The Legend of Kesenia Lily

Far away, tucked in a corner of the galaxy, is a secret, safe space where spirits come into being. They sparkle and glow, and all the people on earth think that they are stars in the sky like any other. But these spirit stars are so much more, holding within them everything that will be special about each baby born into the world. Their spirit mother is the moon, and she guides the spirit stars until she chooses their Earth Mother and sends them into their mothers' wombs, into the growing baby, to be born.

Once, there was a spirit star named Lily, who sparkled and shone extra bright. Moon Mother could see that she was an unusual spirit, and would be a gift to all around her. When Moon Mother looked at this spirit star, she felt peace and love, and could see that Lily would soothe sickness and sadness, and work to uphold justice in the world. In fact, Moon Mother loved Lily so, that she decided she would wait as long as possible to send her to Earth, and would keep her as her own special spirit child.

Lily watched one after another spirit star disappear, and each time she would ask Moon Mother to help her find that baby on Earth so she could watch the baby grow into a child. It was thrilling how she could recognize each of her friends even now that they were people. As time passed, Lily started feeling like she might want to be a baby too, but she trusted that Moon Mother would choose the right baby and Earth Mother for her.

Then one day, as Lily watched one of her old friends, Rose, playing with her mother, she noticed that the mother was growing round, but that no spirit star had gone to her yet. Concerned, she watched Rose every day, and pretty soon she had fallen in love with Rose's Earth Mother. She wanted to go to be this baby's spirit, to be this Earth Mother's baby, but she knew that the way of the spirit stars was to follow Moon Mother's decisions. She kindly approached Moon Mother: "Moon Mother, I love you very much, and I know that you will send me to a good family. Look there, how about that Earth Mother? Her baby grows large and ready, and yet you have not sent a spirit star to her yet." Moon Mother answered simply: "My spirit child, I have not chosen a spirit star for this family, nor will I send you."

The Earth Mother had also noticed that although she could feel her baby moving inside her, the baby felt empty to her. As her belly grew larger, and she started to feel her womb preparing to birth the baby, she listened daily for her baby's spirit. She worried about what would happen to her baby if no spirit came, and she spoke aloud, "Please, let my baby be healthy and whole," as she looked up into the moonless sky.

Lily watched that night, as the Earth Mother slept, her belly tightening rhythmically without waking her. "Soon," she murmured, "soon this baby will be born, with no spirit to sustain it on Earth. I love Moon Mother, but I also love this Earth Mother and Rose." Lily made up her mind. On this night, the New Moon, the one night of every month that Moon Mother slept, she would sneak away and become the baby in this Earth Mother's belly.

And so she did, kissing Moon Mother gently as she left. But she arrived on Earth in a new place, and in daylight. It was a room, with a beautiful bed, but not Earth Mother's bed, and Earth Mother was not sleeping in the bed but in a strange pool of water nearby. She was naked and was making sounds that Lily had only heard when watching other star spirit babies be born. "Wait!" she cried. "I'm not there yet!" But of course, no one could hear her, and she didn't know how she was supposed to get into the baby without Moon Mother's help. The baby's head emerged underwater, and she dove quickly into the water, wishing with all her might that it would work.

Earth Mother suddenly felt an electricity and a flash of light, and with a cry of triumph and joy, she pushed with her body and reached with her hands to fold the baby into her arms, onto her chest, and up out of the water. "You're here!" she cried. "You made it!" Lily squalled with all the pleasure of being in her mother's arms, and relief from the effort it had taken to so quickly transition from star spirit to a real baby. Earth Mother felt under the water, between the baby's legs, and exclaimed, "A girl! Oh, my Kesenia. Hello Kes! Kes." Lily heard her baby voice crying, as she tried to say, "Yes, Mama, I am your Kessa Lily."



To my sparkly, loving healer child
Kesenia Lily