Who am I?
By: Jay Horne
Tags: Wizards, Nature Writing, Past Lives, Witchcraft, Druidismo

Living in a beach side city doesn’t leave a lot of candidates for temporarily camping in deep natural woods. Of course, there are state parks in the area, but according to Google Maps satellite images, the closest deep wood that might not get me arrested when building a fire, was nearly twenty miles away.

A few nights before the date I planned for the rite, I found myself free from work just after midnight and decided to scout out the potential terrain.

As I had never been on that land before, I was skeptical that it would be friendly to me on my first visit. Boy was I right!

I had the foresight to pack a small offering of apples and honey, in case I found a suitable clearing for my work, but otherwise I was only armed with my cellphone as a flashlight and my diving knife that always stayed in my car.

My Hike | Copyright Bookflurry Inc.

From an overhead view on Google it looked as if a clearing was no more than 3/4 of a mile North of where I had parked on the outskirts of the forest. The entire perimeter of the wood was full thicket, but I decided to try my luck traveling as the bird flies. If I could get past the initial underbrush, I thought it may thin out and become an easier hike. Yet, after 30 minutes of thorns, marshland, and unrelenting brambles I had moved only a small blip on the GPS. It would take many hours at that rate!

Finally, I accepted defeat on that front, and doubled back to skirt around the perimeter of the wood until I got closer to the clearing.

A wide lane had once been forested in order to accommodate power lines. It ran North along the West side of the wood. While it was very overgrown, it seemed most suitable to remain under cover as I made my way closer to the spot.

I hiked through the head-high weeds for half a mile before my little blue dot appeared to be parallel of the supposed clearing on the map. It looked impossible to enter the thicket, but as before, I hoped it would thin out if I kept my resolve.

I estimated that it was about a quarter mile to the clearing.

It was rough going, pushing aside mangrove bushes, navigating cypress roots and vines, and then, when I was no more than 100 yards in, the land turned to marsh and I was wading in water up to my knees.

Frustration began to set in.

I squatted down to rest. Loathe to let my frustration turn me into what my emotion was suggesting, I instead brainstormed on how best to proceed.

Hacking away at the reeds and mangrove with my diving knife would serve no positive end! If Merlyn were here, I could really use being turned into a fox. Then I could toe my way underneath all of this rubbish!

I got down on all fours and became as much a fox as possible. I put my flashlight in the mesh bag and began crawling beneath the mangrove in the mud. Climbing over in some spots, and under in others, I finally felt that I had managed at least five hundred yards, but the way was no easier than it began!

Marshwort | Copyright 2020 Bookflurry Inc.

I stopped from exhaustion and took out the phone to check my location. Just as before, my little dot had hardly moved in the grand scheme of things. I was utterly defeated. And what was worse, I was getting unsure that I would be able to make it back out, as the effort thus far was debilitating.

As I breathed, I wondered if perhaps the forest was trying to tell me something. Why was I fighting so hard and getting nowhere? It had passed two o’clock in the morning and I had no more hope of getting to that clearing than if I had been sitting back in my car.

My frustration finally waned. Either through absolute defeat, or deciding to heed my very own intuition. I looked again at the satellite image and saw if I were to have just followed the path of the power lines I would have eventually made it to a thinner swath of forest.

Now, I was faced with the decision of an hour return struggle, the way I had come, or the risky choice of continuing on in faith. Momentarily, I thought of just lying down and falling asleep till morning right there in the bog!

I stood up as best I could and tried to compose myself. I wouldn’t be defeated! I would just have to listen to the forest.

“Take the path of least resistance,” I told myself.

I decided to turn North and head for what might be sparser forest rather than the clearing I had been so focused on. Then, something miraculous happened.

After not more than twenty feet, I came out on the trail exactly where I had entered! I was utterly confused, as I had been tracking my progress East. But rather than question the stroke of luck, I simply smiled and thanked the Gods for the double fortune of both insight and direction.

I personally vowed not to fight the forest again!

I headed North through the saw grass toward my new goal, determined to follow whatever trail I could until close enough to consider diverting.

After about another quarter mile I spied some large oaks off to my right and remember thinking, “That’s the type of wood I am looking for.”

But, the satellite image suggested that a sparse woodland was just ahead, so I continued on.

When the trail finally turned away from my goal I looked for the friendliest looking area to start out East again.

I climbed a small mound and started my way into a reedy area that quickly became marshland. At least there wasn’t thick mangrove blocking every inch! I checked my satellite again, and it seemed I was headed in the right direction so, I continued on.

Suddenly, in the thickness of the reeds, there came a sawing noise. I stopped and listened. When the reeds stopped swaying the noise ceased. I took another step, and beside me thrashed a huge disturbance.

Chills ran down my arms as I pictured a mountain lion leaping from the grass.

The large animal sent the reeds clamoring. Cat tails nodded away as the beast moved through the six foot grasses to get away from my spying eyes.

“Where there is no imagination, there is no fear,”

I repeated to myself for the better half of five minutes.

It was just calming me down when my next big step fell on unsupported ground. I sunk in the mud up to my waist and swamp poured in around me.

“What am I doing?”

Here I was, again. Fighting the forest. Wasn’t there an easier way?

Then, as if in answer, I saw the big oak trees off to my right. I looked down at the Google Earth image and saw that my little blue dot was right in the center of what should have been a clearing. So much for that!

I glanced back at the old oaks and put my cell phone into the mesh bag for good. For now on, I was following my intuition!

I trudged my way up out of the mud and started parting the reeds toward the oak trees.

I climbed up a small rise from the wetlands and had to push through some eight foot saw grass, but once I was under the welcoming canopy of the oaks, I knew I was on the right track.

The Forest | Copyright 2020 Bookflurry Inc.

Stretching out before me was a wide lane of low growing marshwort, bordered on both sides by ancient oaks. The nature’s road ahead seemed to stretch unending into the dark. I ventured forth.

There were few interruptions along the path. A fallen log or two, home to some interesting mushrooms, a couple of giant spider webs with orb-weavers as big as my hand.

“Where there is no imagination there is no fear,” I said, ducking beneath them.

And then, there it was. The nemeton.

Some thick vines hung from the canopy, nearly dragging the ground before looping back up into the trees. A giant ancient oak stood guardian on the left of the clearing. It was here that I decided to leave my offering of apples and honey.

Image Courtesy of New Forest Centre, NY

I quickly unpacked my Tupperware and emptied its contents at the base of the trunk. Then, I placed a hand on the tree and awoke it to my cause, following the rite outlined in The Lost Books of Merlyn by Douglas Monroe.

It was past 3am when I turned and headed back the way I had come.

I paused only once at the spot I had entered the stand of oaks from the swampland, but quickly reminded myself to follow my intuition. Instead, I continued down the natural lane, and behold! I emerged directly onto the path where I had eyed the giant oaks at first!

If I had only followed the forest’s lead to begin with!

It only took forty minutes to return to my car following my memory and sense of self-direction, a chore that had whittled away four hours relying on an overhead satellite image by Google!

Soaked to the core and exhausted, I headed for home.