Information: Three dots (...) indicate that a part of the text has been omitted.
Chapter 1
The Number Forty in the Bible
The Mysterious Blue Light
The inter-city bus left behind the urban region of Belo Horizonte, the state capital, sped through the outskirts, and headed Northward on the highway towards the far reaches of the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Sitting by a window, young Cristina stared at the passing scenery, recalling events from her past life, especially those that had occurred in the last few weeks. Much uncertainty had preceded this trip, but she had managed to overcome her concerns. However, here in this bus now, heading towards the unknown, the doubts and fears had resurfaced to haunt her.
Do I indeed have a mission to fulfill there? Or are Dad and Aunt Luci right? What if everything is just an imagination, a dream, a mistake of mine? What if I run into problems? Cristina kept asking herself those questions, even though she had promised not to dwell on them ever again.
...
On a Friday evening her boyfriend had gone shopping with some friends. Cristina decided to stay behind, driven by an odd feeling of anguish, the cause of which was unknown to her. She hoped that some light reading might put her mind at ease. No such luck. As she wondered what was going on, she recalled a similar Sunday afternoon long ago; then, she could not have been a day older than seven. On that occasion she had asked herself with whom she would play and what they would do. It had surely sounded like an odd question to ask herself. After all, she had always played with the same girlfriends, who were her age. At the same time she asked herself this question, she felt a quick, sharp burst of anguish throughout her whole body, a sensation she never forgot. Here she was now, alone in the camping lodge, comparing the two occasions. The first time it had been an intensely sharp, quick feeling. Now it was milder, but persistent. She had no explanation for either feeling. She put these thoughts aside, turned off the light, and tried to sleep a bit. Maybe she was just tired. The only sleep she managed to get was through a few intermittent naps, which neither relaxed nor rejuvenated her.
Suddenly the room was flooded by mysterious lights, one of which was blue and about three feet from her face. The other lights were white, moving every which way around the core blue light. Cristina thought her friends must be perpetrating some kind of a practical joke, but she soon realized it was no joke. She grew frightened but heard a female voice say, “Be calm and relax.” The voice came from somewhere in or near the blue light. She now saw that this light bathed her whole body. “We are here to tell you that you are part of a chain of special missionaries. Everyone has a mission, but few have one so special. You are one of those few people.”
Her bewilderment eclipsed her fright. Not knowing what to say, she thought at first that she must be dreaming, that she would soon wake up and everything would be all right. But she had this gut feeling that there was something momentous happening. She figured that she might be in that halfway state between sleep and wakefulness, when it is impossible to arouse oneself by sheer will power. She attempted to wake up but could not; she tried to move her body and realized that it was levitating above her bed. It dawned on her that, if she could not awake, she could attempt instead to dive into a deep sleep, but that did not work either. On the verge of becoming alarmed, she forced herself to relax, at least partially, by reminding herself that all of this might not be true. Deep inside, she began to fear the possibility that she truly had a mission to fulfill. The lights were still there, as if waiting for her conclusions. After a while, unable to make up her mind, she finally managed to gather enough strength to blurt out, “What is going on? What mission is this?”
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“You are not yet prepared to understand this encounter. As for the mission, instructions shall be conveyed to you,” the same voice continued.
She was calmed by the knowledge that her mission would eventu ally be revealed. If there was indeed a mission, she would have enough time to think about what to do. If all of this was just a dream, she would feel entirely relieved upon awakening. But just the thought that the whole thing could be true brought back the fears. After all, the mission would mean that she, so set in her ways, would have to change her life and face the unknown. No harm could come from requesting further information, and she boldly asked, “How will I know?”
“Through your thoughts. If need be, we shall come back.”
This was really weird—to be made aware of a mission through one's thoughts. It seemed at first to make no sense whatsoever, and she actually calmed down, believing the whole thing must be a hoax. But, being curious, she insisted, “My thoughts? How will I know that a thought is a command and not just a thought?"
“You will know, but whether or not to follow that command is up to you. If you do decide to follow it, seven signs will be revealed to you.”
This information again unsettled her. Revelations, signs, seven of them? This specific number made the fears resurface. But she relaxed as she recalled that there was an alternative, and she would only have to follow the commands if she so desired. Nevertheless, this talk of signs made her even more curious. Despite her emotional uncertainty, she asked, “What signals?”
