he’ll be executed.”

“Does he already know about his execution?”

“All souls know, but not all remember,” Saturn sighed. “You are as Frog the Traveler, visiting some countries on the eve of wars. As soon as you leave the country, a war breaks out in it. Terebellum will pursue you in every way.”

“Ugh,” I exhaled, looking in horror at the Star in the red dress. “Is red the color of blood?”

“Not only,” the Star replied. “It’s also the color of passion, with which House No. 8 is somehow connected. I have to leave!”

“Well, Rukh,” Saturn patted me on the shoulder, “now open the door.”

“Is there a war?” I stopped for a moment looking at Saturn and then at the Guardian.

“Almost there,” the Guardian smiled.

I squeezed my eyes shut, opened the door and … fell off the cliff into the abyss.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a deep forest at witching midnight. I got up and went towards the Mist. Bare branches of trees jumped out at me, trying to grab and drag me into the unknown. Periodically stumbling over the roots, I heard the ominous music more and more distinctly, my astral body was waving furiously. I ran into another direction, away from the music, trying to get out of the Mist, but a flock of bats flew at me, and I fell, covering my face with my hands, and someone howled somewhere to the right. Footsteps were heard and the ground shook. Some creature, clearly gigantic in size, was inexorably approaching me, and I couldn’t move, and finally it was breathing hoarsely over me,

“Stand up! This is my territory!”

I opened my eyes and… A giant Spider rolled me onto my back with one of its many furry legs.

“No!” I screamed in horror. “Don’t touch me! Go away! You’re just an illusion!”

The Spider laughed ominously and cast a spell that finally paralyzed my willpower. To the right, a wolf with fiery eyes emerged from the Mist. It bowed to the Spider and crouched beside me. Swaying with pleasure on the branches of black trees, the bats whispered,

“What a pretty soul!”

“What a magical passport!”

“We’ll teach her witchcraft!”

“She’ll be our medium!”

The Spider scanned me attentively, turning from side to side with its paws, until it delivered its verdict,

“The granddaughter of a witch and the wife of a sorcerer!”

“So what to do with her?” asked the wolf.

“Take her to her grandma and then to Hell.”

The bats flew down from the trees, picked me up and put me on the wolf’s back, that almost instantly drove me to a hut located on the outskirts of a dense and spooky forest. The wolf let out a long howl. With an eerie creak, the hut turned to us with its door that immediately opened, and a hunched old woman appeared on the threshold, for some reason reminding me of a crow.

“Darling, how long have I been waiting for you!” she whispered and smiled. “Well, come in, don’t be afraid, everything is friendly here!”

The old woman seemed to mean no harm to me at all. I ceased to be afraid, and the spell of the Spider lost its power. Having jumped off the wolf, I climbed the steps and went inside the strange house. The old woman seated me in a chair by the stove and sat down across from me.

“My grandfather was a sorcerer, and finally I see you! Now, when you incarnate, I’ll teach you to see what others can’t, you’ll summon spirits and be able to communicate with the Subtle World. You’ll become a witch. I’ll pass on my secret power to you!”

While I was looking at the strange objects hanging on ropes along the walls, the old woman visualized a fortune-telling table and cards, which she spread out on the table after mixing them diligently.

“You see, I knew it! You are just like me!”

“I don’t want to practice witchcraft,” I said calmly, having suddenly remembered the Guardian who had disappeared.

“Royal blood! Stubborn granddaughter! If you want love, you’ll immediately change your mind, and the whole world will be at your feet! You’ll be able to make deals with the spirits, and they will fulfill your wishes! The Death itself will retreat when you learn to change Time and Space!” the old woman’s voice was too sweet, and she reminded me more and more of a crow, my gaze bumped on a stuffed goat’s head above the front door.

“I’m not going to become a witch.”

The old woman’s face instantly changed from a kind and sweet one into an evil and terrible. She jumped up from the table and attacked me, trying to split my astral body into atoms.

“Sorcerers are required to transfer their power, and you are the only one of my blood who can take it! Agree, honey, or I won’t let you incarnate!”

I didn’t know whether she could have killed me even before incarnation, but I remembered that she was just my illusion.

“Get lost!” I ordered her with the power of my thought, and the old woman immediately turned into a small black crow and flew away through the open window.


