Creative Writing by Star Wise

Archangel Michael

The cold night air whipped around thirty year old Aramaya as she huddled in the driver’s seat of the car, parked a few metres away from where Shane sat in the house. Aramaya raised her head and cast a frightened glance toward the darkened house. Her eyes fell upon the rear vision mirror and glanced sight of her small oval shaped face, surrounded by shoulder-length curling brown hair. Her lips were grimly set in a line and her large brown eyes were wider than ever. There was silence from the house but her thoughts strayed to the scene that had taken place earlier.

Eight years ago, Aramaya’s boy-friend of ten years, Shane, had undergone an extreme behavior change. Nine years ago Shane and Aramaya began to live together, after a year of getting to know each other. For the first two years of their relationship, Shane had always been gentle, kind and co-operative towards Aramaya. Suddenly, Shane started to bully and ridicule Aramaya. After her initial shock, Aramaya believed that the change in his personality was due to some kind of stress, but despite her invitations and appeals to Shane to discuss with her what bothered him, he said nothing.

Tonight, Shane had flown into a rage over a bet that he had placed on a race-horse that had lost. Aramaya had been using the internet on her computer, when Shane had stormed into her room and shouted at her that she was always using the internet and never did anything he wanted her to do. Aramaya had calmly looked at Shane and said “that’s not true”. Minutes passed, then Aramaya got up to go to the kitchen. She heard Shane mumbling and returned to her study, to find a blank computer screen. Disbelief welled up in Aramaya’s heart. She stared in confusion at her computer, then realised that Shane had disconnected his internet connection, which her computer was connected to.

After several still moments, Aramaya felt a great annoyance, and she braced herself to confront Shane. Shane was in his study, lounging in his chair and staring vacantly into space.

“Why did you turn the internet off?” Aramaya asked him in a low and even voice.

“Because I can do what I want” Shane leered at her, and menacingly picked up a box next to him and swooped it up into the air, making motions as though he was going to throw it at her. Aramaya gave a gasp and hurried away. She returned to her room and looked about in distress. Thoughts turmoiled in her head. When was this going to end? Why was this happening? For eight years now, she had given unconditional love to Shane, and tried to draw his deepest worries from him, but now she was frightened that he was moving past being redeemable. She looked around the house for Shasta, their beautiful, friendly cat, for companionship and solace, but Shasta was nowhere to be found.

Shasta had wandered into their lives six years ago, when Aramaya, depressed and distressed with Shane’s unexplainable behaviour, had been about to end her relationship with Shane. On New Year’s Eve 2000, the last day in 1999, a kitten had appeared at their doorstep. Shane and Aramaya had taken the kitten in and called her Shasta. They both loved Shasta and the cat became a common interest between them, strong enough to keep Shane and Aramaya together. Shane and Aramaya hadn’t wanted a cat when Shasta appeared, but as Shasta looked at Aramaya with a sweet smile of unconditional love, a thought had crossed Aramaya’s mind, that the Divine helps those who help themselves. Aramaya had always been responsible for herself, and she felt that the angels had surely sent Shasta to her and Shane to keep them together.

Sometimes Aramaya fleetingly thought that it seemed that Shane was possessed. For eight years, he certainly had not been the same Shane that she had first met, a man whom was interested in her activities and gave her the emotional support that she needed. In return, Aramaya had un-waveringly given Shane the support that he needed, emotionally and otherwise. Shasta had been the glue that had kept her and Shane together over the eight years.

Horrified and disturbed by what Shane had done, Aramaya took solace the only other way that she knew. In distress, she took her car keys and stepped out-doors, closing the front door behind her. Aramaya headed toward her car and got into the driver’s seat. She thought about driving away into the comforting embrace of the still, friendly and neutral night, but she really did not feel like driving. So she sat there, trying to collect her thoughts. After a few moments, her natural good sense returned. Sometimes, when Shane had un-nerved her and she felt like driving, Aramaya would drive into the night, with no fixed direction in mind. The movement of driving and the peace of the night made her feel that her life was flowing freely and that she was in control of things.

