old souls

The sky suddenly turned dark, and a strong wind began moving the tree tops. It was obvious that a storm was about to begin. We had been sitting out on the front porch playing and the childrens' eyes suddenly were large from the power of the anticipated storm. The seven year old girl suddenly turned very serious and went into a meditative sitting position and began reciting a mantra accompanied by different mudras (hand positions). The seven year old cousin, who is a bit of a tease, even though he is very smart, kept tickling her and interfering with her intentions. She would leave her serious mode and again become a seven year old giggling and telling him to stop. And again resumed the nearly closed eyes and meditative state. This touch and go between them continued for a few minutes until she decided to stand in the frame of the open window and be more focused. He left the room at this point. I stayed to watch what was happening. I know this child for a few years already and had never seen her act this way before. She looked like a real priestess, and I wondered if this is how the dalai lama behaves when he is a child; being able to move between both worlds.

As her incantations continued and her elegant hand movements flowed flawlessly balanced as if she had been practicing for years these beautiful positions, she suddenly stopped, jumped back onto the bed from the open window frame smiling and stated in a joyous voice "ya!" (which means 'yes!").  She had not noticed me watching her the whole time, and assumed she was alone in the room. But I decided to ask her what she meant. She excitedly announced that it was a success and that the rain will just be small and not a storm as intended.  After this announcement she returned to the open window and crawled outside it onto the stone path situated on the other side of the darkened window pane that allows me to see out but she could not see in. there she continued to perform a series of actions of speaking to her surroundings and swallowing them and as if spitting something out. This continued for another ten minutes or so.

Meanwhile I heard a male voice reciting a mantra from somewhere nearby. I knew the television was off, and there was no one around so I couldn't figure out what I was hearing. I quietly walked in the direction of the chanting and found the seven year old boy out on the front porch in a sitting meditation position being very serious in his recitation. Again, unbeknown to him that I was watching him, as he then rose and walked along the garden path reciting and plucking flower petals from the flower in his hand and throwing them about him also as if in a trance.

When the two of them had finished they continued to play just like before, as if nothing had happened. And the light rainfall fell quietly for an hour and then stopped and the sun came out again. I was stunned by what I had witnessed and tried to make some sense out of it. They have both seen priests performing rituals, but none like what I saw them doing. There are Indonesian television shows that the kids watch that have witches and ghosts and supernatural powers that are usually very exaggerated and melodramatic. But what I saw the two of them doing was serious and had nothing to do with anyone else. They were communicating with nature and god, period.

The following day I mentioned to my friend how his daughter had apparently changed the forceful storm into a light rain. His only comment was that he believes she is an old soul. I too get that feeling around her. She is the only one of the kids that was interested in learning the qigong and tai chi movements I practice daily, and would ask each day if we could please practice now. She also has an uncanny ability to speak to me in Indonesian and no matter what she is telling me, we understand each other. Often times one of the other kids rattles something off to me and I stand there trying to figure out what they just told me, and she will quietly repeat the same words again, and it is suddenly totally understandable to me. What is interesting is that she can also be a silly 7 year old just like the rest of the kids. And she is also another sagittarius in my life…to be added to the abundance of them that play meaningful roles in my life lately.