PREFACE:
What if you could have everything you ever wanted? Would that make you happy? Would that be enough to make you feel fulfilled and living your purpose with passion? Let’s ask the little girl who had everything, shall we?
Once upon a time, in a faraway land there lived a little sprout of a girl. Some called her contrary, others said “that little girls sure got moxie” and yet others thought her too big for her little britches, one that needed to be knocked down a notch or two. Things were never easy for this little sprout of a girl, and she seemed to attract controversy no matter where she went, what she did, or even how she did it!
Why, I see everything…
The wise elders, well, they simply saw her as the one that marched to the beat of her own drum, that did things her own way. But on one thing, they all agreed. She had the most beautiful big green eyes, doe like, the kind that always saw straight through things, right to the very heart of a matter. Direct like, and on target: the kind that saw right through you and sized you up. The kind that made you uncomfortable to hold the gaze for very long, as if they knew everything about you; things you didn’t even yet comprehend about yourself. When asked what she saw, the little girl always responded in the same way: “What do I see? Why I see everything!”
You can be anything you set your mind to…
She went about matters in her own way, and flitted from here to there, never staying too long in one place. She was hugely talented in so many ways; she could draw, sing, dance, write, tell stories, imagine the most magnificent people, places and things into being! It seemed there was nothing this girl couldn’t do, and to all who knew her that everything she tried, she mastered effortlessly. She did well in almost every subject in school and was well liked and respected by teachers and classmates alike. Everyone said: “This little girl can grow up to be anything she likes, to have whatever she wants, whatever her heart desires! She has so many natural gifts and talents. She is so lucky, this little girl!”
However, you cannot be everything…
And then one day, she was asked exactly what she wanted to be when she grew up? A doctor, a lawyer, a musician, a painter or perhaps an engineer? Did she want to be an astronaut and fly to the moon, lay down mason bricks, or create beautiful storybooks? A kindly teacher took her aside one day, and told her: “you must decide, my child – what you want. What do you want to be?” The little girl was almost speechless: “Why what do you mean I must decide? I want to do it all, why everything! Why can’t I be everything that I want to be? The sky is the limit, you’ve said before I can be anything at all that I set my mind to, absolutely anything at all! Why, oh why must I decide?” The wise teacher then gently explained: “Yes, you can be anything at all my child, anything you set your mind to – indeed, however you cannot be everything.”
The little girl with the big green eyes, ran far, far away as fast as she could. She cried and cried, the day she discovered that she couldn’t in fact be everything as she had believed her whole life until now. She could be anything, but not everything! This thought had never occurred to her before and felt so very limiting. This was so unfair! How would she ever decide upon the single thing she wished to be when she grew up? How would she know? What if she was wrong in what she selected, only to find out once it was too late to change? Oh misery! Her mind darted too and fro, so anxious and so worried she fell asleep exhausted and defeated.
And then, a very wise woman appeared…
And just as she was drifting into a deep sleep, a very wise woman appeared to her in a dream. Surrounded by light, with golden hair and sparkly eyes the wise woman asked: “What’s wrong dear one? The little girl amazed by the vision, in awe of the light surrounding the wise woman stuttered: “They, why they say I must choose. That I can be anything but cannot be everything. Oh, what shall I do…. How shall I choose, whatever shall I be?” The wise woman laughed and said: “Oh, but it is true! If you should try to be everything, you will grasp and grab and exhaust yourself attempting to put your energy everywhere at once, and you will find dear one in trying to have everything, that you will instead have nothing to show for your efforts.”
So here is what we shall do…
“You must ask yourself, way deep down inside, what is it that makes your heart sing, what is it that makes you happy, makes you smile in spite of yourself and just sets your soul on fire? Why, everything!” the little girl quickly responded. “Everything, really it does!!!!” Here, the wise woman handed her a pen and a beautiful hand tooled leather journal. “These, these are magic tools” the wise woman said, “When you hold these and close your eyes, and believe that you will receive the answer – why then the pen magically writes only one thing in your journal….. only one, you see the magic really comes from you! So now, close your eyes….. and ask yourself who am I? If an answer doesn’t come right away, just keep asking. And then what do I want?”
And so it was then …
And so it was, then, that the little girl learned the spirit of discernment. She closed her eyes that day and went deep inside to the very center of the stillness, the depths of her soul. And it was here that she so earnestly asked, so very fervently: “Please tell me, who I am, what I want, oh please?” At first her pleas were met with only silence. And then a very still very quiet voice, seemingly from nowhere whispered to her: “Go deeper still, the answers you seek are seeking you.” And it was through this process of self-inquiry, that the little girl who wanted everything, came to understand that she could indeed be anything. Her voice was her tool, and her choice was her power. It was through this process of self-inquiry that she learned the art of discernment, of listening carefully to the murmurs of her heart, and focusing the power of her intention. It was this combination, she knew now, that would be her saving grace. She now knew what she must do.
