Chapter 6
Freya checked the parchment, making sure it was completely dry, then took the spell to the table. She opened the basket with more ritual tools, pulled out what she needed, and set everything else to the side. They could enjoy their tea first, and then she could set up the altar after that.
He probably had more questions for her, and she'd be happy to answer them before tomorrow. Goddess forbid he ask her something in the middle of her incantation.
“What do you have there?” He nodded at the parchment.
“These are the words I will use for my spell tomorrow.” She handed the parchment to him.
After a quick glance, he asked, “How can I assist?”
Freya missed having her grandmother and sister’s help, but they knew what they were doing. Maybe there was something he could do that didn’t require much background knowledge.
“I would like your help with one part if you think you can do it.”
“Anything …”
“If you can hold the pendulum over the map without purposely moving it, I can astral project along the path it shows us.”
“Ah! So, if you’re pointed in the right direction, you can close your eyes and let your consciousness travel to the right place?”
“Yes, not only the right place, but also the right time. I’ve worded the spell to include both. You must stay completely silent, so I can travel in a trance. If you have any questions, ask them now.”
“What are your sister’s and grandmother’s names, just so I can concentrate on them too?”
“Ah, yes, good idea. My sister’s name is Brianna, and my grandmother is Esther.”
“All right. I will not interrupt your concentration further.”
She handed him her amethyst pendulum. “Rest your elbow on the table. Hold the chain at the top, so that the stone’s point just touches the surface of the map. Then lift it a hair, without moving it.”
He did exactly what she asked.
“Now do you see how it moves slightly, even though you’re not doing anything to make it swing one way or another?”
“Yes.”
“That’s perfect. It will find its path. When I ask, hold it like that, as still as you can, and watch what it points to. When I return, we’ll compare notes.”
“What do you mean by ‘return?’
“Oh, my body will be here, but my mind will travel.”
“I’m chuffed to see what happens.”
Freya figured that ‘chuffed’ must mean psyched and chuckled. “So am I.”
I can astral project tonight and, hopefully, I’ll have the information I need to do a full ritual tomorrow.
Freya laid out all of her altar tools, putting a feather in the East along with the incense to mark the section representing air.
She put the matches and a candle in the South for fire, and then holy water in the West for the element of water.
She noticed Devon’s eyebrows rise when he looked at the bottle, clearly marked holy water.
Oh well, she could explain blessed water later, if he was still curious.
In the North, she laid her unpolished gemstones, in their natural form, for earth.
Her pentacle went in the center for spirit.
She placed more candles near the top as she faced the altar. One white and one black, plus a gold and a silver candle, with one blue one and one brown one in the center, on which she carved her sister's and grandmother’s names with her short knife.
Everything was ready, so she stood, pushed her chair in, and told Devon, “I'm going to include you in the circle if that's all right with you."
"Absolutely. I want to be of help."
"Thank you.” She didn't really know how not to include him, if he was going to hold the pendulum over the maps. He needed to be a willing participant.
Speaking of the maps, she laid those out facing him.
She tried to get both the world and the United States maps on the altar, but it was difficult without cutting off a good chunk of the world.
She figured her family probably wasn't in Asia or Australia, so she went ahead and gerrymandered the maps to include all of Europe, Eastern Europe, Africa, plus North and South America.
If they were in Australia or on that side of the world, she probably wouldn't get any results at all. The pendulum might swing in circles.
“Okay, Devon, I'm going to anoint your wrists and mine with protection potion. Please hold out your hands, palms up.” He did, and she touched his wrists with the gray liquid, then her own, and murmured “Goddess, surround us in circles of light that nothing may cross.”
She walked around the table, pointing her wand above her head, which was well over Devon’s since he was seated.
As she walked the circle clockwise, she spoke aloud, "I cast and charge this circle to only include helpful spirits and entities.” On her next pass, she said, “I cast and charge this circle to help me with my ritual’s intentions.
” On her third pass, she called out, “I welcome the Goddess and her God into this ritual. "
Then she sat in her chair and took some deep breaths, holding her palms out to her sides, facing up. When she felt connected to the powers-that-be, she opened her eyes.