“There is a right time for everything, and your mission involves the evolution and the future of human beings.”
That information relaxed her even more. If her mission merely involved learning about the evolution and the future of human beings, she would not have to change her life. On the other hand, evolution and the future were stimulating topics, whether she was dozing off or awake. She made up her mind to find out precisely what her choices were. “What if I don't take on this mission?” she asked.
“Another human being will do it.”
The lights went off and Cristina just stayed in bed, fully awake. Her doubts continued, but, after a couple of minutes, she was surprisingly calm, without any fears. She turned the light on and got up. Looking around the room, she made sure that everything was in order. In the pretty woods outside all was quiet. She went back into the room and lay down again. She was pretty sure that she had not slept, although what she had seen resembled a dream. It could just have been her imagination playing tricks on her. That had happened often before. Nevertheless, the lights and words had impressed her deeply, especially the part about the special mission. Moreover, her anguish was wholly gone, as if by magic.
When her boyfriend João and his friends got back, the place went suddenly wild. Cristina went to meet them, and, after things quieted down somewhat, she called for their attention and told them what had happened. One of the young people stopped her in her tracks. “You're kidding, aren't you?”
Others joined in, saying, “Maybe you just had a nightmare.”
“Or perhaps a dream.”
“Do you figure you're seeing things?”
“Was this a cavernous voice, coming from the bottom of the Earth?” someone asked, and everybody else laughed.
“Forget it,” Cristina said. “Just forget the whole thing.”
Quite understandably, she was upset at their scornful comments, and so she had no chance to really say what she wanted to.
João and one of the young women called her outside and asked her to tell them what had happened. Despite their tolerant attitude, she decided not to mention the seven signs or the evolution and the future of mankind. They will think I've gone nuts, and maybe I have, she thought.
She did not mention that the voice was a female's.
...
Cristina felt as if she were on the threshold of something unexpected, as if some twilight-zone type of thing was about to happen, something that happens to others but never to one’s self. This gut feeling that some odd thing was knocking on her door, about to change her life, brought back regular waves of fear.
Conflict in the Family
The bus moved along and so did Cristina’s thoughts. Drama had followed that weekend, and for ten days she had been unable to think of anything else. Some special mission? Will I learn things about human beings? Seven signs? Am I going crazy? Is what I’m thinking now a command or merely my own will? Clara was her ever faithful sidekick, but even to her Cristina could not talk about the seven signs or reveal that the voice had been a female's.
...
Amid this whirlwind, an order entered her mind: “Go out into the field, to the Gerais.”
This thought, which lasted forty hours, made Cristina give up her studies and a surefire, brilliant future career. She attempted to avoid the command, to argue against it, to overcome it, but to no avail. The voice just kept hammering away, “Go to the field, to the Gerais.” She could neither sleep nor eat. The sheer exhaustion of this mental exercise made her silently let off steam. What about my freedom of choice? I’m being pressured to take on this damn mission! I don't even know what these gerais are !
After she blew off steam with these exclamations, she felt the onset of complete silence, a calm following the storm. This change convinced her that this was indeed a command from somewhere above or from the very core of her soul. Either way, it couldn’t be ignored. This conclusion, coupled with a hidden desire to set out on some adventure, made her decide immediately to follow the order. Her folks had already been disturbed by her condition, but this latest decision sent them into outright panic.
“Just what are you going to do out there in the gerais? We came from Bocaiúva, where there are gerais, because of you!” said her grieving, puzzled father.
“I have a mission to carry out there.”
“A mission?! What mission? What kind of foolish nonsense is this?” her father insisted.
Young Cristina told them what had happened from Friday (except for the aforementioned secrets) until her recent decision, adding that they and Clara were the first to know in detail what had occurred.
“This is plain crazy, Cristina!” her father kept insisting. “You are not thinking straight. The gerais are almost a desert! What is a girl like you going to do out there?”
So then, it’s nearly a desert, she thought.
This was the first information she had received about the gerais and she kept wondering what it would be like out there. When he saw how pensive she was, her father reckoned that she was changing her mind. “So are you going to forget all this?”
“I don't want to hurt you, understand? But I would go into the desert itself.”