She awoke to a renewed sense of purpose…
She awoke to a new sense of purpose and passion that next morning. She had really known all along what she must do! The wise woman was gone, yet her magic pen and journal remained. She hurried to write down her new message of hope, and turning to the first page and discovered, like magic, the first entry had already been made. Her heart skipped a beat, as she recognized the words she had known all along:
What if you were to be handed a magic pen and beautiful leather-bound journal.
Imagine opening it…
What Does It Say?
FIRST ASSIGNMENT: Story Statement
Rebekah has been chosen to carry the ways of her people forward into the New World. The Old World will soon disappear; the ways of her people lost forever, unless she successfully navigates alone across the great unknown, the place of the In-Between World to reach the New World before it self-destructs of its own accord. Without the ways of her people, the New World will perish from the earth forever, the new ways unsustainable. From her earliest memory, she had been labeled the “Chosen One” designated and trained to complete this quest alone. She prays to the Great Creator, and from her prayer springs forth her path through the great unknown. She fears not the creatures of the forest, lakes, rivers, meadows, and mountains, they are her friends and helpers. She fears not her journey, she has studied and trained well, and she trusts the path will unfold, her destination becoming clear as the quest continues. Her mantra: Follow Your Heart, Speak Your Truth, Trust Your Intuition it had been written as such when she learned of her destiny. The elders and the wise ones have foretold that she will travel alone, there will be no others. And so it is, Rebekah embarks upon her journey, only to discover that which she does fear. There is another, like her, she learns along the way. In the forest woodland, she discovers the Others. It is a ragtag band comprised of a tall man, with wild hair, and skin the color of moss; a sort of fairy of the forest, a young child, and another, who she learns of as a shapeshifter, and also as her brother. They speak an unknown language, and together are able to communicate by developing a language all their own. She must struggle with the knowledge that the elders, and the wise ones were wrong, they were here, the Others. Either they were wrong, or they did not know, or they knew and kept this from her, the wise ones who set her upon this quest. For the first time, Rebekah knows fear, and begins to question the very premise of her journey. And suddenly she is pursued, by what she does not know, a heavy darkness follows her, gaining ground and coming closer every day. She must face her fears and find the courage and strength within herself to carry on this mission of her people. Will she succeed? Just as she finds renewed purpose, she is once again confronted by the shapeshifter, who she learns is not only her brother, but also her twin. The darkness and the light, two sides of the same coin. She must determine if he is friend or foe, time is running out, she must reach the New World. She is befriended by a creature of the forest, who tells her she can trust the forest fairy man, who she learns to be the teller of the truth, the only truth. He confirms that it is she, Rebekah, who indeed has been ordained the “Chosen One.” With this knowledge comes a warning, she must trust no one else, especially not her twin. For he is also on a quest, a quest of becoming, from the darkness he yearns to live, like Rebekah in the light. He has a prayer to the Great Creator; he recites every morning, he yearns for the light, yet darkness always finds him. She must choose who to trust, in the end she must rely only upon herself. The New World teetering upon the brink of destruction, the Old World set to disappear forever. Rebekah's prayer:
Oh, Great Creator –
Please show me the way. The path forward from here. How may I spread my love and compassion, as seeds sown deep within the fertile soil. My gift of speaking with the spirits, and the creatures with no voice to speak aloud, to heal. I carry this gift into the world, alone and searching. A careful container handed me by those that came before. The wise ones. Show me how to use my gifts for good. This sacred space I dedicate, now as keeper of the gifts of life. That I may create from the imagined forward to the words, symbols of meaning and purveyor of ideas, so rich, so clear the written word not enough. My art will then endure, pregnant with beauty, sweating beads of color, transformed as precious gems and crystals, sparkling, and shining upon the page. The canvas of my dreams, and so it is. Bring color and light to the seeds within my soul, the far reaches not even yet known to me. Lift my art upon your breast, bring forth your brilliance upon these pages, illuminate the yet unseen birthed within my heart of hearts, fed and nurtured with desire to be born, to exist, to express, to be. Tell me who I am, tell me what I want, and what I want to be, to serve, to live, to know the very essence of existence. With grateful heart, I pray. I speak now aloud: The time has come to be fully me, through you, I pray, I AM.