***
Library of the Universe


“What if I had gone to Hell? Why the Spider? Wolf? Bats? Hut?” I asked the Guardian, plopping down in a chair in the Reading Hall.

“You’ll definitely look into Hell. You need to familiarize yourself with the mechanism of black magic. Wolves are the children of Saturn, spiders and bats are fears and phobias, servants of Pluto. The hut is the home of Baba Yaga, the incarnated are told scaring tales about her. But you’re lucky,” the Guardian laughed, “to cross paths with Baba Yaga in reality every day for many years!”

“Where have you been? Why did you leave me?”

“I’m always there, you’ve just switched your attention.”

“I haven’t seen the war on Earth!”

“It’s imperceptible, but it has never stopped since the beginning of the existence of mankind. The war for souls between the Forces of Light and Darkness.”

“For the souls of mages?”

“No, in general, for all. Your greatest temptation on Earth is in the Sphere of Magic and Death. However, you made me happy. Firstly, you realize that illusions can be controlled by the power of thought, and you turned out to be stronger than Baba Yaga. Secondly, you didn’t refuse to incarnate.”

“Why did Baba Yaga remind me of a crow?”

“The Black Crow is one of the types of the degree in which your House No. 8 begins. Either you’ll meet such people, or you’ll become one of them yourself. The crow has witchcraft abilities, loves behind-the-scenes games and intrigues, to ‘caw-caw’, spread rumors, gossip. The crow doesn’t disdain anything to achieve personal goals and benefits. An insidious creature, small and inconspicuous, while in reality it’s a coward, although people are afraid of it, bypassing.”

“Does it have to be a woman?” I asked.

“The soul has no division into M and W.”

“I won’t turn into a crow, will I?”

“If you don’t follow the sorcerers.”

“What other types are found in this degree?”

“A pilgrim climbs the steep steps leading to the tomb on the mountain. Good wording from one of the stargazers. Those who follow the path of the Spirit walk alone and reach the mountain top.”

“Through the cemetery, right?”

“Through losses, facing the Death, and how else? Mind you, both the black crow and the pilgrim have magical powers, they can foresee events and influence them. The difference is in their choice of the path, it’s up to you.”

The book opened at the page with the story “Nanny”.

“Who is this about?” I asked the Guardian.

“The main thing, it’s not about you. Even in the worst case scenario, wielding the mechanisms of black magic, you wrote down others’ stories without taking part in them.”

“Encouraging,” I exhaled and read the story about the girl who didn’t believe in magic, but out of sheer curiosity, made a love spell that ended in tragedy.

“Mr. Orlov stood next to his body, lifelessly sprawled out in a black leather armchair, drenched in blood. ‘What’s happened here?’ he muttered. ‘I don’t remember anything… How? Why? What’s the reason?’ Suddenly, Nanny appeared there. She cast a heavy glance at Irina, took Mr. Orlov by the hand and silently led him away… into the Mirror…”


*****CYPRIAN and JUSTINA*****

***
Moscow


That time, Ray emerged from the mirror in the hallway. Mirrors were doors always wide open.

“Ray, I think I understood what I had to do! I wanted to write a book, mentioned in my diary. It seems they showed me a soul incarnating.”

“Write about disincarnating too!” Ray laughed.

“Is that funny? There are 22 days left! I still haven’t solved your charades!”

“Not mine, yours,” Ray clarified and sat down on the windowsill.

“It’s impossible to write!” I exclaimed helplessly.

“Really? There are at least two ways. No, even three!”

“Three?! On a sheet of paper? With ink?”

“Well, write in the Astral, put it in the Library for safekeeping.”

“Who needs it there, Ray? They know to incarnate and disincarnate!”

“Not they, we do! Anyhow, the book is not what you need. And how much you could have done! Alice, I have to prepare for your Judgment, since I’m a speaker today. Are you drawn to something else here? Are we flying apart?”

I glanced at the chest in the far corner.

“Wow! My Certificate of Nobility and the medal of St. Anastasia! Am I a noble? Oh yes! A man, we met in Paris, where I performed, liked my poems. Then I was called to the next Meeting of the Imperial House, and the Grand Duchess Romanova personally presented me with the medal of St. Anastasia for my contribution to culture.”

“What am I to her, she lived in Paris, and the prime minister himself…” Ray sang, altering Vysotsky’s famous song.

