I escaped the clutches of Donovan’s sensual arms just long enough to get inside my car. I sat down and put my seatbelt on. Donovan did a motion with his hand to roll down the window. I sighed and rolled down my window halfway down.
“Can you roll it all the way down?” he asked.
I looked at Donovan in a flirtatious way as if to say, ‘are you up to something?’ I felt safe in my car. So, I rolled it all the way down. Donovan crouched down to get to eye level with me.
“Let’s go out this weekend?” he asked.
“Okay,” I said, without even considering the alternative answer of, ‘I’m busy’ or ‘no.’ “Which night?” I asked.
“How about Saturday?”
“Saturday, it is. I guess I’ll be picking you up.”
“Yeah, is that cool?” he asked. For some reason, I expected him to follow his last comment with a comment like, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll pay for everything,’ but he did not.
What he did do was lean and kiss me gently on my lips. Not a long kiss. It was shorter than the last one, but just as nice.
I looked at Donovan and said, “Goodbye, Mister.”
“Goodbye,” he said.
I rolled my window up before he could go in for another kiss. I didn’t think I could handle kissing this guy one more time, as I might just call off work and spend all day here. But I can’t do that. I would not do that.
I backed up my car and he looked on and gave me a wave with his right hand.
I hit the road and made my way to my job in Whittier. I just took I-5 and I got there in twenty minutes.
I got to work in my six-story building. I was the head of marketing for a local pizza chain in southern California called Manifesto’s. Most of my day was coming up with new ways to market pizza. At first, it was a little bit fun. But now, I wished I was solo...a consultant. Then businesses would come to me, and pay me for a marketing job. That would keep my job fresh and fun. This type of job made me hate the very sight of pizza. I considered asking the powers that be if I could telecommute for a while.
After working a rough eight-hour shift, I was extremely sleepy and couldn’t wait to get home.
I pulled into my driveway and parked in my garage. I could hear my TV playing from the garage. I didn’t remember watching TV and leaving it on. I felt a little bit scared.
I went to my door and it was unlocked. I know for a fact that I had locked it. I opened my door and peeked in my head, making sure that most of my body was outside the door so if I had to bolt to the street, I could.
“Hello?” I called out.
“It’s just me, sweetie!” Paris. Somehow, she’d gotten inside my house without a key. Of course she did. She was a witch.
I stepped inside and Paris had moved my living room furniture all up against the wall.
“What is going on?” I asked.
“We are going to need some space inside so we can start practicing our magic.”
That’s right, Paris was coming over. My life had gotten extremely weird, extremely fast. I could barely keep up. And to think this all had started with me wanting to go on a date on Saturday night with Robert.
Robert...wow. I hadn’t answered him about this weekend. I already made a date for Saturday. I got pretty caught up in Donovan. I needed to remember which guy had the spell on him and which didn’t. Robert really liked me for me. That was a big plus. Donovan just made me sweat and melt and he was rather charming if that was even his real personality.
“We need to have a talk,” I said to Paris. “Could you turn off the TV?”
“Oh, sure, sweetie.” Paris clicked off the TV and looked at me.
“Look, I barely know you,” I said. “We can say we’re cosmic sisters all we like, but the truth of the matter is, I have known you less than a week. We need to set some boundaries. Just because you’re mentoring me, that doesn’t mean you can just walk inside my house when I’m not home.”
Paris looked at me with a distraught look. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I just figured you wouldn’t care, but now I know you do, so I won’t do it again.”
Great. Now I felt bad.
“Look,” I said. “I have had a packed day and I am completely exhausted. I might be a little grouchy.”
“Grouchy? After some morning fun with Donovan, I thought you’d be electrified.”
“There was no morning fun. I mean we had a nice time, but not the kind of time you are insinuating.”
“Uh-huh,” Paris said.
“I’m telling you the truth,” I said.
“So, you went inside his house for what reason?”
“How did you know I went inside his house? I haven’t told you any details about our date. You’re starting to freak me out, Paris.”
“Relax, baby girl. I might have followed you to his house, but that was it. After I saw you go inside, I left it alone. I was just excited for you. Not in a stalker way, but in a big sister way. Please believe me.”
I wanted to believe Paris. Everything she said could happen, but she was a little too much up in my business for my liking. That was where I needed to draw the line.
“Okay, listen,” I said. “I like you, Paris. I’ll be honest. I’m afraid to trust you. So many people have screwed me in my lifetime, it’s hard for me to trust anyone. I need to make a line in the sand right now. You need to not be so up in my business. I don’t know how else to say it...other than that.”
Paris looked at me and gave me a warm, loving smile. “I’m sorry. I got excited and that is the truth. It has been a long time since I’ve wanted to even be friends with a woman. But here you were. I saw a lot of me in you.” Paris paused and it seemed as if she was stopping herself from getting emotional. “I’ll pull back. I’m sorry for getting too involved.”