“Will you stay there long?” her anxious mother asked, knowing that it would be just like her daughter to have made a definite decision.
“I don't know, mother. I don't know.”
The argument continued—an anguished mother, a firm daughter, and a rigid father. His reaction was understandable, especially since Cristina was an only child.
“I can’t accept such a thing,” he said. “We came here to Belo Horizonte so that you might have every opportunity to study, to have a good future. You were just a little girl when we came, and now you talk about going back—and into the gerais of all places.” Having said that, he moved away, visibly upset.
The next morning they talked again, at breakfast. Luci, her father's sister, was also there. She had never married; she had no children and felt somewhat possessive of Cristina.
“My child,” her father started, this time in a more gentle tone of voice, “I don't think I need to tell you that neither your mother nor I could sleep last night. We keep hoping that you will give up this crazy idea.”
“I just found out this morning and did not believe it. Is it really true?” her aunt jumped right in.
“I would like it very much,” Cristina started, “if you all wouldn't worry about it. I, too, did a lot of thinking last night. I realized that I was expecting something impossible—that you would understand me. But let’s not fight over it,” she concluded in a pleading voice.
“All night long a question plagued me,” her father said. “ Are you going after your real mother?” He was referring to the fact that she was adopted.
“No way!” she replied rather sharply before resuming her normal tone of voice. “My true mother is the one who raised me.”
“You know how much I love you,” Mom said.
“Right, but I figured you took leave of your common sense,” added her aunt Luci.
“Even you, auntie? Look, I’m not crazy. I know very well what I’m doing.”
“How can you know what you are doing,” Dad replied, “when you yourself say that you don't know exactly what you will do out there?”
“And what about this business of a mission? Right-thinking people don't talk this way,” added her aunt.
“You all may think what you want. I am going anyway.”
“And you will leave all of us here, just like that?!” whined her aunt, nearly in tears.
“I have the right to choose what I do with my life,” Cristina re plied firmly. “Or do you think I can only do what you want me to do?”
“That is another matter,” her father said, as if he were hot under the collar. “We are talking about a crazy decision.”
“Let's put it this way, then: you two think I am crazy and I think I am not. So, I'll go there and time will tell who is right and who is wrong.”
Clearly this was a very painful separation for the small family. It was an age-old problem: a child’s desire to live her own life clashing with a parent’s need to protect. This perennial conflict is the constant source of misunderstanding and pain.
“We can’t let time decide such a serious matter,” her father insisted. “I think you should have a psychiatrist examine you. Mission indeed, what a crazy thing!”
“A psychiatrist? I don't need any headshrinker examining me.”
“For your own good, you should do it,” her aunt, now crying, piped in.
“I want you to have this exam,” her father kept insisting.
“I don't have to, and I won't.”
“Right, you don't have to,” her aunt replied, now adding irritation to her tears. “But if you don't have this exam, is it because you are in doubt yourself.”
“Even if I harbored any doubts, I wouldn't have to do it. I’m not breaking any law or doing harm to anyone, understand?”
“But we can’t just sit idle and wait for time to tell if you are disturbed or not,” argued her father.
“And leave all of us here, suffering and just waiting,” aunt Luci pleaded.
Cristina was used to dealing with her father and his firm attitudes, as well as with her aunt’s game of emotions. She felt a bit guilty whenever her aunt—just as she was doing now—blamed her for some suffering. Sometimes she would concede, sometimes she would not. This was a time to stand firm. “ Look, I’m going out and won't come back until dinner time,” she finally said, ending the argument.
After this altercation, she became more convinced than ever that she should keep quiet about the revelations.
At her undergraduate college, she filled out the proper forms to put her schooling on temporary hold. She told her classmates and friends that she would travel for a while, offering no details. She had lunch with her boyfriend João and her best friend Clara, telling them about the pressure she was under at home.
“I know they will continue to be against it, and that is so awful. I wanted them so much to understand it.”
“It is always like that,” said a comforting Clara. “Practi cally all parents are the same. They think that they know what is best for us.”
“You should understand them,” João suggested. “You are all they have and this must be hard on them, not to mention Luci. They fear the separation.”
“I've thought about that. I need a lot of patience to handle this situation. Just between the three of us, I have decided to go, but, deep inside, I’m a bit afraid, understand? It’s just so weird, going there and leaving everything behind.”
