The Enchanted Aviary: The Dreamer Birds

Tucked in a corner of the small loggia, directly in front of the old hermit's bedroom window, was a cozy cage bedecked with a pale-blue crystal ball, a double-deck dollhouse bed, and a dreamcatcher pendant. The couple of sky-blue and white lovebirds that dwelt there often nestled together, and were always in a drowsy state. These were the enchanted aviary's Dreamer Birds. In truth they were often sleepy in the daytime because they were most active, though silent, at night. They monitored everyone's nocturnal dreams, ensuring that the children in the neighborhood had pleasant ones.

Dreams and wishes are frequently synonymous, and so the tenants on the compound came to the Dreamer Birds as people do to a wishing well. Every visitor placed a copper, ten-centavo coin in a white bowl inside the cage while making a wish. Since the birds were enchanted, every wish was granted.

Dreaming, or the temporary flight of the spirit from the body at night, is often likened to a bird floating away into the night. The "bird" joins up with the dream birds, who escort it on its journey. This is the reason why, when people dream, they sometimes dream that they are flying.

Yet, someone once asked the hermit, when birds sleep, do they themselves dream? Yes, because they have minds and they have intelligence, and because they themselves have wants and needs.

Undoubtedly there are birds that own the night, such as owls, that inhabit woody areas. There are also fruit bats, that are not birds but that are exceedingly plentiful in Cubao. Before the sun goes down they rally across the sky and are easily mistaken for black sparrows. In Cubao, these fruit bats are considered to be cousins of the birds. They, too, and the owl, dream when they sleep.

People often came to the hermitage to consult not only the birds but the hermit himself about their dreams. They would sit in chairs under the Cage of The Dreamer Birds. Once in a while the hermit would read cards for them. Some of the people's dreams were nightmares, metaphoric of dark horses rather than of birds. The hermit taught the people to listen to their dreams, whether light or dark, and to learn from them. When the body becomes still, the Higher Self, or the Psyche, draws up the mind as water from a well, and generates dreams that heal and that show the way to peace of mind and happiness.