Aramaya observed that Shane was quiet in the house, and thought that he would probably go to bed in a moment. She switched the car onto the accessory setting and turned on the radio. She listened to some soft rock for a few minutes, then flicked through the channels. A soothing and spiritual tone with familiar words caught her attention and Aramaya stopped at that channel. She sang the words silently:

Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah
Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah

My brothers and sisters are all aboard, hallelujah
My brothers and sisters are all aboard, hallelujah

The river is deep and the river is wide, hallelujah
Milk and honey on the other side, hallelujah

Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah
Michael row the boat ashore, hallelujah

Jordan's river is chilly and cold, hallelujah
Chills the body but not the soul, hallelujah

As she listened to the song, Aramaya imagined herself in a row boat with human beings from all around the world, her spiritual brothers and sisters. In her imagination, it was a beautiful fine day and everyone was looking forward to crossing the river and arriving at the land of milk and honey.

The radio commentator’s voice came on and announced “that was Michael, Row the Boat Ashore, an African-American spiritual from the Sea Islands of Georgia. The song was first published in 1867 in a publication called Slave Songs of the United States. The River Jordan is often used as a metaphor for death, and according to Slave Songs of the United States, the "Michael" referred to in the song is the Archangel Michael. Although in Christian tradition, Michael is often considered as a conductor of the souls of the dead, the spirit known as Archangel Michael or Lord Michael is also the master angel assisting and guiding all human beings, and lighting the way for the other angels.”

“Wow, that’s interesting” Aramaya thought, and turned the radio off. A loud miaow sounded next to the car. Aramaya rolled down the window and looked out to see Shasta, a pretty longish furred tortoiseshell and white cat peering up at her.

“Shasta” she cried out in joy. She rolled up the window and got out off the car and locked it, then she and Shasta went to the house. The door was locked. Aramaya did not have the key, because in her haste to leave behind the negative energies that Shane had emitted, she had grabbed the single spare car key. Aramaya looked with dismay at the locked door. She did not want to knock in case Shane had gone to sleep and she disturbed and angered him. Luckily, Shasta seemed eager to go into the house, and threw herself at the screen door, causing a loud banging noise. After a few seconds, the front door swung open, and Shane stood there, frowning. Shane was the same age as Aramaya. He was six inches taller than her, with a stocky build, thick light brown hair and large light brown eyes.

“Shasta wanted to come in” Aramaya explained calmly, then gave a small grin. Shasta ran indoors ahead of her. As he walked away from her, Shane said gruffly “I’m going to bed”. Knowing that Shane would toss and turn and probably pull the sheets and blankets off her, if she also went to bed, Aramaya took a blanket and a pillow from the linen closet and lay down on the couch in the lounge room. Shasta jumped up and curled beside her.

Aramaya dreamt of a magnificent angel with straight, golden hair and blue eyes. The angel had huge sparkling white feathery wings and a long white gown and he hovered in the sky before landing a few metres away from Aramaya.

Aramaya and the angel stood on a grassy wood-land plain, the sun beaming upon sparkling multi-coloured flowers and green blades. Squirrels and rabbits scurried about and a group of deer grazed on the grass. The gurgling of a stream nearby could be heard. The angel put out a hand to Aramaya and said three words, “there is hope.”

The next few nights passed un-eventfully, and Aramaya searched the internet for information about Archangel Michael. She found that angelic beings are beings of light whose missions are to protect, nurture and guide humanity. The Archangels represent the primary feelings or attributes of the Creator or Divine. The attributes are developed in human beings to help them attain mastery over the 3-D illusionary experiences of human beings, as human beings are really Light Beings with a portion of their spirit incarnated into human form.