“If you stay there too long, I’m coming to haul you back here,” said João, jokingly.
...
In the late afternoon, she met Clara again and discussed her father's and aunt's suspicions about herself.
“No way you are crazy,” her friend assured her. “This is a rather typical reaction when we do things differently or even think about doing them—it scares the heck out of people. Remember that time I wanted to say the heck with everyone and everything and just go away? Well, I myself thought I might be going crazy,” she concluded in a mocking tone, opening her arms. “Yet here I am now!”
I wonder whether she would have this same reaction if I told her everything, including the part about the seven signs. Despite this lin gering doubt, Cristina felt better after hearing what her friend had to say.
The Number Forty in the Bible
...
The next day, the Catholic parish priest received her in formally and gently. After she spoke, Cristina was asked some questions which led her to believe that the priest already knew what had been going on. Aunt Luci strikes again, she thought.
Her aunt's legendary ability to manipulate people was well-known and well-deserved. She had built a network of influence, based on the twin pillars of her church and her work. She was very active in church affairs, keeping in touch with many people. Her job was a major public service position, which she used masterfully to establish relationships and to get people to owe her favors. She received dinner guests who took positions on both sides of an issue, including the current priest and the priests who had preceded him in the parish.
“So, you have decided to go ahead,” the priest remarked, as soon as she finished telling her side of the story.
“I have indeed. Whether this is true, a dream, or a figment of my imagination, I just have to find out, once and for all, understand? ”
“I think I do. There is nothing more gratifying than a dream come true. Mine was to have a parish like this one and I feel fulfilled in my work. God guides my steps and will guide yours, too.”
“So, you think this is a dream, an aspiration of mine? Don't you think it was a vision, something real?”
“The Church is cautious regarding visions and apparitions. I think your family is right to a certain extent, worrying that your dream is not very clearly defined.”
“That is true. Nevertheless, I have to go, just the same.”
...
At the evening gathering, Cristina saw that her father and aunt looked somewhat relieved, especially the latter, whose eyes seemed to say, “What did I tell you? You need to think more about these things.” Her father mentioned that the priest had felt that she had made an illogical decision.
“An illogical decision?” asked Cristina, in irritation. “What do I care about logic? Logic has been my whole life, with everything scheduled to happen at just the right time. I know how it is going to be one, five, ten years from now! I already felt that my life was too neat and pro grammed. Now that I have reasons to try something altogether different, do you think I’m going to worry about logic? No way!”
Following this emotional outburst, the meeting again became tense. Her uncle joined her father and aunt against her. Her mother and the family friend just listened, but it was this friend who suggested that she see a Protestant pastor.
That didn’t seem to sit particularly well with this Catholic family, but the friend argued that the pastor was a man of much culture and study, well liked by all his parishioners. This initially odd idea was eventually approved of by her and the others. It was, at least, a way out of the deadlocked argument.
Cristina had a long, stimulating and even surprising meeting with the Baptist pastor, a middle-aged, easy-going man, who from the be ginning showed a sincere interest in the case. After she spoke her piece, they covered many subjects, dwelling at some length on the mysteries of Creation and the Universe.
“What is your understanding of ‘mysteries’?” Cristina asked.
“Mystery, in a strict sense, can be some sign of God's plans.”
...
... And the number forty, as I recall, appears several times in the Bible. Didn't the Jews wander in the desert for forty years?” The pastor agreed. “Didn't Jesus Christ fast forty days and forty nights in the desert, before being tempted by the devil?” Again, the pastor agreed. “I am sure there are other quotes with the number 40 in the Bible. There was the Flood in Noah's time. I haven't researched any of that yet. Please don't take this as blasphemy, but just as an exercise of my imagination, understand?”
“In no way,” for emphasis, the pastor straightened up, “do I take this as a blasphemy, rest assured of that. We are just having an open and sincere conversation.” He paused briefly and then continued, “You are right as regards these passages, which I know, but there could be others too, which I don't recall right now. But let's dwell on this a bit.”
“The forty years of wandering in the wilderness was a punishment to the Jewish people, because the majority of them refused to fight for the Promised Land,” he began, touching the little finger of the other hand, as if starting to count. “Each year in the desert corresponded to a day the representatives had stayed in Canaan, spying on the land and its people. They were there forty days and, thus, were doomed to wander forty years in the desert,” this time he touched the wedding-band finger.
