Born With A Caul
I was born with a caul, and in the spirit of my attitude towards Internet writing,
I am writing about my own interesting life, and not so much about Budget Youth Hostels anymore.
What does it mean to be born with a caul?
First, babies are born with a thin membrane4 of tissue around them, but
a caul is very rare, similar to that, but it only happens every few thousand births, or less.
Second, it's an ancient symbol of good fortune, meaning different things
in different cultures.
In Scotland, it means the baby will be fey, or psychic.
In England, it meant that baby would never drown at sea, so these cauls
were sold for a great deal of money to the captains of ocean going ships.
In ancient Egypt, it had a glorious meaning, it meant that child belonged
to Isis, and don't ask me what that means, it sure sounds more exciting than my usual Hong Kong life of trying to decide which
is the cheaper place to eat, the Cafe Coral, or Delifrance.
(Things are pretty down in this overpriced city, when Delifrance looks
like a gourmet restaurant: the food is great for the price.)
A classic meaning is the child was born to travel the world.
***
I was born on a Monday, and a breakfast baby, my father stayed up all
night playing cards and smoking cigars with his usual group of Montreal gambling cronies, and when the news came to the men
that I entered this vale of tears, this human life, they all stood up, slapped him on the back, wished him well in English
and Greek and French.
Excitement reigned at the hospital too, though my mother was shot from
the birth, the nurses came into her room with a jubilant air,
The baby was born with a caul!
And my dad paid the bill himself, so they did not pick this information
up from any medical plan: those were different days.
My mother being partially Scottish knew what this meant, and smiled to
herself.
They didn't know it, she later told me, but your Dad worked for Air Canada,
so of course, you were born to travel. And Great Aunt Jessica was fey, she used to read
the Tarot for Mom and me in our house at Horseshoe Bay.
My mother had this sign when I was born, and later on she had a sign
when her beloved mother died.
"I woke up in the middle of the night, and at the foot of the bed, I
saw my name written in white clouds, and the next morning, the nursing home phoned. My mother died at that exact time."
My maternal grandmother was very mystically active on either side of
the boundaries.
Years later, when I had my cards read at Love's Cafe on Granville Street,
the card reader, who had not been impressing me until that point, said.
"Tell your mother that Frederick and Eleanor was watching over her."
The accurate nature of his advice stunned me, he used the full proper
names of both her parents, not really common names, especially when used together as a couple.
I don't know what all this means, but it means something, and I am going
to begin to talk about my life as a Spiritual Journey, so stay tuned.
Saturday, April 26, Hong Kong.
