Inner strength — woo-woo stuff

I found an unexpected source of strength yesterday. Literal strength, as in "dead-lift a 100+ lb. television and carry it over uneven ground to the back of the car" strength.

Here's the deal: I finally got my stuff from my ex-wife's place, after trying her patience for far too long. One item of "my stuff" is a 31" television, which two of us sweated blood to carry from her house to our car. ("Our" being me and riverheart, and it's really her car; my car is a semi-running Dodge POS.) The next couple of days we were either moviing and hauling more furniture around, unloading it here at Paradux Hill, or recovering from a bad batch of fish at a local fast-food place at which we shall not dine again.

Anyway, we got the entertainment center where we want it, and by dint of much cursing and lots of sweat I moved the TV down the stairs. One. Step. At. A. Time.

Hooked it up, and lo! it doesn't work. All the gear to which it's attached is working fine; we checked it with riverheart's old set. Dejection.

The next day we called around and located the nearest Authorized Service Center, who could pick up and deliver the set. For an extra $60 on top of whatever it costs to repair it. And they only do this on Saturdays. So I carefully lower the set to the floor, slide it to the door, and realize just how much pain I was already in, both from moving the TV itself and hauling the other big items— the Fridge From Hell, an oak entertainment center, a half-dozen oak bookcases, and so forth.

Here's where the "woo-woo" stuff comes in. Over the past couple of months, we've performed ceremonies by which I've become co-steward of this land, and tied my spirit into the Spirit of the Place. So while I'm standing there looking at the TV, looking at riverheart's car way over there, looking at the TV... I feel a call within me to call on the strength of the land. And I remembered some channeling techniques that I'd read about, long ago.

I began chanting to myself, a whisper at first but soon at full volume: "My body is a mighty oak; my arms are strong as steel. My body is a mighty oak; my arms are strong as steel."

And so it was. I lifted that 100-pound TV, awkward though it was, and carried it with no more effort than you'd carry a pile of pillows. I walked across the ground, chanting all the way, and placed the TV into the car as though you'd settle a delicate vase onto a velvet pillow. I turned to riverheart, spoke the words once again, inhaled deeply, and grounded the energy back to the Land whence it came.

Pure strength. Present for me when I needed it, and even more important, known to be present at need.

To all the Powers that Be: thank you.