“Moses spent forty days and forty nights on Mount Sinai, with no bread to eat and no water to drink, before receiving the Ten Com mandments.” The finger counting went on. “Then, upon seeing that his people had sinned, he broke the stone on which God had written His Law. Moses climbed Mount Sinai again and fastened for another forty days and forty nights, no eating and no drinking whatsoever. He then went on to live one hundred and twenty years, which were actually broken down into three forty -year parts each.”
The pastor kept the finger counting going, now on the left hand, although by now there was a mismatch with the number of times he had mentioned the number forty.
“Aaron, Moses's helper, passed away forty years after the Jews had left Egypt.”
“That is so incredible!” young Cristina remarked.
...
“ Oh, all right! But you do see that the number is oftentimes linked directly or indirectly to Moses. Let's move on, then: Isaac, son of Abraham, was forty years old when he married Rebecca. When Israel died, Jacob, Isaac's son, took to himself the name Israel, after fighting with a heavenly being, did you know that?”
Cristina shook her head.
“He did, indeed, but when he died the doctors took forty days to embalm his body. The children of Israel, known as Israelites, fed from the heavenly manna for forty years, until they reached the Promised Land.”
“This is truly unbelievable!” Cristina exclaimed again. “It surely is food for thought. I've lost count of how many times forty appears.”
“It is not over yet,” replied the pastor, going back to his imaginary finger counting. “The Old Testament also has some other accounts. As you said yourself, it rained for forty days and forty nights during the Flood. There is more: Jonah, after being expelled from the belly of a great fish, wherein he had been swallowed for three days, announced that the city of Nineveh would be destroyed in forty days, although it actually was not, by God's mercy, after its inhabitants repented. And Elijah, after eating three meals, traveled for forty days and forty nights.”
Cristina was flabbergasted. After a short break, the pastor continued, “In addition to the forty-day fast undertaken by Jesus in the desert, which you yourself mentioned, the New Testament registers a second fact: following His resurrection and prior to ascending into heaven, Jesus was seen by His disciples for forty days. Therefore, there are many verses with the number forty in the Bible,” he concluded.
“My goodness, a whole lot more than I thought! It can’t be by sheer accident. It must be a mystery. Do you know what it means?”
...
She left comforted, for the pastor had had thoughts similar to her own. She felt that both were striving to look beyond the fog, and that meant she could trust her thinking. Things did seem to make sense.
At the evening gathering, she saw that her aunt wore a deep frown, a surefire sign that the Protestant pastor had said different things than the Catholic priest.
“The pastor thinks that this trip could do you some good,” her father said.
“But we must take the priest's opinion into account,” her aunt firmly put in her two cents.
Cristina briefly reflected. Poor auntie. I could just pack up my stuff and say, "Good Bye, I am leaving," but I know I couldn't live with myself if I left that way, leaving everyone behind so worried. I have to be patient.
(If you are interested only in the narrative flow, you may skip this information, and all that is contained in the others boxes, without impeding your understanding of the story.)
The Number Forty in Astronomy
Forty is a number linked not only to Biblical events. It is also found in Astronomy, more specifically in the Milky Way—Earth's home galaxy. A galaxy is a star system seemingly isolated in a cosmic space, containing matter in over one hundred billion stars, star clusters, nebulae, gas, and cosmic dust. Our own Sun is a Milky Way star. The Milky Way is a huge galaxy, which has a core and two adjacent spiral-shaped parts known as arms, wherein there is a major concentration of galactic material. Like everything else in the Universe, the Milky Way is in constant motion, in this case a rotational movement. The bodies (billions of suns, planets, and countless smaller bodies) spin at different speeds. Those closer to the nucleus spin faster. In the spiral-like arms, the bodies change their positions slightly, due to several factors. This is why our solar system remains for a while inside and outside of the arm (the inner one), alternating positions in a gyrating motion.
It remains inside the arm for approximately forty million years, then on the outside for about eighty million years—a multiple of forty! Our solar system takes roughly two hundred and forty million years to come full circle around the galactic core—another multiple of forty! On the other hand, the Earth's circumference measures forty thousand kilometers. As if all this were not enough, the added diameters of the so-called inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars ) and their satellites (Moon, Phobos, Deimos) come to forty thousand kilometers.