SECOND ASSIGNMENT: Antagonist
In this story, Arturo or Bear Man is the antagonist. He is the long-lost twin brother to the Protagonist, Rebekah. They were separated from one another at birth. Arturo is everything that Rebekah is not, she represents all that is light, and he represents darkness. He was sent to wander in the In-Between world, and legend has it that he devours small children, and if he is able to devour enough small children it will turn his darkness into light, and he will then be allowed to enter the New World. He was banished from the Old World at birth, as soon as it became known that he was a shapeshifter, demonstrated to those that birthed him, and terrifying to those that would have raised him. Instead, he was banished, and forced to live alone, and survive in the great beyond of the In-Between World. He raised himself, and in so doing wanted nothing more than to be good, and decent and loved. His deviant nature precluded him from achieving his goal. He prayed to the Great Creator, to let him know the light, to establish him in the light of his true nature, as he knew he could be. However, his destiny was to the darkness, to destroy all that is light in the world, his mantle to bear. He would give anything to have his prayer answered. And then, the Chosen One came into the In-Between World, his only chance to redeem himself, through her: Rebekah. Arturo's prayer:
THIRD ASSIGNMENT: Breakout Title
JOURNEY DEEP WITHIN (An Odyssey into the World of In-Between)
JOURNEY OF A LIFETIME (One Girl’s Quest to Save the World)
THE JOURNEY (A story of Darkness, Becoming the Light)
FOURTH ASSIGNMENT: Developing Comparables
N. Scott Momaday, House Made of Dawn
N. Scott Momaday, The Ancient Child
M.J. Pettengill, The Crow’s Path
Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Mother Night: Myths, Stories and Teachings for Learning to See in the Dark.
FIFTH ASSIGNMENT: Hook Line (with Conflict & Core Wound)
A young gifted girl, the Chosen One, raised by grandparents, never knowing her own parents or family, must travel into the Great Beyond, and across the Great In-Between alone being stalked by unknown dark forces, to take the old ways of her people to the New World, in time to save it from certain destruction of it's own accord. On this trek she meets her twin brother, a shapeshifter, who was banished to the Great In-Between, and is determined to find a way out of the darkness into the light of the New World even if this means betraying her. She must face the truth of her own origins, and triumph over the darkness to bring light to the New World.
SIXTH ASSIGNMENT: Inner Conflict
SIXTH ASSIGNMENT: Secondary Conflict
FINAL ASSIGNMENT: Detailed Setting
PREFACE: What if you could have everything you ever wanted? Would that make you happy? Would that be enough to make you feel fulfilled and living your purpose with passion? Let’s ask the little girl who had everything, shall we? Once upon a time, in a faraway land there lived a little sprout of a girl. Some called her contrary, others said “that little girls sure got moxie” and yet others thought her too big for her little britches, one that needed to be knocked down a notch or two. Things were never easy for this little sprout of a girl, and she seemed to attract controversy no matter where she went, what she did, or even how she did it! Why, I see everything… The wise elders, well, they simply saw her as the one that marched to the beat of her own drum, that did things her own way. But on one thing, they all agreed. She had the most beautiful big green eyes, doe like, the kind that always saw straight through things, right to the very heart of a matter. Direct like, and on target: the kind that saw right through you and sized you up. The kind that made you uncomfortable to hold the gaze for very long, as if they knew everything about you; things you didn’t even yet comprehend about yourself. When asked what she saw, the little girl always responded in the same way: “What do I see? Why I see everything!” You can be anything you set your mind to… She went about matters in her own way, and flitted from here to there, never staying too long in one place. She was hugely talented in so many ways; she could draw, sing, dance, write, tell stories, imagine the most magnificent people, places and things into being! It seemed there was nothing this girl couldn’t do, and to all who knew her that everything she tried, she mastered effortlessly. She did well in almost every subject in school and was well liked and respected by teachers and classmates alike. Everyone said: “This little girl can grow up to be anything she likes, to have whatever she wants, whatever her heart desires! She has so many natural gifts and talents. She is so lucky, this little girl!” However, you cannot be everything… And then one day, she was asked exactly what she wanted to be when she grew up? A doctor, a lawyer, a musician, a painter or perhaps an engineer? Did she want to be an astronaut and fly to the moon, lay down mason bricks, or create beautiful storybooks? A kindly teacher took her aside one day, and told her: “you must decide, my child – what you want. What do you want to be?” The little girl was almost speechless: “Why what do you mean I must decide? I want to do it all, why everything! Why can’t I be everything that I want to be? The sky is the limit, you’ve said before I can be anything at all that I set my mind to, absolutely anything at all! Why, oh why must I decide?” The wise teacher then gently explained: “Yes, you can be anything at all my child, anything you set