Earth is the only home in the Universe for such dense beings of free-will, human beings. Archangel Michael or Lord Michael is the Guardian Overlord of all. He offers people the gift of Divine Will or Intention. He encourages people to peel away the illusions of separateness in 3-D and to live their lives in complete love and harmony, which is the will of the Divine. Archangel Michael is said to carry a flaming violet sword and is referred to as the greatest of all angels in writings throughout the world, including Jewish, Christian and Islamic. The sword is the sword of truth which cuts through illusions, and the violet flame transforms negative energies into light.

As she read the information about Archangel Michael, Aramaya could feel a lightening of her spirit. She gave thanks to the angels for leading her to this knowledge. On the fourth day after Aramaya had retreated to her car, she found herself in heavy traffic as she drove home after work. Stopped at a traffic light, Aramaya glanced out of the window. She saw the licence plate of the car on her right just ahead off her. It read “HOPE 444”.

Aramaya’s heart skipped a beat. “Could this be a sign to her from an angel?” she wondered. At home that night, she sat at her computer searching for information using the keywords “444” and “archangel.” As she began her research, loud music issued forth from Shane’s room.

“Oh heck” Aramaya murmured to herself, “can’t he turn his music down?” She waited for a few moments, but the music continued to blare forth, interrupting her reading. Aramaya frowned. She glanced around her, hoping for inspiration. Sometimes when this happened, she would counteract Shane’s music by putting a CD into her player and turning her own music up loudly. That would not help her now. She debated knocking on Shane’s study door and asking him politely to turn his music down, but decided to try to ignore the music and see if he stopped soon.

Aramaya peered at her computer. She found that 444 is a master number in esoteric numerology, and spiritually, it is a sign that the angels are with a person, watching over and guiding that person. She smiled with delight and continued her search. She came across a post on a forum titled “For 44” which caught her eye. A woman wrote about having trouble with her partner changing behaviour suddenly and finding out that he was possessed by a shove-in. Amazingly, a friend of the woman had referred her to a female mystic called Hope. Hope had helped the troubled woman to evict the shove-in.

Aramaya froze. Her eyes widened with shock. Thoughts flew through her mind. There is hope. HOPE 444. Archangel Michael wields the sword of truth. The violet flame transmutes lower energies. Archangel Michael is the conductor of the souls of the dead.

“Could this woman’s story be true?” Aramaya thought. The woman wrote that shove-ins are disincarnate spirits of human beings who died suddenly or violently, and these spirits stayed on Earth, un-able to leave the Earth plane because they were still attached to it. On occasion these trapped spirits will shove into the body or vessel of a person with similar characteristics and lives to them, in order to stay physically connected to Earth.

Aramaya let her thoughts be torn away as she focused on Shane’s music. For once, she was glad of the strident tones grounding her to Earth and making her feel alive. Suddenly, as if some dark force knew that she felt comforted by the music, the music stopped. An eerie silence washed over Aramaya. Her eyes turned back to her computer. She looked at the post again and found that the woman had posted a contact address for Hope. Aramaya noted that the address was in another State. Her door flew open, and Aramaya gave a gasp of fright.

Shane stood there, looking calm and content. “Let’s cook dinner now” Shane said, smiling at her. Aramaya smiled back and nodded slightly, and Shane hurried away. Aramaya took a deep breath and book-marked the post. Then she left her room to attend to Shane and the dinner.

Two weeks later Aramaya put pen to paper and wrote a short letter to Hope. She explained her situation and asked for advice. The reply came quickly. Hope wrote that she had felt a powerful frequency of love from Aramaya and that she had scanned Shane, and found him to be possessed by a shove-in. She gave Aramaya her website address and suggested that Aramaya see if Shane’s eyes changed when he became hostile.

From Hope’s website, Aramaya discovered that many shove-ins are spirits that un-wittingly trap themselves on Earth, not letting or allowing themselves to go to the Light, because they are not in control of the trauma of sudden detachment from their physical body. Disincarnate spirits are usually not overly hostile when they shove in to a person, but are confused and fearful. They may time share with the spirit of the person they shove into, or take over completely, resulting in the person’s personality changing entirely.