Man, she was a world-class manipulator when it came to guilt. Or she was just so much more honest than I gave any human credit for. “Look,” I said. “Before we steer too far off the tracks, I have a question for you. I know you put a spell on Donovan. I want to know what kind of love spell it is. Is this guy going to fawn all over me because he will be so in love? I’ll be honest. It feels cheap. Although, he’s sweet and says all the right things, I just don’t feel as confident around him because I’m not sure what is real and what isn’t.”
“Are you going to see him again?” Paris asked.
“Yes, this weekend,” I said, a little bit embarrassed.
“Very nice. Trust me, he’ll be a gentleman.”
“What kind of love spell is he under? There must be a ton of different kinds.”
Paris smiled as if this was a teaching moment for her. “I’ll tell you this,” she said in almost a creepy witch way. “He is under a spell, but I won’t tell you which kind. That is going to be your first assignment. You need to recognize what kind of spell is being used toward you.”
“Really? We’re going to do it like this? With riddles and rhymes?”
“It’s not like that,” Paris said. “Just trust the process.”
“Okay, I’ll trust the process. I’ll give you ninety minutes of my time and then I will need to go to bed and I have to catch up on sleep.”
“All right,” Paris said. She grabbed the book that was on the very top of the pile of books I had stashed in the corner of my living room. “This book is a good starter kit. It will guide you and teach you the basics until you’re ready for more intense magic.”
“Okay,” I said. “Do I need a wand?”
“Yes, you do,” Paris said. “I happened to bring one for you from my personal wand collection. I want you to have this wand. It’s my gift to you.”
Paris went over to a backpack that was on the floor. This was the first time I noticed the backpack was even sitting there. I wondered if she did magic and I didn’t see it.
Anyway, she pulled a pretty pink sparkly wand out from her backpack.
“This is yours,” Paris said. “Remember the power isn’t in the wand. It’s in the ritual.”
 
; “Thank you very much for this gift,” I said. “I have no idea what that you just said, but thank you.”
“Sahara, the wand is an accessory. The true magic comes from our words and our hearts.”
“Is that how you do a spell?” I asked. “With words? And heart?”
“More often than not. Sometimes, you can cast a silent spell with just movement. But your heart is always a part of it.”
Silent movement? Words and heart? There was a lot to learn. “What will we be learning today?” I asked.
“I’m going to teach you a spell that is not in the book. This is my spell. It’s an aura-cleansing spell. This is a spell you can do for yourself as much as is needed to give you positive energy and have life possibilities open up to you.”
“You’re going to teach me an aura spell. Something that I cannot see.”
“You won’t be able to see it. But when magic makes you feel a certain way, that’s when you truly start believing.”
“That’s beautiful,” I said.
“Don’t worry, Sahara. I will be teaching two other spells today, too. I will teach you a basic love spell and a basic money spell. Both should come in handy for you immediately.”
“Okay,” I said. “What do we do first?”
Paris walked over to me and took me by the hand and led me to the middle of the room. “I want you to sit cross-legged on the carpet with me.”
“Okay,” I said. I sat down on my faded white carpet and Paris sat right across from me. She was so close to me that our knees were touching.
“Look at me, Sahara.”
“I am.” I looked across to Paris.
“We all have bad mojo that attaches itself to us throughout the day. It’s just tired spirits trying to bring you down. An aura cleansing is like showering up right before the big game. Our big game is practicing magic. Think of it as stretching out your soul.”
“Okay,” I said.
Paris exhaled really slowly and then said, “I’m going to show you the spell. It’s very simple. It’s very direct. It gets the job done.”
“Okay,” I said again. I was getting a little bit nervous now. I knew she had the ability to do magic and now I had a front-row seat.
Paris began to speak with authority, “Cleanse me. Wash me clean. Bring me peace and show me love.”
Paris held her posture. She was cross-legged with her hands in the air. She wasn’t using her wand.
Then I felt a breeze come through the room. At first, it hit up against the curtains, then it blew past us and then out the window.
“Is that all you have to say?” I asked.
“It doesn’t have to be a Shakespeare sonnet for it to be a spell,” Paris said.
“Very nice. So, are you all cleansed now and could get away with wearing a white dress on your wedding day?”
“It’s not like that, Sahara. And marriage? Gross. What has happened to me is, I have been cleansed of all evil and worthless mojo.”
“Mojo?”
“Spirits.”
“You really believe that?” I asked.
“What’s there not to believe? Everything about this world is staring everyone in the face. Everyone is so worried on proving whose god is greater instead of doing the things that was asked of us by the Creator, which is to feed the poor, tend to the hungry and love thy neighbor—principles that witches live by. It isn’t something that had to be written in a book.”
“Not a cult?” I asked.
“You choose this whole process. If you never want to do anything, you never have to do it. My job is to help you find your way.”
“Why did you choose me?” I asked.
“Like I said, Sahara. You remind me of someone else I knew...very externally. Now it’s your turn to do the spell. Just remember the three simple set of words. ‘Cleanse me. Wash me clean. Bring me peace and show me love.’”
“Hold it?”
