The light in the dark

The old man pointed me in the direction of a small path which lead up the hill. 

„This is a secret way to the place but I really don’t know why you want to go there. Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.“

I nodded and was grateful that he knows a different way to get there. I wanted to visit this place for such a long time, even when it got so touristic. All these mystical stories that are out there about this old castle and monastery, all this magic that this place seems to hold, even if centuries took its toll on the buildings.

I took my rucksack, thanked the man and walked to the entrance of the path. 

„Be aware of the fairies and gnomes,“ he said with a big smile on his face.

The path was very narrow, framed with bushes, ferns and branches. I went up the steep hill for about half an hour when I had to slow down. There was I little gate that blocked my way.

As I walked towards it, I witnessed a little lock whit a rusty key in it. I turned the key and opened the gate. While it swung open, I could hear a little bell sound. When I went through it, the path got even narrower.

The leaves didn’t let much light through, but suddenly I could see a tiny light at the end of the path.

I walked towards the light and got to the top of the hill. The trees formed a half-circle around a place that was flooded with light and in the middle was a stone circle that matched the circle of the trees. In the middle of the stone circle stood a huge stone, a menhir which had carved signs on one side.

I had to walk further to the outer row of the circle and found myself on the edge of a cliff.

The ocean laid in front of me, a sparkling surface that reflected the sun, waves rolling against the cliff.

I turned around only to see that there was someone at the menhir. An old man leaning on a stick, looking at me. His blue eyes seemed to pierce me. He waved at me, making a sign that I should come to him. I was excited and a bit scared at the same time. 

He pointed to the letters carved on the menhir: „These are very old letters, thousands of years old and they mean:„Go into the dark until the light will awake you. The darkness walks always with you, so does the light. Only the light within can conquer the darkness.“

„Do you know what this place is all about? What’s the meaning of these stones?“ I asked.

„This is a secret place and it only opens up and shows itself to those who are willing to seek, who are willing to journey on less walked paths, who are willing to face the darkness.“

„But what does this mean?“ I asked with a bit of concern, „what has this to do with me, why am I here?“

„You are here because you want to find your soul, because your heart led you here.“

„But I’ve only chosen this way because an old farmer showed me this path,“ I insisted.

„No, I know exactly where you rather wanted to go but what you are looking for isn’t in such places. You went off the big route to the farm instead to find another way.

There’s always another way, help, when you asked for it. Tell me your story, tell me what led you into darkness, tell me what got you really onto this path.“

I hesitated to tell him about my past, the loss of my parents, about me getting a life threatening disease, about being traumatized, but somehow I trusted this stranger and began to tell him my life’s journey. 

While I told him my story, he didn’t say a single word and when I ended it, the sun was setting and painted the ocean into a reddish, golden light. Suddenly the menhir caught the last rays and I saw that the old letters carved in the old menhir were framed with crystals. They reflected the sun rays and turned the whole stone circle in a golden light.

I stood there, deeply moved by this magical moment, tears were running over my face and I felt a sense of belonging, of being seen and held that I had never felt before.

„Now you know why you are here,“ I heard the old man saying and with the last light of the setting sun I knew I was healed and that I would never have to be afraid of the darkness again.