The Breather and the Queen

For many years, I was travelling around Europe, following a shamanic quest, finding old trees and writing the stories they told me. While travelling in North Wales, I arrived in beautiful Snowdonia. I stayed in a small village, and while wandering around, I found a place with a small brook flowing between the rocks. Alongside the streaming water, I saw a beautiful old ash tree (the one on the top photo), radiating a charming energy that captivated my attention. I approached the tree and gave him an offering of blessed water. I touched the tree and dove into a silent zone within me. There I presented myself and asked the tree whether he is willing to tell me a story. The tree replied that he will do so happily. I took out my notebook and started writing. He began with a short lesson teaching the different radiations associated with various types of land, and continued by telling me a magnificent story.

Here are his words:

Introduction

Within areas where the land is green, full of life, and covered by trees and plants - it fills us with blessings, and allows us to soar towards our dreams.

Yellow and sandy land – allows us to face ourselves without masks and with sincerity.

Black land, swamps, or black and gray rocks – allows us to dive into ancient secrets, preserved from olden times.

White land, covered in snow and ice – allows us to dream as big as possible, to dream of a future, possibilities, and opportunities.

Blue land, covered by flowing and moving water – grants us madness and craziness, allowing us to break boundaries and go beyond what seems possible. The Breather and the Queen Our story begins in a place where Mother Earth is green and full of moss, a place of grass, trees, and bushes. There, in the heart of the forest, lived Belmisa.

Belmisa was a lady of the forests, a dame who lived among trees and bushes, an empress of forest and moss.

Nobles do not always live in castles; there are those who live in forests, deserts, and mountains. Belmisa was a lady of the forests, and her full nobility and splendour emanated from the depths of the forest - she wore a graceful dress made of moss and leaves, her body was decorated with amber necklaces and earrings, her nails were garnished with dragonfly wing powder, and her hair, which was shaped by tendrils, was decorated with colourful feathers. She would walk with splendour and grace through paths the forest paved, especially in her majesty's honour.

Everything that is within us is reflected to us from the outside. When we experience within ourselves the complete perfection of a certain being, the reality around us will respond to this and echo what is within us. Therefore, towards Belmisa, who was a queen, reality echoed everything that allowed her to be the queen she is.

As she walked through the forest paths, she would sing - she had a gentle, melodious voice. The grace with which she sang and the beauty she produced from herself melted and opened even the toughest of hearts.

She lacked for nothing - she lived in royal nobility, in return, the forest provided her with everything she needed: cool spring water to drink, sweet berry delicacies, fleshy mushrooms, and delicious roots.

All she did in the forest was to live her absolute nobility, and thanks to her, the forest, with all its inhabitants, grew tall and in splendour, expanding and spreading towards all it could be. The forest celebrated her presence within it and allowed her to be the queen that she is.

Not far from this magnificent forest were swamps, and in the largest swamp lived "the Breather". Her enormous, shiny, and smooth body was mostly underwater, and every few hours she would raise her head above the swamp water, take a deep breath, and dive right back in. Her breaths were so loud, so deep, and lasted for so long that none in the swamps could ignore them. For this reason, she was given the name - the Breather.

Whilst underwater, and slowly blowing out tiny air bubbles, she would gaze into the depths of the swamp - into the secrets, into the unseen; every shadow, mystery, darkness, and murk she gazed at saw itself with kind eyes, and did not feel the need to hide itself from the world, every shadow allowed itself to be exactly what it was.

Thanks to the Breather who saw them with kind eyes, the inhabitants of the swamps lived in peace.

One day, Belmisa decided to go and see the world beyond her realm. She walked to the edge of the forest, towards the last trees that were her home, and began walking towards the swamps.

Her Majesty, who radiated royalty with every step, did not need the forest to be a queen. She was herself even whilst walking through the swamps.

The swamps allowed her royalty; Paths were created for her so that she could walk comfortably, dangerous places were withheld from her, and she did not encounter them at all. Her grace and glory sparkled like the sun on the water's surface, even on the black swamp water.

Suddenly, as she curiously strolled through the swamps, a tremendous and deafening noise of breathing was heard not far from her - this very formidable sound thundered around her for several minutes, then it suddenly stopped. She heard a PLUNGE of a huge body diving into the water, followed by a profound silence.

It took Her Majesty a moment to recover from this commotion, occurring so near her. As soon as she came to herself, she realised she was curious to know who was making such noises in the heart of the swamps. She walked towards the origin of the noise and discovered bubbles rising from the bottom of the swamp water, and around the bubbles, a large space of silence - nothing moved there, except for the bubbles.

Being a queen, and considering she could not find an answer to what was happening there, not a moment passed before an old woman rose from the water, her entire body covered with algae, who could explain…

"Greetings to you", turned to her the queen, "Who might you be?"

"I am a simple old woman who has lived in the swamps for many, many years, and who enjoys the closeness and the presence of the beloved Breather".

"And who is this mighty Breather of whom you speak with affection?"