“Stop that! It was my grandma who lived in Paris, not me. I spoke not with the French Prime Minister, but with the Minister of Culture!”


***
Ouranoupoli


“Such a scary icon,” Leah whispered. “It makes me feel bad. We put it in the far corner on purpose.”

“Amazingly kind,” I objected, “I even want to hug it. For the first time I see such a bright ‘All-Seeing Eye’.”

“It gives me goosebumps!” Leah exclaimed. “Probably, your soul is pure, because the ‘All-Seeing Eye’ scans through, maybe it wakes up my soul.”

“This icon is used by black magicians in their rituals, Leah.”

“Have you practiced black magic?” Leah recoiled in horror.

“No, but I know. There is also a protective icon ‘Unbreakable Wall’. Usually it’s hung at the entrance or above the door. The Virgin is depicted standing on the wall in Heaven and holding her hands in the Oranta type. The sorcerer puts a person in front of the icon, asks to read or reads spells himself, removing protection from the being bewitched on behalf of the client. Then an agreement with the Forces of Darkness is made, and they send a devil to settle in the being bewitched, it results in a partial or complete substitution of personality. One changes dramatically, the devil acts for the bewitched. Sometimes people don’t remember a piece of their life, since their Self was displaced by an implanted entity.”

“How are they implanted? Through wine?”

“Strong magicians don’t even need wine. The bewitched person must turn off, lose consciousness, more often when intoxicated, but also from pain – slipped, fell, came awake with a devil inside.”

“Wow! Our acquaintance in Georgia! A homemade, kind man! He left his wife for another, and before that he suddenly began to drink, beat his wife and didn’t remember what he was doing. How long does it last?”

“From a year to two, if you don’t renew the contract. It’s a pity everyone forgets that devils require payment.”

“What’s the payment?”

“Energy. Devils are the souls of the Lower Astral, or dead sinners who are drawn to Earth to satisfy their passions. The Devil needs dirty energies and replenishment in the ranks of sinners. In Hell, the devils feel pain because of their earthly addictions, but having received the body, they realize their Wish-list in full. If some devil was an alcoholic during his lifetime, the bewitched person starts drinking too much. Lower energies are released at the moment of violence, murders. The one who asked to bewitch someone will lose the bewitched. For example, a wife bewitched her husband, he woke up once and realized they had different ways. Or he was a teetotaler and started drinking deadly. In this case, she’ll leave him on her own, or he’ll go to Heavens. Today I have been in the mountain monastery in Souroti at St. Anastasia Pharmakolytria.”

“Have the monks recited over you a prayer that removes all witchcraft?! I visited St. Anastasia a few years ago for such prayer!”

“There are now only two monks there. Some Romanians stole her relics for a gypsy baron who practiced black magic. The thieves were found, but the sorcerer and relics were not. But until now, the place where the relics were located is as if electrified, and they bless rings in the casket. Look! The monk offered me to choose any one, and I chose one of the three marked ones, that had been blessed on the relics before the theft. The sign of St. Anastasia is similar to the sign of Saturn, that has restriction rings, and the Saint protects from magic with a protective ring. She is also considered as the Deliverer from Bonds, as if removing the rings of Saturn from the prisoners.”

“In Greece, she is considered the healer and pictured with a jug. However, there are many relics here, but the black sorcerer stole precisely her relics, and it’s to her monastery that people go for the prayer removing magic! By the way, in Thessaloniki they tried to steal the relics of St. Demetrius, but the alarm went off. In Greece, they put two paired icons – St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki from visible Evil and St. George the Victorious from invisible Evil. And also against Evil and Magic, in addition to the ‘All-Seeing Eye’ and ‘Unbreakable Wall’, there are icons with the defeated Devil, such as St. Marina, St. Nikita, Archangel Michael, as well as ‘The Army of the Archangel Michael’.”

“And Saints Cyprian and Justina. A stargazer and sorcerer from Carthage, Cyprian studied in Greece, Egypt and Chaldea, summoned the dead, instilled spirits, bewitched, commanded the elements, personally spoke with Satan, but renounced sorcery and burned black books when Justina wasn’t overcome by the devils he had sent, because she called on Christ. Cyprian was baptized and became a bishop. He and Justina served in different monasteries, but in the end they died as martyrs, beheaded by order of the Emperor Diocletian. Their relics are kept in Italy.”

