MAGIC AT PINEY POINT

MAGIC AT PINEY POINT

            It was August, and Bailey went up to Piney Point with Kelly Ann, her cousin and new best friend.  On a particularly fine day they packed a picnic lunch of bread and cheese and a bottle of Eltinge’s Finest Lemonade.  Then they set off through the woods, looking for a suitable spot to rest and eat.

            They followed a little-used trail that ran up a steep mountain slope. 

            “I’ve never been on this trail before,” said Bailey, “I didn’t even know there was a way up the mountain here.”

            “Then this will be not only a picnic,” responded Kelly, “but an adventure of exploration!”

            So up they went.

            After some time, and many twists and turns, the path opened up into a high meadow.  And there they saw before them a circle of standing stones, some almost as tall as they were!

            “What is this?” exclaimed Bailey.

            Kelly knew about such things. “Clearly it is a sacred stone circle, used for esoteric pagan ceremonies, and occult magical rituals.”

            “But who put it up?  The local Indians didn’t make places like this.”

            “Obviously,” explained Kelly, “it is convincing evidence that Eastern North America was visited and partly settled by ancient seafaring Celts.”

            “Obviously,” agreed Bailey.

            They counted eight stones aligned roughly on the cardinal points, and a single, taller monolith at the center, with a flat stone in front of it.

            “For sacred offerings,” declared Kelly, “or sacrifices!”

            “Could we have our picnic here,” wondered Bailey, “or would that be sacrilegious somehow?”

            “We should definitely see if we can work magic here!” Kelly was excited at the prospect.  “We can worry about lunch later.  Now let’s see, the first thing is to make sure no malevolent spirits recognize us while we’re working the magic.  Hmm, we don’t have any ceremonial robes with us.”  She thought a moment.  “I have it!  We’ll just take our clothes off and work the magic in our underthings!  No bad spirits will recognize us like that!”

            They had their sailor suits off in a jiffy, and began dancing around the circle, making up sacred chants and magic words as they saw fit.

            “Lalalalala!  Ha!  Hee!  Ho! Sis Boom Bah!”

            “Oonyellimon! Buburubu!  Gosh All Hemlock!  And out goes you!”

            The girls danced until they were dizzy.

            “Now,” said Kelly, “for the magic to work, we must make an offering.”  They dug into the picnic basket and poured a cup of lemonade, and cut slices of bread and cheese.  They stood by the central stone and Kelly spoke the words.

            “Blessed be, O Mother Demeter, who gives to us bread from the earth!  Blessed be, O Father Dionysus, who gives to us fruit from the tree! . . . Hmm, who is responsible for cheese?”

            “What about that Egyptian goddess, who has a cow’s head?”

            “Hathor?  Yes!  Blessed be, O Mother Hathor, who gives to us milk from thy sacred udder!”

            Then they both shouted, “Blessed be!”

            With the offering placed neatly on the flat stone, they sat down and had their own sacred meal.  They had to share a cup since the second one was holding the lemonade offering.

            And then, without even finishing their lunch, they both lay back and were asleep at once!

            It was more than an hour later that they both awoke, suddenly, at the same instant, and sat up.

            “Oh!” gasped Bailey, “We must have fallen asleep.”

            “Or been overcome by some kind of spell.”  Kelly liked that idea.

            “I had the most beautiful dream!” mused Bailey, “I was . . . It was . . . I can’t remember a thing, but it was so beautiful!  I feel wonderful!”

            “I must have had the same dream,” said Kelly, “since I have the same wonderful feeling!  This must be the magic we made!”

            “Look!” cried Bailey, pointing at the flat stone they had left the offering on.  It was bare, not a crumb was to be seen.  The cup that had held the lemonade was empty, and turned upside down!

            “Our offering was accepted!”  Kelly was delighted.  “We have worked more powerful magic than I thought!”