“Sit completely still. You are waiting for an answer and when you feel that bit of wind touch your breath, you know you have been cleansed and your aura is squeaky clean.”
I felt silly. But I definitely saw some power moving with Paris’s spell.
I was going to do this. “Cleanse me,” I said. “Wash me clean. Let me be whiter than snow.” As the words came out of my mouth, I felt how important the words were and how if you said something like this out loud that you better be a good person or that was some serious crappy karma.
I held my pose and just allowed my heart to be open. I held it and I held it and I was just about to say something, when I felt the breeze come through the room again. The breeze came right up to my lips and I inhaled the wind and just breathed.
The air was exhilarating. I could feel power in the breeze. Then something remarkable began to happen inside of me. I felt every worry, every concern just melt away in a sea of goodness. I was getting lightheaded but filled with joy.
“I do feel like my aura has been cleansed. Wow.”
“It has, Sahara. Now, you are a vessel that can be even more susceptible to magic. You see, you didn’t know it, but you just passed the biggest test.”
“How so?” I asked.
“Mother Earth blessed you. She came down and breathed on your face. That doesn’t happen to everybody. I’ve seen some strong witches and warlocks in my day that never had that happen to them the first time they threw out a spell.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means my intuition is right. It always is. It means you are going to be a perfect candidate for this kind of work.”
“Cool,” I said. I didn’t know how else to take someone saying I’m a natural at being a witch.
“So, let’s talk about basic spells,” Paris said. “Basic spells include the luck spells, minor love spells, minor money spells, health spells and protection spells.”
“That’s a lot of spells for just a beginner,” I said.
“That’s not even the tip of the iceberg. Every one of the spells that I mentioned has over 500 different kind of specific spells. Don’t get me started on combinations. Once combinations are introduced, then the amount of spells that there could be is practically endless. But today, I’m going to teach you three. You have already learned one, and it appears that you’re a natural.”
“Okay,” I said. “What is the next one?”
“The next one is called a money spell. The spell eliminates all negative energy that is stopping you from having success in regard to money. This spell won’t make you rich. It will just not ever allow you to be poor as long as you use it as a go-to spell when needed. This is also a simple spell that you can do whenever you want some positive financial energy.”
Paris was sitting cross-legged in the middle of my floor. She closed her eyes and said the following spell, “Shelter, food and love. Provide me with all the above. Let me be rewarded for the work I deserve, and let me reward others for what they preserved.” Instead of holding the spell in a frozen pose, she snapped both hands twice into the air, almost as if she was cheering in a crowd.
She opened her eyes and said, “That’s the spell.”
“Wow,” I said. “That didn’t seem like anything.”
“Money isn’t just going to fall out of the sky. Some spells allow life to give you what you deserve and this is one of them. Sometimes it takes time, but it opens up avenues for you for sure. Trust me. I’m a living example of how you can survive on this spell.”
“Okay,” I said. “Could you write this spell on a piece of paper so I can read it and memorize. I’m a better visual learner.” I walked into my kitchen and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen that I had on the counter and came back to the living room and handed them to Paris. She took her time writing each word of the spell as if it had its own special significance. It was very poetic to watch.
Finally, she was done writing and she handed me the paper. “Don’t just read the spell,” Paris said. “Memorize it and really own it.”
“Own it?” br />
“Make it a part of you. If you do this, I promise you that you will see amazing things begin to happen to you in terms of feeling financially secure.”
So I read the spell enough times that I memorized it. When I felt like I owned it, I said the spell out loud. When I was done, I felt a power go through my body as if I would be magnetic toward positive endeavors.
The feeling was intoxicating and liberating. I felt a freedom I had never felt in my lifetime. It was a carefree freedom that feels like everything would always be okay. The worst was behind me.
“What’s the third spell?”
“I’ll write it down for you on the back of this paper. And this is a spell you have to own. Or you can look pretty silly in front of a person that you want to answer one question honestly. But let me warn you. You do not want to abuse this spell. There are things we all just don’t need to know about each other and I learned the hard way. Let’s just say I was dating a Cher impersonator that I had no idea that he was doing that until I asked what he did the following night. So, try to keep it in the moment.”
“Okay,” I said. “Is this a really long one?”
“Nope, one of the shortest spells there is.” Paris wrote more words than I thought she would write on the back of the previous paper I had given her.
She handed me the paper and I looked down at what she wrote. ‘One question, one answer.’ Then she wrote in parentheses: (Followed by a wink with right eye.)
“Seriously. That’s all you have to do?”
“Amazing, isn’t it? It was always there at your fingertips and you never knew it. You know you have never said, ‘One, question, one answer and then winked at the guy with, specifically, your right eye.’”
“No, I can say I have never done that.” That was when it dawned on me that magic had always been around me, I just didn’t know how to control it. But it was there. I always knew it. This thought was very overwhelming and tears burned up in my eyes.
“What is wrong, sweetie?” Paris asked.
“Let’s just say the world is finally opening up to me, just like you said.”
Chapter Eighteen