To her relief, Aramaya read in Hope’s letter, that in Shane’s case, the shove-in spirit was resident part-time. Hope’s information did not entirely shock Aramaya because she believed in the spirit world. However, her thoughts about possession by spirits had been focused upon thoughts of possession by negative entities.

The thought of mildly hostile shove-ins as described by Hope seemed rather fantastic or incredible to Aramaya, at first. Then she mused that it could be possible, but was it likely? Was it real in their case? She thought that if Shane found out about this, he would laugh and be bitingly scornful of her. Hope’s website stated that Hope could evict shove-ins, but the problem was, Aramaya reflected, how to get Shane to co-operate.

One week later Shane was sitting in his study in the evening, and Aramaya hurried into his room to ask him a question. Shane did not reply but he turned to face her and a deep frown was etched across his forehead. Aramaya gazed into his eyes and saw them turn dark. She gasped and ran out of the room.

After that incident, Aramaya did her best to give Shane her full attention whenever he wanted something. Encouraged by Hope, Aramaya tried to affirm the positive characteristics of the true Shane that she knew. Aramaya asked the Angels for a sign that Shane really was possessed by a shove-in, in the form of a feather. For days there was no feather, then one day, she visited the zoo. She left the zoo, and was about to hop into her car, when out of the corner of her eye, she saw a green glinting object sailing through the air toward her. Aramaya put out her hand, and a green feather dropped into her hand. She smiled with delight then realised here was her sign from the Angels!

Life settled into a comfortable routine for Aramaya, with Shane actually being polite toward her. Two months after Hope’s letter, on a bright sunny day, as Shane and Aramaya sat outside in their patio, Aramaya siezed the opportunity to talk to Shane about not being himself. They were talking about Shane giving up his job and studying, so he could concentrate on what he really wanted to do.

The conversation lead to talk about Shane not feeling confident enough to study, and then, with a perplexed look on his face, Shane admitted that he felt he was going mad and something wasn’t right with him.

Aramaya leaned over the table and looked closely at Shane, with a gentle smile. “Perhaps you’re not yourself because actually some other thing, another spirit perhaps, has taken you over?” Aramaya suggested to Shane.

Shane looked thoughtful and replied “I suppose that is possible”, to which Aramaya casually asked “do you want me to help you get rid of the spirit?”

“Yes” came Shane’s reply.

Aramaya’s next letter to Hope asked for Hope’s assistance in removing the shove-in. To Aramaya’s relief, Hope emailed Aramaya to say that she had got in contact with Shane’s Higher Self to ask permission to go ahead with the removal, and Shane’s Higher Self had given permission! Aramaya asked Hope if she had to tell Shane that Hope was going to do the procedure, and set up a time for it with Shane’s consent. Hope’s reply was that such wasn’t necessary, but it would be best if Aramaya was around for the procedure, which would be done remotely. Aramaya was grateful and relieved that she did not need Shane’s permission, and the eviction was scheduled for the following Friday morning.

The Friday came and Shane was still in bed, sleeping off a hang-over. Hope and Aramaya connected online via a messenger service. Aramaya took some deep breaths and visualised white light around her and Shane and surrounding the house. She kept alert for any sounds from the bed-room where Shane slept, unaware of the critical events that were about to un-fold. Hope first connected with the shove-in spirit and retrieved some information, which she relayed to Aramaya. The spirit had belonged to a man called James whom had been led astray and got involved with a cult. He had been a well educated and intelligent person but a bully in his 3-D life. The group he was involved with took over his mind and forced him to commit suicide when he started to protest against some of their ideas.

Aramaya felt deeply disturbed at this story and sorry for James also. She waited while Hope engaged with James’ spirit to help him cross over. Aramaya listened but all was quiet from where Shane slept. A suspenseful half hour passed, while Aramaya kept focused on the white light surrounding everything, before Hope came back online.