your mind to – indeed, however you cannot be everything.” The little girl with the big green eyes, ran far, far away as fast as she could. She cried and cried, the day she discovered that she couldn’t in fact be everything as she had believed her whole life until now. She could be anything, but not everything! This thought had never occurred to her before and felt so very limiting. This was so unfair! How would she ever decide upon the single thing she wished to be when she grew up? How would she know? What if she was wrong in what she selected, only to find out once it was too late to change? Oh misery! Her mind darted too and fro, so anxious and so worried she fell asleep exhausted and defeated. And then, a very wise woman appeared… And just as she was drifting into a deep sleep, a very wise woman appeared to her in a dream. Surrounded by light, with golden hair and sparkly eyes the wise woman asked: “What’s wrong dear one? The little girl amazed by the vision, in awe of the light surrounding the wise woman stuttered: “They, why they say I must choose. That I can be anything but cannot be everything. Oh, what shall I do…. How shall I choose, whatever shall I be?” The wise woman laughed and said: “Oh, but it is true! If you should try to be everything, you will grasp and grab and exhaust yourself attempting to put your energy everywhere at once, and you will find dear one in trying to have everything, that you will instead have nothing to show for your efforts.” So here is what we shall do… “You must ask yourself, way deep down inside, what is it that makes your heart sing, what is it that makes you happy, makes you smile in spite of yourself and just sets your soul on fire? Why, everything!” the little girl quickly responded. “Everything, really it does!!!!” Here, the wise woman handed her a pen and a beautiful hand tooled leather journal. “These, these are magic tools” the wise woman said, “When you hold these and close your eyes, and believe that you will receive the answer – why then the pen magically writes only one thing in your journal….. only one, you see the magic really comes from you! So now, close your eyes….. and ask yourself who am I? If an answer doesn’t come right away, just keep asking. And then what do I want?” And so it was then … And so it was, then, that the little girl learned the spirit of discernment. She closed her eyes that day and went deep inside to the very center of the stillness, the depths of her soul. And it was here that she so earnestly asked, so very fervently: “Please tell me, who I am, what I want, oh please?” At first her pleas were met with only silence. And then a very still very quiet voice, seemingly from nowhere whispered to her: “Go deeper still, the answers you seek are seeking you.” And it was through this process of self-inquiry, that the little girl who wanted everything, came to understand that she could indeed be anything. Her voice was her tool, and her choice was her power. It was through this process of self-inquiry that she learned the art of discernment, of listening carefully to the murmurs of her heart, and focusing the power of her intention. It was this combination, she knew now, that would be her saving grace. She now knew what she must do. She awoke to a renewed sense of purpose… She awoke to a new sense of purpose and passion that next morning. She had really known all along what she must do! The wise woman was gone, yet her magic pen and journal remained. She hurried to write down her new message of hope, and turning to the first page and discovered, like magic, the first entry had already been made. Her heart skipped a beat, as she recognized the words she had known all along: What if you were to be handed a magic pen and beautiful leather-bound journal. Imagine opening it… What Does It Say? FIRST ASSIGNMENT: Story Statement Rebekah has been chosen to carry the ways of her people forward into the New World. The Old World will soon disappear; the ways of her people lost forever, unless she successfully navigates alone across the great unknown, the place of the In-Between World to reach the New World before it self-destructs of its own accord. Without the ways of her people, the New World will perish from the earth forever, the new ways unsustainable. From her earliest memory, she had been labeled the “Chosen One” designated and trained to complete this quest alone. She prays to the Great Creator, and from her prayer springs forth her path through the great unknown. She fears not the creatures of the forest, lakes, rivers, meadows, and mountains, they are her friends and helpers. She fears not her journey, she has studied and trained well, and she trusts the path will unfold, her destination becoming clear as the quest continues. Her mantra: Follow Your Heart, Speak Your Truth, Trust Your Intuition it had been written as such when she learned of her destiny. The elders and the wise ones have foretold that she will travel alone, there will be no others. And so it is, Rebekah embarks upon her journey, only to discover that which she does fear. There is another, like her, she learns along the way. In the forest woodland, she discovers the Others. It is a ragtag band comprised of a tall man, with wild hair, and skin the color of moss; a sort of fairy of the forest, a young child, and another, who she learns of as a shapeshifter, and also as her brother. They speak an unknown language, and together are able to communicate by developing a language all their own. She must struggle with the knowledge that the elders, and the wise ones were wrong, they