Precious Pearl, You Are More Beautiful Than The Lilies...

In a stone house, overlooking the Irish coast at Skibbereen, Margarita stood looking out to sea when a premonition overtook her. She had always heard of the "sight" from her mother but had never shown any talent in the mystical family gift at all. In fact, she had been embarrassed for years trying to guess at cards but always failing.

A heavy sensation seemed to be pressing on her chest and her blood had turned to ice water. She began to shake with a chill when she seemed to leave her body and found herself standing on the rocky promontory, jutting out to sea just north of her home. In her vision she saw a small ship sailing toward the rocks at reckless speed. She tried to yell a warning but realized no sound was coming from her mouth. She stood petrified as the ship moved ever closer to the boulders.

When she remembered this was simply the "sight", she willed herself onto the deck of the vessel. The crew was looking in the wrong direction, distracted by a school of dolphins jumping out of the water with glee. Margarita tried once more to yell a warning but found she could make no sound at all. It felt, to her, as if something was lodged in her throat. She coughed and a large silver pearl came rising up out of her mouth and into the sky shining as brightly as the moon! The sailors immediately turned toward the light and now facing the right direction spotted the rocks in time to sail around them and to safety.

When Margarita snapped out of her vision, she turned and looked back out of the window in her home and saw the ship with the red flag moving back out to sea. She laughed to herself knowing her experience had been true and said a prayer of thanksgiving to The Mother. As she walked out of the door and into the sun, a ring of stars appeared around her head that could sometimes be seen when Margarita was in a particularly good mood.

This story was told to me by Margarita's daughter who was also known as "my pearl".