Hope explained that James’ spirit had been confused and reluctant to leave Shane, but Hope had called upon Archangel Michael to help! When James saw the angel holding his sword, he realised that something was up. The Angel said firmly to James “come with me, resistance is futile”. At this, James had then realised he was not attached to his body any longer. He had gone slowly with Lord Michael along the tunnel of light, and transformed into light as he walked. The spirit had been helped to cross over, Hope said, and she would now clean up the residue of thoughts and feelings left behind in Shane’s aura.

Aramaya took a deep breath and relaxed. A wave of happiness swept over her. Eight years of discomfort and distress for both her and Shane were over! Since that evening when she had heard the spiritual song, Archangel Michael had given her signs that her life was at the cross-roads and she could help change it for the better if she followed her heart and believed in herself and the Angels.

Hope came back online and to Aramaya’s delight told her that she had a message from Archangel Michael for her! Archangel Michael had asked Hope to say to Aramaya these words “Your faith in the power of love to prevail is un-shakeable, and to this the Sacred Heart of the Creator responds. “

The vision of Archangel Michael holding out his hand to her flashed into Aramaya’s mind. A single celestial note sounded from nowhere. It was clear as crystal and of a high tone. The tone was a balm to Aramaya, and her eyes closed. Her last thoughts were that the angels had surely sent Shasta to her and Shane, and help was just an angel call away.

A year later, Shane was restored to his usual self and a reverent peace pervaded the household of Shasta, Aramaya and Shane. On that morning one year before, a subdued Shane had peered at Aramaya when she went to him as he lay thoughtfully on the bed. In response to Aramaya’s question “how are you feeling?” Shane had looked puzzledly at Aramaya and responded, “who are you?”

The real Shane had returned and slowly Aramaya and Shane had picked up the pieces. Shane could not remember being a bully toward Aramaya before the shove-in removal, but he was aware that their relationship had been strained for some reason. Aramaya could now devote part of her energy toward herself and had re-energised herself. Shane’s natural exuberance for his pursuits had returned. Although she looked out for it, Aramaya could find no trace of James! The caring, fun and confident Shane she had met ten years ago had been redeemed. These were times of recovery for her, Shasta and Shane!

Hope had kept in touch and said that possession by shove-ins was the “luck of the draw”. Hope wrote that how people, whom had relationships with the possessed person, dealt with that person, was critical to maintaining the person’s well-being. Hope and Aramaya worked out that nine years ago, Shane had been running around an Amusement Arcade centre and run into a wall, and knocked himself unconscious, and James had shoved in.

Hope informed Aramaya that some shove-in relationships ended up woefully. For those people in a relationship or for a possessed person on her or his own, who did not even try to understand what was happening and did not seek help, as Aramaya had done, some of the possessed people had fallen into ruin and some even suicided, while for others, relationships had broken up.

That night Aramaya dreamed she was in a coastal desert. She stood calmly by a small waterhole, looking at the brown-yellow crusted earth and the trees surrounding her, with their leaves faded by the sun. The sky was a deep blue and small streamers of clouds streaked across it like white ribbons. She heard a short shrill cry and looking into the sky, her eyes saw a dark spot approaching her. The image became larger until she could see a large bird with golden-red feathers on its head and neck. It was a Golden Eagle and it slowly made its way toward her, its wings stretching out to seven feet. Aramaya tilted her head up and her eyes met the piercing deep black eye of the eagle as it soared above and past her. Enthralled she watched the magnificent bird, and as it soared away from her, it changed shape and turned and rushed toward her. Everything around her began to shimmer and blur, and startled, Aramaya shrank back.

The desert landscape wavered like a mirage and then Aramaya found herself standing on a beach next to a vast ocean of gently rolling waves and low frothy white-caps. She was wearing a long brown robe with a hood laid back around her shoulders, and around her neck hung a string of silver beads, but as she looked closely at them, she saw that the beads were triangles. Her inspection was disturbed as she sensed a figure materialising before her eyes. An old man appeared. He was dressed in a similar robe with the hood over his face, and he had a necklace of silver triangles also. The man leaned on a light coloured wooden staff. Aramaya smiled. The man threw back his hood to reveal a face which looked very wise and kind. Deep green eyes sparkled and he smiled back at Aramaya. The man suddenly flung out his staff as if it were a whip and proceeded to draw in the sand. Aramaya watched him draw a circle, then draw a larger circle surrounding it, and a third larger circle surrounding the two smaller circles.

