Reincarnation, Life After Death Ch. 03

Chapter 3: Hazel's Horoscope

It was against the teachings of the church, heresy, and the proclamation issued by the state, but this being the modern times of 1841, Allison was curious.

"Long live Her Royal Majesty, God bless Queen Victoria," said Allison bowing her head and paying her respects as recompense before entering Hazel's house.

Old, haggardly Hazel, the harmless town witch, welcomed to tease the future with the experiences from the past and that now affect the present. Against her better judgment, Allison paid her few pence to listen and had her fortune told.

Looking deep in the crystal ball and double checking her information with tarot cars before speaking, Hazel stared at Allison with wise, old eyes. Compressing her wrinkled skin in a gleeful smile, Hazel's eyes twinkled with excitement and widened with amazement, as the many mysteries of life that appeared before her made them look young again. She took Allison's hand and caressed it as if buffing out a scratch with her thumb. She turned it palm side up to trace her lifeline with her calloused fingers. When Allison let out a little giggle from the tickle of her hand, Hazel let out a short, uncontrolled giggle, too. If she wasn't such a comical character, she'd be a scary one.

"You are an old soul, my dear," she said gasping for breath, as if each breath would be her last, looking up at her and making eye contact. She spoke in a trembling and feeble, high-pitched voice. "You have had many lives and shall have two more."

With a face full of trepidation, Allison consoled her fears with skepticism. Yet, wanting to believe, she listened with concerted ears and an opened mind.

"Can you tell me about my impending voyage? I've never been out to sea and I'm nervous that..."

Not listening after Allison asked her question, Hazel fell into a trance.

"You won't survive the voyage," she said with a shake and a shudder before lifting her head and losing her smile. She returned to her trance to justify a medium that was full of doom and peril, desperation and death. Now, ready to explain the unexplained, she continued with new found reassurance. "Not to worry, not to worry, you will be okay. You will be alright. You will emerge whole again."

"Okay? What do you mean okay? What do you mean I won't survive the voyage? Am I to die? How? When? By whose hand?"

Now, afraid and ready to believe every word of the witch, encouraging her to speak more, Allison paid all the coins that her purse contained.

Returning Allison her hand, Hazel placed her hands on the crystal ball and looked deeply into the murky smokiness of the crystal before answering her questions.

"I see water all around you," she said looking up and giving Allison a smile. "You are floating free from life and drifting into another world. See? There! That's you."

Allison saw nothing but smoky fog in the crystal.

"Not to worry my dear," said Hazel patting her hand, "not to worry, you're work is not done here, yet. You will return one score and five before the planets; Venus, Jupiter, and Uranus are aligned with the sun. Then, when they come into alignment, you shall die again." She stared across at the frightened young woman.

"I'm going to die, again? What do you mean again? What kind of crazy mumble jumble is this?" said Allison with tears streaming down her face.

"Not to worry, child, not to worry. Two score and ten after the planets align you shall return to your family and be reunited with them for one more time. Finally, at peace, this life shall be your last upon this damned and living hell of a planet your spirit to exist shall cease."

"What about my father, Nathaniel" she said angry and questioning her right to say what she said about her dying and no longer existing after her final reincarnation. "Without me, he's all alone and will have no one to care for him."

Again, as she did before, not allowing her to finish, Hazel fell in a deep trance as soon as Allison asked her question. After what seemed an eternity, she spoke finally.

"You are a family and are as one. Until your work is done, you shall remain together and together you shall be forever."

Saddened by her prophecy, Allison stared at the old witch afraid to ask her next question.

"What about my mother Elizabeth and my twin sister, Melissa?"

Not saying anything after her question, Allison watched and waited as Hazel fell into her trance again. Lifting her head and looking as if she could see them, Hazel smiled.

"They are with you. They have always been with you."

"That's a relief," said Allison.

"You are a family," she said again with her jaw set and with a serious tone to her voice. "You shall remain together and together you shall be forever."

In denial of the horror and fear of being told she will die by drowning, not wanting to believe it to be true; Allison thought before asking her question.

"Are my sister and mother here with me now?"

"The spirit of your sister lives inside you," she said without falling in a trance. "When it is time, she will emerge. The spirit of your mother lives in your father. When it is time, she will emerge."

The excited hope of the prospect of seeing her deceased sister and mother again, prolonged this line of questioning. She needed to know more.

"How will I know when it is time? How will I know?"

"You will know, dear," said Hazel before disappearing in her trance. "You will know."

"Please, tell me. I beg your indulgence. When will they return to me?"

Again, Hazel fell deep into her trance and looking as if death had suddenly come for her, she remained silent. Finally her body heaved and shuddered and while taking in short gasps of air, she spoke without lifting her head, as if some demonic spirit possessed her.

"They will return to you after a time when the air is foul form the spit and bile caused by two thousand times one thousand horseless carriages. They will return to you after a time when the air is thick with the stench of death and the sky darkens from the black ash of burning skin." She raised her voice to correspond to the intensity of her visionary insight. "They will return when man can fly high into the Heavens and safely return without falling and when man can touch the bottom of the ocean and return to land without drowning."

The year was 1841 and Allison had no concept of the Bubonic plague that was about to kill more than two million people or of air travel or under the sea exploration. She looked at her with suffering sadness after being pained by the loss of her sister and mother.

"When," again, she asked.

Unable to change what she saw, Hazel gazed at Allison with an expression of sympathetic helplessness. She spoke with motherly concern.

"They will return when the world has come to World War for the third time. They will return when, on the verge of planetary destruction, it is a time when the human race is confronted with its own demise. Fortunately, it is a time when wiser heads prevail. It is then when a new world order has finally found lasting peace for everyone."

"How long is that? It sounds like a lifetime."

"It is a long time away, but they will return to you because you are family. You are as one," she said in a quivering whisper. "Until your work is done, you shall remain together and together you shall be forever."

Frightened by her words, not understanding anything she said, and eager to take leave of this crazy woman and her disturbing look into her future, Allison collected her things.

"Thank you," she said standing to don her coat.

Hazel awakened from her trace and lifted her head looking as if she had just been awakened from a sound sleep. She pushed the coins that Allison had set out before her back to her.

"I cannot take anything from you. You will need to keep in your possession all that you have in your way back. All things that are good will show you the way for you to prevail over all things that are evil. Peace be with you and may God bless you."