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...
Cristina told the latest news to her friend Clara, as she always did, and this time her spirits were quite high. What had initially felt like abuse—having to hear other opinions—had now become a source of encouragement. During the conversation, they decided it might be useful to talk to a practitioner of Spiritism, for, after all, she had already talked to a priest and a pastor. Perhaps a third religious perspective just might add to her insight.
...
“You have something important to tell me, don't you?” the woman asked, in a tender and pleasant voice.
“I would like to talk about a vision I had. I’m not even sure what to call it.”
“Just tell me.”
She did, telling everything, including a brief mention of the seven signs.
“Tell me more about the revelations, the signs. They are signs of what?” the woman asked her.
Cristina thought for a while, not willing to add anything, and then the woman said, “A spirit was incorporated into you.”
“Incorporated?”
“That's right, incorporated, and it is a superior spirit. The blue light was a superior spirit.”
“A superior spirit?”
“Yes, a higher spirit. You have mediumistic powers and you are a channel for spirits to express themselves. But, please, do tell me all about it,” she insisted, in a seductive voice.
Realizing that the woman somehow knew that she had not told her everything, Cristina revealed all that she had held back. When she finished, the woman said simply, “You have been chosen.”
“ Me? That clears up a few things. But why?”
“This is not so rare. Spirits use all sorts of means to communicate. No one knows why one spirit chooses this or that way to communicate. The contact can be made even with someone who is deaf or blind.”
“So, do you really think that all this happened?”
“All of it happened and it will continue to happen.”
...
Cristina left impressed by her meeting and overshadowed by a cloud of bewilderment that now seemed to hang over her life. She was facing explanations that contradicted her rigid scientific background. Until this whole thing started, she was not really ready to understand, read, and discuss things that could not be explained as scientific phenomena. However, things were different now. Although she still harbored some doubts, she felt she was walking right into the center of a spiritual experience.
It took a while, but her emotions settled down and the lingering doubts cropped up again. Come to think of it, I heard only opinions, but not a single fact, not one. Oh, yeah, the psychiatrist! she suddenly remembered. He could clear up everything! Suddenly, the psychiatric evaluation, initially regarded by her as an abusive and unacceptable intrusion by her family, seemed quite desirable and even welcome, for her uncertainty was beginning to really bother her. At least he has technical training. I will leave the religious field and listen to a scientific opinion.
...
In short, the evaluation was not conclusive. On the one hand, it suggested that she had experienced some disturbance, but on the other hand it stated that she was apparently normal.
On the way home, she reflected on her situation. There were so many opinions and warnings, so much advice. Which way should she go? She finally made up her mind. I will listen to my inner voice and just do it, no matter what may come. She promised herself that she would dwell on this topic further.
In a formal meeting with her parents, uncle, aunt, and the family friend, she shared the psychiatrist's opinion but made no reference to her meeting with the spiritualist woman. Their resistance was now softened. Her serene and understanding attitude towards her family’s worries and their seeming interest in her destiny acted as a watershed. Tempers were at last cooling off.
Buy The Book
Chapter 2 - The Unknown Mission
Preparations for the Unknown Mission
Fear and Courage
A Vision of the Gerais
Genes and Chromosomes
Adoption
The Choice
On the Way to her Destiny
Chapter 3 – Quartz Crystal
A Young Woman of the Gerais
First Expression of Power
Rupture
Adaptation
The Work Starts
Electricity from Crystals
Quartz
Piezoelectric Effect
Hidden Calf
An Angry Cow
Chapter 4 – The Entrails of the Gerais
First Results of Soil Analyses
Agricultural Soil
Into the Bowels of the Gerais
Quartz Crystal
The Pain for the Lost Love
Map of the Entrails of the Soil
Soil Multiplication
Clays
Edu’s Story
Vereda and Oasis
Cristina Takes Off
Chapter 5 – Dreams and Apprehension
Testing the Signs
Untrue Faith
Problems With the Itching Sensation
The Feeling of Defeat
The Evil Seed
Treasure of Major Importance
Diamonds
Outraged
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