were here, the Others. Either they were wrong, or they did not know, or they knew and kept this from her, the wise ones who set her upon this quest. For the first time, Rebekah knows fear, and begins to question the very premise of her journey. And suddenly she is pursued, by what she does not know, a heavy darkness follows her, gaining ground and coming closer every day. She must face her fears and find the courage and strength within herself to carry on this mission of her people. Will she succeed? Just as she finds renewed purpose, she is once again confronted by the shapeshifter, who she learns is not only her brother, but also her twin. The darkness and the light, two sides of the same coin. She must determine if he is friend or foe, time is running out, she must reach the New World. She is befriended by a creature of the forest, who tells her she can trust the forest fairy man, who she learns to be the teller of the truth, the only truth. He confirms that it is she, Rebekah, who indeed has been ordained the “Chosen One.” With this knowledge comes a warning, she must trust no one else, especially not her twin. For he is also on a quest, a quest of becoming, from the darkness he yearns to live, like Rebekah in the light. He has a prayer to the Great Creator; he recites every morning, he yearns for the light, yet darkness always finds him. She must choose who to trust, in the end she must rely only upon herself. The New World teetering upon the brink of destruction, the Old World set to disappear forever. Rebekah's prayer: Oh, Great Creator – Please show me the way. The path forward from here. How may I spread my love and compassion, as seeds sown deep within the fertile soil. My gift of speaking with the spirits, and the creatures with no voice to speak aloud, to heal. I carry this gift into the world, alone and searching. A careful container handed me by those that came before. The wise ones. Show me how to use my gifts for good. This sacred space I dedicate, now as keeper of the gifts of life. That I may create from the imagined forward to the words, symbols of meaning and purveyor of ideas, so rich, so clear the written word not enough. My art will then endure, pregnant with beauty, sweating beads of color, transformed as precious gems and crystals, sparkling, and shining upon the page. The canvas of my dreams, and so it is. Bring color and light to the seeds within my soul, the far reaches not even yet known to me. Lift my art upon your breast, bring forth your brilliance upon these pages, illuminate the yet unseen birthed within my heart of hearts, fed and nurtured with desire to be born, to exist, to express, to be. Tell me who I am, tell me what I want, and what I want to be, to serve, to live, to know the very essence of existence. With grateful heart, I pray. I speak now aloud: The time has come to be fully me, through you, I pray, I AM. SECOND ASSIGNMENT: Antagonist In this story, Arturo or Bear Man is the antagonist. He is the long-lost twin brother to the Protagonist, Rebekah. They were separated from one another at birth. Arturo is everything that Rebekah is not, she represents all that is light, and he represents darkness. He was sent to wander in the In-Between world, and legend has it that he devours small children, and if he is able to devour enough small children it will turn his darkness into light, and he will then be allowed to enter the New World. He was banished from the Old World at birth, as soon as it became known that he was a shapeshifter, demonstrated to those that birthed him, and terrifying to those that would have raised him. Instead, he was banished, and forced to live alone, and survive in the great beyond of the In-Between World. He raised himself, and in so doing wanted nothing more than to be good, and decent and loved. His deviant nature precluded him from achieving his goal. He prayed to the Great Creator, to let him know the light, to establish him in the light of his true nature, as he knew he could be. However, his destiny was to the darkness, to destroy all that is light in the world, his mantle to bear. He would give anything to have his prayer answered. And then, the Chosen One came into the In-Between World, his only chance to redeem himself, through her: Rebekah. Arturo's prayer: THIRD ASSIGNMENT: Breakout Title JOURNEY DEEP WITHIN (An Odyssey into the World of In-Between) JOURNEY OF A LIFETIME (One Girl’s Quest to Save the World) THE JOURNEY (A story of Darkness, Becoming the Light) FOURTH ASSIGNMENT: Developing Comparables N. Scott Momaday, House Made of Dawn N. Scott Momaday, The Ancient Child M.J. Pettengill, The Crow’s Path Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Mother Night: Myths, Stories and Teachings for Learning to See in the Dark. FIFTH ASSIGNMENT: Hook Line (with Conflict & Core Wound) A young gifted girl, the Chosen One, raised by grandparents, never knowing her own parents or family, must travel into the Great Beyond, and across the Great In-Between alone being stalked by unknown dark forces, to take the old ways of her people to the New World, in time to save it from certain destruction of it's own accord. On this trek she meets her twin brother, a shapeshifter, who was banished to the Great In-Between, and is determined to find a way out of the darkness into the light of the New World even if this means betraying her. She must face the truth of her own origins, and triumph over the darkness to bring light to the New World. SIXTH ASSIGNMENT: Inner Conflict SIXTH ASSIGNMENT: Secondary Conflict FINAL ASSIGNMENT: Detailed Setting