“Is Diocletian the one who beheaded St. George?”

“Diocletian sentenced to death both, St. George and his own wife, my Saint, Alexandra of Rome. There are several Saints with my name. Alice is Alexandra. Alice was the last queen in Russia. Having been baptized into Orthodoxy, she was called Alexandra.”


***
Tower of Ouranoupoli


“Oh, Joice, another empty day! Imagine, I had to write a book about the incarnation of a soul, and Ray chuckles, ‘Write it now’!”

“Why not?” Joice laughed. “Whisper to someone who writes on mystical topics. Form mental images. Place the prototype in the Library, find the souls of incarnated, and…”

“However, the book is not something I’m supposed to do before the 40th day. And the two-faced Woman didn’t show up on the roof.”

“You’re a ghost!” Joice smiled. “Formulate the intention to appear not in some place, but next to the person you need!”

I concentrated and… ended up in the room where the Woman was standing by the window. I called her, but she didn’t turn around. I went up and touched her hand, but she… She was awake, so she didn’t react to me at all.


***
Library of the Universe


“If you calmly read spells to send someone to the Other World, even if that one is a murderer, you are a murderer … I read Palladius now. The Egyptian Patericon. Impressive. I couldn’t be like them. Before that I’ve read ‘The Mystics and Magicians of Tibet’ by a Frenchwoman who lived for 100 years during the time of Blavatskaya, partly in the monasteries of Tibet. She described the process of materialization of the spirit. First, the monk-student is given the task to retire in a cell and sit in the same position until the spirit appears. The next task is to bow at the feet of the spirit so that the spirit will bless the student. Then you need to take a walk with the spirit around the cell. When it’s done too, the Teacher says that the student is free. If the student timidly remarks that this spirit is just a figment of the imagination, the Teacher makes the student go through the entire cycle from scratch. As a result, the student already firmly declares that the spirit is unreal. This is true knowledge. Everything is an illusion, a dream, ladies and gentlemen.”

“On Red Square, they made a presentation of my ‘Book of Knowledge’, published as ‘The Book of Black and White Magic’. A woman passing by sarcastically asked, ‘Did the author fly here on a broomstick?’ I should have answered, ‘Would you like me to give you a ride?’”

“Everyone can see one’s own Future and much better than all clairvoyants put together. I see what they allow me to. What they don’t, what for? Any cards help to focus attention in order to enter the Flow, they are intermediaries. If you mentally model a chain of events, it will be realized. The main thing is not to press, to voice your inflexible intention and relax. Your wish is fulfilled in 2 cases. 1. The intention is strong (you know it can’t be otherwise), and the action is weak (you do almost nothing). 2. The intention is weak (as if you don’t want the result and don’t think about it), but the action is strong (you do your best). For example, since childhood, I’ve been written to the table, then I hand-made my books with a circulation of 25 copies, and what it ended. If the intention is strong and you go ahead, the force of resistance against the impudent interference of your will with the universal Matrix is turned on.”

“Ray always shows up in my hard time. He is here and he is not. There is no one closer, although he is very far away, he is in me. We are sliding along two parallels, barely touching on some dates. No offense, no other negative emotions. Neither in me nor in him. But if the bridge remains, it should be some reason. Ray is the most mysterious creature I’ve ever met. The person with whom it’s easiest for me to talk and be silent. The strangest story of my life, not completely unraveled. I fear that one day he will disappear forever… The last time he called me by phone at night in August to Athos. I went up to the Dark Tower (the monks had guested in it once), leaned my back against the Tower, looked into the black sky and thought that my ‘Book of Knowledge’ has the ‘Dark Tower’ chapter about Ray. And the phone rang, it was Ray. On Athos, there are miracles at every turn, and you begin to treat them as a reality. ‘You won’t believe it, I’m standing at the Dark Tower on Athos,’ and he said, ‘You need to do what I’ve told you, Alice.’ 100% hit. But how to do it?”