"Oh," said the old woman, "come and I'll tell you the story of the one who brings us all a blessing by her very presence."

At that moment, a rock covered with fresh green moss rolled towards them, constituting the perfect chair for Her Majesty to sit on and listen to the old woman's story...

"One day, many, many years ago, the blowing winds told me that a powerful and mighty being was making its way towards us. There was a promise, in the wind's words, that whoever came to us would touch our hearts.

The swamps are not a sought-after place. Within the swamp are those who have lost themselves completely and find solace only there, or those for whom the swamp is their place and their complete love. You will not find many who, of their own initiative and free will, would come to the swamps, unless it has always been their place. Thus, there is not much movement in the swamps, and all that is left for us is to enjoy the magic that comes with the silence and darkness of the swamps. Therefore, when the winds said that something new was about to come, we were surprised, and one could even say, with slight anticipation.

Indeed, the next day she arrived. She came because she was pursued and had no choice but to hide in the swamps. She was sore and ragged from the hardships of her journey, and she found here a refuge. Since her massive body is capable of living in water as well as on land, she could exist in the swamps.

She did not try to communicate with us - the inhabitants of the swamps. All she had within her was sorrow and pain for her lost world. The inhabitants of the swamps know how to mind their own business, thus she was given the space and the silence she needed to allow place for her pain and to give time for her grief to dissolve from her - straight into the swamps.

Eventually, when her sorrow ended, she opened her eyes to a new day and knew she had a new life, and that it was time to start living it. She took a deep breath and dived into the swamps. Her eyes can see the depth of the swamps and those who live in it, so she discovered that the swamps hold within them a hideaway for pain, shame, guilt, sense of imperfection, and loss. The swamps provide a haven for everything that dares not reveal itself in the bright light of day, and only in the swamps is it given a place.

She saw this, and compassion was born within her. She has been persecuted and rejected; there were those who wanted to eliminate her and make her disappear from the world because she was different from their norms, and the rules of those who controlled the world at that time. Out of compassion, she made a decision - she will enable the inhabitants of the swamps to be as they are, she will give them a place in the world, she will love them.

From that day on, she devoted herself to the swamps and allowed them to be her home. Since then, she has been looking with loving eyes at those that the world around her wanted to hide, repress, and denounce.

The Breather she was not born in the swamps; her body needed air, so every so often she rose above the water, took a deep breath, and dove back into the space where she could love all those who need it the most. Her breaths are strong and loud, so she was named in the swamps "the Breather".

The old woman finished her story.

The queen, who listened to the story, thanked the old woman and gifted her a jewel inlaid with green amber.

From that day on, Belmisa knew that there was someone who loved with all her heart those who were rejected. When she returned to the forest, she gathered many of the forest inhabitants under an old Willow Tree, and told them about The Breather, who lived in the swamps. She asked them to fully love themselves, even the unfavourable aspects and the things they are trying to hide.

"The day all of us will love the darkness and the shadows within us, The Breather will know that she has finished her work and can move on. Until that day, we will send her gratitudes and offerings from the forest."

Thenceforth, every month while the full moon shone in the sky, a delegation left the forest carrying baskets full of fruits and delicacies, placing them on a rock in the swamps not far from the place where The Breather was.

And each dark moon, Belmisa would enter a quiet nook in the forest, where she would not be disturbed, allowing herself to relax and celebrate every shard of darkness she found within herself.

And that is the end

Explanation of the story

Darkness resides within each of us. We repeatedly try to hide the darkness and erase it from our lives in the hope that it will disappear. Any attempt to free ourselves from the darkness is doomed to fail, since our inner shadows cannot disappear. On the face of Mother Earth, every time the sunlight shines, a shadow is born - shadows are part of reality.

We can, with practice and self-work, control the inner darkness; get to know it and not let it take over our lives. The best way to do so is with love - love our dark parts, observe our inner shadows, embrace them, smile at them, know that just as there are light and beauty within us, the shadows are also a part of us.

In the story, "The breather" is the one who embraces the darkness that resides within the dwellers of the swamps.

Try to remember a moment in your life when pain and gloom took over you. Now imagine that at that very moment, whilst feeling terrible about yourself, a pair of big eyes were there to look at you with love - without judgment, without a need to change, fix, or improve yourself, without the need to heal you - just love you as you are. When someone looks at us with loving eyes, especially during our dark moments, it can fill us with strength to open our eyes to a brand-new day with a smile and believe in ourselves.

According to shamanic wisdom, we know that Mother Earth loves us always, even if we make mistakes, fail, or offend others. Each of us may encounter a time of darkness, and when this occurs, it is recommended to do as Belmisa does in the story, during nights of a dark moon - take the time to stop, and look at your inner darkness with love and compassion, instead of criticism and judgment.

I wish each and every one of you to know that you are truly loved always and forever. A story from an Ash tree in Tynllwyn, Tywyn, Snowdonia, Wales. Translation to English : Ofek Adama and Ria Storyteller If you wish to receive a personal Online Shamanic Guidance - Click the button and contact me.

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