“Now hold the pendulum close to the middle of the maps and just touch the tip to the paper until it stops.” Devon did so.
Then she said, “I'm going to recite the spell now.
Please don't move until I finish, and then lift the stone off the maps, just a hair. If it starts to swing in any direction, just let it go, and hopefully, we will see what we need to see.”
Devon didn’t move the pendulum from its spot.
Ready to start the spell, she recited, "To Gods and Goddesses I do pray; guide me to my goal this day; let me see the time and place; where I will find my sister's face." She closed her eyes and quietly concentrated on her intention.
At last, she nodded at the pendulum and said, “You can lift it now.”
They watched it carefully as it began to swing, and she examined Devon’s hand to be sure he wasn't moving it. He wasn't. He stared at it curiously, as if he didn't expect it to move at all.
It swung in the direction of the United States map. Freya was relieved because she couldn't afford a trip around the world. Interestingly enough, it seemed to be reaching for the town in which they sat right now, or close to it.
She quickly pushed the world map to the side.
As they both studied the swing of the pendulum, it progressed a little further to a nearby town.
Okay, a town or two away isn't bad, as long as we’re in the same time period.
However, she had to pursue them even if they had landed in the past. The only way she knew to do that would be to astral project and allow the spell to take her anywhere and at any time.
She went into a trance and concentrated on her sister’s face. Wherever Brianna was, her grandmother would also be. She knew her sister would never ever desert her grandmother.
So, she closed her eyes and focused on her sister.
She pictured her face and body in exact detail, breathing deeply and holding her palms toward the ceiling again.
She felt her soul lift out of her physical body and travel up through the roof, then move quickly in the direction the pendulum had indicated, and over to the nearby town of Ipswich.
Freya kept her sister’s picture in mind as she flew over the streets and noticed buildings disappear, roads become narrower, and pavement turn to dirt.
She must’ve been traveling back in time as well as a short distance.
Structures looked older and further apart, with farms in the distance.
At last, she came upon a white wooden building with a stone foundation, a wooden step up to the front door and a sign over it. The sign proclaimed Ipswich Gaol.
She landed gently and studied the sign again. Crap, that’s how the early English settlers spelled jail!
Walking around the perimeter of the building, she saw no low windows where she could peek in. Her active imagination was running away with her to the possible dungeon beneath. How would she find her sister and grandmother? She hoped they weren't confined in a cell.
There was only one way to find out. And that was to walk through the walls in her astral form and see what she would see.
She passed through the stone and wood of the wall in front of her and descended into a dark, depressing place.
The sound of dripping water met her ears.
As her vision adjusted to the lack of light, she noticed two long sets of bars and a corridor between them.
Then she heard the squeak of a rat, as it sensed her presence.
Oh, dear Goddess, please don't let my sister and grandmother be incarcerated in this place.
She walked further in and realized there were women there; some leaning against the bars and some lying in the straw.
Freya didn’t check the faces closely. All their clothing seems to be from the Puritan era.
They wore white bonnets tied under their chins, although they were no longer white.
Their clothes were gray and wrinkled. White collars were covered in dirt.
It was incredibly sad to see women treated this way.
Now, if she could find two women wearing jeans and sweaters, maybe she'd be in luck, so to speak.
She walked down the long passage with shallow cells on either side.
There were two women huddled together in the middle cell, both dressed in the same seventeenth-century clothing.
Further down, there were a few men in another cell.
Her sister and grandmother must be among the ones she had already passed, so she turned around and walked back to peer at the faces of these women.
There must be a clue as to why she was brought here.
She checked closer and realized that the two she had walked past in the second cell were her grandmother and sister, but they had been dressed in the garments of the time. Her grandmother coughed. She wondered about her health, but at least she had found them—alive!
She tried to get their attention by waving her hands and calling, “Hey!” Her sister looked up.
Brianna felt astral touches. Her grandmother could sometimes communicate with spirits.
Freya was not a spirit, so it was unclear whether or not her grandmother could hear her.
She entered the cell and touched her sister’s shoulder.
Brianna clapped her hand over Freya's. Without Freya's body, she couldn't have touched a solid hand.
Yet, Brianna whispered, “Freya? Is that you? "