Redbud Stories

As a child, fear was the overwhelming emotion for Glenda Richard. From the age of eight until the day before she married, her father, a fundamentalist evangelical preacher, had mercilessly abused her—sometimes with his belt, sometimes with his fist, sometimes with his hands around her neck. He repeatedly accused her of being a witch. The first time he accused her of being a witch, was when she told him of the magic of multiplication. As a child, her fear of being a witch was nearly as frightening as her father's abuse.

When she married Declan Richard, her life changed and became what every woman in love would want in a marriage: a partner, lover, and stalwart defender.

Both Declan and Glenda had grown up in Oklahoma. After they married, they lived in Norman, Oklahoma, for many years as they created a family filled with love and honor. When their children decided they wanted to spend their adult lives in the Pacific Northwest, Glenda and Declan moved to be near their children to a small town east of Seattle, Washington. They returned to Oklahoma for visits a few times a year. With over 2,000 miles between the two states, they couldn’t visit their friends and extended family more often.

Glenda loved her life and felt the blessings of love, joy, and honor that had been missing in her birth family. But when she was 60 years old, her husband tragically died in a freak accident. He was volunteering as a trail crew member on the western slopes of the Cascade Mountain near their home in North Bend, Washington. A mudslide killed Declan and another man. Two years later, Glenda decided to quit wallowing in her sorrow and rebuild her life for herself.

She bought a pickup truck with a camper on the back and hit the road. She planned to travel around the states, visit Oklahoma, and write. Now was her chance to fulfill her life-long dream of writing novels. She set out on her journey only to find that no matter where she went, she was stuck with herself and her relationship with her father.

Her best friend in Oklahoma, Kai, called in distress needing Glenda’s help. Kai was dying and asked Glenda to do a shaman journey. Glenda couldn’t ignore the serendipity or need for Kai’s call. As a core shamanism practitioner, she heeded Kai’s call. She did the shaman journey for Kai, who in turn asked to join Glenda on her travels. Both women needed the healing the love of friendship could offer.

Kai was also a core shamanism counselor and Instructor. As they traveled, they talked about Glenda’s childhood and agreed she needed soul retrieval. They knew it would take their best efforts to retrieve the soul fragments Glenda’s father still possessed. As they traveled together, Kai read the story of her friend’s life, including her father's admonition that she was a witch.

Glenda’s father was still living, but death was at his door. He haunted her very existence. She knew she had to face the facts of her life before she could move on. The most crucial need she had was to retrieve the shattered pieces of her soul her father had stolen from her—both as a child and as an adult. Kai and Glenda were determined to retrieve Glenda’s soul pieces before her father died.

Her dreams of traveling, creating a new love relationship, and writing a novel were in peril.

Retrieving Glenda’s soul was more challenging and harrowing than either woman anticipated. When the selenite crystal from the salt plains of Oklahoma shattered in the process, the women were horrified and feared a worse outcome than expected.

Was there any way Glenda could be whole and move forward in her life without her soul intact? Was she really a witch? Would that be a bad thing?