“I found myself there at night. In a black dress (I don’t have one). St. Nicholas and St. Anastasia met me. She pointed to my (her) ring, shook her head, that I shouldn’t have taken it off. I entered a narrow gorge, St. Nicholas followed me repeating, ‘Do not stop, go on.’ The path was narrow. The mountains were high. Suddenly, the mountains on the left broke off into the abyss. It was raining and thundering, and lightning kept hitting me. St. Nicholas behind repeated, ‘Don’t look down, go up.’ The path disappeared, I could only put one foot on the ledge, the mountain was slippery, rounding to the right. The Devil appeared in front of me, and Nicholas said behind me, ‘Go up.’ I could hardly hold on to the ledges, trying not to fall but step higher, the Devil disappeared, and the bats pounced. I pressed my back against the rock, and St. Nicholas repeated, ‘Go up.’ I went around the rock more and more to the right and saw the path appearing again, it looked like a spiral staircase. I ran along it and found myself at the top, in a small round and empty room with several windows in a circle, and bats beating in them. It was raining, the lightning was flashing. There was an open book on the podium. On the left page, it was written ‘The Moon’, and on the right page – ‘The Sun’. I saw two people, the man on the left turns into ashes, the second one on the right was alive. I turned around and saw Ray in a black robe. He said, ‘Jump into ‘The Sun’! ’ Thus, I got out of the Tower.”

“Ray sent me a message: ‘I urgently need your book about Another Reality. And I want to tell you something funny about myself.’ He called me in the evening and demanded to come urgently. ‘Help me, or I’ll torture you when I become a ghost!’ I was ready to hear anything, but … Imagine, you start remembering your life in search of a cause and find the period of it, but in horror you realize to remember nothing of that period at all, your memory is erased. You find someone who can tell what happened then, but the story you are told seems incredible, and if you were not a magician yourself… Don’t use black magic! Sooner or later, it’ll end badly and definitely come to light. Ray folded his hands as if in prayer, bowed to me, ‘Thank you! I’m glad you were on the side of the Forces of Light!’ I’m squeezed like a lemon.”


***
A country house in the Mist


“I felt Death nearby, and a medium said that the cause was in the Past, as if a woman had turned to three sorcerers, so I was not quite myself. I discovered a giant gap in my memory. I remember everything that happened to me until we returned from Venice, after that my memory is empty. During that empty period, I made many mistakes that years later led me to a complete collapse. I don’t understand how I could sign those documents and do what I did being a sorcerer myself. It all looks surreal, but… Tell me the truth, Alice! You were nearby. You are the only person who can help me remember.”

“You suddenly changed drastically. Everyone around felt it. They came to me and asked what had happened. A medium told me who had done it, where and how, and where the evidence of such an act was to be found.”

“Where was it?”

“She described a house in another city, a specific place in it, a notebook with spells, and the wine you had been given to drink.”

I told Ray the details, and he recognized that house, the interior, and even the notebook I described, and then he remembered three wine glasses with chipped edges.

“Do you know, Ray, how the possessed are tested? They put glasses of Holy water in front of the possessed one, as many as they like, and only one glass with ordinary water. The possessed will always choose that one. I took a bottle of the blessed wine from the church and agreed with Marina that she would open it at the exhibition when the partners came to visit us. So she did. You sniffed the wine, grimaced, didn’t take a sip, poured it down the sink and opened a common bottle. Marina was shocked.”

“So Marina knew all that, didn’t she? Can she confirm it?”

“Ten years have passed, however, such fact is hard to be forgotten. Then I took you to the church, but you couldn’t enter it.”

“I’m not Cyprian, Justina,” Ray chuckled.

“It’s your choice. For any strong mage, a stronger one will always be found. Satan won’t think much if someone promises him more than you do.”

“Death is near, Alice. I feel it here. I want you to stay with me. You wrote about me in your books. Is there anything about that?”

I took out a book published several years ago from my bag, found the verse “The prayer of 40 days”, handed it to Ray and went to the attic, where I collapsed on the bed damn tired. Ray sat down nearby.

“Read me the fragments about us.”

“You’ve already read them a hundred times. I’m tired. I really want to sleep!”

“Read…”

Having opened my “Another Reality”, I looked for fragments about us, falling deeper and deeper into each of them, while the Mist was enveloping my Consciousness, and I no longer understood where I was.


***
Courtroom in the Universe


I opened my eyes right at the Scales in front of the screen of the Past.

“Thank you,” Ray said, looking into my eyes, and put his “heart” in the right bowl, but then, out of nowhere, a pleased devil appeared nearby and, grinning maliciously, shrieked, “Ours!”