There is a King who knows everything that goes on in the kingdom.
At lunch, the King waits for everyone to leave the room to uncover the platter that the Servant brings him. What is on the platter? Is it something that allows the King to have access to so much knowledge?
One day, the Servant lifts the lid and here's what he sees: a white serpent. Filled with desire, the Servant eats the serpent and finally discovers the mystery. After that, a journey begins... that culminates with the golden apple.
In most stories we find a journey. Traveling represents our inner journey process. We need to stretch the limits of what we know about ourselves if we are to expand our awareness.
This expansion of consciousness is often represented by a treasure: jewels, pearls, a crown... or a tree with golden apples.
The vision
On October 31, 2019, stimulated by a great friend, I went to peek at "the invisible worlds" and had a very strong vision.
A vision is the way I chose to designate what happens to me when I close my eyes and images appear that form a meaning and, at times, a narrative. It is not a trance, as I am fully awake and aware. I can leave at any time.
With my eyes open, I see nothing but stark, hard reality. I don't hear anything that isn't vibrating in the same space where the others are.
It is, therefore, an inner vision, much like a dream. And just like certain dreams, these visions tend to come true.
My visions are adventures in "invisible worlds", are stories where I am guided by intuition.
What was special about this vision was that it was a kind of premonition. Something was revealed to me. And it was such a good thing that I decided to share it.
The vision led me to the golden apples.
The book
One morning in January 2020, I was just having my coffee while looking out at the sea, when I decided to ask my Sacral what I should do at that moment.
According to the Human Design system I work with, the Sacral, or instinct, is my energy center for decision making. I got used to listening to it for important decisions, but it's hard to be always attentive to what it says in my daily routine.
That day, I opened myself to the possibility of letting myself be guided by the Sacral, instead of following my routine.
Suddenly something drew my attention to the office closet and I felt my body naturally moving towards it.
In my childhood, this closet was my first gateway to other worlds. In that closet I discovered Enid Blyton's “The Five” and “The Seven” and many other books that took me on fantastic adventures. It was my grandparents' closet, which ended up being transferred to my mother's house.
That morning, following my Sacral's impulse, I made my way to the closet. I had recently moved from Lisbon to my mother's house in the Algarve, and as it was impossible to keep all my books in my room, I had to spread them around the house. That's how I found myself staring at the complete works of the Brothers Grimm, a three-volume collection published by Temas e Debates.
I grabbed one of the volumes and opened it randomly. I got into the story “The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs” and I couldn't get back out.
When I saw the tree of golden apples in the story, something lit up inside me. I had to write! I had to enter into that story, live it and give it shape. It was a way to find out more about the vision I'd had two months earlier.
I thought I was just writing an article for the blog, but soon I realized I already had 9 stories that inspired me to write 200 pages.
From the myth of Demeter and Persephone, through Snow White and the Golden Bird, ending with Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung... myths and fairy tales have revealed a path that left me in a state of enchantment.
I saw a map emerge, a route to a journey of self-knowledge.