“The circle of Life” Aramaya said to the man, but he shook his head and said “No, the number three. The man shimmered and dissolved, and she was left staring at the three circles. She saw something silver and gold glinting in the inner-most circle and picked it up. It was the old man’s necklace, but interleaved amongst the silver triangles was another necklace, made up of gold triangles. She could not prise one necklace from the other, so after a few moments, Aramaya put the double necklace around her neck to join the third necklace. As she did, the sand began to glow red and her eyes widened with surprise. She suddenly awoke from her dream, feeling very energised.

After recording her dream, Aramaya searched for information on 333. She fond that three indicates the tri-une or three-fold nature of things, such as the tri-tone wave nature of sound, with base, resonant and over tones; the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit; and the three spatial dimensions of width, height and depth.

A website on esoteric numerology described the number one as symbolising Unity or the Supreme Creator, and two as symbolising duality or polarity. Ultimately, the Creator is One and expresses itself both as it is in its united pure consciousness and in form, thus from One becomes Two. There is both pure united consciousness shining like the Sun and form or etheric spirit and dense matter. The number three symbolises balance, harmony and time, or Unity Consciousness combined with polarised consciousness. In order to experience itself, the Creator divided into spirit and form or polarised its consciousness, but this polarity or duality which exists in everything known to human-kind, is guided by the Supreme Creator’s essence, which is love.

Aramaya thought back to Archangel Michael’s words “Your faith in the power of love to prevail is un-shakeable, and to this the Sacred Heart of the Creator responds” A light bulb flashed in her being and she said to herself, “I know, Love is the motivation that guides us on our correct paths. Choose only love.” Once the feeling or knowing was felt in her core being or essence, Aramaya felt as though she were of feather weight. The years of hardship fell away from her as if a blanket that had been smothering her had dropped off her. Her heart rejoiced. Aramaya’s essence or true spirit sang to the high tone.

It was Shane’s thirty third birthday three years after the shove-in removal, and Aramaya visited the bookshop to look for a sports book for Shane. Aramaya decided to have a quick look at the spiritual books first. She noticed a woman in a black jacket and skirt standing at the books a few shelves away. A title on a green cover caught Aramaya’s eye and she grabbed the book.

The book’s title was “The Trinity of One” and Aramaya was very surprised to see the author’s name. The book cost $33 and the author was A. Michael. Excited, Aramaya flipped the book over and read “Everything converges and becomes one. We live in circular time or in 3 x 3 x 3 dimensions. What we believe to be the space-time continuum or the 4th dimension is really a space of 27 dimensions, but this is a cube cubed of space and energy which spirals out from the one. If you stay around for long enough, you will notice history repeating itself”.

Out of the corner of her eye, Aramaya noted a woman in a cream outfit walk up to the lady in the black outfit and she heard the woman in black greet her, saying “Janet how lovely to see you.”

Aramaya counted her money while the woman in the cream outfit explained to her friend what she had been doing. The woman finished off by asking her friend, “Now what about you, Maya, have you been well lately?”

Aramaya stiffened in surprise at hearing the name, but before she could think again, she heard Maya’s plaintive reply. “No, I haven’t been doing well lately, actually not for two years now. Bob has been acting very strangely, and I really don’t know what the matter is. I’ve just about had enough Janet, he’s like a man possessed, and I’m truly thinking about leaving him.”

“So if you leave him, he’ll have to help himself then” Janet responded with doubt in her voice.

Aramaya spun around to stare at the women. The woman in the cream jacket said to her “Can we help you with anything, dear?”

Aramaya walked toward the women, holding the book, and smiled.

(C) Celine Lai

Feedback welcome :)